My wife ordered my xmas present 12/4 from internettrains.com and still no sign of it. They don't answer their phone, saying they are all busy, and they don't take voice messages. The online tool to track shipments just says they are working on getting it working. Anyone else having problems with them?
Garrett
I've ordered from them a few times, and it's usually taken a while for them to get stuff together (though, I usually pick them for some of the less common stuff, if for no other reason than they list it). Right now, I've got an order I placed on 11/19 that's still unshipped; according to their order status, 2 of the 3 items are definitely there, and they're waiting on the third.
As I've heard it, this is because they don't really have much, if any, actual inventory, instead ordering from their suppliers when they get orders (for the less-common stuff; they might have an on-hand stock of more common, "major brand" engines and cars, but I've never ordered anything like that from them, just detailing parts and the like). But, they'll still show these things as "in stock", though it'll take them some time to get it.
It takes a lot of patience for dealing with them; you'll (probably) get your order, but shouldn't expect it to be in quickly. I hate to say it, but you probably won't have your Christmas present by the big day.
I have figured out what is wrong with my brain! On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!
My experiences are similar to those listed above, including the phone calls. However, I found that they do respond to email - in my case within a day.
I ordered some HOn3 switches on 11-29-06 and they arrived on 12-18-06.
-George
"And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their father's magic carpet made of steel..."
I've got the Walthers GN passenger set ordered from InternetTrains. The initial order was quite slow and, having sent them a fair-sized initial payment, I was concerned when the shipment didn't arrive after a month. On the 30th day, I phoned them, got an answer, and they claimed to have packed and shipped it that very day. Since then, subsequent cars have arrived as promised. For convenience' sake, I'll let the full order stand, but I'm somewhat reluctant to place additional orders with them.
My experience with InternetTrains came right on the heels of placing an order via IHC's website. It's been four months since I did so, and I've yet to receive the order or anything other than an automated Email acknowledgment that the order was received, they've not responded to any of my Email inquiries. Strange behavior for a company that touts its "industry leading" customer service. I'm not holding my breath; and, indeed, my local hobbyshop owner won't deal with IHC either, claiming they're perpetually one step ahead of the law. I've no idea how true this is, but he's a good old guy who's been in the business a long time.
On the upside, I've had a great experience dealing via Internet with Walthers and Micro Tools. And, of course, I've had a good experience with all my eBay purchases.
Lynda
gewald wrote: My wife ordered my xmas present 12/4 from internettrains.com and still no sign of it. They don't answer their phone, saying they are all busy, and they don't take voice messages. The online tool to track shipments just says they are working on getting it working. Anyone else having problems with them? Garrett
They are slow. I waited for nearly 6 weeks last spring, no holidays or anything that intervened, for a Micro-Engineering 160' Combination Bridge. I got it, so they do as they promise, just not very quickly.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
I've dealt with a more reputable e-tailer, www.discounttrainsonline.com, several times with good results. But see what happens if you make a one-letter mistake and type in www.discountrainsonline.com, omitting the double-t between "discount" and "trains." Somebody else has registered that URL, which is probably legal but certainly not very ethical. They are, in effect, hijacking the business and the good name of Discount Trains Online.
One guess who is doing the hijacking. I'd carve Thomas engines out of my own leg bones before I would deal with those guys.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I ordered from them and it took about a month ot get the stuff because some of it was backordered. I finally told them to send the stuff they had and sent the backordered products later. UPS then goofed up and delivered the package who knows where. I'm still waiting for them to re-send the stuff.
-dekruif
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
I made the mistake of ordering a BLI Santa Fe #3751 from InternetTrains on Oct 21st because their web-site said there were five locomotives available. My credit card was charged $328 on that date. A month and a half later, checking their web-site, they were still "processing" my order. Then, it became a "back-ordered" item. Three e-mails, and two phone calls later, I was promised a December 14th delivery date... nearly two months after I ordered an "available" item. No more InternetTrains for me, again.
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
MisterBeasley wrote:I've dealt with a more reputable e-tailer, www.discounttrainsonline.com, several times with good results. But see what happens if you make a one-letter mistake and type in www.discountrainsonline.com, omitting the double-t between "discount" and "trains." Somebody else has registered that URL, which is probably legal but certainly not very ethical. They are, in effect, hijacking the business and the good name of Discount Trains Online.One guess who is doing the hijacking. I'd carve Thomas engines out of my own leg bones before I would deal with those guys.
I've ordered several times in the past, and never had a problem. My latest order is
apparently on hold, but they went ahead and charged my credit card. I emailed
them, but no response. After reading the preceding posts, I am now concerned
about this company. Is someone asleep at the helm ? If I can't get through to
their "customer service" about a reasonable request for information on how
my order is being processed, I will certainly take my business elsewhere.
I would like to receive my order,and am willing to wait a month or even two months,
but I really don't like anyone charging my credit card before my order is even
assembled,packed and shipped.
