Lionel not responding to emails

Chris

You are right Lionel should be answering your emails or at least tweeting a response. Have you checked your tweets?

Why not buy the set and sell off the engine you don't need?

Sent an Email and several days later called them and they answered the phone (Katie acknowledged the email) and the service department is working on my problem, expect to hear back in 2-3 days.

Merry Christmas

Brent

Did you try calling them? They have a general number on their website 586-949-4100 they claim is for customer questions about products and services. You never know with e-mail, it is possible your mail got thrown into a spam bucket because they got mail from your e-mail ISP that was spam, and threw it away.  I can imagine the phone support line likely is not exactly easy, wouldn't be surprised if it is "press 1 to hear another 17 options, 2 if your native language is not Esperanto", etc phone service menu ****, it may be better than e-mail. 

bigkid posted:

You never know with e-mail, it is possible your mail got thrown into a spam bucket because they got mail from your e-mail ISP that was spam, and threw it away.  

Not likely.  You don't send them an email from your ISP.  You use the Contact Us part of their web site to send them a message.  See attached.  Now it is possible their reply could go to your spam folder.  But that's a different issue.

I have the same problem.  I want to buy parts.  Their web site does not allow the user to buy certain parts online.  It says, Must contact Lionel to order.  Notice how the contact Lionel is a hot link.  it takes you to the page to send them a message.  I have not received a reply either.

Must be nice to be so busy and profitable to ignore customers.

I gave up emails a while ago.  I always phone.  Try to get them to be OK if you hold while they possibly get you an answer right away.  If they say they need to find out and get back to you, 50/50 at best.  Remember who you speak with (doesn’t hurt to schmooze a bit) and ask if it is OK if you don’t hear from them.  Not gospel, but gave up on email.  They’re swamped.  By the way, they double duty with the estore also. 

They're very busy nowadays, I think you'll find that after the Holidays that things will settle down. 

I've tired calling twice in the last week and wasn't able to get anyone both times.  I left a message both times as well with no call back

I had the same experience, but I tried a couple more times and got through to place my order.

I emailed them Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving. Then I emailed them Monday last week, I called them Tuesday got my problem resolved and Katie emailed me on Friday to my Monday response. It be easier just to call them

Sorry folks, I had responses for most of you. It is the Christmas season. My frustration was starting to get the better of me so I am redoing my response.  I'll give Lionel a call next week. If I do decide to order the whole set, I will probably sell off one of the 4141 engines.

I know Lionel monitors this site. Hopefully they'll see this thread and start asking some internal questions.

Merry Christmas everyone.

They haven't replied to my emails either and I was on hold for 45 min. No one ever answered. They should expand customer service. People are looking for work. I'm getting frustrated at the amount of money I spend and not even being able to get a reply.

Lionel, in my humble opinion, responds much better to a working speed controller.

Happy Holidays

I know of 3 experienced people in customer service.  Don’t push them.  Resistance is futile.   Along with the store, they may be even picking parts.  It would be helpful if we knew how they were set up.  Right about the schmooze.  I wonder how it will be when MTH drops out.  We may think this is great.  I hope not.

Don't push them?  Not trying to be a jerk I simply stated that it would be nice be able to get an answer. That being said they must monitor this forum because I just got a reply via email. Problem solved.

Not getting an email response is nothing new; I haven’t gotten one in years. I don’t bother any more. Good to know that phoning is a better method, though!

Not only is it the Christmas season, the busiest time of year for toy manufactures but also we have a little thing called COVID 19 going around and taking hundreds of lives a day.

Maybe you heard about it.

Give Lionel or any of the manufactures time to get things back to somewhat normal then contact them.  Sometime mid to late January.

In the mean time see if a hobby shop will do a set breakup and just purchase the cars you want or as you say sell yours and buy the set.

Amen...

Mark in Oregon

OK,  busy season, yes.  But there is such a thing as an email stating that sorry, they are slammed, and maybe a time estimate when they will get to your concern.

This stuff does work both ways....

I called for a repair of a Legacy controller.  It took 30 minutes  for an answer on the phone.  The individual who answered the phone said that they would send an RA for a return which came 5 days later.  While talking to him he indicated that they were extremely busy.  Not sure if it is due to Covid or not enough staff or both.  Just need to be patient.

