Sissd off!

Hi Chris

Yes it does make you wonder how these types of companies keep in business.

Things are a bit hit & miss with post these days so you sensibly take all possible steps to make your purchase is as easy as possible.

I can imagine some companies don=92t bother with enquiries about things they advertise but do not have in stock. They have a =93 we=92ll order it when we get your payment =93 sort of attitude.

I always like the idea of knowing were their front door is so I can go bang on it if they let me down.

=91Name and shame=92 is my motto for people who give bad service and don=92= t care if they do.

So now you=92re not Bored, Bored, Bored but MAD, MAD, MAD !

Chris

Does vary over the suppliers, as have only just started kit purchased in June am not usually worried about a few days. What you after ?

Soar valley Model Railway Club on this weekend in loughborough - always a pleasure to visit. None of your snappy southerners or dour northerners here !

Cheers, Simon

Most kits are produced by one man bands in there spare time. It does not = make a living so they have to go out to work too.

You didn't try '5522' then, in spite of having my list sent within hours of your request. I always reply to correspondence and emails the same day. I agree that some cottage firms are less than efficient. I get odd bits from some of them to go in kits and it's hard work.

Alistair '5522' Models

Very true, and it all worked quite well back in the days of yore when a modeller would "know about" a supplier through the grapevine so to speak. Sadly the internet, or rather web shopping, has raised customer expectations somewhat (as a retailer I'd say unreasonably so in some cases). For the kit market both sides probably need to re-think a bit, but there must be a danger of the kit maker getting peed off with being hassled and packing it in as a result. That wouldn't help anyone in the long run. As said above, kits are often something of a cottage industry often run by people who enjoy doing what they do as a bit of a hobby, but have no interest in, or desire to (or money!), set up a flashy web site with on-line ordering etc.

You pays yer money and all that, I suppose.

Cheers Richard

True, can confirm your service is excellent. Nope am not after any special favours, just always think should let a supplier know when service is good as well as when theres problems.

Its all about expectations. I get the impression when ordering from Rails that their delivery will be super fast, but it isnt and when go back to check their site they dont claim it will be. However, by then its too late and I'm slightly disappointed. Recently ordered stuff (£200 worth) from cottage industry supplier and it took some weeks before received everything. But had met them at a show and knew how they worked and said right at the beginning that they need not worry if it took a while before they sent the goods out. Was more interested in getting what wanted with advice at a reasonable price than a box shifted. Of course other people want different things and am not critisizing them.

Cheers, Simon

"Alistair Wright" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com:

Well if I don't get a reply in a couple of days it may well be you :-) In my trawls I spotted some wagons that were absolutely ideal for what I wanted. So of I wrote ... "hello, I'd like to buy nearly £200 for kits from you ..." etc etc ... and not heard a dickie bird by way of reply.

"Trev" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@pipex.net:

...

Granted, but not even bothering to reply to communications - or in one case refusing to accept any form of cummunication other than a posted letter simply isn't good enough. If you're going to the trouble of putting up a website the least you can do is service it.

Many many moons ago - very pre-internet together with a partner I produced

15mm and 25mm military figures and accessories .. "Please send SEA for list" in the back of the magazines etc so I know exactly what it's like running a cottage industry and the pioint is that customers are customers.

The customers aren't there to provide a service to the producer its the other way around. Forget that basic principle and you'll remain a cottage industry right up until the point you can no longer afford to trade. As for me, I can always take my money elsewhere.

Dragon Heart wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g23g2000vbr.googlegroups.com:

....

And just to make it worse my good lady wife has just found some more gardening for me to do!

Sorry, have I missed something here? I sent you a list exactly 27 minutes after you requested one. Did it not arrive? I'll try again if you didn't get it. It was sent to the email adress you supplied. I can't do better than that!

Mystified

Alistair

"Alistair Wright" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com:

Nope, not at all mate. My poor grammar, my first sentence should be read to mean that if I don't get a reply from those who I have emailed enquiries to then it may well be you getting the order.

You have a great list and as promised by you there's one or two very interesting models in there ... only I also saw some wagon stock that would be absolutely ideal for my layout, stuff that's been on my shopping list for a while - 1 plank wagons, 4 plank dropside, brake vans (all L&Y), a bit of LNWR stock ... from three different suppliers. So a quick email went out to them all along the lines of, "Nice catalogue, do you have x, y and z in stock if so and I place an order now when do you think you'd be able to dispatch" Or , "May I order x, y and z how can I pay you?"

Not one of them has bothered to reply ... and days have passed. I really wouldn't mind if they replied saying, "Sorry not in stock", or "Sorry can't deliver for 'x' months" it's the fact that they haven't even bothered to acknowledge my enquiry (or order in one case) that has really hacked me off.

Which brings us back full circle, if I didn't want these particular models so much I'd have already moved on. As it is I'll give them a few more days and if still no reply I'll be in touch with you.

Hope that makes sense now. Sorry for any confusion.

If you really want wagons or perhaps I should say, vans, try Lochgorm kits ( he has a web site and DOES reply to customers). He has a 'beginner's etch' (which I designed) which produces two nice box vans either LMS or LNER to your taste (D2079 odr Cov 'B'). this is real cheap and while you have to your own castings theses are available in the trade. Not only that, but these vans will test your skill at building etched kits. Build them and award yourself an 'A' level!

Alistair Wright '5522' Models

"Alistair Wright" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com:

Thanks very much for the pointer but I've got very particular requirements re wagon stock (if I can get drawings I may even make my own).

Nope if these other folks don't get back to me I'll be in touch with your good self. Those inspection saloons look very tempting. (I have previously built two Mercian Models loco kits - who by the way dispatched very quickly and were a please to buy from)

Oi - does a West Country bloke count as a snappy Southerner? I've just moved to Mountsorrel and went to that show - very good, it was!

Mountsorrel ? Wow, youre rich and posh. Will you be joining the hunt ? West Country snappy - hardly, takes you lot at least 10 minutes to say 10 words with interspersed 'oi be's.

Was good, really liked the quarry 009 one with figure of 8 on 2 levels. Guess where the loco will appear next !

This w/e its Mickleover - IIRC its a bit smaller with a similarly friendly bunch.

Cheers, Simon

Rich? Posh? Much nicer house up here for the same rent as I was paying in Somerset. Got a garage and garden as well! Mind you, I work in Rothley, and that really is posh and rich!

can you watch the GCR trains go passed ?

Cheers, Simon

Mickleover ... agree 100 %

Soar Valley Model Railway Club ... has the parking been sorted out yet ?

Mountsorrel Railway project

Happy lot in Rothley !

'The Departure of the Dead', The Story of Burial in Rothley is now available :-(

It is said that The Knights Templar used Rothley Court, now an hotel, as a meeting place !

Chris

Er, no! I drove into the school gate, was directed along the backs of cars where there was insufficient room to pass a couple of them without going onto the pavement, then round a corner where I was told there were "a few spaces" (there weren't) and eventually ended up parked on the grass at the back of a leisure centre!

-- Paul Boyd