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Post by dutch245 on Jul 18, 2012 10:11:37 GMT -8
My fiance and I ordered an awesome Bachmann 4-8-4 steam engine from www.wholesaletrains.com, but when we got it it was damaged. Here's some pictures of it: imgur.com/a/ogEUd#5Thankfully, they are going to ship me a new one on Monday, and they discounted the rate of 3 day shipping. Has anyone else had issues with wholesale trains before? |
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Post by drolsen on Jul 18, 2012 10:30:19 GMT -8
I would recommend using a lot of caution when ordering from Wholesale Trains. I've ordered from them four times, and my experiences were ok, but I've heard some bad stories from others (there was a long discussion about them on Trainorders.com).
My biggest beef with them is that they grab you with their low prices, but then they make up for it with an additional handling charge for mail order, so you end up paying $20 for shipping for a single locomotive or car. My first order came via UPS, but the invoice said something like "Shipping and handling via FedEx $20," and when I went to the UPS website to get a shipping quote, the size and weight of the box from their location in NY should have been about $10 for shipping. I would recommend only ordering from them if you're buying a number of items at a deep discount. A bunch of people and I placed orders with them back when Walthers was blowing out undecorated 89' flat cars for $15, and Wholesale Trains had them discounted even further for about $12, so one guy even ordered about 20 of them. When it's a huge discount and you're ordering a bunch, the handling fee isn't a big deal, but if you order one locomotive thinking that it's $10 cheaper than any other store, you'll lose out on the shipping charge.
I also found it frustrating that they had to get a couple items that I ordered from the manufacturer or distributor, and it literally took about a month. Many things listed on their website apparently aren't in stock - they're listed as available because they are available from the distributor. I had actually forgotten about my order when it finally showed up on my doorstep about 6 weeks later.
I personally think when there's a store like M.B. Klein that always offers good prices plus excellent service, the extra money you might save with Wholesale Trains isn't worth the risk unless it's a really good discount.
Dave
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2012 10:40:27 GMT -8
I personally think when there's a store like M.B. Klein that always offers good prices plus excellent service, the extra money you might save with Wholesale Trains isn't worth the risk unless it's a really good discount. Dave MB Klein or ModelTrainStuff does an excellent job of packing their boxes. Plenty of peanuts and nice large boxes so the model is completely cocooned in the protective fill. The damage to the model in the picture looks to be combination of poor packaging, poor shipping protection and a little rough handling combined to make sure it came out in pieces. |
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Post by dutch245 on Jul 18, 2012 10:41:51 GMT -8
The discount is the reason I went with them, the engine I purchased is a Bachmann 50804 Santa Fe #3784. On wholesale, it cost me $66.66, and on almost every other website I found, it's going for $150+. Shipping on it was $11, which seems about right for the weight of the box.
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Post by riogrande on Jul 18, 2012 15:15:30 GMT -8
Agree about MK Kleins but they are usually out of stuff if you don't get it within days to weeks of it coming out from the manufacturer.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2012 16:01:57 GMT -8
A word of warning about buying online. The old Atlas Forum's pages were filled with first hand accounts of problems some have had with online retailers. There are some that have horrible reputations. The big three problems are not having things in stock even though they state they are in stock, charging credit cards and not delivering or taking a very long time to deliver and poorly packing the package resulting in damage.
If you've never dealt with someone in the past, asking the forum may save you some frustration.
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Post by buffalobill on Jul 18, 2012 16:02:00 GMT -8
I agree with Dave, my only issue with Wholesale trains is that when you place an order with them, you do not know how many separate shipping charges you will get hit with. Once on a $200 order, I got hit with $40 dollars worth of shipping charges, on 3 separate shipments.
I have been very pleased with MB Klein's service. You place an order, you know they have it in stock. It arrives in one box, well packaged, for a reasonable shipping charge. Rio does have a point, you have to order quickly or, the product is gone, with no guarantee of restock. For older stuff I have used Lombard Hobbies, in Lombard, IL for stuff that I missed or did not think I needed the first time around. No issues with them.
