MTH Parts shipping

Slow on the tech side of the fence, don't know how fast the retail parts are shipped.

If you send an e-mail requiring their inventory of parts you could be waiting until HE double hockey sticks freezes over. If you call and order by phone is much better.I have gotten my parts within a week. I highly recommend that you call if you have time.  You cannot order from their web site as their shipping calculator want's to charge you an enormous amount rather than the standard 10.00.

Guys, Mike Wolf put Jason Wenzel in charge and he is going to get things where they should be.  Jason has been at MTH R&D for years and my faith is hooked to him.  He is a great guy and will make things right.  I have received a parts shipment that was very recently put in the system.

Marty

I purchased an SD45  from a forum member, which arrived with both truck frames shattered. He charged me for insurance but would not refund me a penny for the damages.  I tried  e-mail  MTH to find out if they had the truck frames in stock over a month ago and never got a response. Thankfully I was able to purchase a dummy SD45 for a reasonable price from a honest forum member and replaced the trucks with the ones from that unit. Now I need to replace the truck frames on the dummy.

What traction tires do you need? I have a fair amount of them, and my repairs have dropped off since several of my hobby shops that provided repair work are gone. My email is in my profile, all I need is whether the item is Railking or Premier, and what the wheel arrangement is, i.e., Northern, Pacific, Hudson, etc. Most diesels use the same tires, DE-18. I even have some of the oddballs for the Rugged Rails turbine and other locos. 

I just got some in about 10 days!

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

Guys, Mike Wolf put Jason Wenzel in charge and he is going to get things where they should be.  Jason has been at MTH R&D for years and my faith is hooked to him.  He is a great guy and will make things right.  I have received a parts shipment that was very recently put in the system.

Marty

Marty, I live in hope that you're right.  All my interactions with Jason have been good, so there's hope.  Of course, Jeff was fine as well, and I had no issues with him. I just think they either don't have the personnel or the organization of parts to process them in a timely manner.  I can't think of any other reason that I place an order and months later one part comes in from the order!  There needs to be a way to better manage them.  I placed an order for several hundred dollars of parts, and so far it's come in in four pieces, so I ended up paying 4x shipping on at times one part!  Parts sit in the order queue for weeks with "available" listed, yet a single part from that order ships to me without the other available parts.  I still have parts sitting for weeks that are still listed as available.  Either they're available and they not shipping them, or their inventory is not updated and they're really not available.  Either way, they need to improve the process.

Marty,

I have high hopes for Jason as well!  He has been great on the phone.   I hope he is given the resources he needs.

Dave

I live in México and do not have ANY mth dealers or service so I do my own repairs with a great help from this fantastic forum.but my point is I have ordered parts from mth through MIDGE WILBURN and she has been absolutely helpful in sending parts quick.

lostboy

Train Doctor posted:

What traction tires do you need? I have a fair amount of them, and my repairs have dropped off since several of my hobby shops that provided repair work are gone. My email is in my profile, all I need is whether the item is Railking or Premier, and what the wheel arrangement is, i.e., Northern, Pacific, Hudson, etc. Most diesels use the same tires, DE-18. I even have some of the oddballs for the Rugged Rails turbine and other locos. 

Sent you an email.

Its hit or miss, I just put in an order for a multitude of parts. They'll either ship in the next week or I will wait 2 months for them, its never really in between. For most of the common parts, especially boards, I keep a supply of them in stock in case I have a warranty issue with a customer but the odd ball ones can make you look bad if you cant get the parts for 2 or 3 months. The thing that gets me the most is the lack of response to email inquiries. I bought an HO scale GEVO with the flashing lights, such a coll loco, and it is missing a hand rail stanchion. Ive emailed a few times about that one with no response. Ive also had one or two others that went unanswered.  Ive resolve myself to the fact that if I need parts its gonna take a while so try not to need parts and if I have a question don't bother.

John, Midge is the best in the world.   When I see you in two weeks, I will bring you up to speed.

Dandfo50     Sounds like he tuned you up big time.  I wish I knew who he was so I can stay clear.

Dandfo50,

Did your sideframes have the pressed in/ added on shocks?  I bought an SP SD45T2 and one of the shocks was missing.  It took over six months to get sideframes ordered but there weren't the correct version.  If your broken trucks have the add on parts I'd sure like to buy one from you.

Jay

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

Dandfo50     Sounds like he tuned you up big time.  I wish I knew who he was so I can stay clear.

Hey Marty,

I haven't heard the term "tuned up" since I retired.   Us "Old Timers" (read that "Old School") would use that term all quit a bit.   The rookies had no idea until they saw one being administered.   Believe me, no one got one unless they really deserved it.  Those truly were good times.   Stay safe my friend!

Chief Bob (Retired)

Iay C 

The side frames on the railking sd45 are not the same as the newer sd45t. The railking scale sd 45 is old premier tooling. The pilot and the truck frames are all one unit.  

Thanks for the quick response.  Its looking more and more like I'll just have to fabricate a copy of the missing piece.  With all the time I spent trying to buy one I probably could have made a bunch of them.

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

John, Midge is the best in the world.   When I see you in two weeks, I will bring you up to speed.

No argument there Marty, she works like three people.  Whenever I see her at York, I make a point to compliment her on the good work she does.  Sadly, I don't go through Midge now, and just plunking orders into the order page and sitting on my hands is frustrating at times.

Understood.

The delays are nothing new guys. MTH has had problems with parts for years. It is beyond me why MTH cannot improve their parts and service problem. 

Lets hope Jason can fix the mess that has been going on way too long.