And on that note, let's let M.B. Klein work out the bugs with the new update and get back to talking about trains. Thanks...
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
One would think every other software roll out in the world was flawless after reading this thread. Even Apple has screw ups when they roll out a new IOS or new Iphone.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I am using a smartphone with AT&T cell service and chrome browser BTW and still cannot see the site...
Just tried again got it this time...
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
But that was my point: give it a week—bugs need to be worked out, systems need to be upgraded and integrated. They don’t have millions to spend on troubleshooting. Even so, this is probably a 100k minimum investment (200 is probably closer). For a million, it could be flawless on day one. For perspective, look at software or OS upgrades. Adobe and Apple have billions in R&D, I still wait 2 months before upgrading software or OS (note distinction between upgrade and update). You don’t have a choice with a website—when the vendor decides to go live, there you are. If this was your bank, by all means these faults would be staggering. But give it some time, nobody is gonna die because they can’t search for 0-8-0 this week.
Drumguy Gmpullman’s screen grab of the old site (yellow background) brings some perspective. I remember when that change happened. It was a bit weird getting used to the new site, but after a bit of exploration the shortcomings of the previous design became very clear.
Gmpullman’s screen grab of the old site (yellow background) brings some perspective. I remember when that change happened. It was a bit weird getting used to the new site, but after a bit of exploration the shortcomings of the previous design became very clear.
Right now the previous site from a few days ago isis making the shortcomings of the new site very clear. It's pretty sad, even depressing.
As for the real time inventory , most likely the devs simply haven’t got those 2 systems talking to each other yet. Same with all the broken image links. Sites like these are pulling data from many different sources, and it’s not like MTS is Amazon and can pump 7 figures (or more) into a fully functional staging environment and work out every bug before going live. What can I say, I’m an optimist...
What can I say, I’m an optimist...
Mbk should have made sure the new site was FULLY ready before going live rather than rush it out only half baked. This very poor launch is likely going to cost them money and customers.
I used the old site with full confidence. I don't trust this new one.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Gmpullman’s screen grab of the old site (yellow background) brings some perspective. I remember when that change happened. It was a bit weird getting used to the new site, but after a bit of exploration the shortcomings of the previous design became very clear. Hopefully that will be the case this time as well (UX wise it seems they are taking cues from Amazon). As for the real time inventory , most likely the devs simply haven’t got those 2 systems talking to each other yet. Same with all the broken image links. Sites like these are pulling data from many different sources, and it’s not like MTS is Amazon and can pump 7 figures (or more) into a fully functional staging environment and work out every bug before going live.
So far NOT impressed!
Had to reset password, no problem, but I placed an order a few days ago and now there is no record of it! Not liking this!
Your DNS hasn't updated. It's been live now long enough that everyone should be seeing the new site. About the only reason it wouldn't after this amount of time is poor DNS practices by your ISP.
You can try flushing your cache on your machine, for Windows you do ipconfig /flushdns from an elevated command prompt (Run as Administrator).
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I can't even get to the website all I get is "could not find IP address on domain server" error message! I've Googled "Model Train Stuff" and "M.B. Klein" and clicked on the website still nothing...
I'm getting sporatic connection to the MBK site. Sometimes a 400 error, other times a 404 error.
I finally got the site loaded a few moments ago and the first thing I had to do was reset my password after an email verification.
That went OK.
There are a lot of things missing, I agree. Hopefully they will come back soon (live inventory).
One feature I do find useful is the addition of a "Wishlist". Often there Items I want to keep an eye on for future projects or later needs. Now there is a wishlist. I find that helpful.
We have survived similar "updates" in the past... I guess we will have to Keep Calm and Carry On.
MBKlein by Edmund, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
DRfan Yeah, first they reduced their showroom by 2/3s and now there website is horrible. What are they doing and why are they doing it? I just can't understand it. Unbelievable!
