Hi everyone, I recently received 3 brand new Wheels of Time 50' reefers. They have crossed the Atlantic and must have been shaken, because 2 out of 3 have the weight inside totally loose with both plastic threads broken. The roof was also slightly disassembled from the body. This could be pure bad luck and damage caused by transportation, but as these are the first items I got from this brand, I'd like to make sure this is an isolated problem. Thank you for your feedback.
They make excellent cars. I have never had problems like you describe. I would contact them directly.
Perhaps one time a truck pin had come loose so the truck separated from the rest of the car, but I corrected that easily. Other than that, I can not recall any similar problems. I have bought these things at shows, hobby stores and by mail. I have a few SP coaches and several HW baggage cars of various roads. I like the baggage cars and hope to see more from them. When you run mail trains, you need baggage cars; many of them.
Alan, my suggestion, since you are across the Atlantic, is to take detailed photos of the damage and send in email to them. I assume these were purchased directly from WoT. Note that Monday is a US holiday, so don't expect an answer immediately.
22 cars here of WOT and been happy with everyone of them but all my purchases are shipping only as far as Maryland-New York to California. I noticed lately USPS bashes the crap out of shipments (taking pictures almost every time) - fortunately the suppliers package well.
USPS is also the final delivery stage, for shipments handed off to them by Fedex and UPS. If any of yours are transported this way, the damage might be incurred pre-USPS?
No actually purchased through my usual retailer in the USA whom I fully trust. The package was not damaged and the items extremely well wrapped. No loose item in the package itself. So it is really the weight that went away inside the box.
It's possible sure. I ran the sort a few years ago for one of those 2 big companies you mentioned. I'm not sure the procedure on how the local USPS office checks in what is dropped off to them in this manner. I would think there is a system in place to notate any damage when received. Think of it as "covering your you know what." But I really have no idea on the procedure for this. Actually this is probably one of the few things I didn't know about this process. And now I'm going to wonder about it for an hour or so. Thanks.
I pay for the USPS cost in freight on websites that allow the choice, granted some just charge you a generic cost and who knows who has their hands on merchandise
QUOTE="AlanUS, post: 1025995, member: 8578"]No actually purchased through my usual retailer in the USA whom I fully trust. The package was not damaged and the items extremely well wrapped. No loose item in the package itself. So it is really the weight that went away inside the box.[/QUOTE] This last shipment of x3 WOT box arrived safely last week. The worst case I've ever had was ExactRail box cars; I have 12 total purchased off and on that have problems from couplers won't stay connected to multiple lose weights inside box cars (roof is glued and you can easily destroy the box trying a fix yourself), ExactRail offered 1 replacement and never heard from them again, refuse to purchase that product anymore.
I used to work for USPS, there is no checks. The sorters grab the cart from UPS or FedEx and just sort. If a carrier notes damage to a box, they notify the manager that a box is damaged than stamp it saying it was damaged when they got it. One morning I watched a sorter throw a box into my parcel cart, was a heavy box, which smashed another box already in the cart, told my manager what happened, he stamped it and told me to keep sorting.
Probably operating under some perverse theory which mandates production of "X" number of pieces per person, per hour. Quality of that production not a concern, "just do it".
dunno, I only own the WOT PCF type box, flats and bulkheads, Greyhound buses and RAYGO-WAGNER PC-90 Piggy Packer UP#70018
Were the weights glued in place? If so could have come lose during the flight over. I traveling to shows I have found out CA glue lets go when it freezes and have had kits re-kit themselves when on a long flight. rich www.rslaserkits.com
Actually on these WOT cars, the weight is screwed to the chassis of the car with 2 short screws. What happened is that the plastic threads in the chassis broke, resulting in the weight getting loose. I will re-glue everything, but I was just surprised because out of several hundred cars I own from various brands, which all have crossed the Atlantic by plane, this is the first time I see this happen.
