Tim Horn Baseboards

[Dragonboy]

So having twice used the contact me facility on this website does anyone ever get the courtesy of a response? I emailed a request for some bespoke baseboards 3 years ago with no response and before Christmas e mailed a question regarding a bespoke Stoke stand. Tim’s site does say bear with him as he is busy/too important to respond to enquiries beneath him but 3 years and now 2 months? I really would have reservations dealing with him now to be honest and maybe others need to be wary.

[TravisM]

So having twice used the contact me facility on this website does anyone ever get the courtesy of a response? I emailed a request for some bespoke baseboards 3 years ago with no response and before Christmas e mailed a question regarding a bespoke Stoke stand. Tim’s site does say bear with him as he is busy/too important to respond to enquiries beneath him but 3 years and now 2 months? I really would have reservations dealing with him now to be honest and maybe others need to be wary.

Hi there, I’ve had great service from Tim and yes, I know he’s extremely busy but if he doesn’t reply to a email, just give him a call. I can assure you that his stuff is excellent.

[Ian Fisher]

Why do many of these moany posts always seems not complete....three years come on man! 

 

Tim is a decent fella and I cant see him not just replying to your email out of spite...maybe it didn't land got caught in spam who knows but if you base your dealings so public in a two emails and thenh coming on here for feedback....hardly the best way to go about it in my honest opionion.

 

Ian

 

 

So having twice used the contact me facility on this website does anyone ever get the courtesy of a response? I emailed a request for some bespoke baseboards 3 years ago with no response and before Christmas e mailed a question regarding a bespoke Stoke stand. Tim’s site does say bear with him as he is busy/too important to respond to enquiries beneath him but 3 years and now 2 months? I really would have reservations dealing with him now to be honest and maybe others need to be wary.

[Dragonboy]

Why do many of these moany posts always seems not complete....three years come on man! 

 

Tim is a decent fella and I cant see him not just replying to your email out of spite...maybe it didn't land got caught in spam who knows but if you base your dealings so public in a two emails and thenh coming on here for feedback....hardly the best way to go about it in my honest opionion.

 

Ian

Three years is answered by going with one of the quotes I obtained from another advertiser in BRM who replied and supplied the baseboards I wanted in the time frame quoted. The second and more recent request to Tim was for a bespoke stock storage unit. Advertise a service and offer a contact me tab and not responding to an e mail really is extremely poor customer service. Yes we all have spam folders which I check regularly every two or three days. Maybe Tim should be doing likewise as seemingly I’ve been spammed/ignored twice. Maybe you could suggest that to him as seemingly speaking on his behalf

[Richie Kynaston]

Or perhaps do the old fashioned thing, and before criticising an individual/company in public, try picking up the phone to them - its either on the wall linked by a cord, or in your pocket.

 

The digital world is great, but it can (and frequently) does go wrong.   We seem to be in a world that if people do not reply to an email or are not on Facebook, people are quick to shout everyone down.  I have been in a position at my work where a customer has rung up and been swearing at me because we did not reply to an email sent just 5 minutes before he rang!!

 

Three years is answered by going with one of the quotes I obtained from another advertiser in BRM who replied and supplied the baseboards I wanted in the time frame quoted. The second and more recent request to Tim was for a bespoke stock storage unit. Advertise a service and offer a contact me tab and not responding to an e mail really is extremely poor customer service. Yes we all have spam folders which I check regularly every two or three days. Maybe Tim should be doing likewise as seemingly I’ve been spammed/ignored twice. Maybe you could suggest that to him as seemingly speaking on his behalf

 

 

Trust me, there are a lot of people who use software like Mac Mail, Outlook and Windows Live Mail who do not realise that a) all email provides have a spam trap that can take things out and delete the email without it hitting your inbox, and b) that the online Spam/Junk Mail folder in many cases does not get downloaded to your computer.  That Junk Mail box on the software is totally different.  The number of people I have told to log on line and check the online spam box and then come back and say oh I found it, I didn't know that. One man bands/small businesses cannot be everything and a lot of people use computers who are not IT savvy (no disrespect to anyone), so cannot know everything.

 

Also how have you been spammed if you haven't had a response??

 

There's an old thing called patience and respect, I really wish people would make more use of both in the 21st century.  Finally, I would back up people's comments that I have seen Tim's work and had conversations with him in the past and found him very helpful and responsive.  No connection other than as a potential customer.

[MRDBLUE17]

Hi all,

 

I’m really getting fed up of these types of moans on here. You’ve tried twice in 3 years, did you not think to follow up in case he never got it or even that the reply from him got lost in your system?

