Got Atlas O or MTH items on order from AMHobbies or JD's Trains? Call Petersen Supply!

Thanks for passing along that info, Steve.   I always found Andy and Julia, I think her name is, a pleasure to deal with in the past.

it's a good thing that orders are pased throug, but why do i have to pay more for all of my reservations now they are taken care off by Petersen

i had severall things on reservation with JD-trains for an agreed good price

Cor

Wouldn't it be more appropriate to ask Mr. Peterson if your "agreed good price" is still valid?

i did, the answer was no

the agreed prices i had with JD trains are bumped

Cor

WOW!  Might be time to look into another supplier, like maybe a Forum Sponsor, and then cancel your order/orders.

thats the part wat makes me ****ed.

most things i have on order are reservations who are closed

i will try to get those items somewhere else (if i can)

Cor

Beautiful. Let's see if I have this straight--Atlas reroutes the reservation to a dealer that is convenient for them, this dealer can now charge whatever the hell they want, and the customer either agrees and bends over and takes it, or misses out on the product.

Hopefully no deposits were involved.

Jeff C

yep, you got it as it is

no deposits ,thats the only positive

Cor

Why are the pre-orders being rerouted to Petersen Supply?

TJ

May I suggest Mr. Muffin Trains.  I have been promised EXCELLENT pre-order prices on Atlas engines from Mr Muffin.  In addition, he gave me a solid deal on a very recent MTH purchase.  You will not find better customer service anywhere.

IMHO Petersen is making a HUGH mistake by bumping the price.  It may be legal but it is a terrible way to treat a ton of potential "new" customers.

Mr Muffins link below:

http://www.mrmuffinstrains.org/

Not quite. First AM Hobbies "went out of business", and thus JD's Trains (down in the St Louis area) picked-up all of AM Hobbies pre-orders/reservations. Then, just recently, JD's Trains, i.e. Jeff Dobslaw, has business conflicts such that he can no longer handle his hobby shop and mail order business, so he got Peterson Supply to "take over" his mail order business.

Atlas nor MTH, nor any other manufacturer, had ANYTHING to do with "moving the pre-orders/reservations" from one dealer to another. Also, since Atlas and MTH are both located in the eastern U.S., and Peterson Supply is located in Portland, Oregon, I don't see how THAT makes it more "convenient" for Atlas.

If the original post is factual your last paragraph is incorrect. If you have inside info on this please share it, otherwise I will allow my post to stand.

Jeff C

Not exactly. The dealer goes out of business. Instead of canceling his pre-orders and hosing his customers, he arranges to have Petersen Supply take them, and Atlas agrees to ship his pre-orders to Petersen...... This isn't Atlas' doing..... If Petersen can't sell the items at the price AMHobbies quoted, that might have something to do with AMHobbies quitting.... The good news is the orders didn't get canceled..... Whatever deal you had went away when one of the two parties went away - not Petersen's fault.... not Atlas fault..... 

and in the mean time the customer is ........................

Well Jeff, I really don't care whether you believe me or not. What I posted was/is the plain and simple FACTS of what transpired. Personally I believe you post is off base, since Atlas has no control of how their dealers conduct their own business, and whether they fail or not.

Total agree with Mr. Muffin. Andy, at Petersen's wasn't involved with the original orders, he is just making the items available at a price that he feels makes sense for him as a retailer and hopefully, for the customer as well. As he says, at least the orders weren't just cancelled outright and the customer still has the choice to accept the item through Petersen or not. Having dealt with Andy, he is a very stand up guy, with great customer service and does well by the hobby. 

Jerrman

Let's see....Mr. Muffin, a good-hearted retailer exhibiting concerns for all of the hobby's customers, has offered to help the customers of two other (competing?) retailers and the retailers themselves over a situation that, once again, underscores the demise of two more LHS's.  And all we can think about in the midst of this 'sturm und drang' (with apologies and thanks to mwb) is that a quoted price may be null and void????

Here, how about this...

1) Thank you Mr. Muffin for conveying this information

2) Thank you Atlas and MTH for making arrangements with a (common) retailer to ensure some measure of continuity for a customer's pre-order.

3) AM Hobbies, JD-Trains: Sorry for the problems you're going through.  If recovery is not possible, thank you for your years of support/service for the hobby.  You will be missed.

4) Thank you Peterson Supply for agreeing to take on this task, and for allowing Mr. Muffin to notify us.

