TMC new website

[CUCKOO LINE]

Anyone tried using this ? I am struggling to navigate it, seems a retrograde step to me. Can,t seem to find the filters like the old site.

[D5158]

Works ok for me but not the best functionally.

[CUCKOO LINE]

Agreed it works ,it was the functionality I was questioning which seems retrograde from thier previous site

[stovepipe]

Another good website replaced with one optimised* for mobile, with acres of unused white space. Not noticed any change in functionality however.

 

* it is currently very slow to load images.

 

Edit: Hmm, not great - it won't allow you to select more than one search filter, and for some reason the manufacturer listing is not in alphabetical order, and includes anyone who has ever made models, regardless of whether anything is in stock.

 

In short, frustrating and pretty much useless - can we have the old website back?

Edited October 3, 2023 by stovepipe

[Chamby]

I prefer to browse other retailers websites now and only visit TMC as a last resort if I am looking for a specific item.  Which is a shame really, all that advertising activity, that then just drops you into an intensely frustrating search function.  

 

 

Edited February 17 by Chamby

[Butler Henderson]

The search function or narrowing down a selection using the supplied options is often completely useless IME.  Locomotives pulls a Guagemaster Track Cleaning pad in its results while Warehouse Clearance - Rail ticked provides various cars, buses, lorries, aircraft, dionosaurs, bicycle, Airfix catalogue and  Gunther flying toys etc in its results, and if you then seek to limit to say OO you get no results found.

 

Why is there an option (assuming it works) to limit it to pre-owned but not one to exclude, or is that meant to include pre-owned only when ticked but does so regatdless,

 

A complete shambles.

[tmc]

On 17/02/2024 at 00:04, Chamby said:

I prefer to browse other retailers websites now and only visit TMC as a last resort if I am looking for a specific item.  Which is a shame really, all that advertising activity, that then just drops you into an intensely frustrating Sean  function.  

 

 

Hi Chamby

 

We're sorry you feel this way! What is it about the search that you don't like? For me it gives the exact results I'm looking for every time. The more you type into our search the more specific the results. If you need help on how to use it then please feel free to give us a call. We are in the process of adding 'filters' into the search, this should be live within a week or so. Hope this helps!

All the best

Alex (TMC) 

[tmc]

23 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

The search function or narrowing down a selection using the supplied options is often completely useless IME.  Locomotives pulls a Guagemaster Track Cleaning pad in its results while Warehouse Clearance - Rail ticked provides various cars, buses, lorries, aircraft, dionosaurs, bicycle, Airfix catalogue and  Gunther flying toys etc in its results, and if you then seek to limit to say OO you get no results found.

 

Why is there an option (assuming it works) to limit it to pre-owned but not one to exclude, or is that meant to include pre-owned only when ticked but does so regatdless,

 

A complete shambles.

Hi Butler,

 

There does seem to be a couple of products in the wrong category, we are going to address this, but amongst thousands of products we're talking a handful here.

 

Buses and cars and lorries are meant to be in the rail category as many are made for rail scales. 

 

Limiting to oo gauge for me works fine. 

 

Thank you for the feedback on pre owned, we will add a button in to exclude it or only see new. 

 

We'd love you to work with us to help improve the site so any further feedback would be most welcome. 

 

All the best

Alex (TMC)

[Southernman46]

Yup - made me buy a nicely weathered Bachman Class 24 completely by accident - at least that what I've told the Missus 😁

[Chamby]

2 hours ago, tmc said:

Hi Chamby

 

We're sorry you feel this way! What is it about the search that you don't like? For me it gives the exact results I'm looking for every time. The more you type into our search the more specific the results. If you need help on how to use it then please feel free to give us a call. We are in the process of adding 'filters' into the search, this should be live within a week or so. Hope this helps!

All the best

Alex (TMC) 

Hi Alex, thanks for responding.  It’s when you send out those tempting updates about new discounts on offer:  As you fully intend, it temps me to visit your site and see if there’s anything of interest… in my case I want to browse through your new OO gauge rail items (ie: excluding pre-owned) and see what you have in stock.  Like @Butler Henderson says, the filter options only allow me to select pre-owned rather than to select new items; and I also seem to end up with loads of pre-order items and things that are out of stock.  So what I want to see becomes swamped by too much of what I don’t want.  I accept that this search would deliver a large result anyway… but the lack of filtering makes it excessively tedious and unsatisfying, such that I no longer bother.