Cascade Green Forever ! GET RICH QUICK !! Count your Blessings.
Well, I'm not one to normally complain, or bring a dealers name into the subject, but seeing as how it has been started, here is my story.
I am in Australia, I ordered some clearance items on 23/07/2006, I was charged on my M/C the next day, after a month, then two, all I was told was that there were delays from the manufacturer and I could cancel the order if I wished (how do you wait for clearance items that are listed as "available"), I opted to continue with the order, several emails have been sent, with "its still being processed" answers to just a couple.
I tried tracking the parcel with the mail tracking number and came up with it as having been sent in April 2005, I queried this situation but never recieved a reply, on checking just recently, using the same mail tracking reference number, the parcel had been listed as leaving the USA at the start of December, as at the time of writing this, Christmas has come (and will be gone) and still no goods.
I accept the fact that they could be on the bottom of the ocean or elsewhere, but a bit of courtesy certainly wouldn't go astray, unfortunately, I am a bit more than just an hour away, and phone calls are expensive, I just have to wait and possibly (more than likely)wear it.
I did advise them that I wished to order more items, but was reluctant, then I noticed the items had gone up in price, but at all times, were listed as in stock and available.
And I didn't mention their name in here once, but yes, same firm unfortunately, yet I dealt with them some time back and the service was quick and commendable, have they changed hands maybe?
Teditor.
Teditor
Thanks for the link, I tried both, the one with two T's, and the one with one T, I feel pretty confident now that I can kiss my Aussie dollars goodbye, I think I hold the record for waiting, almost six months now.
Looks like paying more in the local Australian hobby shops will still work out better value.
Mind you, Kato USA, Atlas, N Scale Monster, Caboose, Horizon, others have all been great, guess there's a bad egg in every basket.
Teditor wrote: I feel pretty confident now that I can kiss my Aussie dollars goodbye
In the USA, you can contact your credit card company and "contest" a charge. There is a time limit, though, but that's probably set by each country's banking laws. To do this, you would have to at least e-mail the vendor (saving a dated copy) to indicate that you wish to cancel the order. If they don't credit your account, then you can ask the card company to do it for you. I think you could make a valid argument that the clock starts when you ask them to refund your money, not when they charged your account. They may accept that, or they may not, but it only costs a phone call to try it.
Hi there,
I thought I would chime in here. First, I want to apologize to any of you that have had problems/delays with your orders.
As most of you no, we implemented our new website and order processing system earlier in the year. Yes, it is a big step forward, but not without its problems and issues. I can assure you that we are doing everything we can to correct any and all problems. Our goal was to bring you better online shopping experience.
We process, fill and ship hundreds and hundreds of orders per week without any delays. Unfortunately there are some orders that have issues, and for those of you who have had problems, I apologize for that. We have feature rich complex back end now which will only benefit our customers. We're aware of the issues and are working on them daily to remedy the problems. I can assure you that we will get all the quirks worked out of our new feature rich site and order processing system soon.
A note on International orders. You will notice that many merchants won't even ship out of the US. We have a large International customer base and we will continue to service International orders. Understand though when we ship an order by Air Mail, it can actually take up to 90 days to deliver. This is not the norm, but this is a fact. If you specify surface mail, it can take months more for delivery. We recommend UPS, but it is quite a bit more costly.
On closing, Internet Trains has been in business almost seven years. We started this company for the love of the hobby and to help better serve online buyers. I can assure you that after seven years and being a modeler myself we would never intentionally try to rip any body off or not ship there order.
Thank you for your time and business.
Best regards,
Steve Guccione
President
Internet Trains, Inc.
Wow you have to read who your dealing with!
I normally deal with Internet Hobbies and I thought this was about them, not realising there is an Internet Trains!
Being from Australia I looked at another shop's policy on post and UPS is extremely expensive!!! Around $US250 to send an Athearn loco to Australia (No, it wasn't a Big Boy)!!!
Regards,
Nige.
I have just received a polite, direct email response from Steve Guccione, this impresses me more than any result thus far, I am not one for complaining, and understand problems that businesses have to deal with.
Some people do expect things to happen just too quickly, my five month wait may never end, but the fact that Steve has taken it up personally with me and is looking for a resolve is basically all I am looking for, if the trains happen to be on the bottom of the ocean, that's not Internettrains fault, but with luck a fish will choke on it and end up on my dinner table and I may just still get my trains.
I will keep you posted.
It goes like this: The company you are ordering from has 30 days to deliver the goods to you,
otherwise the should inform you about the delay and give you a possible refund which they
in turn got 30 days to pay back.You should contact the BBB in USA if there is any problem
with this company, which is very likely as they are wellknown whithin that bureau.
As for their president, he should instead explain why other firms can deliver abroad while
they seem unable.Too bad you haven´t read earlieir threads on this subject.Btw you will get
your money back, but go for a refund.
i recomend firsthobby in Illinois, they are 100 times more proffesional on overseas orders.
