TheVoidDragon Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 So i'm completely unable to complete a 1/76 Churchill i have due to a missing track spring/suspention part. I sent a message asking for a replacement and was told it would cost £4 postage, but someone else (how i found you could ask for spares in the first place) had told me they'd never had to pay postage and lives in the UK as well. Were they wrong about that? £4 postage seems absurd, especially when it's a very small piece and the entire kit itself only costs around £6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham martin Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 Sadly, i hve to report an even more dissappointing experience. I recently attempted to source a spare canopy for the 1:72 DH Vampire (which is a new kit) and was told that there were no spares available.Luckily, I live quite close to the Hornby factory, and was able to take advantage of their recent factory sale toget a new kit for £4. This doesnt alter the fact that i will have to raid this kit for the repalacement, and still be a canopy short ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVoidDragon Posted February 9, 2017 Author Share Posted February 9, 2017 Sadly, i hve to report an even more dissappointing experience. I recently attempted to source a spare canopy for the 1:72 DH Vampire (which is a new kit) and was told that there were no spares available.Luckily, I live quite close to the Hornby factory, and was able to take advantage of their recent factory sale toget a new kit for £4. This doesnt alter the fact that i will have to raid this kit for the repalacement, and still be a canopy short !That's what's annoying me the most, £4 for a really small part when the kit itself is only slightly more than that, and if i did buy a new kit all it does is pretty much ignore the problem; i'd still have one i could never complete.I was told by someone they were free replacements and i've seen quite a few other people mention they got replacement parts for free as well. £4 is just a really silly price no matter how you look at it. If i was asking for something like 75% of the kit to be replaced then sure, i could understand it a bit more, but it's a single track suspension piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Symmons Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 Hi Void Dragon.I know your frustration, had a simular experiance last year with Decals for the 1/72 Gloster Gladiator missing the black ink, even sent them a scan of the faulty decal sheet. Made the model un-makeable and was told no spares in stock & after 9 months still out of stock, & that's also a new kit. Even contemplated getting the decals printed locally, but was unable to find a high ressolution copy. Had to buy a second kit locally. I now always open the kit in the shop to check all's OK.If I remember correctly that part could be fashioned from some stretched sprue & some ingenuity on your part even if it not 100% most will be hidden. Why not give it a go, you have plenty to copy from, and think of the achievement if you get it right. It could be fun.Good luck & love to know how you get on with the Churchill.Remember we do this for fun. John the Pom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratch Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 You should look at your consumer rights. Your contract is with the vendor who should exchange your kit for one that is complete. If you lost the part it is your responsibility. Airfix Spares have always helped me in my times of need (unlike some other manufacturers), and I think they do a splendid job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVoidDragon Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 You should look at your consumer rights. Your contract is with the vendor who should exchange your kit for one that is complete. If you lost the part it is your responsibility. Airfix Spares have always helped me in my times of need (unlike some other manufacturers), and I think they do a splendid job.It can't be returned for several reasons; it's partially built, the tank is part of the VE day set and it was bought quite a while ago. The only real option is getting a replacement part, or buying an entire new kit which doesn't solve the problem at all. Assuming they know their own prices, i don't know how they can justify charging £4 for a very small part of what is a £6 - 7 kit, around half the price of the complete kit for a single part of which were are supposed to be 22 of these in the box. If that £4 cost is just for postage, that's even more absurd. The item can easily be fit into a small envelope with a 2nd class stamp.And like it said, what makes it even worse is that looking around i've seen mentions of people being sent their replacement parts for free. Infact i even saw one that asked for an optional payment after the parts had been dispatched, although that was from a few years ago.They replied to me quickly which is nice, though.I'm not saying the service is completely terrible, it's good that they offer replacement parts in the first place, but i hope you can see why i'm not happy at all about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratch Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 The VE-Day Set was issued in 2005. You should always check that your kit is complete when you purchase it - saves a lot of trouble later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobster0001 Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 /media/tinymce_upload/547244841d137fc07109e2c32a0fc2d7.JPG TVD, Sounds a little funny. Are you there in GB? The reason I ask is bought the new B-17G last month shipped from Poland to the US. It had half a dozen broken small parts. They responded quickly and took less than 2 weeks to get the new parts, at no cost to me!. Not sure why they would want to charge you at all for replacements, especially if you are in country. Were the parts missing? I've had NEW SEALED kits w/missing parts! Seems odd because you the buyer should alwaws get unquestioned service. Especially at the prices we pay for models these days! Another issue is that sometimes you don't notice a part is missing or broken until you go to build the kit, by then it may be too late, If the kit is a recent issue (still being sold as NEW) there should be replacement parts available, or at least a return policy from the seller. I've learned by experience to always check over NEW kits well. If it's an older opened kit you take your chances. I've had good luck and bad. I have some kits that even though I bought them NEW, they may be 10 or more years before I build them. By then your SOL! But look at the attached pics. I don't know how much 0390 equals in pounds or dollars, but sounds like a lot! The box was pretty oversized for the 6 tiny pieces, seemed a waste of packaging to me. But then again the kit boxes all seem to be oversized, that's why the most of the parts get broken in the first place, because they get thrown around inside that box. SHOCK !! Revell will always send spare parts if available, no questions asked, and no shipping fees, and boxes appropriate to the size of the part. Even this smaller box was $2.62 (probably more than the kit cost to make)to mail in the US (postage is outrageous these days!) but Revell didn't ask for any fees. Any company be it models or anything else should always provide prompt free parts replacement service to YOU, the buyer. Without YOU, they would have no company! They all tend to forget this these days, it's the same all over, service isn't what it used to be. I was just amazed Airfix service was so good as it was the first time I have used it. I was holding my breath there for a while ! I have many brands of models and so far I will say Academy/MRC is the worst (actually none) for service! I have good luck w/Revell, AMT-R2, Airfix, even Roden in the Ukraine! I'll say though that I don't care for some of the makers (RoG for one) using those flimsy open ended cartons.They suck. Period. They don't protect the contents very well, thus causing the need for "replacement parts". Airfix, though oversize, at least have a good sturdy, stackable, useable box. 'Nuf said I guess. lol Admin edit: Removed image showing your address. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironsides Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Would agree with Ratch, I wouldn't expect free replacement parts on a kit that was produced before Hornby-Airfix actually existed....It should be easy enough to make a reasonable replacement part for that component though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVoidDragon Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 Would agree with Ratch, I wouldn't expect free replacement parts on a kit that was produced before Hornby-Airfix actually existed....It should be easy enough to make a reasonable replacement part for that component though...The VE day set is a collection of other kits in a different box, in this case it's the 1/76 Churchill that is missing a part, which is the same as the one that was/is available seperately from what i've seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVoidDragon Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 Hi TheVoidDragon, Was it made clear to the Spares team that these parts were missing from your kit, which was purchased as brand new from an Airfix retailer? The Airfix Spares team will charge for spares that have been damaged or lost, or on kits that were purchased second hand (for example), but do offer replacement parts free of charge when the kit is new (they may need some details to confirm the kit has been bought new from an Airfix stockist). Of course whether claiming spares free of charge, or not, the team can only supply the parts they physically have. As you can imagine, there are a finite number of spares for each kit available and whilst we will get more stock whenever possible, its rarely viable to simply manufacture more parts in a production slot. This means more parts often come when the kits themselves are made again, which can (unfortunately) lead to some lengthy waits.I think this is part of the problem; as far as i can see, there is no FAQ or anything along those lines that says they'll charge under certain circimstances. All i can see is the ability to request spares, nothing about costs or anything like that. As i said before i'm unable to show where it was from because it was purchased quite a while ago.They've said they have the parts and are keeping them until i pay the £4, so it doesn't seem to be a case of not having them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pg-scout Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Well you may not have your parts, but you have got a response from an Airfix employee, something I was beginnig to believe was impossible on these forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Symmons Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 I for one & I'm sure many others will agree that's a step in the right direction.Looking forward to hearing more.Now how about a responce in the plea for better paint topic.Remember we do this for fun John the Pom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVoidDragon Posted February 11, 2017 Author Share Posted February 11, 2017 My problem here isn't so much that there's a charge for it (i'd be fine if i was something like 50p, but even that's likely to be much, much more than it cost to make) but it's the it's a cost of £4, about 75% of the cost of an entire new kit, which to me entirely defeats the point of being able to request spares in the first place when they cost close to the same as the complete model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mc Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 I was very happy to pay a small fee to get some decals replaced for a kit that someone picked up for me as a present (2nd hand)..Decals were missing from the box and ebay was the only (expensive) option or so I thought. I chanced contacting Airfix through the website here and they got back to me very quickly with a quote of £3 total to post a new decal sheet (to Rep of Ireland). I know the material cost of the decals is only a few pence but someone had to read the email, figure out what I needed, see it was in stock, find it and then post it. I must say I don't think £3 is too much at all for all that...especially seeing as it's a discontinued kit.Had the decals a little over a week later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sootei Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Has anybody got a front wheel or damaged Airfix Phantom with a front wheel from the Airfix flight Deck game that they are willing to sell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris-1251093 Posted June 9, 2022 Share Posted June 9, 2022 I've got vulcan 1/72.got 4 lower wing halves .no top wing .model cost £65 .airfix want me to pay another £8 +pp.wont get another Airfix model Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailorman Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 Chris, Your first stop should really be the shop that sold you the kit ....... but that is probably of little help. I can understand being charged to replace a part you may yourself have lost or damaged ..... but in your case this seems to be through no fault of your own.Have you tried contacting Customer Services to explain the issue?Customer Services:We operate a telephone Service open on +44 (0)1843 233502:Monday – Wednesday: 9am - 5pmThursday – Friday: 9am – 3pmWe will also be closed on December 27, 28 and January 3. For enquiries of a technical nature or if you have a problem or fault with your product.technicalservices.uk@airfix.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenneth ONeill Posted June 11, 2022 Share Posted June 11, 2022 Agreed - 2 sets of one pair of wing parts and none of the other pair is clearly a packing error, and not one that will show up by techniques like box weight either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander holroyd Posted Saturday at 01:18 Share Posted Saturday at 01:18 I'm missing and entire sprue from the airfix 1/48 junker Ju87R-2/B-2 stuka it's spru F I have got two spru Es Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john redman Posted Saturday at 22:03 Share Posted Saturday at 22:03 Did you buy it recently? If so, send in a photo and AFX will probably ping you a replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James -1313861 Posted Sunday at 12:24 Share Posted Sunday at 12:24 It used to be for me that 8t was every other kit I wold have so e price missing, but never a whole sprue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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