Kernow Adams O2

[Blobrick]

Gents

 

I wonder if l might pick your collective brains for a moment?

 

Ever looking to increase my loco stud, l was checking allocations of 02 s in the early 1950s, and noted that Exmouth had 4 and Yeovil had 1.  I ve never as yet seen photos of this class working between Exeter and Yeovil on the mainline and wondered if anyone knew of any such occasions where they might have sneaked on to this section of line?

 

Many thanks

 

Bob C

[roundhouse]

So sorry to hear this.It's maddening and frustrating when it happens. I am "on the brink" with this one myself and have half made up my mind to wait until the Warley Show,then buy and take it immediately to the multi-gauge test track for a spin to ensure all is well. Sincere sympathies.

There will be at least one 02 running on Appledore at Warley (and hoping that I have mine in time to do the same) so I am sure that Phatbob will be happy to give anyones 02 a spin on the layout (scratchbuilt code 75 turnouts and SMP Scaleway track).

[mevaman]

I received mine to today, to sum up how I feel about it in one word - disappointed.

 

It failed within 10 seconds of being on my layout. How you may ask - the driving wheels went out of quarter and on checking the wheel back to backs, they were out by a considerable margin.  

 

I have contacted Kernow - I still have received no response from them. I have sent the loco back with a covering letter - I am not a happy bunny   

Just to add some context as an ex employee.

 

As the shop is busy, the emails are often answered at the end of the working day. The staff do not look at rmweb as they have no time to do it.

 

Andrew

[Mike Storey]

Hmmm, within a little over half an hour of posting I get a phone call from Kernow.... and a groveling apology... funny that.

 

Ascerbic and unfair I think. They have a very fine reputation for customer service, as has been demonstrated again and again, just on this thread. You have a problem loco - very disappointing and I can understand your frustration, but a 30 mins response from the retailer is exceptionally good for the model trade. If you believe your post generated the quick response, then it is even better customer service than we thought. Can you possibly imagine any other retailer or manufacturer responding that quickly or bothering to read this thread minute by minute, and reacting that fast??

 

Having discovered a significant fault, I had to wait 4 weeks for a full response from the retailer of a new car I bought, costing considerably more than this little loco, and another 6 weeks for the problem to be corrected. I think sometimes we expect far too much from this tiny hobby.

[JSpencer]

Tested mine on some variable track work. It coped really well, better than anticipated.

[toboldlygo]

Ascerbic and unfair I think. They have a very fine reputation for customer service, as has been demonstrated again and again, just on this thread. You have a problem loco - very disappointing and I can understand your frustration, but a 30 mins response from the retailer is exceptionally good for the model trade. If you believe your post generated the quick response, then it is even better customer service than we thought. Can you possibly imagine any other retailer or manufacturer responding that quickly or bothering to read this thread minute by minute, and reacting that fast??

 

Having discovered a significant fault, I had to wait 4 weeks for a full response from the retailer of a new car I bought, costing considerably more than this little loco, and another 6 weeks for the problem to be corrected. I think sometimes we expect far too much from this tiny hobby.

 

I had been waiting all afternoon for them to reply before I posted on here. When they phoned me (which was half an hour after my post), they made excuses about emails bouncing and yet I got the sale and dispatch notifications perfectly fine.

[Mike Storey]

I had been waiting all afternoon for them to reply before I posted on here. When they phoned me (which was half an hour after my post), they made excuses about emails bouncing and yet I got the sale and dispatch notifications perfectly fine.

 

 A whole afternoon????? Disgraceful.

[Captain Kernow]

Hmmm, within a little over half an hour of posting I get a phone call from Kernow.... and a groveling apology... funny that.

I think that this simply demonstrates a commitment to excellent customer service.

[Captain Kernow]

I had been waiting all afternoon for them to reply before I posted on here. When they phoned me (which was half an hour after my post), they made excuses about emails bouncing and yet I got the sale and dispatch notifications perfectly fine.

I think we need less talk of 'excuses' and being critical of what is actually a dedicated but extremely busy team, and remind ourselves that there is a very large number of satisfied customers, the 'silent majority' in fact. It's not as if something really critical to every day life has been supplied faulty, such as a new car, household boiler or an item of medical equipment, is it?

