I saw this on The Railwire.net forum: "http://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=37643.msg457452#msg457452 See post #41 by Rich S = "Well, That is settled, I received a phone call from Bachmann today. Bachmann is sending me back my K4 broken, because they do not have parts to fix it! So much for a warranty, sure they offered me a Berkshire as a replacement, but like I told the woman on the phone, if I had wanted a Berkshire, I would have purchased a Berkshire. They also have no interest in buying back a few K4's from the hobby shops to use as parts engines. So basically as I see it, Bachmann took me for $250. I can't sue Bachmann for the lost money as I purchased the locomotive from a hobby shop. I will never purchase another Bachmann product again. Thirty years ago they were one of the worst manufactures in the model railroad business and it looks like they are headed that way again. Owners of Bachmann K4's beware!" You might want to think twice before buying a Bachmann K4 steam engine.
I read this on the Railwire. The reason Bachmann did not honor the warranty is because they are completely sold out of K4's. Yeah, who, other than Pennsy guys, would have thought that would happen? Spare parts are not available either but that is not out of the ordinary as usually the first shipment of a product does not contain spare parts. The same person who posted on the Railwire about this problem was on the Bachmann Forum also but the last post there was December 4, 2015. If I were him, would go back to the Bachmann forum and post there. People at Bachmann read their forum but maybe do not read the Railwire or Trainboard. By the way, my K4 runs great.
Often the first shipment DOES include spares. I recall several time certain manufacturers brought in a new product, with the spares, and (stupidly, as it turned out) put all the spares up on their website for sale. When all the spares were gone, THEN warranty issues began, and you were out of luck on a very expensive locomotive. Since Bachmann is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kader, who makes the stuff, getting parts would seem to be a non-issue, but Kader has other plans for world model railroad domination. Typically, their warranty of the last 10 years or so has been "similar or equivalent replacement", and why would you buy a K4 if you wanted a Berk? Seen it. Question is, what's broken? Next question is, how hard is it to fix? Like, if motor or gears, NWSL makes parts...but if you've tried to get crankpins out of some Bachmann steamers, you may understand why a $300 locomotive is now considered non-repairable. Many of us leaned on them for years to take returns, strip them, and bin the parts..but the wisdom prevailing in Philly is the crusher on the loading dock. Seriously. Think about bottom line. They can't fix it, you end up buying a new loco....and after dealing with this for 20 years, I quit cold turkey, no more new Bachmann products. Not interested. Used, maybe, as long as the money will never go to support Bachmann or Kader.
I have no use for them. I bought another tender with motor for the 4-4-0 i had. it says complete tender. It came without the trucks and wheels for it. I called them and the first lady said they should have come with them. She connected me with warranty and they said no that the trucks and wheels don't come and as it stould The wheelsets i had wouldn't fit. So i bought a tender i couldn't use... Trash...My 4-6-0 is a brick too. No more Bachmann.....
And I know a while back, Philly was telling the PRC Handlers "it's the economy" when sales dropped dramatically. Maybe.....maybe the QC and parts and cost all work together to make folks look elsewhere FIRST. One of these days the Ting Dynasty will wake up and clean house in Philly. Maybe start all over in, oh, San Jose, eh?
I had the same problem with the G scale shay they came out with. Life time warranty till you tried to get it fixed. I'll never by Bachmann again!
I thought Bachmann was real good on Warranty service. Guess I heard/read wrong. They should have stated that they didn't have spares at this moment and didn't want to hold on to your Loco until they did but please check back with us at a later date and more than likely we can help you, but no that didn't go down like that. Sorry for your sour experience
One of my last purchases was the 2-truck Shay. Just when they came out. 8-screw trucks, incandescent lights....and it quit in 30 days. Trucks literally fell apart. Howard Lee Riley said I was using wrong oil....so I read him the bottle..."LaBelle Plastic Compatible Oil". FINALLY sent parts, they quit in six months. Found new six-screw trucks, and now I have lots of parts to keep mine and others locally running. Back when Irv Holloway worked in Service, he would call me up, and say..."I have Shay roofs". I learned real fast what was happening was Kader would just run a box of parts..something...and include it in a shipment. So I would order a dozen. Funny...if you wanted a link pocket for a Shay or Climax, you had to order a "bookshelf", because that is what it looked like. And you learned top and bottom covers for the trucks were backwards.,...because the service guys looked at them upside down, so you wanted a top plate, you got a bottom. PRC electronics...joke. Flicker boards, HUGE interface boards, cheapest LED's they could buy, just bad. Heislers...oh, dear, that could take some time.
