RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 20 minutes ago, Roy Langridge said: I await a response from Hornby to my email cancelling my pre-orders with them. I didn't hold back with letting them know my level of discontent and, politely, told them that they were out of order. It will make no difference, but my principles are important to me. Now, who can make a new Class 31 and 56? Roy Dont expect anything different to this... Quote Hi John I have cancelled the bellow orders as you requested. Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us. Kind Regards, Gillie Back Sales and Customer Service Team Leader about 7 locos and 12 coaches there binned without any care. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 Just now, Wolf27 said: All those who are stating they will not buy from Hornby again are just sh*tting in your own nest. What are you going to do when Hornby announce something that you have been wanting for years? Do you want Hornby to fold and disappear? Perhaps stop your reliance on places like Hattons and look elsewhere. I think Hornby needs us more than we need it. Plenty of other manufacturers and not all of us are reliant on RTR. Jason 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Roy Langridge Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 2 minutes ago, Wolf27 said: All those who are stating they will not buy from Hornby again are just sh*tting in your own nest. What are you going to do when Hornby announce something that you have been wanting for years? Do you want Hornby to fold and disappear? Perhaps stop your reliance on places like Hattons and look elsewhere. I will go without, and I told Hornby that. I am well aware that I may not get what I want now, but I am sorry, Hornby have treated customers badly and I will make my one person stand. Until companies feel the pain of bad decisions they will just keep making them. Hornby shafted retailers before, had financial issues, are trying to come through that and decide that shafting more retailers and the cutomer is the way to do it. Utter nonsense. Roy 1 4 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Phil Parker Posted May 21, 2021 Administrators Share Posted May 21, 2021 3 minutes ago, adb968008 said: Dont expect anything different to this... about 7 locos and 12 coaches there binned without any care. To be fair, what do you expect a Customer Service person to do? Storm the boardroom and demand a policy change on the back of a cancelled order? 3 8 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 2 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said: Hornby have had many opportunities over the last 25 years to make hay from its International brands. It has completely failed to achieve in this respect. A complete b****rs' muddle. I might add that if I were one of the Hornby bean-counters, I would be taking a serious look at this. With so little generated by sales on International (despite having great brands like Rivarossi and Arnold), I would be looking to sell off these brands and tooling to someone else. No point in having valuable assets if they are not earning. It could go a good way to meeting the debt obligations. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Roy Langridge Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 3 minutes ago, Phil Parker said: To be fair, what do you expect a Customer Service person to do? Storm the boardroom and demand a policy change on the back of a cancelled order? Probably not Phil, but given John is not the only person who has cancelled giving this situation as a reason, it may be wise for somebody in a position to do so to draft a "company response" to be used. Roy 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Phil Parker Posted May 21, 2021 Administrators Share Posted May 21, 2021 Just now, Roy Langridge said: Probably not Phil, but given John is not the only person who has cancelled giving this situation as a reason, it may be wise for somebody in a position to do so to draft a "company response" to be used. Roy Which, as @AY Modhas said, we have asked for. 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 1 hour ago, jonnyuk said: why? Hornby have their policies with the retailer, have their tier system, they will have a list of stockists (maybe that needs updating), if you want something call a retailer, if they don't have it, move onto the next retailer And what are you planning to do when there are no more retailers? 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 15 minutes ago, adb968008 said: Dont expect anything different to this... about 7 locos and 12 coaches there binned without any care. I didn't know that Hornby made bellows. If I might offer advice to Ms Back: Start looking for another job. Not because you can't spell but because you don't understand what "customer service" is about. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium amwells Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 21, 2021 5 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said: I might add that if I were one of the Hornby bean-counters, I would be taking a serious look at this. With so little generated by sales on International (despite having great brands like Rivarossi and Arnold), I would be looking to sell off these brands and tooling to someone else. No point in having valuable assets if they are not earning. It could go a good way to meeting the debt obligations. two things on this: 1. What debt? It seems to have all been wiped out through share issue last year 2. There’s about £4.6 million at risk on the balance sheet in respect of goodwill if they got rid of them... https://wp-Hornby-2020.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/media/2020/11/12114059/Hornby-interim-report-Sept-2020.pdf 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 4 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said: And what are you planning to do when there are no more retailers? I think he was trolling. Asked for the thread to be locked then started to be provocative.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 21 minutes ago, Wolf27 said: All those who are stating they will not buy from Hornby again are just sh*tting in your own nest. What are you going to do when Hornby announce something that you have been wanting for years? Do you want Hornby to fold and disappear? Perhaps stop your reliance on places like Hattons and look elsewhere. Call it "shitting in your own nest" if you like. I have some self-respect and would much rather miss out on a model than support the abuse by Hornby towards retailers*. To paraphrase Don Howe when Arsenal treated him so badly: " I don't need anybody's model that badly". * Declared interest: I am an ex-model railway retailer. 3 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 8 minutes ago, Wolf27 said: All those who are stating they will not buy from Hornby again are just sh*tting in your own nest. What are you going to do when Hornby announce something that you have been wanting for years? Do you want Hornby to fold and disappear? Perhaps stop your reliance on places like Hattons and look elsewhere. It depends whether or not Hornby are likely to make anything (as new toolings) that I want. But look at it this way - i've done without it, or got there via another route, up to now and if one of my 'local' retailers can't get it for me (which could be unlikely - both have town centre shops) then I won't bother because it will be clear that Hornby have no wish to sell whatever it to me. That choice will have been made by Hornby - not by me - in just the same way that they might have chosen to order fewer models from the factory than they sell to retailers. The choice lies entirely with Hornby and another r-t-r manufacturer/commissioner or South Eastern Finecast will no doubt be more than happy that they will get my money instead of it going to Hornby (or it would be spent on something else entirely. As for a statement coming from Hornby it would be very interesting to see what they have to say but above all they need to make clear whether they did or did or did not accept more orders from retailers for various models than the quantity of those models they had ordered from the factories. This whole business stems from inability to supply the volume of product hat had been ordered by retailers - beyond that it is really only managing how the suffering of 'allocation' is spread around. And when you think about it having a policy to deal with 'allocation' isn't such a bad idea if that is what you are going to have to do. