37pits Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Another satisfied customer. Saw the note about the MRD sale and ordered a Heljan class 27 on Sunday night, loco was delivered yesterday, excellent service Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted September 29, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 29, 2018 (edited) More praise for Model Railways Direct. I ordered some Lenz decoders at 09:24 Friday Postie had delivered them before noon today, Saturday. Excellent service from MRD as usual. Keith Edited September 29, 2018 by melmerby Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 Well I'm impressed, and that doesn't happen very often nowadays where retail is concerned. Ordered three carriages from Model Railways Direct yesterday lunchtime, and I've just now unpacked them - 21 hours later! Not only that, but the total was around £18 less than it would have been from the folks in Widnes if they had them in stock ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul.Uni Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 1 hour ago, spikey said: the folks in Widnes if they had them in stock ... Why can't you say the name of the company you're referring to? Because I don't know if your referring to Widnes Model Railway Centre or Hattons. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 4 minutes ago, Paul.Uni said: Why can't you say the name of the company you're referring to? Because I don't know if your referring to Widnes Model Railway Centre or Hattons. If you read between the lines, he means the folks in Widnes who haven't had any new Bachmann since September. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widnes Model Centre Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 6 hours ago, Paul.Uni said: Why can't you say the name of the company you're referring to? Because I don't know if your referring to Widnes Model Railway Centre or Hattons. Just for clarity. Not referring to us. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
montyburns56 Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 (edited) I recently ordered some items from them late on Friday evening and I was surprised that they arrived on Monday, as I had presumed that they wouldn't be despatched until the following Monday. Edited April 18, 2019 by montyburns56 scphelling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
loickebros Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 19 minutes ago, montyburns56 said: I recently order some items from them late on Friday evening and I was surprised that they arrived on Monday, as I had presumed that they wouldn't be despatched until the following Monday. Always found the service great as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted April 17, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 17, 2019 I am amazed more shops haven't looked at the Model Railways Direct site and realised that is how to design a website, logical and easy to navigate. I find they give excellent service but it is still their excellent web design that holds me, after using their site most of the other online model shop sites just feel like a mess. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 11 hours ago, jjb1970 said: I am amazed more shops haven't looked at the Model Railways Direct site and realised that is how to design a website, logical and easy to navigate ... I'm not. Too many model shop owners seem to stop at thinking any website is better than no website, and they invariably look at the whole thing the wrong way round. That is to say, from considerations of cost, ease of use and so forth, rather than from the customer's POV. I also suspect that where model railways are concerned, web sales are a bit of a PITA where some proprietors are concerned, what with having to wrap stuff up and schlep it to the Post Office. (I speak as someone who successfully turned three hobbies into businesses, one of which ended up being almost entirely dependent upon the website hooking punters.) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 19 hours ago, Paul.Uni said: Why can't you say the name of the company you're referring to? Because I don't know if your referring to Widnes Model Railway Centre or Hattons. Didn't think I needed to. I didn't know there was another model railway shop in Widnes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted April 18, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 18, 2019 1 hour ago, spikey said: Didn't think I needed to. I didn't know there was another model railway shop in Widnes. I knew there was another model railway shop in Widnes but didn't need to be told which one you were referring to. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edge Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 A further good review from me as a satisfied customer - light bars for 009 coaches obtained at a thoroughly reasonable price (albeit this was a while back now) so I'm happy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted April 20, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 20, 2019 On 18/04/2019 at 07:13, spikey said: I'm not. Too many model shop owners seem to stop at thinking any website is better than no website, and they invariably look at the whole thing the wrong way round. That is to say, from considerations of cost, ease of use and so forth, rather than from the customer's POV. I also suspect that where model railways are concerned, web sales are a bit of a PITA where some proprietors are concerned, what with having to wrap stuff up and schlep it to the Post Office. (I speak as someone who successfully turned three hobbies into businesses, one of which ended up being almost entirely dependent upon the website hooking punters.) I suspect the other major model rail shops sell enough on-line that they see little need to worry about their web design, however I do wonder why they don't try and do a better job as I find web design of model shops in general to be very poor. Even if shops are doing a good business there is still an argument that a well designed website could draw more customers in. I find the Hattons website to be awful to use, ditto Rails, I'm not a fan of the Kernow site either. Don't get me wrong, whenever I've bought from Rails or Kernow I've been very happy and I think their service seems very good, but I just find the Model Railways Direct web site so much nicer to use that I'd rather use it than alternatives. E-commerce in general seems to be quite polarising. It strikes me that to do it well is not as easy as people think, and it needs investment in order handling, distribution and developing good websites and service. A lot of people hate Amazon, and I can see some of the logic but Amazon invested serious money in making online shopping easy and offering reliable and speedy delivery which gives their customers confidence to keep going back. I look at some retailer shop pwners I know who are always complaining about the Amazon-isation of their segments (primarily books and music) and to be brutally honest it is very easy to see why they've lost out as they're just not adapting to a changed retail landscape and can't get their heads around what e-commerce is and just find it easier to blame Amazon for having the audacity to do it well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 (edited) Can somebody who's more familiar with the ways of Model Railways Direct than I am give me the benefit of their experience please? I placed an order on their site around 8.40 this morning and got the auto-acknowledgement. At about 3.30 this afternoon i got an email saying that my "goods have been picked". Do they send a further email when it's been posted? Reason I ask is just that in view of the time of order, I was rather expecting it to be posted today ... Edited July 19, 2019 by spikey Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted July 19, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 19, 2019 31 minutes ago, spikey said: Can somebody who's more familiar with the ways of Model Railways Direct than I am give me the benefit of their experience please? I placed an order on their site around 8.40 this morning and got the auto-acknowledgement. At about 3.30 this afternoon i got an email saying that my "goods have been picked". Do they send a further email when it's been posted? Reason I ask is just that in view of the time of order, I was rather expecting it to be posted today ... I don't tend to get any further e-mails, the goods usually arrive the next day. They normally use RM 24hr delivery. