Poor packing and dispatch info.

[EightFreight]

Online Models Ltd, Derby
   I recently bought some Berko (ready assembled) colour light signals from them (B302). They were each in a bubble pack. They were posted to me in a padded bag which gave very little physical protection in transit and when forced through my letter box. On opening, two of the bubbles over the signals were crushed and one of the signal heads had broken off. Ironically, the comments on the back of their "Customer Advise (sic) and Guarantee" card supplied with each signal states that you should not use postal bags to return goods!
   They debited my credit card five days before dispatching the order.
   They didn't tell me when the order had been dispatched or what carrier they used (as far as I could tell it was Royal Mail first class) and so I had no idea when it would arrive. Royal Mail don't redeliver and so you have to go to the nearest sorting office to collect parcels if you are not in.
   I emailed them over a two weeks ago and complained but have heard nothing so I thought the problem should be given a wider airing.

Anybody else had problems with this company?

[Bernard Lamb]

1 hour ago, EightFreight said:

Online Models Ltd, Derby
  

Anybody else had problems with this company?

No.

As a newbie could I suggest that you include the name of the firm in the title.

You might get a better response than the likes of me taking the p....

Bernard

[NHY 581]

Have you tried ringing them ? 

[John M Upton]

8 hours ago, EightFreight said:

Royal Mail don't redeliver and so you have to go to the nearest sorting office to collect parcels if you are not in.

 

Wrong!  You can arrange redelivery to your address or your nearest post office through their website, as long as you have one of the dreaded red cards through the door.

[jjb1970]

This is always a difficult one. Flagging poor packaging which fails to protect goods in transit, slow delivery etc is legitimate, the problem is that it may be an aberration and an unusual lapse from a business which is generally very good. I use several model shops remotely, all of them offer excellent service, most of them have had instances of goods which arrived knocked about a bit. For me the issue is not so much whether they drop the ball from time to time, it is how they react when that happens. In every case I have never had any complaints about how shops have handled such instances. That's not to say others will have had different experiences, but I always worry that 'naming & shaming' type threads can damage good shops which do not deserve to be pilloried. Usually those shops and businesses that do deserve it are identified one way or another, and to be clear I have no issue with those businesses which really are bad being called out. 

[DCB]

As a veteran of many thousands of Thompson Local, Yellow Pages and Party Political deliveries may I suggest a decent letter box might be an answer, Or a US Style Mail box.  Some people have them.  Others have spring loaded finger guillotines.   Postie will probably do his best to deliver a jiffy bag to avoid you having to collect from a sorting office,  Then again OnLine models could maybe use a box? Like a shoebox.  If it won't go through a 25mm slot you might as well use a shoe box its still £3.35 2nd class.

[40F]

On 07/10/2022 at 16:07, NHY 581 said:

Have you tried ringing them ? 

 

Nah that`s to easy better to come onto to a forum and have a rant makes one feel important 

[jjb1970]

I think it is now the norm to go on social media directly. I think it is fair enough if you have exhausted possibilities to contact the seller and resolve things amicably ( as happens in the vast majority of cases in my experience). I am being completely serious when I say that to me a business which puts a mistake right quickly is even more reason to give them repeat business in my view. In fairness there seems to be a type of business which only responds to social media ranting, but they tend to be large corporates.

[rogerzilla]

It's not a particularly rare occurrence.  This week, from two different eBay sellers:

 

1. Hornby King arrived with smokebox handles broken off and missing.  They are in the listing photos, so it probably happened while it was being put in its polystyrene inner.

 

2. LNER N2 arrived with smokebox door detached and rattling around.

 

I have had a tank engine arrive half-destroyed - that one went straight back - and a Duchess where the front steps were broken off due to the bogie flailing about in transit.  That was repairable.

 

Sellers need to learn that the factory box is NOT enough padding on its own.

[Phil Parker]

On 08/10/2022 at 02:37, jjb1970 said:

I always worry that 'naming & shaming' type threads can damage good shops which do not deserve to be pilloried

 

And the assumption is that the complaint is genuine - and not from a compertitor, or just someone who has it in for the business owner.

 

On 07/10/2022 at 16:07, NHY 581 said:

Have you tried ringing them ? 

 

Not an unreasonable question. E-mail can get lost as I'm sure we are all aware. The OP suggests only a single e-mail was sent.

 

This isn't to say that there wasn't a problem, but it's not unreasonable to try different avenues to try and sort things before heading to social media.

[Grovenor]

But using a Jiffy bag to send the items out then stating that the self same Jiffy bag is not acceptable packaging for a return is not appropriate!