Mail order train dealer pulled a fast one on me.

[jonadel]

I think it's best if the dealer's name isn't posted, if ya wanna know email him, he responds right away.

Jon

[eZAK]

I agree!

If it is true, post the dealers name!

[Anonymous]

Why all this intrigue? Your position is well founded and carefully explained, so just come out and name the guy.
BillFromWayne

[mcattardo]

'Hello, I have tried several times to contact you by email to find out the name of this firm but your email link will not work for some reason.'
I had a problem too. Remove the ' . ' after .com.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by northern 1

I have received tons of email on this item, so the people who want to know who it is are finding out. Many have been surprised, as was I as I have never had this happen before.
If you want to know just email me and it only takes a second to answer.
[e-mail].

Dave.

Hello, I have tried several times to contact you by email to find out the name of this firm but your email link will not work for some reason. Please send me a message at: [e-mail] and let me know the name. I hope you get things straightened out. Good luck.
Larry

[seacoast]

Did you get it resolved Dave? I would have shut them down (the bill) with my credit card
, some cards you can stop payment, depending on the circumstances. Hearing this stuff leaves me with a sick feeling of being shafted...

[overall]

So you think you got it bad this time? Were you around back in 1984 when a company that does not exist anymore called High Country Brass collected a bunch of $100.00 deposits to reserve MPC's re-issue of the NYC Scale Hudson? Back then , MPC had shipped the tooling down to Mexico to manufacture the engine there. That plan did not work out and MPC delivered on about 25% of the orders. The owner of High Country Brass neglected to refund the deposits and ended up serving time in prison for it. I never got the engine or the money back either. Can anyone top that?

George

[Anonymous]

I have received tons of email on this item, so the people who want to know who it is are finding out. Many have been surprised, as was I as I have never had this happen before.
If you want to know just email me and it only takes a second to answer.
[e-mail]

Dave. For those of you not able to email me I goofed and put a period after com. Should work now.

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AlanRail


The forum is the place to air problems like this so long as they are true.
using the forum to air lies is not a good thing.
Alan

I'll second that motion, but would like to add one more thing. If you have a good experience with a dealer/store, many of us would like to know that too. Many of you have seen me mention dealing with certain stores and that is a way I am trying to inform you that they have been doing a good job by me.

[AlanRail]

Bad companies; bad ebay sellers; we need to be informed of true experiences that we all have as a warning to others.

The forum is the place to air problems like this so long as they are true.

using the forum to air lies is not a good thing.

just state the facts; and let us decide;

I am in a situation now that unless it is resolved I will go "public" and reveal a very bad eBay seller in my home state.; I will state the facts and let you decide if you ever want to do business with this guy. Being an attorney I may file an action against him as well

Alan

[Roger Bielen]

Dave, another possible recourse if you and/or the dealer are TCA members is to bring the issue to the TCA. Maintaining membership should be important to a dealer especially if he sells at TCA meets.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Dan posted this on another topic. I thought he would post this info here, because it is very good advice. Maybe he's out of town, but here is what he said:

QUOTE: Originally posted by Buckeye Riveter

QUOTE: Originally posted by dan18425

One other point to make:
According to Federal Law, if you make a purchase with a credit card, you have 60 days to dispute a charge in writing from the date of the bill (it may be from the date of the charge posting to your account), or you lose your rights to dispute a charge. This must be done in writing, not just by calling the credit card issuer and making a report or asking for the paperwork to be sent to you. Your credit card issuer must get the dispute in writing by 60 days and not one day more, or they must pay the seller and you are going to get stuck.

What a lot of disreputable sellers do is to string the customer along with promises of "the item will be in next week", or "it is going to ship in 10 days", etc. They basically run out the clock on the 60 days and then stop answering your calls and emails because at that point, they have your money and no one, including the bank, is going to help you.

