My daughter gave me a subscription to Model Railroader for Christmas. She neglected to tell them I already had on. So, on the first of February, I got two issues. I called Kalmbach Customer Service and explained it to them and thought everyting was OK. Today got two more issues of Model Railroader.
Called Kalmbach Customer Service again, and talked to Maurie. We had nicest discussion. The labels are printed long before the magazine. My April label was printed the day before my original call. I didn't know at the time, but Kalmbach combined my subscriptions, and extended it to make up for duplicate issues I received.
Every once in a while I see comments about how bad Kalmbach Customer Service is, I just wanted to leave a VERY POSITIVE remark about my experience.
Michael J. Coppage
Saint Louis, Mo.
I would imagine if it has something to do with their "bread & butter"...things will get accomplished by Customer Service. Other issues...not so much.
Glad to hear that it got rectified, Michael.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I'm still waiting to hear from Customer Service for the missing issue I reported three weeks ago. It finally arrived last week and I have no doubt the Post Office was at fault because the magazine was pretty beat up. That doesn't excuse the fact that they didn't even respond to my inquiry. All I got was the automated reply telling me that someone from Customer Service would contact me. Still waiting. If they aren't going to respond, why tell people that they will? One more episide like this and I will be an ex-customer.
MJCoppage Every once in a while I see comments about how bad Kalmbach Customer Service is, I just wanted to leave a VERY POSITIVE remark about my experience.
I am in now in my 3rd month without my PM feature, and I cannot visit other Kalmbach forums - - just MR and Classic Trains. Absolutely no response from Kalmbach to my three emails, each a week apart, pleading for help that never comes.
Rich
Alton Junction
Well I want to hijack this to vent about Walthers. No phone number. Finally got a. Web address. Simple Question zero response. Lousy customer service. Back to Kalmbach.
Thanks for sharing. I be many in customer service hear too many complaints over kind words. Yes, kindness does go a long way.
ndbprr Well I want to hijack this to vent about Walthers. No phone number. Finally got a. Web address. Simple Question zero response. Lousy customer service. Back to Kalmbach.
ndbprrWell I want to hijack this to vent about Walthers. No phone number
?? Then what is this phone number, 1-800-487-2467, that appears in the weekly e-mail they send me in the "contact" section?
I found this on their site. I'm using a laptop, and I know that if you're using a phone, some sites show completely different information, so that might be an issue.
York1 John
richhotrain MJCoppage Every once in a while I see comments about how bad Kalmbach Customer Service is, I just wanted to leave a VERY POSITIVE remark about my experience. There is an exception to every rule. I am in now in my 3rd month without my PM feature, and I cannot visit other Kalmbach forums - - just MR and Classic Trains. Absolutely no response from Kalmbach to my three emails, each a week apart, pleading for help that never comes. Rich
There is an exception to every rule.
I still say you've got some sort of overzealous internet "protection" that thinks things like the PM page or other forums are somehow malicious. The probl;em is, when it's only one person, or a small subset of users, having a given problem, 99% of the time there's nothing on the server side that is causing it.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinker richhotrain MJCoppage Every once in a while I see comments about how bad Kalmbach Customer Service is, I just wanted to leave a VERY POSITIVE remark about my experience. There is an exception to every rule. I am in now in my 3rd month without my PM feature, and I cannot visit other Kalmbach forums - - just MR and Classic Trains. Absolutely no response from Kalmbach to my three emails, each a week apart, pleading for help that never comes. Rich I still say you've got some sort of overzealous internet "protection" that thinks things like the PM page or other forums are somehow malicious. The probl;em is, when it's only one person, or a small subset of users, having a given problem, 99% of the time there's nothing on the server side that is causing it.
This entire episode occurred one night in December. One minute the PM feature was there, the next minute it was gone and all that red coding gibberish appeared on the right side of the page.
Also, why would my "overzealous internet protection" suddenly block me from accessing the Trains Magazine forums and the Classic Toy Trains forums while still permitting access to the Model Railroader forums, the Trains.com forums, the Garden Railways forums and the Classic Trains forums? That makes no sense.
