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Web stores reviews (and local stores)
Here are some reviews of a few stores
I’ve been experiencing since last November.
(I wish someone would have done the same before I did all my purchases).
I am only doing this to inform people; by giving them insights
of some adventures I had with some purchasing I did before X-mas.
If some individual are offended with my reviews, feel free
to write some contradictory comments in the forum. it is a free world after
all.
First I will describe what “as a client”
I am expecting from a seller. Believe me, those are only the basis of doing
good business.
A)-Communication!
Since all
train stores are not as big as “Amazon” it is only normal that their web site
can’t accommodate all kind of orders,
- They can not all show their inventory in house, especially
in real time.
- They can not all calculate shipping cost, especially
across the border.
So! Knowing this, it
is only normal that Communication replace all of the above points. And by communication, I am only asking for 1
sentence, mostly saying
-Yes we got reception of your order!
-Will send update later for availability!
-Items are now shipped, thanks!
The delay of response is also important; a response should
be inside a 3 days period when a new order is given. (I don’t think it is too
much to ask)
Ha Yes! Also a necessity, Please sellers! “For
crying out loud! “ Your personal name is so important. Dealing with Mr. Store or Mr. Shop is not
really reassuring when we give you our credit card number.
It is so common that seller’s forget that “We” are the one
who is sending money, and we sometime don’t know if everything has been send
ok, or in the right hand.
The opposite exist with buyers. That’s why coming back to the rule of COMMUNICATION is so important.
B)-Shipping dates!
Sometime it
is given by an automated messaging program, that’s ok; I don’t ask much, at
least we should get a ball park figure for a shipping date.
Like, if it will take 2 months, that’s find with me, at least
I can decide to keep the transaction of look elsewhere.
So without more waiting here are some
stores I have dealt with in the period of 3 months, I had purchase in dollar
values for more than 2500$ US.
And I’ve never purchase any Train product before on the net,
neither z products before too. But I’ve
been purchasing items on the web often before that.
Wow! Very quick, very friendly, I had a
name to deal with (Anthony) he is great. I got a prompt response,
Shipping was very good, some items are 50
Cent to $1.00 over other store pricing, but it is all worth
it! 
After 1 day: I knew, a)
The price of my invoice, b)
availability, c) shipping dates, I even change
my order after 3 days by putting in more stuff,
It was not a problem. Communication was
going back and forth for each question I had.
Sometime I was receiving a replies only a few
minutes later, I could not have ask for more. A+
10/10 for services,
rapidity of shipping, packaging, and communication. I will definitively buy there again!
Service
Shipping speed
Packaging
Communication
www.ztrack.com , US base store.
Very quick, I had a name to deal with,
quick to respond to emails, got all my questions answered
Received the goods in a very
fast time.
10/10 for services,
rapidity of shipping, packaging, and communication. I would definitively
buy there again.
Service
Shipping speed
Packaging
Communication
www.EuroRailHobbies.com Canadian base store. (
Very slow to response, no name to deal
with in the first few emails received. Got a name after 5 weeks, no answers before
a full week of my request saying “shipment will take another 2 ½ weeks”. In reality it took 8 weeks,
they probably think they are as big as Amazon by giving excuse that they are
overwhelm by email, probably very true, but in reality it means “we want to
keep our profit high and not take care of customer with another employee
responding to email”. I never got
any replies to my emails with questions.
They do business in U.S. Dollar on Canadian soil, probably great pricing
for other country, but for Canadian resident, forget it. I bought some Marklin product in the U.S with cheaper pricing. Will probably never buy
from EuroRailhobbies again.
It has been 8 ½ weeks now, and still no
news on my order.
Not happy at all about their way of doing
business.
Service 
Shipping speed 
(Still waiting for items) 8 weeks now. Got an email in week 7 saying “shipping done.
I will ship tomorrow” not true. It was shipped a week later.
Packaging N/A (will update later)
Communication (Could be way, way better)
Overall reviews, (in my book), they suck
big time. 
Update: Send an email after 4 weeks, got a
response (we did not notice one of your item was B.O.) I tried to change my
order items with similar price, forget it, no response to that either. Probably
to complicated.
www.ModelTrainStuff.com US base store.
Very quick, I did not order complicated
stuff. So no questions
was ask. But shipment came in fast enough that I did not have time to be
concern.
Bought some Peco rails and some rail attachment only.
Service
Shipping speed
Packaging
Communication (Could be better)
www.central-hobbies.com Canadian base store. (
Had ask for a big quote ($700 worth of
stuff), by the time they responded I already had my order placed at another
store, I had to send another email for a follow-up,
Their response was (after a week), “Your
email had fall into cracks”, well crack this, I did not buy any items there,
and will probably never do.
I’ve asked for another quote 1 month
later, took a week for a reply, and prices were too high.
Overall 2/10, Very slow to respond, should
not sell on the net, they don’t know how emails works.
Service 
(Is there any?)
Shipping speed N/A
Packaging N/A
Communication
www.ajckids.com US base store.
I had a name to deal with
I was lurking on the web for a Marklin first kit and found ajckids,
by looking at pricing I found a price mistake on their web site, I’d ask the
store about it and they let me have the 10$ difference. Because
their new price went up. I’ve
got all response to my questions in the 3 days frame, package arrived safely,
the steamer had a major defect but I was able to repair it myself, I had to
disassemble all the steamer apart to find the issue,
otherwise I would have had to ship it back for warranty. It was a Marklin
quality control issue.
