Hush Hush

[AndyMac1707817969]

People seem to want the cheapest postage available so why the big surprise if a company then uses the cheapest option for delivery. The different costs in delivery often come down to what the insurance price is not the delivery time. For a small trader you might be 'prepared' to pay for first class delivery but that insures an item for just £50 but no surprise if an item gets lost or damaged the buyer you just want all your money back and the retailer is left to absorb the loss.

Even charging £4.20 to deliver a loco by second class signed for insured to £50 never mind the actual value and there are howls of ‘your postage is very expensive’. You then usually have to point out that you do not own your own courier company and have to just use Royal Mail like normal people, its not 'your postage'. I just don’t know what they think companies pay their staff. No doubt again it’s just public opinion which is rarely a result of joined up thinking, a company may be paying their staff a living wage but there is no connection between that and the cost for the service the supply seemingly. Often you will hear the word ‘fair’ being used but that just normally means whatever benefits the buyer.

[ColinB]

Sorry AndyMac you obviously did not read my post. As for insurance I suspect the insurance available with Hermes is going to be less than Royal Mail, so you argument fails on that one. As for what a delivery driver gets paid again nothing to do with me, I gather Royal Mail get reasonable rates and because they are bigger probably have better systems. I sell my old stuff on EBay, I never use Hermes I have seen so many bad reports, so far I have not had anyone object to paying for First Class mail with Royal Mail.

The average Hornby loco is £200+, selling direct to the public that is lot more profit than selling to a Retailer so they definitely can afford to use a decent mail service, unless their retail operation is so inefficient that it is not worth doing. In which case why are they bothering, they basically squeezed out the major retailers by their new policy so I have absolutely no sympathy.

[SixAshesJnc]

Stop Press - Some people on RMWeb are not happy! When are they ever? They might have spent 20 odd years studying one loco, don't think Hornby have the time so someone, somewhere is always also going to find something to complain about.

 

 

Actually I think you'll find most of the anger on RMweb is aimed at the fact so many of the W1s have arrived with retailers and buyers with considerable amounts of damage, as clearly shown by the many photos people have posted on there. It appears that Hornby, or whoever Hornby uses to package their locos, have done a pretty poor job protecting these expensive models. Broken smoke deflectors, snapped tender backheads, wonky cylinders, damaged tender connections, all in all a pretty poor show and so some people are righfully annoyed.

 

 

How am I supposed to feel any excitement about my one that is making it's way to me knowing that it's a complete coin toss over whether it is badly damaged or not when it gets here? So to dismiss is as RMweb once again being just full of people moaning in this instance is rather unfair.

[DarkRedCape]

I’ve been ordering from Hattons pretty regularly and I always choose the £4 shipping which has tracking and next day delivery. I’m more than happy to pay extra for this because the less time my shipment is rattling around in the back of a van, the less chance it’s going to get damaged. Plus you can follow the delivery pretty accurately via the DPD app and it gives a good indication of TOA.

The last ten years or so has seen the online delivery business absolutely explode, so low value items, I’ll just choose the cheapest shipping, but anything with a high value and I always choose tracking and insurance if I feel it’s warranted.

As for Hermes, I live in London and they don’t have a particularly good reputation around here. I don’t use them so I can’t say if it’s deserved or not.

[ColinB]

I am surprised about RMWeb I complained about Hornby and promptly got locked out the the thread, then got an Email from the so called moderator saying he was fed up with my responses. The email looked like it came from a five year complaining I had taken their toys and no all my posts were perfectly polite.

Anyway that is a horrible thought that this loco that I have now been waiting nearly a week for Hermes to deliver could be damaged. What is wrong with Hornby don't they understand we are not in the 1950s and 1960s now, most people won't put up with it. Plus if people return them to be fixed they will request refund of postage Royal Mail Special Delivery, because nobody is going to send a £200 loco any other way. I suppose the issue is that they don't have feet on the ground in China to check for quality. I have read many times that China accepts a 10% reject rate.

[Robbie-358546]

I have been a long time contributor to RMweb and have received a lot of grief from a group of mostly anonymous regular contributors there, mainly because I do computer pictures of models, sometimes using parts of images found in google searches in my creations, acknowledging people if they are known. I buy a lot of RTR steam-age models, mostly Hornby, and love them. But to some, 'it's not modelling'. Some appear to truly dislike altered photos. Photos are for historical records only, I presume.