@NYC 428 posted:

Not only is it the Christmas season, the busiest time of year for toy manufactures but also we have a little thing called COVID 19 going around and taking hundreds of lives a day.

Maybe you heard about it.

Give Lionel or any of the manufactures time to get things back to somewhat normal then contact them.  Sometime mid to late January.

In the mean time see if a hobby shop will do a set breakup and just purchase the cars you want or as you say sell yours and buy the set.

This is been happening way before covid-19 and way before the holiday season. It's business as usual. Or should I say- non business as usual.

@Bryant Dunivan 111417 posted:

I know of 3 experienced people in customer service.  Don’t push them.

Well, if we don't "push them", and we never get an answer on the phone or email, exactly what is your suggestion?

Buy the set and double head it.

They are the only full product line game in town, it is not uncommon for companies in that position to believe they do not have to give Scott Mann quality service.

Maybe Midge could step up Lionel's public relations image after the MTH dust settles.  She would be the most important asset they could get from Mike's operation.

Reggie Fountain and Mike Wolf, two incredible Maryland business men stepping out of the picture.  Both leaving a large void.  Both well deserving of a stress free retirement.

I have been dealing with Lionel for 40 years, and in August it was bad, let alone now. I get the pandemic, but the writing was on the wall. before the pandemic , Mike left, Dean left, and is anyone there? It seems no one can get a answer including dealers. But, they are in the toy train business and its train season from Labor Day on, prepare for this. regarding service.  I have no doubt that this is a cost/profit ratio move by the CEO.

@Train Nut posted:

This is been happening way before covid-19 and way before the holiday season. It's business as usual. Or should I say- non business as usual.

It certainly has always been that way.  The airline industry as well as this one, is the only industry I know that the customer has to schmooze the provider.  Get cross with an airline, you now get profiled across the board.

In the case of Lionel, where else do we have to go.  Their customer base is small enough that you don't want to get on a bad side.  It is what it is.  I do hope there is a resurgence of customer satisfaction after covid.  Needless to say, it can be frustrating trying to solve an easy problem, or getting a part.

I’m fine with them being too busy to take a call or even emails but communication is king. Let the customers know. You have a website, use it to let your customers know that there is a log jam and you’re working to clear it. Employees stuck at home regardless of their position can answer emails even if it’s a form letter.

I originally sent an email regarding my Legacy Command Base, maybe in September/October.  Within days I received an RMA and shipping label.  Wow!  I received it back and found it was not working in my mind correctly.  So I again sent an email with the RMA Number as the subject with a description of my issues.  No Answer!  I again sent the email with the same subject and recently received an email back stating that the RMA material has been seen by Lionel as Received back by me.  There was NO reference to my issues in the original email that was attached to my email.  And their response to emails which is the subject of this thread also bleeds over to Phone calls.  My first attempt to contact Lionel regarding the issues, during this same timeframe, I found with the returned Command Base resulted in a 30 minutes on Hold and I hung up as I had another appointment to make.  I followed this up a few days later when I had more time.  My first attempt was 30 minutes of music and it may have been my fault but I was disconnected.  A second attempt that day resulted in another 30 minutes of Music before my CFO aka wife needed some help.  My third attempt that day was 60 minutes of music before I called a halt.  GRJ suggested that I wait until after the Holidays before contacting them.  So, that means since September/October, probably until March, there will be no running of trains on my layout.  The Quandary, is it worthwhile to wait or just buy another Command Base for $300?  I am leaning toward "Yes to a new Command Base". Your Thoughts?

Lionel customer service SUCKS.  I’m not blaming the rank and file for this.  I place thr blame on the cost cutting powers to be for not running a customer friendly company.  

Could you see Katie and Midge working together? Kind of like Superman and Batman teaming up together! I think Midge has other plans though...............retirement.

@superwarp1 posted:

Lionel customer service SUCKS.  I’m not blaming the rank and file for this.  I place thr blame on the cost cutting powers to be for not running a customer friendly company.  

Don’t hold back Gary. How do you really feel?

OK, I think everyone gets the point here.  This is just ANOTHER complaint thread with the same story over and over.  How about we close this thread and TRY to enjoy and be thankful for the positive things we have.