Is the hobby shop doing the right thing? I want your opinion... (SOLVED)

[selector]

It may be their firm policy not to reship anything until the original has been returned. That said, I agree completely that this is unacceptable. You might want to mention in your NEXT e-mail to them, Electro, that most of us on this forum agree with YOU. That might help to shift them a bit. [;)]

[electrolove]

As I promised you Aggro, here is the name of the shop.

http://www.tonystrains.com/

Yea, I know what some of you are thinking, can that be possible?

[electrolove]

That idea has crossed my mind more then once, in the next email maybe...

QUOTE: Originally posted by selector

It may be their firm policy not to reship anything until the original has been returned. That said, I agree completely that this is unacceptable. You might want to mention in your NEXT e-mail to them, Electro, that most of us on this forum agree with YOU. That might help to shift them a bit. [;)]

[railroadyoshi]

gee whiz
tonytrains, i never would have thought of that

the best thing i can suggest is find that package
swaying the company might be a waste of time
sometimes, one has to do it themselves

that said, i do not approve of what tte has done, and i suggest you voice that not only with e-mails, but with your wallet.

[NZRMac]

I had to return a loco to tony's, they asked that I wait till it arrived there so they could assess the problem before a replacement was sent. Took around two weeks but had no problems. I now have the J instead. I've had nothing but awesome service from Tony, Ken and Heidi.

EL hope your problem is sorted soon.
Atleast give them till Monday. I know its a pain, their Monday morning is my Tuesday over here is a long weekend sometimes!!!!!

Ken.

[ereimer]

yikes i'm surprised it's tony's . everything i've read here and in the digitrax yahoo group about them has been very positive . i haven't ordered from them myself , and since i'm most likely going to buy my DCC gear from my LHS i probably won't anyway , but this does worry me as i'm not in the U.S. either , and i'll bet this would have been resolved sooner if you were a U.S. customer , if only because it would be easier for tony's to deal with the U.S. post office

[jsoderq]

I believe there is more to this than meets the eye. Knowing Tony's there is some problem here not of their making.

[peterjenkinson1956]

i have never ordered from tonys....perhaps i should ask about about their return policy...looking for a good dcc system

[AggroJones]

OHMYGAWD! Tony's!? Well.....

The only thing I've ever ordered from him was a BLI A class when they were being blown out. It arrived fine with minimum of fuss.

[electrolove]

The reason I started to buy things from Tony's was that I have heard so many good things about them. My first contact with this company was with Tony himself and everything was fine. But then Ken took over and all kinds of problems started. If I for example ask 3 questions I get 1 answer. My last question was, what is the shipping number you used to send me the wrong track? I did not receive any answer at all to that question. I just tried to help find the package. I ordered Walthers/Shinohara flextrack, Ken shipped me Atlas. This is Ken's mistake, a mistake he must deal with. Why do Ken not just pick up the phone and call his post office and they will tell him that the wrong shipped package is returned from Sweden? It really doesn't matter if this is a respected company, they suck! Still no answer to my latest email, I will wait until monday.

One more thing, when this is sorted out. I will not buy anything from Tony's trains again. I wonder if they care at all...

[trolleyboy]

Wow I work in retail. If you make this type of mistake you need to swallow your pride and fix it at your expence(stores). This is not the way to build a business,certainly opne with the reputation of good service that this store has. really a shocker. This is one example of why I won't order stuff online.Of coarse in your case you haven't much choice. Hopefully this will get resolved to your satisfaction. rob

[Virginian]

