Correspondence with Digitrax

[Gary S]

I recently purchased 9 new Digitrax UP5 panels for the layout. When I started installing them yesterday, I noticed that the new ones had some quality issues. First, the problem: The bracket which holds the front panel on are set to far back on the component board so the faceplate rolls back at an angle instead of being perpendicular. This makes the connection jacks sit at an angle, so instead of plugging the cab straight in, it would have to be pushed up at an angle. This may not be a big deal, but it just doesn't seem acceptable to me.

Photos:







So, I sent a detailed, tactful, lucid, helpful email to digitrax with the above photos, and explained the nature of the problem.

Sir,

First, let me say that I thoroughly enjoy my Digitrax Empire Builder system and have never had any issues with it - flawless operation. Thanks for producing a great product.

I am in the middle of expanding my layout and recently purchased 9 UP5 panels from Papa Ben's Train Place here in Houston, Texas. The panels have some issues with the front plate mounting brackets. I have attached photos to show the issues.

The issue is that on the new UP5s, the front mounting brackets which are threaded for the black screws are set to far back from the front edge of the green electronic component board. This causes the front panel to tilt back at an angle instead of being perpendicular. All of the new panels exhibited various degrees of this issue - the one in the photo is the worst case.

I already had 5 UP5 panels on the old layout. These were purchased about 4 years ago. In the photos, I used one of the old UP5s to show the obvious differences between the old panels and the new panels. Note that I took these photos with the UP5s sitting on a piece of foam. I dug out the foam so that the heads of the black screws would go down in the foam so the front panels would sit flat.

Please review photos.

Thanks,
Gary

Here is the reply I got back:

Thank you for your observations regarding the UP5s.
Our Production Dept. will be advised of this.

Geez. No offer to fix the issue? They didn't even ask how they could help. Was I too nice? Should I have thrown a fit and demanded a fix? Does the squeaky wheel get the grease? Maybe I am expecting too much, but after my nice tactful detailed explanation of the issue, I expected something a little bit more personal. Am I just being too soft here? Business as usual? Wait... am I a valued customer or not? Come on, they could have done better! I mean, when I let Jack-In-The-Box know of some issues awhile back, they sent me a bunch of coupons for free food!

Would the poor fit of the faceplate be a concern to the rest of you guys? Am I just being overly perfect in my expectations?