A company is known by, not the quality of its products, but rather how it handles those times when the products fail. Customer service will either destroy the company or increase its market share. Bachmann fits the former category. It has been long enough for me to cool off and look at the situation with a bit of detachment. Let me explain:
A year ago, exactly a year ago, mid-April 2008, after due diligence, I decided to “upgrade” from LGB to Fn3 with a Bachmann K-27. I read the reviews in Garden Railroad and Railroad Modeler, I watched the various online videos and read the online comments of early purchasers. I went down to Caboose Hobbies and they ran one for me. And I bought the green boiler 455, added QSI sound, and took it home.
It was beautiful! I began purchasing Spectrum and AMS freight cars to go behind it. As a member of the Denver Garden Railway Society, I took it out to Golden and ran it on the club’s layout at the Colorado Railroad Museum. Oh, the comments passerbys gave me!
Until mid-November. The engine stopped. I took it down to Caboose and Lee diagnosed the problem as a broken gearbox. Under Bachmann’s warranty, the company would not send the replacement to local hobby stores so I packed the engine and mailed it to Philadelphia.
At least it would be back before the grandchildren came for Christmas.
By mid-December I had not heard anything from Bachmann so I tried calling. When I finally got through the pleasant receptionist checked and said James was scheduled to work on it. And it would take 6 to 8 weeks. No Big Engine for Christmas. I left a voice mail for James.
He called me two weeks later – December 30. No, he wasn’t the one working on it, but he checked. When he returned he said that it was being worked on right now, but it would not be mailed back until January 5, because of their being closed over New Year’s. When it had to arrived by January 9, I called again. No, it had not been fixed – it was scheduled for Irvin. I left another message for Irvin.
Two weeks later he called me. There was nothing wrong with the engine – worked fine! I held my temper, did not say, you blithering idiots! You’ve already fixed it! Instead I politely asked him to send it back.
Another two weeks – everything at Bachmann seems to take two weeks – UPS delivered it to my front porch. Thank heavens! I excitedly open the packing case, opened the Styrofoam inner case and carefully lifted out the engine.
And the pilot fell off! The engine had gone from China to my house, with stops in between, to Caboose a couple of times, to the Colorado Railroad Museum, then from my house to Philadelphia, without problem. But Bachmann could not mail it back safely.
There is a flat metal plate coming from the front of the frame, over which the pilot or snowplow slips. And it had sheared off. I was sick. I also discovered they had managed to lose the lower cylinder cap.
I e-mailed, I snail mailed, I called. There was another two weeks before I got a call back. Again the polite Customer Service Representative apologized and promised they would mail me the necessary parts. When the package finally arrived, I discovered that Bachmann’s engineers had decided that this metal plate was a weak spot, and the plate was screwed into the frame. That at least was good news. However, Bachmann had misinterpreted my request and instead of sending a cylinder cover, they sent the long upper cylinder cover. And when the engine was repaired, we discovered that two of the tiny screws that secure the braces were gone. Another e-mail, with the missing part numbers.
And, after more wait, a message was left on my phone: again, very sorry, they did not have ANY spare parts, at all. Please callback in July!
Well, I have a temporary cylinder cover fitted so I can run the engine. And she does sound as lovely as ever, behind her freight train of AMS and Spectrum cars.
I have been trying to think what I should do now. I thought about flying to Philadelphia and picketing Bachmann’s headquarters but that seemed a tad expensive. Wait, the 25th Annual Garden Railroad Convention is here in Denver this July. And my club, the Denver Garden Railroad Club, are the hosts.
When the convention comes to Golden, I plan to run my engine with its cars strung out behind. And on top of the box cars and the flat cars and the Spectrum GRAMPS tank car, and the caboose, will be a series of Burma Shave-style signs. It is a work in progress, but how does “ASK ME ABOUT TERRIBLE BACHMANN SERVICE” sound?
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