Don't get it wrong. Like MTH DCS, some like it, some hate it (due to "issues"). Most folks who have had to WORK on Bachmann use something else for their own railroad. Like in Half Zero, cut off escutcheon pins put into plastic drivers hot for crankpins. Last several I had in here were like that. All my Half Zero is Varney, old Mantua, John A. English, PennLine, where you removed a screw or bolt for a crankpin. I remember talking to the Bach-Man on the phone once when folks had gotten the latest Half Zero steamer and couldn't get it apart. He said, and I hope I am quoting correctly, they aren't designed to come apart. Seriously? After all these decades of trains, and folks have the audacity to say "they're getting better"? They should have gotten better before 1990. Kader has owned Bachmann for over 30 YEARS! Anyone tells me the new stuff is great....I recall the latest LS releases....seems the guy at Bachmann with shiny shoes promised no issues..and guess what? I mean, the trolley needs a new circuit board, for crying out loud! I had to work on one this Christmas used in a display...board burned up on track power, no less. Yeah, I can send this one in and get an "upgraded" unit, but I just hard-wired it. Never gonna get a decoder anyway. We had a thread on this forum about the new K4s....and everybody said it's great, Bachmann is great, top of the line, all that. And here we are.
I have read threads on the MR forums for years where people complained about one manufacturer or another. I dont think any of them are immune. Today its Bachmann....tomorrow it will be someone else. JMO
I can't believe Baaaaaachman is still in business. IMO they've NEVER produced a useable N scale locomotive. Warranting a dud still makes it a dud when (if) they ever get around to fixing it. Brian
My N scale Bachmann S4 is like a dream. Runs just great and looks just as good. And I'm pretty darn picky too!
You got to be kidding me. The Bachmann 2-8-0 spectrum was a better locomotive than the Kato 2-8-2. If you disagree with that statement then recall that when the Kato Mikado first came out it did not have traction tires and couldn't pull squat. Traction tired drivers had to be bought separately. I got four Bachmann 2-8-0's and not only does everyone of them runs great but they will out pull the Kato 2-8-2. Then there is the heavy Mountain, great engine! And let us not forget the B&O EM1 either. It is awesome. "NEVER produced a useable N scale locomotive" you say? I say Bullsh*t!
Oh my.. Here we go again. ... Poor shame..... I think everyone forgets what Bachmans business is about. The starter market for our young folks. Not, to produce a starter set that costs $500. But one mom and pop can buy within reason for the kiddos. I understand that they still have problems with QC. And design issues. And now warranty issues? Anyway, their will always be issues, it doesn't matter who it is. If you don't trust bachman. Then don't punish yourself. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
You wonder how many potential model RRers have been lost when they conclude, from the unsatisfactory quality of those starter sets, that all model trains are junk? It was fortunate that my first experiences with N scale were with a couple of sets from Arnold Rapido. Had it been based upon a subsequent purchase of some Bachmann F9s - which were equipped with what Spookshow called "the most godawful giganto-huge motors I've ever seen" - the game would have been over then and there. Those units went right back to the toy store from which they were purchased.
I am a 'late adopter' of the 21st century Bachmann products. I was burned by their 20th century products too often to trust their products in the new millennium. After numerous 'kudos' from various modelers and hobby store owners... I finally broke down and purchased several of their steamers. The results for me have been better than what I remembered from the 20th century Bachmann products. However, the fact of the matter is, there are a significant number of 'duds' which most modelers have had to contend with... including myself. The 'Lifetime' Warranty offered by Bachmann was supposed to help allay the fear of buying products which have had a history of spotting QC. If Bachmann is NOT honoring their commitment to correct the problems with their models as expected by the modelers... then... they have taken a HUGE step backwards. One of the problems with limited production runs, based on 'pre-order', is the potential for an inability to replace or repair faulty models. Not providing the spare parts for their own 'Lifetime' warranty is inexcusable from any hobby manufacturer. There must be some knowledge, at the manufacturers level, that there are weaknesses in their product and those weaknesses will have to be addressed with some warranty repair work. Also... it's not as if this warranty repair is offered for FREE... there is a charge IIRC... and its not that cheap for the steam locomotives ($25.00 each). I only have Bachmann steamers from their 'new' 21st century production... some of them need some warranty work... and I won't pay the $25.00 to ship them away. I would be 'disturbed'... to say the least... if I sent a Heavy Mountain back for repair and was offered a Berkshire as a replacement. I bought Heavy Mountains for a reason... I didn't buy any Berkshires for the same reason. If substituting one model for a completely different model is the way that Bachmann 'thinks' model railroaders view their warranty... they don't understand the HOBBY market... only the Toy market. I HOPE... that the allegations I've read about Bachmann warranty is not completely true. As I said... I have some models I would like to have 'repaired' or replaced with a SAME model including the SAME road name/road number. Anything short of that... is NOT a warranty I would rely on.
I am sorry you have had this experience. I think your choice of title for the topic is not exactly accurate. I have had similar experiences with Bachmann when I returned a steam locomotive to them and they did not have the exact locomotive available to replace mine. I accepted the alternate locomotive. I have had this experience more than one time and each time Bachmann offered a locomotive replacement that had a MRSP equal or greater than the locomotive I returned. Thus my experience with Bachmann USA has been satisfactory in my view. I was disappointed when they did not have the same locomotive to replace the one I returned, but I feel the option offered me was fair in each instance.
The loco had one of the tender truck melted, IMO it sounds like the loco was left sitting on the track shorted out. If this is the case then Bachmann shouldn't have to warranty the loco.
