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Rocket Third Third Class Open Coach


ColinB

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Did anyone else get a mail from a well known Hornby dealer saying that their order for these products has been reduced? I ordered two, which seemed about right for the rocket, but I have been told that due to supply issues I will only be receiving one. And no I wasn't going to sell the second one on that popular auction site.

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I placed my order with a different retailer, they also have emailed customers warning that their allocation/order has been reduced by Hornby.

However they deliberately undersold their original allocation/order expecting this situation & therefore still expect to be able to fulfill all customer orders.

 

Fingers crossed Hornby don’t suddenly find another bunch they’ve sold twice!  Bit worrying for all retailers if this becomes an increasing Hornby habit...  🤔

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Hornby use pre-orders as a guide to production run viability.

 

Once they hit a target then the bean counters press the go button. 

 

What obviously happens after that is retailers and folk continue to take / make pre-orders so the disparity between demand and availability widens.

 

Yes it is a poor marketing methodology for customer satisfaction, but at least it guarantees that a production run will he sold.

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I order these as well from Hattons as soon as they announced Hornby was producing them and they were cancelling their production. It was within 30 minutes of the email. Just been told I am only getting one so it seems it matters not when you actually placed the order.

 

I had a similar problem recently with other pre-orders from a different shop, they were getting 4 sets less of the Eurostar Yellow Submarine centre coaches than they had ordered from Hornby. They seemed to say, if Hornby had sold too many on their own website shop then these were being fulfilled at the expense of the third party retailers orders. Maybe best from now on to pre-order directly from Hornby and pay the little extra as you may have a better chance of getting what you actually ordered. This coming on top of having all my Hornby pre-orders cancelled from Rails of Sheffield, its all getting a bit tiresome.

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Thanks Andy_Mac that explains a lot, that makes a lot of sense. Not a particularly good way to run a company, but then I suppose they know best. Imagine what it must be like for their Dealers, losing all that Customer goodwill. Where I used to work that was one of their biggest worries, we were frequently lectured on it. Perhaps they should have left it with Rails, I am pretty sure that they would have made enough. The guy that runs, that didn't get rich by being stupid, I remember dealing with him in the 80s/90s when it was him and his mum running it, which I suppose is why I always liked dealing with them.

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Mine was ok, well as far as I can see it is. This afternoon I retrieved it from its safe place to have a look at it and found the box had disintegrated. All the glued joints have fell apart. It hasn't been man handled, none of my other loco's boxes stored in the same place have fell apart. I suppose I had better glue it back together. Any idea what glue they use?

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Got some money for my birthday and thought I'd check out the hornby site, and saw this item was in stock. Strange as I had pre-ordered 3 from them. Cancelled the pre-order and ordered them from stock. Not sure why this order was not filled; my 2 9Fs where filled no problem.

I came here to say the same! (https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/l-mr-open-third-class-carriage-era-1.html) but my Hornby pre-order hasn't shipped, I haven't had a cancellation notification either. Anyone know what's happening? Have they decided to do a general release?

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Got my email yesterday saying they got my order. Never heard about the pre-order other than to say they got it back in July. Not sure what would have heppened if I'd not cancelled it; seems I would have had little trouble shifting them on eBay, someone taking pre-orders for almost double the price (wonder how that will go?). Did a search on Hornby for R40141, and now seems they have sold out and are not expecting any more. All the usual stockests seem to be sold out to. I wasn't aware it was a limited production run, or perhaps they just underestimated the demand.

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I don't often pre-order from Hornby direct, but I thought these seemed a fair price and given the Rails situation, thought it a wise move.  I orderd two, and had the payment taken today, so I assume I am getting them both.

I know there's always a market for profiteering, and it all boils down to what people will pay, but I find it hard to accept the hornby dealer(s) selling them on ebay for more than double the list price.  

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You often see hard to find items being sold by Olivia Trains Clearance on eBay, they must hold on to their stock when they see a high demand till everyone else sells out. Jadlam Toys & Models are currently selling the Yellow Submarine Coach Pack at nearly twice RRP. Guess RRP works both ways it’s just recommended, if it can be sold for less then it can be sold for more. You will see more dealers holding on to items if they think they can make more money on them, doing nothing more than anyone else would do, got a living to earn and staff to pay. Guess they can sell it under their own name or another anonymous account if they get too much stick for it.

 

Buyers like to think everything is about them and what they want but there are two parties in any sales transaction.

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I had noticed that with Jadlam with something else. There is a dealer outside York that regularly ups the price of hard to get Skaledale and Bachmann buildings. Funny though quite often they are very competative for locos. I have bought quite a few off them. I think they call it supply and demand. 

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Just had my email from hornby to say they are in the factory and about to be dispatched. This is one of the few things I ordered direct and I am glad I did. Having said that they are showing as having 4 in stock on hornbys page, this does seem to be a real mess! Glad to have my 3 to run a full rocket formation, but will probably leave at least one in it's box now

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This morning I went ito their webpage and they were out of stock, then suddenly they had 4, so I ordered one to go with hopefully the one I get from Hattons. I get the opinion they are completely screwed up. Yesterday I was getting adverts about them and when I double clicked on the link I got a webpage error.

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Email received this morning....

 

it looks like my order is on track.  😀

 

Dear XXXXXXXX 

 

Great news! Your L&MR, Open Third Class Carriage, Era 1 (R40141) Pre-Order has now arrived at our warehouse and will shortly be prepared for dispatch.

 

 Your order number is HXXXXXXX If you have any questions about your order, please contact our Customer Care Team on 01843 233525 or customercare@Hornby.com quoting your order number.

 

Thank you for choosing Hornby.

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