Please be patient with AM Hobbies

Thanks John.

OK...that certaintly answers the question why I did not receive an answer to a product availability question I wrote to him over a month ago. Thanks

Bob Di Stefano

Same here, I hope things are well in that Family. There are several orders pending.

Sorry to hear the news.

I placed my order last week, funds charged to my card and I was led to believe my order was shipping on Thursday or Friday last week.  Any idea when this happened so I can figure out if my order was affected and the amount of patience I need to have? I realize stuff happens and I am sympathetic, but if there's time to charge my card, there's time to ship my order.  BigRail 

I did a Buy-It-Now from AM Hobbies on an Atlas boxcar on 3/27 (last Tues.), received a "Thank You" e-mail - automatically generated, I'm sure - and the item was on my front porch yesterday. So, 6 days from start to finish, shipped from Pennsylvania to Alabama.

Can't complain.

Bob is such a nice guy.  He also takes really good care of his customers.  I'm so sorry to hear about the family medical emergency, and hope everyone is well again very soon!

Bob's a good guy and looks out for his customers. Believe me, he'd be shipping stuff out if it wasn't something very serious. Our prayers are with him.

Shame on you BigRail!  Charging to a credit card and shipping a product are two different "time spaces".  Bob is a good and reliable person... give him a break when he has hit "rough waters".     

Surfliner, you couldn't have said it better.

Well said, Surfliner.  I have been a very satisfied customer of Bob's since the mid-90's when he was still in Mullica Hill, NJ.  He has been an absolute pleasure to deal with...such a nice person!  I wish him well with whatever he's dealing with.

maybe the person who had the emergency wanted to be the one to inform his customers when a better idea of said emergency was understood.. may be he dosent mind it being posted here, an might have ask people to post notice prior to a notice being sent out from company to explain situation, an time beyond normal that orders will be proscessed, i think any one would question order status when money is been taken out of account an then they read something like this on a public form when all facts may not be known an may not be public info.. I do wish the person with the emergecy all the best

I do not know what the present situation is. But in the past Bob has had a parent/in law that neede help and lives a ways away from Bob. My hats off to Bob for trying to take care of a family member. Lets hope that if one of us is in this situation we will have someone who cares enough to take care of us also.

Being in very similar situation, I can sympathize totally. I spend most every weekend I’m not working travelling two hours away with my wife to take care of her mother. We are splitting the duty among siblings, postponing placing her in a facility for as long as possible. It does take a toll. I can only imagine what it must be like trying to run a small business under similar circumstances. I’m sure profit margins for a small train dealer do not always allow hiring someone to answer phones or deal with the business when need be. My hats off and best wishes to Bob and all the others who provide us with buying options while trying to maintain a sane personal life.

Bob has a reputation of being a nice guy and if I remember correctly ran into a couple of personal or family emergencies over the past couple of years that caused him to be temporarily pulled away from his business.  I hope that Bob and family are well and he is able to quickly return to his shop.

That said, IMHO it was not fair by Surfliner, Gerry, and joeyA to chide BigRail when he posts a valid concern.  The practice of pre-billing (charging payment more than one day before shipping) is not good business practice from a financial oversight and possibly ethical standpoint.  Is it fair to BigRail that he is carrying a charge for an unknown amount of time on his credit card for a product he did not receive?

It's probably safe to say that almost all of our train shop businesses (brick & mortar and online) are run by an individual or very, very small number of people.  However, when an personal event occurs, it appears not many of those same shop owners handle the crisis well professionally.  The days are over of just putting a sign on the door saying "Temporarily closed due to family emergency - will reopen in x days. Thank you for your business & patience."  With a laptop or smartphone, an owner can easily and remotely update their website and voicemail to say the same message and when customers can expect to hear back from the shop.  The use of a surrogate messenger is the last option.

It is good to have nice guys, like Bob, running a hobby shop.  We need more nice guys, but we also need more nice guys with good business skills in order for this hobby to survive.  In the end, it might be our hobby; but it is their business.

Well said Keystone! Why should BigRail be ashamed for expressing his opinion. This is ridiculous. Before retiring and selling a family business many times larger than AM Hobbies, we handled these type of challenges seamlessly and without customer involvement. With foresight and the proper mechanisms in place this can be done.

Oh, I'm sorry to have said this...shame on me!

According to an email I got from Bob 3-19-12 on an order put in 3-7-12, his mother passed away the prior week.

He emailed me 4-2-12 and said he was mailing my order that day.

Wow.  I apologize BigRail if I've offended you in any way.  In re-reading my post I can see how Keystone felt that I "chided" you.  I was only trying to express my support of SURFLINER's statement about Bob being a "good and reliable person"; however, since my comments needed this clarification, I obviously could have stated it better.

For a bunch of folks who are both mature and who are alleged to be mature, in other words, adults, I'm sorry to have to to take note that some act like spoiled brats. To them I say, "Act your age!" Geez.

Pete

Indeed! Regardless of your family emergency, hurry up and ship my boxcar so I can put it on a shelf in my closet...gimme a break!!!

An Update!

I got my order today.  Bob will take care of his personal as well as his hobby business, give him time.