SO, IF YOU HAVE ANY INKLING THAT YOU ARE NOT GETTING WHAT YOU ORDERED, YOU MUST CALL AND GET THE PAPERWORK TO OPEN A DISPUTE ABOUT THE CHARGE RIGHT AWAY. The clock is ticking. If ultimately the seller comes through, you simply withdraw the dispute or let the credit card issuer know that the matter has been resolved. If you wait, you lose.

QUOTE: Originally posted by dan18425

What?????
If you want to protect your rights under the Federal credit laws, you MUST notify your credit card company in writing, and there is a specific address that you must send it to, not just "When you pay the credit card bill insert a small note" into the payment envelope. You have 60 days to notify the credit card company and your time is running low. You must CALL the credit card company and ASK them to tell you the specific procedure for DISPUTING a charge and then you MUST send them the dispute complaint in WRITING before 60 days has elapsed. What many of these retailers do is to ignore you for 60 days knowing full well that while you are trying to be polite, you are wasting your time under the Federal credit card laws. They literally run out the clock on you, then tell you to go pound sand. At that point, after 60 days, you have no one, including your credit card issuer, who will help you.

I don't think I would take a chance on losing your rights by "When you pay the credit card bill insert a small note". Maybe it has worked for the guy who posted that, but any consumer advisor will tell you not to do it that way.

Ps. PLEASE email me the name of the merchant.

Dan R.

Dan is correct. He posted this same good information on the topic where someone had a problem with another merchant. The times I have put the note in with the check to the CC Company, I was not even close to the 60 days he has referenced. I didn't need to commence using the formal procedure that he has outlined because the problem was taken care very quickly by the CC Company. If it had lingered, I too would have initiated the procedure prior to the 60 days.

Dan, remember we were in Scranton, PA the same day at Thanksgiving.[:D]

[TurboOne]

QUOTE: Originally posted by quadk

Sorry to hear about your bad misfortune. I am lucky and have a number of hobby shops relatively close by and one of them can seem to find what I want (or need). I just wish more people would keep using the hobby shops instead of mail order to keep them around. Good Luck!!

Ken, it is good to see your first post. [#welcome]. It looks like you've been around a little bit. Hope you got some good info, stop by and have a cup of coffee later on and just say hello.

I have ebayed many items, ok 15, but to me that is many [:D], and I ask questions, look at feedback, and use my credit card if I might not be 100 % sure. Have bought some silly items that looked better than when I got them, but then I go back and look, and sure enough, I missed something that they did say or show in pic. If the pic is bad, I ask for more, or I don't buy.

All the dealers I have dealt with on the web have worked out so far, knock on wood, but I do try to support my local guys, as I like browsing and it takes too long, and I buy too much when I do it on the web.

Tim

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear about your bad misfortune. I am lucky and have a number of hobby shops relatively close by and one of them can seem to find what I want (or need). I just wish more people would keep using the hobby shops instead of mail order to keep them around. Good Luck!!

[Anonymous]

I'm glad I get my trains locally

[AntonioFP45]

Northern1, with respect to you:

A person should post the name of a hobby shop that exhibits bad customer service as long as the post is honest and not malicious. Especially if the business makes the effort to satisfy an unhappy customer. The business you dealt with should have mailed or called you and told you the the unit was not available instead of trying to force you to accept an item you don't want:

Translation: Bad Customer Service! Please inform the Better Business Buerau!

Posting info about a business that plainly deceives and mistreats you and other customers is not being a bad poster, but actually considerate and conscientious in helping to prevent others from receiving bad treatment.

Now, to be fair to the business, the topic is then e-mailed to that shop with the bad customer practices. I've done this before. As stated above, with 11,000 members on this forum, the shop owners have an incentive to clean up their act as word travels fast!

GUYS, REMEMBER[;)]
One of the benefits of these Kalmbach Forums, (MR,CTT,TR,CT,GR) is our ability to help our fellow hobbyists.

Here's an example:
Over on the Model Railroader Forum, several posters chimed in on different threads "Strongly Warning" us to avoid mail-ordering items from "HOBBY CIRCLE" located in New York City. Even on EBay this business has a number of negative feeback entries from winning bidders! I'm grateful that the warning was posted as I almost purchased a hard-to-find Atlas locomotive from this business.

