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Olivia's Trains


richscylla
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Well sorry I think he is.He deals on a regular basis with Hattons and has commissioned the Clss76&77 .Granted in terms of sheer volume he does not compete but he has a definite niche in the market .You may not like him but you cannot ignore him. He divides opinion sure but there are those who swear by him.....rather than at him

Regarding the EM1 and EM2.

These are the best RTR MSW locos we will ever see, this is because nobody will ever tackle those locos again. Olivia's have, in a way ruined it although I'm still glad they commissioned them.

 

They run lovely (as you generally expect from Heljan).

They are 90% there for accuracy.

But there are some absolutely appalling errors on them and it is this fact alone, that makes me gag at the idea of paying £160 for them. Nonsensical cost cutting while researching the prototypes, has resulted in an 'also ran', although they can certainly be made into a good model with surgery.

 

If they'd been near-perfect I would've paid that price all day.

I've been mopping up examples of both lately from Hattons, pragmatic pricing numbs the pain of having to butcher them!

 

I hope Hattons buy the rest of the Olivia's EM1s at some point soon, so they can be released at realistic prices.

To quote Mr Creosote... "I'll 'ave the lot" !

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Regarding the EM1 and EM2.

These are the best RTR MSW locos we will ever see, this is because nobody will ever tackle those locos again. Olivia's have, in a way ruined it although I'm still glad they commissioned them.

 

They run lovely (as you generally expect from Heljan).

They are 90% there for accuracy.

But there are some absolutely appalling errors on them and it is this fact alone, that makes me gag at the idea of paying £160 for them. Nonsensical cost cutting while researching the prototypes, has resulted in an 'also ran', although they can certainly be made into a good model with surgery.

 

If they'd been near-perfect I would've paid that price all day.

I've been mopping up examples of both lately from Hattons, pragmatic pricing numbs the pain of having to butcher them!

 

I hope Hattons buy the rest of the Olivia's EM1s at some point soon, so they can be released at realistic prices.

To quote Mr Creosote... "I'll 'ave the lot" !

Re the EM1s - If you don't mind, leave the odd one or two for myself.

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For some while I have been looking out for a Hornby Class 56 in coal sub sector livery, Harworth Colliery, with sound, R3033XS. I was excited to find that Olivia's Trains were advertising one on their website, all the more so because, living in Sheffield I pass the shop regularly.

I buy nearly all my stuff from Rails of Sheffield because the are friendly, helpful and sell at good prices. Fortunately, before venturing to Olivia's Trains I came across this site and the reviews.

Olivia's website advertises the class 56 as R3033XS, factory fitted with a Loksound decoder. Then comes the prices:

Analogue, £178, with the sound decoder removed.

Standard decoder? £206... I think that's correct

Olivia's sound decoder, £284... If I remember correctly

But they do not offer the locomotive as Hornby manufactured it.

 

Now I believe that R3033XS was produced by Hornby for about one year, 2011. Olivia's Trains are not offering this locomotive as pre-owned, so yes, I can accept it may have been in their stock for a long time, even 9 years, but, as has been said, can it really be classed as new when someone has had the body off to remove or change the decoder?

 

Anyway, having had my enthusiasm dampened by the hefty prices asked, I had a look round online. Deep in the pages of google I found an R3033XS advertised by Kent Garden Railways in Orpington. Again, reviews on this site helped me out. Feeling uncomfortable about buying online from an unknown, to me, retailer, I gave them a  ring. The chap who answered was friendly and helpful, and now, less than 24 hours later, I have a class 56, Harworth Colliery with sound as produced by Hornby, not tampered with and not pre-owned. I can certainly recommend Kent Garden Railways and will keep an eye on their website when looking for railway things

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Made my first order with Olivia's Trains earlier this week.

 

It arrived today. Sort of. Can you spot the issue?

 

20211013_124415.jpg.1abfa57476cc19ed95de9cd3898e1c4f.jpg

 

I have emailed them asking for replacement parts, will let you know how I get on. They don't seem to have the best reputation but I am open minded for now.

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I imagine the thread was locked only to stop duplicate threads on the same subject which is not helpful when searching or referring back.

Olivia's don't really do discounts and will premium price products in short supply. This tends to cause great excitement and frothing in some quarters but does mean they can often supply an item out of stock elsewhere - it's a free country and a free market so this serves an opportunity.

 

 

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On 13/10/2021 at 21:26, Bucoops said:

Made my first order with Olivia's Trains earlier this week.

 

It arrived today. Sort of. Can you spot the issue?