I have an update...they are trying to get a small amount of orders out each day, which in itself is amazing, so please bear with the family as they are trying to pinch hit for the regular staff.  I am sure Bob appreciates your many kind words of support above.

John

Yes, I totally agree, family first. I have purchased from AM Hobbies and have had no problems. He is a great guy to deal with. I love his website too. Very simple and straight forward.

God bless

Woody

I have to agree with Keystone and Skyhookdepot.  It seems that this same thread reappears every few months.  Having had to "coax" the last 4 orders into shipment via multiple emails in spite of my credit card being charged upon order placement, I'm thinking it may be time to sit back and wait until a longterm solution is put in place.  I sorely miss JustTrains.

Phil

I hope all is well.

RJL

I thought AM Hobbies was a serious player...shipping was never a strong suit but they looked and acted profressionally until crunch time. Sorry, guys, but a businessman needs to do what is necesary take care of family and keep the customer compact at the same time. Customer confidence lost is not soon recaptured.

Bob Di Stefano

What is the big deal if you lose a weeks time in the shipping process if the man has an emergency?  Its not like he's stealing anything. If your charge card shows a sale to AM Hobbies YOU HAVE AT LEAST 21 DAYS TO PAY that bill. Therefore even with the loss of the week you should have your merchandise before you pay the bill. We're cutting it kind of fine here, are we not?

I had no idea that AM Hobbies was having personal problems when I placed an order yesterday. I spent about an hour or so on the phone with ebay and emailing AM hobbies until I asked  in an email for Bob to cancel the order to cancel the order.  I have run a business for over thirty years and have had to deal with a number of personal emergencies  during that time.  Communication is the key to letting your customers know what is going on , that includes letting them know if you are unable to provide what they want.  I wish Bob the best and hope it all works out for him and his family. I know they are only toy trains, but it is not toy money.

Why do we need to have this thread? All kinds of folks in this hobby have internal issues from time to time. I could list some I am aware of and the temporary impact it had on their operation. This thing can only support a limited number of people, and if I was doing it, it would be a part time job. You think he gets hundreds of orders off eBay everyday? Get real. It's like the ole Whirlpool repairman. Snore. When Atlas ships him a container of stuff - he gets real busy - but right now? Even the famous Jimmy of the Homer City Poor House went out from time to time. Give it a rest.

Honestly, I wish Dr John, with all respect, wouldn't post these "head's ups".

Does anyone have any further update on AM Hobbies? I have been trying to get some information on multiple orders with them. The last post here is two months ago.

If your credit card has not been billed, I'd say your orders have not and will not be filled.

According to their website:

Due to a serious medical illness, AM Hobbies is currently closed. We will be fulfilling outstanding orders that we have received payment for over the next few weeks. No preorders have been lost and more information regarding them is available here. Please contact us via e-mail if you have any questions. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this causes and appreciate the business of all our customers!

At this point I would look elsewhere and perhaps contact your CC company to stop/prevent payment.

There is another topic started in the 2-rail section on this situation.

I was just talking about my concerns with A & M Hobbies last night. Last year I pre-ordered a MTH Premier Milwaukee Road PS-2CD Hopper through Bob. I thought I'd give him a try since I have gotten a couple Atlas O Cars from him.

Well the car has been released by MTH for a few weeks now. I emailed the second address listed in the phone message 2 weeks ago asking about my pre-order and I received no response. I again re-emailed the email address in the answering machine message for A & M Hobbies 3 nights ago. Again I've heard nothing.

I expressed my sorrow for the illness in my email. And I do understand as my father has dealt with a brain tumor since January. (We'll find out today if he needs more surgery)

But I also don't want to lose this car. Should I go to another dealer? And get it? This also makes me wonder about the couple of Atlas O cars I have on pre-order as well.

Advice?

The man has a family emergency and some people care about the boxcar they ordered. People here are stone cold,man.

"The man has a family emergency and some people care about the boxcar they ordered. People here are stone cold,man."

yardlet6

If it is any of your concern, I have communcated with Bob in the past and wished him and his family members well on other health issues. I had been looking for information, as I didn't want to cause a problem for Bob if he was going to be back up in operation soon, or had made other arrangements. The initial post was in early April, I hadn't seen anything updating this in two months, and wanted to see if anyone had any further information.

But, I guess that you have to be the forum policeman as to what others should think or do. It must be a heavy responsibility.

Well I also have communicated to Bob Thatcher my warm regards in the couple of emails I sent. I do agree there are things are petty in the wake of major illness. But I am not a stranger to that either. My Dad has dealt with a brain tumor since January. That included the surgery, chemo, radiation, etc.. It's been an emotional roller coaster ride and sometimes I just missed normalcy. When everything started with the visit to the ER, and my phone ringing off the hook. It was challenging. Duirng this time I actually grew to love Washington, D.C. traffic!!  Why?!? Becuase I so longed for normal.

Anyhow well due to the discussion here I moved ahead. Since my MTH Pre-order is in doubt I moved forward and grabbed up the Milwaukee Road PS2 Hoppers from Aaron's City Trains. I guess I will have to do that for the couple of other cars as well.