And, in my case, the PM page is accessible; the contents, however, are invisible - i.e. the space underneath the "All Conversations" heading is completely blank. But the "Messages" indictor says I have six unread PMs.
I don't get the gobbledy gook coding that Rich does. And his PM issues happened exactly at the same time & moment mine did. I also don't have any access issues with the other forums.
tstageAnd, in my case, the PM page is accessible; the contents, however, are invisible
Have you tried accessing Messages from one of the other trains.com sites, i.e. Classic Trains or Trains Magazine, Tom?
For me, functionality of the site will change from one to the other.
A month or so back my name disappeared from the "welcome" pane here in MR but it shows up in all the other Trains.com sites. No, I can not log out, either.
Nor can I access my digital copy of M-R
Regards, Ed
gmpullman tstage And, in my case, the PM page is accessible; the contents, however, are invisible Have you tried accessing Messages from one of the other trains.com sites, i.e. Classic Trains or Trains Magazine, Tom? For me, functionality of the site will change from one to the other.
tstage And, in my case, the PM page is accessible; the contents, however, are invisible
On the evening that this occurred, I saw Tom's name in the Users Online box. Since my PM feature was no longer available, I emailed Tom and he replied saying that he too had lost his PM feature. So, at that point, I assumed that everyone on the forum experienced this glitch and that Kalmbach would fix it.
But, to my knowledge it appears that no one else experienced that software failure that evening. Or, at least, no one else has reported a similar failure on that evening, although many forum members report an inability to send or receive PMs.
As far as accessing the PM feature from the other forums, I have tried that and may other workarounds but nothing works. Like Tom, I do get a page with the PM heading, but the rest of the page is blank. Other forum members have told me that they have sent me PMs, but I show nothing to indicate that unread PMs exist.
The fact that Tom can access all of the other forums and that none of the red coding gibberish appears on his forum pages really baffles me. It is hard to believe that I am the only forum member with this exact problem.
I am glad that the use of this forum is free because I only have limited access to what I would otherwise be paying for. Totally ridiculous.
gmpullman tstage And, in my case, the PM page is accessible; the contents, however, are invisible Have you tried accessing Messages from one of the other trains.com sites, i.e. Classic Trains or Trains Magazine, Tom? For me, functionality of the site will change from one to the other. A month or so back my name disappeared from the "welcome" pane here in MR but it shows up in all the other Trains.com sites. No, I can not log out, either. Nor can I access my digital copy of M-R Regards, Ed
I bought a special issue a whiole back that never showed up on Zinio. First person I talked to said they resent the activation to Zinio (my magazine was fine, just this one special issue was not showing up). Still nothing. Both on my tablet and by logging in to Zinio from my computer. I called support again, this person said they did the same, resent the activation to Zinio. The issue appeared almost immediately. So either the first person didn't do it right, or the Zinio update doesn't work correctly. So give customer support a call again - and don;t forget to check from your regular PC by logging in to Zinio. Just to make sure it isn't just a problem with the app on your device.
richhotrain gmpullman tstage And, in my case, the PM page is accessible; the contents, however, are invisible Have you tried accessing Messages from one of the other trains.com sites, i.e. Classic Trains or Trains Magazine, Tom? For me, functionality of the site will change from one to the other. Let me answer that question from my own personal experience. On the evening that this occurred, I saw Tom's name in the Users Online box. Since my PM feature was no longer available, I emailed Tom and he replied saying that he too had lost his PM feature. So, at that point, I assumed that everyone on the forum experienced this glitch and that Kalmbach would fix it. But, to my knowledge it appears that no one else experienced that software failure that evening. Or, at least, no one else has reported a similar failure on that evening, although many forum members report an inability to send or receive PMs. As far as accessing the PM feature from the other forums, I have tried that and may other workarounds but nothing works. Like Tom, I do get a page with the PM heading, but the rest of the page is blank. Other forum members have told me that they have sent me PMs, but I show nothing to indicate that unread PMs exist. The fact that Tom can access all of the other forums and that none of the red coding gibberish appears on his forum pages really baffles me. It is hard to believe that I am the only forum member with this exact problem. I am glad that the use of this forum is free because I only have limited access to what I would otherwise be paying for. Totally ridiculous. Rich
Let me answer that question from my own personal experience.
