Menard's O-Gauge Rolling Stock-BEWARE !!

M1FREDQ, there were a couple of topics in the past that addressed these issues. I think one was there may have been too much flash on the couplers so they would not work. Sometimes with die cast trucks a little bit of oil on the ends of the shafts help. Also if you contact Menards service they will more then happy to help you with your problems. I know they have sent wheel sets out to people that had off angle wheels. That is not specifically just a problem with Menards I have gotten cars from other manufacturers that had bent wheels...........Paul

There is nothing to be beware of. Contact Menards and they will take care of any problem. They have great customer service, always willing to help. 

Dave

Grampstrains posted:

It's nice that Menard's stands behind what they sell but when things are made that poorly, the low price can sure sour the deal.  I'd rather pay extra for something that works right the first time.   

Menards had problems with couplers early on but that has been resolved.  Prices are still very low for "corrected" items.  As for something that works right the first time, you're in the wrong hobby or solar system.

Thanks everyone 

I'll give menard's a call. $20.00 is a great deal on these items and like I mentioned above I have bought a bunch for the last 3 years. At $20 I don't expect LIONEL/Williams but at least the trucks and couplers should work well. The couplers were deformed to where they wouldn't  even latch to other couplers.

BUT I will try to see if I can fix it.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

You can't complain about the price of the car, you know it might have issues and it may not. But heck it is cheaper and budget friendly than buying Lionel, Atlas, MTH or Bauchmann Williams products. If you contact Customer Services, they will take care of you, I still go to them because they got excellent customer service

Grampstrains posted:

It's nice that Menard's stands behind what they sell but when things are made that poorly, the low price can sure sour the deal.  I'd rather pay extra for something that works right the first time.   

I suppose that's what the other guys that start with L, M, and A are for.  I'm perfectly content to have an occasional problem, with a company that has the customer service department of a massive retailer ready and willing to fix any such problem... and manages to sell their product at 1/2 to 1/4 of those other brands.  I understand that the quality is more important to some folk, and they are willing to pay several times as much for a product that may have faults less often, however for many of us the low cost is more important.  In sum, you have the option to pay more for something else from any of the traditional manufacturers.  I think Big L has their new line of inexpensive rolling stock set to hit shelves pretty soon.  $59.99 if I recall correctly.  As for Menards, Sure, it'd be nice if there were no problems, but in less time than other manufacturers spend between announcement of a new product and the first one being available for purchase, Menards has routinely improved their product.  Do I expect them to be perfect? No, not at this price point, but I don't mind a little tinkering now and then, and I know if I have a serious defect Menards will solve it.  

JGL

About 7 box cars here....no issues at all. One box car got to my house with a wheel set knocked loose....and in less than one minute I had it fixed. 

AMCDave posted:

About 7 box cars here....no issues at all. One box car got to my house with a wheel set knocked loose....and in less than one minute I had it fixed. 

Dave: I agree 100%. I buy everything that Menards comes out with. Just a VERY few times, I've had to contact customer service, but when I did , I Had it fixed within a Few days.. Bob

Menard's has always been super fast to resolve any issue, they've gone the extra mile for my purchases.  I have at least sixty of their rolling stock of various descriptions, and for the price it's very hard to beat.

I've had plenty of issues with the high priced spread as well, so the idea that you can pay the premium prices and get perfection is a pipe dream.  Several of my Vision Line PFE Reefers needed work, the Vision Line tank car set needed a TMCC receiver, etc.   Good luck getting perfect performance from any manufacturer.

Although I haven't had any issues with any of the cars I've gotten from Menard's (and that's quite a few!), their Customer Service seemed to be very friendly and will do whatever is needed to correct the problem (they're even a presence on here and will address concerns via this forum as well!)

As for what Johngaltline said about Lionel, $59.99, to me, is still way too expensive for rolling stock, and if that's what they consider "inexpensive", I'll stick with Menard's and used for my O-gauge running.

M1FredQ posted:

Thanks everyone 

I'll give menard's a call. $20.00 is a great deal on these items and like I mentioned above I have bought a bunch for the last 3 years. At $20 I don't expect LIONEL/Williams but at least the trucks and couplers should work well. The couplers were deformed to where they wouldn't  even latch to other couplers.

BUT I will try to see if I can fix it.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

M1FredQ,

The best way to contact us is by emailing Guest@menard-inc.com. We've found that the email system is the best because an email can easily be forward to the most knowledgeable person. If you don't hear back from them today, just let me know and I can follow through with them.

