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C&L Finescale


Andy Y
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1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

 

If you ordered the new chairs return them for the correct ones, however if you ordered and paid for the older style ones I am certain Phil will sort things out if he knows about it

 

It sounds like Phil has a lot on his plate at the moment so I don't want to bother him with a minor complaint.

Anyway, I've made a start on the kit with what I've got - I can just add a bit of superglue to the chairs to hold the rail better. 

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1 hour ago, Hal Nail said:

Is that a good idea? Wont the rail expanding and contracting damage everything?

 

My current railway room isn’t subject to huge swings of temperature or humidity, so hopefully “yes” and “no” respectively :D.


The new C&L code 131 (was “125”) track is a very loose fit in Exactoscale & PermaWay chairs as well as C&L’s own old chairs. 
To the extent that inclining a rail to 45 degrees makes the chairs slide off under their own (negligible) weight.

i.e. No grip whatsoever.

 

I can’t comment on how well C&L’s new chairs fit because I wasn’t sent any, but I’d hope and expect that they are a perfect fit.

 

I’m not knocking C&L - it was a very brave move to change their rail profile (and it does look very good and cuts very nicely with my old Xuron), just unfortunately doesn’t fit very well with other existing brands of chair.

 

Whether anyone would notice the difference between this rail or any other code 125 or 124 rail once it’s been painted and ballasted is doubtful. Much more likely to notice the difference in chairs, and I’m still undecided which brand of those I prefer.

 

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Does anyone know if there are any problems from C&L?

I placed an order on the 29/01/2021 and paid for it on the 04/02/2021.

I tried telephoning today and the answer phone said it was full.

I sent an e-mail to day but so far no reply.

 

Gordon A

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25 minutes ago, Gordon A said:

Does anyone know if there are any problems from C&L?

I placed an order on the 29/01/2021 and paid for it on the 04/02/2021.

I tried telephoning today and the answer phone said it was full.

I sent an e-mail to day but so far no reply.

 

Gordon A

 

Hi Gordon,

 

Note on the C&L web site:

 

"Monday, February 22, 2021

-office closure

 Due to incident  both Phil and C&L are having to move."

 

No more info.

 

Martin.

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14 hours ago, Gordon A said:

Does anyone know if there are any problems from C&L?

I placed an order on the 29/01/2021 and paid for it on the 04/02/2021.

I tried telephoning today and the answer phone said it was full.

I sent an e-mail to day but so far no reply.

 

Gordon A

 

I have also been waiting 10 days for an order, I spoke with Phil last Friday and he said he is inundated with orders and working through them as quickly as he could, (orders with rail were delayed).

 

I spoke with Phil on Monday, over the weekend there was an incident, he is now fine but is having to find rented premises to work from, as he needs to be back up and running as soon as possible. I may call him later, sadly too far away to be of any practicable assistance

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21 hours ago, Gordon A said:

Thank you chaps for the replies. As Phil has got problems with his premises I will be patient.

I always get twitchy when a UK supplier has my money for going on twenty days and I have not heard anything.

 

Gordon A

 

Gordon

 

At times Phil can be a bit slow, a one man band with no help and whilst he must keep stock flowing out, he has to source the items, package them and he has for a small business a large reinvestment in  new products. I have not spoke with him yet but will over the next few days. Usually a quick call will resolve the issues but this is not an option at the moment

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1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

Gordon

 

At times Phil can be a bit slow, a one man band with no help and whilst he must keep stock flowing out, he has to source the items, package them and he has for a small business a large reinvestment in  new products. I have not spoke with him yet but will over the next few days. Usually a quick call will resolve the issues but this is not an option at the moment

That's very much the case for most of the Small Suppliers we rely on.

 

Effective communication with customers is important in keeping people informed and supportive. It is good to see that Phil has posted explanatory note on the C&L website as to how he will be able to handle orders and enquiries over the foreseeable future might have minimised the need to phone him, so giving him time to sort things out. Hopefully customers will be considerate of the situation he is in.

Edited by Jol Wilkinson
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WHEW! I am glad to hear that there's not some very serious medical issue or similar - he's a lovely guy to talk to on the phone when I ordered and I'd hate to hear something bad had happened.

 

From the website:

Quote

I had been aware for a number of days of an unusual smell, having checked with gas and electricity people and rule out these and any new equipment checked out, last Sunday evening - Monday morning I could not hack it any longer and spent the night in the motor, not ideal. I have been force to move into hotel locally for health reasons, I think I know the source and how it has entered the property but looks like it could be linked to a vent from clothing drier and the use of chimney as vent clearly going in the wrong direction ?