Yup, the PM page loads just fine for me. The image links in the header for Trains and Classic Traisn are broken, but all of my previous PMs show and I can open any of them. Haven't tried other forums besides the MR ones.
Edit: Went to Trains forums, had no problems reading threads there.
rrinker I still say you've got some sort of overzealous internet "protection" that thinks things like the PM page or other forums are somehow malicious.
No, I don't think so. I had the exact same issue that Rich is describing.
Made multiple e-mails that resulted in nothing other than automatic response acknowledgement "we got your e-mail" e-mails.
Made multiple phone calls which got me nowhere. Finally got a sympathetic lady on the phone. I don't think that all of the service people work from the same place, but they may all work from the same state. Texas when I asked.
In any event, she said that she would look into the issue and call me back. She did. Of course I was out so I couldn't ask what the issue was. Anyhow, everything now works so far as I can tell, with the exception of my name appearing in the green welcome box. And I don't care about that.
So my suggestion, again, is to ditch the e-mail routine and call. Note the time you called and the name of the representative so that you can mention that info the next time you call.
As to why the issues are not resolved, I don't know if it is due to virus, power outage, incompetence, or the one person who takes care of this stuff is overloaded.
gmpullman tstage And, in my case, the PM page is accessible; the contents, however, are invisible Have you tried accessing Messages from one of the other trains.com sites, i.e. Classic Trains or Trains Magazine, Tom? For me, functionality of the site will change from one to the other... Regards, Ed
For me, functionality of the site will change from one to the other...
Makes no difference how or from what site I access my messages from, Ed. It displays exactly the same way from each: All Conversations followed by a big, white, blank space directly underneath.
What I get trying to access PM:
I have had the same exact 404 message in my messaging for over a half a year now Overmod.
Some members of the Forum here used to message me and I always messaged them right back as soon as I saw their message. It was all part of the fun here! "Not So Much Anymore"
I'm sure nobody thinks I'm a snob as I see others have the same problem.
TF
What is it trying to go to? Something is blocking the URL - I still say this is not ont he server side though. It should go here:
All Conversations - Trains.com online community
Which is http://cs.trains.com/user/conversations/default.aspx
Works fine for me in Chrome and Edge (which is Chrome as well), though they do complain about the entire site not being https.
Randy,
Firefox or Edge using the http://cs.trains.com/user/conversations/default.aspx link you provided above yields me the exact same outcome: All Conversations heading with blank space underneath. The error page that Overmod experiences I also get when trying to access messages or someone's profile page on either my Android phone or tablet.
I guess that makes sense Tom, because I have an Android phone. What doesn't make sense is my last phone was an Android too and everything worked just fine until I upgraded to this phone.
Things that make you go Hmmmm
rrinker What is it trying to go to? Something is blocking the URL - I still say this is not on the server side though.
What is it trying to go to? Something is blocking the URL - I still say this is not on the server side though.
So you are going to the correct URL, but something is preventing the content from rendering. Look next to the URL, is there any sort of indication of blocked content, other than it possibly saying "Not secure"?
rrinker So you are going to the correct URL, but something is preventing the content from rendering. Look next to the URL, is there any sort of indication of blocked content, other than it possibly saying "Not secure"?
Whether I click the link to "Your Discussions" or the link to "Trains Forums", this appears.
If I then click on my screen name, then Home, then any MR forum link, I return to this normal appearance.
If I click on Messages, I get this.
If I click on other forums (not all just some), I get this.
Therein lies my problem(s). It happens with Edge or Chrome. It happens on my laptop, iPad, and iPhone. I have no ad blocking software or other blocking software.
The 401 message everyone is receiving, is it the 401 error across the top of the screen, or the new one that has the diesel picture along with the message on a sign post at trackside?
I can not open PM's in any browser using my cell phone.
However, computer and tablet have zero issues opening PM's though.
It has to be something the mobile browsers are doing .
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
I noticed Classic Trains seems to be going through the transition.
CT_2021 by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed