Imperial Train Co.

Was located west of Pittsburgh, PA.  I believe it's been almost two years since they moved all to Texas.

Try this contact information.   Click on the underlined phrase to link.

My last purchase, was two Montour RR cabs.   

Trust me I've done all that and then some.

I have placed orders from Imperial, in March of this year, since they've relocated to TX, and all merchandise has been received in good order.

Did they take a while or did they communicate with you?  10 days and nothing other than automated confirmation.

Not making excuses, and I don’t know where they’re located, but parts of Texas were crushed by flooding a few months ago. Could be this dealer hasn’t landed back on his feet yet. Although, if he dinged your account, he really needs to reply to your emails and calls.

@KED0607 posted:

Did they take a while or did they communicate with you?  10 days and nothing other than automated confirmation.

I don't remember how long it took for delivery, (still looking) but it was probably no more than a week. I show purchase made on the 16th, Tracking # assigned on the 18th.

Well I contacted before ordering  so there were no mentioning  of issues.  If you can't fill orders make an announcement  on your website to be patient or something. 

Before this thread is STOPPED, you need to understand that unless the seller is listed with OGRR .... it's hit or miss.

Which is why I limit my purchases to those stores on the banner above or much better established stores I know.

@AlanRail,

I believe Imperial Train Co. is listed on the 5th row of Forum Sponsors shown on the banners above.

John

@AlanRail they are listed as forum sponsor. 

@MartyE do you still have ties with Imperial?

@AlanRail second from left on line 5

It says Train Doctor is that Imperial  too?

They must advertise different things for different people. 

@KED0607 posted:

They must advertise different things for different people.

The sponsor board continually changes and yes they are listed.

That must be correct. There are now showing up on my banner now. AND I would have bought from them. So I am at a loss.

All I can say is that when you buy on-line it takes some time.  terrible!

I ordered from them during the Texas power crisis/winter storm. They communicated and advised it would take a while. idk maybe something happened to them. You gotta wait.

Well... frustrations aside ...WELCOME to the OGR Forum Keith!!@!!  Hopefully, it will work out in the end and the upside is that now you have an excellent source for referencing and comradery.

Keith, Please check your email from 7 hours ago. Your item has shipped.

@Rail Dude posted:

I don't remember how long it took for delivery, (still looking) but it was probably no more than a week. I show purchase made on the 16th, Tracking # assigned on the 18th.

Looks like purchase made on the 16th, Tracking # assigned on the 18th, package arrived on the 20th.

Good to see the response from Imperial Train Company, since I just ordered a couple of things from them (for the first time) on the 19th.

@imperial train company

Thanks for the response just checked email.  I will update when item arrives.

Please read the edit to original post!!!!

He is slow at replying to emails but he shipped after 2 or 3 days both times I bought from him.

@Gene H was 10 days before I got a shipment notice.  With ship was total of 15 days.

this is where we are today,  taking money from a faceless stranger means they just want your money. but a part of this is on YOU giving money TO a faceless stranger AND  expecting  or demanding respect based on your money alone.

Maybe NEXT time call first before ordering not last, establish a tiny relationship, get a name. . . or maybe no more next time.

@AlanRail I guess you missed the point I contacted him through website to confirm stock first and got a reply same day.  I ordered and responded to let them know I was ordering.   So I guess your theory doesn't quit apply here.

@KED0607 posted:

Please read the edit to original post!!!!

Suggestion:  Edit this thread's title to say you received your order, or the vendor is ok, or something else to let folks know you're satisfied.

@Pingman all the post title says is the business name.  I added a edit to original post. 

Adding to this as a not entirely disinterested observer. I ordered items, online, from both Imperial and T & K Train & Hobby on the same day, about a week ago, and also received acknowledgements from both companies that day. The difference is that I also received followup confirmation and shipping notices from T&K, and I picked up the items from the UPS store yesterday. I've heard nothing from Imperial since the order; maybe the order has been shipped, maybe it hasn't. The point is that I don't know. I am bothered by this statement in the initial Imperial response: "It’s on-hold until we confirm that payment has been received"; odd because PayPal confirmed payment the same day as the order.

KED0607 did more than I did or would normally do, contacting the company prior to ordering. I've ordered many, many items from eBay, Amazon, Etsy, etc., all from 'faceless strangers' and rarely have had a problem. It's not unreasonable to assume that ordering online from an established company, particularly one that advertises on this forum, will be relatively risk free. I get it that 'life happens', things don't always go as planned, but keep customers informed.

@KED0607 posted:

@Pingman all the post title says is the business name.  I added a edit to original post. Very

And good on you for doing so.

However, folks who read the thread and knew of your problem would not know that it had been made good by Imperial Train unless they read your original post.

Very few forum members go back to the original post after they've read it the first time; and, when I click on a thread that is new to me, the software takes me to the most recent post, not the first post. In short, I'd never see your edit in the original post unless I wanted to unwind the posts, nor would many others.

Hence, my suggestion that you edit the thread's title and save me and others the time of learning that ITC did right by you in the end.

Oh, and welcome to OGR.

After this thread I took a look some outstanding orders I have with on-line vendors. I noticed that on most of the emailed  receipts  they lacked two things a date and an order number. Thus no way to trace or track the order.

I understand that  it may be hard to insert a date and keep track of order numbers but there should be some minimum standards for on-line sellers, such as having a date, an order number and maybe a delivery date or an estimated delivery date based on the manufacturer if it's a pre-order.

I just received emails from Imperial with payment confirmation and shipping information. I appreciate the followup and am hopeful that this will end on a positive note.

Caveat Emptor. This is a postscript to my comments (not those of KED0607). I received the items, both ordered as new though one apparently is not; no box, evidence that cords had been rewrapped (an MTH 100-watt power supply). Phone calls, more than a dozen attempts last week and early this week at various times of the day, went either to a fax line, or to a notice that phone storage was full and no message could be left. An email was returned, after several attempts per Gmail's usual procedures, as non-deliverable.

Hard to ask questions, or get explanations, from a company that does not respond. I've considered reporting the issue to PayPal and/or my credit card company but at this point am undecided. I understand from information here and other web sources that Imperial Train Co. had a good reputation as a brick-and-mortar store. Don't know what changed but it's highly unlikely I will order from this company again.