Coach bogie Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Last Christmas I started putting a NuCast Hall together. I spend an hour or so every now and then. The chassis was running by the Summer and now I have started putting the body together. I wonder if mine will be finished before Hornby's appears and then i will have to decide if to cancel my Hornby order or not. The Hilux list is similar to the one I have generated for the NuCast body, apart from the Potteresque additions. Mike Wiltshire Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hilux5972 Posted October 23, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 23, 2014 So here is the latest on the Hall delay in an email from Hornby, which was a reply to a query sent last Monday! My Original Email: I have just seen on the website that the gwr halls are now listed as due 1/2/15, except R3169 which does not have a date on it. What is the expected date of Olton Hall and why have these once again been delayed further? This will make it 27 months from announcement to release. Why is this happening? The samples were shown at model shows last year and now we are still waiting. This is getting beyond a joke and I am seriously losing faith in Hornby. R3169 was meant to be a Christmas present last year, and now again i will miss out this year. Seriously unimpressed with Hornby at the moment. The Reply: Thank you for your email, I have looked into this for you and it seems that R3169 will also be put back to early next year. Since last year we have had to change Factories as the one we were using kept letting us down with our products getting to this country. We have now moved to another factory who have had to start from scratch on these loco's which is why they have now been delayed. Once the new factory is up and fully running our supply of goods new and current will be more reliable. Yours Sincerely Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hilux5972 Posted October 23, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 23, 2014 On the bonus side, maybe as they have had to start from scratch, they will be up to the high spec of the A3 and A4 released back in 04/05. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted October 23, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 23, 2014 On the bonus side, maybe as they have had to start from scratch, they will be up to the high spec of the A3 and A4 released back in 04/05. We can but dream ... ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted October 23, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 23, 2014 So here is the latest on the Hall delay in an email from Hornby, which was a reply to a query sent last Monday! My Original Email: I have just seen on the website that the gwr halls are now listed as due 1/2/15, except R3169 which does not have a date on it. What is the expected date of Olton Hall and why have these once again been delayed further? This will make it 27 months from announcement to release. Why is this happening? The samples were shown at model shows last year and now we are still waiting. This is getting beyond a joke and I am seriously losing faith in Hornby. R3169 was meant to be a Christmas present last year, and now again i will miss out this year. Seriously unimpressed with Hornby at the moment. The Reply: Thank you for your email, I have looked into this for you and it seems that R3169 will also be put back to early next year. Since last year we have had to change Factories as the one we were using kept letting us down with our products getting to this country. We have now moved to another factory who have had to start from scratch on these loco's which is why they have now been delayed. Once the new factory is up and fully running our supply of goods new and current will be more reliable. Yours Sincerely Well,I don't know whether to laugh or cry at reading this..There is something almost childlike in this response and revealing of a lack of 'ownership' of delivery difficulties.The final sentence is breathtaking in its naiivety. A simplistic put off,if I ever saw and a shoddy PR job Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rembrow Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 I agree Ian this really seems to be a fob off. The explanation of having to change factory does not make sense as the Hall was being developed at the same time as the Star, Duke of Gloucester, P2 and 2Bil. All of those models were built by Refined Industries, not Sanda Kan, which was the factory that was causing delays to Hornby. Hornby had ceased to use Sanda Kan for new products some time before they extracted their other tooling for existing models. The explanation of having to retool does sound like another B17 issue, unless they have decided to improve the original specification Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted October 23, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 23, 2014 I agree Ian this really seems to be a fob off. The explanation of having to change factory does not make sense as the Hall was being developed at the same time as the Star, Duke of Gloucester, P2 and 2Bil. All of those models were built by Refined Industries, not Sanda Kan, which was the factory that was causing delays to Hornby. Hornby had ceased to use Sanda Kan for new products some time before they extracted their other tooling for existing models. The explanation of having to retool does sound like another B17 issue, unless they have decided to improve the original specification Or it's just a load of uninformed nonsense from a PR Dept who don't realise the level of knowledge of the past they are dealing with (or that it is seemingly greater than theirs ). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hilux5972 Posted October 24, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 24, 2014 So I have had another email reply to my query re the Halls. Thank you for your email, unfortunately this item has now been put back to next year. I am waiting on an answer of why this has occurred but have no news I can give you at this point. This came from the same person that provides the last email with the pathetic excuse and now he is unable to give me a reason? Seems like the right hand has no clue what the left one is doing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted October 24, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 24, 2014 So I have had another email reply to my query re the Halls. Thank you for your email, unfortunately this item has now been put back to next year. I am waiting on an answer of why this has occurred but have no news I can give you at this point. This came from the same person that provides the last email with the pathetic excuse and now he is unable to give me a reason? Seems like the right hand has no clue what the left one is doing. Plus ca change......or,put another way,they're waiting for a container load of left hands from Refined Industries.Which finger (s) will be missing/bent/snapped in transit ? Joking apart,I think at this point you are 'on message' that you are wasting your time.The author of of your e mail simply doesn't know,poor man. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted October 24, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 24, 2014 Plus ca change......or,put another way,they're waiting for a container load of left hands from Refined Industries.Which finger (s) will be missing/bent/snapped in transit ? Joking apart,I think at this point you are 'on message' that you are wasting your time.The author of of your e mail simply doesn't know,poor man. Or woman What I think we need to appreciate is that many of the folk at Hornby have little or no past experience in the model railway marketplace let alone in the hobby and quite possibly have only a 'party line' understanding of the manufacturing and shipping process. Plus of course they are probably quite unused to dealing with the demanding nature of many railway modellers who, not unreasonably in my view, would like to know when particular products are likely to arrive. In the current reality it would seem the supply situation might not be quite as rosy as the arrival of some P2s and DoGs may have suggested although speaking as I find I had no problem in getting hold of a couple of ex LNER CCTs; in fact all I'm waiting for is a 'Castle' (which has still not arrived in quantity although some have been seen & sold by the retail trade). Waiting a totality of, say, 700s in a particular livery I can readily understand, I find it more difficult to understand why models which are exactly the same should turn up in limited (in quantity) batches when surely the cheapest and most efficient way of producing them is to do a complete run before re-tooling to do the next variant. And let's face it where models are pre-ordered in numbers or, even better, 'sold out' to the trade, surely the logical thing to do is get them all in, and on their way, at the earliest opportunity? But then as Hornby have only recently released a model with an SK code maybe ships from China are even slower than the old saying suggested, or there is some deeper reason for such delays? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neal Ball Posted October 26, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 26, 2014 I agree Mike and no doubt it will be made worse on 25th Dec or 1st jan (or whatever variant is chosen this year), when Hornby announce next years(?) models..... Probably claiming at that stage that it's all ok and everything will be made in that year..... The back-log will just get worse..... If only I was a better kit builder :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hilux5972 Posted October 27, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 27, 2014 So further to my previous communication with Hornby, I have received the following Stock Update from the website. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted October 27, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 27, 2014 So further to my previous communication with Hornby, I have received the following Stock Update from the website. Reminds me of the procedure for making an appointment at our GP surgery. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
railroadbill Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Reminds me of the procedure for making an appointment at our GP surgery. Except you've got a better chance of getting the engine. I now just ring our surgery up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDJR7F88 Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 So are they in stock? According to Hornby's site, YES? 2 in stock at typing... http://www.Hornby.com/railroad-gwr-4-6-0-olton-hall-4900-hall-class.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted October 27, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 27, 2014 Except you've got a better chance of getting the engine. I now just ring our surgery up. And I can well believe that... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDJR7F88 Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Hmmmm, a bit confused now. Just been back on the Hornby Site and it know say's all 3 versions are coming soon. Was there really any 'Olton Hall's' in stock yesterday at all? It did say there where 2 left yesterday. Or was it a site glitch? Very confusing indeed... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hilux5972 Posted October 28, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 28, 2014 I have emailed Hornby and asked them that very very question. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDJR7F88 Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I have emailed Hornby and asked them that very very question. Thanks. I look forward to hearing the reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BR(W) Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Hello, Hilux5972, everyone. Curses - too late! You could have additionally asked them what the devil this means on their website: "Colour and contents of products may vary from those illustrated". Does one infer that if I were to order a red 'Hall' locomotive, as illustrated, they may choose, quite legitimately, to supply me with a yellow class 31 - or a purple Dodge Viper from their Scalextric range? Granted, in order to make a point I'm being a little facetious here, but, really, just what purpose does that seemingly innocuous little sentence actually serve? Any thoughts, anyone? Cheers, BR(W). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Curses - too late! You could have additionally asked them what the devil this means on their website: "Colour and contents of products may vary from those illustrated". Does one infer that if I were to order a red 'Hall' locomotive, as illustrated, they may choose, quite legitimately, to supply me with a yellow class 31 - or a purple Dodge Viper from their Scalextric range? See this 28xx thread for an excellent example of exactly what this disclaimer can mean. Many of the catalogue illustrations (and those on-line) are not photographs of the actual models. They are often photo-shopped estimates of what they intend to produce. The actual product may not look identical to the illustration and in some cases liveries might be significantly different. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hilux5972 Posted October 29, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 29, 2014 And the reply has arrived Dear Mr Scott, Thank you for your email, there does seem to have a Glitch on the website with has now been addressed. R3169 is now due at the beginning of next year. Yours Sincerely Simon Watkins Customer Care Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted October 29, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 29, 2014 See this 28xx thread for an excellent example of exactly what this disclaimer can mean. Many of the catalogue illustrations (and those on-line) are not photographs of the actual models. They are often photo-shopped estimates of what they intend to produce. The actual product may not look identical to the illustration and in some cases liveries might be significantly different. Or wrong - as is the case with 2811 (which was in the right livery, just) in the catalogue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDJR7F88 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 And the reply has arrived Dear Mr Scott, Thank you for your email, there does seem to have a Glitch on the website with has now been addressed. R3169 is now due at the beginning of next year. Yours Sincerely Simon Watkins Customer Care Thanks for the info Mr Scott. Can be safe in the knowledge that that I have time to get a few other items before hand Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreatWesternFan220 Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 I got an email from Hattons saying the Hall expected by February 2015 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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