not sure if this should be here, or in the 'mildly off section.

had a delivery from the Liverpool lot yesterday, and although I normally stipulate 'Royal Mail Only' this one had to come via Yokel as it included acrylic paints, which although I always understood were water based, RM won't carry.

I'd done my usual, and ordered all the paints I'd need for a while for both the railway and my 1/76 wargames models.

one of the items was a can of Humbrol 86 light olive spray, 150ml at £4.50.
what arrived was a pot of Humbrol 86 light olive, 12ml which costs £1.50.

so I phoned up this morning, explained the situation and asked them to send the item I had ordered, and been charged for.

I was then asked to parcel up the £1.50 pot of paint, and return it.
ummm it's paint, RM won't take it so it's going by yokel at what cost ?
still, I could have got rid of a pile of the bubblewrap and air bags they keep insisting on filling large boxes with for small items 

they would then refund me the cost of the pot, and the return postage.

any way, I declined and suggested they bill me for the pot, and send me what I had ordered.

what a palaver 
although order was by my usual card, and they had managed to have all the details for that as she gave me the last 4 numbers, I had to give them it all again, so they could charge me £1.50. :'(

surely it would have been easier to have just given me the pot of paint. heavens know how much yokel would have charged 

A similar situation happened to me when Hattons sent me £400-worth of Dapol diesels instead of the trio of Farish coaches I'd ordered.

In the end I listed to the folks on NGF, insisted they dealt with the courier collection side of things, and eventually somebody came to my house to pick up the items.

A bizarre situation. But Hattons must do a huge amount of business (are they Britain's biggest model train retailer?) and some percentage of errors are bound to happen. Whether it's funny or annoying depends on the situation. Whatever happens, you shouldn't be out of pocket. I think if you'd insisted they sent you a pre-paid package for the small tinlet of paint they'd have let you keep it, gratis, as obviously not worth the hassle.

Cheers, NeMo

It would have been a good idea if Hattons had given you the pot of paint and apologized for the mistake, I think they call it Public Relations. thanks for letting us know how incompetent they can be, I need a few Farish wagons sent over to me in Oz, I might give Rails a try.

it got even better, or worse ?

I received an e-mail to advise me that an item I had ordered on picking list xxxxxx had been packed in one parcel and despatched by courier ............

the item was............

a 12ml pot of Humbrol 86 

another phone call, 'I'll put you on hold while I check' and then I was told it was because they had to send the e-mail because they had to complete the order to keep the stock level right 

obviously couldn't put a note on to say please ignore this  :'(

oh, and by the way the 150ml can arrived today, no e-mail to say it had been packed and was on it's way 

I think you have now answered your own thread title question.

Indeed! 

QuoteWhen Norman retired in 1998, his son Keith took over the running of the business, assisted by his sister, Christine.

Keith Hatton was born in 1959, and died, aged 48, in September 2008. At the time of his death Keith had been responsible for Hattons emergence as the leading independent retailer in the sector which we operate in.

Following the death of her brother in 2008, Keith's sister Christine has stepped up to the mantle to take over the reigns of running the firm.

Christine is determined for the growth and development of the business to continue in the manner it had done before the death of her father, Norman and brother, Keith.

http://www.hattons.co.uk/about-us/the-history-of-hattons

FWIW I've had around half-a-dozen shipments of various items, nary a problem.

Quote from: railsquid on June 08, 2016, 12:55:42 PM

QuoteWhen Norman retired in 1998, his son Keith took over the running of the business, assisted by his sister, Christine.

Keith Hatton was born in 1959, and died, aged 48, in September 2008. At the time of his death Keith had been responsible for Hattons emergence as the leading independent retailer in the sector which we operate in.

Following the death of her brother in 2008, Keith's sister Christine has stepped up to the mantle to take over the reigns of running the firm.

Christine is determined for the growth and development of the business to continue in the manner it had done before the death of her father, Norman and brother, Keith.

http://www.hattons.co.uk/about-us/the-history-of-hattons

FWIW I've had around half-a-dozen shipments of various items, nary a problem.

Never had anything other than the odd minor problem easily resolved. Always helpful and friendly.

Quote from: austinbob on June 08, 2016, 01:13:40 PM

Quote from: railsquid on June 08, 2016, 12:55:42 PM

QuoteWhen Norman retired in 1998, his son Keith took over the running of the business, assisted by his sister, Christine.

Keith Hatton was born in 1959, and died, aged 48, in September 2008. At the time of his death Keith had been responsible for Hattons emergence as the leading independent retailer in the sector which we operate in.

Following the death of her brother in 2008, Keith's sister Christine has stepped up to the mantle to take over the reigns of running the firm.

Christine is determined for the growth and development of the business to continue in the manner it had done before the death of her father, Norman and brother, Keith.

http://www.hattons.co.uk/about-us/the-history-of-hattons

FWIW I've had around half-a-dozen shipments of various items, nary a problem.

Never had anything other than the odd minor problem easily resolved. Always helpful and friendly.

Same here

Luckily had only 1 problem in the 10 years since I have been here, and that was in 2007/8 a box of PECO track that due to its size came via the Artic circle or somewhere. (Ordered Dec arrived in Feb) however Hattons did a quick response to my emails.
They did miss off a pot of Humbrol paint on one order and it then came in a Huge box about 50 times the size of the tin but heh it arrived.
So just thought to add to the balance of opinions on this topic.

Jerry

The joys of internet shopping