Don't call lionel for warranty work or Kline parts !!!

[Anonymous]

I have a Kline PRR K-4 engine that has a bad TMCC radio board in it. I bought the engine from sun model corp. In first called Lionel to see if they could reapir the engine and was told not at this time. I decided to buy the part myself and fix the engine. I called lionel with the part number and was told by a women " that part shouldn't be in a kline engine". She said she could not help since it was not for a lionel engine. She refused to sell me the $40.00 part. I called train america studios and they sold me the part with no problem.

[Anonymous]

Unbelievable! Man, you go out and pay full retail for an item from an respected vendor, an authorized dealer with a proven track record, an item made by a financially solid company without a hint of problems in the supply chain and you can't get parts and service? Unbelievable.

Oh, wait... never mind. (Just kidding around.)

Good for TAS.

Old 2037

[Nick12DMC]

Don't call them for any problems with running their own products on 50Hz power.

Here's the reply I got:

Unfortunately you may encounter erratic symptoms at 50 Hertz.

Lionel

My son and I love Lionel stuff, but I think our next purchase is going to be
from MTH......Funny that

Regards
Nick

[Dr. John]

QUOTE: Originally posted by macaste

I have a Kline PRR K-4 engine that has a bad TMCC radio board in it. I bought the engine from sun model corp. In first called Lionel to see if they could reapir the engine and was told not at this time. I decided to buy the part myself and fix the engine. I called lionel with the part number and was told by a women " that part shouldn't be in a kline engine". She said she could not help since it was not for a lionel engine. She refused to sell me the $40.00 part. I called train america studios and they sold me the part with no problem.

Keep in mind that it will be some time before all of the dust settles and the acquisition of K-Line assets by Lionel is a done deal. Legally, Lionel probably cannot do warranty repair work on K-Line engines until everything is "settled" which may be quite a while. It is very likely that they will only repair K-Line equipment that they produce in the future.

Good thing there are vendors like TAS in the meantime!

[Buckeye Riveter]

[#ditto]
BTW, I just saw on TAS's web site that they have moved and have a new address.

[laz 57]

I have just purchased the K4 from Sum models and before I gave my credit card number had asked if there is a return policy and the GUY told me there is a two week return policy just call them that you are returning it.
laz57

[dwiemer]

You should all read the letter from Mr. Calabrese on the Lionel Web site having to do with the sun models sale K4s. I think you will know where they are coming from or at lease know what is ahead should you have a problem with one of these.
Dennis

[Anonymous]

Don't you wish Athearn made O scale?[:D]

[Anonymous]

I got my replacement TMCC radio board. I repalced the bad board, programed the engine and it works fine now. Instead of getting a great deal ( $349.99) I got an OK deal ( $389.99). It was worth paying the extra 40.00 instead of waiting to see if anyone would fix the engine. I bought five engines so I had a 20% defect rate.

[Kooljock1]

So how about changing the title of this thread then? You had no LIONEL warranty to call them about, so why the thread title? LIONEL did not make these engines. K-LINE never even took delivery of these engines. You bought these engines from some fly-by-night company set up for the expressed purpose of blowing out a select group of engines that were produced for an importer that was no longer in business, and then you expected a completely different company to honor a warranty that doesn't exist?

And how could you call LIONEL about K-LINE parts when the ink on the agreement is barely dry yet?

[%-)]

Jon [8D]

[brianel027]

Yeah, I agree with Kooljock on this one. It's simply too soon for Lionel to be in any kind of position even remotely to do anything on a service level.

I'm sure once a final agreement is in place and everything has been worked out, that Lionel will provide at least some kind of level of parts and service. It's also important to remember that with all these new items being introduced from all the various importers, that many of them do not yet have parts for these items. We've read threads on this before.

Lionel doesn't always have parts for their very own products, and this is also true of MTH. Most assembled products are shipped first, long before any thought is given to having an inventory of available parts for service and repair. How many times have you called a company only to hear that parts are not as of yet in stock? Even on older more established items, parts can be temporarily out of stock. I'm certain the companies are cutting corners in every way possible, and this can also mean the stocking/inventory of parts. We want competitive train companies with lots and lots of new product introductions.... but there is a price for this. I can live with GP-9 truck sides being used on differing locomotives, even if it isn't prototypical. But many these days many modelers cannot tolerate this, so there's more parts to be stocked.

Besides, many times the importers are actually replacing products rather than actually repairing them - at least immediately for an individual customer. I know that if a defective engine was sent to K-Line, many times the shell would be placed on another new chassis assembly, and this was the repair. It helps to understand that it is actually cheaper in many instances to use a new cheaply foregn manufactured brand new assembly or chassis rather than pay more expenisve service technicians to pull apart a complicated locomotive for individual customer repairs.

Does anyone believe that the elimination years ago of the toll-free K-Line customer service phone number had anything but a cost savings motivation behind it? Or that Lionel service technicians are only available to be talked to on certain afternoons of the week? Time spent talking to customers may be good business, but it is costly and prevents the service techs from doing what they need to be doing.

While many are glad that these are no longer the postwar days, as far as electronics, product offerings and detail levels go, it was much easier for a company to stock parts when their product lines were more limited and the same components or parts were used on many different final products.

And while I am sure that there are some parts and components that can still be used in differing products, I am also just as sure with the higher levels of prototypical detail, that many parts are unique to the final products they are being used in.

Kinda like the Springsteen song lyric, one step forward and two steps back. The trains being made today are more detailed and complicated than ever. They are also increasiingly difficult for the customer to make the repairs themselves as they once did without advanced knowledge of computer electronics. Yes, thank goodness for the smaller electronic companies making replacement boards that have stepped in to fill this void.

[palallin]

I'm trying to get parts for an Atlas Truss bridge, and they tell me that no parts are available. I may have to either jury rig or bite the bullet and buy another bridge (which I'm sure is what they hope will happen), but I'm also much less likely to purchase Atlas products in the future.

[Bob Keller]

I'm surprised that the manufacturers have hung onto the parts and repair concept as long as they have.

Not that long ago my rule of thumb was taking a VCR to the repair shop no more than twice for repair (@ about $100 a pop) because a new one could be had for $300 or $400. Now, when you can get a VCR or DVD player for $40, why bother? Most consumer products tend to fall into that category.

[Dr. John]

Bob, that's one of the reasons I prefer post war and prewar equipment. You can work on it yourself and it's much more durable to begin with.

[palallin]

The problem is that our trains (and accessories) cost rather more than $40. Just to get another bridge--no motors, no sound, no electronics at all--would cost me $130 or so.

[Anonymous]

I don't blame lionel for not repairing the engine. I just wanted to buy a radio board to fix the engine myself. Everything was fine until I told the woman it was for a Kline engine ,which I bought from sun model corp, and at that point she refused to help me any further. The radio board is the same price from lionel, train america studios or digital dynamics.

[dwiemer]

one thought of why they didn't want to sell to you, what happens if you install the part in the engine and it doesn't work? they would then be faced with either having to replace a board in an engine that is not theirs, or having someone bad mouthing them for a product that was not theirs to begin with.
Dennis