R.T.
Maintain on the first page because of hundreds of negative postings.
Stop the "heatburn"
and NO KIDDING, I'm not going to do business with them. TRYING once (prior to being on this forum) was plenty enoughh
Well, internettrains led me to this forum, so that's a good thing.
I placed an order with them on April 3 2008. It's now 10 business days later and still no items allocated. I paid with a debit card, which they have NOT charged as of yet. So looks like they fixed their system inasmuch as cards are not charged on the day of the order.
Since I've not been charged yet, I'm going to see if I can see this thing through without making any contact with them. But if it gets to the 1 month mark, I'll send an E-mail asking what's up. I'll definitely update here.
My order was a $140 order, but it's not really holding me up, and the items I ordered are not things I am in dire need of. So I don't mind waiting... this time.
If I do eventually get the stuff, I may periodically place a small order every six months or so to see if they ever straighten themselves out. From reading this thread, it seems they are gradually fixing themselves (droped the spoof website, no longer charge cards on the day of the order) But they are definitely falling short of their 3-6 business day shipping as stated on their site. My guess is they wait until they get enough orders so that their suppliers can bulk ship them a bunch of stuff all at once thereby saving on shipping costs. But I have to wonder how often they actually get shipments in.
Also, if any of you are interested, here's the Google sattellite map of their "warehouse".
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=113+viking+ave+brea,+ca&jsv=107&sll=37.09024,-95.712891&sspn=50.910968,81.914062&safe=on&ie=UTF8&ll=33.920465,-117.90946&spn=0.001643,0.0025&t=h&z=19&iwloc=addr
Doesn't look all that big, but if there's no actual storefront, that could be enough space to maintain a decent inventory. My guess, though, is that they only stock the new stuff that has a high demand. You can also look at the place using StreetView, but the picture quality is too low to read the numbers off the doors, so I couldn't figure out which one was the actual location.
I'll update this every week, or as the status changes.
UPDATE!
17 April 2008
11 business days after order submission, my order status screen shows activity. Of the 9 items I ordered, 6 are now showing up as allocated.
As of the time of this post, my account still does not show a current or pending charge.
Total time waiting (including weekends): 15 days
I have orderd for times now from dallasmodelworks.com and the service has been fast and quick to respond to my questions. That's where I'll stay!!
The aerial photo of the "store" appears to be a tilt-up type of building. It looks like each space might be about 20' wide and 50' deep with a ceiling of about 16'. If it's not set up to be retail, I think it could hold an enormous bit of stock.
Ed
Man I ordered my stuff 1-8-07, and because of an understandable vendor issue with Sunrise Enterprises, I waited until May or so to get confirmation of my cancellation. They charged my credit card immediately and have ben told that because of when I ordered that my credit card could not be creditied for the amount due. I was told a check would be forthcoming. I was then told 3 months later that accounting was still trying to catch up on the back log of credidts from the previous year, and after almost a full calender year of waiting for my refund, still nothing. I was even told on Friday that I should expect a refund via PayPal this past weekend. What a surprise still nothing. They only owe me $52, but it is the principal of the matter. Who charges a persons account before the merchandise ships out? I have never seen this before. Back to the front page you go. Thanks for hearing me rant. Next time I will listen to warnings.
EMoney
I'd also ask for the years worth of interest on your 53 Bucks!
Wow, I'd never even think of ordering from this place, you know what they say, bad customer reviews can kill a business and I do think it is going this way for them.
These horror stories are interesting but sad.
UPDATE
Day 25
17 business days from order
On Friday one of my items was updated to "discontinued". I ordered 4 of them, two were allocated.
I found the two cars I needed at discounttrains.com. Before ordering just two, I decided to call Internet Trains.
I called their 800 number and got through on the first try. I called at about 11:00am MST, which would have been 10:00am where they are at. I asked about the discontinued item and was told that the two which were allocated I will be getting, but not the other two. No problem there. I was also told that they had to order the bulk pack of Kadee couplers I ordered, and that they should be in by the end of the week. (the couplers were shown as "available" on their site).
So, the big question now is which will arrive first? My order from Internet Trains placed on 3 April 2008 or my order from Discount Trains placed today, 28 April 2008.
Also, as of this time, my card has NOT been charged.
So, to summarize...
What has changed since this thread was started:
What has not changed since this thread was started:
So it looks like they are on the road to redemption. Three of the four original problems have been fixed. Now if they could just ship within a few days of orders being placed...
