**Follow up** excited until I opened ES44AC

I never saw a reply from Mr. Muffin. I may have missed it....did he step in and try to help remedy the situation?

Sunrise

Sunrise Special posted:

I never saw a reply from Mr. Muffin. I may have missed it....did he step in and try to help remedy the situation?

Sunrise

Mr. Muffin replied earlier in the post, it wasn't to remedy the situation. However his reply was deleted and the topic was closed. So to answer your question I never heard back from him.

What's truly impressive:  Fixing a problem...or not having the problem in the first place?

Berkshire President posted:

What's truly impressive:  Fixing a problem...or not having the problem in the first place?

I would take not having a problem in the first place. However Lionel has done a great job taking care of it.

Like I said, Lionel steps up - I had sent them an email on the 28th of December and got a RMA the 29th. No problems, stepped up. You can always count on Lionel to quickly step up on products under warranty. Bet you buy more products.

Good to hear! Buying expensive things and them being damaged before use is no fun regardless of what it is! Im hoping my things I ordered from Lionel aren't damaged upon arrival, lol. 

My personal interactions with the Customer Service folk when they were in Ohio was top notch.  I'd seriously give them an A+.

But it's SOOOO frustrating when you eagerly anticipate a new item, open it....and it's broken.....before it even touches your rails.

But...you're item is tip top right now.  All is well!

Lionel does do a great job on the customer service side of the fence. Yes, it would be great to not have the issues in the first place but I'm sure that breakdowns of communication and protocol are quite common when dealing with a mfg. on the other side of the globe.

This also makes a statement about dealers and their level of service in the current age:

They don't have replacement parts on hand to replace those that are missing (Lionel might not even have them yet either when it comes to very new items)

With a desirable loco, they probably don't have any extras with which to do a complete swap. This might not be the case with a local dealer who charges full or nearly full retail as they may have a few extras sitting around.

The whole "service after the sale" aspect is nearly extinct. It really comes down to "who gives me the lowest purchase price."

I'm always amazed,and it may be the times we live in, that we're so happy and grateful when people in business do what they should be doing in the first place! Just sayin!

graz posted:

Lionel does do a great job on the customer service side of the fence. Yes, it would be great to not have the issues in the first place but I'm sure that breakdowns of communication and protocol are quite common when dealing with a mfg. on the other side of the globe.

This also makes a statement about dealers and their level of service in the current age:

They don't have replacement parts on hand to replace those that are missing (Lionel might not even have them yet either when it comes to very new items)

With a desirable loco, they probably don't have any extras with which to do a complete swap. This might not be the case with a local dealer who charges full or nearly full retail as they may have a few extras sitting around.

The whole "service after the sale" aspect is nearly extinct. It really comes down to "who gives me the lowest purchase price."

I continue to get email about this situation.....

• As stated above, if a dealer has additional inventory, they can swap it. I swapped a bad Lionel Nickle Plate Mikado today because I had another one. I will get the bad one fixed. I don't have spare BNSF ES44's. I tried to buy another one for Jason, but neither of the distributors I buy from had an extra. These were BTO and sold through. Jason got my last one. 
• We have no parts, nor can we get them on the customers behalf. We had this issue with the bearings on the Berkshire. In calls to Lionel to get additional bearings for customers, I was told to have the customer call them. Lionel sees the end customer as "their customer" quoting them. They want to handle it so that they can get the product feedback directly without relying on the dealers.
• I am not going to respond as to my specific conversations with Lionel regarding this situation. They read the forum; were aware of this; and are taking care of it.

As many of you know, I am a hobbyist first and a dealer second. It's just as frustrating for me to receive a highly detailed product that has issues.

Unfortunately, I don't have the power to resolve an issue on the customers behalf beyond a swap or a return. None of us do.