poor customer service


D

dagnarble

New Member
On Nov 12th 2016 I sent my 3truck Climax (with sound) To Bachmann.A few weeks before then I had found that two of the trucks had split gears, so I ordered three news steel geared trucks, but after installing them engine would still not move. I figured it was something I was not able to fix so off it went. After two weeks I called to see if it had arrived and it had. I emailed in 1st week of Jan 2017 for an update and again on Jan 15th for information. On Jan 19th I got an email saying that my loco had been lost under some paperwork on a desk and that it was being sent to a technician. Still nothing so on Feb 22nd I emailed asking for any information and got no reply So today I called and after talking to lady was told that she would get me a supervisor. After 10 min on hold she came back and said the supervisor was on another line, but would call me when she was done. I waited for 3 hours then called back to be told they were now closed for the day. They have had by loco since November of 2016 and as of March 9th 2017 I cannot get any information at all. Am I the only one with this type of problem??
 
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Unfortunately, no, and not even just with Bachmann. What I mean is that occasionally a poster reports similar experiences across the hobby. It's rare, it's a pain where the sun don't shine, and it doesn't let you enjoy your locomotive. Hopefully you have a record of some kind of the exchanges, so they will be stuck with agreeing they took possession at some point and became responsible for your property. I would call once more, get a firm commitment to have it returned to you forthwith, or ask again to speak to the VP of Operations. In a perfect world, you'd have your repaired engine back inside of two weeks and enclosed would be a coupon or voucher for 20% off your next purchase. It would cost you the square root of sweet tweet to suggest they do that for you as a gesture of good will. :p
 
I will agree with you Crandell that it will cost only the square root of sweet sweet to ask for 20% off your next purchase, but the experience is not one to encourage another purchase. The fact that they admitted to misplacing a loco under paperwork on a desk doesn't exactly encourage confidence in their efficiency. Sort of conjures up visions of minions wading and diving through piles of A4, until one suddenly pops up from the pile shouting "I found it, I found it!"
 
Here's a story of excellent customer service...from Woodland Scenics. I ordered some of their Plug It lighting system components and one item turned out to be defective. I send a short email to Woodland Scenics describing what the problem and shortly received an email back from WS stating that they would send me a prepaid mailing label for me to send the defective product back to WS. I returned the product and within a week received a new product.

No jumping through hoops, no request for a sales receipt, WS just asked me where I purchased the product.

Thank you WS.

Great customer service.

Greg
 
I had a similar experience with WS. I purchased a metal gazebo kit and it turned out to be smashed. WS had me replacement parts in TWO DAYS!!!!
 
It’s a systemic problem in retail sales and service. Retail is a price driven market. Vendors run on short staffs to reduce costs, customer service suffers. They all talk a good game, but they won’t put their money where their mouth is.
 
I emailed Bachmann about cracked gears in my 3 On30 rail trucks. After 3 emails to them I finally got a reply from a lady working there. She was very nice and apologized for the delay. I just wanted to know if I could order the gears separately, because in their parts it only showed complete drivelines for sale at around $15 each. I bought these years ago off Ebay and have never run them. She told me they were off warranty, but she would see what she could do. About a week and a half later I received a small parcel with six complete drive lines and a note saying thanks for the purchases and that they were sending some spares in case the gears cracked again. Have to say I was impressed with the service. I have also received excellent service from Branchline and JL Innovative Designs. Bought some kits from Ebay with parts missing. Both companies gave me the missing parts free of charge even after I told them I had bought them used off Ebay. Didn't even charge for shipping. That is what I call 1st class service. Both companies said they just wanted to see me be able to complete the kits.
 
I inadvertently dislodged the teensiest sliver of metal on my Rivarossi H-8 2-6-6-6 that represented the mechanical lubricator main actuator arm. I looked, shone a light low, but...nada. I did some research, found the USA Rivarossi rep whom I believe was in the PNW, or maybe CA, and sent him an email through his web page. Within two weeks I had a letter-sized envelope with his card, taped to which were two (2) of those little slivers.

Not too shabby.
 
Good to hear all these stories about good service most of which is not Bachmann. I also got an email from the lady that works there, she is who told me that my loco was under some paperwork on her desk. ( saved that email too).Just can't believe that a company that has been in business so long cannot even be courteous enough to respond to emails or phone calls. Getting to the point now where I'm wondering if I will even get my Climax back. I'll keep at them I guess
 
I live a little over an hour from Philly and have been tempted to pay Bachmann a visit. I wonder how that would turn out....
 
Reading all of these posts makes me think of my own experience with Micro-Mark a while back. I never did get what I ordered even after a few phone calls to them. Has anyone dealt with Micro-Mark lately? I still get the catalogs and was thinking about placing an order.
 
I placed a Micro-Mark order last summer. Everything went well.

My main issue with internet sales places in general are their shipping charge practices. I research that before I place an order with a company.
 
Well I finally got some response thanks to a member on the Bachmann forum. They are going to send me a two truck climax to replace the one I sent in for a nominal fee. I have accepted. So we will see how things go from here.
 
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