Bill
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Post by calzephyr on Jul 18, 2012 17:13:33 GMT -8
I agree with Dave, my only issue with Wholesale trains is that when you place an order with them, you do not know how many separate shipping charges you will get hit with. Once on a $200 order, I got hit with $40 dollars worth of shipping charges, on 3 separate shipments. I have been very pleased with MB Klein's service. You place an order, you know they have it in stock. It arrives in one box, well packaged, for a reasonable shipping charge. Rio does have a point, you have to order quickly or, the product is gone, with no guarantee of restock. For older stuff I have used Lombard Hobbies, in Lombard, IL for stuff that I missed or did not think I needed the first time around. No issues with them. Bill Bill The extra shipping should not be charged if they do not ship the total order at one time. Thanks for letting us know their policy on this type of shipment. I have never ordered from them because I read some of the stories on other forums about their practice of having listings but not having the items in stock.' If that is the standard method they practice, they could discount even more since the actual shipping probabbly did not cost them $20 for each item that was shipped later. A discounted price is not so good if the shipping is $40 for the total as you have said. In the past years, I have ordered from MB Klein many times and they never seemed to be a problem. They had the discounted items in stock and shipped them the next day so I was always happy with the orders. Larry |
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Post by calzephyr on Jul 18, 2012 17:14:28 GMT -8
My fiance and I ordered an awesome Bachmann 4-8-4 steam engine from www.wholesaletrains.com, but when we got it it was damaged. Here's some pictures of it: imgur.com/a/ogEUd#5Thankfully, they are going to ship me a new one on Monday, and they discounted the rate of 3 day shipping. Has anyone else had issues with wholesale trains before? Interesting. Did all of the damage happen during shipping? |
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Post by dutch245 on Jul 19, 2012 3:59:23 GMT -8
Yep, that it was the train looked like when it came out of the box. I knew right away that I had to return it when I saw the broken piece, but I wanted to see just how bad the damage was. I have spoken with them, and they have provided me a shipping label to send back the old unit, and they will ship out a new unit to me on Monday. I have requested that it be shipped in a larger box, with peanuts and marked as fragile, so we'll see what happens  . My fiance and I ordered an awesome Bachmann 4-8-4 steam engine from www.wholesaletrains.com, but when we got it it was damaged. Here's some pictures of it: imgur.com/a/ogEUd#5Thankfully, they are going to ship me a new one on Monday, and they discounted the rate of 3 day shipping. Has anyone else had issues with wholesale trains before? Interesting. Did all of the damage happen during shipping? |
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Post by dutch245 on Jul 26, 2012 6:37:23 GMT -8
Morning Everyone!
The replacement train should be here today, when I get home from work I'll let you all know if wholesale actually packaged it differently or if it has any damage.
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Post by Brakie on Jul 26, 2012 8:20:50 GMT -8
A word of warning about buying online. The old Atlas Forum's pages were filled with first hand accounts of problems some have had with online retailers. There are some that have horrible reputations. The big three problems are not having things in stock even though they state they are in stock, charging credit cards and not delivering or taking a very long time to deliver and poorly packing the package resulting in damage. If you've never dealt with someone in the past, asking the forum may save you some frustration. I never had any problems with MB Klein,First hobby or Toy Train Heaven..First Place Hobby was good as well. I would use caution when asking about some on line hobby shops as a rule on any forum.. The reason Klein seems to be out of stock on some items is because of his low prices..You gotta be quick or risk the wanted item selling out while one flutters about. |
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Post by bnsf971 on Jul 26, 2012 8:58:21 GMT -8
I have had issues woth multiple shipping charges, sometimes when nothing more than a pack of couplers was sent separately. I have started specifying "ship complete order only" to some mail order places. I was fuming when I got that pack of Kadee #5 couples with $3.75 shipping added to the $1.99 couplers.
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Post by diburning on Jul 27, 2012 23:27:08 GMT -8
I've never ordered from Wholesale Trains and probably never will. Any site that doesn't give me a firm shipping quote does not get my business.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2012 4:03:58 GMT -8
The original poster never posted what the results were with the replacement model. Hmmmmmmm
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Post by bnsf971 on Jul 28, 2012 5:01:57 GMT -8
The original poster never posted what the results were with the replacement model. Hmmmmmmm Maybe he's too busy playing with his new locomotive to tell us what happened. Or the new one is smashed worse than the first one. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2012 8:49:02 GMT -8
The original poster never posted what the results were with the replacement model. Hmmmmmmm Maybe he's too busy playing with his new locomotive to tell us what happened. Or the new one is smashed worse than the first one. or..... C. It hasn't arrived yet. |
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Post by Brakie on Jul 29, 2012 3:00:41 GMT -8
I've never ordered from Wholesale Trains and probably never will. Any site that doesn't give me a firm shipping quote does not get my business. I fully agree. |
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Post by railthunder on Jul 29, 2012 6:35:55 GMT -8
In all fairness I've received stuff damaged from a few online retailers over the years. The truth however wasn't in the way the dealer packaged the item, it was quality control and/or the manufacturer box packaging that failed. I've had some stuff damaged that was packed excellent by the sender. The issue was the manufacturer packaging for the item was deficient.
