Castle Trains Warwick

[37pits]

I seem to remeber from the old RMweb site people having problems with the above mentioned model shop. Below is details of my initial & last ever purchase from them (if I ever receive it):

 

Order was placed on Castle Trains website on 8 Nov 2009. Receipt of order by e-mail 8 Nov 2009

Monies taken out of my bank account 9 Nov 2009

 

My e-mail to Castle Trains 20 Nov 2009 asking where my goods were (they state on their website a 24 hour dispatch service)

 

I phoned the shop 30 Nov 2009 to ask where my goods were. The girl who answered the phone said that they had inadvertently missed the order on the internet. She would phone me back later that day to advise what was happening ??“ SHE DID NOT.

 

I phoned the shop again on 2 Dec 2009 to ask what was happening, the same girl said that the goods had been dispatched. I checked the website ??“ no dispatch shown. I e-mailed through their website strenuously requesting a refund. No reply.

 

Then on 4 Dec 2009 their website showed goods despatched 3 Nov 2009.

 

I phoned the shop again 11 Dec 2009 & confirmed by e-mail

 

I phoned the shop again 14 Dec 2009 & the man advised me all goods are posted recorded delivery. I asked him to track my goods & advise where they were as I didn??™t have them. He took my telephone number & advised me he would call back ??“ he didn??™t!!!

 

I phoned the shop again 16 Dec 2009 & nobody spoke when they lifted the receiver. I phoned back & left a message on their answer machine ??“ they didn??™t call back.

 

I e-mailed 16 Dec 2009 to confirm my call

 

I reported the above issues to local police station 17 Dec 2009, Police called me on 18 Dec 2009 to say they had spoken to Castle Trains & that they had given the police a recorded delivery tracking number for the original parcel ??“ it showed the item had not been delivered. The police then advised that my items were being delivered by a courier. ??“ it is now 5 January 2010 & nothing has been received. I've just had to involve the local police again & am awaiting the outcome

[Andy Y]

There were some posts on the old site to say that some folk hadn't had any problems with them but a number who have had problems. I've had my own issue with them over an incident about 3 years ago.

 

I hope they finally resolve this for you George, let us know when they do.

 

 

[Guest TomTank]

Thats really bad form 37pits, please let us know what happens.

 

I had issue with an item that never arrived, promised phone calls back that never happened. As it happened the loco I had bought was not in stock.

Decided I would not deal with them again.

 

I thought it was illegal to charge your debit card before the goods were to be dispatched.

[gwrrob]

This shop is quite local to me and is more of a toy shop that sells a good range of trains.I think they think they are in Rails/Hattons league but don't seem to have any customer service or stock to back this up.I would rather shop with Classic Trains in Leamington anytime [usual disclaimer].

 

I also will be interested in your outcome.

[Markmiller2008]

This shop is quite local to me and is more of a toy shop that sells a good range of trains.I think they think they are in Rails/Hattons league but don't seem to have any customer service or stock to back this up.I would rather shop with Classic Trains in Leamington anytime [usual disclaimer].

 

I also will be interested in your outcome.

 

Here here , being local to Castle Trains i agree with you Rob, on customer service Mark at Classic Train is far better and is usually a hell of alot cheaper.

I have though had problems with them [Castle Trains] not phoning me to say when items where in stock , and over the space of 2 months i went into the shop every week and got the same answer its been ordered but not sent out yet.

 

Alot of times they have things listed on their website and its not in stock in there shop or to be shipped out.

I Must stress though that one of the best members of staff (who had a shed load of experiance and knowledge) was sacked about a month ago and all the staff in the shop currently have absoulty no idea what a Bachmann Std Four is from a Hornby Class 60!

[PrestburyJack]

I ordered a Hornby Southern Suburban 1938 Coach Pack on a Thursday in December by telephone, backing this up by e-mail, telling them that I would call in on the following Monday en route between Coventry and Cheltenham. When I arrived on the Monday they could not find the item, and did not seem to know the difference between the Train Pack and accompanying Coach Pack. They promised to contact me on the Tuesday once they had spoken to the relevant member of staff, and post it to me. No apology was made. They never rang back. When I contacted them the following day they said that the item must have been shoplifted as they could not locate it!

 

From the look of the store when I visited, I'm not surprised that they couldn't locate it, nothing seemed very organised.

[Sir Hadyn]

All seems to depend on whether Mark's there or not...

[37pits]

update as of yesterday (wednesday 20/1/10) - local police phoned me to say that after having received multiple excuses from Castle Trains over the last 3 weeks they had finally managed to talk to someone who appeared to be interested in what had happened. The police said someone was to call me after the police had phoned - someone did, but if I put into print what discussions took place no-one would believe me!!! suffice to say I'm nearly back to square one - the only good thing is that they did contact me & admit that they had a problem.

[Edwin_m]

I'm kinda surprised the police are interested in this - in your situation I'd have tried Trading Standards first I think - but it looks as if your approach has sort of worked.

[37pits]

Case of logistics, nearest police station 2 miles from house, nearest trading standards office 32 miles from house and this is the first time I've had to take this sort of action as I've always been able to talk to people & sort the situation out. In this case Castle Trains would not return calls when they said they would, not reply to e-mails.

