timward55

I was curious about them so sent them messages which they responded to. I am surprised that they have been granted supplier status by Hornby as they have no retail presence. Either they are a poorly executed diversification from a plumbing business or they are ‘borrowing’ a legitimate business identity. I nearly got stung once by the latter tactic. Personally I would be very careful until some track record is established.

Ebay will be running a Black Friday promotion from 12-18 November. Sellers who have opted in will be offering a 20% discount. Hopefully will include model rail traders.

I would like to stick up for the role of auction houses particularly for people who want to sell a collection and maybe are not sure of the value. The alternatives are: Sell it yourself on facebook or ebay etc. Fine if you have the time and enough knowledge to know what the collection is potentially worth. Sell to a shop, who will probably offer a smallish % of resale value (I was told about 40% by one shop). Sell to a trader - but without being 100% confident of not being ripped off. I know one dealer who bought a large Hornby Dublo collection from a widow for about £150. I bought it off him for £500 and still made a profit. At least with an auction house you will get a price based on what the market will pay and it is in the auctioneer's interest to maximise the sale price. I think a lot of people are better off selling through this route even with the auction fees.

The dummy version but still a good price

Nice! Thanks Andy - that makes it remarkable value

I think I know the answer - but will ask anyway. I have just joined and sent in an email request for a Warley ticket. Will this be instead of a complimentary ticket to a Warners Exhibition? Thanks Tim

You could always ask the seller to agree to let you cancel the transaction. Some will do this.

In a past life I observed a number of charitable companies go bust. Quite often this was preceded by a period of blind optimism that the problems could be resolved. Then there was a period of stress and near-panic as the optimism clashed with brutal reality. On a human level I could imagine there being a mixture of disappointment coupled with relief of not having the stress of being faced with insurmountable problems any more. With regard to the administrators, they don’t come cheap. There must be some doubt that pursuit of uncertain and complicated IP and tooling ownership issues will be of benefit to creditors if any funds raised are swallowed up by administration fees. I was was one of those who kept their APT deposit refund from PayPal and my sympathy is with those who may lose significant sums as a result of DJ models going into administration.

Just wanted to say what a super service I had from Peter's spares. I normally use their website but wanted a couple of small bolts for two Hornby locos and couldn't find them on the website. I phoned them and they took time to research suitable alternatives for me. Considering it was a relatively small sale, I can't speak too highly of the attention they gave to my requirements.

You will get told - quite rightly - that it is not the right thing to do. On the other hand, that is exactly what I did and I only have one or two little cracks :-)

Thanks for your comments. I was very careful to make a general point, not about a particular supplier. I was responding to a question about getting a deposit refunded and making the point that the considered view is that consumer protection applies in this situation.

If I recall correctly, the informed view on one of the discussions here was that consumer regulations applied to this type of transaction. The point was made by someone on the forum that labelling something as 'crowd-funded' did not override consumer protection. I am no lawyer but my understanding is that there is some redress if you have paid a deposit and the producer fails to deliver the product or service. Not sure what or when but that might be worth investigating further.

Gosh! I am so glad that Paypal made him refund APT deposits. I kept my refund and what a good decision that turned out to be. Having looked at his accounts and seen this bizarre announcement I am so sorry for those with money tied up in 'crowd-funded' projects.

At least he might try and spell it right ne'er-do-well :-)

Yep - just bought items I don't need cos they are cheap :-) MRD have undercut Rails by £1 per item and their postage seems cheaper.

Thanks for that. Predictably gives a 14% discount. Bought a Bachmann SR Atlantic for £138. An even bigger bargain was Golden Valley GV6016 Triple Pack of Allied Steel & Wire wagons for £12.90

Just reread the thread about Canns Interstellars Traders and very similar features with this new site - presenting a lot of up-to-date stock - no telephone number - No trace of alleged physical store -

Maybe someone local to Paignton should contact the police

I would urge caution. I know Swindon well and this is the first I have heard of this company. I was nearly scammed by a site pretending to sell bikes at a discount. I placed an order and got a phone call saying that my card had not gone through and that I would have to send money by bank transfer. Thankfully I didn't but I know that other people got caught by it and lost a lot of money. If you do want to buy something, test them with a small purchase.

If it is too good to be true... No business address or telephone number. Not registered as a dealer with Hornby or Bachmann. I would steer clear.

Thanks! Bought one - not that I need it but can't resist them :-)

eBay has another 10% off promotion till 8pm tonight. Code is PAYDAY

Thanks - I have bought some. been looking for these types of boxes for ages

There is a parallel discussion on crowdfunding in Modelling Musings and Miscellany. It includes an assertion (which I don’t recall being covered here though I may have missed it) that this type of arrangement is covered by consumer legislation. As I understand it this means that the seller has a contractual obligation to deliver the product and the buyer has 14 days to return the item if they are not satisfied and receive a refund. The buyer would also have the right to a refund if the product is not delivered - according to this interpretation. There are some uncertainties so I would recommend reading the thread if you havent already done so. The critical point for me is that unlike investment type crowdfunding the seller cannot pass on to, or share the risk with, the buyer. It remains the seller’s responsibility to deliver the product. There does always remain the risk that a claim for a refund is not met as in the Retro case above although it may be possible to mitigate by using a credit card depending on the payment vehicle used. Again there is more on this on the thread on crowdfunding.

I recently upgraded from Ipad 2 which was also unreliable and unresponsive. The new Ipad is so much better and should suit your purpose. It is responsive and fast.