selector The others went back to BLI for warranty or my-cost-repairs. I can't recall, but I'd bet its north of $300 by now. But I can tell you that I'm still way ahead, with on line purchases of over 20 locomotives to date, over what It would have cost me to purchase at local hobby shops where their prices are non-negotiable and inflated by close to 20%.
The others went back to BLI for warranty or my-cost-repairs. I can't recall, but I'd bet its north of $300 by now. But I can tell you that I'm still way ahead, with on line purchases of over 20 locomotives to date, over what It would have cost me to purchase at local hobby shops where their prices are non-negotiable and inflated by close to 20%.
You have this backwards. The LHS price is not "inflated", which implies excessive profit.
Based on their costs to aquire the product, and provide the services they provide, it is amazing any of these shops can stay in business these days.
The discounters have eliminated the middle man and eliminated a lot of the "services" to provide their super low prices.
Many brick and mortar stores have eliminated the middle man as well, but still provide the traditional services, while still offering some level of discount pricing.
Now you might not need those services, and you might be willing to take the risks of not having those services, but "inflated" was a poor choice of words there.
As for negotiable prices?, I hope we never devolve into a culture where every trip to the store for every little thing is an exercise in horse trading.
I too shop where the deals are good, but fully understanding what I am not paying for.........
There is thread going on right now that started about domestic vs overseas production. Dealer purchase discounts are now the topic, I will not repeat what I have posted there.
Sheldon
OK, I know shipping costs are up but $17 seems steep. What carrier? What service? Maybe not?
Bachmann will repair or replace it, and return it at no additional cost.
They do have some parts, and, when they replace a dud, they save the duds for other useable parts. So even parts not shown on their web site might be available for a warranty repair.
$99 from TrainWorld so it is something with a $150 MSRP?
In 50 years at this, bought in a store or online, my dud rate has been so low I just do whatever it takes within reason to get a repair or replacement.
Over the years Bachmann has been pretty good to deal with.
Broadway, not so much.
Athearn, Bowser, Intermountain, Walthers all great to the limit of parts and/or replacement product they had available.
Well, it doesn't matter if you bought it from an LHS, an online dealer, or directly from the producer. If there are no spare parts to fix it, you just wasted your money either way.
- Douglas
I have the opposite problem, I find PWRS has high prices but the fact I can pick the stuff up and save on shipping comes into play.
Anytime I have to send stuff back I always ask for a shipping label. More often than not I get it, sometimes I don't. When I have been turned down I ask if they will provide me with a label at my expense and charge me for it. Commercial shippers get a much-reduced rate than the over-the-counter public gets so it is worth pursuing with the company.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Oh it is still a bargin but it was an item I was eyeing and should have skipped seeing the outcome. I guess we shall see.
This is the one great cost of purchasing on line vs. the LHS. On probability, one is not likely to get a defective item, all things being equal. So, most of us have accepted that we save a few bucks and we incur greater risk of receiving something we can't use and that we must pay to ship back...somewhere.
I have probably returned, or eventually sold to get rid of, five items for one reason or another. I had to pay the shipping to acquire them, and the one engine I sold ended up costing me just a bit more than shipping to me when all was said and done. It was a Bachmann Class J 4-8-4 that never ran well.
A standard scam manufacturers use is to put a notice in the packaging saying DO NOT RETURN THIS PRODUCT TO THE STORE -- call our customer service or return for warranty instead.
Do not fall for any version of this scam.
Any time I have ever tried it, I have gotten lies, runarounds, and extra proposed costs (not counting my time).
Send it back or have the shipper file insurance if received defective, and do not buy from suppliers that restrict defective returns.
I think you should reach out to them and have them send you a return label to ship it back to them. If not, I would dispute the entire charge with the credit card company. Despite them telling you to reach out to the manufacturer, shipping charges are very high for the consumer. If you dispute it, I am sure it will get their attention. The very least give you a credit for the shipping.
I've had a few disapointments. The way I see it, the savings I got from online shopping in the last 15 years compensate largely for the few bad experiences I've had.
Simon
Ordered a bunch of stuff from Train World, one item was defective from the get go. Said OK, will send defective item back, they said in there paperwork to ship it to vendor as first resort. So I finally did all the things needed to ship back to Bachmann but cost of shipping is like $17 when item is only $99. Kinda at point that there are a few hazards to online stuff. Now been buying from them for over 20 years and this is the first time with a problem.