wombat457

I have just come across another post regarding www.wholesaletrains.com (aka Lantz Hobbies) and noted that the post is almost 6 years old. As a model railroader and retired RC Aircraft Pilot, I felt compelled to "reinvent the wheel" and ressurect the issues surrounding www.wholesaletrains.com (and any other dubious online business). It seems as though that some things never change for some business', and www.wholesaletrains. com is one of those business's.

My hobby is model railroading and I have been into the "Wholesaletrains.com" (aka "Lantz Hobbies" store on quite a few ocassions over the past month or so. Each visit has resulted in (on average) a $150 + purchase.

What I have found is two people, one (a general shop assistant) who knows absolutely nothing about anything in the store and who has to rely on the other person for help. The second person is mor knowledgable about the products she sells, at least in so far as trains etc are concerned and appeared very helpful on my first few visits. Bear in mind here that I am/was new to the hobby when I first went to the store so I needed all the help I could get. Since that first visit I have been back on numerous ocassions and with each return visit the "customer service" seemed to dwindle gradually and the sales girl became abrupt and rude suggesting (by her attitude) that she far better things to do than provide a service, other than taking my money of course. The second female remained helpful "UNTIL" I made a complaint about their ordering service (and I say that in jest).

Almost 2 weeks ago I ordered a couple of small items (total value around $12 + tax). At that time the "better" female placed the order, or so it appeared at the time as they have glare shields on their computer monitors that prevent the buyer from dseeing what they are really doing. I was told the items would be available to me within a few days and I could pick them up on my next trip down there, which takes about an hour and a half. Two or three days ago I returned to collect my order and a few other items. After finding the items I needed I asked about my order. The "abrupt" female told me that I was not in the system, looslely translated - there was NO RECORD of an order being placed. In the meantime I asked the female who supposedly placed the order what was happening to be told again that there was no record of it AND, that it was probably that my order had been "KICKED" - in other words, removed.

Okay, so this is not a life threatening situation; however, during my visits (and something I should have paid more attention to) I heard numerous phone calls involving customers calling about orders they had placed and NOT recieved. For each of those calls that I overheard, the excuse was always the same - we placed the order (did they?) or we ares till waiting for the order to come into the shop. I have overheard around 6 or seven of those types of calls over the course of my 4 visits to the store, an amount that seems to indicate VERY UNRELIABLE service and creates an impression that no one there sems to know what they are doing, OTHER than taking money fro people.

With the above in mind (together with the other bad comments previously) I would NEVER ORDER from wholesaletrains.com NOR place an order with them in person.

On the other hand, IF you know what you want and don't require assistance or help and IF what you want is on the shelves in the store then it isn't a bad place to go. Their prices are generally much cheaper than elsewhere and they do seem to stock the most common items, at least where model railroading is concerned. IF you do need to place an order for something, find another place to do business with, even if that place is a little more expensive. The cost of the item is relative really - if you don't get it, or have to fight tooth and nail to get it or a refund (good luck ont hat too by the way) then the low costs become irrelevant. I would (and will) prefer to deal with a reputable business (regardless of the cost financially) and be assured of getting what I ordered in the time frame specified, than deal with rude and arrogant shop assistants with low prices.

By comaprison, I deal with DAN's Crafts and Things, speciffically a person called John. A week or so ago I tried ordering some items from DANS using their website but continually had my order denied. I established this was due to my having an international credit card and not a US issued one. Within 24 hours I received an email apologising for the problems I had had and a full explaination of why the order had been denied. The follwoing day I went into Dan's and spoke with John, to discover that he had gone around and put ALL of the items I wanted to one side for me to ensure that I received them AND discussed with me alternatives for my placing an online order. After the Lantz shambles,I emailed John regarding the items I had ordered through Lantz and, within 24 hours, recieved anemail back from him telling me that the items had been ordered and would be in in about 2 weeks. He also asked if I wanted them shipped to me from the store or if I wanted to pick them up personally to save some money. NOW THAT IS SERVICE!!!!

Cheers,

wombat457