 

I hope everything gets back to normal soon (just as soon as we work out what is normal anyway).

 

I am not sure whether to submit the order I want to place - or to hold off for a bit if he's already snowed under!

 

In either case, don't forget (like many in the business) he's in it for the love of the hobby and so we should show patience and understanding.

 

 

Like C&L, there are many small suppliers who, if they got fed up of the hassle and got a normal job, would leave a huge hole in the hobby.... it's actually scary in fact!!!

 

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Its good to know the source of the issue, which hopefully can be rectified quickly. I knew about the issue but not the cause, now this has been found its how long it takes for the fumes to disperse.

 

The business as many can vouch for is alive and well with a new range of products, hopefully now the issue has been identified the issue can be resolved over the coming days. The sooner you order the sooner it will arrive, as it is you cannot pay for it until Phil is up and running anyway.

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1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

The business as many can vouch for is alive and well with a new range of products, hopefully now the issue has been identified the issue can be resolved over the coming days. The sooner you order the sooner it will arrive, as it is you cannot pay for it until Phil is up and running anyway.

 

I don't mind waiting. :)

 

(Although I do like to know roughly how long the wait will be for - even if it's bad news).

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10 hours ago, StuartMc said:

 

I don't mind waiting. :)

 

(Although I do like to know roughly how long the wait will be for - even if it's bad news).

 

Stuart

 

This is something I don't know and possibly hard to guess. stopping the source of the fumes I guess is the easy part, but as Phil is on the ground floor they must have crept downwards. Hopefully this is a short term issue, but as Phil has had a reaction I guess he is now far more sensitive to the fumes or their odour which may linger about. Hopefully this is a short term issue 

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Not clear from the information but if this is a dry cleaning operation which is causing the fumes then I would think this could be serious, and an urgent issue for Environmental Health.

 

Hope Phil has no long term health issues from this.

 

Pete.

Edited by purplepiepete
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Phil spoke with me on Monday afternoon after coming back from the hospital, the substance was unknown then but he was told the symptoms may linger a few days. I find it strange how the upstairs property affected him unless it was from a property next door. All will become clear in time

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10 hours ago, hayfield said:

I find it strange how the upstairs property affected him unless it was from a property next door.

Acetone (dry cleaning fluid) and many other gaseous solvents are heavier than air and will accumulate in low places, posing a danger of toxicity and even explosion.  

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Has anyone spoken to Phil recently? I want to respect his request to not chase orders especially due to the terrible circumstances affecting everyone but I've now been waiting about 9 weeks for a few hundred pounds worth of orders. I'd just be happy with a general update on whether or not he's shipping any orders and an updated lead time.

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14 minutes ago, RobA2345 said:

Has anyone spoken to Phil recently? I want to respect his request to not chase orders especially due to the terrible circumstances affecting everyone but I've now been waiting about 9 weeks for a few hundred pounds worth of orders. I'd just be happy with a general update on whether or not he's shipping any orders and an updated lead time.

I placed an order on 25 Feb and it was delivered yesterday. It was for 4mm chairs. So yes, orders are shipping. I guess it depends what you ordered. If you look at the dedicated thread, there might now be more info.

 

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9 hours ago, RobA2345 said:

Has anyone spoken to Phil recently? I want to respect his request to not chase orders especially due to the terrible circumstances affecting everyone but I've now been waiting about 9 weeks for a few hundred pounds worth of orders. I'd just be happy with a general update on whether or not he's shipping any orders and an updated lead time.

 

I was with Phil earlier this week helping him to clear the backlog, we got a lot done, but rightly or wrongly we got the easier orders out. Phil has his covid jab on Wednesday and had one of the more active reactions (probably down to recent issues) so Wed pm and Thursday were quite unproductive. I spoke with him early evening last night and the older more difficult orders will be dealt with early next week. I am going back on next Thursday as Phil has had an increase in new orders so once the older orders have been satisfied we can get on with the new ones

 

Your order may either have or will arrive with what we did on Tuesday, if not just PM me and I will see what I can do next week, but we did pack up a lot of orders last week, both large and small and hope by the end of next week to have got back to as near as normal as we can.

