Is Lionels repair service too fast?

What was the cause of the grinding problem? Did the tech say? They usually leave a note indicating the repair. Could shipping be rebending the linkage causing this? Lionel has had some defective smoke unit fan motors as of late or the bushing may have dried out from the fluid during storage.. Aside from the coupler  and loose switch problem it sounds like rough shipping may be damaging you loco as fast as they can fix it.

I'm not saying your wrong, rather there are alot of different factors involved especially once the loco in in a box and thrown in the back of a truck.

"Repaired motor mount" I think is what was on the invoice.

Lionels Products usually seem packeged pretty well. You could be right though. Maybe they should look into packaging their products in a dense memory foam that could absorb shock better. I wonder if there would be a large decrease in defective products if they came up with a better shipping carton.

sounds like they send you a diff. engine every time! Next time try putting a little mark or something under the tender and make it so only you know were it is, and see if it is the same engine when it comes back!

Once again, I think this is the wrong venue to air this in.  I'd contact Mike Reagan directly and explain the situation to him and I'm guessing he'll see that it's repaired properly and thoroughly tested.

I disagree on your first point.

Based on the last sentence in his first post, I think he's also soliciting other forum members if they have experienced similar issues with product repair quality vs. turnaround time.  Not an unreasonable approach and entirely appropriate.

Do agree with your second point in getting in touch with Mike Reagan on the problems encountered.

I don't think he is wrong in posting this problem. Learn from his mistake and throughly test the loco after receiving it back from Lionel's Service Center. UPS certainly made some money on the trips back & forth.

Do you think Lionel goes after UPS with claims of damage often or is something like that to much a pain to deal with. Would be interesting to hear how that whole ordeal plays out.

It's my understanding per Mike Reagen that all engines are tested and run for 3 hours before being cleared for return. It's curious that some apparently aren't running properly when the owner puts it back on his track, but these are complicated little machines and odd things do happen in shipping. Maybe sometimes things fall through the crack at the repair dept. as well.

Some shipping problems are obvious (I had an engine returned from Lionel a couple years ago and it looked like UPS drove a spear through the box, narrowly missing the engine by a quarter inch), and some problems not so obvious.

There's certainly one lesson in here.

Test your locomotive thoroughly when it comes back from repair!

Given Mike Reagan's involvement here, I'd have at least ran it by him to see if he could nail down why you're having so many issues with one locomotive!

I will say that there were a couple of lionel engines (cheap ones by the way) that didn't do too well.  However, like I said, these were cheap, maybe worth about $140. For that price on some engines, I'd be lucky to even have a motor in it.  And although UPS have been fairly good about packaging, there is almost always signs of rough handling on any packages I received.  Nothing has been broken that I have recieved  It is also possible 92hatcher that in your area, the people shipping your items are rougher with them than average.  Different people, different ways of doing things.

Generally though, I like UPS and Lionel as both do try for adequate service.

If I were Mike Reagan, I would seriously make sure that everything at the Lionel distribution centers is up to par.  With UPS, I would bring up the issue with them about packaging.  If both seem to be adequate, then I would look at how the items are packed.

I am glad to hear though that at Lionel, there is some quality control.  I know it's a good company.

In all honestly it could be because I simply just suck. Haha, Yeah, its been that kind of a year. 

Lionel is a great company. But as I have said before I feel they are in for some trouble. Let face it, the older generation of enthusiasts who would put up with issues here and there are fading fastly. The younger generation (Myself at 30 included) are going to demand near perfect products. We have become used to it. We see PS3's, high definition TV's, and iPads(Im anti apple anyway) run flawlessly for years and cant understand why these trains with far inferiour technology cant be made to do the same.  Its a changing of the times that I think has to start far far before a locomotive ever even reaches the end purchaser.

You're in good company. (Well, maybe not so good.)   

Whats the old saying?....."Misery loves company"   right?   lol

Good luck with that "near perfect" thing!  

After reflecting for a bit I think why this eats at me so much is because I am a seasonal operator. I only get to setup for about  weeks of the year and thats it. So to have one of my brand new fancy Legacy locomotives down for even 1/5 of that time feels like a kick in the pants.

And even saying this I dont always run the trains ever day they are up. Sometimes they sit for 2 days without me running them. But looking down at them, admiring their beauty...  30-40-50 times a day easy. Sometimes its hard to see the beauty though when your are nervous that the next power up could lead to another failure.

Excuse me now, I'm going to go play with some trains. 

there is no way you should be paying to send the engine back.  when you call for a RA tell them it was just repaired and they will send you a UPS label. or if you are a veteran.

I had a couple of boomerang repairs at Lionel, they paid shipping both ways after the first trip.  I believe that's the policy. but you'd have to ask them to be sure.

Looks like they are sending me a new pilot which is good news. Hopefully this is the end of the repairs for this locomotive.

Im really pretty curious now about what kind of relationship Lionel has with UPS, and if they go after them for damage possibly caused by shipping.