Faith restored a little!

[General Jumbo01]

Not tank related but relevant. You may have read here the trouble l had with a pre Christmas delivery problem l had with a large, heavy Hornby W1 loco. It arrived with two step sets broken off and a fractured plastic tender chassis where the coupling screw is fitted. I called Hornby and they gave me a case number but said that they had dozens of problems with the new model release and no spares to fix them!

I decided a master modeller like to myself could do a self repair..... fixed but not yet tested!

I purchased an Oxford Rail N7 loco in 2019 but with my railway layout moving to a larger room and in bits l left it in the box. Last week l purchased a rolling road so decided to test the N7. The motor ran but the wheels didn't turn. I opened it up and found the gear on the driving axle was bathed in oil and spinning free. Out of warranty l called Oxford Rail and reported the problem, asking them to send me a spare axle with gear and wheels fitted. They called back next day stating they had the part which they wanted £17 for.

Faith restored? The N7 part arrived yesterday. Not an axle with gear and wheels but a complete new working chassis! The loco costs £139. The chassis represents at least two thirds of that cost!

Then today a phone call... a follow up from Hornby! Did l still need help or should they close the case. I explained my untested repair with no facility to test it on. Could they leave it open please? I can, he said, but spares are now in so why don't l just send you all the parts you need plus a few spare parts to replace all the broken bits. No need to return anything!

With so much recent bad press regarding quality control, couriers, packaging and non-existent customer service l feel there's hope yet.

I know how much pain these sort of issues cause retailers and manufacturers - ask Dave about the grief caused by those damaged IS-2's - but at least when sh*t happens it's good to receive good customer service

[Rob1970]

I've found Airfix (which is pretty much Hornby, or vice versa) always very helpful in the past (I mean pre-Brexit). Sent in a request for a missing (or messed up) parts, and you would get a reply within hours, and usually the part in a few days. But then again Revell (With their "Department X" for spare parts) is just as helpful. Once even got a complete set of engines and wings for a kit when I explained to them I wanted to kitbash it into something from a sci-fi show.

[43rdRecceReg]

All's well that mends well, GJ.