Yeah, first they reduced their showroom by 2/3s and now there website is horrible. What are they doing and why are they doing it? I just can't understand it. Unbelievable!
I'm really disappointed, even sad to see the old site go
The things that are most important to me:
- real-time inventory
- account order history
- ease of finding HO items recently put into stock
are apparently a thing of the past. I'm not a happy customer and may be an ex-customer if this is how it is going to remain. Thankfully I have some alternative vendors I can use, but that not good for MBK.
There is an old saying, the customer is always right. If the customer is now wrong, it could be a bad move from MBK. I'm not going to write them off yet, but I"m definitely not liking what I'm seeing.
IMO, the new site is missing a lot of photo's. Thats a major fail. If the site wasn't fully ready for production, they shouldn't have made it live.
Another observation: when I was last at MBK was on a Timonium Show day. The store had a fair amount of customers but the rush had not yet arrived. The service was very poor. The trend over the past several years of service at MBK really saddens me. And now this. I guess good things don't always last.
I may have to write them a good old fashioned paper letter and send it to them via snail mail.
TheWizard On the bright side, it looks like they will be able to easily enable showing stock count, via their CRM. If they choose to remains to be seen though... https://support.bigcommerce.com/articles/Public/Inventory-Settings
On the bright side, it looks like they will be able to easily enable showing stock count, via their CRM. If they choose to remains to be seen though...
https://support.bigcommerce.com/articles/Public/Inventory-Settings
That's a good find. So I'm wondering if they tried doing all the website setup themselves using the BigCommerce platform, or if they paid BigCommerce (or a third party) to design the storefront using that platform (thinking a pro might not have rushed to make it live; on the other hand, a pro wouldn't necessarily appreciate what the actual customers look for in a store website). It also looks like the platform can support something much more user friendly than what Klein's has going now (like filtering for 4-6-2 or GP30 and seeing everything in that category).
Yeah, it's actually unusable on my iPhone, since it doesn't display the account page properly.
I totally agree with you. It is very difficult to find a particular locomotive or freight car. Say you want to look for all PS-2 covered hoppers (Kadee, Trainman, Bachmann etc.) it is really hard now. To me looking at the site today, it s a step backwards and reminds me of Walthers website. It is very easy to get frustrated and easy to decide to move on to another website.
hminky Truly dreadful, now they are just like everybody else. Took all the features that made them special, why bother now. Harold
Truly dreadful, now they are just like everybody else.
Took all the features that made them special, why bother now.
Harold
Kerry
So I just tried the site on my smartphone. Completely underwhelmed. I honestly think it's a bigger PITA now versus the old site to find things on the phone. Faster? Maybe. The thing is I never did serious shopping for items on my smartphone anyway. I use *gasp!* my desktop computer! On top of that, for whatever reason the old bookmark wouldn't work, so I had to make a new one. The new one no longer has their emblem as the bookmark icon. Theirs now bears an uncanny resemblence to my bookmark for MR's site. I'm sure it's a generic apple thing, but still. It won't take many times of me trying for M.B. Klein's site and getting MR to say the heck with it, and shop trainworld.
Mike
It looks like there are no Boolean functions either. Searching on "box car" OR boxcar returns just 4 items.
Ouch, best you get is that they have at least one, it will say usually ships in 2-3 days, or out of stock, there's a largre pink box with out of stock in it. No telling how many they have when they do have something. That's just a complete and total fail. The #1 reason for shopping there was no surprises, if they said they had 5, you could order 2 and always get it, no back orders.
Indeed, their site is now liek everyone else's. Everything that made them stand out is now gone. I can see how navigation on a phone-size screen would be hard with the old site, with the multiple dropdowsn for the filtering, but really, do that many people actually shop for specific items like this on a phone? A tablet was no problem.
At least they brought over accounts - even if no order history. And it appears they did all of them - they still have my old address as I haven't ordered anything since I moved, and that's been almost 4 years now.
