New OO gauge Class 73

[Budgie]

The more I read about Dapol and people's problems with them, the more I think they are on the slippery slope to going out of business.

 

Don't quote me on this, as I am probably very wrong (and I certainly hope I am). But, unless things improve, and quickly, ...

[roundhouse]

The more I read about Dapol and people's problems with them, the more I think they are on the slippery slope to going out of business.Don't quote me on this, as I am probably very wrong (and I certainly hope I am). But, unless things improve, and quickly, ...

I have had problems with my class 73's but have fixed them my self. I enjoy challenges but shouldn't have to do what I have done to fix them.

No reply from my email (or any previous email to Dapol)

 

I have had an N scale 67 motor fail at Warley in 2014 and emailed Dapol but no reply from them or any response when trying to give my comments.

 

I run a lot of their stuff on Banbury and most works but no common respect from the company when I try to contact them.

 

Recently I caved in and bought a Sir Nigel Gresley from the Kernow stand at Alton and overheard someone say they were glad to get rid of it after I paid for it and soon realised why it was discounted as it was a very poor runner but as I tend to do, I sorted it by stripping out the circuitry and it now works OK but also disappointed with Kernows comments after I had bought it so won't be using them again in a hurry despite some great models from them.

 

Edited May 4, 2016 by roundhouse

[talisman56]

I left a message on the Dapol FB page regarding non-appearance of anything to do with the Club - apart from one quarterly 'magazine' received two days before the Open Day. £25 paid (renewal) in January 2015 and despite many EMails to the club administrator (Nicola?), nothing. The message prompted an 'immediate' response from Joel, to whom I forwarded the whole EMail exchange. He said he would get everything I should have had shipped out and would extend my membership into this year - would it surprise you to learn that I received nothing, and to add insult to injury, in January this year a large envelope with a membership renewal form and lots of bumph regarding 'OO' specials and new releases (I model 'N' gauge) drops onto my doormat. It was at that point I gave up on the Club and Dapol from a communications point of view. Nice products (especially the Maunsell coaches), shame about the company.

[locoholic]

I think it would have to the trading standards nearest to them, but I will look into it. I can't believe I'm having to resort to this to get a model locomotive and a membership pack.

I only got my Collectors Club Class 73 after a very random series of phone calls and emails. In a reckless moment I paid by cheque, sent in the post, and the loco duly arrived. I got a plastic Collectors Club membership card, but I don't recall any kind of pack.

 

I can't imagine how Dapol manage to mess up such a potentially straightforward transaction, but it does explain other mysteries, like glaring livery errors & poor build quality. It doesn't strike me as a good long-term business strategy.

[Phatbob]

This ecoes my experience.  I tried to join the colectors club and order the limited edition green SYP ED.  No response.  Given the amount of work I've had to do on my plain green ED, plus the aggro with bits falling off it, I consider that their indolence has done me a favour.  I wouldn't want another one now anyway!
Caveat emptor.................

Edited April 17, 2016 by Phatbob

[leopardml2341]

With all due respect....why should the onus be on me to spend time taking action against them for something they have messed up?

 

 

Depends how strongly you feel about it I suppose?

[DoverPriory]

This company has no shame WHATSOEVER!  Like southernelectric and others I have not received my collectors club model. Nor,despite several phone calls, have I received back my 2 class 73's deposited with Dapol's agent for repair back in January. This together with Hornby BoB and WC Pacifics that regularly fall apart and malfunction has made me  draw stumps on railway modeling as a hobby.  Enough is enough. P*ss poor quality products at ever increasing prices just takes away, for me anyway, any enjoyment in the hobby.So I have spent the day dismantling a layout built up over 15 years packed away locos, rolling stock and buildings and put them away in the loft. Tomorrow I shall break up the base board etc and have a sacrificial  fire upon which I will spit roast a couple of BoB's  in a deeply religious ceremony without any sandalwood I'm afraid.

I will continue to watch these columns free of commitment as an interested spectator.

[Guest]

The fact remains that there must be a whole lot of folk that are nothing but delighted with their EDs. On balance, though... having read and contributed to this thread a few times, I find myself breathing a sigh of relief that I didn't buy one. What a shame.