[PhilH]

I was finally able to run my 02 today (after fitting a decoder) in the unlikely environs of Bodge City, my ongoing mojo sapping US layout.

 

A superb runner straight out of the box, even on the rollercoaster that is my homemade track and pointwork. For me, there is something hypnotic about watching an 0-4-4 tank engine running (strange I know), and this thing kept me amused for a long time.

 

A beautiful model in every way.

[mevaman]

I had been waiting all afternoon for them to reply before I posted on here. When they phoned me (which was half an hour after my post), they made excuses about emails bouncing and yet I got the sale and dispatch notifications perfectly fine.

[mevaman]

To clarify a misunderstanding. The order acceptance and despatch emails are auto generated.

 

The individual customer response emails are directed to one computer in the shop and these are reviewed when there is time and the shop is not busy.

 

Hope that this helps understanding.

 

Andrew

[Willie Whizz]

I had been waiting all afternoon for them to reply before I posted on here. When they phoned me (which was half an hour after my post), they made excuses about emails bouncing and yet I got the sale and dispatch notifications perfectly fine.

 

To offer some context, the Local Authority I used to work for had a standard response expectation of 5 working days for staff just to acknowledge an e-mail, and 15 working days to actually reply.  Which most of us used to think was pretty poor and tried hard to beat, but that was what the Public was told to accept.

 

And if you were buying from Coopercraft, then according to some posters on another thread on here, you would be lucky if you would ever get a reply to a message, or even have your e-mail ever read in the first place (even though - allegedly - they would happily have taken your money ...).

[alfsboy]

 

I had been waiting all afternoon for them to reply before I posted on here. When they phoned me (which was half an hour after my post), they made excuses about emails bouncing and yet I got the sale and dispatch notifications perfectly fine.

 

looks like you've boldly gone mate

[toboldlygo]

I think we need less talk of 'excuses' and being critical of what is actually a dedicated but extremely busy team, and remind ourselves that there is a very large number of satisfied customers, the 'silent majority' in fact. It's not as if something really critical to every day life has been supplied faulty, such as a new car, household boiler or an item of medical equipment, is it?

Faulty goods, is faulty goods regardless of what shape or form it takes.

 

When you've been waiting 4 years for the O2 to turn up and then it fails with seconds of you running it, you'd be disappointed/angry too.

[billbedford]

Faulty goods, is faulty goods regardless of what shape or form it takes.

 

When you've been waiting 4 years for the O2 to turn up and then it fails with seconds of you running it, you'd be disappointed/angry too.

 

If you had been following this thread, you would have know it was a fairly simple fix to get your loco running. See posts 787 & 791.

Edited November 4, 2015 by billbedford

[Gwiwer]

Faulty goods, is faulty goods regardless of what shape or form it takes.

 

When you've been waiting 4 years for the O2 to turn up and then it fails with seconds of you running it, you'd be disappointed/angry too.

 

Frustrated yes.  A little disappointed perhaps.  Angry no.  We don't live in a perfect world and we don't make perfect models.  There will always be a small number which don't meet the expectations of a small number of purchasers and there will be a tiny minority which are genuinely faulty in some respect.

 

There are two simple answers.  Either fix it yourself if you can - and for the derailing issue a fix has been quoted above - or return it to the retailer.  

 

There's no need for huff and puff.  We are all entitled to make our opinions know here but remember this: your model does not get unpacked and tested before it is mailed so there's no way to know whether it works perfectly or not.  For how long should it be tested if that were to be done?  Two minutes?  An hour?  How long does a fault take to show up?  Kernow MRC runs a small team who are normally very busy and who have a deserved reputation for responding much faster than the industry norm to all enquiries and emails.  They don't routinely have the time to also follow social media and forums.  If you want your products tested first then they will 1) be unpacked and the packing no longer pristine upon arrival; 2) take longer to reach you because of the additional time involved and 3) cost more because that process might mean one or more additional team members would be required at the shop to do the testing.  

