Missing items

[Silver Fox 17]

I have been excited in many ways regarding the arrival of the new items, however, some disappointment with missing and poor quality items.

My Scotsman set had a Pullman coach with a missing coupling, hence the brake vehicle in the centre for those who have seen the video.

I also asked for 12 4th radius curves of which only 11 arrived. Even though there are 12 curves to a circle the boxes are for 10, mine had 9 inside with 2 loose ones in the packaging.

The point in my set would not pass electric current onto the curve so I had to carefully reshape it which works fine now.

Someone found an item in their loco wrapper and no idea where it went which somebody said was the guard irons, my box did not have this either.

Also somebody mentioned an imperfection on the left leading splasher and I looked at mine which also has it. I can live with it but it should not be there and I read this morning a few other bodies have it too.

As mentioned in another thread one set was missing its power rail and another had the contact shorting out. One person had a controller stop working after 2 minutes.

I admire what Hornby have done but this does not do them any favours and as an experienced modeller I can sort things out or know what to look for but some people will not.

Hornby are sending me a spare coupling and hopefully the missing curve, I am not bothered about the guard irons if that is what the other part is.

Garry

[RB51]

There are a number of very annoying mistakes without doubt, and more will surface as dispatch volumes increase. Although it is very disappointing, and this is a guess as bad news travels faster than good, I imagine a greater number of items are being received complete, in good shape and before Christmas. I imagine it is all hands to the pump in the warehouse as they try to get as much product out as possible. May be able to say more about this on Friday. Errors happen in every aspect of life, and it’s not so much that a dropped ball has been, well, dropped but how quickly it is picked up and the situation rectified. R-

p.s. you do not need to add a space between paragraphs. This is done for you by the software.

[What About The Bee]

When a transaction goes smoothly, error free and without issues, there is nothing to be learned. Yes, you have your product, but what did you learn?

When there is some kerfuffle, that is when you see directly into a vendor's heart. What does the vendor say? What does the vendor do? Is the vendor a class act or a clown?

I am hopeful that Hornby do the right thing by their clients. Mistakes happen. That is a normal part of life. It is what happens after the mistake is brought forward to the attention of the vendor.

Pay attention to that. That is when the learning starts.

[What About The Bee]

Hi Silver Fox 👋

I carefully read your communication to see what I could learn. First, I wanted to understand your issues.

The complaint was missing items from your order. A missing curve and a missing coupling. You mentioned an imperfection in the splasher, but do not wish to pursue it?

It is inferred, but not stated, that you contacted Hornby. Further, that Hornby took your issue seriously, took your word that the items were missing without disputing it and that they promised to send those items along, with their apologies. Do I have that right?

If I do have that right, then Hornby treated you honorably. They took ownership of the issue. They have taken action to set things right.

Here is what I learned. Hornby has their heart in the right place.

May I request, Garry, that you follow up with us if/when the missing items arrive? I would appreciate that, to continue my education. Thanks in advance.

Bee

[Silver Fox 17]

Hello Bee,

Yes, Hornby have acknowledged the missing items and have said they will post out if they have any in stock.

Hopefully that will be the end of it although what concerned me was the comment "if in stock". We will have to wait and see.

They were grateful about the two issues I am not pursuing, the mark on the loco I can live with but thought they should know about it as a few others have been spotted and their owners may want a replacement. The other I managed to fix myself but worried some people like families without a modelling, engineering background may struggle with, ie, points not making electrical contact.

Garry

[TT-Man]

@Garry

Yes the main market for starter sets usually is those who are newcomers to the hobby. As you say they are unlikely to have the skills, knowledge or experience to fix, what to you or I might be minor problems.

SK has made a big deal of TT appealing to families. But the low quality and unreliability of the controllers if coupled with other faults will be a big turn off to newcomers. That would be such a shame.

Starter sets are often priced as loss leaders to get people into the hobby. But that backfires if money is skimped on essential components. Better to charge a bit more and provide good kit from the start. Of course my controller from the set will probably go straight in the bin unused!

There also seems to be a lack of attention to detail. For instance I have seen a lot of comments from newcomers mystified as to how to uncouple their stock. Not immediately obvious with the Universal Couplers. Most continental manufacturers will provide an uncoupling track or a wand + instructions. Also there don't seem to be any instructions about running in. There also seem to be photos of people with bent fishplates leading to uneven track, no doubt due to assembling in mid air.

[Silver Fox 17]

Hi TTman,

I have to agree why a controller like this was put in the set. I have not tried mine but a few others I have seen all seem to point to it being incompatible with the loco. Most likely feedback for a motor not designed for it, whatever the reason you would have thought Hornby would have checked this out. In the "old" days early sets came with a controller but no transformer and shops would recommend one, usually the grey Tri-ang one anyway. I guess as all this is on line the option of choosing a controller cannot happen so again Hornby should have tested it.

As you say that alone could put people off.

As for uncoupling I dont remember any Tri-ang sets (never had a Hornby one) that did not include an uncoupler. Dublo did not but that is different. I don't think the uncoupler is even available yet. Then, there is nothing to tell you how to do it, people like us have some idea and can work it out but immagine little Johnny on Xmas day trying to put it away and loco with 3 carriages all come up together in his hands and then I can see breakages coming.

Not noticed bent fishplates but seen layout would not lay flat. I can only say the handful of rails I put down for testing Tri-ang on it were fine, my A1 and Pullmans have all run okay on my H0m layout.

I noticed this morning someone has had the reverser fall off, again not a good sign. The finer items may look good but I don't like all the glued parts, I prefer them to be moulded on, but, I guess thats an age thing with me. They might have been over scale but did not fall off.

Garry

[Fredoxford-344906]

Although I had a shorting issue with the power track, the TT controller seems to work okay. At slow speeds it does buzz a bit which probably wouldn't worry newcomers. Interesting comments about uncoupling, I have been careful with uncoupling but I hope they don't damage easy. The oo couplings aren't always straightforward for people. If there was instructions about uncoupling how many people would read it?

[Fredoxford-344906]

The fishplates look as good as any others I have used, including hornby 00, peco n and fleischmann n.

For beginners using the fishplates can be difficult but know one has found a better method.

[TT-Man]

Kato, Trix, Marklin, Tillig and many others have designed set track that is far more robust in N, TT and HO gauge.