Northern1, I hope that you do get the locomotive you're looking for. [;)]

Peace

[jonadel]

Dave,

Sorry to hear about the problems, no fun trying to iron this out. I always go to my local hobby shop first; then the hobby shop about 45 miles from here and then mail order. So far (knock on wood) I've had no problems with out of state ordering but maybe I've been the exception. I would imagine I've placed between 20-25 orders to out of state dealers over the last 4 years and everything has worked out OK.

I tried to email you about the dealers name but it bounced back.

Jon

[1688torpedo]

This is why I mostly shun mail order. You never know what you get until you get it in your hand.This is why I'll patronize the local Train shops in my area. The owners know me and do all right. Credit Card is a no-no for mail order as a unscrupolous person can cheat you even more plus the interest rates and fees credit card companies charge.By the time you pay off your purchase you've probably paid almost double the purchase price of the merchandise.Even if you have to drive a long distance.establish a relationship with a Train shop you can trust.Take care...............Keith

[Anonymous]

Definitely call your credit card company and dispute the charge. The dealer won't be able to charge you any restocking (or other) fee if all he has is your credit card number to charge it to. Let the credit card company know all the details of the transdaction so they can deny any future transactions from that dealer that may be charged to your card.

Notify the Better Business Bureau in the dealer's area, and send them details of the dispute. I'm not sure just how many consumers actually take the time to check with the BBB before they do business with a firm, but if the file on a particular business gets thick enough, it will eventually have an impact.

I would also like to know the name of the dealer.

[MartyE]

No doubt if you asked specifically for that engine and were assured that was the one you were getting then the dealer should bear the brunt of responsibility. The only responsibility you have is to make sure the wrong model is sent back , at the dealers expense, just as it was when recieved. I could never understand running a business like that. In defense of the dealers though I guess some folks try to pull some fast ones on them but you have a legitimate gripe.

[Bob Keller]

Customer service is great when you can get it. Too often what we get looks more like a military chow line in some old movie - they slop whatever on your tray and dare you to say anything.

This past Christmas I placed six or seven orders over the internet. In every case either a catalog or an online catalog said the merchandise was available and ready to ship. I only received one item off the bat. everything else was either backordered or not yet due in. In two cases, I had the impression that yes, the goods were in a paper catalog, but that the actual merchandise needed to be ordered by the retailer from a distributor, for each order.

Crzay and not a way to build repeat customers.

[Anonymous]

Nothing tans my hide more than businesses like that. They shouldn't have accepted you money in first place if they didn't have what you wanted, and should flip the bill for return shipping, for their mistake.

25% restocking is awfull steep, considering how expensive trains are, but since this was THIER FAULT not YOURS, they should eat that fee.

They tricked you out of your money, based on a train they didn't have, but said they did.

You should simply cancel payment, nd report them to the B.B.B.

[TurboOne]

Hey Dave, sorry you had a deal not work out. Did you talk to the owner instead of an employee. Sometimes they work harder for you. If that didn't work, tell them you have a forum with over 11,000 members and you are going to let them know how you were treated. Also, being you paid with Visa, as long as it isn't a check debit card, you can stop the payment. Just read your rules on your Visa. Good luck.

Tim

[Anonymous]

I ordered a Lionel 3985 black HO challenger from a dealer out east. I specified I wanted only the black one with coal and number 3985 on the cab.
They assured me they had it and would ship it out the next day.
When it came it was a grey one and different number.
I called them and wanted them to have it picked up at their expense and refund my money.
They would not do that. Instead they said let us try and find the correct one for you. I used Visa and I said I would just notify them that I did not get what I wanted. Their comment was we have to charge you a 25% restocking fee if you get your money back.
If you want to know who the dealer is please email me at: [e-mail].
I guess I will not deal with them any more.
DAVE>