Search is all dependent on the keywords entered with each item. If they put "boxcar" on some and "box car" on others, the results will be inconsistent. That takes plenty of human oversight to make sure those things are caught and corrected.
I have an email from MTS providing a lot of information. It is in response to feedback I gave them.
In short, the old site was bad and getting worse and they took the difficult decision to cut over to the new before it has all the features they (and we) want. MTS plans to add much of what is bemoaned in this discussion board, some in the next few days, some over a period of "weeks".
FYI
Search is very picky. For example box car as 2 words 1441 hits, as one word finds 578 hits. Results don't over lap "box car" gets 66 Accurail and 12 Walthers. "boxcar gets 1 Accurail and 134 Walthers (all 3 Walthers combined). "box" gets 1616 hits with 67 Accurail, but only 12 Walthers cars (and 4 other Walthers).
So overall I would say this new look is a BIG step back so far. It's probably faster because they stripped out a lot of the details and links in their database.
I will continue to shop modeltrainstuff, but will probably buy less since I won't be able to easily browse their site. Instead of looking over a whole category like O already built structures or HO 36 ft boxcars, I'll just look for specific ones I found else where so I can do a price comparison.
Hopefully in the future they will be able to "upgrade" to where they used to be.
Paul
ROBERT PETRICKinformed until after everything has been completed (including pinging the credit card) and you log out and your comfirmation e-mail says your item has been back ordered
Russell
Some stuff that was "on sale" very recently (special prices listed in red) has lost the sale pricing too. Whether that's an actual price change, or a bug in the system.... who knows now?
gshinWhat's interesting to me is why they didn't bring this site up completely in parallel with the old website, get everything fully operational and then just switch the modeltrainstuff domain over to the new site's IP address.
It is faster but the lack of records in "My Account" is a little scary as I placed two large orders over the last couple of weeks. I hope they have a record somewhere in case something goes wrong or is defective.
SB
gshin What's interesting to me is why they didn't bring this site up completely in parallel with the old website, get everything fully operational and then just switch the modeltrainstuff domain over to the new site's IP address.
What's interesting to me is why they didn't bring this site up completely in parallel with the old website, get everything fully operational and then just switch the modeltrainstuff domain over to the new site's IP address.
Indeed. When my employer has updated its website, both sites run in parallel, and if any problem arises right after the transition they quickly switch back to the old site. Also puzzling is that Klein's was doing the switch during normal North American business hours on Tuesday, and not at 3AM, etc. The site was down much longer than the "2 or 3 hours" that was promised leading up to the switch. I'd guess they're not too happy with whatever company is providing and maintaining their online storefront.
Looks like some things are still being added. First thing this morning, the manufacturer list was incomplete and not sorted. It looks much better now. There are still lots of images missing, however. And functionality - like pre-order.
Greg
Greg Shindledecker Modeling the =WM= Thomas Sub in the mid-70s
mbinsewi Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING has changed since the trend to cater to smart phones, and other devices. Even the regular places I go to to pay bills. I wouldn't even want to try and count how many posters and thread contributors, on here, do so on a smart phone. One reason why I deleted my signature links. Too many complaints about my post running off the page. Mike.
Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING has changed since the trend to cater to smart phones, and other devices.
Even the regular places I go to to pay bills.
I wouldn't even want to try and count how many posters and thread contributors, on here, do so on a smart phone.
One reason why I deleted my signature links. Too many complaints about my post running off the page.
Mike.
Hey Mike,
You are right, we are living in a thumb-typing, 140-character, limited-thought, short-attention-span, SmartPhone world.
I was one of those who mentioned that your links spread across my screen, but I hope you don't think I was complaining. But there is a way to bring back the links (which I clicked on before, by the way) using a short alias that won't spread out on the screen. Similar to my signature below. I think one poster tried to help, but apparently that didn't work so you removed them entirely. But there is a simple way to do it.
Now . . . back to M B Klein and their new and improved website.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog