Questionable Service

[iis612]

Over the last few years I have spent an obscene amount of money ordering items directly from Walther's. Typically they process my order and have it on the way within 24 hours. The last order I placed it took them 96 hours to send shipping information to FedEx. They actually use FedEx to send stuff to USPS.
FedEx sat with it in there warehouse for 48 hours before they sent it off to USPS.
I tried to get an answer from Walther's as to how this could happen, guess what? They have no reply.
I guess my loyalty and money are better spent elsewhere.

Matt

[Roger Hensley]

Methinks you complain too much. The time is not excessive at all.

[Steamtrains]

"One swallow does not a spring make..."...

I take it an "obscene" amount of $$ means you have made multiple purchases from them and have received good enough service to continue purchasing. So it's not unreasonable that once in a while something will not go as planned/hoped. Particularly when you consider the volume of stuff that's moving out of their warehouse and into a delivery system that has literally millions of items that need to get from one point to another. Actually, it's a wonder things get to where they're supposed to go at all.....

[ngauger]

It's most likely because Walther's has no answer.... And yes, I have the same issues from time to time with other companies or e-bay shippers.

"My Theory" is that If anyone (e-bay seller, Walthers, Aristo) who wants to ship exclusively by fed ex - which like UPS, charges more for shipping to a private address as compared to a regular (industrial customer) account, FedEx now uses USPS to ship to individual addresses..

So - that raises the question: if I am paying $32.00 shipping - for example - for FedEx exclusively... and Walthers is paying for FedEx/USPS for "approximately" $22.00, which package gets the better treatment.... by FedEx?????

The more expensive "Exclusive" package....

The USPS one gets sidetracked (pun intended) until alll the priority packages get processed.. it's like having a Rolls Royce and a Corvette... The RR owner gets way - WAY more upset when they pay top dollar and something goes wrong with their ride... The Corvette owner is upset - but not as much..

But in answer (support) of your complaint, The 96 hours, could have been because they laid off some "shippers" or they are just overwhelmed. Was this a weekend? Also, I have seen that a shipper submitted an electronic shipping order and it has taken 2 - 3 days for FedEx and/or UPS to pick up tha package, same reason, Layoffs?? Too busy???

If you have a tracking number - complain to the "Last known handler" in your case FedEx.. Walthers has nothing to do with the delay of 48 hours. This is from direct first hand experience too - no BS - - My e-bay rating is now (I'm proud to say) 1004 - I have shipped things all over the world... and i "hope" i've seen everything, but fear I have not

If your main complaint is the 96 hours, then you're right - Walthers should have an answer...

Be sure to reply to this thread with any results and post pics when you add it to your layout

[nachoman]

I have never had any issues with ordering from walthers. It always comes in a reasonable amount of time, and in a box of suitable size with adequate shipping materials.

I used to not keep track of shipping. I kept track off my last walthers order because I wanted to know when the package was delivered so that I would go home after work and get it rather than some other after-work activity. I think my order left walthers within 48 hours (a reasonable time frame), and fedxex was reasonably fast. I was surprised to see that it came through USPS, and it took an extra day because of that transfer. I did chuckle a bit because the whole process would have been more efficient to send USPS the whole way.

As for your 96 hours, I am assuming you are counting business days. If I order on thursday, I don't expect anything to go out the door before monday due to weekend. if it took 4 business days for them to get it out the door - who knows. Perhaps they noticed the item in their inventory was damaged, and had to obtain another one for you. Perhaps just really busy,or a bunch of employees sick or on vacation at once. Or perhaps your item you wanted was just arriving from the manufacturer the day you ordered it, and it took time to unload and process the order.

My general philosophy is if I *need* something quicker than two weeks, I don't order it. If no local store has it, then I fork over the money for the rush service. I can't think of a situation where I would declare a Model Railroad item something I would *need* within two weeks. Car parts, on the other hand - if my car is down and needs a new brake cylinder - I want that part as quickly as possible.

