Micromark

[Medina1128]

In December 2007, I ordered an underside creeper from Micromark. Last year, one of the leg sections broke along the welds. I was totally bummed out. This is a great tool for working under my layout. Last week, I wrote an email to their customer support, and the replacement part arrived this morning! Wow! It's nice to see that there are still businesses that put customer support first. THIS is one of the reasons I repeatedly order from them. I read a lot posts where a company gets bashed for perceived bad service. I believe in, not only complaining when something's not right, but, giving praise where merited. I highly recommend them.

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

 Yup I'll second that purchased a Bachmann Heavy mountain from them a few years back and it was defective I was going to send it back while placing an order I mentioned it to the person on the phone he told me to hold on and when he came back he told me to send it back to them and they would take care of it. Less then a week later a different loco arrived in the mail but this one was DCC equipped and with sound. It was accompanied by a letter apologizing for the clearly defective engine and said that they didn't have a direct replacement so they sent me this one.I always had excellent service from them but never expected that. 

[pj1775]

I'm a micromark junky too but I will say (not to be negative) that we as hobbists should expect that kind of customer service.   Micromark items are not cheap.   Not even in cheap's neighborhood. 

 

 

[Left Coast Rail]

Cheap is not necessarily always the best route to take. I've been a happy Micromark customer for a couple of years. I don't feel their prices are out of line and the quality of the products that I've purchased have been top shelf.

[pastorbob]

Gosh, I have one of their overhead creepers that I use quite often to do things in the Oklahoma City yard which is high and wide.  Hope I don't have a weld break and land on top of downtown.

Bob

[Phoebe Vet]

pj1775

I'm a micromark junky too but I will say (not to be negative) that we as hobbists should expect that kind of customer service.   Micromark items are not cheap.   Not even in cheap's neighborhood. 

 

 

People looking for cheap as the primary factor are the reason that everything is made in China.

[yankee flyer]

 HI

I bought a Spectrum 2-6-6-2 from M.M. and had good delivery. I have noticed that I can go to Habor Freight and buy some of the exact same things at a fraction of their price and no shipping cost. One thing in their favor, they have a large selection of things. 

have a good day all.

Lee

[twhite]

Marlon: 

I swear by that company.   Good prices, excellent service and GREAT  Customer Relations.  I ordered their "Topside Creeper" about a year and a half ago, it was at my door in less than a week, via UPS (and I live clear across the country!).   

I'm always finding some goodie in their catalogue that makes me think, "Hey, somebody FINALLY came up with this!"    They usually get my business at least four or five times a year because of their incredible catalogue. 

I'm glad you had success with that part--shows that Micromark is still one of the Good Guys! 

Tom

[HaroldA]

I just had my first experience with MM and it was great.  I wish all of our on-line stores had this kind of service and respect for the customer.  And it is nice to read all positive comments!!

[jwhitten]

pastorbob

Gosh, I have one of their overhead creepers that I use quite often to do things in the Oklahoma City yard which is high and wide.  Hope I don't have a weld break and land on top of downtown.

Bob

 

 

NEWS FLASH!

Residents flee as Bobzilla Invades Oklahoma City.

 

(just when you thought Oklahoma was OK)

 

 

John

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

yankee flyer

 HI

I bought a Spectrum 2-6-6-2 from M.M. and had good delivery. I have noticed that I can go to Habor Freight and buy some of the exact same things at a fraction of their price and no shipping cost. One thing in their favor, they have a large selection of things. 

have a good day all.

Lee

 

 

Ah you think your buying the same items Lee but your actually not. I happen to be smack in the middle between Micromark and Harbor Freight here in NJ. I've been to both places and  have noticed some of the same tools in both places but when you physically hold the Harbor freight stuff in your hand you can plainly see there cheap Chinese knock offs.

The top side creeper that M/M sells is called a truck creeper, generally used by mechanics who work on four wheel drives and large trucks. They can be purchased for significantly less and some with free shipping.

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

yankee flyer

 HI

I bought a Spectrum 2-6-6-2 from M.M. and had good delivery. I have noticed that I can go to Habor Freight and buy some of the exact same things at a fraction of their price and no shipping cost. One thing in their favor, they have a large selection of things. 

have a good day all.

Lee

 

 

Ah you think your buying the same items Lee but your actually not. I happen to be smack in the middle between Micromark and Harbor Freight here in NJ. I've been to both places and  have noticed some of the same tools in both places but when you physically hold the Harbor freight stuff in your hand you can plainly see there cheap Chinese knock offs.

The top side creeper that M/M sells is called a truck creeper, generally used by mechanics who work on four wheel drives and large trucks. They can be purchased for significantly less and some with free shipping.

