I'm just happy to get the trains for my son and I. It's been a 4 week ordeal and boy am I glad it's about to be over. Try telling a 5 year old that he has to sit around looking at track with nothing on it for a month!
But I do have to admit that it's given me time to really plan the buildings and scenery!
CAZEPHYR wrote: I will only order from people I can talk to and have references. This allows me to verify they have the stock and will ship the next day. I ordered tow models from FDT this morning and have a tracking number on my email already. It will be on traceable on UPS as soon as UPS picks it up later this evening. That is the only way I will place an order/
I will only order from people I can talk to and have references. This allows me to verify they have the stock and will ship the next day. I ordered tow models from FDT this morning and have a tracking number on my email already. It will be on traceable on UPS as soon as UPS picks it up later this evening.
That is the only way I will place an order/
That's the way I like it to and the reason that Joe have gotten a lot of dollar form me this last year, FDT makes you feel special, if they say they got an item they got it and they send the same day. If something is wrong with what you got. Joe fix it immediately and without any hassle or cost to you as consumer.
This is the opposite of my experience with for example Caboose hobbies. When they sent me the wrong stuff(30 switch machines) I had to pay shipping for the return of the items and the shipping of the replacement ones. I also had to pay taxes and import fees twice on these items since Caboose refused to write that they where replacements which had made it tax free. They did not want to give me my money back for the wrong ones either. The order was placed by phone and I ordered only C83 stuff, yet the switch machines where c100! I don't know who packaged 30 turnouts and 30 switch machines and thought that "HEY he probably want different ones". I've ordered a lot of other stuff from them and they are generally speaking a good firm but since this I've been more reluctant.
Magnus
sparkyjay31 wrote:I placed, what I thought at the time, was a really good price on a order with Wholesale Trains. Now here I sit, almost 3 weeks later, looking out the door waiting for the FedEx package to be delivered. After the first week I called and got "the order is pending, and we're waiting for the manufacturer"...whatever the heck that means. None of this information is on the website letting the customer know that the order may take weeks to complete! Certainly I could have called to complete my order, okay my bad. Is it the same way with most of the online shops? Are they nothing more than a website that must order your items, wait for the manufacturer to ship it, and then ship it to you?
My trains are finally on the way. The tracking thru FedEx showns them "on vehicle for delivery". So my 4-4-0, 2-8-0, 2 Atlas 36' reefers and 2 wood sided box cars, and Bachmann bobber cabbose will be here today! OH HAPPY DAY!!!!
BlueHillsCPR wrote:So far I have been happy with Standard Hobby Supply.
I agree that Standard Hobby Supply has been very good also.
Both Firsthobby and Trainworld has been great for me.
The Caboose is probably one of the best along with Caboose Hobbies.
We probably all have different ideas on how to do this best. This is mine.
loathar wrote: Wholesale has a strange way of listing their stuff. Next day, 3 days, available, and on order.I would assume next day means THEY have it in stock and 3 day means in stock at Walthers.I wouldn't even guess on lead time for the other two. Do you remember what it said about the Accurail car when you placed the order?
Wholesale has a strange way of listing their stuff. Next day, 3 days, available, and on order.
I would assume next day means THEY have it in stock and 3 day means in stock at Walthers.I wouldn't even guess on lead time for the other two. Do you remember what it said about the Accurail car when you placed the order?
Available. Which apparently means that they can get get it!
Hummm, I guess I can learn a lesson or two at this thread!
Thanks for the heads up.
Hey...Look, another NH Rail Roader...Cool!
The savvy/experienced on-line dabbler knows to read between the lines. What does "DCC ready" mean to you? I'll tell you what it means to me: "Don't just plug in a decoder, 'cuz you may be in for a shock...or rather, the decoder might." Same for "available", "in stock (where?", and so on.
There is no standardization in the use of terms in the hobby, except that the purveyor advertizes that they/their products conform to A, B, or C. Even then, there are surprises...many times unpleasant ones. Costly, too.
It is funny that when many of us respond to these types of questions, at least one person reports a good solid experience, and one or more says they had troubles. And yet, there are a whole bunch of places that get consistently good reports.
I would think anyone who has spent more than 18 months on this forum knows about the internettrains debacle. So far, that I can remember, it is the only place that got slammed so hard that the owner had to come on line here and beg our indulgence. I don't think he got his wish.
I've ordered from Wholesale trains a few times. They usually take 2 weeks to get here. The thing I didn't like about them was they sent what they had available and charged me shipping again when they sent the back ordered items.
Bill
Update:
I called this morning, again. Apparently I finally got thru to them my disappointment in the speed, or lack thereof, of the processing of this order. They were waiting on 1 Accurail box car. A $350 order was waiting on a $10 car! So I cancelled that part and the rest is on the way. If I do use them again I'll be sure to call first! Yipee, my trains are on the way!