InternetTrains wrote: Best regards, Steve Guccione President Internet Trains, Inc.
Well, Steve, welcome to the forum. First, let me thank you for coming on board and directly answering your critics. That's a good, professional approach which puts you up a couple of notches in my book.
Still, could you do something about the "hijacking" of business from Discount Trains Online? Your company has registered the "discountrainsonline" URL, a minor mis-spelling of theirs, and you direct that to your site. While that may be legal, to me it's pretty unethical. I don't know if there are any other examples of this sort of behavior, but once St. Peter gets high-speed internet, you'll have to answer to him on Judgement Day if you don't clean up your act. Thanks.
I normally do not have a problem with waiting for items that are back ordered, but when the web site says the item is in stock I expect the item to be in stock. I understand that items in stock can change and do change, but you do not go from "in stock" to a response 8 buisness days latter saying, oops item was not really in stock.
I order something (Ahtearn Genesis F7 AB unit, RF&P) from internet trains on the 25th of November, recieved and automated email response with my order number, etc.. and my card was charged on the 27th. Automated response said item would ship 2-7 buisness days and an email will be sent with the tracking infomation. On the 8 buisness day I had not heard anything from them, I emailed them asking for and order status. A day later I get a response saying that the item I order was out of stock would you like itemj(F7 AB Union Pacific) instead, which was not even the same road name. I responded that item (Ahtearn Genesis F7 AB unit, RF&P but differnt road numbers) would be fine, which according to the web site it was in stock. I recieved and email saying that my original would be shipped next week aorund the 15th of December and I would recieve it in time for Chirstmas. Thursday before Chirstmas, with no order, I called and emailed to see what the status was. I received no response via email and it took 1 hour to get intouch with them. When I did get someone on the phone they said the item was still back ordered and would not ship until next week. At this point I asked for my order to be cancelled and credit card credit back the amount that they charged me. At this point I have not seen a credit and still have not gotten any reponses to email about my cancellation. I have filled a dispute with my credit card company on the matter and at this point it is just a waiting game for my credit.
I have order from many on-line retaillers and my internet trains experance has been the worst. Most place that I order from do not chage me until the itme has been shipped. I would hope that internet trains will make this thier policy, but I will never know if they do since I will not order from them again.
After repeated attempts to contact Internet Trains.com via email and phone, I am
going to file an official dispute with my credit card company. I consider this company
UNPROFESSIONAL, and I will not conduct business with them again.
In the past, I have dealt with companies that were out of stock. A month or two
down the road,the item(s) were finally shipped. BUT, they didn't charge my card
until they shipped ! Someone purporting to be the "president" of Internet Trains
spoke earlier in this thread. If it was legitimate, then why was the issue not
addressed -that of credit cards being charged before the item is even ready for
shipment to the customer ? When doing mail order or internet ordering,one must
have faith in the seller. I have lost that faith with Internet Trains.com.
There are many solid and reputable firms out there. I will take my business to
them.
If you look at their listing, you will see most items available in a certain amount of days, and many of the items listed are not available any longer. It is my thought they list everything and hope it is available, but do not stock much of anything.
Like a the Seinfeld skit about the rental car, They take reservations but do not hold them.
They know how to take orders, but do not know how to ship them quickly since they do not have much stock on hand.
I hope you can get this resolved as it is disappointing to not get what you ordered.
InternetTrains wrote: Hi there,I thought I would chime in here. First, I want to apologize to any of you that have had problems/delays with your orders.We process, fill and ship hundreds and hundreds of orders per week without any delays. Unfortunately there are some orders that have issues, and for those of you who have had problems, I apologize for that. We have feature rich complex back end now which will only benefit our customers. We're aware of the issues and are working on them daily to remedy the problems. I can assure you that we will get all the quirks worked out of our new feature rich site and order processing system soon.A note on International orders. You will notice that many merchants won't even ship out of the US. We have a large International customer base and we will continue to service International orders. Understand though when we ship an order by Air Mail, it can actually take up to 90 days to deliver. This is not the norm, but this is a fact. If you specify surface mail, it can take months more for delivery. We recommend UPS, but it is quite a bit more costly.On closing, Internet Trains has been in business almost seven years. We started this company for the love of the hobby and to help better serve online buyers. I can assure you that after seven years and being a modeler myself we would never intentionally try to rip any body off or not ship there order.Thank you for your time and business.Best regards,Steve GuccionePresidentInternet Trains, Inc.
Steve
Many of our forum members have experienced problems in the past with your company and would like to have a phone number to talk to a person when this happens. Customer service should be available to anyone having problems. This subject has been on the forum several times and some have given up.
At Christmas especially, your company should not accept orders for items that are not going to be shipped in time to be a real present. Think about the poor wife who depended on you.
I hope this is resolved.