Dear Sir, The ZW circuit boards are currently out of stock. They will not be available again for several months. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you. Thank you, Lionel Talk to Us
Dear Sir,
The ZW circuit boards are currently out of stock. They will not be available again for several months. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you.
Thank you,
Lionel Talk to Us
." You stirred up a mess on another forum on the same subject, didn't you... yes. We all read the same stuff. Lighten up and call on Monday. "
Dennis
Yes. Dennis, and YOU made some accusations over there too! How about you knock it off?
Roger
What I think is interesting is the first reply that came from Lionel came from their customer service manager and the problem was "down played". The second reply came from Lionel's store (parts department) and they are telling it the way it is "SEVERAL MONTHS". Yes, I do not mind "stirring up a mess" if it saves someone from buying an item that is not currently supported by Lionel. I learned a long time ago that you always email different departments of the same company to find out the real truth. Once again "SEVERAL MONTHS"! I knew somethig was not right when Lionel removed the circuit pack completely from their store the day after I sent them the first email about why it said unavailable. I don't think it had anything to do with their getting ready to eat turkey on Thursday. NOW where is that article about pushing the train around the track by hand this year (and maybe next Christmas)???
I feel your pain, and it sucks to put it mildly. This is the unfortunate side effect of todays throw away society. I work as a small engine mechanic for a Cub Cadet dealership. I had a customer that had to live without his lawn tractor for over 1 month during the peak mowing season, waiting on parts from MTD to fix the bad steering box! This new fangled stuff is nice, but I will keep relying on my overhauled postwar ZW and postwar engines that have proven themselves over the years, and both made right here in the USA. Hope you can make the best of the situation and get by with your older transformer thru the holidays. Cheers Mike
LHS mechanic and geniune train and antique garden tractor nut case!
Sorry to not end this conversation yet but I do have a question? From what some others have said I take it that the power supplies are what is eating the circuit board? Has any one replaced the breakers with a more reliable breaker, if so what did you use? I was thinking about a 10 amp sealed breaker that self resets like I use on KW transformers. Any thoughts on the subject?
I don't get where you come up with that Lionel is not supporting the Modern ZW? They just told you the problem is with obtaining the parts for the circuit board and those parts are on back order. As soon as they come in the boards will be built and made available.
lionroar88 I don't get where you come up with that Lionel is not supporting the Modern ZW? They just told you the problem is with obtaining the parts for the circuit board and those parts are on back order. As soon as they come in the boards will be built and made available.
I guess SEVERAL MONTHS means support to some? To me it means that your ZW will not get fixed for several months and honestly I do not call that support. Sixteen months is a heck of a lot of "lead" time. I received yet another email from Lionel:
Mr. (I deleated out my last name)
Unfortunately at this time the circuit board isn't available and we don't have an expected date of delivery for them. We apologize for the inconvenience.
It doesn't matter what YOU consider support. When Lionel drops support of an item (ie the TMCC command base and CAB-1 Remote) they release an announcement. You have been informed that there is a lack of available replacement components, they are on order from Lionel's supplier, and as soon as they come in they will be made available. Simply because they removed the part from their website doesn't mean they have discontinued support. They most likely did this to keep people from ordering the part and then contacting them to see when it will be delivered. This makes sense when they don't KNOW when the parts will be available, they just know that they will and when they are the part will be relisted.It appears you are being a bit over reactionary and a bit unreasonable.
"It appears you are being a bit over reactionary and a bit unreasonable."
You think so? What if it was YOUR transfomer and it was all you had? Would YOU go out and buy another $450.00 transformer so you can run your trains? Or would you just walk away from your trains for months, maybe longer, until Lionel FINALLY gets the parts and gets around to making some new circuit boards? Maybe Lionel KNEW they had problems with these, and I am inclined to believe that because I have heard of several more that have blown? Maybe they SHOULD HAVE been ordering parts a while back instead of just blowing it off? Or could it possibly be that Lionel just figures that the transformers are like other electronics and just throw aways? It appears to me that Lionel did nothing until enough people starting complaining. Certainly would NOT be the first time they did that. Remember the CW-80 's? They are STILL replacing those! With what new trains and equipment cost's I do not think it is unreasonable to expect BETTER!
No, it isn't unreasonable to expect better, but you'll never see that as longer as people keep buying poorly designed items. The company is profiting in this case, so a change to a more reliable product would lead to less profit on their end.
The biggest part of this problem is that the American public wants everything as cheap as possible, wants quality, and wants everything handed to them RIGHT NOW. Because of this, we see poorly designed items rushed to market. Before anyone accuses me of bashing Lionel, realize that this issue of cheap, low quality items is far more widespread than Lionel.
lionroar88 It doesn't matter what YOU consider support. When Lionel drops support of an item (ie the TMCC command base and CAB-1 Remote) they release an announcement. You have been informed that there is a lack of available replacement components, they are on order from Lionel's supplier, and as soon as they come in they will be made available. Simply because they removed the part from their website doesn't mean they have discontinued support. They most likely did this to keep people from ordering the part and then contacting them to see when it will be delivered. This makes sense when they don't KNOW when the parts will be available, they just know that they will and when they are the part will be relisted.It appears you are being a bit over reactionary and a bit unreasonable.
I feel no guilt or remorse. LOL I am now busy waiting for SEVERAL months to fly by.
trainrat "It appears you are being a bit over reactionary and a bit unreasonable." You think so? What if it was YOUR transfomer and it was all you had? Would YOU go out and buy another $450.00 transformer so you can run your trains? Or would you just walk away from your trains for months, maybe longer, until Lionel FINALLY gets the parts and gets around to making some new circuit boards? Maybe Lionel KNEW they had problems with these, and I am inclined to believe that because I have heard of several more that have blown? Maybe they SHOULD HAVE been ordering parts a while back instead of just blowing it off? Or could it possibly be that Lionel just figures that the transformers are like other electronics and just throw aways? It appears to me that Lionel did nothing until enough people starting complaining. Certainly would NOT be the first time they did that. Remember the CW-80 's? They are STILL replacing those! With what new trains and equipment cost's I do not think it is unreasonable to expect BETTER! Roger
At this point, I think this horse is good and dead.
Bob Keller
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.
Get the Classic Toy Trains newsletter delivered to your inbox twice a month