Go Hobby or discounttrainsonline shops

Agreed.

In general, if they don't have print ads in the model railroad magazines, then don't trust them.

And even if they have print ads, if they don't list their actual, physical location, don't trust them.

HTH

On 3/19/2008 9:39 AM Arecki spake thus:

Your instincts are correct. If you ever see the words "Western Union" together on a web site, you should run the other way as fast as you can.

Even eBay warns against Western Union transactions.

By the way, the word is "losing".

Thanks for your reply and sorry for the mistake. I am still learning English ;-). It is not my native language.

loose and lose always threw me. Like dinner and diner too. I had to remember goose and loose rhyme. Lose is the other pronunciation. Only way I could get then straight.

That would depend on Arecki's intent!

"Big Al" wrote

Subtle, subtle....

Dinner is for winners, but you'll find a miner in diner.

Since I seem to like rhymes, this works!

I have placed atleast 2 orders with discount trains online, maybe more, but I know I got some stuff from them about a year ago (I remember ordering a locomotive and perhaps some other stuff), and then another order that I placed just this past month, where I ordered an out of production cement hopper and two Bowser hopper kits.

i had a slight problem with the order. they advertised the two Bowser hoppers in a particular road name with particular road numbers (the road numbers were part of the description as well as being what was depicted in the photo). when the hoppers arrived they were not the numbers advertised, but rather one was a duplicate of a number i already had obtained from another source, the other was a different number from the other hoppers i had in this series, but it wasn't the one advertised online. i wrote them and told them i'd be willing to keep the one that was not a duplicate, but i didn't really want another of the same number, so i had no use of the other one.

it took them a couple days to get back, but they sent me an email saying they would credit the amount of the TWO Bowser hoppers and that there was no need to ship them back as it wasn't cost effective, and that i was free to do whatever i wished with the hoppers and that they would correct their website for the future with bowser products to not show a particular road number in the description because bowser uses the same part number for future runs with different road numbers (I don't know why Bowser can't use a secondary number such as -01,

-02, -03, like some other manufacturers use to designate WHICH road number of a successive run a car number is).

a few days later my credit card showed the credit promised.

as far as i'm concerned discount trains online is an upstanding and reputable company. In fact, I'm thinking about ordering a couple of cars from them that are out of production...this time I know what number they are supposed to be, because they are Atlas instead of Bowser...not to mention there were only 2 numbers by Atlas ever made.

by the way i've had NO PROBLEM such as what you mention above about having to use western union...they have a regular credit card online setup. i don't know what circumstances might exist where someone would need to use western union...perhaps a money order or something of that nature. i see no reason why a credit card purchase would fall under that category.

No biggee - there are way too many native English speakers who don't know the difference, at least as evidenced by their postings on the net. Illiteracy is rampant. These folks would write, if they know of it, what Gertrude Stein said about Oakland, I believe it was, as "They'res no their there."

If you reply to this thread my email you'll see that DTO is a reputable company. I don't know why this person received such a message, but I've used credit cards there more than once with no such problem.

Checking their website, I found this:

Go Hobbies, Inc.

Toll Free: 1-877-529-2834 Fax: 1-951-653-0550

Monday - Friday

Is that good enough?

Also...this is their payment options:

Ordering Options

Online

Our online shopping cart uses a secure server with 128 bit SSL encryption. You can pay for your order using Visa, Master Card, American Express, Discover, Diners Card, Carte Blanche or JCB Cards.

Phone

If you would like to place your order by phone, you can call us toll free at 1-877-529-2834 Mon-Fri 8:00am to 4:00pm PST. To save time and to insure that we get your correct information, you can place the order online and then call us with your payment information. You can pay by Visa, Master Card, American Express, Discover, Diners Card, Carte Blanche or JCB Cards.

Mail

If you prefer, you can mail in your payment. Enter the order online and in the credit card selection select "Will Mail Check". This will allow us to reserve your items for you. Payment options include personal check, money order, or cashiers check. When paying with a personal check, shipping will be delayed for 2 weeks allowing your check to clear the bank. Business checks are treated as personal checks. Once your payment arrives and has been cleared, your order will be prepared and shipped.

------------------------------

I see nothing about Western Union mentioned, and none of the orders I've had with them have they ever mentioned anything about Western Union to me.

"Steve Caple" wrote

She was misquoted. What she really said was, "Alice, did you bring the bong?" Interestingly -and appropriately- enough, Alice's surname eventually morphed into the term "toke"; a fitting honor for the lady who wrote the "Alice B. Toklas Cookbook".

Just thought the Bay Area contingent would like to know.

-Pete

That sounds legit to me, esp. since you testify to good service when they erred.

"David Nebenzahl" wrote

Looks to me as if the sculptor was doing you a favor: he made sure there

"Wolf K." wrote

However, they have no retail presence that any model railroaders in this area are aware of, and we *live* here!

I may drive past tomorrow and check it out.

-Pete

I have ordered many things from Discount Trains Online and I have never had a problem. I receive print ads from Go Hobbies on a regular basis. It seems like a reputable company.

Arek, After reading this thread, it strikes me as the reason they are looking for Western Union payment may be because you are not located in the same country as they are. Do you have a trusted 3rd party (friend, relative) in the US you could go through for your purchase?

Stvert

I didn't catch the part where he wasn't in the United States....now that might be the reason exactly.

As I said in my previous postings, I have no reason to doubt Discount Trains Online...

But there IS an online vendor I'd never deal with again and that's "INTERNET TRAINS". I posted a message awhile back on here about them. I won't go into the full details but in a nutshell I ordered from them, received confirmation that everything was in stock and would be shipped, then well over a month later I'd received nothing, yet my credit card had been charged the full amount (in two seperate charges for some reason). I sent a number of emails to which they did not reply asking why I hadn't received anything yet, then about a month and a half later I sent one last email telling them that if I didn't receive the merchandise by that particular Friday that I'd call my credit card and have the charges reversed. Strangely, this time they replied, but instead of giving me an explanation, I simply received an email saying the order was shipped...and this was ON that particular Friday. I did get the merchandise, but it took over a month and a half. Most of the online vendors I've dealt with get merchandise to you in less than one week. In fact, I can think of few that have taken longer, and usually they email you and let you know that some item you've ordered has been backordered and the order will be shipped as soon as it's received by them. But even that has been rare. But again I say the one to worry about is INTERNET TRAINS. Do not do business with them.