Interesting thread and several telling points here. Just to select a few: 1) it is more common to hear complaints than compliments, we all know that is true so we need to take this with a grain of salt. 2) I am sure we are all impressed that Lionel did not ask for this to be shut down- says a lot about the current organization.
My bottom line, I am one of the happy Lionel customers. Their service and customer response has been excellent in my experience over a broad range of products: from a small issue on a dinosaur train (cheap item and they fixed it!) to helping with suggestions on what board to replace on a legacy loco (one of those fleabay stories), and things in the middle. I know some will suggest that these problems should not happen- ever. But realistically, we have a hobby involving complicated electro mechanical toys that can be bought for prices that fit our budgets and allow us to have a fun hobby.
Here is a thought, we need to convene a group of forumites and build 100 locos- wonder what our performance rate would be?
