Farish / Dapol Collectors clubs ?

Railwaygun · January 11, 2016, 11:53:06 AM

ive had a nimber of wagons / locos fropm the Farish Club, and they have all been lovely models.

I ordered the Blue Fairburn last week, and it arrived quickly. However it waddled down the track, so a call to the club today was followed by Fedex collecting the loco tomorrow, and a new loco to be despatched on receipt.

so excellent service ( and my first dodgy Farish loco).

Nick R.

N-Gauge-US · January 11, 2016, 01:58:39 PM

Quote from: Railwaygun on January 11, 2016, 11:53:06 AM
ive had a nimber of wagons / locos fropm the Farish Club, and they have all been lovely models.

I ordered the Blue Fairburn last week, and it arrived quickly. However it waddled down the track, so a call to the club today was followed by Fedex collecting the loco tomorrow, and a new loco to be despatched on receipt.

so excellent service ( and my first dodgy Farish loco).

Nick R.

Mine has a smudge on one side (about the size of an n gauge person's hand, maybe) but I decided it looked enough like dirt that I could leave it, as I couldn't bear to send it back. Sorry you've had to swap yours :/ Glad to hear the process is relatively pain free.

Quote from: Only Me on January 11, 2016, 12:34:41 PM
I have the wonderful Pullman Brake.... its a fantastic model..

Me too! I got it to go with Tornado primarily and it makes a very fitting support coach (plus I get all kinds of excited when I see it in pictures and video clips now! I've not gotten excited about seeing coaches in pictures before!).

The one complaint I would have about the pair, is that, if for some asinine reason, you wanted to run the Fairburn with the SLOA Pullman, you might find as I did that the Fairburn causes the Mk1 to derail around some curves (11" and maybe even larger, only had 11" radius to test it on). It seems to be that the huge buffer stops on the Fairburn catch and prevent the bogie from turning on the Mk1. If I made super certain to line them up just right (and too much jostling didn't subsequently undo my handiwork) I could make it make the curve, but it really didn't like to. Indeed, a number of my locomotives have more difficulty coupling to the SLOA than to other coaches, seemingly because of the corridor connector. Is this a known issue with Fairburns and Mk1s or is this a model specific issue? Thankfully, the locomotive the support coach coupled most easily too (perfectly actually) was Tornado, so I suppose in the end it does EXACTLY what I bought it for perfectly. Lol

MikeDunn · January 15, 2016, 11:30:51 AM

Hmmm, despite not being a member of the Dapol Club for several years now, they've just sent me a renewal invite, order forms for collector club locos, and details of the high-end OO A4s they're planning (beats me why - I joined in N !). And they sent it twice !!!

Now - do I assume that they're keen to get a lapsed member back, or that their records are so disorganised they haven't a clue if I'm still a member or not !!!

austinbob · January 15, 2016, 12:14:14 PM

Quote from: MikeDunn on January 15, 2016, 11:30:51 AM
Hmmm, despite not being a member of the Dapol Club for several years now, they've just sent me a renewal invite, order forms for collector club locos, and details of the high-end OO A4s they're planning (beats me why - I joined in N !). And they sent it twice !!!

Now - do I assume that they're keen to get a lapsed member back, or that their records are so disorganised they haven't a clue if I'm still a member or not !!!

The latter I would guess - I only received anything from them after I cancelled my membership!!!

JBQFC · January 15, 2016, 07:52:50 PM

Quote from: MikeDunn on January 15, 2016, 11:30:51 AM
Hmmm, despite not being a member of the Dapol Club for several years now, they've just sent me a renewal invite, order forms for collector club locos, and details of the high-end OO A4s they're planning (beats me why - I joined in N !). And they sent it twice !!!

Now - do I assume that they're keen to get a lapsed member back, or that their records are so disorganised they haven't a clue if I'm still a member or not !!!

me to not been a member for two years i will not be rejoining

JBQFC · January 16, 2016, 06:34:52 PM

Quote from: JBQFC on January 15, 2016, 07:52:50 PM
Quote from: MikeDunn on January 15, 2016, 11:30:51 AM
Hmmm, despite not being a member of the Dapol Club for several years now, they've just sent me a renewal invite, order forms for collector club locos, and details of the high-end OO A4s they're planning (beats me why - I joined in N !). And they sent it twice !!!