Railphotog wrote: Wholesale Trains is a real shop, I ordered something from them a while ago, and when it finally arrived the invoice was from a hobby shop with another name, which I can't recall at this time.I too had to wait for the engine which was listed on their website, and assume the delay was because they had to get it from their supplier. There was no indication on their site whether it was in stock or not, I assumed (wrongly) that it was. No really big deal for me, but I still did not like the way it went down. I was more concerned with the shipping method, as there was nothing indicated on the checkout form, nor a cost. I checked in daily for a few weeks and it was finally filled out, indicating it would be shipped by FedEx Ground. If I had known that when I first placed the order, I would not have gone through with the deal. Because I live in Canada, FedEx charges an exhorbitant cost for collecting the sales tax we pay on anything imported. The fee was $35-40, way out of line. And they won't ship any other way, so I won't use with them again.
Wholesale Trains is a real shop, I ordered something from them a while ago, and when it finally arrived the invoice was from a hobby shop with another name, which I can't recall at this time.
I too had to wait for the engine which was listed on their website, and assume the delay was because they had to get it from their supplier. There was no indication on their site whether it was in stock or not, I assumed (wrongly) that it was. No really big deal for me, but I still did not like the way it went down.
I was more concerned with the shipping method, as there was nothing indicated on the checkout form, nor a cost. I checked in daily for a few weeks and it was finally filled out, indicating it would be shipped by FedEx Ground. If I had known that when I first placed the order, I would not have gone through with the deal. Because I live in Canada, FedEx charges an exhorbitant cost for collecting the sales tax we pay on anything imported. The fee was $35-40, way out of line. And they won't ship any other way, so I won't use with them again.
I too went on the assumption that the particular pieces I ordered that were shown as "Available" on the site that they were instock. My mistake apparently. I guess "Available" means that they CAN get it, but MIGHT not! Well I CAN get it somewhere else and I MIGHT next time!
They do list both DHL and FedEx as there shipping methods, although they do not state what the shipping will be other than a minimum of $8.95 US. Kinda crappy if you ask me, but since I was saving so much on the order even if it costs $20 to ship, I save. It's just the tremendous wait that's killing me!
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
Visit my model railroad photography website: http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
Shipping items one by one... that is new to me. Sneaky too.
Dont order from people who have to re-order or buy from a third party to have it shipped to you.
Try to find a vendor in the Internet that has the stuff in STOCK, physically INSIDE thier facility and ready to go out TODAY.
Walthers and Horizion comes to mind.
Better yet, have a Hobby Shop special order it. I bypassed Atherans monstor shipping charges this way once. I got the parts I wanted, the store made a profit and Athearn thier money everyone is happy.
3 weeks is unacceptable to me. I would call and cancel the order and have the credit card reverse charges for non delivery and find another vendor who can actually physically put the item into the mail TODAY... not weeks and weeks.
Dont confuse my 3 week time frame with pre-orders that will arrive months or years down the road at the local hobby shop. When I buy computer parts on Newegg, it is on the truck and at my door inside 24 hours out of Memphis. (I pay 3 day shipping rate. But dont tell anyone LOL)
When I buy something from Ebay, I expect that item to ship within 7 days of my payment and at my door no more than 12 days hence. After that period, I start making noise about non delivery.
I recently placed an Internet order with a well known established MRR hobby shop. The web page indicated all items in stock. The items were not in stock and the fantastic sale price is not really a sale as they ship the items to me one by one charging shipping and handling for each item. I trust this establishment and know I will eventually get everything that I ordered. I will shop with them again, BUT when I order I will instruct them to either hold the order until everything can be shipped together or cancel the order. The cost of shipping will end up being almost three times the cost of the items purchased!
JIM
Jim, Modeling the Kansas City Southern Lines in HO scale.
I've only bought one thing from Wholesaletrains.com and got it in 3-4 days. Obviously, they had it in stock.
Jay, one of the best discount places to order from online is M.B. Klein. They have good to great discounts on items and keep a real-time inventory, so that you know exactly 1) what they have it in stock and 2) how many.
Be a little more patient with WST. However, I would call or e-mail them on a weekly basis to get an update on your order. If they don't deliver in a "reasonable" time for you, ask to cancel your order and order from someone else.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
To date I had my orders 100% filled and delivered within the week.
Look..I usually make my orders on Sunday and my order will arrive by Thursday or Friday of that same week.My not so local hobby shops can get my order that fast.
However..I use the better long establish on line shops that can be found in the pages of MR.
If you would like to see my list then feel free to PM me.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Haha, I recently had a post concerning this topic. It depends on the site. And the product. Some websites are online sites purley, which means they don't have a brick and motor store, which means they have lower stock of items. All of that means that they have to order from the manufacture to fill your order, the biggest one they would order off of would have to be Walthers. So sites like Cherry Creek Hobbies and others that are online representations of the actual store would be a better place to order from when expecting quicker deliveries, because they run an actual hobby store and have most of there items represented online in stock.
-beegle55