Bachmann Service Dept - Great service

[Grampus]

Afternoon all, 

 

                      just a public vote of thanks for the great service I received from the Bachmann Service Dept in the last couple of days.  Having acquired a 'pre-owned' 47 which had been modified to remove the NEM pockets, I emailed Bachmann to enquire about availability of new bogie frames on Wednesday evening last week; I received a reply first thing Thursday morning and the frames themselves arrived by post today.  Under normal circumstances I would say that was pretty good, but under the current conditions, plus a bank holiday weekend,  I thought that was fantastic.  I just need to get on and change them over  now, which will probably take rather longer!        Credit where it's due  - great service and very much appreciated, thank you.

 

Kind regards,

 

Paul

 

[gordon s]

Totally agree as they supplied me some parts not even shown on the service sheets. Fair pricing and delivery in a day or two. Couldn’t have asked for more.......

[PJT]

38 minutes ago, Grampus said:

just a public vote of thanks for the great service I received from the Bachmann Service Dept in the last couple of days.

 

And another very enthusiastic vote from me, too. 

 

I'm a serial spare parts buyer.  I'd estimate that I put requests for spare parts into their service department every 30-40 days, each time emailing them a shopping list built up over the weeks beforehand.  Frequently I ask for parts not shown on the service sheets, giving them a description instead.  They then reply, stating what they have in stock (which for 90% of the time is everything I've asked for) together with prices; upon payment, the parts arrive here in a couple of days.  Yes, of course the process is a little old fashioned in this increasingly on-line world, but it works very well indeed and their degree of ability to supply the parts I need leaves all the other major RTR manufacturers for dead. 

 

Despite Covid-19, the only thing that has changed in recent weeks is that the office hours have been temporarily cut back to 8.30am to 1.00pm, so depending on when your enquiry goes in, you might have to wait until the next day for a response.  Absolutely nothing else in their excellent level of service has changed at all during the lockdown.  Quite remarkable.

 

Pete T.

 

[John M Upton]

They are not doing servicing repairs at the moment. I have yet another Farish loco waiting main works attention when they resume.

 

Always been good in the past though.

[atom3624]

I find all aspects, from initial enquiries, through to repairs clarifications generally more consistent than 'other manufacturers'.

 

Pricing appears 'market fair' as well.

 

Al.

Edited July 7, 2020 by atom3624

[Sweep]

Yep, agree totally - excellent service.

 

[farren]

Excellent service from Bachman when I’ve had the need for parts even right up to a full tender once.  

[saxokid]

Always have "top" service from them when needing spares or data sheets ect...

[Guest LU Standard Stock]

Nice to see so many good things about Bachmann, far too much Bachmann bashing happens on this forum.

Edited May 12, 2020 by LU Standard Stock

[Matt C]

55 minutes ago, LU Standard Stock said:

Nice to see so many good things about Bachmann, far too much Bachmann bashing happens on this forum.

 

 

Bashing of other manufacturers readily available in other areas of the forum 

[PJT]

6 hours ago, 313201 said:

Can I ask please what the average cost of Bachmann locomotive parts is roughly.

 

I suppose the easiest way to answer that is to say that the prices are roughly equivalent to those for Hornby spares on eBay, AC Models website and Peter's Spares website (to name but a few).  That means they're more often than not higher than any of us would like (but that's always the way, especially for car spares, isn't it?) but not unreasonable when you stop to consider long term storage costs, labour costs and the compelling fact that they're running a business and not a charity.  Something like a loco set of valve gear can vary from £5 or £6 (for older models) to probably £20-£25 for more complex valve gear on later models where manufacturing costs and 'market values' have crept up. 

 

A couple of weeks ago, in one order I bought a couple of Class 55 Deltic detail kits (£5.00 each), an Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 detail kit (again, £5.00) and two 9F tender bodies (each complete with lamp irons, ladder, etc. for £20.00 each), if that gives you some idea.  The tender bodies by the way were brand new assemblies, not slightly soiled bits they'd removed from some warranty return locos. 

 

It's always best, if you can, to get together an order for at least two or three items to spread the p&p cost - otherwise it'd be quite possible to pay quite a bit more for the post and packing than for the spare part itself.  But that's just common sense, isn't it?

 

To be honest the best thing to do is to send them an email asking for price and availability of the parts you need and, when you get a reply (which always also includes the p&p, by the way), if you decide the prices are too much then just say so.  No-one will take offence.  The service department are lovely people to deal with and I guarantee you won't get a 'thanks for nothing' or 'thanks for wasting my time' type answer.

 

Pete T.

 

 

 

[PJT]

7 hours ago, 313201 said:

Can I ask please what the average cost of Bachmann locomotive parts is roughly.

 

But shhh!  Don't tell everybody else how good they are, or they won't have any stock left next time I need them...

 

Pete T.

 

[Sweep]

11 hours ago, 313201 said:

Can I ask please what the average cost of Bachmann locomotive parts is roughly.

 

I have a K3 and a standard clas 4 2-6-0 that both need parts ranging from the screws to hold the motor cradles + gear cogs between motor and driving wheels in place right up to a full valve gear set.

 

The valve gear is for the K3 after 1 of the tiny pins that holds the connecting rod from the piston to the driving wheels wore out resulting in the rod dropping off and going awol.

 

Many thanks in advance for any replies and I hope everyone is ok

I just got a replacement driving axle for £4.71 plus postage, when you consider this includes vat, it's been shipped from China, stored on a shelf packaged and posted to me, I reckon that's pretty good value.

 

[TomScrut]

Whilst they couldn't help me with the bits I was looking for, I got a reply to my email in about 5 minutes flat. Can't really ask for any better than that!

[John M Upton]

Has the Service Department restarted operations yet?

[Blue Max]

The service department never closed

[pheaton]

I had wheels from them in the middle of lockdown they were £5 per wheel so 30 quid to do a co-co loco, and locomotive body shells were £39.99

[PJT]

8 hours ago, John M Upton said:

Has the Service Department restarted operations yet?

 

The parts department is fully operational, though on reduced hours for phone contact.  Repairs and service is currently only taking warranty repairs - though this is better than a few weeks back, when no repairs or service were being carried out at all.  Advice on model care or repairs carried out at home is available, but through email or website contact form only.  See here:

https://www.Bachmann.co.uk/page/service-request

 

As an aside, I enquired on availability of six spare parts at the end of last week, all six were in stock and have arrived here this morning.  Nine times out of ten this is the result I get from Bachmann's spares and service department.  I've said it before, but it's worth saying again (in the hope that Hornby read this!): they put most other manufacturer's spares availability to shame.  

 

Pete T.