[LaGrange]

This company has no shame WHATSOEVER!  Like southernelectric and others I have not received my collectors club model. Nor,despite several phone calls, have I received back my 2 class 73's deposited with Dapol's agent for repair back in January. This together with Hornby BoB and WC Pacifics that regularly fall apart and malfunction has made me  draw stumps on railway modeling as a hobby.  Enough is enough. P*ss poor quality products at ever increasing prices just takes away, for me anyway, any enjoyment in the hobby.So I have spent the day dismantling a layout built up over 15 years packed away locos, rolling stock and buildings and put them away in the loft. Tomorrow I shall break up the base board etc and have a sacrificial  fire upon which I will spit roast a couple of BoB's  in a deeply religious ceremony without any sandalwood I'm afraid.

I will continue to watch these columns free of commitment as an interested spectator.

 

Thank you for sharing that with the world. Im thankful not all members of society get themselves so wound up over what is merely playing with toy trains.......

[Phatbob]

Thank you for sharing that with the world. Im thankful not all members of society get themselves so wound up over what is merely playing with toy trains.......

For me, this is nothing to do with getting wound up over playing with trains.  This is about getting wound up by a commercial enterprise displaying the most diabolically poor customer care and knowingly selling goods not of "merchantable quality", having demonstrably "spoilt the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar" in the case of the 00 class 73.

The fact that it's model railway equipment, as far as I'm concercerned, is irrelevent.  If it were a car or a washing machine, I'd be just as p155ed-off at this treatment and I have every sympathy with DoverPriory et al.

[leopardml2341]

So, shall we get back to the topic of the Dapol Class 73 locomotive now?

[jjb1970]

For me, this is nothing to do with getting wound up over playing with trains.  This is about getting wound up by a commercial enterprise displaying the most diabolically poor customer care and knowingly selling goods not of "merchantable quality", having demonstrably "spoilt the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar" in the case of the 00 class 73.

The fact that it's model railway equipment, as far as I'm concercerned, is irrelevent.  If it were a car or a washing machine, I'd be just as p155ed-off at this treatment and I have every sympathy with DoverPriory et al.

I agree with this point. A model is not a cheap purchase, if people are spending a lot of money on anything then they should reasonably be able to expect that the product will be of good quality, as per the advertised specification and work. We expect that for stuff we buy which is a lot cheaper than models and the principle has nothing to do with getting too serious about toy trains. I actually like my Dapol 73 and think that fundamentally it is an excellent model, if Dapol had made a bit more effort to get it right (noting its not like they didn't take plenty of time to get the model to retail) they'd have recieved lots of plaudits for a superb model. For all that I do find it disappointing they dropped the ball a bit.

[leopardml2341]

I'd just like to see more evidence of the 'improvements and rectifications' that the 'unhappy' people are making, that way all would benefit?

[roundhouse]

I have posted some of my changes a number of posts back and someone else did to pick up modifications.

 

I found that my green one worked much better after wiping excess oil off the roller bearings that act as pickups.

[simonbaker1966]

I believe the post regarding the mods on the pickups has "vanished"

[DoverPriory]

As a postscript to my Dapol 73 issues I relate the following: I recently had a 73 returned from repair. As I no longer have a layout I gave it to a mate after putting back its chip. Apparently it ran OKish for a few days then it started to stall on two parts of his layout. Other locos including a (highly temperamental) E4 had  no issues with the track at all! So we spent an hour disassembling it looking for power pick up issues. Couldn't see anything amiss. So put it back together again. Still it p*ssed about at the same 2 spots on the track (both level, clean and straight). Odd thing is - it runs ALMOST perfectly BACKWARDS.............................for the moment anyway!

[rob D2]

They could make a platinum plated perfect model , with a miniature animatronic darcey bussell driving it for a tenner - I still wouldn't buy it.

 

I won't deal with a company that seems to disrespect its customers.

 

Maybe they should stick to wagons , I heard they were good

[luke_stevens]

They could make a platinum plated perfect model , with a miniature animatronic darcey bussell driving it for a tenner - I still wouldn't buy it.

 

I won't deal with a company that seems to disrespect its customers.

 

Maybe they should stick to wagons , I heard they were good.

 

A few things to consider.

 

Dapol does great design work.

 

They do really good tooling and pretty good mechanicals.

 

There can be an issue with accuracy in livery renditions.

