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Tower 55 - Not very impressed with product and less impressed with customer service.
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<p>I wanted to share my disappointment with others who may be deciding on investing in the Tower 55 product line. </p><p>I have two boys, ages 8 and 9 who are very much interested in learning all there is to know about the hobby of HO trains. We have attended the train show at the Big E in Springfield MA, for the last four years.</p><p>After reading many published books, magazine articles, Internet forums and talking to others, we decided that we were armed with enough information to take the plunge and start to embark on a family hobby that has held the interest of my boys and me. I have been amazed at the research the two young lads have conducted over the last several months. </p><p>We decided that DCC was the way we wanted to go and purchased a LENZ 100 system (we are very happy about that investment).</p><p>This past fall we really pushed forward with designing a layout and putting some track down. Many of the older people involved with the hobby, gave us advise that went something like, don't get bogged down in making a perfect layout, before you and your boys run some trains. Have fun running the stuff and add the detail as you go! </p><p>Well we took heed of that advice and setup a staging yard that is full of track, switches and rolling stock. As with any new start up, the decision on which engines to buy was difficult. The boys decided that they wanted modern Era equipment with some of the big bad diesels that are out there, they both purchased Atlas Engines at the 2006 Big E show - using saved X-mas and birthday money.</p><p>This past X-mas, I decided to purchase some new engines for my two boys. One of the boys is a UP fan and the other is an NS fan. After doing some searching, I decided to invest in one of the Tower 55 UP C45ACCTE engines. My son has had his eye on this type of engine for at least 6 months - everyday, looking at the Internet to see what pictures and stories he could find, as related to Engines of this style.</p><p>After searching the Internet, I found a Hobby shop that was actually not far from my house (1 hour drive) that had this Tower 55 Engine in stock. So I had it UPS shipped to me to avoid the hassle of driving during the Holiday. The box arrived and when I opened it up, I had noticed one of the two ditch lights was missing. So I phoned the Hobby shop and spoke to the same person that processed the order. He said no problem; these things happen sometimes, we'll order you a replacement. So I wrapped up the package and enjoyed the look of surprise on my Sons face on X-mas morning. We put it on the track and ran it that morning. </p><p>As I looked closely at the Engine, admiring its great detail, I noticed that one of the air horns was cast incorrectly - it was barely noticeable, but there none-the-less.</p><p>After some fun running the engine, the inevitable idea of running a double header with the Atlas Silver series engine came to be. With much excitement and some in depth reading of the Lenz manual, the double header was assembled and started to run. Rather quickly it was noticed that the Tower 55 engine was running at a much faster speed then the Atlas engine. I told my son we would have to do some research to determine how to correct this issue.</p><p>Here is where the real disappointment appeared with this expensive Tower 55 product. The box that the Tower 55 engine arrived in contained no manual, but rather a pamphlet that referred the consumer to the Digitrax web site. The pamphlet related that the decoder for this unit "is like the DH163". Well in looking at the Digitrax web site, there is not a DH163 - there are several DH163 plus a letter. So for a novice DCC user who is trying to figure out how to program CV values to slow down this engine, frustration was high. I figured that my lack of knowledge was the problem and I would simply talk to some vendors at the Big E show this year.</p><p>So just two weeks ago my boys and I head off to the show, armed with a list of things to see, buy and discuss.</p><p>First stop - Lenz. I believe the name of the very knowledgeable person from Lenz was Debbie. We have talked to Debbie at several other shows and continue to be impressed with her product knowledge and desire to educate her potential and existing customers. We explained our dilemma and had a pleasant smile returned to us and the statement that we were now moving beyond the world of simple DCC. She embarked on the challenge of showing all of us (the boys included) how we go about configuring CV values. She showed us a great print out of what a manual might contain, as related to programming decoders - it seemed challenging, but not impossible. She suggested we head on over to the Tower 55 both and ask them about a manual or at the very least a CV list, so next stop, Tower 55.</p><p>Hmmm.... Customer service????</p><p>We walked up to the person standing in the Tower 55 both, who was in mid conversation. We were not certain of who the other party was in the conversation, but some of the conversation included acknowledgement that Tower 55 has been getting good exposure in Model Railroader magazine. To my amazement the Tower 55 rep made the statement "we are getting that good exposure, because everyone else's product is junk!" I could not believe what I just heard. The other person responded with an appropriate reply of "that comment is not necessary"</p><p>So they exchange good byes and I have my chance to chat with the Tower 55 rep. I explained our situation with the double header challenge. I also conveyed that I was disappointed at the lack of a real manual. I related that this was the most expensive engine we have purchased, and the lack of a manual was less then appealing to me. I was informed that the Digitrax web site is full of information and suffices as the manual. When I related that the DH163 is not one of the products, I was informed that I did not read the pamphlet correctly - "It is like the DH163". At this point the rep pulled out a three ring binder with a listing of the more common CV values - I said this would have been great to include with your product. He informed me that this was not available at time of production and the same information was available at the Digitrax web site. He further related that Digitrax would also offer tech support and that if I were not totally satisfied with the response I was getting from Tower 55, that I could call Digitrax. He also supplied me with his card and I asked that I E-mail him my question and he would send a copy of this CV list to me. Well two weeks have gone by and my E-mail has not been responded to. </p><p>I did go back to the Digitrax web site and located what seems to be the correct manual for the Tower 55 decoder - at least I think. I tired adjusting the CV values that seemed to apply to speed curves, in an effort to match the very smooth, even, and slow movement as seen in the $70 Atlas Silver Series that we bought last year. The result - terrible - the Tower 55 engine is now jerky, fast out of the gate and not even close to the operation of the Atlas engine - obviously a reset to factory spec is in order.</p><p>I will be calling Digitrax tech support to see if I can get some help from them. </p><p>This was a long post and a chance for me to vent my frustration to all those who care to read. If Tower 55 takes the time to read this, I hope that you either increase the cost of your engines to the point that us simple folk can't afford them, or make a much greater effort in the area of customer service - maybe Lenz would be able to offer you a few pointers in that area? They seem to remember that young hobbyist will grow up and continue to buy the products from the people that supported their product.</p><p> </p>
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