Hattons Dave

Hi all, As well as the FAQ, Jack sat down with our MD, Richard Davies to give further info on our response to COVID-19. Hopefully this and the FAQ answer any questions you may have but our helpdesk team are on hand (via info@hattons.co.uk or calling 0151 733 3655) if there's any more details you need. Cheers Dave

Hi dpgibbons, Just to confirm that only our physical store is closed currently - we have taken this precaution in response to the current "Delay" status of the COVID-19 outbreak. Our website, order despatch and helpdesk teams remain open with some minor amendments in times. I'd recommend taking a read of our FAQ on the subject for further info. As above, once this changes I'll be sure to let you all know once our Pre-owned listings (and store) are back in full operation. Cheers Dave

Hi all, To confirm, we have decided to temporarily close our physical store as a precaution. All of our other operations remain open including our Helpdesk team, order despatch, pre-owned buying etc. There’s a couple of minor changes to our opening times and I’d recommend taking a look at our FAQ which should answer any questions. At this stage this won’t have an effect on the quality of service we provide through our customer service and order fulfilment. If anyone is a regular visitor to our store we can despatch orders to you - please call our Helpdesk team on 0151 733 3655 or place your order via our website. Cheers, Dave

Morning all, I'll make sure to let you all know via this thread when we're back to listing pre-owned items on the website. Thank you all for your patience. Cheers, Dave

Hi dpgibbons, At the moment we are not listing any pre-owned on our website. We’re planning to get this going again very soon, if you can send an email to info@hattons.co.uk , we’ll let you know as soon as new pre-owned items are being added. Cheers Dave

Good morning Kaput, I'm sorry to hear you're having issues logging in to your account. I'm not aware of any particular issues but if you contact our Helpdesk team via phone or email (0151 733 3655 or info@hattons.co.uk) they'll be more than happy to help and get this passed along to our IT team if required. I hope this helps. Cheers, Dave

Sorry everyone, this thread appears to be veering away from the original matter at hand so I'm going to close it for the time being. Cheers, Dave

Hello Paul, Thanks for your comments and I’m sorry you weren’t able to get a Dapol 156 from us when they were released. I can’t speak in absolutes as I don’t honestly remember what happened in this specific situation. It could have been any one of a number of reasons including being short supplied or someone placing a new order before you had called to give us new payment details. What I can say is that we now have a more robust process for dealing with brand new incoming items and we contact customers via email once we know that a new item is due in stock soon. This is to remind people to update card details or make sure they are still correct given that announcements can sometimes take a few years before they are delivered. I hope this helps. Cheers, Dave

Good Afternoon Robert, First of all I’d like to sincerely apologise for having let you down in this situation. I’d also like to address a couple of your points if I may. Accepting pre-orders beyond allocated stock levels is a questionable business ethic. I would agree if this had been done intentionally due to malice or greed. However, this certainly wasn’t the case. We never deliberately look to have more pre-orders taken than we have stock. This wouldn’t have happened if Hattons cared about their customers. We certainly do care about our customers and we’re taking steps to ensure they do not face this situation again in future. Cheers, Dave

Hello John, This situation is not a common occurrence, we do not normally take orders over and above what we are receiving. We would typically disable pre-orders slightly before reaching our total number of ordered items. In this case we have seen unprecedented demand for the Rocket train pack which has led to this regrettable situation and I apologise unreservedly to anyone affected. Cheers, Dave

Morning all, A few points/questions have come up overnight that I’d like to provide answers for. Was there a limit per customer in regards to R3809 Rocket Train Pack? No. However, there is no sign of anyone having purchased large amounts of these from ourselves. Will this situation occur with any of the other items announced as part of the Hornby 2020 range? We cannot guarantee that this will not impact any further items in the Hornby 2020 range but at this stage we do not expect it to. We do always try our best to source as many items possible in cases where we expect demand to be high. We will also be regularly reviewing pre-order figures to safeguard against this. Why haven’t you bought stock from people selling these on eBay or other sites to fulfil these orders? We have attempted to acquire additional stock from other sources in order to fulfil as many pre-orders as possible. However, if we were to take stock from non-traditional sources then this could cause issues with the warranty if the need ever arose to use it. I hope this helps. Cheers, Dave

