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New Hornby Collectors Club?


southernelectric
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I think if you look beyond the magazine the club is not a bad offer. There are some interesting club models and the £20 club fee is redeemable against these. The 10% discount and free postage on orders above £30 (?) makes the Hornby web site pretty competitive for many models and I use it for Aviation Archive models too. The magazine however is very poor.

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For certain reasons (ok, a Terrier and probably Manston) I coughed up for a club membership mid-June.

 

The "introductory mailing" arrived this morning. Not impressed!

They may as well not bother as I'm sure they know that people only join for the general discount and perhaps to get access to a particular club model.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, went to clear my Post Box this morning and, me, if there wasn't a copy of "The Collector" magazine sitting in there, Issue 104 Spring 2015.  More than a little surprised on several fronts ... those that read my earlier posts here will know my membership (with the admin extension they gave me) expired in March.  And, isn't 20th July a little late in the day to be calling this a Spring issue?  Of course, with only five months left in 2015, the pullout calendar is ... well ....

 

With the decrease in number of issues, I was presuming the size of each would increase to something more akin to the Bachmann offering.  All a little underwhelming really.  But nice of them to remember me all the same.  :)

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Just had an email from Hornby to the effect that the two Club exclusive Terriers - 'Whitechapel' in improved engine green and the same loco in 1970s KESR green as 'Sutton' - have been delayed and are now due in stock at the end of January.

 

Me too. Apparently there has been a fault discovered, and they have decided to remanufacture them. Better before shipping than after, I guess.

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Just had an email from Hornby to the effect that the two Club exclusive Terriers - 'Whitechapel' in improved engine green and the same loco in 1970s KESR green as 'Sutton' - have been delayed and are now due in stock at the end of January.

I'd given up on the Terriers and cancelled my pre-order for "Whitechapel" when they shoved delivery forward to next year.  I'm in two minds now as to what I'm going to disburse my £20 voucher on, instant gratification with the repatriated Jinty or pre-order "Manston", seeing as they're sure that its going to arrive at the beginning of December and that Bulleid Light Pacifics are always in short supply?

 

As for the club mag/booklet, I though issue 106/Autumn which arrived ummm ago was a bit skimpy.  The loco colouring activity in the junior section was a good idea, though the loco outlines would have been better presented in landscape format on their own page. Gloss paper doesn't help with accurate colouring either....

 

Where issue 107 is concerned, we're probably due the Winter Edition in the first couple of weeks of December.  Might get around to looking at it in the New Year, when it arrives along with the Terriers!

 

 

(Edited for repetitive phrasing...  I'm developing the short term memory of a stunned herring)

Edited by Hroth
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  • 2 weeks later...

Fine.....but now?. I see no link.

I've not purchased a Collectors' Club model but I think the process is this.

 

1. Log into the Hornby website. (It will recognize you as a member and reduce website prices by the 10% discount.)

2. Go to the Collectors' Club model page

3. Click on what you want to purchase. Somewhere in the checkout process it should ask you for your voucher number*.

 

* I haven't verified this.

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Yes, that's correct. But, you need to have a shopping account on their website and get it linked to your membership. Not too difficult. If you bought the download membership IIRC you have to add your voucher to your account to have it applied to the account.

 

Once you've done all that each time you login you get the discounted prices.

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Yes, that's correct. But, you need to have a shopping account on their website and get it linked to your membership. Not too difficult. If you bought the download membership IIRC you have to add your voucher to your account to have it applied to the account.

Once you've done all that each time you login you get the discounted prices.

No sorry that is not what I mean.I'm talking about the £20 discount voucher that comes with the membership pack.which applies only to Collectors Club items.I tried tonight by cancelling the preorder and immediately reordering including the original voucher code.....which was declined.So,tomorrow,I will try phoning.I am not confident of getting a response.I am still awaiting a reply to an e mail I sent them a week ago about another order.

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I've not purchased a Collectors' Club model but I think the process is this.

 

1. Log into the Hornby website. (It will recognize you as a member and reduce website prices by the 10% discount.)

2. Go to the Collectors' Club model page

3. Click on what you want to purchase. Somewhere in the checkout process it should ask you for your voucher number*.

 

* I haven't verified this.

I think that is how it works, providing the Collectors Club model you require is in stock.

