Contacting Alan Gibson

[Phil Parker]

53 minutes ago, mdvle said:

Yep, as the blog post writer did - he walked away entirely from UK model railways.

 

I feel like doing that myself. 

[drduncan]

For years, due to my paid hobby (model railways is unpaid, worse luck), I would visit various emporia and try to persuade some of the odd collection of proprietors to accept money from me. They were valiant and imaginative in their methods of dissuading me: erratic opening hours, creative misunderstandings, wilful deafness, surly personas, foul stenches from shop and staff, and excuses for not wanting to sell me what I wanted (That’s the only copy and if I sell it to you I won’t have one for the next person…) If it all sounds a bit Sir Terry P and Good Omens, well, it was the second hand book trade - there was a place in Greenwich that must have been his exemplar.

 

Then Abebooks came along and lo, all those people who hated customers didn’t have to deal with them! And got money! And customers got product! An astounding concept. Ok, probably the book sellers I’m thinking about didn’t go on abebooks and didn’t get my money and are probably complaining to their neighbours in the nursing home twenty years later about the death of the high street, but even a limited adoption of e commerce can help the soul trader (sorry, still thinking about Good Omens). I know redoing a website to support e-commerce can be time consuming and/or expensive and people can be  worried about tech….

BUT

We all lament how hard for the small businesses that make up most of our hobby to make money, so perhaps they really ought to spend a little time working out the most effective way to take it out of our frantically waving hands? (And yes, my day job involves pointing out what should be obvious to those who don’t want to hear it).
 

Because it does have knock on effects; if I can’t get wheels I’m unlikely to buy a chassis from Chris at High Level, or one of the reissued Nucast/K’s kits from Dave at Nucast partners.  And I too, despair of getting stuff from AG - my work patterns make it almost impossible to be at the end of a phone when he likes to call back at the end of his day.

 

So to round out this long epistle something that might (or might not) help:

 

If AG can’t/won’t do e-commerce, there is an opportunity for someone to do it for him. The EMGS does this with limited stocks (conversion kits) but having mentioned this to them quite a while ago I was told they were also struggling to get stock from AG but this may have got better. A single seller putting in large orders will get more attention than a mass of individuals asking for the same amount of business - ask PECO if they have problems…

Use Markits (I know, no good for P4) and I know they don’t do e-commerce either so same potential problem, different brand.

 

Use Sharman wheels. The Stapletons at Phoenix Precision  have restarted production (at least until the moulds fail) and they do e- commerce.

 

Use ultrascale, again an e-commerce solution.

 

Yours in hope for better times,

 

Duncan

[Ruston]

13 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

I feel like doing that myself. 

Spare us the melodrama, please, Phil. It's not helping anyone.

[adb968008]

Abebooks is part of Amazon.

I wish that there was a model railway equivalent, to side step ebay.

 

I hope all is well with Alan Gibson.

[rsh7684]

I called on the 2nd of August in the first instance for the order I want to make. I have called again many, many times since and left voicemail messages all with no response. I have also emailed a couple of times but, again, no response. 
     I have ordered from Colin (Alan Gibson) a few times in the past but never had this complete lack of response. 
     As for those who say “give some slack” or “he may be on holiday “ then all I can say it that’s Alan Gibson must be doing some excellent business with someone if the can afford to holiday for over 3 weeks. 
     I sincerely hope that there are no health or personal problems of course but still…

     Others on here will probably tell me to go to another supplier or walk away if I don’t like it etc, but that’s not going to happen as the parts I need are not produced by any of the other suppliers and I will not walk away from a much needed pastime on the account of a bemoaning so and so.  
     Of course the lack of service doesn’t just hurt the retail customers but also trade customers such as High Level Kits, Judith Edge Kits, Eileens Emporium and many more. If they cannot place and receive orders then, obviously, they won’t be able to sell the products and receive an income from them therefore potentially putting their own business under another financial strain that they can ill afford in the current climate. 

      

Edited August 24, 2021 by rsh7684

[cctransuk]

9 minutes ago, rsh7684 said:

I called on the 2nd of August in the first instance for the order I want to make. I have called again many, many times since and left voicemail messages all with no response. I have also emailed a couple of times but, again, no response. 
     I have ordered from Colin (Alan Gibson) a few times in the past but never had this complete lack of response. 
     As for those who say “give some slack” or “he may be on holiday “ then all I can say it that’s Alan Gibson must be doing some excellent business with someone if the can afford to holiday for over 3 weeks. 
     I sincerely hope that there are no health or personal problems of course but still…

     Others on here will probably tell me to go to another supplier or walk away if I don’t like it etc, but that’s not going to happen as the parts I need are not produced by any of the other suppliers and I will not walk away from a much needed pastime on the account of a bemoaning so and so.  
     Of course the lack of service doesn’t just hurt the retail customers but also trade customers such as High Level Kits, Judith Edge Kits, Eileens Emporium and many more. If they cannot place and receive orders then, obviously, they won’t be able to sell the products and receive an income from them therefore potentially putting their own business under another financial strain that they can ill afford in the current climate. 

      

 

From personal experience, it takes just a few minutes to post an explanatary note to my website, when I am unable to provide my normal level of service.

 

One can only hope that the hiatus at Alan Gibson is not as a consequence of anything unduly serious.

 

John Isherwood,

Cambridge Custom Transfers

[Siberian Snooper]

Perhaps he's been taken ill or had an accident and is in hospital,  no time to put out messages, if you're carted away in an ambulance.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Siberian Snooper

[Jack P]

13 hours ago, cctransuk said:

One can only hope that the hiatus at Alan Gibson is not as a consequence of anything unduly serious.

 

Agreed.

 

Colin is a really nice chap, I've had one or two expensive phone calls with him (from New Zealand) just chewing the fat. He was very willing to offer guidance the first time I used his wheels. 

I hope that (of all the possibly unpleasant situations) he is on holiday, it's a nice one. I spoke with him a few months ago and he said they were really under the pump.

[figworthy]

On 12/08/2021 at 20:20, figworthy said:

I phoned and left a message yesterday afternoon, I had a call back this morning.

 

Adrian

 

The conversation I had with Colin was to place a small order.  I did make the point when I placed the order was that it wasn't very urgent (i.e., not to rush down the post office that day).  15 days later it hasn't arrived.

 

I fully understand (and support) the comments about small traders, so this isn't a moan, just a "for info" post.

 

Adrian

[Jack P]

I spoke with Colin Last night, he is alright, and has a backlog of emails/phone messages to work through.

 

I didn't pry into why/what's going on, but if i'm honest, I'm just glad he's ok!

[micklner]

My order from the 5th August arrived today, one month less a day.

Half the waiting time of my previous order , hopefully orders/delievery times are now getting better.

[Blandford1969]

As it sounds like he is working through them am waiting patently for a call back, so far 3 weeks. Glad to hear orders are getting out, 

[RichardClayton]

I placed an order by email last Tuesday, Colin called me on Friday for my card details, all the items (WD wheels) were in stock and arrived today. 

A few months ago I ordered some J94 wheels, which took about eight weeks to arrive. After a while I got in contact by email, and had a swift response to explain that he didn’t have any in stock and would I be OK to wait until the next batch were made.

 

So I wonder if some of the variability in delivery times reported in this thread is due to the manufacturing cycles for different types of wheel and other items. The increased demand from us lot over the last 18 months as well as Parkside is bound to have depleted his stock.