My wife oredered me the NKP Lionel berk 765 about 4 months ago not reallizing it was a pre-order item. Once we found out it was a pre-order she was upset I wouldn't be recieving it right away but it was such a nice engine I knew it would be worth the wait. About a month and a half ago I started seeing threads posted about people and their new berk, I contacted them and they said the item was still not in stock. I waited and waited and then I started seeing them being sold on ebay. This is when I finally thought to myself that this is ridiculous. I told my wife that the wait is a little extensive since it has been released and I would like to get the vision hudson anyway.
She called them up and cancelled the order, I know some places will hit you with a restocking fee or some other charges so I expected 20-30 dollars at the most. Last week I recieve a letterin the mail that my credit card has been charged 209.30 by Lantz Hobby shop (wholesale trains) in processing fees. I was livid as you can imagine. Calling them gets no response so I wrote an email and they answer back very rudeley saying that the fees will remain and that I should go read their policy. Not only is their policy in small print but it says cancelations will recieve a 7% charge. The 209.30 charge is more like 15%
I posted this on other forums and I find im not the only one with bad experiences, others claim that they ship combined orders in pieces and charge each time full shipping rates. Someone pointed me in the direction of the Better business bureau which shows they have a terrible rating and 20 cases against them, 4 of which have not even been answered. To conclude the story I called my bank and told them of the situation they inturn told me that the full amount will be credited to my account in a few days. I will also be following up with a case to the BBB.
My beef here isn't so much the charge on a cancelled order but the amount of it. If you ask me I think even 7% of a pre-order is way too much but 15%. If you ask me I think their trying to make the profit they would have made from a sold berk even without a product. They are charging me for an item that they do not even have in stock. On top of this the NKP berk is a hot item right now as are all the full scale lionel legacy engines and I know they won't be stuck with the one that I ordered, infact it will probaby be sold before the shipment even comes in. I was going to order my hudson through them but after this I will never order with them again, I rather pay a few more dollars to an honest dealer.
I haven't been on this forum for a while and usually frequent the other forum where I also posted about this. There are some good people here and I think it's important that everyone knows who their dealing with especially over the inetrnet.
One suggestion from my own experience at E Bay might be useful and that is Pay Pal. I had paid for a item that never arrived and my money was refunded by them fairly quickly. One kudo on the other side of the coin belongs to Ann at Trainz, who refunded my money quickly after I had managed to screw up an order. I used to live close to a Hobby Shop and now I don't and so, I rely on the internet. Another great experience I have had is with Scenic Express, who shipped my order so quickly, I was astonished. I think your post was important because as a community, it is great to be forewarned and also relate good experiences.
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
Certainly sounds like a train shop that I would not deal with. A penalty for an order cancellation is within their customer service policy but the percentage they charge is close to hi-way robbery. Never ordered from them and certainly won't in the future.
Bill T.
If it were me that ordered and not my wife I might have chose a different place to buy from, Also this wasn't on ebay, they have their own website but you are correct paying with paypal does have it's benefits.
This is one of the problems with Pre-Order. Smaller shops are the last to receive their shipments from the ditributors and this causes problems when the big shops receive their orders, then place items on EBay.Good thing your CC company stopped payment. The BBB will get you nowhere from my experience.
lionroar88This is one of the problems with Pre-Order. Smaller shops are the last to receive their shipments from the ditributors and this causes problems when the big shops receive their orders, then place items on EBay.Good thing your CC company stopped payment. The BBB will get you nowhere from my experience.
Brent - I agree. I would add that the credit card company stop payment will most likely be temporary. Lantz will have their say, and if they can show there policy is posted they will win the dispute and the stop payment will be reversed.
BBB has no clout, no power to force payment. All they do is list complaints.
Pat
RFD-TV --- Rural America's most important network!
Their policy states canceled orders will recieve a 7% charge, 209.00 is more like 15%. They are scam artists.
I have had some bad experiances as well when ordering on-line but not with model train places. My rule is that I try to buy what I can lay my hands on, either at a train show or at a hobby shop in person and not thru the internet. My bank told me that once you give your information out, your credit card number or debit card number, you are at the mercy of the vendor.
As to buying from ebay it is buyer beware!! I bought stuff on ebay that was supposed to be O gauge but turned out to be H.O. People don't always know what they are selling on ebay!!
Lee F.
phillyreadingI have had some bad experiances as well when ordering on-line but not with model train places. My rule is that I try to buy what I can lay my hands on, either at a train show or at a hobby shop in person and not thru the internet. My bank told me that once you give your information out, your credit card number or debit card number, you are at the mercy of the vendor. As to buying from ebay it is buyer beware!! I bought stuff on ebay that was supposed to be O gauge but turned out to be H.O. People don't always know what they are selling on ebay!!
I agree 100%, Phillyreading.
Thanks for posting this, I pre-ordered from this store a few months back and was completely unaware of the problems so many customers were having. I was well aware of the cancellation fee, however for the price they were offering I figured there was no way that I would not want what I ordered. I guess I'm more concerned now that it may never arrive, or at least if it does will be far after everyone else has it in stock...
The real test of customer service is when something goes wrong, and I will say that nearly every place I dealt with in the past has done an exceptional job at preventing or dealing with mistakes, Trainz, Train World, Train Express, Western Depot, Nicholas Smith, Grzyboskis (sp??)... all great places with excellent service. The only real problems I keep having are with that internet train store in Cockeysville, MD - never again with that place, ever...
I have only made a few small purchases which were satistactory however a fellow club member had placed a pre-order for a very hi-end MTH steamer which took somewhat longer than planned to reach the marketplace. Like you he saw these showing-up all over the place and contacted the dealer. Essentially he was told they are in stock and if he still wanted one his original pre-order price was no-longer valid.
When an item takes longer to get to market and costs are higher than planned those costs have to go somewhere. Are they absorbed by the manufacturer, dealer or passed on to the consumer ? If they are passed on to the consumer, as in this case, I don't really have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is how the consumer was notified that this was happening. The dealer made zero effort to contact him as to what was going on with his pre-order. Not until he called them was he told yes they are in BUT . Since then I have not placed any orders with this dealer.
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