How bad, really, are Dapol and Farish

[austinbob]

In the picture below, the red box shows the 'Maximum Votes' option. Leave it at one to give the respondents only one vote (as you have the poll set at the moment). Change it to a number greater than one to allow multiple answers.

[smg id=13194]

Having not set up a poll, I don't know whether you can change this after the poll has been set up - if you cannot see it now, then you may not be able to...

The option only appears when you set up a new poll - I'll set up a new poll tomorrow - England football match calls!!

Thanks

Bob Austin

[Karhedron]

I have bought a variety of locos over the past few years. So far I have had one dud each from Dapol, Farish and Peco so my personal feeling is that there is not much difference between them.

I should emphasize that in the case of Dapol and Farish, the faulty locos were repaired or replaced at no cost. In the case of Peco, they had no more locos in stock but repaired it free of charge and I only had to pay postage.

The trouble with this poll is that it is subjective. For every person who complains about a duff loco, there are probably dozens who has got a good one. A more fair and balanced result can be found from speaking to the larger shops who sell significant amounts of stock from both Farish and Dapol.

I did this a year or two back with a well known box shifter. Apparently the rate of returns for both Dapol and Farish are the same at about ~5%. This is roughly the same as the return rate for 00 locos. So the number appear to indicate that N gauge market is served by two manufacturers of equivalent reliability and we are no worse off than modellers in Orribly Overscale land. Of course there may be the occasional unfortunate person who has had a run of bad luck with one company or the other.

[Stuart]

So far I have only ever had one Dapol locomotive, a Q1 brand new. Within a month it had to be replaced with a fault on the front wheels. Now the replacement has exactly the same fault. It could be my track is iffy but neither of my Farish EMU's have problems! Well that's my experience.
   

[oreamnos]

With all due respect, is this "poll" really necessary?  We've "been there, done that."  Not only on this forum but on others as well.  Also, these poll numbers are worthless from a statistical sense - the sample is strictly self selecting and not a random sampling.

I think a better post would be to invite people to comment about their positive experiences with both Farish and Dapol.

Just my two cents.

Matt

[Bealman]

Agreed. Because of the design, the data generated will be dodgey at best, and as the above post states, we've been down this path before.

[Chatty]

Agree with Matt and George.

Kind regards

Geoff

[Agrippa]

Gawd elp 'us,

Another hornets' nest !

[Geoff]

I am sure this subject gets repeated over and over, its just a shame that neither Bachman or Dapol can not come onto any forum to give any input, But if you buy a faulty product it can be returned so there should be no problem, I shall not slag any manufacturer off as they do a fantastic job to give us models that are realistic within reason, so sorry no voting from me.

[Sprintex]

With all due respect, is this "poll" really necessary?  We've "been there, done that."  Not only on this forum but on others as well.  Also, these poll numbers are worthless from a statistical sense - the sample is strictly self selecting and not a random sampling.

I think a better post would be to invite people to comment about their positive experiences with both Farish and Dapol.

Just my two cents.

Matt

That pretty much sums it up for me

No poll necessary, if you want to know what people think about Dapol/Farish models then your time would be better spent reading the Reviews section of this forum - that IS what it's there for after all


Paul

[austinbob]

Everyone knows that subscribers to forums tend to post about problems they have rather than the good experiences they have with a manufacturer. What I would really like to know is what percentage of people are happy or not happy with the output from Dapol and Farish

It is apparent from the number of negative responses to this poll, many due to the fact that I didn't set the poll up properly, that it is probably a waste of time to continue.

Thanks to those who took the time and trouble to respond with their comments

Bob Austi

[austinbob]

With all due respect, is this "poll" really necessary?  We've "been there, done that."  Not only on this forum but on others as well.  Also, these poll numbers are worthless from a statistical sense - the sample is strictly self selecting and not a random sampling.

I think a better post would be to invite people to comment about their positive experiences with both Farish and Dapol.

Just my two cents.

Matt

That pretty much sums it up for me

No poll necessary, if you want to know what people think about Dapol/Farish models then your time would be better spent reading the Reviews section of this forum - that IS what it's there for after all


Paul

As I said in my original post people tend to report problems rather than positive experiences in forums. So reviews may give a skewed result.

Bob Austin

[Newportnobby]

It's just my opinion, but I believe we (the NGF) need to forge closer links with the major manufacturers. When Dave Jones worked for Dapol he always believed the NGF had a downer on them due to the many adverse comments levelled at their products. Hopefully, as a contributing member of this forum, he has amended his view
No manufacturer should expect an easy ride from their customers when things go wrong (and they do, sometimes big style) but it is a truism that criticism is more often posted than praise, which is a shame Of course, they don't set out with the intention of producing a bad model but things do go wrong and I am quite surprised that, given the large membership of the NGF, Farish & Dapol do not deem it necessary to get involved in any discussion. The latest attempt by RMWeb to have a question/answer session with Dapol turned into a debacle However, a counter argument to this is that Dave Jones (now DJ Models) took the time to come along to our NGF meet up in Bamber Bridge to give a very interesting talk about things past and what he is aiming for in the future.
I guess what I'm saying is we shouldn't collect a load of negativity and use it to bash folks over the head but balance it with a collection of positivity. Sadly, human nature doesn't work like that - check the number of pages in The Angry Thread v The Happy Thread

[austinbob]

I guess what I'm saying is we shouldn't collect a load of negativity and use it to bash folks over the head but balance it with a collection of positivity. Sadly, human nature doesn't work like that - check the number of pages in The Angry Thread v The Happy Thread

This was exactly what I was trying to get at when I started this rather badly designed poll. I see considerably more negative comments about Dapol and Farish than positive ones. I can't believe things are as bad as it appears on the surface in reading posts on this Forum. It would be really nice to get a balanced view of how good/bad manufacturers are.

Bob Austin

[Newportnobby]

I guess what I'm saying is we shouldn't collect a load of negativity and use it to bash folks over the head but balance it with a collection of positivity. Sadly, human nature doesn't work like that - check the number of pages in The Angry Thread v The Happy Thread

I see considerably more negative comments about Dapol and Farish than positive ones. I can't believe things are as bad as it appears on the surface in reading posts on this Forum. It would be really nice to get a balanced view of how good/bad manufacturers are.

Bob Austin

I can't fault your reasoning, Bob, but folks shout loudly when they get a 'duffer' and not too many shout as loudly when they get a good 'un - maybe because they just expect such for their hard earned money. That is why I reckon surveys don't necessarily reflect 'true life'.
Personally I make a point of reporting good/bad on any purchase as I believe it helps other forum members to make an informed decision, regardless of whether the manufacturer/supplier is looking in. Steamers, by their very complexity, seem to get more bad reviews than diesel/electric, but in our ever continuing quest for super detailed locos at a reasonable price, maybe we are asking too much of the Quality Control/Service Departments
I have to say I do take on board comments made on the forum before making a purchase and am pleased to report my incidence of returns is far less then the average 5% quoted above. I also take heed of reports about the shops who supply us with the goods as this has almost as much bearing on our experiences as the locos themselves.

[Pengi]

I'd be interested to know why the data on Dapol is required and what you intend to do with any data collected. If the interest is purely Dapol, why even bring Farish into the equation?
Given that, on average, some folks get good 'uns and some get bad 'uns, I'm really not sure you're going to get any solid/presentable information
If I have concerns about Dapol, it is more to do with their customer interface/PR than anything else

I'm just trying to work out which supplier gives the most reliable product on average. I've had bad and good experiences of both

Bob Austin

My answer is that Kato gives the most reliable product on average - and by a long margin