does anyone have stories of best and worst of customer service you have gotten from model railroad manufacturers or related companies? For me the examples of best customer service is model power and steam powered video. I bought one of model power’s ho scale lenny’s clam box restaurants and one of the side doors was busted. sent them an email and they said a new replacement door, plus several wall pieces and other parts. spv sent me one of their prairies east and ozarks railroad atlas’ after the first one i got had torn pages. The worst case of customer service is Athearn. When i told them that the undecorated wide vision caboose of theirs i bought had a cracked body when i bought it, they said in an email for replacement wide vision caboose body would be total of $10.95. geez for that amount i could probaly get a much nice caboose model like atlas’ new c&o steel center cupola caboose.
| I can report that Bachmann gave me outstanding service.I purchased a Pennsy GE 44 ton switcher in the early '90s.About 2 years ago I got it out ,lubed it and ran it for about 10 min.Low and behold the loco emitted a puff of smoke and would not run again.I called Bachmann and they told me to send it in along with an RA number.Within a week,Ireceived a new loco free of charge!Not bad for a loco that was long out of warranty! |
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Broadway Limited (Aka Precision Craft Models.)
I have been rather lucky and cannot say the worst customer service.
Also both of the LHS’s I go to offer first class service.
I too have had first class service from Bachmann.They may not be alone but they certainly are at the top in my mind.Just had to mention it…
I have had excellent dealings with Atlas (detail parts),Horizon and Walthers on ordering detail parts and other such items.[:D]
The only “bad” experience I had to date is Kato…I ask a specific question 2 years ago and still awaiting a answer…[sigh] That IMHO is inexcusable.[B)]
Another company i would probaly have to put in worse customer service category is IHC. i emailed them 3 times in last few weeks about two wall sections in my rico depot kit being warped and the parts for the two brick chimneys were not even there. for me one thing that would put a model railroad manufacturer into worse customer service category is not responding back.
For the best service I’d have to nominate my LHS, Trains and Such, if that counts in this thread about big business. I can’t count the number of times I didn’t quite have enough money for something and they gave it to me for what I had…
Athearn gets the high mark from me because I called after I got a SP AC4400 that had a bad wheel. They quickly sent many extra wheels. I’ve been lucky enough to avoid any bad customer service encounters (from model railroad manufacturers anyway…)
I would also have to put IHC at the top of the worst list. I purchased a new Santa Fe 2-10-2 and it arrived with a broken peice in the bottom of the box which was the air compressor. I e-mailed them several times with no response. I finally called and after a brief argument I had to buy the part. It cost me almost 12 dollars out of my own pocket to replace a piece that should have been covered by warranty. The part was about four bucks and they charged about 8 for shipping. The actual shipping cost was 39 cents. I have had other problems with them also and they just do not answer e-mails.
That would explain why I haven’t gotten an answer yet! I was asking them some questions and wanted to know the shiping charges to Sweden on some specific items I wanted to purchase but they just never replied! How can they get customers behaving like that?
Magnus
After Walthers bought Life-Like, I contacted them to see if I could get replacements for my cracked GP-9 axles. They were in the process of “digesting” their acquisition, but they kept me informed and gave me an estimated ship date. Once the parts came in, I got two full sets, free of charge.
I ordered a subway train from Trainworld about a year ago. I placed the order over the phone on Wednesday evening, about dinner time. The trains were at my door Friday afternoon. That’s less than 48 hours, standard Brown shipping, from New York City to the Boston Burbs.
Speaking of shipping…Atlas and Horizon has super fast shipping…Like I mention I order some detail parts from Atlas and Horizon on a Sunday by Thursday I had the parts…That’s quick.Sadly Walthers take about 10 days from order to the date I receive the items…While I wish Walthers was quicker I can live with that 10 day period…
I will also mention all 3 has a 100% order fill rate to date…[:D][tup]
I have had Great customer service with Bachmann. I had one of their 2-8-0 steamers that I was running on standard DC power and the tender started smoking. Turns out the circut board fried. I mailed the locomotive and tender back to them and within 10 days, they mailed me an entire new engine and tender. Pretty good customer service in my book…
The worst customer service that I’ve experienced was with a company called Pacific Western Rails. Buyer beware…stay the heck away from them…
Michael
I have received excellent Customer Service from BLI. They have sent out replacement parts without any delay and sent out replacement sound chips for the PRR J1 and Santa Fe 4-8-4 when I reported the chuffs not being 4 per rev. They responded quickly with QSI to solve the problem.
Athearn also replaced two handrails quickly without delay.
Both BLI and Athearn responded quickly and sent out the parts without charge or shipping costs.
Excellent service to both…
Like many of you, I’ve had excellent customer service from almost every company I’ve dealt with in the Model Railroad world. Most of these are small companies (compared to the way the rest of the retail world is headed), and even when they make a mistake they do everything possible to make it right. I’ve had good service from: Atlas, Bachman, BLI, Walthers, Standard Hobby, Toy Train Heaven, MB Klien (Modeltrainstuff), Trainworld, All electronics, Flying Scotsman, Empire, Tony’s, Tower, and Cherry Creek. Sheesh I’ve been buying a lot of stuff.[:I]
Hey Brakie, yeah Atlas is probably the best (they charged less than $1 for shipping maybe because i live in NY?) i ordered parts for a roco and they didn’t have them listed but the parts guy went and looked and said yup i found one. KATO doesn’t respond to emails i have heard, but if you call them they are quite pleasant on the phone. i just ordered railings ect for my gp 35 and it all $3. the shipping from them was however $5!
Best: Tim Smith @ Empire Northern Models - Great service, helpful, and does terrific work
Worst: None yet and not hopin’
No bad ones yet.
Great: Tim at Empire Northern, quick responses to questions about products not shown on his web site that I wanted to order, and fast shipping at a fair price once I did order them. Can’t beat his prices on decoders and Tortoises, either.
Stewart (pre-Bowser - haven’t talked to them since), I bought an F7 AB set on eBay, and when it arrived one of the side ladders was broken off the side of the B unit. But the broken pieces was not in the still-sealed package, so it wasn’t the fault of the seller, I got a brand new still sealed package as expected. I called Stewart and even TOLD the guy who answered that I bought the units on eBay, he had a replacement shell shipped out and I had it in a couple days (they used to be in Chalfont, PA which isn’t far from me). Back burner project, I found a spare ladder from an old Tyco shell that’s the right size so I’m gonna fix the broken B and mount it to an Athearn chassis.
Gadget Tom’s DCC - ordered my first decoders there, web site says allow 24-48 hours for shipping - in 2 days I had my decoders! And that’s from California to PA
I have a section on my web site for special recognition like this. All we ever usually see are the complaints, never is any mention made of the 100’s of times you get great service. So I thought I’d change that a bit and call out the good guys. If I do get a turkey I’ll probably add a page for those too.
–Randy
I get excellent service from Ridge Road Station, Coronado Scale Models, MB Klein and Trainworld (when I call in the order). I am not satisfied with Internet Trains as they take a long time to fill orders and are very lax on communicating with you if there’s a problem with your order.
Interesting. I had a missing headlight on a brand new Hudson steamer and emailed three times to customer service and “boss” with no response. Finally I sent a fourth email telling them that I was about to post on several chat groups about the quality of their service (good or bad) and which would they like me to say?
I received an apologetic response within 12 hours and the missing part two days later at their expense.
I am happy with the end result but there was no excuse for the initial handling. Maybe they are just “too busy”.
Give my method a try if you’d like. Can’t hurt [:)]