Low quality manufacturers websites

Ok....we have all had problems navigating the websites of some of the larger manufacturers. Sometimes extracting information about a specific product can be very frustrating.

Observations about specific sites are encouraged.

Let me share an experience I had today. I'm in the process of converting my non-dcc engines into dcc engines. During this process, I visit the website of the manufacturer looking for general information that might assist me in completing my conversion efficiently and effectively.

Well.....

Was I in for a shock at the juvenile attempt at "product information" provided by Bachmann.

I have a Bachmann H16-44. Ok...so I go to the website to see what information is available.

TWO SENTENCES!!!!!

No wait....that's a lie. There is one sentence, and one sentence fragment (no verb is in the sentence). At a minimum the company scores an "F" for grammar.

Here is the TOTALITY of the information provided on this product.

************
With operating directional headlights.

An HO scale version of this model is shown for illustration purposes.
************

:tb-shocked:


Here is the link so you can see for yourself.

Bachmann Trains Product Catalog - Fairbanks Morse H16-44

Here is the Atlas equivalent of the same product.

http://www.atlasrr.com/NLoco/n1516444.htm


I might not be business mogul, but I can see a situation where management is not leaving the boardroom to consider the needs of the customer. With all the "effort" that Bachmann is taking to improve the "toy" image that they have with the Spectrum line, how is it that the management missed something SO obvious as the juvenile apearance of their website?

I'm trying not to be overly critical of this, but how can I trust the quality of their products if the quality of another part of their business is so poor? While all of these observations are just my personal opinion, I cannot imagine that I'm the only one who views this as a sign of the quality of the management and not just the quality of the product.

Has anyone had similar experiences with other websites?

Resp,
John "delljohnb" Baugher

 

What might be most useful is to send complaints about the website quality and content to the company itself. I have done this on bad information I have seen on some sites and, every now and then, someone actually fixes the bad information or improves on it.

With that said, I think Deluxe Innovations has one of the least frequent update cycles. They make a great product, but they sure don't spend much on their website.

 

try and find accumate info on the Atlas site.
just as frustrating.

 

"Ask Someone Who Drives One"

Great ad campaign.
If I wanted info on red twisted widgets -

While I can understand your ire / frustration the best place for unbiased information is other users.

 

John,

Realize that the Bachmann H16-44 is an end of life product, while the Atlas version is more modern, and going strong. If I'm a marketing manager of a company, or even the CEO, I'm going to spend money on what's going strong, and pretty much ignore end-of-life products.

Also realize that different companies have very much different emphasis on their Web sites. Some embrace the Web fully, with forums and lots of details; others look at it as just another point-of-sale venue. Nothing wrong with that, IMHO.

I think a lot of us were spoiled by the heyday of the free Web, perhaps 1997-2002. Then companies started looking at what was effective for them. Many companies cut back the info on their Web sites while, at the same time, implementing on-line inventory and sales systems, neither of which is cheap.

I see no lack of info from Bachmann about their latest steamers. So I think, in this case, you might have just picked an extreme example. I've found Bachmann pretty good about supplying product info, and exceptional when it comes to customer service.

 

Pete,
The H16-44 was released last year. It is actually a very new product which wasn't in their catalog till just a few months ago. We had them on the shelves before they had them on their website.

That said, there is an instruction sheet in the loco that has the pinouts for installing a decoder in it. The loco is DCC ready and has a removable weight to make room for a decoder. They don't list it on their website because the info is included with the loco.

It would be nice if they took the time to have a PDF of the instruction sheet for those that have misplaced them.

 

Oh, I thought this was an old model. My mistake, as I don't follow the industry that closely any longer. But still, manufacturers are spending less on web sites these days, specially if they have other established distribution channels, which Bachmann certainly does.

I'm embarrassed again. I simply scan our forums too quickly, and make inference mistakes:tb-err::tb-err:.

 

Okay... you want to talk about bad web sites.