Above all, we want you to be happy with your purchase. If your rolling stock doesn't work correctly, we will make it right.

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

Menards has more than exceeded my expectations with the ease of resolving my rare product defects to my satisfaction.

I did have one run in with Menard's customer service. As I said I have 7 box cars but I have a number of their buildings......they too all arrived in good condition. But my power plant was missing my free box truck. I called and in a few days it arrived. I found the shipping box in my trash that the power plant came in....looks like truck may have been taped to outside.....and in transport it came off......but they still made me happy fast......so check with them first. 

Well I might as well throw in my Menards story

I also have a fairly large number of Menards orders.  The only issue I had was with the Red Owl store I that I had two bad ones in a row and Menard Guest Services deviated from their normal procedure in order to expedite a resolution and then sent me an Email to follow up.  what more could you ask for.  I Love these Guys (:  

Thanks for this post.  I just went ordered some more Pennsy hoppers.  I knew I shouldn't have read anything to do with Menard's!

Grampstrains posted:

POTRZBE posted:

Grampstrains posted:

It's nice that Menard's stands behind what they sell but when things are made that poorly, the low price can sure sour the deal.  I'd rather pay extra for something that works right the first time.   

Menards had problems with couplers early on but that has been resolved.  Prices are still very low for "corrected" items.  As for something that works right the first time, you're in the wrong hobby or solar system.

I've been in this hobby for 38 years and haven't had anywhere near the problems the rest of you seem  to have.

I'm in the same camp as you!  I've been pretty much born into the hobby (44 years!) and maybe have had some issues here and there, but never had enough problems to really warrant mentioning, let alone insurmountable.  

I guess it's luck of the draw, I don't know.

Eddie Marra posted:

Although I haven't had any issues with any of the cars I've gotten from Menard's (and that's quite a few!), their Customer Service seemed to be very friendly and will do whatever is needed to correct the problem (they're even a presence on here and will address concerns via this forum as well!)

As for what Johngaltline said about Lionel, $59.99, to me, is still way too expensive for rolling stock, and if that's what they consider "inexpensive", I'll stick with Menard's and used for my O-gauge running.

Lionel did release their six packs of gondolas and flat cars.  Not sure if that is what JohnGaltLine is referring to though.  Nassau Hobby has the six packs for $89.99, that's about $15.00 per car.

chinatrain99 posted:

It amazes me what people will accept in terms of a good price.  My layout will not hold a hundred train cars so I don't need to buy a lot of crap to fill space.  I don't see a need to buy just to have and These aren't even collectible. Not sure what the fascination is.  If you want cheap crap for kids to run, buy marx

i have a $2000. engine that did not run out of the box.  also define collectible.

"price is what you pay,  value is what you get."  Warren Buffet    

Apparently there are a lot of happy Menards costumers that think there is value in their purchase

Bill_R posted:

chinatrain99 posted:

It amazes me what people will accept in terms of a good price.  My layout will not hold a hundred train cars so I don't need to buy a lot of crap to fill space.  I don't see a need to buy just to have and These aren't even collectible. Not sure what the fascination is.  If you want cheap crap for kids to run, buy marx

i have a $2000. engine that did not run out of the box.  also define collectible.

"price is what you pay,  value is what you get."  Warren Buffet    

Apparently there are a lot of happy Menards costumers that think there is value in their purchase

on another note

my layout does not hold hundreds of cars either but i still have hundreds of cars.  its called collecting 

chinatrain99 posted:

It amazes me what people will accept in terms of a good price.  My layout will not hold a hundred train cars so I don't need to buy a lot of crap to fill space.  I don't see a need to buy just to have and These aren't even collectible. Not sure what the fascination is.  If you want cheap crap for kids to run, buy marx

For me, I only buy a few or a couple of each of the Menard's cars that would run on roads that I have a majority of as far as existing locomotives and rolling stock, and only have what I would run, not having them just to have or collect (then again, everything I have I run - it doesn't sit in a box or on a shelf).

If I have a freight car that I spent $20.00 on brand new and something happened, my options would be to locate another one if the damage was beyond repair or fix what happened to it.  For me, it would be no big deal.  But if I spent $80.00 on that same freight car, I'd be a little miffed that something happened to it because it should be in perfect condition out of the box or I have to wait a while to get a new one because the price is beyond what I justify for a piece of rolling stock in the first place.