 

At present, if you want to apply the voucher for the Terriers or for Manston, you have to make a telephone order via the club helpline as "they don't take vouchers for pre-orders".  No explaination, but thats what they say on the website! And via email when I asked why after the "currently" notice had been up for over six months.

 

Its probably due to the way they keep pushing the delivery dates into the future...

 

I'm in two minds about it.  Do a phone pre-order (a faff if you ask me) or keep an eye on the listing and dive in with my voucher when the model I require is "in stock", hoping that it actually gets to that state rather than passing straight through to "sold out" because pre-orders have soaked up the entire stock. 

 

Or I could just blow the voucher on that repatriated Jinty. 

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Not been that excited by any of the club models. Had to spend my £20 voucher on something so I bought the Jinty. It arrived in just two days. Quite pleased with the model. Think it would suit a shunting plank layout.

 

Well the only one that interests me is " Manston ",which is why I joined....but what a daft performance to use my £20 voucher.

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No sorry that is not what I mean.I'm talking about the £20 discount voucher that comes with the membership pack.which applies only to Collectors Club items.I tried tonight by cancelling the preorder and immediately reordering including the original voucher code.....which was declined.So,tomorrow,I will try phoning.I am not confident of getting a response.I am still awaiting a reply to an e mail I sent them a week ago about another order.

The Collector'sClub telephone line is closed today....until Monday.......apparently :nono:

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The Collector'sClub telephone line is closed today....until Monday.......apparently :nono:

... the whole process took about two minutes. It must be just the luck of the draw when you ring etc.  I got an emailed confirmation a few minutes later. Very simple process.

It's probably worth remembering that like the order desk for Locomotion Models at Shildon, the Hornby Collectors' Club is likely staffed by a very small number of people (possibly just one).

 

Locomotion has taken a path of more transparency which makes people more understanding whereas Hornby make a more 'corporate' face (the motives for which are understandable when you consider that staffing can change) but it comes at the price that customers expect uniformly available service because it creates the impression that there is more staff, or staffing flexibility than there really is.

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It's probably worth remembering that like the order desk for Locomotion Models at Shildon, the Hornby Collectors' Club is likely staffed by a very small number of people (possibly just one).

 

Locomotion has taken a path of more transparency which makes people more understanding whereas Hornby make a more 'corporate' face (the motives for which are understandable when you consider that staffing can change) but it comes at the price that customers expect uniformly available service because it creates the impression that there is more staff, or staffing flexibility than there really is.

And,as they say,thereby hangs a tale...or two.My experiences recently with their much heralded direct sell leave me with a reduced appetite for more of the same.Unaddressed parcels,unanswered e mails, unmanned telephones and unimpressed .and so it goes....un...un....un....ad absurdum. Understandable ? I think not.
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And,as they say,thereby hangs a tale...or two.My experiences recently with their much heralded direct sell leave me with a reduced appetite for more of the same.Unaddressed parcels,unanswered e mails, unmanned telephones and unimpressed .and so it goes....un...un....un....ad absurdum. Understandable ? I think not.

That's a real shame. I've ordered plenty over the last couple of years and not had any serious problems. They certainly answered the phones, just couldn't decide who to me through to to get a repair on my Club Jinty - the one where they ended up sending me a cheque for the postage to return it. Emails have always been answered within a few days. Given the concessions offer a lot of the discounted bundles etc now I guess no need to use Hornby direct if its not working.

 

My only gripe has been packaging, which got much better, although the last order of an Arriva coach bundle and DVT was shipped in their new Amazon style foldover self adhesive packaging. Perfect for 3x Mk3's, but less than ideal when you squeeze a DVT in there as well. Only the good people of Interlink not playing football/lobbing it/sitting on it etc meant it arrived intact. Had it had an impact it would not have survived.

 

Sounds like you and Hornby have the same relationship SWMBO has with House of Fraser - ordered a steam cleaner, a large suitcase arrived. They dictated when it would be picked up and would not ship the correct item until suitcase came back. Gave up. But as it was gift card couldn't spend elsewhere, so just ordered Black Friday cutlery set. Put in oversized box, lid of cutlery box not fixed down, outer box smashed to pieces and loose cutlery everywhere on arrival! Still trying to sort that one. :butcher:

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