British Model Railway Awards 2018 - Nominations

[Andy Y]

Your chance to play a part in BMRA 2018!

 

Eligible products released during 2018 will be automatically selected for their relevant categories but you can nominate your choices for the following categories. The most popular nominations will be taken forward to the voting at the beginning of January when your final votes may be cast.

 

• Innovation of the Year - nominate your favourite non-loco/rolling stock product of 2018
• Retailers Customer Service Award - nominate the retailer who has given you the best service this year.
• Website of the Year - nominate the website which has been the most useful to you.
• Exhibition of the Year - nominate the best exhibition you have attended this year.
• Layout of the Year - nominate the best layout you have seen this year.
• RMweb Modeller of the Year - nominate the most inspiring modeller you have seen on RMweb this year

Make your nominations here!

 

This stage is for nominations in the above categories; voting for products and the successful nominees will take place from 01 January 2019.

[gwrrob]

Can you give me some ideas what to think about when choosing the innovation of the year please.

[Andy Y]

Well it's not Swindon's standardisation policy.

[gwrrob]

Well it's not Swindon's standardisation policy.

 

I was going to suggest Heljan's locomotive packaging.

[Andy Y]

I was going to suggest Heljan's locomotive packaging.

We haven't got a kit category.

[bgman]

Well it's not Swindon's standardisation policy.

 

In that case I won't bother ! 

[toboldlygo]

Would Rexel No. 56 Staple's count as an innovation of the year? 

[Andy Y]

Thanks for the nominations which are starting to roll in.

 

It seems some need a bit of guidance though:

 

Innovation of the Year - nominate your favourite non-loco/rolling stock product of 2018

 

Nominations should refer to innovations which have actually reached the market in 2018 and not be items of stock (they're in the products section) unless it is an item of stock which has introduced a new feature.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Am I alone in being unable to find a 'submit' button? I clicked everything in sight that looked likely, but never got anything that looked like an acknowledgement that I had been successful.

[Andy Y]

Am I alone in being unable to find a 'submit' button? I clicked everything in sight that looked likely, but never got anything that looked like an acknowledgement that I had been successful.

 

You should see a blue 'Submit' button below this:

 

Thank you

Thank you for your nominations. Voting will open on RMweb early January. Please remember to come back to cast your final votes for the products and the categories above.

[Phatbob]

Andy, is there going to be some kind statistical weighting in the annual Hattons award (also known as the Retailers customer service award)?
Perception of service quality is a qualitative measure, not a quantitative one.  Given that the voting is currently done on a straight head count, the retailer with highest number of happy customers is going to win.  This gives those with the highest turnover an unfair advantage and frankly, IMHO, makes this award pretty pointless.
Smaller retailers have not got a cat in hell's chance of getting their efforts recognised.
Cheers,
Bob.

[Andy Y]

Andy, is there going to be some kind statistical weighting in the annual Hattons award (also known as the Retailers customer service award)?

Perception of service quality is a qualitative measure, not a quantitative one.  Given that the voting is currently done on a straight head count, the retailer with highest number of happy customers is going to win.  This gives those with the highest turnover an unfair advantage and frankly, IMHO, makes this award pretty pointless.

Smaller retailers have not got a cat in hell's chance of getting their efforts recognised.

Cheers,

Bob.

 

I emphasise that it's a service quality award Bob "Retailers Customer Service Award - nominate the retailer who has given you the best service this year" - the same as products should be voted for on appeal/accuracy/functionality/reliability etc rather than the volume sold. I can't see any accurate way of giving it any weighting unless we knew the turnover/customer headcount for every business nominated. It doesn't make it pointless if any a large retailer does have the highest number of satisfied customers and it makes a change from listening to some on here who would seem to rather have a Customer Dissatisfaction Award.

 

Any small retailer can be nominated and if they receive enough nominations they'll go through to the voting stage.

[The Stationmaster]

Thanks for the nominations which are starting to roll in.

 

It seems some need a bit of guidance though:

 

Innovation of the Year - nominate your favourite non-loco/rolling stock product of 2018

 

Nominations should refer to innovations which have actually reached the market in 2018 and not be items of stock (they're in the products section) unless it is an item of stock which has introduced a new feature.

 

That's reassuring thank you as that is exactly the sort of thing I nominated having had a very close look at it on the XXX XXXXXXXX stand at Warley although I didn't buy any as it needs some careful estimating done before purchase.

[Phatbob]

I emphasise that it's a service quality award Bob "Retailers Customer Service Award - nominate the retailer who has given you the best service this year" - the same as products should be voted for on appeal/accuracy/functionality/reliability etc rather than the volume sold. I can't see any accurate way of giving it any weighting unless we knew the turnover/customer headcount for every business nominated. It doesn't make it pointless if any a large retailer does have the highest number of satisfied customers and it makes a change from listening to some on here who would seem to rather have a Customer Dissatisfaction Award.

 

Any small retailer can be nominated and if they receive enough nominations they'll go through to the voting stage.

Andy,

IIRC, if they're a limited company their accounts filed at Companies House will include a turnover figure for the previous tax year.

Not the ideal metric, as what's required is the actual number of individuals who are customers, and how many businesses know that?

But this might not be an unreasonable basis for weighting the results, given the lack of anything better?

Anyway, I'll leave that with you and stop nagging about it now.  The point has been made.

As for a customer dissatisfaction award, I have to say that for me, one of the many pleasures of this hobby is that my experience of the specialist businesses in it has been one of decent, honest people who are trying to be helpful.  I have have made a few very good "friends in the trade" over the years.  Long may that continue.

Cheers!

Bob.

[N15class]

Andy, is there going to be some kind statistical weighting in the annual Hattons award (also known as the Retailers customer service award)?

Perception of service quality is a qualitative measure, not a quantitative one. Given that the voting is currently done on a straight head count, the retailer with highest number of happy customers is going to win. This gives those with the highest turnover an unfair advantage and frankly, IMHO, makes this award pretty pointless.

Smaller retailers have not got a cat in hell's chance of getting their efforts recognised.

Cheers,

Bob.

Totally, 10% of 1000 is greater than 99% of 100, but who gives the better service. Edited December 9, 2018 by N15class

[MarkSG]

Can I restate a point I've made previously, that retailers shouldn't be eligible for both the retail customer service category and the website category. A good website is a fundamental part of an online retailer's offering, and without it they aren't going to be able to provide good customer service anyway. So that kind of goes without saying.

 

For me, the website award more properly belongs to sites that don't sell anything, but offer a wealth of information or other resources - for example, lner.info, UKModelShops or Neil Dimmer's Railway Photography. And an essential part of that is that the site isn't selling you anything, it's there as a free resource. If it is selling something, then it's a retailer, and belongs in the retail category.

[Revolution Mike B]

Can I restate a point I've made previously, that retailers shouldn't be eligible for both the retail customer service category and the website category. A good website is a fundamental part of an online retailer's offering, and without it they aren't going to be able to provide good customer service anyway. So that kind of goes without saying.

 

For me, the website award more properly belongs to sites that don't sell anything, but offer a wealth of information or other resources - for example, lner.info, UKModelShops or Neil Dimmer's Railway Photography. And an essential part of that is that the site isn't selling you anything, it's there as a free resource. If it is selling something, then it's a retailer, and belongs in the retail category.

 

Exactly....something similar to this site for example whereby you can find as much info as you can once you learn how to find your way around it!    

Edited January 4, 2019 by scoobyra