I buy what I like, I run it and enjoy it.  To me, that's what I get from this hobby.  That I can get freight cars from a place that has beyond reasonable prices, look good, roll well and have great Customer Service on top of that is a huge plus.  It's something a lot of other places in this hobby have forgotten with one of those points or all of them.

As for Marx, if you find the right people, yes it's cheap in price.  But I can't find Marx every day that's low price anymore.  Most folks see a toy train that looks old and all of a sudden it's priced the same as an original Blue Comet!

Can you buy ONE Lionel car for $15? And did you never get an $80 car in with a problem?  How long and how much Mickey Mouse did you have to wade through to get a fix/replacement? (if ever) Postings of these minor glitches don't scare me.... it is the postings of $1200 engines DOA, preorder only, with probably no parts available, that scare me.

chinatrain99 posted:

It amazes me what people will accept in terms of a good price.  My layout will not hold a hundred train cars so I don't need to buy a lot of crap to fill space.  I don't see a need to buy just to have and These aren't even collectible. Not sure what the fascination is.  If you want cheap crap for kids to run, buy marx

I was writing a much longer reply, but decided the basics are enough:  For some of us the options for years have been to hunt down deals on used items at train shows or auction sites, and run a hodge-podge of mixed types of freight cars if we wanted a large consist.  The prices of Menards rolling stock allows us to budget in long trains of matching cars for the first time.   Add in that Menards now offers brand new track for a third of the price of competitors, and you may see some of those small, budget, layouts expanding.  

P.s. the cars I was referring to above were the LionScale line.  I see retailers listing them for about $270 for six-packs now,  quite a bit below MSRP, but still $45 each.  In this thread I had assumed we were talking about Menards box-cars and higher-end flats in the $20-$25 range.  If you want a bulk pack of flat cars, I still think 24 cars for $192 is hard to beat, though unless there has be some improvement, I'm not really partial to these flats.  

JGL

They will gladly take care of your issue, and then these cars have a good likelihood, of seeing their way into a Mystery box!!!

I have manuvered, a coupler or 2 correctly, I even got a return car for having a numeral missing, what else can you go for !!!

Menards has more than exceeded my expectations with the ease of resolving my rare product defects to my satisfaction.

They sell rare products now?  I'm sold!    

My main complaint is Menard's has no store within hundreds of miles of here. 

chinatrain99 posted:

It amazes me what people will accept in terms of a good price.  My layout will not hold a hundred train cars so I don't need to buy a lot of crap to fill space.  I don't see a need to buy just to have and These aren't even collectible. Not sure what the fascination is.  If you want cheap crap for kids to run, buy marx

And this from a guy with the forum name "chinatrain".

Regarding the Chicago & North Western yellow there are at least 3 shades that were applied between 1950 to 1995.

1950 to 1980 was the period of Original Yellow. It was a warm yellow.

1980 to 1990 was the period of "Safety Yellow" or "Zito Yellow". it was a very bright yellow that sometimes faded to a very, very light yellow.

1990 to 1995 was the period of Traditional Yellow. This was a deep, warm yellow.

The CNW yellow looked different depending on the time period it was applied and how much the paint has faded.

Andrew

My thoughts / gripe...

Menards cars seem like a good value for the money, and they fill a niche.  The glitches have been well documented, and I hope that Menards makes some improvements.

You can get OK-running rolling stock for $10-15 per car - it's called MPC.  

It kills me when I see guys trying to sell the Menards items at a $5 markup (or more) at a meet that's held not more than 5 miles from a Menards store.   Any newbie who buys one will sooner or later realize that they've been had, and it will cause them to think badly of all train meet vendors.

You get what you pay for its an old warn out and boring statement,but it has been around so long because it has never failed.I personally enjoy the quality higher end Atlas cars myself.But the Menards stuff has its place.If  some of them fail you are still ahead of the game so to speak.Just sayin guys.Nick

I do wish they would go back to putting the trucks on with the washer and c clip. the rivit is cheaper per car I guess to manufacture,but if the coupler is defective or a side truck frame screw is striped. they are a small PITA to have to remove. also the truck design is ideal for the kaydee coupler conversion. found out the easy way when one of my cars I bought new the coupler itself just fell off. it was not riveted on very well. that truck is awating the day I switch to kaydees.

