2002EarlMarischal

I think that letting Hattons off the hook with the excuse that their software may be inflexible misses the point. We all encounter software glitches, but a decent company which gives a fig for its customers, would ensure that where things go wrong and they are in error, they should have a manual override to deal with the problem, and keep their customers happy. To just shrug and do nothing is totally unacceptable. It is clear that there a few members of this forum that will never use Hattons again. Fortunately they're not the only competitive supplier out there.

I also ordered on the same day in December 2012 and their system re-dated my order - in my case February 2014. Whilst I persuaded them to honour the original order they never backdated it, so no P2 has been forthcoming, and I have finally lost patience with their dreadful customer service. Whilst their staff are generally polite, they are barely apologetic, stating that they have to rely on their automated system, and have no means to manually override it even when it is in error. So today I cancelled my P2, J15, D16, K1 and D11/2 pre-orders worth over £500. I don't suppose they will give a monkeys of course, but they have lost my on-going spend as I will never go back to use them again. The good news however, is that I have ordered from Waltons and Rails and saved money over Hattons overall!

Back in December 2012 I ordered R3207 Cock o' the North from eHattons. Due to a failure in their computer systems my order date was changed to February 2014 when they shipped another pre-order item. Even though they have acknowledged their error, they have failed to make amends and prioritise my order reflecting the date it was placed. They seem to have no ability or any desire to manually override their system. I have spent hundreds and hundreds over the years with Hattons but will never do so again. It gave me great pleasure to cancel my order for the P2, a D16, K1 , J15 and D11/2 this evening. They will not notice of course, but they have lost £500+ business from me due to their appalling customer service and indifferent attitude. Overall I have saved money by sourcing elsewhere so have not "cut off my nose to spite my face". Rails were cheaper by around £15 across the D16, K1 and J15 if anyone is interested.

As someone without anywhere to run my locos at the present time I have to enjoy them in display cases or dioramas. Whilst the photo enhancement images may not represent true modelling in the sense expected here, they do show off the models effectively, generally in a very emotive way, and I rather like them, and will be sorry not to see any more. As we can no longer see the full size real thing, these images certainly fire the imagination. I agree a separate thread might be more appropriate but I should actually like to see more RTR models shown off in this way.

By rubbing the back of the door over the surface of a sheet of fine sandpaper on a flat work surface, I reduced the thickness and then simply reattached. An easy way to achieve an even finish and a much improved result.