[cacole]

Micro-Mark (note the hyphen and capitalization) is owned by a model railroader -- Tom Picarillo, whose specialty is scratch building O scale traction, so he uses many of the products that are in his catalog.

 

[chutton01]

Allegheny2-6-6-6

I... have noticed some of the same tools in both places but when you physically hold the Harbor freight stuff in your hand you can plainly see there cheap Chinese knock offs.

To me Harbor Freight was founded on selling cheaply made (but servicible) imported tools & equipment at low prices (you get what you pay for - sometimes this works, sometimes not). Unfortunately, the first part of this equation (selling cheaply made imported tools) has been widely adopted by US retailers, while the second part (at low prices) generally has not....

I'll add another vote for Micro-mark, have purchased a decent amount of their tools & supplies over the year, but one thing I was going to get (sort of an artist paint brush cleaning jar, could have been useful I think), apparently the molds were broken, the item went out of stock, and there were no plans to make new molds - oh well.

[HOn21/2]

I miss Micro-Mark's little store they had in one corner of their warehouse. I used to make an annual trip up there with a train buddy to see all the things they had in person. The man behind the counter was real helpful. They provide the same service as The Model Railroad Shop in Piscataway.

[pj1775]

Take it easy there happy.  

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

I would like to add my praise as well for Micro-Mark.

I have made several purchases with them and have always been very satisfied with their service and quailty.

Purchased a Bachman SD-45 from them at half the price of the regular MFG. and just love it.

Only problem for us in Canada is getting their fluids or paints.  Not allowed by Post. This is upsetting here in the prairies as we have very poor selection of Railroad paints here.   When I need an item such as these I have them shipped to my Son in Spokane Wa. and pick them up when we visit him or He brings them home when He comes here.

Micro-Mark  is a first class operation that deserves our support.   

Johnboy out...........................

[Capt. Grimek]

Allegheny, do you by chance have a person's name at Micro-Mark who helped you out with your loco return? (via a PM if you'd rather.) Mine's over a year now but clearly defective. Thought I might call them before sending it off to Bachmann. I order from MIcro Mark as often as i can afford to. Great service and prices (on some items). I too like that the owner is an active Model Railroader. Glad to hear about he alternate source of truck creepers though. I will check into that! By the way, if folks haven't seen the Topside Creeper in person it's VERY large! If you have any stuff stored under the layout it's going to be difficult getting those long legs under the benchwork. (It's larger than it looks in the catalog and heavier!) Anyone know if there's a smaller/lighter version out there? Maybe for compact pick up truck work? Thanks.

[jecorbett]

MicroMark is definitely one of the most customer friendly companies I have ever dealt with. Not only do they offer great products and reasonable prices, but on those rare occassions when there has been a problem, they have taken care of it promptly. They rate an A+ in my book.

[Seamonster]

I'll add my vote for Micro-Mark too. I order on-line and I like getting that series of emails telling me of the progress of my order. Am waiting right now for an order. The post offices in both countries aren't the fastest in the world. Maybe their sled dogs are getting tired. The only down side for me is the high price of shipping to Canada, especially for small orders. So maybe their prices are a bit higher than other places, but quality and customer service are worth a few extra bucks in my books. They have the most interesting and unique stuff in their catalog too. I like their Switch Tender turnout controls. I've tried putting both Peco and Atlas controls under the layout and abandoned both efforts after much frustration. The Switch Tender is much easier to install. Granted, no switch machine is easy to install under the layout, but of those three, the Switch Tender is the easiest.

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

Capt. Grimek

Allegheny, do you by chance have a person's name at Micro-Mark who helped you out with your loco return? (via a PM if you'd rather.) Mine's over a year now but clearly defective. Thought I might call them before sending it off to Bachmann. I order from MIcro Mark as often as i can afford to. Great service and prices (on some items). I too like that the owner is an active Model Railroader. Glad to hear about he alternate source of truck creepers though. I will check into that! By the way, if folks haven't seen the Topside Creeper in person it's VERY large! If you have any stuff stored under the layout it's going to be difficult getting those long legs under the benchwork. (It's larger than it looks in the catalog and heavier!) Anyone know if there's a smaller/lighter version out there? Maybe for compact pick up truck work? Thanks.

 

To be honest I don't think I ever got the guys name, he was just someone in customer service doing a good job, I didn't have mine that long it was I would say a month or tow at the most. Give them a cal what do you have to loose. Yes the owner is an avid model railroader and from what one person there told me over the phone he's the guy you see in their adds on the topside creeper and the same one building the bridge. I've been to their place several times but have never met him but several of the guys I know from the Union Model railroad club know him personally and say he's a very nice guy as well as everyone else there. I truly believe thats the real reason why they have such good customer service is that he's one of us and not just some guy looking at the numbers on some balance sheet.