Now - do I assume that they're keen to get a lapsed member back, or that their records are so disorganised they haven't a clue if I'm still a member or not !!!

me to not been a member for two years i will not be rejoining

ok i got a second lot today so must be desperate for me to rejoin

hst · January 17, 2016, 05:02:05 PM

I was once I member for a year of the backman club they arrange a trip to the blue bell steam railway in Sussex ok my ggirlfriend signed me up for a year but I wont to be a rember of dapol to compere

austinbob · January 17, 2016, 05:26:24 PM

Quote from: hst on January 17, 2016, 05:02:05 PM
I was once I member for a year of the backman club they arrange a trip to the blue bell steam railway in Sussex ok my ggirlfriend signed me up for a year but I wont to be a rember of dapol to compere

I had the same thought about comparing the Dapol club with Bachmann but after paying my membership fee all I ever received, after many phone calls and emails to Dapol, was a Dapol catalogue. I gave up and asked for a refund and that then took a couple of months to come through after another load of communications with Dapol. Then, guess what, after cancelling the membership and receiving a refund I started to get their newsletter a few months later.
Its all recorded earlier in this thread.
My advice would be to steer will clear of the Dapol Club.

talisman56 · January 22, 2016, 10:46:36 PM

I've been waging an EMail 'war' with the Dapol Club for the best part of last year trying to get something for the renewal £25 I paid at the end of January. I received a Q3 Newsletter (advertising the Open Day) two days before the advertised event - apart from that, nothing. No new Membership Card, catalogue, newsletters - they've promised to sent out replacement copies, not received. They've asked for my address to confirm they had the correct one (I've lived at this address for 34 years!), still not received anything. Put a message on the Dapol FB page expressing my displeasure, got a reply from Joel, explained the situation, forwarded the Email correspondence (now 3 pages of A4 if printed out!). Joel said he would extend membership to next year FoC, and make sure all the missing stuff would be sent out - nothing arrives, and to add insult to injury, this morning a membership renewal notice (plus the other stuff everyone else has got) appeared through the door. I give up, the whole company is rotten from the top down...

N-Gauge-US · January 22, 2016, 11:17:30 PM

Appalling. I don't think I've ever read of worse trouble with a retailer than the Dapol Collectors Club (obviously it isn't the same as their normal dispatching department, which appears to be moderately competent.). They would do better to end the club IMO than to let it continue like this, as it alienates the people who are supposed to be Dapols biggest fans.

Quote from: talisman56 on January 22, 2016, 10:46:36 PM
I've been waging an EMail 'war' with the Dapol Club for the best part of last year trying to get something for the renewal £25 I paid at the end of January. I received a Q3 Newsletter (advertising the Open Day) two days before the advertised event - apart from that, nothing. No new Membership Card, catalogue, newsletters - they've promised to sent out replacement copies, not received. They've asked for my address to confirm they had the correct one (I've lived at this address for 34 years!), still not received anything. Put a message on the Dapol FB page expressing my displeasure, got a reply from Joel, explained the situation, forwarded the Email correspondence (now 3 pages of A4 if printed out!). Joel said he would extend membership to next year FoC, and make sure all the missing stuff would be sent out - nothing arrives, and to add insult to injury, this morning a membership renewal notice (plus the other stuff everyone else has got) appeared through the door. I give up, the whole company is rotten from the top down...

glenng · January 23, 2016, 01:02:31 PM

I have just received the third 2016/17 renewal from Dapol must be desperate.

austinbob · January 23, 2016, 01:09:41 PM

Quote from: glenng on January 23, 2016, 01:02:31 PM
I have just received the third 2016/17 renewal from Dapol must be desperate.

Just received renewal for subscription cancelled months ago!!

N-Gauge-US · January 23, 2016, 01:13:54 PM

Quote from: austinbob on January 23, 2016, 01:09:41 PM
Quote from: glenng on January 23, 2016, 01:02:31 PM
I have just received the third 2016/17 renewal from Dapol must be desperate.
Just received renewal for subscription cancelled months ago!!

The fact that everyone seems to get renewal letters but none of the other promised (even "sent") items is one more condemnation of their service. How is it that ONLY those letters get sent properly (though to people they REALLY ought to know better than to send them to!)? Shame! Shame!

DJM Dave · January 23, 2016, 03:21:03 PM

Oh the tale I could tell, but would have the legal system on my tail if I did.

Karhedron · January 23, 2016, 06:45:42 PM

My membership expired 2 years ago but a renewal form has arrived. It might have got here sooner if Dapol had not mailed it to a random address down the road.

The daft thing is that they obviously have my correct address because they have sent me stuff before. This was just handwritten and someone obviously wasn't paying attention.