I have no doubts that MTH builds a very fine product.. However , as well all know , occasionally from time to time you will get one that just isn not right and needs to be returned. I have had great things to say about them until the first time I actually needed them to fix something that was defective right out of the box... They never answer emails, Mike is known to be the most arrogant man on 2 feet and all they seem to care about id outtng out their next product..Locomotive quality , I will give it a 9 ,on a scale from 1-10 customer service that runs about a 0. I belong to a rather large railroad society in Northestern PA. One of our members is a reseller for MTH, he flat out says, even if he tries to talk to him , they just ignore him or walks away ... I know one thing, this is my LAST MTH loco ever, alot of our club members are leaning the same way .. I am just trying to get some input on other members and how they feel .. I ordered a loco from bachmann a few weeks ago because I likes the details in it. It had issues, I had email resposes within hours and new parts sent to my door step within 24 hours. Many other vendors also are quick fast and helpful,... What is it with this guy ? Then I hear 4-6 weeks for a repair? huh? Maybe hiring techs and customer service reps that talk to you in a friendly tone would solve that problem...I am not posting this to cause issues, I just don;t want to see some poor individual save his pennies spend alot of money on it and then basically wait a month and a half to get it back , put the atitude to deal with on top of it and call it a road you will never want to travel again .. There are many other manfactures out there that build products as good and better.. MTH is not the end all and be all in trains..thank god..I might leave the hobby if it they were... Heck at this point my bachman engine is cruising , the MTH Loco is still in the box sitting in the same spot it has been for wieeks, with still no answer or plan.. A reseller told me to mail it in with nothing in the box but the loco and a phone number, then they will call yelling at you for not following protocal , however you will have a person on the phone and get answers,,,we shall try that Monday :-)
I wanted what I thought would be a simple answer to simple questions--no repairs needed. I have waited the six weeks for an e-mail response from them and still nothing. I have a 4-12-2 that has been sitting and asked what needed oiling or greasing to lessen the clanging noises of the rod running gear and a door hinge sound from the tender's wheels or axles, but no reply. For such an expensive piece, I expected more. I like this engine, but I will not buy another product from them until I hear from them.
I'm a member of a large HO club (10,000 sq. ft.), and we have a lot of members (~70) who register their engines for club use on our Digitrax-powered layout. Currently this roster is up to 1288 locos. Of all these engines registered, only one was made by MTH. There are reasons for that: toy-like looks, poor programming ability, and very little customization available in their DCS decoders. Throw in their high prices, terrible customer service reputation, arrogant advertizing, and their short service life on the Chicago MSI layout, and no wonder people are staying away in droves. And I haven't even touched on their lawsuit history...until now.
To give you an idea of how rare this lone MTH engine at my club is, there are more Ingalls 4S's in the club than MTH-anything. Now, that's rare!
Paul A. Cutler III