I will continue to update as things progress.
April 30 2008
I noticed today that my account had been charged for my order (minus the two cars that became unavailable). I checked my order status and saw that all items have been allocated. So, we'll see if it actually ships in the next couple days.
On an interesting note, Monday I placed an order with discounttrains.com for the two cars which were discontinued. I got the tracking number from them today. So the race is on to see who gets the package here first - Internet Trains, whom I ordered from 27 days ago, or Discount Trains, whom I ordered from 3 days ago.
ericmanke wrote: Man I ordered my stuff 1-8-07, and because of an understandable vendor issue with Sunrise Enterprises, I waited until May or so to get confirmation of my cancellation. They charged my credit card immediately and have ben told that because of when I ordered that my credit card could not be creditied for the amount due. I was told a check would be forthcoming. I was then told 3 months later that accounting was still trying to catch up on the back log of credidts from the previous year, and after almost a full calender year of waiting for my refund, still nothing. I was even told on Friday that I should expect a refund via PayPal this past weekend. What a surprise still nothing. They only owe me $52, but it is the principal of the matter. Who charges a persons account before the merchandise ships out? I have never seen this before. Back to the front page you go. Thanks for hearing me rant. Next time I will listen to warnings. EMoney
Unless one is making an order where a deposit is specified, one shouldn't be charged anything until the order is shipped. You should have reported this to your credit card company ages ago. The card company would have helped you settle this matter, and given you a credit (reduce your credit card balance) if the vendor didn't provide satisfaction.... I'd make my purchases elsewhere.
Mark
FINAL UPDATE: 6 May 2008
Here it is, 33 days later, and I FINALLY got my package. I only made one call, as I documented earlier, to inquire as to the one discontinued item. I never pushed for why it took as long as it did, so I'm confident that had I not called about that one item, I still would have got the package.
The package arrived in good condition. They shiped it via FedEx, which was very nice as I usually do prefer to have stuff shipped FedEx as they tend to treat their packages much more gently than UPS.
Oh, and my order from discounttrainsonline.com arrived yesterday. However, discounttrainsonline.com charged me 18.36 per car. Internettrains.com charged 16.58 per car. Discounttrainsonline.com charged 7.98 for tax, internettrains.com charged 10.99 for shipping. So, by going through Internettrains.com and having to wait three weeks longer, I saved $6.32. (including a $.43 saving for the pack of 10 pairs of #5 couplers)
So, everybody can rest assured, internettrains.com is a legitimate operation. They have fixed most of their problems. They no longer charge your card until your order is ready to ship. There is somebody who will answer the phone (or I got lucky). But they do take quite a while to ship. This is apparently because items which they have "available" means that they can acquire them through their sources. It would be nice if they differentiated between items on hand and items which are simply "available".
Bottom line is if you want to save a few bucks and don't mind waiting a month or so, internettrains.com is a fairly safe bet. Just be willing to wait a while.
I would order from them again as long as they can save me money over other online stores.
At my age, I can't wait a month or more for an order. I'm inclined to forget I even ordered something THAT long ago. It seems this post took on a life of its own, and the problems people have had getting their orders from Internettrains is certainly well documented. If I was concerned about saving $2 over another, yet faster shipping, online store, I'd have to think very hard if it was worth the $2. I've dealt with Discounttrains and I've NEVER had a problem, EVER. I think I'll just stick with them.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
I know what you mean by forgetting what you've ordered after a month...he he he !
I do that myself sometimes and boy am I surprised when stuff shows up in my mail box.
Is 6 bucks worth the aggravation over a month and hit-or-miss service? After an extended time and the uncertainty evidenced by the posts, you got a hit. Could as well been a miss, as the 11 pages of this post attest. I wouldn't gamble on someone who is trying to get their business right. Internettrains doesn't have better prices than several online stores that manage just fine...why waste your time with a store with a checkered history?
hi Im new here and i just want to clarify to you that I ordered from internettrains on june 8,2008 the amount total to $300++. They have charge my credit card that big amount and wrongfully charge me with another $90++ which they never notify me what charge is this related to. I emailed them 8 times already and they still havn't replied. I also email steve@internettrains and he also won't reply to my emails. Now I'm planning to contact my credit card company for this matter.
just want to share to you all that this site charge your credit card on the day you ordered and give you additional charges without even an explanation. So people BEWARE OF INTERNETTRAINS!!!