 

20211013_124415.jpg.1abfa57476cc19ed95de9cd3898e1c4f.jpg

 

I have emailed them asking for replacement parts, will let you know how I get on. They don't seem to have the best reputation but I am open minded for now.

The last time I looked at the Terms and Conditions under which Olivia's Trains sell by post, it seemed to me that they put the onus on the seller to take the blame for any postal problems. (Yes, I realise that in law the seller is responsible for the safe delivery of goods). I took the view that if a trader sets out to be controvertial, I'll keep looking elsewhere.

Eventually I found what I wanted in mint condition at half Olivia's price, with (I can't believe this) that mainstay of the Ebay thread, Gostude!

Hopefully you get a good outcome in your situation.

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On 13/10/2021 at 23:40, cbrooks122000 said:

I opened a thread on Olivias Trains, it had a couple of posts then the administrator locked it, why I do not know

 

You've answered your question. You have now found an existing topic.

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14 minutes ago, DIW said:

The last time I looked at the Terms and Conditions under which Olivia's Trains sell by post, it seemed to me that they put the onus on the seller to take the blame for any postal problems. (Yes, I realise that in law the seller is responsible for the safe delivery of goods). I took the view that if a trader sets out to be controvertial, I'll keep looking elsewhere.

Eventually I found what I wanted in mint condition at half Olivia's price, with (I can't believe this) that mainstay of the Ebay thread, Gostude!

Hopefully you get a good outcome in your situation.

 

I also recently bought something from Gostude, and was a little disappointed it all went smoothly!

 

Not heard anything yet after 2 days. I would argue there was not a postal problem - the packet was delivered. It was a packing problem, it wasn't closed.

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On 13/10/2021 at 21:26, Bucoops said:

Made my first order with Olivia's Trains earlier this week.

 

It arrived today. Sort of. Can you spot the issue?

 

20211013_124415.jpg.1abfa57476cc19ed95de9cd3898e1c4f.jpg

 

I have emailed them asking for replacement parts, will let you know how I get on. They don't seem to have the best reputation but I am open minded for now.

 

No response to two emails. Time to dust off the phone I guess.

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On 30/10/2018 at 08:08, richscylla said:

I popped up to Sheffield last week. I was on a little model shop pilgrimage, visiting Gee Dee, Olivia's, Rails, Digitrains, Tennants and Hereford Model Centre. I had the idea that it would be good to buy SOMETHING from all of them.

To support them mainly, but also I was after a lot of bits and pieces. It didn't have to be big, but just something. And I did, from controllers, rolling stock, locos to pots of paint and plastikard. The only shop I didn't get anything from was Olivia's. When I went into the shop I was firstly amazed by the amount of stock they had in cabinets. And it was so organised, I really liked it. Nothing had prices on which was a little frustrating - having to ask each time I was interested in something became a little bothersome to me, and I'm sure the young lady behind the counter. That was certainly a reason I didn't buy anything. The second was when I did get prices, they were very high. I know lots (all?) of the models are custom re-sprays and/or DCC Sound fitted, but I just found the prices were very high. But mostly I din't buy because I didn't really feel welcome there. There was so many staff members, I must have seen 5 or 6 different people and no one said hello when I came in, and it wasn't until I'd been in there quite a while did anyone say hello and explain a little about the shop. Maybe it was an off day for the staff, but it just didn't feel great being in there and compared to all the other shops I went to over the few days (where the staff all welcomed me, engaged with me, and ultimately ended up selling to me) it fell along way short. 

 

Was I just unlucky or is this the norm?

They seem to be very busy. My main concern is traceability from lack of formal paperwork 

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5 or 6 people having an off day is not really possible I’d think.

 

Their stuff is expensive, they seem to rely on discontinued stock that people want and put the price way up. I’m not that desperate - if I need something sold out I’ll wait for eBay .

 

Still someone must use them , as they are still there .

Edited by rob D2
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Quite a number of posters on this thread haven't used Olivias, yet are able to offer opinions on the company.  I have selectively shopped there and almost always found the guys helpful, though I can quite believe that they have an edge to there customer service.

 

Where Olivias in my opinion are very good is should you need specific modifications doing, they will generally be able to do it.

 

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15 minutes ago, raetiamann said:

Quite a number of posters on this thread haven't used Olivias, yet are able to offer opinions on the company.  I have selectively shopped there and almost always found the guys helpful, though I can quite believe that they have an edge to there customer service.

 

Where Olivias in my opinion are very good is should you need specific modifications doing, they will generally be able to do it.

 

Quite a few posters on this thread have and some even worked there, be it briefly. Your experience is just that.....your experience. Believe us, this Trader has a 'reputation' .

