Anybody shop at Hobbystation.net?

I bought something there once.  It arrived DOA (dead sound board), and when I tried contacting them about it, they never replied.  Luckily at the time there was a LHS that did Lionel warranty repairs (they don't now), but there were no parts available for 5 months.  It did eventually get fixed, and my son loves it, but sadly the DOA ruined my Christmas plans, and then birthday as it still wasn't fixed by then.

Anywho, the short of it is, I now won't buy from them because of poor experience of the past.

Now Mario's Trains on the other hand also has good prices and awesome communication.  I bought from them, and that locomotive also came DOA (Yes, I have no luck buying Lionel RTR sets!) and he was very quick to offer to exchange it for one he would test working in his store.  But in the end I didn't need to do it as I took a closer look and it was a loose screw on the pickup roller.

You may want to try our forum sponsors....they help support our forum and many have great pricing!!

Alan

STAY AWAY FROM THE HOBBY STATION!

You will spend more time trying to call them and chasing your credit card charge than enjoying your trains.

Remember, the price of quality service is long forgotten over cheap price alone. 

I purchased one item from them but never again.

I've purchased from them since 2007 & from others. They've always provided me receipts to use for a RA from Lionel. Sorry some of you fellows have had issues but I can say they've treated me fairly. They're slow to get back to you especially around Christmas time (Crazy Time  for the model train hobby) but everyone else is slow to get back to me also. Just my 2 cents.

There have been multiple posts about Hobby Station on this forum.  If you do a quick search, you'll see that the problem is persistent... no to slow responsive customer service.  As Alan said, there are other options on this forum in the form of sponsors.

I am glad for this forum. I was just ready to order something from them and did not go through with the deal. In fact I emailed my reasons for not going through with the order and told about the issues others have had with them. I assume I will probably not get a response. 

Thanks again. 

A friend orders from them occasionally, and has had good luck. No drama.

He got a Lionel C&A Legacy Pacific a month or so ago from them. All was well.

But - I've not dealt with them, myself.

All this is the response I received from them which sounds encouraging:

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I can understand your reluctance. We did have some problems in the past but now we are trying to improve. 

There may be a local repair place that would do the warranty work for free when you show the receipt from us.

Lionel will always give you a return authorization to send it to them to be repaired or replaced. They will fix it for free and send it back for free.

Sometimes they can help you solve the problem over the phone and/or send you a small part if necessary.

Obviously if all else failed you would get a full refund.

All I will say is SMART CHOICE! Based on experience, on more than one occasion, I won't use them again.

They always say they are trying to improve!

Through the years I've heard nightmare stories from others. I must agree with earlier statement, "They always say they are trying to improve". To this one can add, pass the buck, blame someone else.