Oh how the mighty have fallen.

[kbkchooch]

I felt compelled to pass today's experience on.

I recently started reporting to a new work location that has a hobby shop right up the street. In fact, I have to pass it to get to and from work. So today, on my way back from lunch, I decided to stop in and get reaquainted with the place.

For years, M.B.Klein was in a "not so nice" part of Baltimore, but was well worth the traffic congestion, the parking, the occasion wino, and the forbidding look of windows with heavy iron bars on them. It was almost and hour from my house, but always worth the trip. The help was friendly, and they almost always had whatever I wanted.

So today, I stopped in the new location outside the city. The person who greeted me up front asked if he could help me. I told him I was looking for a dynamic brake blister for an Athearn GP40.
He asked, "What scale?"
"Ho" I reply.
Then he pages someone for "HO service up front".
( Methinks, Oh boy, I must be getting an HO specialist!)

The guy comes up front and asks what I need, and I again repeat that I was looking for a dynamic brake blister for an Athearn GP40.
"What scale?" he asks?
"Uh, HO" I replied. (Sorry but I do have to plead ignorance here, as I really don't know if Athearn ever made a GP40 in N)
"What part again? " he asks.
"A dynamic brake blister."
"What's that?"
"Its the little removable part on an Athearn shell, in the center of the roof that has a fan molded into it" I replied, wondering if I need to draw him a picture at this point.
"I don't think they ever made them separate" he says, and leads me to another guy in the back of the store to ask him about it.
(what, does he think I'm buying a whole body shell instead??)

Person number 3, who when asked seemed A) irritated that he was even being asked the question, and B) seemed more intent on rerailing an N scale steamer than answering went into a quick song & dance about how Horizon bought out Athearn and that even if he could order the part, it might take several weeks to get it, if he could get it at all.

I said thanks but no thanks and left.

While I was in the parking lot I called another hobby shop closer to home. They had it in stock and would put it on hold for me, to go with some other parts I have on order.

I was warned beforehand this may happen, by a friend who no longer goes to Klein's since they moved. I thought,"Nahh, this is Klein's, that can't be!"
Next time I'll listen to him!

Now, this may have all been over a $2.50 part. BUT, the next purchase may have been $250.00. They will never know.

 

[weekendrailroader]

And it's stores like that which just won't stand the test of time.

When I go shopping for my pike, I shop at the hobby shop, not the hobby store. I have alway received excellent service from Brodaway Hobbies (formerly Everett Hobbycraft) in Everett, WA for years. I've been inside Hobbytown USA, but I don't think I'd trust them to order some obsurce structure that they don't currently have in stock for me. The hobby shop doesn't just sell trains, it does trains, meaning the people there have their own experiences with the equipment they're selling. That's something that the hobby store just can't compete with.

 

[malletman]

Same with the Train Exchange in Kokomo, Indiana. Started and run by a modeler, extra help are all modelers and I am the shops mechanic/brass repair guy. There is a second shop in town, but can be unfriendly and the prices are high. If you ask for a discount, you might get a song and dance on how the discounters, ebays and train shows are putting him out of business. The other shop discounts every day and even on special orders. I let my wallet do my talking on where my large purchases come from. Good hobby shops are becoming a thing of the past and many of us are not fortunate enough to have one anymore. I myself still want to visit Caboose Hobbies in Denver. I have bought several brass pieces from them over the years and just recently got a Hillcrest shay from them. Excellent condition and a knowledgable sales person on the other end of the phone were keys to me dropping the $$ for the model. Support your local shop when you can. Cheers Mike

 

[firetacoma]

Same with the Train Exchange in Kokomo, Indiana. Started and run by a modeler, extra help are all modelers and I am the shops mechanic/brass repair guy. There is a second shop in town, but can be unfriendly and the prices are high. If you ask for a discount, you might get a song and dance on how the discounters, ebays and train shows are putting him out of business. The other shop discounts every day and even on special orders. I let my wallet do my talking on where my large purchases come from. Good hobby shops are becoming a thing of the past and many of us are not fortunate enough to have one anymore. I myself still want to visit Caboose Hobbies in Denver. I have bought several brass pieces from them over the years and just recently got a Hillcrest shay from them. Excellent condition and a knowledgable sales person on the other end of the phone were keys to me dropping the $$ for the model. Support your local shop when you can. Cheers Mike

I love caboose hobbies! It's 10 minutes from my office and has seen quite a bit of traffic from me on my lunch breaks! The store is awesome just to walk around in too!

 

[stationmaster]

Mike, Ned Pence, he may have been a member of your club, told me about Train Exchange. We were always intending to make the trip, but he passed away and we never made it.

I miss S&S . Even though the shelves were usually thin, I always had what I wanted in a matter of a few days. A week at the most. Probably 1/3 of my cars came from Ron.

Another is Phil's Hobby Shop in Fort Wayne. When I lived in New Haven, they would see my face there 2-3 times a week. Thursday was the day they receive their orders, I know I didn't miss many Fridays in the shop. They've gone to RC lately, I haven't been there in about a year. I have found some great older stuff at the little store on Lake Ave. And the one in Defiance, Ohio. The store on Clinton was my usual stop. There were a couple of guys that worked there that were the tops.