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 (edited) 29 minutes ago, Phil Parker said: To be fair, what do you expect a Customer Service person to do? Storm the boardroom and demand a policy change on the back of a cancelled order? May be do some Customer Service? Which for any competent organisation is a two way process. Simply allowing customers to cancel decent sized orders without any feedback process, attempt to get them to change their mind (not like Sky obvs), offer encouragement to re-order? No upsell, no effort to keep the customer or keep the order (and I'm not talking about hard sell), no attempt to get feedback or if that had been provided promise to pass it on? Nothing to turn a negative interaction into a positive? That is a fundamental issue for Hornby across the board, they have little idea about customer service from sales to spares to the website. As I said, saving for the next fire sale. Edited May 21, 2021 by ruggedpeak typo 1 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueeighties Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 25 minutes ago, adb968008 said: Dont expect anything different to this... about 7 locos and 12 coaches there binned without any care. 'Bellow' orders Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf27 Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 24 minutes ago, Phil Parker said: To be fair, what do you expect a Customer Service person to do? Storm the boardroom and demand a policy change on the back of a cancelled order? Clearly some do. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 20 minutes ago, Phil Parker said: To be fair, what do you expect a Customer Service person to do? Storm the boardroom and demand a policy change on the back of a cancelled order? Probably not, Phil. And yet what is the point of having "customer service" people if they do not feed back to the decision makers. They might do it, even if only to have some confidence in their long-time employment prospects. Plenty of companies suffer from this phenomenon of not enough communication between the "troops on the ground" and the High Command. The boardroom is a "bubble". Personally, I have always escalated negative feedback to my managers, whether they wanted it or not. To be honest, didn't do a lot for my career. Too many Peter Principle managers. 1 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 14 minutes ago, amwells said: two things on this: 1. What debt? It seems to have all been wiped out through share issue last year 2. There’s about £4.6 million at risk on the balance sheet in respect of goodwill if they got rid of them... https://wp-Hornby-2020.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/media/2020/11/12114059/Hornby-interim-report-Sept-2020.pdf That's very interesting and I should probably have clicked on the "thought provoking button". I think that a well-organised break-up sale (oh look a flying pig!) could well generate in excess of £4.6 million. There's a lot of good tooling there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Roy Langridge Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 26 minutes ago, Phil Parker said: Which, as @AY Modhas said, we have asked for. Yes, but there is a life beyond RMWeb and I assume some people who do not frequent here will also complain to Hornby. Roy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishmail Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 2 hours ago, Graham_Muz said: Other retailers also happily ship overseas... Yes but I recently ordered from Kernow, VAT deducted, but postage option now only with DPD at £12.00 with no Royal mail option like there used to be. With DPD I had to pay VAT @ 23% handling charge of €5.00 + VAT. If items were in stock at Hatton's postage would have been about £5.00 with all VAT etc paid. (Could Kernow look into how they ship overseas? ) Back on Topic, We are quite often reminded about using or loosing our 'local' model shops. This new arrangement by Hornby does not sound good at all. I personally not a fan of pre-ordering, but with the limited batch production done these days it is looking like to be the only option. I do hope that this does not have a drastic effect on model shops for when we can eventually get out and about again to have a browse and an 'impulse purchase'. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Phil Parker Posted May 21, 2021 Administrators Share Posted May 21, 2021 8 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said: Probably not, Phil. And yet what is the point of having "customer service" people if they do not feed back to the decision makers. They might do it, even if only to have some confidence in their long-time employment prospects. Plenty of companies suffer from this phenomenon of not enough communication between the "troops on the ground" and the High Command. The boardroom is a "bubble". Personally, I have always escalated negative feedback to my managers, whether they wanted it or not. To be honest, didn't do a lot for my career. Too many Peter Principle managers. How do you know nothing has been fed back to the decision makers? 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Roy Langridge Posted May 21, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2021 1 minute ago, Phil Parker said: How do you know nothing has been fed back to the decision makers? I know you are trying to get a statement and we do appreciate your efforts, but given the wall of silence from Hornby so far, it is easy to assume the worst... Roy 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Phil Parker Posted May 21, 2021 Administrators Share Posted May 21, 2021 2 minutes ago, Roy Langridge said: I know you are trying to get a statement and we do appreciate your efforts, but given the wall of silence from Hornby so far, it is easy to assume the worst... Roy What I asked, is how anyone knew the much maligned Customer Service advisor hadn't fed back. @Joseph_Pestell seemed certain that they hadn't. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hodgson Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 5 hours ago, Downer said: One could make a killing selling Tier One tee-shirts to the lucky proprietors. More seriously, the overall lack of transparency at work here is an insult to the consumer. Transparency at work ?? Are you saying this business with the retailers is a wet tee-shirt competition? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trains4U Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 1 minute ago, Michael Hodgson said: Transparency at work ?? Are you saying this business with the retailers is a wet tee-shirt competition? Nobody wants to see that, trust me. 2 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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