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12 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

I was with Phil earlier this week helping him to clear the backlog, we got a lot done, but rightly or wrongly we got the easier orders out. Phil has his covid jab on Wednesday and had one of the more active reactions (probably down to recent issues) so Wed pm and Thursday were quite unproductive. I spoke with him early evening last night and the older more difficult orders will be dealt with early next week. I am going back on next Thursday as Phil has had an increase in new orders so once the older orders have been satisfied we can get on with the new ones

 

Your order may either have or will arrive with what we did on Tuesday, if not just PM me and I will see what I can do next week, but we did pack up a lot of orders last week, both large and small and hope by the end of next week to have got back to as near as normal as we can.

 

@hayfield Great, thank you this update is all I really need. It makes sense to get the smaller orders out and I accept in these times a bit of a wait is not a big deal.

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1 minute ago, RobA2345 said:

 

@hayfield Great, thank you this update is all I really need. It makes sense to get the smaller orders out and I accept in these times a bit of a wait is not a big deal.

 

It was not only the smaller orders but large one as well, it was the easiest ones to pack and by the late afternoon we got out several orders of both track and rail.

 

Some orders take longer to pack than others, these Phil is attending to at the moment. But its not only the orders we were packing up but also replenishing the packs themselves (I was counting sprues in my sleep)

 

Its OK to call Phil but please keep it brief, many seem to phone him then carry on chatting about other things, please refrain from doing this, it helps no one and will delay your own order.

 

Its very easy like me to stand back and say what needs to be done, by all means place your orders, phone and pay for them. BUT please keep the calls brief

 

There are a few limited items out of stock, but in the main stocks are very healthy. Phil just has too many things going on with his property being very challenging at the moment. Hes staying in a hotel and working in a very cold and small workplace. Longer term the property situation looks very good, but its going to be challenging for a while. Hopefully things are easing and getting better

 

Happy to take queries from all

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@hayfield, I say you  John you have to be commended with your communication on this thread, I'll be honest, in the couple of times I have dealt with Phil, I found him to be rather out of touch with his customer's needs, and communication skills to say the least, where I am at the point I'll try and buy C&L items second hand items, before dealing with Phil again.

 

Now this isn't kicking a man whilst he is down, I have said it before on forums about my experiences in dealing with Phil, but please try and get it through to him, he has a great market product here, and he should be endeavouring to satisfy his Customer base, with simple positive customer service skills, and meeting delivery targets within reasonable timescales.

 

If he did embrace more of the online / email ordering, he could probably spend less time, having to chat on the phone, probably it is time for him to consider employing a young enthusiastic Modeller, who could be shown the ropes, and be a positive addition to the business.

 

Best regards

Craig.

 

 

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Craig

 

I started in sales as am 11 year old (watched over by my mum and people were nicer then) delivering the London evening standard at 5pm in the evening. You are quite right about Phil lacking retail skills. No doubt I could run a better retail operation, but I totally lack his ability in research, development and production. In my hands the business would still be in the decline. Having said this those who run the cottage industries are usually characters. Phil is not the only one who forgets orders or takes months to supply items. I have had issues with 3 other companies, which needed a bit of action

 

Phil has informed his customers he is dyslectic and struggles with emails, so simply phone him. I have always found until this last episode a quick call sorts out the issue . This time he was ill for 2 weeks then had to relocate his workspace into what was a personal storage area, meaning it had to be cleared before he could move in.

 

Still whilst the present working space is not ideal and throws up a few challenges a new place has been found, longer term things will be a lot better than they were, but buying and selling properties takes time

 

Phil is back up and running, the delayed items are much smaller and hopefully all but orders waiting for out of stock items will be turned round quickly

 

As I said any issues PM me and as and when I hear more I will update everyone.

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A second update with C&L as I went to help yesterday

 

We had another good day sorting out and packing orders. The temporary facilities are far from ideal and due to space restrictions everything takes longer, this is a short term issue but will persist until the summer until the new property has been brought

 

Orders will take a bit longer until Phil has resettled in the new property, as well as running a business he is buying and selling properties and in the process of making an insurance claim against the lease holders

 

To help yourselves and Phil please do the following

 

Think ahead and plan for a minimum of 2 weeks delivery, if you can please pay over the phone as Phil can deal with any items that are out of stock, as these can delay orders. When phoning please be brief, chats may brighten up Phil's day but delays your and others orders. Longer term Phil will have a much better business premises, short term there may be a few hitches

 

Please feel free to PM me is you have a question or have any issues

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