 

If I am looking for a specific item, it works fine…  it’s the ‘“I’ll just have a browse and see if there’s anything to temp me” visits that are an issue.  A surprising amount of my purchasing is done in this way, and until recently I’d buy several items a year from you, opportunistically.  But currently, you miss out on a potential sale, and I might be missing out on an opportunity.

 

I use Mac and iPad, if that has any bearing on site functionality.

 

kind regards,

 

Phil

 

[tmc]

17 hours ago, Chamby said:

Hi Alex, thanks for responding.  It’s when you send out those tempting updates about new discounts on offer:  As you fully intend, it temps me to visit your site and see if there’s anything of interest… in my case I want to browse through your new OO gauge rail items (ie: excluding pre-owned) and see what you have in stock.  Like @Butler Henderson says, the filter options only allow me to select pre-owned rather than to select new items; and I also seem to end up with loads of pre-order items and things that are out of stock.  So what I want to see becomes swamped by too much of what I don’t want.  I accept that this search would deliver a large result anyway… but the lack of filtering makes it excessively tedious and unsatisfying, such that I no longer bother.

 

If I am looking for a specific item, it works fine…  it’s the ‘“I’ll just have a browse and see if there’s anything to temp me” visits that are an issue.  A surprising amount of my purchasing is done in this way, and until recently I’d buy several items a year from you, opportunistically.  But currently, you miss out on a potential sale, and I might be missing out on an opportunity.

 

I use Mac and iPad, if that has any bearing on site functionality.

 

kind regards,

 

Phil

 

Thanks Phil, we will get this sorted ASAP! 

All the best

Alex

[franciswilliamwebb]

Personally I find the filtering on your site excellent, just needing a few tweaks such as the addition of "new" in the condition filter, as others have mentioned, and the sorting of manufacturers (for example) alphabetically.

 

One thing I'm not sure of, is there a way to filter just for as yet unreleased items?  For example, Rapido wagons that are on order from supplier AND have not yet been released. Or to put it another way, excluding ones that are on order from supplier just because they've sold out?

[tmc]

Thank you that's great feedback we will try put that in place! Manufacturers already are sorted alphabetically. 

All the best

Alex

[franciswilliamwebb]

14 minutes ago, tmc said:

Manufacturers already are sorted alphabetically. 

 

Yes, they seem to be now👍

 

Earlier this morning that didn't work for me, but as long as it's working now that's great.

[meatloaf]

An In Stock filter would be very welcomed so you can choose to only see in stock items

[njee20]

21 hours ago, tmc said:

Hi Chamby

 

We're sorry you feel this way! What is it about the search that you don't like? For me it gives the exact results I'm looking for every time. The more you type into our search the more specific the results. If you need help on how to use it then please feel free to give us a call. We are in the process of adding 'filters' into the search, this should be live within a week or so. Hope this helps!

All the best

Alex (TMC) 

 

For me it seems to return random partial matches. I just searched "Dapol MJA" (no quotation marks) and it yields this, the highlighting suggesting that I was searching for Farish items... But it looks like it's basically looking for any element of what I searched for.

 

 

I tried to see if you actually have them (it's just an example FWIW, and you don't), but I can't seem to filter by wagons unless I filter on "range". Filtering on "scale" doesn't actually narrow things down. I can filter on a huge number of categories, including whether it has working fans and sprung buffers, but not actually just wagons/rolling stock.

 

If it finds things then it's better, but the fuzzy matching is far too fuzzy. By all means if I search for Daplo, I probably wanted Dapol. But if I searched for IOA I probably didn't want every Ivatt spare you have. The suggestion that you've searched for an alternative brand is bizarre too.

[tmc]

1 hour ago, njee20 said:

 

For me it seems to return random partial matches. I just searched "Dapol MJA" (no quotation marks) and it yields this, the highlighting suggesting that I was searching for Farish items... But it looks like it's basically looking for any element of what I searched for.

 

 

I tried to see if you actually have them (it's just an example FWIW, and you don't), but I can't seem to filter by wagons unless I filter on "range". Filtering on "scale" doesn't actually narrow things down. I can filter on a huge number of categories, including whether it has working fans and sprung buffers, but not actually just wagons/rolling stock.

 

If it finds things then it's better, but the fuzzy matching is far too fuzzy. By all means if I search for Daplo, I probably wanted Dapol. But if I searched for IOA I probably didn't want every Ivatt spare you have. The suggestion that you've searched for an alternative brand is bizarre too.

 

If there is an exact match then it brings that up first, if not then it just brings up similar phrases or suggestions. 

 

To filter by scale you just hit Rail, then click the categories at the top, so OO Gauge, then hit rolling stock, then hit wagons. Then you're just browsing OO wagons. Then you can filter by brand and whether you want tmc weathered or pristine, era. etc etc. 

