GG1

Pat

Sorry. Was there a point to this thread??  

Lionel was bad???   or SAD?

I think that the point was to show displeasure with Lionel's quality, repairs, and customer service.  I understand.  The train hobby has been a working person's pastime.  It's very frustrating to spend tons of hard earned money on products that can't live up to the hype (hype created by the manufacturer!).  

I don't want to disparage Customer Service as they were very responsive but there must be a disconnect in the repair service oversight. I want to see Lionel thrive not disappear 

Every time a displeasure thread comes up, someone always says.......stop buying this companys products. So.........................time to move on to another companys product until you have issues there. Then move on to the next companys products. This has been working for me. I haven't bought any motive power for a few years now. I find buying from Ebay and the secondary market works better than new stuff. Having said that, I will still buy new freight,passenger,buildings and track, just not motive power. I too got tired of sending new stuff back for repair.

You must be very lucky.  I get many calls each week from people telling me about the great buy they got from Fleabay.  They then say how it does not run.  I hear many many more of those stories than your story.  I tell people if they buy new, it is covered by warranty.  Buy used and have the seller tell you it ran good when it left.  Must have been UPS.  I will not touch anything that came from Fleabay.  

I know deals can be had on used locomotives.  The only place I will buy anything used is from the OGR Forum.  Keep in your thoughts that not many repair tech guys want to fool with your great fleabay score.  I have found from my experience that many engines end up on fleabay for a reason.  That reason is not always because it ran great.  I get many calls from Forum members and direct them to a repair person who pays to advertise on the forum.  The forum has  many authorized MTH tech guys and a few Lionel authorized tech guys.