Con-Cor seriously needs a revamp. I'd do it for them for trains if they'd let me.

Lionel must spend a mint on their web site. Its all frames so you can't bookmark a blasted thing. It isn't particularly easy to navigate, and their "online catalog" is a .pdf <shrug>.

Kato had the best site of anyone, but now there's a bug in their javascript menus. The menus come down and stay down and you can't click on links on the page when they're down.

 

I really like kato's "suggest a model" input. I wish many other manufacturers would have something like this, it is if they are trying to stay in tune with their customers unlike others.

I did see that Key updated their website after a couple years. I can't wait for the GS-1 in O scale, ouch 3500 bucks is alot for an engine. I'm glad I'm an n scaler...

 

I was at two sites yesterday that encouraged you to get your order in before the holiday rush. Umm, I think Christmas was a couple of months ago, dont you think its maybe time for an update?

 

I don't put too much stock into website design and features. To be overly simplistic about it, the more money put into flash and advertising, the more the price of the product is likely to be.

If a consumer is not getting enough information from a site, he is free to move on to a company that will provide it to him.

As to Bachmann, I will continue to purchase its products based upon its excellent return and repair/replacement policy.

 

IMO, this is a personal rant letting off frustration (Ranters opinion) at a manufactures lack of information on its product.

This type of complaint might have been more productive if it had been sent to the manufacture.

If I don't see the information, I believe I need, I'll contact the manufacture first. Then ask members of various forums for their assistant.

I personally, have found Bachmann to be exceptional in it's customer service.

See ya
Ron

 

I respectfully disagree. Some of the manufacturers look at TrainBoard. If they see agreement on a thread like this, they're more likely to take a serious look at their web site's deficiencies than if they receive one or two unrelated comments/complaints.

As for increasing the cost of the final product, only if you use an expensive web design firm. There are lots of competent web developer/model railroaders who might work on a site for trains. I'm one of them.

 

That would be nice to know for potential customers too. My LHS doesn't stock all of the newest locomotive releases, so I don't always have the opportunity to look through the box before I put my money down. A PDF of the sheet on the website would be wonderful.

 

Just in case readers didn't know, they Atlas H16-44 is available in two styles with or without decoders. I have both styles with decoders, as this is one of the few recent releases that comes in MKT.

 

Would modelers be willing to trade off an increased price to cover the cost of a better website? Or would some other tradeoff be more palatable, for example, delayed releases because time is being spent on websites.

There is to a large extent still the mentality that the Internet wants to be free, but creating content, especially in the context of a for profit business, is not. There is at least the "opportunity cost" of not doing something else.

That having been said, there's no doubt that some vendors do their websites better than others.

 

I think we're seeing a move to function over form, and content is becoming KING. For me, as long as a site is communicating the message, and providing an organized way of retreiving information, I'll take that all day long over frames and flash. ESPECIALLY in lieu of a large expenditure for web design driving up the cost of the product.

So for Bachmann...yes, they need to take a cue from Atlas. They are big enough that they should have at least their content up to date and accurate. (meaning, all the specs about their products) It's not like they have thousands of new products per month...even without a fancy-schmancy content management system they should be able to stay on top of this. Having said that, this is nothing new...Bachmann's website has been pretty pathetic content-wise from the git-go.

I think the "cottage manufacturers" get a pass on having a perfect website. Get the basic info out there and that's 90% of it.

 

I would like to see more raw content on manufacturer websites if nothing else. Some manufacturers have PDF'd lists of items in stock. That would be very helpful to have. I, personally, don't really care how much of a Flash intro they have or how fancy they get with their frames and such. Sometimes, I just want to know what that manufacturer is currently producing, what they have in stock, and what they are planning on making, even if it is a simple PDF of a list created on a word processor.

 

Some of the cottage manufacturer's are kickin' butt and writing home about it. I am thinking of Randgust's website, which is easily better than some company websites.

Adam