 

The factory which does the assembly is variable with electrics.

 

Dapol is not a big customer so there won't be factory assemble space dedicated to them 24/7 365, nor will there be dedicated staff. The factory will have many other customers and produce items for other companies.

 

Quality checking cost money, often quite a lot of money. The factory will quality check to the standard that is paid for.

 

If "we", that is the modellers, were prepared to pay more then the models could all have much higher standards of quality checking.

 

But who wants to pay more?

 

I have no connection with Dapol, but am a trained and qualified Manufacturing Systems Engineer

 

Luke Stevens M.Eng. MSE

[rob D2]

A few things to consider.

 

Dapol does great design work.

 

They do really good tooling and pretty good mechanicals.

 

There can be an issue with accuracy in livery renditions.

 

The factory which does the assembly is variable with electrics.

 

Dapol is not a big customer so there won't be factory assemble space dedicated to them 24/7 365, nor will there be dedicated staff. The factory will have many other customers and produce items for other companies.

 

Quality checking cost money, often quite a lot of money. The factory will quality check to the standard that is paid for.

 

If "we", that is the modellers, were prepared to pay more then the models could all have much higher standards of quality checking.

 

But who wants to pay more?

 

I have no connection with Dapol, but am a trained and qualified Manufacturing Systems Engineer

 

Luke Stevens M.Eng. MSE

You need a MENG to work that out ??

They are painted badly and the wrong colours, seem to run ok, bits fall off and there's no customer service. I could construe that from the above posts.

Unless you go see the factory you can't really comment on it in depth

[YesTor]

If "we", that is the modellers, were prepared to pay more then the models could all have much higher standards of quality checking.

 

Ahhh, so it's our fault then that Dapol released a model with so many blundering errors...?!

 

In all honesty, while there's a lot of truth in what you say, I do also think that your above line of thought is a bit of a blanket statement.  If, as a manufacturer, as you indicate, you opt for low/cheap quality control standards that are clearly insufficient, then ultimately you, the manufacturer, have ultimately only managed to successfully shoot yourself in the foot when there is public back-bite and your products end up sitting on retailer's shelves unsold.  

Edited May 7, 2016 by darkjunglemung

[SRman]

Dapol didn't even think to test their shiny new "DCC ready" model on DCC to see if it worked properly. From that, it is apparent that they really did very, very little in the way of quality control or pre-testing.

[Butler Henderson]

I look forward to day it is compulsory for the manufacturer to be clearly stated on the packaging; at a guess the 73s have been made by a firm with little if any previous model locomotive production.

[Guest]

At the risk of being branded a whinger (whatever)... I'm with Rob and others on this one. I waited patiently for this model to arrive (I never pre-order) and then before I had a chance to buy one, the bad reports started coming in. First, the liveries. Then the lighting issues. Then the erratic pickups. Then bits missing/falling off. Finally the apparent inability of the manufacturer to even acknowledge there was a problem, never mind state what they were planning to do about it. Glad I didn't buy one. My purchasing power was never going to make you rich, Dapol, but sorry... won't touch you with a barge pole now.

As for the comment above alluding to how things might work properly if we paid more for them... oh, come on. Other manufacturers manage just fine. I believe other manufacturers talk to their punters, too. I expect something to work, no matter what price band it's in, otherwise it's simply not fit for purpose and should never have made it onto the shelves. If Dapol rushed this one out, more fool them. It had already been in development long enough... another 6 months wouldn't really have mattered.

Edited May 8, 2016 by Pete 75C

[daveymills]

Cheltenham Model Centre were selling them for 100 on Swanage station yesterday

[luke_stevens]

b) Ahhh, so it's our fault then that Dapol released a model with so many blundering errors...?! 

 

a) your products end up sitting on retailer's shelves unsold.  

 a) But how many of the 73's as sitting on retailers shelves, unwanted? Very few by the looks of it.

 

b) No I wasn't suggesting that. Dapol will have picked a (Chinese Trade) price point many months before production. The decision will have been made, right or wrong. Events in production then occur: maybe good events, maybe bad and we get the result.

 

Does Dapol have the financial reserves necessary to pay for the pauses in production, hold up, error correction and quality checks? I don't think any one except Dapol (and others in the industry) would know for certain.

 

Luke