Having seen the latest runs of the Bachmann 4-8-4s at shows and stores it leaves a lot to be desired in packaging from the manufacturer. I got a Spectrum Daylight years ago mail order that had similar breakages as this post and ultimately it came down to quality control at the factory. Sure I feel the pain when I get something every once in a great while that doesn't meet my expectations, but I get with the retailer to address the issue. I've only had one poor experience and that was with a manufacturer over a missing part. Every retailer has made things right. Remember it's not just an inconvenience to us it's something they have to put forth effort to get right.
As far as shipping goes there have been some interesting studies between UPS, FedEx, and USPS regarding damage. One such test was a tumble test whereas they put intruments in a box and measured how many times it was turned over in transit and/or significant buffer force i.e. dropped. Considering just reading the study I'm amazed that our models hold up as well as they do.
I have no affiliation with Wholesale Trains, but I've ordered quite a bit of stuff from them and any time I've had an issue they made things right and it has never been about damaged goods. As far as shipping goes we can only expect the prices to go up, still there is no comparison in a lot of purchases where the shipping is still less than the tax would be at the counter. I also make it a point to support my local LHS, but I like a good deal like everyone else.
I'm very comfortable is saying many of us had boxes show up on our doorsteps this week with no issues and we're enjoying them.
Good luck with the 4-8-4 and I hope it meets your expectations.
Happy Railroading.
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Post by dutch245 on Jul 30, 2012 3:55:23 GMT -8
Sorry for the delay, I forgot that I had a family party to go to that was about 4 hours away this weekend  The packaging for the replacement train was exactly like the first one, even though I contacted them asking for it to packaged in a larger box to prevent damage. When I first opened the train, I did not see any visible damage, so I immediately got to removing the DCC chip (Still on DC for now) and set it on the track. It didn't move. Turns out the front left drive wheel was not firmly on it's axle. After some infuriating attempts to try and contact wholesaletrains via phone and website, I decided to try to fix the train myself. Basically, after cramming the drive wheel as hard as I could on the drive axle, all seems to be well. She runs like a beaut and can pull a lot more weight than I originally expected! |
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Post by riogrande on Jul 30, 2012 6:43:36 GMT -8
I agree with the above, if it is not a professional site which you can get solid quotes on prices for the items and shipping, it is a higher risk. Since I've stopped pre-ordering and just been online ordering with major reputable e-vendors, I've had good service. So far I've ordered the most with MB Klein and some with Toy Train Heaven. TTH doesn't have as complete an online website and they are much slower to ship. Between Kleins and TTH, Kleins offers lower USPS shipping costs if you only order a couple of freight cars, which is a bit help, where as TTH has $9.95 no matter what. It usually comes down to who has the item available if it has been out for a while. Kleins does have good prices so they tend to sell out of popular items in a matter of days or weeks, certainly things like Athearn tunnel motors and certain road names sell quickly there. Recently I resorted to Caboose Hobbies because they were the only one who I could find who I trusted that still had the P&CF double plug door Evergreen box cars without the lube markings. A small surprise was that they listed minimum shipping as $9.95 similar to TTH, but it turns out they charged 2 dollars less on the single car ordered, a nice surprise.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2012 9:53:15 GMT -8
Many times the low price isn't the best price. Too many skimp on the shipping protection in order to save a few cents, in an effort to make up some of the price or do other things like shipping partial orders and charging extra shipping.
Still say you can't beat M.B. Klein, also known as Model Train Stuff, for price or safe shipping. Klein goes overboard most of the time to make sure things arrive in good shape.
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Post by rhpd42002 on Jul 30, 2012 16:47:03 GMT -8
Glad that it's working out well for you, Dutch.
Too bad you got another one that had an issue when it arrived.
Good that you managed to make it operational and it is running as well if not better than you expected.
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Post by Brakie on Jul 31, 2012 3:28:53 GMT -8
Many times the low price isn't the best price. Too many skimp on the shipping protection in order to save a few cents, in an effort to make up some of the price or do other things like shipping partial orders and charging extra shipping. Still say you can't beat M.B. Klein, also known as Model Train Stuff, for price or safe shipping. Klein goes overboard most of the time to make sure things arrive in good shape. Jim,IMHO Kleins and TTH is the best two on line shops. Even at that Klein gets 97% of my on line orders due to prices,fast safe shipping and real time inventory. |
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