5) Peterson Supply...we understand that YOU have no obligation to honor the original quoted pre-order prices for the undelivered items.  We understand that in agreeing to take on this responsibility for the affected customers that you probably are incurring a business cost for which you had not anticipated.  Those customers affected by this will certainly appreciate your best effort to price the product as fairly as possible.  However, none of us would want you to jeopardize your own business viability for this special effort.

Gee, I wonder if that chap who paid his money for the 2015 annual Weaver's Club car, only to see the company shutter before seeing his car has recovered?   Saw that on another thread the other day.  Sort of reminds us all of the NOT-SO-ROBUST economic recovery we're yet experiencing. 

...and the risks that may even touch the hallowed sanctity (?) of this hobby-of-refuge.

But, gosh, 'they' make it sound so rosey!?!? 

Hmmmmm.......

Call Steve, Mr. Muffin, and I am certain he will take care of you. He is a wonderful guy, his prices are very competitive, his customer service is excellent, and he is a wonderful guy. Hey, I mentioned that twice !!  

I'm surprised nobody has posted this yet, but JD's is now a part-time operation. According to the website, Jeff took a job that involves him being out of town Monday-Thursday so he is only operating the hobby shop Fridays and Saturdays. Reading between the lines, it appears that the 0 gauge train business wasn't making enough money to support him and he took the appropriate action. I'm kind of surprised he hasn't put anything on the site yet about the preorder switch; maybe he hasn't had time. Here's a link to JD's website. 

JD's Trains

A little more information about Mr. Jeff Dobslaw (JD's Trains); he is a Home Builder, and the JD's Trains Hobby Shop was pretty much a "hobby" for him. Obviously something has changed/improved in his building business, so as to bags him soooooo busy, he can no longer do both, so his "part-time" hobby shop and mail order business MUST be reduced.

Jeff took a job that is more lucrative then selling toy trains.  He did/does build homes but this job is not building homes.  He has a family to provide for and those of us (I did) that had orders with him are inconvenienced but if we were faced with providing for our families or making sure a bunch of grown men get their toys I am pretty sure we would all do the same thing he did.

It is foolish to correlate him no longer filling orders on new products with the state of the economy.  One could just as easily say that since the job he took was available that the economy is therefore in a robust recovery.  It is all just anecdotal.  

Thanks Mr. Muffin.

We went through this process when Bob handed AM Hobbies over to JD, and Atlas made sure our pre orders were honored. Bob had agreed to break up the IC / UP silver 40ft steel reefer set for me, as I only waned the IC car. Atlas kept Bob's promise. I do not think we should have any worries.

I have met Andy at York and bought from Andy in the past. I found him very pleasant to deal with.

Mr. Muffin, I am going to have to look at your site also and see what you have to offer.

Thanks again for informing the forum members about this change.

Richard  

Yes. Some people (who apparently don't read ) have an addiction to blaming everything on "the economy" and have sung that tired tune for years. In fact, the economy has been on the upswing for years, and is robust. The real reason is that the economy is so good that Jeff had a higher paying job offer that no longer allowed him the time to fully engage in one of his hobbies, the train store, as others have noted.

I haven't gotten a reply to several emails to JDs recently; now I know why, i guess. Sorry they're leaving the scene.

IMHO!

My personal experiences with Andy and Julie has been awesome.  Now, I have been on both sides of price change and can relate to both parties and it's never a win/win situation.  However, to imply that Andy and Julie are just "charging whatever they want" and inferring that they are taking advantage of a situation they did not create and are actually stepping up so as to not leave customers out in the cold is not only inaccurate but at minimum, crass and inappropriate.  One of my most recent purchases (a simple MTH set) from Andy was delivered to me by Andy himself to save me the shipping cost!  Yes, he was on the road to visit his retail customers and yes he was close to my location to start with, but name another dealer that has delivered your purchase to your house!.   

living in europe i dont think there will be a home delivery

Cor

How do you receive stuff then? Go to the customs office and pick it up yourself?

just like everybody, by the postman

the tax (what i have to pay) is collected by the postman.

Cor

All my Atlas orders now go to Mr Muffins.

AM Hobbies... gone

JD Trains.... done

PDT.... rude

Petersons.... prices too high

Atlas prices are ridiculous anyway, so the few things that I do order, go to Mr Muffins 

Guys...We have been asked to close this topic until all of the details have been worked out.  Steve will be posting a new thread with these details....stay tuned!!

Thanks!

Alan