Trouble buying new locos without faults.

  Yes, this does seem to be somewhat of a minefield of late, as more and more faulty locos are sneaking through what we naturally assume to be the ever present net of strict QA, there to prevent this and safeguard so many things on all sides.
 
Sadly the machine is broken! I was interested in one of Heljan's impressive looking 47XXs, the Night Owl. At just over £150, one would trust the high price ensures quality beyond reproach, but after reading the long litany of disaster on RMWeb, I can't bring myself to place an order. There appear to be so many returns, that prices on ebay for these locos start at £0.01 with no reserve and this national retailer only uses library photos, which itself indicates the level of confidence they have in the product. This is just one example, others have their issues. 
 
I'm a little surprised not to have read a great deal more on poor QA in the MR press, as a continuance of poor procedures bodes sadly for the manufacturing sector.
 
However and on a brighter note, we all have far too many locos anyway, so let's enjoy what we have until commissioning bodies get tough with the Chinese producers.
 
I suspect we will hear from a few more modellers soon enough. In the meantime, I'll be making slow, but steady progress with my loco kits.
 
Bon courage,
 
Bill
 

Don't take too much notice of the RMweb threads Bill. People on there who want to have a gripe will gripe until the cows come home. The happy ones say nowt most of the time.  There will always of course be some level of quality issues but it may be that there is no mention much in the press because it is not perceived as a major problem. Nonetheless annoying for anyone such as Terry on the receiving end.

As far as Ebay is concerned it is common practice to start with a low starting price, it gets bids moving quicker. I would say that a starting bid of £0.01 is no measure of the quality of the product. It is however the selling price that is important.

I can only speak from my own experience. Recently I have bought the DJM 48xx, Oxford Dean Goods, Dapol Railcar, Hattons Andrew Barclay and Hornby Peckett which with the exception of the latter two got slated heavily on RMweb. All of mine performed beautifully straight out of the box, no damage in manufacturing, packaging or delivery either.

Maybe I've just been lucky.

Thanks Nick for your upbeat appraisal and I usually take RMWeb with a handful of salt, there being too much willingness to show disrespect and lack of tolerance for my taste, fortunately absent here. However, there is much great content and people, even if the new format makes navigation a tad tedious.

Like you, I've been lucky, with my sole experience of sending back a Dean Goods from Oxford, quickly replaced by Hatton's and it's a great model.

I'll sit quietly and ponder a while longer, but I remain suspicious of anyone on ebay who doesn't post photographs of items in favour of library images. That's just too little effort.

Best,

Bill



 

Well said Woody.  Bad news sells, good news doesn't.  Read any newspaper or online article and one would never set foot outside one's cave.  Yes, there are, and always have been, quality control issues - with everything - it's called "business" - i.e. trying to make a profit.

There is huge competition out there and margins are very, very tight.  By far the biggest cost any business faces is labour.  Employing enough dedicated and skilled QA staff at a price one can afford is difficult.  When you look at their job, their only function is to reject.  That costs money.

Whilst there are very annoying QA issues, I suspect the vast majority of models are A1+ - we only hear about the problems.