If their policy is to wait until the item is back in their hands before issuing a refund, I think you are stuck with that. I don't disagree with them on that, although I am sure you don't care.
You should have gotten a return shipping number from your post office when they sent it back. I think that is what went wrong, and your track may have disappeared forever into the infinite. They got proof they shipped it to you. You don't have anything as near as I can tell except you told the post office to return it. No doubt your postal service is better than ours, but if it is even similar I see a big problem.
I have not found email to be the best way to resolve problems. Email is legal proof of nothing.
Always pay with a credit card, and then you are protected. If you call the credit card company, and then follow with a letter, be sure you do it within 30 days of your getting the bill on your credit card statement. If you did not get the item for ANY reason, or you can show you sent it back and it was received, you get ALL your money back, including any shipping and handling charges. That was done because sellers would charge $15 or $20 shipping, knowing someone was going to return their junk of whatever ilk, but not refund those charges.
From what I know of Tony's, if you had gone to the Post Office and had shipped it back, insured, you would be covered for every dime.
Good luck. I sent a guy a $300 money order for a loco off ebay, and didn't hear a word for three weeks. I figured I was screwed. Turned out he was in a wreck on the way to the P. O. Loco was damaged in the wreck, and he got another one from the manufacturer and I eventually got it. Hope you situation turns out okay in the end.

[jwr_1986]

A few thoughts here. I have shipped a lot of items overseas from my ebay sales. Usually the only service that lets you track internationally is UPS and similar. I have never found a way to track a package through the postal service if it's any thing other than domestic. Second our Postal service here has a bit of a problem accounting for anything. That package could be sitting between the seats of a delivery truck right now and they wouldn't know it. Just an aside, I bought an old postcard with a water color painting of my home town on it once. The Post office lost it for six months and it finally showed up wet and with tire tracks on it; luckily it was pack well and was undamaged. I'm just trying to figure out where you get this notion that they can just call their post office.

The other thought is that you could contact the Better Business Bureau(spelling). Tell Tony's you intend to and that may help. Businesses here tend to take the BBB seriously. Talking to the owner might help but my experience with Tony has been that he can never do anything wrong. This comes from seeing him at shows bullying customers. Good luck.

Jesse

[Virginian]

I believe you're being too hard on Tony. He can do something wrong, he just can never be wrong.

[electrolove]

Do you mean that Tony can never be wrong? I have heard that before...

QUOTE: Originally posted by Virginian

I believe you're being too hard on Tony. He can do something wrong, he just can never be wrong.

[Anonymous]

Wal Mart doea it everyday.

QUOTE: Originally posted by chateauricher

I don't know of any store that would issue a refund without getting the merchandise back. If that were true, anyone could walk into any store; claim a problem with something they "bought" there; not return it; and then walk out with a refund. H*ll! I think I'll walk empty-handed into Leon's (a major home furnishings store here) tomorrow and demand a refund for the big-screen tv, and the set of stainless steel kitchen appliances that aren't satisfactory. [:)] I could use the money for trains. [;)]

Can you imagine the financial losses stores would incur if that were true ???

So, yes, the store in question is doing the right thing — waiting for the merchandise to be returned before issuing a refund. The problem here seems to be the unusual amount of time it is taking for the merchandise to be delivered to the store by mail. It would seem to me that it has been lost, either by the Swedish post office, or by the American postal service. The package's tracking number should help locate it. Its probably stuck in a warehouse somewhere. Or, considering the paranoid US Customs these days, it might even be in a customs warehouse being held as part of an anti-terror investigation.

If you really want this track, I would do as locomotive3 suggests — re-order it and ask the store to refund you when the original package finally arrives.

[Roadtrp]

I'm not saying that you are wrong or that Tony's is wrong... just that I would have done a couple of things differently.

1) I would have NEVER asked the post office to return the item before I had received it. That leaves the transaction totally out of your hands and you have no idea what was actually done. You don't even know that the post office in Sweden ever actually received the package from the U.S.

2) I would have contacted Tony's and made sure I knew how they wanted the item returned and what address they wanted it returned to. Post Office or UPS, insured or not insured, etc. The address is important because companies frequently use a separate address for returned items than the address it was sent from.

Good luck. I hope things work out in the end.