To be fair a lot of people like my photo-art, too, including 8,000+ followers on two Facebook pages, a British one 'BR Steam Photos' and a US one.

Pretty much at the end of my tether with RMweb, most of these people know that I am paralysed and bed-bound or wheelchair-bound from a serious motorbike crash, and my primary hand doesn't work. Social media bullying is alive and well. I am currently limited to moderated messaging only, and have been warned 'not to play the martyr' or I will be banned.

Wow. This message could end my access to RMweb.

My crime? Repeatedly (maybe 6 times in a few months) using google search images to illustrate a model, most recently a Hush Hush. I used an image from a google, unedited, and I never ascribe ownership to me. Unless It's my photo.

I have a R3840 Hush Hush en route from TMC in the UK to me in NZ., yes, it's a bit of a lottery, damage in transit for this one. Delivery times lately range from 6 days to 3 weeks, and today I shall open and photograph a Hornby Clan 72004 weathered by TMC, which was roundly condemned by a couple of RMwebbers for having a green-top running plate... in between rubbishing Hornby green.

So I've possibly earned a ban from that particular vehicle of knowledge and learned exchange.

[ColinB]

Sad to hear your plight Robbie, I came to the conclusion that the moderator had something wrong with themselves or was having a bad day with me. I probably didn't help matters by publishing his mail to me on facebook, I was just so upset that he would write such a immature mail. I was tempted to send it to his editor, the big thing about EMails is you can think it but don't write it down.

Mod Note - Just to be clear Colin is talking about the RM Web Forum Moderator not us Hornby Mods.

As to the criticism of the models, I have seen the posts about the Clan, I know Hornby are not always right but they must have done some research before they produced it. I take Jenny Kirk's attitude "its my railway, I do what I like". If you are so hung up on detail, go and detail it yourself. On that site I mentioned that Hornby had at least 3 different part numbers for A4 valve gear and some body said that there wouldn't want one that had the valve gear compromised. So I put all my A4s together to see if I could see any differences in the valve gear. The only difference is obviously between a Margate one and a Chinese one, even the tender driven Chinese one would fit with a slight change to the mounting mechanism.

Anyway hopefully my Hush Hush will arrive today, it is supposedly in my local depot.

[VESPA]

The green running plate is correct on your Clan. RMWeb gave me a load of abuse some time back, regarding my views on inclines. I decided not to go near it again until today with the heads up on here about damaged Hush Hush models. Mine is due today via Hermes so we will see. I no longer subscribe to BRM Magazine as the RMWeb is partly theirs or their interest.

[ColinB]

I must admit I didn't really care about the Clan to me it looks a nice model, runs nicely and I got it new at a reasonable price off a Seller on EBay. After the issues with the moderator, I requested he remove me from his site. I will remember that about BRM. My Hush Hush it appears is due today. You could hope that perhaps that is why Hornby listed them as dispatched on Sunday but didn't actually send then until Tuesday, they did a check on them after the issues. Hopefully I will know very soon.

[VESPA]

My loco has arrived and is all in one piece. I can understand how so many are getting damaged. It is the packers here in the UK who are making a pig's ear out of it. The actual loco is in the usual clear plastic inner. Then that is in the usual "walled" carrier which in turn is in an outer sleave as usual. That is in a plastic bag and the whole lot cased in a sturdy brown carrier box. Those who did the final packing have just put in a box far too big for the excellent Hornby packaging. The model is now floating about in this oversize outer box akin to a dice in a shaker pot. The sealing of that outer box must have been done by a 5 YO with one arm as it is that poor. There is no bubble wrap or buffer packaging to stop the actual item rattling around. If they are all packed that way I can see about 25% being damaged. Hornby orders were always packed meticulously but this is a disaster waiting to happen. At £200 or so I think another 50p worth of bubble wrap would be well worth using.

I am very happy with the loco and just glad it never got damaged.

[sxbiker]

With regard to the moderator on RM web, I am afraid he can be very rude. He called me lacking sense (I've rephrased as this forum won't allow me to use the word he called me) because I had paid in full for The Duchess of Atholl at the time of placing pre-order, which was a requirement of the retailer. I didn't get my Duchess. Anyhow the moderator's behaviour caused me to cancel my subscription of BRM that I had had for many years.

[flyingfox4475]

My Hush Hush arrived today. it now on my rolling road running in.

[atom3624]

Photos and video required!!

Please.

Al.

