Wrong order shipped :(

[Gary S]

Great news! The shop called me just a bit ago and apologized for both the incorrect order and the delay in contacting me. They have the items I ordered in stock, they are going to ship them to me, then I will send the wrong ones back in the box, and they will reimburse me for the postage. So far, so good.

So for now, I can recommend Railroad Depot Hobbies as a company that stands behind their service. I'll update this as the transaction is completed.

[Mileswestern]

Gary, a thought: Doesn't make Walther's make the correct Ex-ATSF express reefers that the SLC owned?

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/932-6247">http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/932-6247</a><!-- m -->

[Gary S]

Hey Miles, good to hear from you, people have been asking where you've been!

The cars I need are actually ex-Milwaukeee Road cars, and others I don't know the origin of. The SLC is also using some ex-Santa Fe reefers, they are a slightly different type with angled braces on each side of the door. The Athearn outside braced 50 foot reefer is a good match for those.

I didn't do an extensive search for a match on the needed cars. I bought a few of the Athearn BB 1624s because they were cheap at the LHS, then discovered they would work with a few mods, and went on a search to find more.

The car you linked to is too old for what I need. (good grief! I just saw that Walther's has a $29.98 price tag on that car. I have a difficult time shelling out more than 10 bucks for a car. Give me a $5 Athearn BB!)

Here are the ones I am modeling. I will take the rivet sided athearn 1624s and replace the small plug door with a larger Accurail door, and add the ribs along the rivets, which is very similar to the SLC cars.



Here is an ex-Santa Fe car:

[nachoman]

That's good news Gary! 24 hour customer service for an internet order this time of year is pretty darned good. I'll assume this is a small retailer (as opposed to a large one like amazon ) and the owners and staff have family and holiday obligations as well.

[cn nutbar]

Hello Gary---I'm glad things got sorted out for you.Your situation reminded me of a personal dilema that I got caught up in.Over two and a half years ago,Trueline Trains announced that they were producing a model of a Canadian National steam engine---a Northern type 4-8-4.Being a fan of Canadian National steam ,I was immediately interested.Shortly after the announcement,a local hobby shop (which I will remain un-named) came out with a promotional offer on this locomotive---the catch was in order to gaurantee a set price and availability of getting one of these locomotives,it required a $200 non-refundable deposit.I had previously dealt with this company and felt confident at the time that this was a standard procedure,so I submitted my deposit.Now,2 1/2 years later,I'm still waiting for delivery---apparently there were numerous production delays but supposedly everything has been corrected and the model should be available soon
In the meantime,I have passed up a couple of opportunities to purchase other items as I was committed to this purchase---however,an offer through Brasstrains was too hard to resist and as I had to choose one or the other,I decide to cancel my order for the Trueline model.Bottom line is that I had to forfeit my deposit.
A hard lesson learned---so be aware when putting down deposits on items before they are produced

[Gary S]

Kevin, I think you are right, this may be an indivual running a business, he may even have a "regular" 40 hour a week job, which is why he contacted me around 7:00pm yesterday. Had a good converstaion with him, he said he was the one that filled the order, and he just grabbed the wrong boxes. He was gracious, said they would pay the shipping both ways, so all is good as long as everything goes as planned.

Mr. Nutbar, terrible situation on the $200. I haven't ever done a pre-order before, and probably never will now that I have heard about what happened to you.

[Russ Bellinis]

Most reputable companies use "pre-order" as a gauge of the size of the potential market. Intermountain is an example. They will announce something and even do some pre-production "test shots" to gauge interest. If they don't get enough pre-orders, they cancel production, but to my knowledge they don't ever ask for an up front deposit. I would not deal with any company that asked for a non refundable deposit. I know that the airlines do it, but then I don't consider any airline to be a "reputable company." rant over.

[Gary S]

Follow-up: received an e-mail from Fed-Ex saying the package is in transit. The shop got the order in the mail very quickly.

[Gary S]

Following up: Recieved the correct order in the mail today, included was a note to return the other cars and let thm know the cost of the shipping so they could refund it to me. I used the box and packing materials that came today, put the other cars in, and will get it to the post office tomorrow.

Gotta say that Railroad Depot Hobbies is definitely treating me right on this, and I will use them in the future. I don't want this to sound like an advertisement, but since we certainly have no qualms in exposing a bad shop, I need to also give kudoos when a shop makes things right. So, a big thumbs up to these guys for being so quick to take care of this. The original 24 hour delay in their response had me worried, but they really came through for me, the customer.

Their website is <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.railroaddepothobbies.com">www.railroaddepothobbies.com</a><!-- w -->

I will certainly buy from them in the future.

[Charlie B]

Gary, is that the fellows in New Jersey? I'm checking the web site and I like what I'm seeing so far. Thanks for the thumbs up on this one.
Charlie

[FCIN]

Gary;

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Will certainly consider ordering from them - they seem to have some items I'm interested in on their web site.

[Gary S]

Charlie, yes, they are in Warren, New Jersey.

[Gary S]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Will certainly consider ordering from them - they seem to have some items I'm interested in on their web site.

No problem, glad to share the info. Really, we all need to keep each other informed on the good and bad experiences we have with any shops, whether online or brick and mortar.