 

Please see video attached. Let me know if this doesn't work for you! 

 

 

 

All the best

Alex

[njee20]

Yeah, I did manage all of that, but it wasn’t intuitive, and I could filter on scale (still with the obvious candidates as options), which was entirely different to filtering using the categories. 
 

It’s just unintuitive, and providing feedback rather than needing help. 
 

Suggestions based on your typing make no sense. If I search for a TTA tank wagon, by all means suggest other tank wagons. Suggesting Tea rooms and fish tanks because they match/nearly match my search terms is illogical. 

[irishmail]

Has anyone from overseas, EU countires ordered from them, Unable to get shipping cost and what courior/postal service they use to Ireland, sent them a email but not had any reply as yet. 

 

[stovepipe]

Yes I've been looking for 'Bachmann TEA' too.

 

Entering exactly that phrase brings up two Hornby teak coaches, and a Hornby TEA tank wagon first, then the Bachmann TEA tank wagons.

 

Entering 'Bachmann TEA tank' instead, I still get the Hornby one first. In each case the word 'Hornby' is highlighted as if it was in my search terms when it certainly wasn't.

 

Browsing through the clearance section in OO gauge>rail>pristine still gives me weathered stock  - the exclusive Peaks mainly. I can't select the new items - which is what I'm interested in. This same search also returns HO items - again why?

Edited February 21 by stovepipe

[tmc]

On 21/02/2024 at 12:14, stovepipe said:

Yes I've been looking for 'Bachmann TEA' too.

 

Entering exactly that phrase brings up two Hornby teak coaches, and a Hornby TEA tank wagon first, then the Bachmann TEA tank wagons.

 

Entering 'Bachmann TEA tank' instead, I still get the Hornby one first. In each case the word 'Hornby' is highlighted as if it was in my search terms when it certainly wasn't.

 

Browsing through the clearance section in OO gauge>rail>pristine still gives me weathered stock  - the exclusive Peaks mainly. I can't select the new items - which is what I'm interested in. This same search also returns HO items - again why?

Thank you for the feedback, Hornby/Bachmann now changed so they don’t suggest each other! Other bits we’ll get onto!

 

All the best

TMC

Edited February 23 by tmc

[Damo666]

Ni Alex.

 

I can relate to some of the inconsistencies with the search and filters..

 

In the spirit of being constructive criticism, so that my potential for future purchases in increased:

 

Clearence section, I selected 00 Gauge and Era 9 & 10, I get several N-Gauge locos results.

The search engine is probably picking up OO in the loco number (is that the letter O or Zero Zero?), but still, the filter should be more accurate in what it’s pointer at. The scale filter should be looking at the scale details, and not the whole description.

 

 

[irishmail]

On 20/02/2024 at 16:58, irishmail said:

Has anyone from overseas, EU countires ordered from them, Unable to get shipping cost and what courior/postal service they use to Ireland, sent them a email but not had any reply as yet. 

 

Spoke to them on the phone last week to place order, how it works (For overseas orders) is you place your order and  then they will get back to you with the shipping cost then if you are happy with the cost you proceed with the order. 

 

The pesrson I spoke to was very helpful and was one of the former employees from Hatton's. 

Must also say that they were very responsive to my email enquiries too.

[tmc]

On 23/02/2024 at 16:35, Damo666 said:

Ni Alex.

 

I can relate to some of the inconsistencies with the search and filters..

 

In the spirit of being constructive criticism, so that my potential for future purchases in increased:

 

Clearence section, I selected 00 Gauge and Era 9 & 10, I get several N-Gauge locos results.

The search engine is probably picking up OO in the loco number (is that the letter O or Zero Zero?), but still, the filter should be more accurate in what it’s pointer at. The scale filter should be looking at the scale details, and not the whole description.

 

 

Hey can you have another look we've been making more improvements, and we'd love to get more feedback! We've now got pre-owned and new options so you can select what you're looking for. 

 

Apart from these few glitches, we hope you find our search brings up relevant results!

All the best

TMC

[Damo666]

2 hours ago, tmc said:

Hey can you have another look we've been making more improvements, and we'd love to get more feedback! We've now got pre-owned and new options so you can select what you're looking for. 

 

Apart from these few glitches, we hope you find our search brings up relevant results!

All the best

TMC

 

Well..... who tested the changes?

Unless I'm doing something wrong or illogical, I'm seeing the exact same problem.

 

Screenshot taken a few moments ago, selecting just Era 9 this time.