Lionel Parts Sale Tip Sale Ended (9/24-26/2021)

Great tip for this first time buyer this year!  Thanks!

-Greg

@Greg Houser posted:

Great tip for this first time buyer this year!  Thanks!

-Greg

Hopefully it could cut down on some of the angst we've seen in the past about whether an order got through, shipped, or what have you.

To reiterate what @MartyE said above:  LIONEL WILL NOT SEND YOU AN EMAIL CONFIRMING YOUR ORDER!

Yes, the website says such an email will be sent, but it isn't sent.

Good tip, Marty.  Lionel does not send an email.  They also don’t answer the phone or respond to “talk to us” emails.  But, they have been shipping parts with incredible speed.  I ordered parts on a Saturday night and had them on Tuesday.  That means they came in on Monday, picked the order and shipped it the same day.  I wouldn’t expect that speed after the sale weekend.

One more thing, if you use My Lionel, as Marty suggested, be sure to write your password down where you can find again.  While their website gives you the option of having your password emailed or reset - neither work.  Ask me how I know.

@Danr posted:

Good tip, Marty.  Lionel does not send an email.  They also don’t answer the phone or respond to “talk to us” emails.  But, they have been shipping parts with incredible speed.  I ordered parts on a Saturday night and had them on Tuesday.  That means they came in on Monday, picked the order and shipped it the same day.  I wouldn’t expect that speed after the sale weekend.

One more thing, if you use My Lionel, as Marty suggested, be sure to write your password down where you can find again.  While their website gives you the option of having your password emailed or reset - neither work.  Ask me how I know.

Recently I have been having decent luck with the "Talk to Us" route.  Then again I always have.  Sometimes it takes a while to get a response but I usually do.

@Danr posted:

One more thing, if you use My Lionel, as Marty suggested, be sure to write your password down where you can find again.  While their website gives you the option of having your password emailed or reset - neither work.  Ask me how I know.

Good advice on writing down your password. I forgot mine and used Lionel's link for them to email it to me. Needless to say I never received an email. I then tried to register again and it came back saying my user name was already in use. Trying again I changed my username but kept the same email and it came back saying the email was already in use. I wound up having to re-register with a different user name and email - that worked. Also I wrote all this down so I don't have to go through this again.

Like all the problems trying to get Lionel on the phone and lack of email responses to just about any question, to me its just another example of Lionel's lack of attention to customer service.

Ken

@MartyE posted:

Recently I have been having decent luck with the "Talk to Us" route.  Then again I always have.  Sometimes it takes a while to get a response but I usually do.

That's because you are on the Lionel's payroll.   And, don't call them for parts, you'll save tons of time and you know what.

@superwarp1 posted:

That's because you are on the Lionel's payroll.

I’m sure the recent events isn’t helping anyone. I imagine staff shortages and other factors isn’t helping.

As for being on the payroll, never have been. I just try to be nice when emailing.  I go through the same Talk to Us that anyone else does. 

@kanawha posted:

Good advice on writing down your password.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecu...t-password-managers/

@kanawha posted:

Good advice on writing down your password. I forgot mine and used Lionel's link for them to email it to me. Needless to say I never received an email. I then tried to register again and it came back saying my user name was already in use. Trying again I changed my username but kept the same email and it came back saying the email was already in use. I wound up having to re-register with a different user name and email - that worked. Also I wrote all this down so I don't have to go through this again.

Like all the problems trying to get Lionel on the phone and lack of email responses to just about any question, to me its just another example of Lionel's lack of attention to customer service.

Ken

I think the problem is the same as many, many businesses are facing today - getting people.  Between covid, quarantines and the government paying people more to stay home, it is next to impossible to get the help needed to provide a decent level of service.  I live in a beach town in North Carolina and every shop and restaurant has a help wanted sign.  The local supermarket has had a list at the front door for the past month with, at least, 10 openings.

Since this thread is about parts and using “my Lionel” I just wanted to point out the quirks.  Please note that I did complement the parts department for filling orders as quickly as they did.  I would rather they ship the parts and not tell me in advance than spend time on the phone and not ship.

@MartyE posted:

I’m sure the recent events isn’t helping anyone. I imagine staff shortages and other factors isn’t helping.

As for being on the payroll, never have been. I just try to be nice when emailing.  I go through the same Talk to Us that anyone else does.

It was a JOKEand the lack of staff been going on at the lionel service center long before COVID so please don't give them a pass on this.

@superwarp1 posted:

It was a JOKEand the lack of staff been going on at the lionel service center long before COVID so please don't give them a pass on this.

I'm not giving them a pass but the reality is the recent events isn't helping either.

I know it's a joke but others may not so I wanted to clarify that.

I've seen several folks mention that they add parts to an ongoing list within the "My Lionel" and then when ready just checkout.  I am assuming you are not clearing you cache' between adding parts and or signing out?  I haven't been able to retain parts in the shopping cart but have cleared my cache' between trying so I'm assuming that maybe why?

BTW the sale starts tonight at midnight.

HI MARTY,

  Yes you are correct on  both parts.  I have not logged out of my MY LIONEL a site and have not cleared my parts cache list.  It has been on since July.  Tomorrow I will submit my list.  Hopefully all will be available.  

PS I did notice that the R2LC08 boards went up in price dramatically.  From $40 to $75.  

@laz1957 posted:

HI MARTY,

  Yes you are correct on  both parts.  I have not logged out of my MY LIONEL a site and have not cleared my parts cache list.  It has been on since July.  Tomorrow I will submit my list.  Hopefully all will be available.  

