very disappointed with first Menards car purchase

If you are not satisfied you can contact their service department. They are very good at fixing your problem........Paul

As for removing the trucks from Menard's flatcars, since I wanted Bettendorf trucks on one, I just drilled out the truck rivets, screwed on the Bettendorfs, put a thin, scribed wood new floor down on the car to cover the rivet hole, repanted and lettered, and away we go.

Mark will take real good care of the problem, matter of fact my cars with that truck did the same thing, seems the wheels were out of Gauge.

Don,  > the customer service explained to me that, with the products, any dissatisfaction , WILL. be taken care of.  And most of forum response on this

has proven factual. I had a hopper that one of the numbers, was crooked, and offered, simple send me the decal, I'll put it on.  ( they are easily ) removed!!

Nope, THE MENARDS policy is to issue a shipping label, apply it to the box,  ( they are the easiest things ) in the world to re-tape. Send back

wait, timely return for that replacement product, to arrive, back, and Voila !!!!!!.  I did send a picture of my situation.   Well thought out, game plan

for the company,  take care of customers, in a set manner.  here s the email :  

You should have contacted Menard's first before coming to the forum and posting IMO.  It sounds as if you didn't even give them a chance to fix it before posting here.  Menards has been outstanding with customer service as others have stated and have out right stated on this forum that are here to make it right if you're not satisfied!  I always give the retailer a chance to solve the problem.  If then you don't get satisfaction then we'd all like to know about it.  Then again if you took the CS route first and got a satisfactory outcome we'd like to know about that too.

Myself , I have nearly 100 Menards cars and all of there buildings and yes, I have a few that came in damaged or not working. BUT... email customer service and it WILL be taken care of !!!!   Mark from customer service is the best you can get... Bob

DGJONES posted:

I have purchased many of Menards buildings and have been very pleased with them.

However, I recently purchased one of their flats with 2 and 1/2 ton military truck load.  I am very pleased with the look of the car and the load.  The problem came when I tried to run the car.  The wheels are so out of round that it will hardly stay on the track.  It actually wobbles worse than the Toonerville Trolley which is made to wobble.

I looked to see if I could replace the trucks or at least the wheels but after careful review, could not determine how to remove the trucks or the wheels.

The car makes a nice static display but I do not want a static display.  i like to run my trains!

Guess I am out 50 bucks!

Don

Don,

First of all, I apologize that your flatcar with deuce and a half was not functioning correctly. This is especially painful because it was your first rolling stock purchase from us. As others on the forum have alluded to, we will make sure to rectify the problem. If it's okay, I would like to contact you via the email in your profile so that we can replace the car for you at no charge.

I also want to put in my two cents about the original post. Although you were frustrated, you were still respectful with your comments. I really appreciate that.

Again, I am sorry for your frustration and we will make sure to fix your problems.

Thank you,
Mark the Menards Train Guy

I don't understand why people get slammed for post like this?  They say you contact the company first, see if you can get it resolved first before airing your dirty laundry here.  I say do both.  We have a forum member that has warned us their a issue with Menards cars and we have Menards seeing there's a issue and wanting to resolve it, via great customer service and product improvement all in one thread.  Isn't this forum great?

Win, win in my book.

"I don't understand why people get slammed for post like this?  They say you contact the company first, see if you can get it resolved first before airing your dirty laundry here.  I say do both.  We have a forum member that has warned us their a issue with Menards cars and we have Menards seeing there's a issue and wanting to resolve it, via great customer service and product improvement all in one thread.  Isn't this forum great?"

Very true. Menards is a 100 % plus winner here. 

Larry

superwarp1 posted:

I don't understand why people get slammed for post like this?  They say you contact the company first, see if you can get it resolved first before airing your dirty laundry here.  I say do both.  We have a forum member that has warned us their a issue with Menards cars and we have Menards seeing there's a issue and wanting to resolve it, via great customer service and product improvement all in one thread.  Isn't this forum great?

Win, win in my book.

Well from my point of view, there was no attempt to contact Menard's.  The OP was pretty much said he was out $50 and he had a shelf queen, neither which may not be true if he would have contacted Menard's.  Perhaps I would have been less inclined to comment as I did if he stated that it came this way, he was disappointed but contacted Menard's and was waiting on a reply. To Mark's point though he was respectful.

Customer Service can only help if you let them know there is a problem.  While we are lucky that Mark from Menard's does frequent the forum and he responded in kind, if he didn't then it may not be a win/win.

That being said it looks like he is in good hands.

My dealings with Menards and Mark is nothing but over the top with customer satisfaction. I may a comment which they would bring back the gas station, the  Barn and the hobby shop within a day or two he found the gas station and the barn for me which I told him at that point I need to hold off on the hobby shop for right now due to $$ but will contact him again and see if he can find me one in the future.The two stores I dealt with you could not of asked for any better customer service from either all my dealing with Menards has been 100%

Telling others about a product problem is good for all of us but I do think he should have contacted Menards first.  Then he could have told the whole story.

I haven't had any problems with the three boxcars I got from Menards. I will say they could use better quality wheels, but I'm not having a problem and the body is real nice for the price. Wheels are easy to change. It would be nice if they had more stock year round. I have heard talk of engines too. If they do, I would suggest using TMCC that way they can be run conventionally and remote and yes you should be able to vent went on this forum.

What if Mark had missed this thread? I watch for certain topics of interest here on the forum myself and I am here almost every day, but I still sometimes find a thread of interest a few days later that I had previously missed somehow. Gathering from this, I am sure there are others that I miss completely and never see. This thread turned out great, but it may not have if Mark had not seen the thread.  

I have had only one opportunity to contact Menards customer service and the results could not have been better, just as they were here for the OP. Menards customer service is as good as it gets and then even surpasses that by a good amount. I think it is very rare that a company sees customer with a problem and actually contacts the customer themselves to take care of things. I imagine most would wait for the customer to contact them. Also very impressive on Menards' (Mark's) part. 

I too have over 100 Menard rolling stock and 12 buildings! Have had contact with customer service and have never been disappointed,  if anything they have gone further than I expected! Absolutely love the way they do their train business and their wisdom in having someone like Mark as their representative on this forum!!

DennyM posted:

I haven't had any problems with the three boxcars I got from Menards. I will say they could use better quality wheels, but I'm not having a problem and the body is real nice for the price. Wheels are easy to change. It would be nice if they had more stock year round. I have heard talk of engines too. If they do, I would suggest using TMCC that way they can be run conventionally and remote and yes you should be able to vent went on this forum.

yes mark stop waiting lets get some motive power going, even if you start small I believe they will not stay on the shelf long, Maybe a starter set, Also how about a roundhouse or a passenger station  keep up the good work  

Ordering regardless.  Two freebies.  My goal is to collect everything.  Just need a Menards  Caboose.

I think now a days people just are not expecting customer service to go above and beyond or even anywhere close.  Menards  is definitely unique in this area.  They are top notch.  I just got a case of the boxcars with pinups and a flat with the army sedans on them.  I can't believe how nice they look for the price.  Keep em coming Mark.  BigRail

I've had wobble issues with probably every manufacturers rolling stock over the years. 90 percent of the time I find an axle will have a slight bend in it causing the wobble. I believe it may occur when the wheels are pressed onto the axle. A little pressure to get it straight again usually corrects the problem. I've also noticed the newer axles seem to be a softer metal and easier to bend.