(Edited to correct typo)

[loathar]

I f you never touched it and they called the post office to have it returned, They should be more accomadating to you as the customer.m But it sounds like your both getting screwed by the post office. Just have to figure out which countries post office. I'd like to know what LHS it is so I can avoid them. You shouldn't have to suffer for their mistake.
Let us know the out come. This is valuable info.
Good luck!

[AntonioFP45]

JWR,

Bullying customers? I hope that's not the norm.

[electrolove]

I hope I will get an answer from them today Monday. I think that answer is VERY importent. The only thing I want is to get this sorted out so I can continue with this great hobby. I'l let you all know what they tell me.

[chateauricher]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BigRedneckRob
Wal Mart doea it everyday.

I don't know about WalMarts in your area; but around here, they (along with all other stores) won't refund your money unless you hand back the item you bought.

[electrolove]

1) I do know that the Post office in Sweden received the package.

2) I contacted Ken at Tony's and did exactly what he told me to do to return it.

Thanks, yes I hope it will be solved soon.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Roadtrp

I'm not saying that you are wrong or that Tony's is wrong... just that I would have done a couple of things differently.

1) I would have NEVER asked the post office to return the item before I had received it. That leaves the transaction totally out of your hands and you have no idea what was actually done. You don't even know that the post office in Sweden ever actually received the package from the U.S.

2) I would have contacted Tony's and made sure I knew how they wanted the item returned and what address they wanted it returned to. Post Office or UPS, insured or not insured, etc. The address is important because companies frequently use a separate address for returned items than the address it was sent from.

Good luck. I hope things work out in the end.

(Edited to correct typo)

[electrolove]

I have been on the phone for several hours. Talking to so many people that I can't remember them all. And now I have the shipping number. But, and this is important. I did NOT get the shipping number from Tony. That have been the easiest way for me as a costumer. But what more can I do then ask Tony for it. He didn't answer me on that.

So we will see if I can track it down today.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: I did NOT get the shipping number from Tony.

Then who did you get it from? Are you saying you got the original shipping number from someone else? How? Or did you get the return receipt number from your post office?

Sorry, but this whole thing doesn't quite make sense.

And frankly, I think you're making a big to-do about very little. If you paid by Visa, all you have to do is contact Visa, tell them Tony shipped the wrong item, you returned it, and wi***o reverse the charges because he won't. Send any accompaying documentation. They will provisionally reverse the charges and ask Tony to explain. Visa is on YOUR side. The burden of proof is on Tony. It may take a while, but it'll get sorted out.

Now, if you can't prove that you actually returned the track, you may be out of luck. That's why you should have accepted the shipment, then returned it with proof of having received it rather than leaving it up to some munchkin in your post office. If you do have the return receipt, make sure Visa has that.

Mike Tennent

[electrolove]

I have not received any answer from Tony's yet so I will wait and see if they will solve this.

Else I will contact VISA as you suggested. Thanks.

[palallin]

Walmart is irrelevant. Do you have any idea how large a number the "Shrinkage" line item in their budget is? Walmart misplaces more stock every day than this Tony guy stocks in a year. A little shop can't afford to throw away money like that.

Given that they are dealing with an overseas customer who cannot prove that he in fact shipped the package back--that was your screw-up, electrolove--I'm not surprised that the shop isn't refunding just on your word. (And, just so it's known, I'd never heard of Tony or his shop till I saw this thread.)

The uncertainty on their part is being reinforced by that fact that they haven't gotten a package from you. Why on earth should they assume that you're telling the truth?

Good Luck.

Originally posted by BigRedneckRob

Wal Mart doea it everyday.

Originally posted by chateauricher

I don't know of any store that would issue a refund without getting the merchandise back. If that were true, anyone could walk into any store; claim a problem with something they "bought" there; not return it; and then walk out with a refund. H*ll! I think I'll walk empty-handed into Leon's (a major home furnishings store here) tomorrow and demand a refund for the big-screen tv, and the set of stainless steel kitchen appliances that aren't satisfactory. [:)] I could use the money for trains. [;)]

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