PS I did notice that the R2LC08 boards went up in price dramatically.  From $40 to $75.  

Thanks Laz!  Staying Frosty!

Only speculating here, but my guess as to why the almost double the price is due to the chip shortage world-wide.

They are using R4LC boards to replace the R2LCs. Just make sure to program them using TMCC feature codes vs Legacy. R4LCs have always been more than R2LCs though not quite this high.

Pete

So how many others are sitting here reading the forum just waiting for the sale to start?

First time ordering during the sale for me.

Order placed successfully, now just to see if everything is actually shipped.

I ordered this morning when I got into the office.  Nothing I needed felt like it was on the high volume list so why worry.

I logged into "My Lionel" so I could keep track of my order.  It is currently pending.  Nice to be able to see where it is in the system.

Now waiting for all the "Where is my confirmation email" posts.

I just ordered.  No problems got the 50% off, now awaiting confirmation e mail.

I have notice that there are fewer and fewer parts for newer engines, sometime none at all.  Is Lionel not stocking parts anymore like they used to?   I have a Legacy engine from 2019 Catalog (NYC Hudson), yet is only show like 3 parts for it, just receiver and Bluetooth boards, no actual engine parts or smoke unit parts, especially in this model with the tender feature.  I have the last Reading T-1 and that does not any parts.

Is is just older parts?

@laz1957 posted:

I just ordered.  No problems got the 50% off, now awaiting confirmation e mail.

Why I otta!   

@Sean's Train Depot posted:

I have notice that there are fewer and fewer parts for newer engines, sometime none at all.  Is Lionel not stocking parts anymore like they used to?   I have a Legacy engine from 2019 Catalog (NYC Hudson), yet is only show like 3 parts for it, just receiver and Bluetooth boards, no actual engine parts or smoke unit parts, especially in this model with the tender feature.  I have the last Reading T-1 and that does not any parts.

Is is just older parts?

There's parts, they are just NOT making the effort to upload the parts with diagrams to the parts site.  Another cost cutting move by management.  If you need parts for your newer engine you need to call and good luck with that.

@Sean's Train Depot posted:

I have notice that there are fewer and fewer parts for newer engines, sometime none at all.  Is Lionel not stocking parts anymore like they used to?   I have a Legacy engine from 2019 Catalog (NYC Hudson), yet is only show like 3 parts for it, just receiver and Bluetooth boards, no actual engine parts or smoke unit parts, especially in this model with the tender feature.  I have the last Reading T-1 and that does not any parts.

Is is just older parts?

I noticed that too. Personally I think they are having less ability to categorize and photograph them. Probably a less cynical view. Seems like everyone else they are running on a skeleton crew.

Well that’s disappointing, I’ve been busy helping run a train show for the past 3 days and sat down 2 hours ago to put in my parts order. To my unfortunate hand the website has crashed and is unavailable. I had quite a list started on “My Lionel” account. Before anyone says anything I can still be frustrated with this while still understanding crap like this just happen and a took a risk waiting until 8-9pm CDT to place my order. In other news we did have a decent show most vendors did well and it was great to be able to have everyone out and about again.

I had a similar experience, Zachariah. I had only nine parts sitting in my cart, but I waited til 9:00pm to actually place the order. Never did get it in. Very disappointing.

George

It was back online at 11:00 PM. Not sure why anyone would wait until the last minute.

Pete

The site is down this AM.  Went on it to check my order status just for ha ha and can't get on

Does anyone else recall a previous parts sale with a computer problem and the sale was renewed/extended for a comparable period of time due to the glitch???

@Pingman posted:

Does anyone else recall a previous parts sale with a computer problem and the sale was renewed/extended for a comparable period of time due to the glitch???

Yess about 2 years back they kept it going 1 extra day but if memory serves the outage was longer than an evening.

@Norton posted:

It was back online at 11:00 PM. Not sure why anyone would wait until the last minute.

Pete

No, actually it wasn't fully online at 11:00 pm. I tried every 5 minutes from 9pm (when I got home) until midnight. Sometimes I could get further in the process than others, so it looked like parts of the site may have been up and struggling, but I could never actually enter the order. That was my experience. I'm sure others fared differently.

George

You guys broke the Lionel parts site, I can't login now!

I tried from 9pm PST to do a supplemental order and got server not available either due to maintenance or overload of log ons

Something like this?

@GeoPeg posted:

No, actually it wasn't fully online at 11:00 pm. I tried every 5 minutes from 9pm (when I got home) until midnight. Sometimes I could get further in the process than others, so it looked like parts of the site may have been up and struggling, but I could never actually enter the order. That was my experience. I'm sure others fared differently.

George

I was online at 10:55 PM and got on without delay. Looked up parts for a friend and emailed him the results. Your mileage obviously varied.

Pete

@gunrunnerjohn

Exactly what it was and is John

@Norton posted:

I was online at 10:55 PM and got on without delay. Looked up parts for a friend and emailed him the results. Your mileage obviously varied.

Pete

Pete, are you able to get on the parts site now? I tried both on my pc and my cell and both can get to Lionel.com, but neither can get to lionelsupport.com. George

I am not able to connect now and wasn’t able to prior to trying around 10:55 last night. When I did connect I assumed it was fixed but obviously it wasn’t and I just got lucky.

BTW I think this has happened in the past and Lionel realized there was a problem and extended the sale for another day. Maybe if enough folks contact them that might happen again.

Pete

Just got off the phone with Aaron he said they are working on seeing what happened to the system and once it’s back up and operational they plan to extend the sale. Glad I wasn’t the only one 😅