01-08-2009, 11:17 AM
Galen, I suspect that the fact that it is cottage industries makes poor customer service and bad attitudes more prevalent. A friend was telling me once that he and another friend went into a business selling some craftsman type model railroad structure kits made out of wood. They signed a contract to supply the kits to Walthers and gave Walthers an exclusive deal. It was intended to be a part time business, but the demands were such that they suddenly had second full time jobs to go with their "day jobs." Since the price they had given Walthers wasn't paying enough per hour to justify the time they had to spend making the kits, they stopped production and went out of business. I am surprised at Bowser's attitude, though. They are owned by English which is one of the largest model railroad companies with a vested interest in doing customer service. I did notice at the National Train Show at the NMRA convention in Anaheim last summer that Bowser, like most other companies is shifting more toward r-t-r products. I guess there is a much bigger market for r-t-r than there is for kits. I hope kits don't disappear completely though.