[ColinB]

Thanks sxbiker I did wonder if perhaps he did it to other people. I get the opinion he is full of his own importance and obviously thinks he is always right. He gets particularly upset if you say some locos are over priced, Sam says it in his reviews all the time and he justifies why. As to your Duchess of Atholl, sad that you never got one that seemed to happen to a lot of people.I assume you got your money back.

Anyway my Hush Hush has got delayed for 24 hours by Hermes, I imagine they delivered it to the Courier after they had started their round.

As to Hornby, sounds like a firm trying to save money in the wrong places, my firm did it regularly then couldn't understand why it was loosing so much money. Using bad packing is not a good idea where Hermes is involved, DPD or Royal Mail you might get away with it.

[DarkRedCape]

I’ve stopped going to numerous forums over the years for various different hobbies because of obnoxious or condescending mods. Some of them just go absolutely mental with the “power” that comes with being a mod. It’s their way or the ban way. What’s that saying of “power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

I have some items on pre-order direct from Hornby, but only items I absolutely cannot reliably find elsewhere. After being treated to the delicious packaging that I’ve been receiving from Hattons, you guys have made me a little anxious about what I’ll receive from Hornby. 🤕

[Simmo009]

Firstly, I think that the incidence of damage in transit, in this case particularly, but in general too, is very poor, and the rumblings will probably have been heard in Margate. But let us not rush into pointing the finger at Hornby.

I understand, either from this or another forum, that Hornby has outsourced its warehousing and logistics. Therefore I doubt they see even a small percentage of the goods. Now consider the third party involved, picking and packing orders. They probably work for many companies, with goods of varying degrees of robustness. But are the boots on the ground aware of the nature and cost/value of these particular products? Or do they see "toy train" and not understand the necessity of filling out the rest of the box? Plus think of the time of year, and the explosion in parcels generally, they just want to move stuff from goods in to goods out as fast as possible. Plus there are probably a lot of short term staff for the Christmas period. It is to an extent out of Hornby's hands, although they should have made things clear to the third party the value and nature of the product, and set minimum requirements in the contract. Ultimately it is down to Hornby to sort this, but there could be some elements outside their direct control that have caused this situation, and they will have to play catch up big style to maintain their generally positive customer service reputation here.

On the positive side, this many damaged locomotives should mean plenty of spare parts, just a small crumb.

[ColinB]

Amazing, that they are outsourcing warehouse and logistics. I see nothing wrong with outsourcing something that your company cannot do but an area where your whole reputation rests, I don't even think Amazon does that. Oh well that explains a lot. I cannot understand any industry doing that, if you have a really badly functioning department then you might save some money, but generally the outsoucing company has to make a profit so the only way is to employ really cheap staff, which don't exist since we left the EU.

Anyway, looks like this is the last order to Hornby, at least with Bure Valley and Derails they check the loco before they send it to me usually by Royal Mail.

[Brew Man]

Anyway, looks like this is the last order to Hornby, at least with Bure Valley and Derails they check the loco before they send it to me usually by Royal Mail.

 

 

Not bought anything from Bure Valley, but I agree that Derails are pretty good. Their customer service is also good if you have a query.

 

 

[ColinB]

I must admit I put the order in with Hornby after all that mix up with Hattons earlier in the year. It seems to have put me off all preorders, I am getting to the point of just waiting until the model becomes general release, if I can't get one then that is it.

[ColinB]

Finally arrived, as far as I can see perfect, really nice model. I assume the side cab windows are not meant to have glazing.

[The Doc]

Bother! The steps on the footplate alongside the valve gear seem to stick out a lot. My home made station platforms were set up to allow my widest rolling stock through (previously an old King class with its wide cylinders) without leaving an enormous chasm between coaches and platform that only Bob Beamon could negotiate.

The W1 is definitely "out of gauge". Either I rebuild my platform or shave a mm or so off the steps. Apart from this, a lovely model, living up to its nickname with an almost silent mechanism.

[VESPA]

"Not bought anything from Bure Valley."

 

 

I have bought several items from them and all were well packed. Excellent service all round and very good prices. The added bonus is knowing that profits keep a real railway running as well.

[ColinB]

Yes Mr Luigi, my sentiments exactly.

[david_watts1]

Now got 4 of these on order from my local model shop. The green, blue, silver and early BR ones. I really need to see a shrink.joy

[37lover]

David_watts1,

4 @ £200! I wish I could afford to spend that sort of money over such a short time.