Morning all, The second shipment of our highly anticipated Class 66 models (comprising of codes H4-66-001 to H4-66-031) are expected to be in stock by the end of March 2020. This includes Digital ready, Digital fitted and Digital sound fitted models. We will provide an update on delivery for models H4-66-032 to H4-66-037 as soon as we can. You can pre-order available versions on THIS page of our website. I hope this helps. Cheers, Dave

Hi Wistramwayman, I am sorry that we are unable to fulfil your order for the R3890. As you know, this has been a very popular item, and I can assure you that we have done everything we could to try to secure more stock. Although it won’t change the issue of your cancelled pre-order, I wanted to clarify a few of the points you have made in your post below. Did Hattons receive their full allocation of Hornby R3809? Yes. Every retailer had an initial allocation of models available to them, whether they accepted the full amount was up to the retailer. We also later placed an additional order for further R3809 sets. Ultimately these models have proved extremely popular not only with ourselves but Hornby and other retailers as well and it was not possible to secure this additional order. Is it a breach of contract for Hattons to cancel pre-orders due to insufficient stock? No. The order is only deemed to be accepted when we dispatch the goods to you. This is part of our standard Terms and conditions. Again, I do apologise that we have let you down on this occasion. Dave

Morning all, A few points have been raised regarding the Garratt project and I wanted to try and address them if I could. Why don’t you include the Garratt in your print advertising? When the N Gauge Garratt project was first announced we did include it in our print advertisements. However, since then we have also announced further projects which now feature in those positions. Why isn’t the Garratt featured on the front page of the website? The Garratt has appeared on the front page of the website several times. All projects and products featured on our home page are “live”, and will move up the list if there has been news or developments associated with the project. Due to the sheer amount of news and information coming out regarding projects from various manufacturers it means that things can quickly be pushed off the front page. Better advertising could improve awareness and reduce confusion about the project. This has been our first attempt at marketing an exclusive N Gauge locomotive and we will take on board the feedback regarding our advertisement of this project. A different project would have been a better decision for a first N Gauge project. We value feedback from our customers and the market in general, and do take this into consideration when selecting projects. To date, the OO Gauge Beyer-Garratt has been one of our most popular projects which was a large factor in selecting the N Gauge version. We invite people to send their suggestions to us via ideas@hattons.co.uk which helps us to spot trends. I hope this helps. Cheers, Dave

Hi Rich, Apologies for the confusion here. The Hattons Class 66s are only available for general sale through Hattons and not through our wholesale retailers. If this should change in the future, we will make sure to let all our wholesale retailers know. Cheers Dave

Morning all, Thanks for keeping your questions coming in, here’s some answers for you. Is 66789 (H4-66-031) affected by the lighting issue that has previously been raised? No. This model has the ‘Standard Wipac’ headlight setup and is unaffected by the marker light issue. What is the best way to reattach an axlebox if it comes loose? We have a section on our Class 66 Maintenance Page which details the process of reattaching an axle box if it comes loose. We can also supply spares if required. Our Helpdesk team will be able to get these sent out. They can be contacted via phone (0151 733 3655) or email (info@hattons.co.uk) Why does my model have glue marks on it? This is caused by carelessness when glueing the axlebox covers on to the axles and then touching the body. What is being done to prevent glue marks on other models? As soon as this was noted with a couple of models from our initial delivery we specified a faster drying glue be used and that greater care needs to be taken when locating the axleboxes by hand to eliminate the chance of transferring glue to the body. If my model has glue marks what can you do about it? Please contact our Helpdesk team who will note your return on the system and be able to talk you through the best way to get it back to us for replacement. I hope this helps. Cheers, Dave

Morning all, Thanks for the questions that have come in overnight, I’ll break down the answers below. Who made the error that resulted in the lighting issue for the “large headlight” models? It appears that a couple of factors contributed to this. 1. We didn’t specify clearly enough the marker light requirements for the “large headlight” versions. 2. The factory then wired it up in a more direct way to simplify production. Can you offer replacement circuit boards for the “large headlight” models? We are not able to offer this as a solution. As previously mentioned, any customer who is unhappy with their model is more than welcome to return it to us, either to exchange for a different version or for a refund if preferred. What happens to models that have been returned? This will vary depending on the exact reason a particular model is returned. Faulty models will never be re-listed to be sold as new. If we do re-list anything where an issue needs to be noted we will include this with our pre-owned stock where the title will reflect the condition of the item. Are there any future plans for further Class 66s with the “New LED Headlight Cluster” style of headlights? We currently have no plans to add any additional versions with this style of headlights. I hope this helps. Cheers, Dave

