Would you like to talk to us about this? We usually suggested to customers that it would save time and shipping expenses by sending directly to Kato and arrangements would be made with Michael there.
We are sorry you feel the way you do and would like to hear from you about the alleged Rip Off on your pre-order.
We would like to make this right Mike.
Thanks , Mike & Robin Fifer
575-523-9743
Mike,
As for returning things the manufacturer - I have only had to do that once and that was recently with Athearn, even though I didn't buy the engine from Athearn. I sent the "faulty engine" into them and had the new one within 2 weeks. Perhaps that is the way Athearn does business compared to other companies, I don't know. My only complaint with that (in so far as Athearn is concerned) is THEY should have met the cost of the shipping for that return as it was their fault, something they did admit despite covering it as an "over sight".
You seem to refuse to talk to us about this and if so I can not help you. I refuse to discuss it any further on a public forum as you should have as well.
Thanks , Mike
No, because I already DID discuss all this with you, on the phone, and the above was what happened when I tried that. Don't rip off or blow off your customers and they won't come back to haunt you. This isn't like me whining a bit about something minor like Klein not being wiling to swap parts. This is you telling me that a brand-new locomotive that arrived defective wasn't your problem. This is about you not being willing to exchange that locomotive. This is about you blatantly over-charging me for a pre-order. I feel like a public forum is EXACTLY where this needs to be discussed, since you don't feel any need one-on-one to actually address these issues.
BTW, I do actually have documentation to back up what I've posted here. I somehow doubt you can say the same, as evidenced by your responding with a pitiful "shame on you" response instead of offering any countering facts.
Again, people...stay far away from Fifer Hobby.
They don't realize that for the price of a Loco they would have had thousands of dollars worth of good P.R. and more sales would have resulted! WT...?
None of the items discussed here are our company policy and there is more to this than you all are hearing. Once again we would have to assume that neither of you shop with us or you would know the truth in this issue.
Thanks , Mike & Robin
None of the items discussed here are our company policy and there is more to this than you all are hearing. Once again we would have to assume that neither of you shop with us or you would know the truth in this issue.
Thanks , Mike & Robin
Would you like to talk to us about this? We usually suggested to customers that it would save time and shipping expenses by sending directly to Kato and arrangements would be made with Michael there.
We are sorry you feel the way you do and would like to hear from you about the alleged Rip Off on your pre-order.
We would like to make this right Mike.
Thanks , Mike & Robin Fifer
575-523-9743
From my many years of experience with customer service I thought everything was proceeding well. Despite the unhappy customer due to an indifferent response to his phone call and the misunderstanding about price. I would be more then willing to bet it was only a couple of misunderstandings and could be easily resolved. It seemed to me this was an opportunity for the dealer to make things right.Not the impression I got. I ordered the Kato SD40-2 Maersk unit, and it had drivetrain problems. I called up basically to ask for a replacement and Robin told me that I'd just have to send it to Kato. No offer of a return or replacement from you. So like I said, evidently a "no returns" policy. I have no idea how well repairs are handled by Kato as I've never had to send them a warranty repair, but nothing was ever explained to me about that being faster or better or that you'd be talking to someone to expedite the process. I was left hanging and ended up having to rehabilitate the drive train myself. I'm more than capable of doing that providing parts aren't outright broken, but I shouldn't have to do it on a brand new unit, and not everyone who buys from you would even be able to. I also don't understand the comment about saving time and shipping expenses. Time, maybe? But shipping expenses are going to be about the same no matter where in the US I send it, and you should be willing to send an immediate replacement for a brand-new unit and dealing with Kato yourself rather than forcing a customer to.
As for the rip-off: I ordered 24 NS TopGons by BLMA, which were supposed to be priced at 30% off MSRP. The MSRP as listed by BLMA, Klein, and several other sources put the total MSRP for these at $550.80, which should have made the price before shipping $385.56. The price you tried to charge me was $458.86. So either you were overcharging me on the rolling stock or you were trying to charge me nearly $75 for shipping. Either way, I call that a rip-off. When put on top of the complete lack of interest in taking care of me on the SD40-2? Yeah, I'm done. No phone call necessary at this late date.
I was very surprised and to be honest disappointed by the dealers final response. It was the dealer who asked to discuss this in an open forum, not the customer. The customer has every right to vent any problem in any setting. We all have the right to free speech. The only good use for the final response would be for training customer service reps on things you never do.You seem to refuse to talk to us about this and if so I can not help you. I refuse to discuss it any further on a public forum as you should have as well.
Thanks , Mike
They don't realize that for the price of a Loco they would have had thousands of dollars worth of good P.R. and more sales would have resulted! WT...?
Not even the price of a loco, as they obviously would have swapped it out with Kato. They just didn't want to have to pay the shipping for a replacement, I'm sure. I can even understand that, but if a customer says they'd rather you just replace it than have to do a warranty repair, you should honor that and not just leave them hanging. It also would have been much more concrete than just "PR", as I had literally thousands of dollars worth of stuff pre-ordered with them and had purchased quite a bit of stuff from them before that. I had become a regular customer. They were great to do business with as long as there weren't any problems, but between being foiled on the replacement loco and then finding out about the overcharging, you can bet I'm not going anywhere near them again.
From my many years of experience with customer service I thought everything was proceeding well. Despite the unhappy customer due to an indifferent response to his phone call and the misunderstanding about price. I would be more then willing to bet it was only a couple of misunderstandings and could be easily resolved. It seemed to me this was an opportunity for the dealer to make things right.
I was very surprised and to be honest disappointed by the dealers final response. It was the dealer who asked to discuss this in an open forum, not the customer. The customer has every right to vent any problem in any setting. We all have the right to free speech. The only good use for the final response would be for training customer service reps on things you never do.
Two things a good customer service representative should never do:
1. Never close the door to further discussion.
2. Never tell the customer what they should or should not say or do.. That is of course as long as profanity or violent behavior is not involved.
If this had been my customer I would have offered all the money back for the defective locomotive and let the customer keep the defective locomotive. That would have been much cheaper in the long run rather then having negative comments mounting up in an open forum.
Good advertising is expensive and only semi-effective in increasing sales. Negative advertising such as this is free, but very effective in deterring sales.
For the sake of the dealer I hope the forum administrators delete this thread because this has to be an error in judgement. Possibly the result of having a bad day and saying something only to later regret what he said, we have all done that. In business you have to remove all emotion and be prepared to refund a customers money to avoid negative advertising. Write it off as a loss and think of it as money spent on advertising.
"...None of the items discussed here are our company policy and there is more to this than you all are hearing..."
"...Once again we would have to assume that neither of you shop with us or you would know the truth in this issue..."
Deleting the tread would serve nobody! These things need to be known AND discussed and an open forum is the perfect place!
The seller has a chance to explain or fix the problem and all should be well. The seller has apparently NOT and this is important for others to know!
I disagree. Can we agree to disagree?
I disagree. Can we agree to disagree?
Because you and I are reasonable peopleOf course!...