[Edwin_m]

The usual practice with trading standards is to contact the local one for the shop in question. The relevant council website should have phone/email details or no doubt Google will find. That way they can collect all reports of sharp practice by a particular establishment in one place and if they get a large number I guess they will consider taking things further. Hence it may be a good idea to get in touch with them anyway.

[deltic56]

Try looking on the web for the address of the relevant Trading Standrds Office for Warwick. This should be the best way to go.

[Markmiller2008]

Recent Changes at Castle Trains which May make a differance in future purchases.

 

Taken from ukmodelshops.co.uk

 

Castle Trains are delighted to announce that we have appointed a new shop manager. Following a difficult end to the year with record sales and insufficient staff, 2010 is set to see our growth continue. We are delighted to have appointed Dave Wheatley, former manager of Antics in Coventry, as our new shop manager. Dave will be working with us over the coming months to introduce a number of changes, new ranges and improve the customer service so it is second to none.

 

To celebrate the new year, we have introduced a new staff uniform and some new offers. Whilst we always have lots of offers in OO Gauge, this year we also have some huge savings in N Gauge for a limited time, as well as our usual 6, 000+ items on the website which is connected to our integated stock management system.

[gwrrob]

Recent Changes at Castle Trains which May make a differance in future purchases.

 

Taken from ukmodelshops.co.uk

 

I know Dave from Antics in Coventry.He seems a decent chap.Lets hope the service improves then.

[Sir Hadyn]

Good, there was a really unpleasant type in there in late October "I'll get rid of this, throw that out..." etc in full earshot of customers, I hope this wasn't him!

[Markmiller2008]

No Dave has only been there a matter of weeks currently so i doubt that would be him.

[37pits]

Fianlly resolved, refund received into bank account today. It would appear that the new staff are much better at customer service than the previous people.

[CovDriver]

I must say that I wasn't going to go anywhere near the place until I saw Dave Wheatleys name crop this man is a credit to model railway shops he knows his stuff as I've known him since my days at the coventry model railway club and that's got to 10yrs or so now so I'm gonna try the shop and see what happens

[Markmiller2008]

I Must say ive seen an improvement in the shop, shame the actual owner takes 5 weeks to get back to me with a Advert for a programme but hey! Such is Life

[45156]

Visited this shop last year - staff had a pretty don't care attitude, and were not all that friendly - I resolved not to bother next time I was in Warwick as there are better (and cheaper) shops around.

[Guest 838rapid]

Popped into the Shop on Tuesday to look at the Royal Scot Limited Edition Loco in LMS Maroon.

 

Most impressed with the friendly service i was given by Sophie and Dave.

 

The new management has certainly turned this shop around in a very positive manner.

 

Looks like a new broom has well and truly swept clean.

 

Keep up the good work Guys.

[Wayne Rite]

Most impressed with the friendly service i was given by Sophie and Dave.

 

The new management has certainly turned this shop around in a very positive manner.

 

Looks like a new broom has well and truly swept clean.

 

Keep up the good work Guys.

 

I read with interest the comments earlier as for sometime I had been eyeing off the Bachmann Air Ministry Tankers set for my layout.

 

So with credit card in hand I went on their website and ordered a set, the order was accepted and my card charged the following day (30th April) and the parcel arrived yesterday the 13th.

 

The set was wrapped well in bubblewrap but the box was bigger that the contents so there was the opportunity for the contents to move about but the contents were fine, other people I use tend to send any catalogues or scrunched up newspaper as a packing medium but this could have used something like that, at least they didn''t use polystyrene beads - they are horrible!

 

I would class their Mail Order Service as excellent, based on this experience.

 

Best regards

[Off The Rails]

I have heard about this shop, and I decided to go in and have a look for myself at the weekend. The first impression was I couldn't see a flippin thing, it was so dark I thought I was down a coal mine. I thought the layout was very confusing and the staff seem to be at the back of the shop by the till.

When I asked one of the staff who was obviously about 16 regarding a particular model I was after, their eyes glazed over and looked at me like they didn't have a clue, and that I was speaking swahili. I think there are a lot of young kids in there working who don't know much about trains, but obviously are cheap to employ, but that is of no good to me when I am not getting the service I require.

When I mentioned to my model railway friends back home about the experience I had there they all agreed it is not a place to go to, if you want a high level of customer service or knowledge about the products. I must admit that in future I shall be shopping else where, and maybe they should invest in better lighting.

[Guest 838rapid]

I popped in on Monday and Sophie was there.

 

The stock was well displayed and Sophie was friendly and helpfull as always.

 

Keep up the good work Sophie

[gwrrob]

I have heard about this shop, and I decided to go in and have a look for myself at the weekend. The first impression was I couldn't see a flippin thing, it was so dark I thought I was down a coal mine. I thought the layout was very confusing and the staff seem to be at the back of the shop by the till.

When I asked one of the staff who was obviously about 16 regarding a particular model I was after, their eyes glazed over and looked at me like they didn't have a clue, and that I was speaking swahili. I think there are a lot of young kids in there working who don't know much about trains, but obviously are cheap to employ, but that is of no good to me when I am not getting the service I require.

When I mentioned to my model railway friends back home about the experience I had there they all agreed it is not a place to go to, if you want a high level of customer service or knowledge about the products. I must admit that in future I shall be shopping else where, and maybe they should invest in better lighting.

 

 

I also went in today and agree the lighting is abysmal.The assistants were pleasant enough.