Mark maybe you could sell the trucks by them selfs two to a pack or more.they make great trucks for converting to truck mounted kaydee couplers. also we could have spares for any cars that are defective right out of the box. just a thought. 

chinatrain99 posted:

It amazes me what people will accept in terms of a good price.  My layout will not hold a hundred train cars so I don't need to buy a lot of crap to fill space.  I don't see a need to buy just to have and These aren't even collectible. Not sure what the fascination is.  If you want cheap crap for kids to run, buy marx

ChinaTrain99.................What are you smoking? .................... your kidding?

rockstars1989 posted:

You get what you pay for its an old warn out and boring statement,but it has been around so long because it has never failed.I personally enjoy the quality higher end Atlas cars myself.But the Menards stuff has its place.If  some of them fail you are still ahead of the game so to speak.Just sayin guys.Nick

But not limited to the cheaper stuff.  The most I ever paid for a O scale train item was $599 for a Lionel PRR T-1.  Brand new it arrived without working smoke or headlight. The seller, a large online retailer still around today, didn't want to warranty it, suggested I send it to Lionel.....which wanted me to pay shipping to and back.....another $100 total. Today it still does not smoke or have a headlight.....but my Weaver $300 PRR T-1 is nicer and works better. Cost is not the only factor of quality. 

"You get what you pay for" is the adage cited by my great uncle when he helped my great aunts shop for Franklin and LaSalle cars.  That was THEN! Now luxury autos get negative reviews from the consumer magazine, and cheaper is often better. Now you get what you are sold.  Since l have to change out modern trucks off Menard's cars, l'd like them easier to replace, too. But, hey, see the adage above....Cost saving is necessary.....

I have not purchased any of their rolling stock.  However; I own three buildings:  Red Owl, Grandpa's House and Engine House.    I give Grandpa's House and the Red Owl both A+ grades.   They are excellent structures.   My Engine House  arrived yesterday and I have to say it was a bit banged up.    The roof was peeling and scratched up.   I also noticed a lot of dings on the structure.   I give it a C grade.  I'm not sending it back as I placed it in the middle of my layout and it's not worth the hassle.   However;  I could see someone being upset with the quality of the structure as it was supposed to be brand new.   I have no doubt Menards would replace it if I contacted their support department.

I have 37 different cars of theirs. I have had a few minor issues that even I could take care of.

Yesterday I received a car (out of 5) that I don't think I can fix.

I sent a e-mail to customer service today and within one hour received a reply:

Sorry for the issue and we are sending a replacement.

As PANTHER97 stated, I have no doubt Menards would have replace his building.

Larry

Lionelzwl2012 posted:

I do wish they would go back to putting the trucks on with the washer and c clip. the rivit is cheaper per car I guess to manufacture,but if the coupler is defective or a side truck frame screw is striped. they are a small PITA to have to remove. also the truck design is ideal for the kaydee coupler conversion. found out the easy way when one of my cars I bought new the coupler itself just fell off. it was not riveted on very well. that truck is awating the day I switch to kaydees.

Mark maybe you could sell the trucks by them selfs two to a pack or more.they make great trucks for converting to truck mounted kaydee couplers. also we could have spares for any cars that are defective right out of the box. just a thought. 

I just bought an 8 car pac and a truck fell off one of the cars. The amount of squeeze on that rivet is critical. Some trucks are somewhat too loose, and some are tight. I have taken the loose ones off and tapped on the rivet a tiny bit to tighten them up. Not easy though because you have to back up the rivet and tap on it you have to peel the coupler bracket off. But I like the way the truck assembly comes off the car body with one small screw. That's the easy part. I find it easier to fix than to cause the company expense for something I can do in 10 minutes though.

I ordered 6 pak of the Pennsy hoppers and they arrived with no issues. Also ordered the passenger station and am very pleased.

Menard's is a great company with reasonably priced products. The company goes out of their way to resolve problems. With all product, there are occasional quality control problems. I don't like to see the company "knocked".

I purchased a set of 8 boxcars. Every one of them needed work. I had to bend up all the tabs holding the low-hanging air reservoirs. They violently snagged uncoupling tracks, or switches everywhere. Many of the trucks and couplers needed repairs too.

Good customer service never outweighs poor quality control.  Who among you would volunteer to receive diarrhea every time you visit a cheap restaurant, just because the friendly proprietor keeps apologizing for their dirty kitchen?

Strange comparison. If you want to use a restaurant example, I would say that it's more like  you like the oatmeal at Panera's but it's not always hot enough. So who would go to the trouble of heating it a few seconds in the microwave oven conveniently located by the coffee. Answer...I would because I like their oatmeal and it's something I can easily remedy.