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 Thank you, sir. I've used them before and always been perfectly happy with the service, but I couldn't for the life of me remember whether they sent an "it's been posted" one after that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted July 19, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 19, 2019 I've used them a few times though not recently. Goods usually arrived two days after order placed, unless it was placed late on the day or after hours. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
YesTor Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 On 20/04/2019 at 17:18, jjb1970 said: ...and just find it easier to blame Amazon for having the audacity to do it well. Amazon might be good at the 'stack 'em high and knock 'em out cheap' philosophy and I'd agree that they have innovated in the realms of delivery times and returns etc. One thing Amazon fail miserably on though is packaging - to the point I have now stopped ordering books from them, being totally sick and tired of every single book arriving creased and dog-eared! It astounds me that Amazon seem to think that a quality book of significant weight and value is adequately packed flimsily wrapped in something that resembles a used cereal packet. The other area that Amazon can never score on is individual customer service. If your problem/issue doesn't happen to fall into a predefined template that they can respond to with their library of generic 'customer service' responses then you're kind of stuffed. That's one area where the smaller retailers can still actually capitalize. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted July 19, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 19, 2019 58 minutes ago, YesTor said: One thing Amazon fail miserably on though is packaging - to the point I have now stopped ordering books from them, being totally sick and tired of every single book arriving creased and dog-eared! It astounds me that Amazon seem to think that a quality book of significant weight and value is adequately packed flimsily wrapped in something that resembles a used cereal packet. With books, I suspect the problem is more with the deliverer. I have had several books recently, all heavy tomes and they arrived in perfect nick, however if your driver decides to practice his drop kicking by launching the book from his van to your doorstep, anything could happen. Agreed some of the packaging is a bit flimsy but if not mistreated on route they should arrive OK It's not just Amazon that underpack goods, I ordered a fully loaded MK split load consumer unit from Screwfix. It was not packed as such, just placed in a cardboard box several times too big so that it was just rattling around. The first one arrived with the rail containing the MCBs completely broken away from the case. It was returned explaining the reason for return The second one arrived with the rail containing the MCBs completely broken away from the case. It was returned explaining the reason for return and asking why they were still sending them out the same way. The third one arrived with the rail containing the MCBs completely broken away from the case. It was returned explaining the reason for return and asking why they still hadn't changed the "packaging" The fourth one arrived intact but it was a fluke as they still hadn't changed the "packaging" Ever felt the banging head against a brick wall thing? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1722 Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 Ordered a carriage on Wednesday morning. Arrived home yesterday to see it waiting. First time customer. Mightily impressed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWR-fan Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 I purchased a Hornby train pack and two Bachmann locomotives as part of their sale. For an international purchaser the shipping was a little higher than a similar item from Hattons. The items were all well packaged. Due the size and weight limitations imposed by Royal Mail, it seems that anything exceeding those limits incurs a GBP65.00 penalty being shipped by a courier. Given that DHL will ship a similar size/weight item through Hattons for roughly half the cost, the high courier cost is the only downside with the site. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted January 17, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2020 3 hours ago, GWR-fan said: I purchased a Hornby train pack and two Bachmann locomotives as part of their sale. For an international purchaser the shipping was a little higher than a similar item from Hattons. The items were all well packaged. Due the size and weight limitations imposed by Royal Mail, it seems that anything exceeding those limits incurs a GBP65.00 penalty being shipped by a courier. Given that DHL will ship a similar size/weight item through Hattons for roughly half the cost, the high courier cost is the only downside with the site. To save on postage, assuming it works for you as it does for me in Spain, could you have it sent to a relatives address in the UK and have them forward it at a more competitive rate. I have just done this with several items, sent them to my daughters house at local rates, she amalgamates them into a single package, then goes on t'internet to get the best price from the online delivery company. I've just saved more than £20 on the last shipment. Although in their defence, I have no problems with Hattons and Rails with respect to their charges. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWR-fan Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 13 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said: To save on postage, assuming it works for you as it does for me in Spain, could you have it sent to a relatives address in the UK and have them forward it at a more competitive rate. .................................................................... Mike, alas, after receiving free transport downunder a couple of hundred years ago at her majesty's pleasure, I do not believe any of my relatives still reside in the "mother country". 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopardml2341 Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 5 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said: I've just saved more than £20 on the last shipment. Mike. Yorkshire genes 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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