 

Tim is a really decent guy who has worked very hard to get his business where it is and his quality of work and materials used are the very best I’ve seen. Never known him not to reply or follow up. Just think before posting things like this it does no one any good.

 

Mark

[Ian Fisher]

Your not coming over well at all.

 

Maybe take a few hours review what and how your are saying and then reconsider.

 

I am not taklking on Tim's behalf you post in a public fourm a negative post, you get replies which go against what you want to hear, dont then attack the people who have took the time to reply to you.

 

Three years is answered by going with one of the quotes I obtained from another advertiser in BRM who replied and supplied the baseboards I wanted in the time frame quoted. The second and more recent request to Tim was for a bespoke stock storage unit. Advertise a service and offer a contact me tab and not responding to an e mail really is extremely poor customer service. Yes we all have spam folders which I check regularly every two or three days. Maybe Tim should be doing likewise as seemingly I’ve been spammed/ignored twice. Maybe you could suggest that to him as seemingly speaking on his behalf

[YesTor]

Tim’s site does say bear with him as he is busy/too important to respond to enquiries beneath him

 

I'm sorry but this statement simply is not factual at all.  Just for the record, I ordered boards that were only very slightly customised from the standard sizes and received a response to my initial enquiry, along with follow-up enquiries following receipt of my order and found everything to run relatively quickly and smoothly.  It sounds as though some of you communications may have gone AWOL at some point?  Why not simply pick up the telephone?

Edited January 14, 2019 by YesTor

[lazythread]

Complaining here about not getting a reply does not help anybody. Tim Horn may well have seen and replied to both of your enquiries and been disappointed not to have heard back from you and lost your business.

 

There's a very easy workaround if you don't want to / can't use a phone to follow an email up.

 

I have two separate email accounts, one with BT, my internet provider, the other with GMX, which is free. They are linked so I only need to check the GMX inbox, which is great as all emails are stored in one non-geographic place.

 

I've experienced situations where a reply to my BT account has just not reached my inbox or spam folder. So I followed up with a call and the supplier did indeed reply very quickly but the mail never made it to me. I then emailed them using my GMX account and received a response immediately. We then agree only to use GMX and never have any problems. It's happened to both providers.

 

There have been times when emails I've sent don't get through to the other end and have not bounced back. So I use the alternative and they work normally. It's that easy.

 

I use my android phone and various PCs for emails and the non-communication problem isn't linked to one device, country or continent. I suspect some firewalls don't like certain email providers, but that's just my uninformed opinion.

 

I'd better add a disclaimer and say there are other email providers than BT and GMX

 

 

[Dungrange]

So having twice used the contact me facility on this website does anyone ever get the courtesy of a response? I emailed a request for some bespoke baseboards 3 years ago with no response and before Christmas e mailed a question regarding a bespoke Stoke stand. Tim’s site does say bear with him as he is busy/too important to respond to enquiries beneath him but 3 years and now 2 months? I really would have reservations dealing with him now to be honest and maybe others need to be wary.

 

I know nothing about Tim Horn personally, having never met or spoken to the man, but I can say that is not the experience I have had.  I ordered two baseboards from Tim back in 2015 and received these with no issues and they went together fine.

 

I also, as it happens, sent a query to Tim via his website Contact Form about the possibility of ordering a few more baseboards in 2019.  That was yesterday morning at 11:45 and I received a response from Tim at 20:21.  Yes, it took the man a whole eight hours to get back to me - but that was a Sunday.  It's not unreasonable for the man to have a day off!

 

As others have said, it seems likely that your e-mail went missing, or his reply did.  My local model railway club has a 'contact us' form on our website.  As the secretary, it is my responsibility to reply to these queries, but for some reason unknown to me, I receive some of these queries okay, while some others are routed to spam.  Why, I don't know.

 

For your information, the website contact form appears to send an e-mail to tim 'at' timhorn.co.uk.  Perhaps sending him an e-mail directly will ensure that it gets through.

Edited January 14, 2019 by Dungrange

[Joseph_Pestell]

He probably never got your e-mail at all.

 

The direct "contact me" feature on some websites is not compatible with all e-mail servers. Always safer to send an e-mail to an e-mail address.

 

I have contacted Tim before and had a reply within hours.

[RichardS]

I do know Tim Horn as he makes his workshop available to the North Norfolk Area Group of the S4S for meetings. He is a thoroughly decent hard working one man band, family man and a railway modeller too boot.

 

His workshop is always full of orders and work in progress. He does all his own design work afaik and develops prototypes of new boards which he refines through various manifestations. I know because I've seen all this.

 

I cannot beleive he would knowingly ignore a customer - but having heard him refer to 400 emails to look at it is easy to see how one could get overlooked.