Service
Shipping speed
Packaging
Communication 9/10, they are not as quick as the others to
respond to email, but they are well worth doing business with.
I would shop there again
www.texnrails.com US base store. Bad
communication beyond comprehension.
I had to ask for an update all the time, had
seen credit card being charges without any knowledge of what they were
doing. Poor, very poor communication,
in fact there is none.
They did not follow my recommendations for
the purchase order, I specifically ask to send only in
stock items, they probably had read my request a week later.
From my first impression they don’t or do
not want to inform you of what they have in stock, probably don’t have the
time, BUT they don’t want to cancel if they don’t have it in stock, and neither
do they want to discuss any cancellation options. They take money from your card multiple
times without asking for it. Had send 4 emails, one per week about what they
were doing with my credit card, I received a week later a copy of a bill with
some hand writing on it, took me some time to understand that all the bills in
the packaging had the textnrails cost price,
that is why nothing was balancing. They never gave me a name in the original
email, only the abbreviation “tsn”, this tells a lot
about their client relations.
Service (What service would that be?)
Shipping speed 
Packaging a lot of news paper and masking tapes.
Communication None existent, Very, very poor communication
skills, probably don’t know how to use an email tool, Still
no answer to any of my emails.
Won’t and will never buy there again.
Update: (Got 2 letters containing invoice
details written by hand, very hard to understand) I guess they were the
responses to my inquiry I’ve send by email.
Ebay.
This was my first ebay
experience. What I’ve learn is
astonishing. I won’t discuss all the
details here, but some sellers had made me stay up all night because of their
way of doing business.
What I’ve learn:
Some sellers sells z-product for
others, so they don’t know how to describe the items. Be careful, I bought none
working z turnouts.
Some sellers buys z-product only to
resell them at higher costs. (I would like to kick their butt)
Some sellers import z-starter kits and sell all individual
items from the box at questionable
prices. Warning à Calculate
your stuff.
Some buyers have more then 50 steam engine already in their
possession, and are using an Auction picking tool to make sure they will win
the auction for the 51th one.
(Yes life is unfair).
Some buyers have limitless amount of money and will stop at
nothing to make the price rise.
Some sellers are rude in a manner I can’t explain, others
sellers know how to sells.
My first mistake was, I’m thinking, hey! those
guys are selling z-train, I can’t got wrong, they are probable as passionate as
I am, Who would sell z-product and doing fraud. Well ebay is like
driving on the highway, there’s dangerous bozo’s everywhere.
Others are like me, trying all they can to win items for the
less expensive way, and turn out to have more then 75 lost auctions.
Here are some sellers I’ve won from. Or ask questions from.
Egotco, pricing is
equivalent to web store, except I did not have to pay taxes, his response is
mostly automated, so better be sure you know what you are doing for paying, ebay is not very friendly to
newbie’s like me.
The other sellers were not into train stuff so it is not
worth talking about them; this is where I got mostly the bad issues with ebay.
Local hobby store.
They say support your local hobby store. Well I am sorry, but mostly all of them in
my neighborhood “screw me” yes the word is correct.
Udisco,
Always hiding their price behind glass windows and doors,
you ask for price, and they search countless minutes for someone with the keys.
Then, you want to check the price of the items your are interested in, but there is a person waiting beside
you moaning and looking at his watch, “well ok you don’t want to sell just say
so!”
I won’t bother them again for sure. Their store is a Chaos
in a warehouse waiting for a big fire to happen (it smell awful too!), you
physically have to walk all the aisles to make sure you find what you were
looking for.
Even if you are “retired” does not mean you can judge people
for liking n and z scale!, I did not appreciate the
sales guys in that “store” they have the
(your not into HO we don’t like you, attitude,)
I am not going there anytime soon.
The other one, Collection modélisme
A new store near to my home, I sent my wife to get some oil
for plastic base, she come back with a 1/8 full bottle for $13.00, she did not
look at the bottle, and I don’t blame her for it, it is not her hobby after
all. I blame the guy who tried to rip
her off. I go back to the store, the
guy there says I had open and use all the oil.
WHAT? Am I crazy of what ? 
Plus, a week before that, I had ask a quote for a couple of
z product. And I was the only one in the store, the owner takes my notes, and
tell me to comes back in 4 days, WHAT ? Well
strike 3 my friend, another store that will not last for a year.
Support your local store; yes I would if it wouldn’t be for
the bad service I get all the time. I
pay a lot less ordering by mail, even when I pay for custom fees.
Last note, I’ve ask for some
N scale MTL couplers (Qte 10 in a box) for Christmas,
they are pretty expensive. My sister
went to Dorval Hobby Junction Express in
Once Christmas was over, my sisters tells me about her
experience with Hobby Junction Express, She’s an engineer and deals a lot with
peoples, but she pledge me to never ask her to got to that store again, she
told me how rude they were and offensive remarks regarding her questioning,
Yep! Great way to promote the hobby.
I went later on to the same store to understand her views,
and my
god! How weird those
peoples were, because you love trains does not mean you have to act like
arrogant idiots.
So my conclusion is, shop till you drop! But on the net!
Well that’s it for now; hope it will help you choose a store
for your stuff!
bravenet.com