Would anyone like to share their experiences of excellent customer service from internet retailers? This is prompted by my own, unfortunately rather bad, experience. I have dealt with two internet retailers for some time, they are efficient outfits, very good prices, but I find the acid test is when an order gets messed up, which it will once in a while, no problem with that. Unfortunately my recent experience in those circumstances from one of my retailers was of responses that were defensive and patronising in the extreme, downright rude I would say. Pretty irksome given the amount of money I’ve spent with them. The other guy is great but just never answers emails, ever. OK I could phone but its expensive from here. Am I being very unfair? For all I know theses are just young guys sitting in their parent’s garages, surrounded by cardboard boxes, reducing every overhead in order to offer the maximum discount, stressed out because they’ve got no help and no time to follow up on things. I got the discount, so what am I moaning about? Perhaps its because I’m not in the US and international shipping is a pain they would rather do without? Is it because I’m British? Come on, 1776 was a long time ago, and it wasn’t my fault! (I’m married to an American if that helps?). I won’t name names because this is just my personal experience, on the other hand I think examples of excellence should be shouted about. So if anyone has examples of internet retailers who are friendly to deal with and provide great customer service please tell.
I've had really good results over the years with BLW. Yeah, he's busy, but when I look at the number of glitches over the number of years of ordering, it's negligible. Walthers online works really, really, well, though the prices are too high. Best E*** shop I've ever seen is Plaza Japan, and I'd be just lost without them for my mechanisms. Prices, shipping, and communication the very best. I just had an online order with an etailer that I'll leave unmentioned that I never even got so much as an order confirmation for two weeks. I'll just be glad if I get what I ordered.
BLW and Fifer Hobby Supply have both been excellent for me for track, locos, cars, structures, etc. Fifer Hobby Supply, Tony's Train Exchange and Litchfield Station for DCC stuff; I've gotten dozens of Lenz Silver mini's from Fifer; Soundtraxx micro-Tsunamis from Litchfield, and all my Digitrax stuff from Tony's. John C.
Hmmm .. Brooklyn Locomotive Works (BLW); Rio Grande Hobbies (aka 4Nscale); Nscale Supply; Fifer Hobbies; Charleston Digital (DCC); Tony's Trains (DCC); Aztec Trains (DCC Frames, etc.); MBKlein; These were what I thought of immediately .. and I have had great experience with every one of them. :thumbs_up::tb-cool::thumbs_up:
N Scale Supply comes to mind.........lets me know if something is backordered or temporarily out of stock, and gives me the option to change the order if I want. They've done quite well by me.
I've always been happy with Caboose Hobbies... Yes, they are my LHS; but, I do my orders via the internet with them and then pick up the orders as pieces come in. Like with most companies, mistakes happen and they have always been good with their customer services when that happens. The other day they shipped me my order at a S&H cost of $8.95 and one phone call from me about the order was for "Pick Up" they credited my card back the $8.95... :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up:
I really like the real time inventory at woo woo woo woo woo woo (some train store.com). No waiting to see if it's in stock, you know right up front.
No, I must say, "unfortunately" NO! You're not alone,definively. I really enjoy your post and mirror myself in some occasion! Having different experience with several e-shoppers, what I can add, without drop bad names here, is just "try&pray" and make your experience! MAybe this will be different country by country? Sometimes you realize that having best discounts , don't match with having best service. But main argument here is, to me: International customers have different needs from US customers. They simply count on good feedback from a far supplier. Never order 10 items and received 3 without a note about "why" a month later? Me yes! And the only tools we have in hand as customers (after some mails) is just: avoid this shops and use the others. Cheers Enzo Fortuna Modeling SP Coast line in Italy
You are to be commended for NOT mentioning the names of the two dealers with whom you have had problems. I will refrain from posting further here since the thread will invariably degenerate into a plugging contest for some dealers and a posting board for complaints against others. I would suggest you just shop around as you have been doing. What might be great for you, might be horrible for me and vice versa.
I quite agree, given my experience my motive was to bring out some postives, as well as get good leads on other retailers.
Yes you are not alone with your grievence, there's always going to be a few bad ones. And I commend you for not being so upset that you mention names in your post. The good ones have been already mentioned by other members here so I won't repeat them, and would advise you to shop around with some of them. Good luck, and enjoy our Hobby. :tb-cool:
BLW and Wig-Wag get the bulk of my e-business. Once submitted a sizable order to BLW. When it arrived I was shy one decoder. After a quick call the missing decoder was in the mail. I received it in a couple of days. No questions asked and even got an apology for the mispackaging. I always get a reply from Wig-Wag via email or phone if I have a question about my order. It's unlikely you'll find someone beating their prices to boot. Brian
I usually buy from fifer. great service and prices.. recently I ordered decoders from dcchobbysupply.com. a couple weeks later when I got around to opening the box I realized they didn't ship one of them. All it took was one quick email and they'd shipped the missing unit. I was all prepared to have to find my receipt, ship it to them.. prove that it was missing, etc.. that's great service in my opinion I'll be a repeat customer now.
I placed an order with BLW last night at 11PM Pacific Time. I recieved an E Mail at 10AM this morning that the order shipped and a USPS Delivery confirmation number. I expect to see it Saturday or Monday. That's really good service.
You asked for examples. Brooklyn Locomotive Works works at the speed of light--or at least at the speed of sound--being held up only very rarely by unavoidable circumstances. Fifer Hobby Shop worked with me on an issue on my order about which I was mistaken--going so far as to send a new shipment on faith--and worked with me over a couple of phone calls to make sure things were right. Robin was unfailingly polite. They are also very fast. woo woo woo woo woo woo, as stated, has a terrific inventory and ships speedily. I am also a fan of Hobbylinc.com, which has great prices, a huge inventory, and speedy shipping. Black Bear Construction (http://www.blackbearcc.com/) worked with me by email to make sure I had exactly what I needed for building a trestle. Period Miniatures is also great. I have never had a single complaint about any of these! Cristi
I want to say that the folks mentioned before have been A1. Thanks to all of the ones I have delt with. Reccently I placed an order with N scale supply. When it arrived there was a problem with a wrong item sent. I e mailed them and offered to return the item. They instead told me to keep it, them sent me the proper item along with a gift certificate. Thanks to NSS
I would have to say N scale Supply, WigWag, BLW, 4NScale, Caboose Hobbies. All exceptionally good and fast shipping! Great service anytime!!!
Over the years, I've bought a ton of stuff on-line. There have been problems, some small, some significant, and we have been able to resolve them all quickly and cordially. Wig-Wag is my local shop, so I've never had a shipping problem. BLW was my major supplier before, and was terrific, and still gets some business due to that pesky New Mexico sales tax. Others have received business also. I think the Etail business grew extremely fast, and had demands that some etailers didn't foresee when going in. It's now much more mature, not just in model trains, but everywhere.