 

Of course every retailer/manufacturer has the right to ignore correspondents and some do - their businesses seldom prosper. Tim seems to be increasingly busy so that speaks volumes.

[alfsboy]

I heard his base boards wont do EM only 00 and p4 .............

[beast66606]

Three years is answered by going with one of the quotes I obtained from another advertiser in BRM who replied and supplied the baseboards I wanted in the time frame quoted. The second and more recent request to Tim was for a bespoke stock storage unit. Advertise a service and offer a contact me tab and not responding to an e mail really is extremely poor customer service. Yes we all have spam folders which I check regularly every two or three days. Maybe Tim should be doing likewise as seemingly I’ve been spammed/ignored twice. Maybe you could suggest that to him as seemingly speaking on his behalf

 

You've answered your own point here - you've taken your business elsewhere which is your choice, but then there's no need to come on here putting a business down. I know Tim personally and I guarantee he would be very disappointed that somehow your enquiry was missed. He might have replied of course and it was your email which put it in spam - not all email actually gets to your email client, your service provider can put it into a spam folder before you even see it.

[Covkid]

I heard his base boards wont do EM only 00 and p4 .............

 

But you can lay narrow gauge 16.5 mm track on them !!!!

[Clive Mortimore]

So having twice used the contact me facility on this website does anyone ever get the courtesy of a response? I emailed a request for some bespoke baseboards 3 years ago with no response and before Christmas e mailed a question regarding a bespoke Stoke stand. Tim’s site does say bear with him as he is busy/too important to respond to enquiries beneath him but 3 years and now 2 months? I really would have reservations dealing with him now to be honest and maybe others need to be wary.

Tim is a member on this forum, did you try a friendly PM to see if had your e-mail? He also has an old fashioned thing called a telephone, did you ring that?

[PhilJ W]

I ordered a baseboard from Tim, after hearing nothing for about six weeks I contacted him again and received my order forthwith.

[Pinehill]

He is a busy guy with a successful baseboard business & he could probably do with some help in answering enquiries etc. He also produces a thoroughly good product (I have had 2 orders with him) & can recommend him highly. I have spoken to him @ shows & I know he does his best to answer as quick as he can in a very pleasant & helpful way. I suspect that because he is so good at what he does he will, as he gets busier, have to take on staff to help & expand. That could be good or bad!

[ngtrains.com]

Ordered a board via the website before christmas. Got a prompt response to an e-mail for an indication of timescale (not a nag for it being late, but a non critical idea of when to allow me to plan some jobs around it) and it turned up when he said it would.

I've built it but then got waylaid from the filling it with 0n3 that i had planned

[Tom J]

Tim produces a cracking product and has dug me out twice at short notice approaching Christmas. It's quite ironic that the really quite ridiculous OP has led to lots of people attesting to quite the contrary, and very happy to vouch for a lovely chap and a super product. What a shame the OP missed out on that, is all I can really say!

[davefromacrossthepond]

The postings on this thread, I think, speak volumes on the type of business Mr. Horn runs. One generally does not get this level of support unless one is totally above board (pun intended). Good on you Tim and if I lived on your side on the Atlantic I would surely look at doing business with you.

[cromptonnut]

Another vote to say the only thing wrong with Tim is that he is very good at what he does, and his products (which I have ordered several in the past) are top notch, therefore he is very busy and sometimes it can take a while to get response - which, if you had an order already in the queue I'm sure you'd rather he dealt with rather than what could be another speculative enquiry that turns to nothing - which if it's a non standard request may take a few hours of his time to design and quote for.  But whenever I've not had a response, a quick follow up email usually does get a response.

 

I would however love to know where he put that he's too busy and important to respond to emails - looked the site over several times and can't see that anywhere.

[JohnR]

If I had a complaint, (and its a minor one), its that he doesnt have a fiddle yard (traverser or otherwise) in his standard range listed on his website, as some other suppliers do. 

[Phil Traxson]

Having read all the comments on Tim's baseboard service here I'm begining to think that as I fit out my garage/workshop at my new residence maybe I should just put up brackets around the walls and let him supply me with the boards to suit.

If I work at my usual pace delivery time will not be a problem, and the kids don't need so much inheritance and I can't take it with me, so cost shouldn't be a problem.  Hmmm.....

 

Phil T.

Edited January 15, 2019 by Phil Traxson

[PhilJ W]

If I had a complaint, (and its a minor one), its that he doesnt have a fiddle yard (traverser or otherwise) in his standard range listed on his website, as some other suppliers do. 

I have a fiddle yard board made my Tim, its only 12 X 12 inches but the baseboard it goes with is only 3 feet long (also by Tim).