Hi letterspider, We are intending to have some of our exclusives available for sale at Ally Pally but as I don’t yet have a revised delivery date for the 66s I can’t promise they will be available at the show. I will be able to provide an accurate update closer to the time. Cheers, Dave

Hi Rob, Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’m certain that nobody here is happy when issues come to light with a new product, including all of us at Hattons. We aren’t expecting or encouraging anyone to undertake any kind of solution if they’re uncomfortable in doing so as it would involve an advanced amount of electronics knowledge and proficiency. We encourage any customer who is unhappy to get in touch to return any affected models. Cheers, Dave

Hi Eric, We're not at Model Rail Scotland this year. The next exhibition we'll be attending is the London Festival of Railway Modelling at Alexandra Palace towards the end of March. You can see all the events that we're currently attending on THIS page of our website. Cheers, Dave

Hi Steve, We currently have a set amount of decoders on order. If we see that there is sufficient demand to re-stock these or keep them permanently stocked then we’ll definitely look to do so. I hope this helps. Cheers, Dave

Morning all, Thanks for keeping the questions coming in, I hope the below helps. Will damaged/returned locomotives be sold at a reduced price? We don’t have any plans to put damaged or returned as faulty locomotives up for sale. Will more sound-fitted models be made available at a later date? If a model is marked on the website as “Sold out on pre-order” then we have completely pre-sold the quantity that we are receiving with factory fitted sound and will not receive any more for general sale. We will have a small amount of Sure Sound decoders with Rail Rumble speakers available to purchase separately for people who would like to enhance a Digital Ready or Digital Fitted version of a particular locomotive. If you would like to add one of these decoders to a non-sound version then you can get in touch with our Helpdesk on 0151 733 3655. Cheers, Dave

Hi all, Just wanted to clarify a couple of points regarding a couple of questions that have recently been coming up. Will potential future batches have the noted issues resolved? Just to confirm, we’re working with our vendors to determine a solution to the lighting issue on any potential future versions of the Large Headlight models. In regards to livery errors, we produce new artwork for each model to be released so noted errors will be rectified for any potential future batches. Can I return a chassis from a ‘Large Headlight’ model to be replaced if a solution to the lighting issue is found? Unfortunately we cannot offer replacement chassis’ for models in this batch. If you would like to return an affected model then please contact our Helpdesk team who will be able to help and advise on next steps. I hope this helps. Cheers, Dave

Hi guys, Thank you again for the continued interest and discussion regarding the Class 66. There have been a few more questions added over the weekend, which I have collected and answered below. Where is the marker light fault located? And can this part be easily removed or replaced? The fault is on the small circuit boards under the cabs that have the LEDs on them. It is not easy for the ‘ready-to-run’ modeller to exchange this part. Is it possible for the customer to fix the issue themselves? It is possible, as pteandy1402 has shown, but it is very intricate and not something that most customers would be able to achieve. Any customers who are not happy with their model can return it to be exchanged for an alternative item or to be fully refunded. Will there be supplied necessary replacement parts at a later date? Unfortunately, as the parts are not easy to exchange, it is not something we can provide as a spare. Does the issue of the marker lights affect yard mode as opposed to running lights for mainline running? As the marker lights are linked to the headlights, it is not possible to use ‘yard mode’ on the models that are affected by this fault, as only the top headlight will be shown. Who checks the models before production? As with any of our exclusive projects, the models are checked at multiple stages before they reach production. We try as far as possible to also share details with customers and get their feedback at each stage, which we have done recently with the initial CADs for the Plasser Crane HERE. However, for this project we did not notice the error early enough. I hope that helps answer any queries but please let me know if I can help answer any further questions. Cheers Dave

Hi guys, Thank you again for the continued interest and discussion regarding the Class 66. A couple more questions have been asked which I have answered below. Will future announcements of large headlight Class 66s have the correct marker light wiring? We are working with our vendors to determine if this is possible Is H4-66-026 affected by the marker light issue? Yes. It was omitted in error from the earlier post, and has now been added. Thank you for pointing that out Is H4-66-025 affected by the marker light issue? No, any models that do not feature the large headlights are not affected. A complete list of which models use which lighting variant is available on the Hattons website here I hope that helps answer any queries but please let me know if I can help answer any further questions. Cheers Dave