Athearn Are You Serious?!?

Okay, so Saturday I bought a 5 pack and single car of Athearn's N Scale Coalporters beautifully lettered for the NS G113 series and today I took them out of the box the run them when I felt something moving around in one of the cars. I flipped the car over to remove the coal load to see what the problem was then PLOP out came the car's weights, and internal bracing!!! I proceeded to check the rest of the cars and the same thing happened to all the other cars in the pack! Now most of the cars' internal bracing is broken and I'm mad. Athearn are you serious? Is this some kind of cruel sick joke? A warranty paper came with the cars so has anybody had experience with Athearn's warranty, and could I possibly get replacements that won't fall apart?
:frustrated::crying:

 

Usually you can send right back and get brand new cars.

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Unfortunately folks only are spot checking stuff coming out of the factory thus there can be almost a whole run that can come out like this. I would dare to say that there are others in the same boat and Athearn is going to get a bunch of cars back. One of the problems when you are over here and your factory is over there and you have no feet on the ground there to check stuff hourly.

 

I sent an E-Mail to Athearn asking about replacements that won't fall apart. I want to support Athearn's N Scale line but if I get any more cars like this I'm determined that I want my money back. I just hope they can counter poor QC with good customer service.

 

Got glue?

Cheers,
-Mark

 

Sigh, I just think it'll be too big of a hassle to have to repair all the damage. I'm sure I won't be buying the other set. Next time I'll be sure to go with Kato.

 

Any chance the problem occurred in transit rather than before the items left the manufacturing site?
Won't the dealer simply exchange them for another set?

 

I've seen on The Railwire where a guy had the same problem. It seems it's not an isolated indecent. The thing that gets me is the single car is just fine, no broken braces or loose weights! The dealer is two hours away and it was the last set they had so I'll wait for Athearn to respond before contacting them for a refund or exchange.
.

 

I have a friend that got a 2 of the NS 5 packs and all came with broken off weights and busted bracing, beyond repair. Athear wouldn't help at all but the store he purchased them from did replace the 2 packs but they had busted bracing too. He ended up just returning the cars for a full refund.

I was going to get a set of these but now I'll just pass on them.

 

Recently a friend bought a Challenger from the last run that had some of the driver rods disconnected.
He also had one of the first runs of FP45 that didn't run or didn't have sound working.
He was alittle upset, but got a hold of Athearn about the issues.

They told him to return the two locos and they replaced or repaired them at no cost.
The only thing he didn't like was he had to pay for the return shipping to Athearn. After consulting with them on the phone, they paid for shipping both ways since these were be NEW locos that were under warranty.

I think it took 2-3 weeks to get them back.

A simple phone call may be your best best.

 

Give Athearn a shot at making good please. I mean... ive needed kato, bachmann and atlas warranty svc. They all came through.

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Athearn still hasn't replied to my Email and I called the LHS where I got them and the lady I talked to was shocked. She said I need to bring them in and show the owners. I'll try to give Athean a call tomorrow but I'm not too sure I'd like to get the cars replaced because the replacements may be broken as well.

 

I got two of the new BN sets and all had loose weights and broken braces, ( got all three of the original run sets and had no problems) I think the problem is the packing. In the original run sets each car was in the same style of jewel box that the single cars were in. In the new runs, the multi car sets are not in jewel boxes at all. they are in a single multi pocket vacu-formed cradle that obviously does nothing to protect the cars from hits no matter when it happens. I figured it was more trouble then it was worth so I just plan on always running them with the load. But it is still pretty poor. I will certainly think twice before buying any future runs.

 

Appears to be more unintended consequences of cost saving measures...

 

I might suggest you go back to the hobby shop you bought them from. If not from a hobby shop and if you bought these at a swapmeet...gosh...I don't know what to tell you. Other then see if you can find the guy that sold them to you. Not sure what legal footing you really have here other then to send them back to Athearn.hboy:

From reading on it sounds like you are headed in the right direction. Keep your proof of purchase, receipt and etc.

 

How much more can you cut cost? Mostly everything comes from China and prices keep rising. They than wonder why the youth have given up on the hobby. Not affordable.

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I've all 6 sets of the Conrail coalporters and they are all in these types of packages. The only one that had anything remotely like this is the last set I purchased off of that online auction site. It arrived with 1 car having a loose weight. That package came from TX in August. The other 5 I got from either train shows or the LHS. I am wondering if the glue used to hold the weights in place does not like temperature extremes. Stuff can get mighty hot and cold inside a container or a trailer several times, especially moving over long distances. Factor that and some "gentle" handling with some shipping companies and I am not sure my fillings would stay in place.

 

I still say I would fix it and forget it. Bob.

 

I echo this statement also. Takes a little effort but ultimately less time.