 

If it takes five minutes to pack an O2 from its outer into mailing carton and another five to process your order through the computer and get it mailed then it's like to take at least another ten minutes to unpack each item, test it for 1 - 2 minutes in each direction then re-pack it for mailing.  In other words twice as long (at least) to process each of the hundreds of orders which must leave Camborne every week.  

 

 

[JSpencer]

It should be noted that after 4 years wait, Kernow took almost 2 weeks from receiving the models to posting it to me.

 

Am I complaining?

 

NO. I understand that they had their hands full. The two weeks allowed all the Bachmann PMVs to arrive and all were posted together.

[Legend]

Try getting a response from British Gas or insurance companies in less than 24 hours. I really think it was a bit unreasonable to expect a reply within 30 minutes, if not instantaneous. Never forget you could lift the phone if you want instant reply . People often forget this and resort to emails. I get it at work all the time. Increasingly accrimonious emails bouncing back and forth, when a simple call will sort it out!

 

Well done Kernow. I appreciate people have been waiting a long time for this . Looks like in most cases they've got a result though!

[Oldddudders]

Having been behind the scenes at Kernow last week, the 'team' really is tiny! I think I saw less than half a dozen people including my guide the Boss. Were it otherwise I'm sure the business would be unviable in 2015. A thoroughly decent organisation working hard.

[G-BOAF]

Just a sensible precaution .I do this every year. Saves the gnashing of teeth  and the hassle of repacking & posting. There are bound to be rogue models in every batch,we have to accept that.I really have no "position " on the matter. It's been well-enough aired on here as it is by others better-qualified than I.

Sorry, my contribution was a humorous quip, not criticising your (sensible) approach testing. You referred to multi-gauge track, which, in my twisted mind, could have been interpreted, given the comments on back-to-back variations, as you not knowing what gauge the O2 you picked up would actually be!

[toboldlygo]

I came off as a harsh and sarcastic yesterday - there were outside issues that weren't helping my mood (primarily it's the anniversary of my fathers death and mum's extremely depressed - again)

 

If you had been following this thread, you would have know it was a fairly simple fix to get your loco running. See posts 787 & 791.

 

If it was just the wheel-set back to backs that were the problem, I would have fix it myself, A wheel-set going out of quarter is a different matter, I got landed with the Friday afternoon special, I could have probably fixed it myself, but it is important for Kernow to see problems like this so they can give feedback to the manufacturer.

[Gwiwer]

Some weathering has taken place.  Not my final version but the crew is in, the cab interior and the loco exterior have been dirtied up though are yet to receive detailed streaks and spots.  Also some excess powder to remove from a couple of areas.  Lump coal still to add to the bunker as well.  The contentious "silver" cab trim does come down quite a bit with weathering and doesn't look at all out of place now to my mind.

 

The disc is set for "Seaton Junction - Seaton" or "Plymouth - Turnchapel" both of which I believe were O2 push-pull workings; the former would have been with something akin to the current Hornby push-pull set and the latter with the forthcoming DJModels / KMRC gate stock.

 

 

 

[No Decorum]

Some weathering has taken place.  Not my final version but the crew is in, the cab interior and the loco exterior have been dirtied up though are yet to receive detailed streaks and spots.  Also some excess powder to remove from a couple of areas.  Lump coal still to add to the bunker as well.  The contentious "silver" cab trim does come down quite a bit with weathering and doesn't look at all out of place now to my mind.

 

The disc is set for "Seaton Junction - Seaton" or "Plymouth - Turnchapel" both of which I believe were O2 push-pull workings; the former would have been with something akin to the current Hornby push-pull set and the latter with the forthcoming DJModels / KMRC gate stock.

 

 

 

 

 

Excellent work but it seemed to me that the moulding on the disc was designed to fit it over the lamp iron to locate it properly. Should it not be at the bottom of the disc and on the inside?

[Gwiwer]

Excellent work but it seemed to me that the moulding on the disc was designed to fit it over the lamp iron to locate it properly. Should it not be at the bottom of the disc and on the inside?

 

What you see on the top facing front is the correctly-positioned handle.  The moulding to locate the dis on the iron is a rounded U-shape, rather more substantial and is on the reverse as seen here.