P

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I have bought a few discontinued items from Olivia's which were unobtainable elsewhere.  Always mail order and I have never been in their shop nor met the owner in person.  If I was happy to pay the level of premium for the particular item that was my personal choice and the items always came quickly and well packed.    Only disappointment was the total lack of acknowledgement when I notified them of the failure of the Heljan Railbus just a few days after it arrived.   I would give Olivia's ten out of ten for sales service and zero out of ten for after-sales service.  I may buy spare parts or wagons or coaches from them again but wouldn't buy any motorised items.

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36 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

Quite a few posters on this thread have and some even worked there, be it briefly. Your experience is just that.....your experience. Believe us, this Trader has a 'reputation' .

P

I'm not saying he doesn't,  just offering my thoughts that's all. You kind of make my point for me with your comment though.

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On 15/10/2021 at 20:58, DIW said:

with (I can't believe this) that mainstay of the Ebay thread, Gostude!

I've only used him a couple of times and on both occasions I got first class product at a reasonable price. That's not to say I don't occasionally have a chuckle at some of his listings.

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On 04/11/2021 at 15:43, raetiamann said:

I'm not saying he doesn't,  just offering my thoughts that's all. You kind of make my point for me with your comment though.

No, what you were saying in effect was “ if you haven’t used them , you can’t have a valid opinion “.

 

 

Reputation is enough to make me steer clear 

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On 17/11/2021 at 05:46, rob D2 said:

No, what you were saying in effect was “ if you haven’t used them , you can’t have a valid opinion “.

 

 

Reputation is enough to make me steer clear 

Good decision mate. Same for a large number of folk. Takes all sorts of course.

P

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Olivia’s are currently advertising a number of Class 27s as ‘warranty repaired’ - most recent batch of locos at £102 vs £130 for the normal product. There seem to be quite a few so seem like a batch they have had from Heljan rather than their own returns (but could be wrong)

 

Does anyone have any experience of these? No description of what the repair is so presumably could be anything from bending a contact strip to full PCB issues and anything in between.


Actual experience of the described items (ie warranty repaired) please rather than general views on Olivia’s which I know can vary.

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I spend a silly amount each year on my hobby, but that's my choice, lol.  I have bought from most of the larger retailers from Hatton's to Rails to Lord and so on, more than once, and have always received excellent service and very good communications.

 

Recently i decided that i wanted a Garatt and so looked around and up came Olivia's Trains, whom i have heard of, seen adverts, and so assumed were a valid and reputable retailer.  I selected a loco, added sound, firebox flicker, and crew then paid £397.00 and waited.  Not too long later a package arrived and when opened there was my Garatt looking resplendent.  Onto the programming track first, and my ECoS unit registered it, and then onto the main track.  It travelled about twelve feet and the front wheel set locked up with the rear set trying to push it forwards and so i stopped it.  When i checked it the front axle had lost both wheels and of course things had gone out of scew and locked up.  It is not easy to pry both front wheels off the axle and so my feeling is they were not properly on in the first place.

 

I immediately called Olivia's and explained that i had had the unit less than 30 minutes and what had occured and the gentleman said to call Neil the owner who would know what to do, so i did.  Neil immediately implied that the damage was down to me, as they test all of their loco's before they leave.  He then said what did i expect from a second hand unit and i said the web site did not say second hand and he said yes it was a little confusing then proceeded to confuse himself trying to say which were new and which were second hand?  He asked me to return the unit so that they could check it out and to just send it second class as they would cover it?  I sent it special delivery as it covered up to £500.00 if lost and i had a feeling Olivia's were going to say it never arrived!

 

I included a letter detailing everything and saying that i was not very happy about the situation and would appreciate a refund as i did not purchase a broken locomotive nor did i wish to receive a repaired one and repeated this in a text to Neil asking where my refund was.  His reply was that it was having new valve gear fitted and would be posted back this week!

 

I have been in touch with the card issuer i used who have said that with the photographs i have and the fact i received something i did not order, a full refund would probably be issued by them, but to give the retailer one last chance to refund me themselves.

 

I have given Neil till Wednesday to refund me and have told him that if they post out the unit i will refuse it, so not to bother, but i've had no response.

 

I've never read blogs before and at someones suggestion started looking; and if i had before ordering, i would quite probably have never placed my order, as there are just so many warnings to stay clear.  I have always felt that a well known retailer would be proud of a good reputation and reflect that in the service they provide, Olivia's Trains seems to be the exact opposite and it is a little saddening.

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