[iis612]

Perhaps I do complain too much. Perhaps it is unreasonable for me to think that my package would get handled in the same timeline that it had always been handled in before. Maybe there have been layoffs.
What gets me is that they can not be bothered to return an email. That is my gripe.

[Brakie]

Perhaps I do complain too much. Perhaps it is unreasonable for me to think that my package would get handled in the same timeline that it had always been handled in before. Maybe there have been layoffs.
What gets me is that they can not be bothered to return an email. That is my gripe.

I can understand that...I don't use Walthers except in extreme cases since I can beat their best "sale" prices at several on line shops...Last order took 3 weeks-unacceptable seeing the better on line shops has a 3-7 day turn around.Even my not so local hobby shop has quicker turn around on special orders.

I agree there is absolutely no reason not to reply to a e-mail..

[RobertInOntario]

My guess is that they're suddenly very busy. That would explain why they usually send items promptly but may be swamped with orders and business at the moment. Rob

[ezdays]

Perhaps I do complain too much. Perhaps it is unreasonable for me to think that my package would get handled in the same timeline that it had always been handled in before. Maybe there have been layoffs.
What gets me is that they can not be bothered to return an email. That is my gripe.

That is, of course, the basis for a lot of complaints. If they had responded quickly, you probably would overlook the delay for what it was, and most likely still do business with them thinking, "well, they were late, but they did everything they could to follow up promptly and I appreciate that". When we had our business, we didn't like customer complaints and problems, but we were glad they came to us rather than talk about it to others and we let them know that. Shipping delays are a way of life, and even if a carrier is 99.99% on time, that still means for some popular carriers, that some 10,000 to 20,000 of their packages are going to be late and I don't think anyone has that kind of on-time record.

[nachoman]

Perhaps I do complain too much. Perhaps it is unreasonable for me to think that my package would get handled in the same timeline that it had always been handled in before. Maybe there have been layoffs.
What gets me is that they can not be bothered to return an email. That is my gripe.

That is, of course, the basis for a lot of complaints. If they had responded quickly, you probably would overlook the delay for what it was, and most likely still do business with them thinking, "well, they were late, but they did everything they could to follow up promptly and I appreciate that". When we had our business, we didn't like customer complaints and problems, but we were glad they came to us rather than talk about it to others and we let them know that. Shipping delays are a way of life, and even if a carrier is 99.99% on time, that still means for some popular carriers, that some 10,000 to 20,000 of their packages are going to be late and I don't think anyone has that kind of on-time record.

That's a good point, Don. Years ago when I worked in a customer service field - most of the people complaining were satisfied by simply getting someone on the phone and venting.

[ezdays]

Yep, a little common courtesy can go a long way in turning an irate customer who will tell anyone that will listen how bad he was treated, into a satisfied customer or even just a placated customer that at least feels he wasn't ignored. It's not good business to do otherwise. Our biggest complement as a business owner was when one of our best customers told me that we didn't always get it right, but we sure busted our buns to make it right. That's how we kept our customers happy and some of them coming back for some 25 years. I still get together for poker with some of them a couple of times a year.

[sgtcarl1]

Good ol' customer service!! I think it died off about forty years ago. When I worked in retail sales, my goal was alwaysto make the customer happy. The customer may not always be right, but they are the ones who ultimately sign your paycheck.

[2-8-2]

This is generally why I prefer to deal with local hobby shops. Not only does it support the local economy, but there's simply nothing that beats face-to-face interaction. Where I used to live, the store owner knew what I was looking for every time I came in. He would place special orders for me, and send me emails if he got something in that he knew I would be interested in. Sure, you may be a bit more buying local...but it's worth it.

I look for eBay deals just like everyone else, and buy online too. But a lot of times it's a crap shoot at best as to what kind of results you'll get. How does that old saying go? Something like this:

There's very little traffic when going the extra mile? So true.