There has been a lot of discussion about quality control on this and other forums. Both manufacturers seem to produce a fair amount of dud locos and both don't seem to do much in-factory testing.

Modellers living in the UK can at either return or post their models back to the retailers, for those of us living overseas this can be a really time consuming and expensive exercise.

Is there a gap in the market for some individual or shop to do what the manufacturers should be doing and thoroughly test, lubricate and properly run in locos before sending them off?

Would modellers be prepared to pay extra for this?

In my case living thousands of miles away it would be worth paying a bit extra for peace of mind. It might be something that UK modellers would pay extra for too.

What does everyone think?

Regards,

Veronica.

I would agree with you Veronica, a couple of extra quid for peace of mind would be well worth it.

Paul

in a word yes

If its feasible I might be able to help pout with this. (see my post in the "loco surgery" about the dapol B1 for my recent accomplishment) Got DCC coming before too long too.

Interested in watching this develop.

Why should there be a charge for this? For many years it was standard practice in every model shop that I visited, and the shops that I do use do test the locos. It only seems to be the large discount box shifters that have no facility to open all sold locos to test them prior to posting, so it could be argued that a charge is already made for this service.
Elmo

It's a good idea in principle. Even though the manufacturers should be doing it anyway of course

Upsides, you can charge a small premium for the testing and if the engines are going out tested you should get fewer expensive returns, so in theory you should make more profit per item.

Only downside I can think of is that if your customer base tends to be long distance (as overseas customers are going to see more of a benefit in the service) then your models are going to spend more time in transit, which increases the chance that something will get broken *after* you've tested them and has the potential for a customer to be even more annoyed because they've paid extra to get a perfect working model etc. That could be offset somewhat by extreme packaging but never underestimate the ability of a courier to damage a package

Also, as you'd be investing a lot of time into any particular item of stock, you may have to do a system where the customer pays up front for any engines they order, possibly without you carrying any stock and ordering them on demand. You'd need a really good supplier or team up with an existing shop for that though.

hi

in my opinion it should not be up to the local model shop to test the locos but it should be the manufacturers who test their products before shipping

yes i know accidents happen in transit but it would be a good start if they left the factory in working order

and i would be willing to pay a couple of quid extra to have peace of mind that the loco has a good chance of being faultless

dave  

 Of course you could be very unlucky and pay extra for a properly tested loco only to find that once you got it on to your layout it went up in smoke but pre testing and running in would hopefully weed out the really bad ones.

I can understand your frustrations Veronica especially as you are so far away, perhaps on an odd occasion an obliging forum member could help out if compensated for the postage, I would offer to do it myself but I still don't have any track to run my own stuff on 

Quite simply - NO !

What am I paying for ? A static model ? if thats what i wanted i'd have bought a Del prado. I'm paying A LOT of money for a working model, and i have every right to expect it to do what it says on the box - NO EXCEPTIONS  

Can't make it any clearer than that.

Quote from: 4x2ybecauseican on December 01, 2011, 09:34:41 PM
Quite simply - NO !

What am I paying for ? A static model ? if thats what i wanted i'd have bought a Del prado. I'm paying A LOT of money for a working model, and i have every right to expect it to do what it says on the box - NO EXCEPTIONS  

Can't make it any clearer than that.

I totally agree, but you live in Bristol not South Africa, which is Veronica's point. Sh*t happens, but when you're 1000's of miles away from the supplier or dealer, I'm sure it's a lot of hassle

Its a pretty sad case of affairs when the quality control by manufacturers is so bad that there are so many faulty products but its something we all have to live with.

Our local hobby shop used to test locos for buyers until one day I went in with a mate to buy a Farish 4f loco, I asked for it to be test run and the salesman refused, I asked to see the manager who told me that once tested to loco became second hand and would be worthless  
To cut a long story short I told him where he could stick is loco and asked why the Gaugemaster roller test machine was sitting on the counter if they weren't going to test locos   I have never been back to that store where in the past I had spent in access of $9,000 or 6,000 quid, he told me he couldn't care less how much I had spent in the past.

Unless locos get tested at the point of sale we are doomed but in this day and age customer service in some places is sadly lacking, it all goes back to the manufacturer and poor quality control, if they sell enough rubbish eventually people might just wake up stop buying it.

Quote from: newportnobby on December 01, 2011, 09:41:02 PM

Quote from: 4x2ybecauseican on December 01, 2011, 09:34:41 PM
Quite simply - NO !

What am I paying for ? A static model ? if thats what i wanted i'd have bought a Del prado. I'm paying A LOT of money for a working model, and i have every right to expect it to do what it says on the box - NO EXCEPTIONS  

Can't make it any clearer than that.

I totally agree, but you live in Bristol not South Africa, which is Veronica's point. Sh*t happens, but when you're 1000's of miles away from the supplier or dealer, I'm sure it's a lot of hassle

...and that why we must say 'enough is enough' ! Any 'decent' retailer should check it or at least offer to check it for overseas postage. I do feel for Veronica, nothing worse than the sound of silence from your new loco... then the extra postage... then the waiting... it can be very annoying.

Quote from: 4x2ybecauseican on December 01, 2011, 09:34:41 PM
Quite simply - NO !  [...]  I'm paying A LOT of money for a working model, and i have every right to expect it to do what it says on the box - NO EXCEPTIONS  

Agreed; I would expect good shops to be happy to do this, and indeed for them to do it to overseas sales regardless !  But this is one reason I much prefer to use my local shop rather than buy via post.

Mike

Some shops do test locos but how much of a test do they do? A couple of runs up and down a straight piece of track isn't really enough. A loco needs to be tested going round corners and through points as well. This was demonstrated by a friends recent purchase. He bought a Tornado from his local shop, they had three locos and he tested each one and chose the one he thought ran best. The shop has a straight up and down track.

When he got his loco home it wouldn't go through any of the points on his layout. You may be thinking - terrible trackwork - but my Tornado bought a few weeks earlier went gliding through all the points on his layout. His track work is top notch and he runs a wide variety of trains.

There would be snags with any pre testing service but I still think that there might be a gap in the market for a shop that advertises fully pre tested locos. I would certainly consider using such a shop.

Regards

Veronica.