MTH big boy is broke already!

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I just stumbled into this thread for the first time. I have an MTH GS-4 which I got 2nd hand. It was a mess with lots of broken detail parts, but runs great. I contacted MTH in Nov 2012 to get parts, it took them almost a month to respond to me via email letting me know that they had what I needed. I ordered them over the phone with my rep at the beginning of January 2013.

Now its almost March and nothing has showed up yet in the mail. I have followed up a few times without any response. Its frustrating! I know they are busy, but its been 3 months since I started this process. Dont really have any other options though, besides to wait. Probably wont get any more MTH locos and stick to Broadway Limited, I have 5 and they all work great.
 
Ive been trying to get some replacement handrail stanchions that I misplaced on two of my MTH SD70ACe/M2s. I have been in touch with MTH for about 6 months. I went about 4 1/2 months with no info/callback from them. One week, for about 4 days in a row, I called Midge Wilburn (parts) and left short voicemails saying I had been trying to get in touch with her. I also followed up with an email. She finally called back and worked with me. She emailed two days ago and said some (gray) stachions had come in and asked if I could use those. I said yes as Ill paint the other ones black for my NS unit (the other is UP). I havent heard since then; I guess Ill go back to watching my credit card account for charges from them and the mailbox. Frustrating. Nothing like my experiences with Intermountain (the best imho), BLI, and Athearn. Funny, never needed any parts for a Kato...

Brad
 
Midge is the same person I have been working with at MTH. I have called Intermountain and Branchline Trains (before Atlas bought them) and had really good, fast service from both for parts. Maybe MTH needs to hire a few more people.
 


I get the feeling she no doubt knows what she's doing, it's just she's swamped. I wanted to use their automated parts system, but after months of no availability, I needed a real person on the phone.
 
I appreciate all of this information. I had seen a couple of their locomotives that I could possibly consider, but after hearing this horror story, I will no longer consider them. A few years ago I had a problem with the gears for the trucks in a Bachman Spectrum three truck shay. I sent them an e mail stating my problems and in less than 2 weeks I had the replacement parts.

I think they have to work on their customer service in a big way, especially with what they expect their customers to pay for their goods.
 
yea boy i emailed athearn for the big boy parts i needed i got an ansawer the next day !!! all they wanted was my address & the parts showed up a week later & no charge !!
 
bigB said:
I get the feeling she no doubt knows what she's doing, it's just she's swamped. I wanted to use their automated parts system, but after months of no availability, I needed a real person on the phone.
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Hello. tank you for calling MTH parts & service, dis is Peggy, you hold pleez, no? (click):D

Seriously, for what they charge for an engine, parts ought to be available and service techs need to be at the ready. Bachmann does it, Athearn does it and I, along with a lot of other folks expect it. Sorry Crandell, were gonna have to agree to disagree on this one, cuz I don't expect a little inconvenience from time to time. Not when everyone else does it.

But most of all, from all the complaints I've heard about MTH, the common thread isn't the breaking of this, or the failure of that. The most common failure is a people failure. To borrow a line from the movies: "What we have here, is a failure to communicate" Why can't they, if they tell people it will take 90 days to get a part, be calling them on the 89th day and tell them if it will be in tomorrow or not?
Til they change that attitude, they are doomed to eventual failure.
 
This is an old tread, but I wanted to let you guys know - after ordering my parts in mid-January, they showed up at the house this past week. I guess eventually they will get your parts shipped. My only gripe besides the timing, is that they didnt provide an invoice to show the cost for everything. I remember giving my CC info, but I have no idea what they charged me for shipping and all the little parts I got.
 
Wait a second here. You paid for some parts to get shipped to you in Jan, and you just got them 4 month later?

Thats the craziest thing I've ever heard. I would have called them after two weeks, yelling at the top of my lungs.
 


yea BLI & athearn have both send me parts with in days of me emailing or calling, MTH (HUGE FACEPALM) I just dont understand them......... they couda been a contender ...
 
I was seriously considering an MTH locomotive but after reading this thread, I am reconsidering.

If I had one of their expensive units and got that kind of treatment, I'd call the local BBB in the area of the company and register a complaint. I had a business at one time and never had one registered against me but knew others that had and it can truely hurt a business in the pocketbook.

I think I will look up MTH on the BBB and see what I get just out of interest ;)

Update:

I looked them up on the BBB in Columbia, MD. and didn't find much, just one complaint this year that was resolved. I did find it funny that it was a complaint for service...

http://www.bbb.org/greater-maryland...-in-columbia-md-18011953/complaints#breakdown

I also looked up the business on CorporationWiki.com and came up with little as well...

http://www.corporationwiki.com/Maryland/Columbia/mikes-train-house-inc/56259044.aspx

The MTH name is a sub-company (or DBA) of Mike's Train House it seems.
 
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Its pretty crazy how long it took. I started the process in late November 2012 by sending pictures of damaged parts, from there the responses from their customer service took 3-4 weeks typically until I got enough information to be able to order the parts. Bascially its been a 6 month process. I have a feeling the person handling it was just overwhelmed with work.

In contrast, I called BLI for a steam engine part in March, paid and had the parts in around 6 days. Same goes for branchline and intermountain, both were fast.
 
Thanks for this information. i was toying with the idea of perhaps ordering from them even though I do not operate with DCC, they have a couple of locomotives that interested me. Guess I can scratch them off of my list.
 
Fwiw, most companies have occasional issues with supply chains.
A year and a half ago, I bought a new IM U18B online When it arrived at home I discovered the fuel tank was missing. I called IM, and was told they didn't have that part, and didn't know when they would have it. They got all my info, and 6 months later I got a phone call from them telling me the part was in, and they would be sending it out to me.
The difference seems to be how the problem of no parts was handled.
 
Well I think that if you're going to produce a locomotive, that you also produce extra parts like bodies, truck sideframes railings etc, for when someone has a problem with their loco.

Having to wait 6 months or more for a loco to be repaired, a part replaced etc, is the main reason I repair my stuff my self, from my brass to my plastic locos. I don't have to wait, there's plenty of new detail parts, replacement motors, gearboxes etc. If I have to wait 6 months for a repair, its not a problem with the company, I'm just being lazy!.
 
Cjcrescent said:
Well I think that if you're going to produce a locomotive, that you also produce extra parts like bodies, truck sideframes railings etc, for when someone has a problem with their loco.

...
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Maybe a whole lotta someones had a problem with their MTH Big Boys and they plumb ran outta parts. :D
 


Of course another probability was that there wasn't enough parts produced. But whatever the case,it does seem rather interesting that they would have so much trouble with this particular locomotive. I wonder if before the folks at MTH brought out the Big Boy locomotive,did they do enough testing to work out the bugs before shipping? It would seem they did not. But I could be wrong. William.
 
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