Bob

 

[IronBeltKen]

Karl,

I vaguely remember reading in the fine-print of their relocation announcement, that they were discontinuing certain types of product lines - including small detailing parts. [I guess all their detailing experts either retired or were 'set free'...?] This disturbed me a little, but since there is that well-stocked shop in Laurel close to where I work, I just shrugged it off and planned to only use Klein's for ultra-low-price specials. Obviously they've changed their focus more to the 'distribution' end and away from the 'service' end.

However, I did have a slightly annoying experience there not too long ago. I noticed on their website that they had some Bachmann 'silver series' RTR 100-ton coal hoppers on sale for $11 each. They had plenty in stock, so I figured I'd just order some thru their in-store computer if they weren't on the shelf. When I got there, I noticed that they did have them in the regular store - but at $13/ea! So I went to their 'putor and re-checked the price - still $11/ea. So I started ordering them thru the online venue, and one of the guys walked by. I asked him, Did their floor stock cost them more than their online stock? He said they should all be the same price. I showed him the price tag one of the 'floor' items - he just crossed out the $13 price, then hand-wrote the $11 price and initialed it. This helped me personally, but what about all the poor schmucks who unknowingly paid the $13 dollar price for it? They're paying for somebody's price tag mistake.

I try to buy from Glen whenever I can, but once in awhile Kleins' loco prices are just too good to resist...

 

[Trucklover]

Im thinking one of the reasons for such poor service at MB Klien is that there so large and the specialize in literally 1000's of items that the guys just didnt know if they had them or not, and most of the people who work there probably do not even participate in the model trains hobby.... A LHS who has a lot less products in stock and knows what there talking about because they are a modeler themselfs would be more likely to know what your talking about and if they had it or could order it just like the experience you had with your LHS and the Athearn Part.

In my opinion, i think you should give MB Klien another chance, like you said it was a $2.50 part. And i think when you look at it from another way like i said above, that they most likely are not modelers themselfs and rather just working there because thats what they found as work....

Im glad to hear you got your part, and at the same time was able to support your LHS

 

[tankist]

incompetency (ala best buy tech guys) i can live with, i just research my stuff myself and know what i'm getting. what i really can't stand is lying.
of the 2 hobby shops within not even 5 minutes from home, one specializes in trains, other trying to sell them off and be more RC related.
i stopped by the train one and asked for atlas 25degree crossing. there is none in stock which i can live with but the owner after looking at atlas catalogs proclaims: "oh, thats a new item. it is due to be released in 3 weeks". c'mon! those are there for ages! if you don't have it you don't have it, nothing against, but why try to BS me like that?!

stopped by the other store and it so happened that 25 is the only crossing that they had left just hanging lonely in the middle of semi empty HO track wall. i so wanted to just go back in there and just show him the piece that is "not available yet"... i don't know how i should feel about that place...

 

[stationmaster]

I would have went back and rubbed it in his nose.

And I would start looking for another shop. And be vocal about it. Let the owner know that I will mark his shop as a second choice store. Maybe, second. More likely last resort.

Bob

 

[kbkchooch]

In my opinion, i think you should give MB Klien another chance,

Not a chance! Walking in, I kind of expected to not get the part, but I could have been easily pacified and would have ordered the part (if available) had the atitude been different. What whizzed in my shoe was the lack of focus and the pure BS I had to listen to about the part I wanted. The old Klein's store, while it looked like controlled chaos, was full of helpful people. The new place is almost anticeptic in appearance, but the staff is seriously lacking in the basic precepts of customer service. That's a field I have been involved in for the last 28 years, and because of it, I will tolorate nothing less than the same level of service that I deliver daily.

Ken How did you know who I called to get the part?? Yes, the Moose Caboose will continue to get the lion's share of my business, except for when I need a really wierd, out of production part and I travel to Gettysburg for it.

 

[IronBeltKen]

... when I need a really wierd, out of production part ... I travel to Gettysburg for it.

Wow, I haven't been to Gilberts in over 30 years! I remember being dazzled by all the brass in his displays. I'll have to make a pilgrimage there one of these Saturdays...

 

[nephthyr]

I have to agree, I hate it when sales ppl try to BS me, it really ticks me off. Which is why i've gone almost completely over to buying online, I'll research an item myself and then order it from the shop with the best price and availability. Obviously some things are better seen in person and for that I have my LHS which thankfully doesn't BS me.

I'm really sorry to hear about the bad experience from MB Klein, I've never been in their shop but have ordered online from them numerous occasions and on all of them I've been very satisfied. I guess its easier to fulfill customer satisfaction through an online store than in person.

 

[kbkchooch]

Wow, I haven't been to Gilberts in over 30 years! I remember being dazzled by all the brass in his displays. I'll have to make a pilgrimage there one of these Saturdays...

Tommy's still got lots of brass, and an incredible selection of parts. I'd go there more, but the drive makes it less than convenient. Usually I also hit Mainline in Blue Ridge Summit, and squeeze in a little railfanning along the way too. Wanna carpool sometime??