I just got off the phone with Lucy in customer service/sales at Wathers. She informed me that I would need to have my hobby shop order the monthly sales flyer. Walthers would not send me the July Sale catalog.
I then called Jerry at Hobbyland in Bloomington, Illinois. Jerry called Walthers and confirmed.
Jerry then placed an order for Walthers to send him some July sales catalogs. Jerry stated that Hobbyland never received a letter or notice about the monthly sales catalogs being sent directly to his hobby shop.
Is this going to be standard procedure now, or temporary? Lucy was really rude and indifferent on the phone. Walthers is usually pretty good about TRYING to have good customer service.
I’ve been getting them for years and years with no problem. Of course each year I order my new HO catalogue directly from Walthers/Terminal Hobby Shop, and put in orders directly to Walthers/THS thru their website a couple of times a year - if that makes a difference??
Customer service is one of the worst jobs one can get. No matter what the truth is, someone is going to call and complain and possible not be very polite when doing it and the customer serfvice people usually respond the same way.
But you really need to understand that some of the customer service people you speak to are not located in the physical US any more despite the names the use. And they also aren’t supervised very closely if at all.
I don’t know why “Lucy” responded this way, but I do know that many companies are cutting back on sending free catalogues to people who never or hardly ever order anything from them. It’s purely an economic decision because catalogues are very expensive to produce and mail. And response to these catalogues is also measured and monitored very closely.
I got my July flyer about 2 weeks ago in the mail.[%-)] I placed a couple orders with them a few months back. Maybe having a customer # with them has something to do with it?
Did you specifically ask for the July sales flyer? Or did you just ask to be on the list for all of their flyers? I suspect that the only option they have is to put you on the list, and keep sending you a flyer every month. If you want the July flyer, then you will have to hop a freight down to your LHS and get one. They’ve done the mailings on that one already.
How many of us remember getting that Lionel catalog when we were kids. One a year, and I treasured every one of them. The Walthers flyers bring that back for me. Often, it’s the last thing my tired old eyes look at before turning in for the night.
My LHS supports the Walthers sale prices, so I order through the shop and save on shipping. It gives me another excuse to go there.
I need to explain that I have been receiving the Sales Catalog and have a customer number. I have had the Post Office not deliver the catalog. I have then had to call Walthers and ask for another copy to be sent to us. I have had this happen with other model RR magazines too.
I did not know there was a change. I never saw this posted or discussed on Walthers website or in Walthers news letter. My local hobby shop was surprised that he had to order the catalog. I do not order through terminal hobby shop. I order thru my local hobby shop.
I am asking if Walthers has changed the way they are going to send out their monthly sales catalog? Did I miss Walthers announcement?
Uh oh. Sounds like you have a model railroader at your local post office. I usually place an order every other month, from two sale flyers. Can’t find enough stuff in one months flyer anymore. The only change I have noticed however, is you now have to order $130 to get free shipping. I could save the shipping by having it sent to the LHS, but then I would have to pay sales tax. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.
I started getting the flyers in the mail last year when I subscribed to MR through an online magazine broker. I’m not sure if the connection was MR itself, or the online broker, but to me, great, I was getting the Walthers flyer. This stopped after about 6 months, so I went to Walthers.com and put my name back on the list.
I always order through my LHS, so Walthers probably doesn’t see me as a “customer.” That’s OK. My LHS always has a pile of the flyers, so if they take me off the list, I’ll just pick them up there for a while, and go back to the web site and put my name back on the list. No big deal.
OK, time to nip this in the bud! I just had a conversation at some length with Lucy at Walther’s. The word is this. If you place at least periodic orders with Walther’s you will continue to get the monthly catalog. If however you place your orders through a dealer (LHS, etc) and haven’t ordered directly from Walther’s you will not get the monthly catalog from Walther’s because your customer number was not on that/those order(s). In short, if you haven’t ordered direct from Walther’s your name/customer # will drop off their mailing list. Place at least one order every six months and you’ll continue to recieve the catalog as you always have.
BTW, Lucy was very nice and I enjoyed the conversation we had.
when i order stuff, i gota do it from home because the nerest HS that orders from walthers is 30 min drive. and normaly so it by phone, but my dad dose it because im not old enogh[:(]
Wow, another Hobbyland shopper! And all this time I thought I was the only one here who was a regular customer there.
Jerry just told me today that Horizon’s been doing better than Walthers as far as orders go, so maybe Walthers is starting to let their quality slip. That seems a little strange that the sales catalogs are no longer mailed directly to the customers (seems like a bad move on advertising if you ask me).