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I have had nothing but good buying experiences with Grzboskys. 

Last October York, we bought a new piece of rolling stock from them that turned out to have a defective truck on it.  We called Lionel, but they did not have any replacement parts available yet.

One call to Joe, a mail back, and we had a new truck ("I'll take it off another one in stock") within a week and we were in business.

 

 

Other than this forum, I don't buy things off the internet.  And then, the more it costs, the more I want to see it in person and see it tested. 

I've always avoided Grzyboski tables at York dating back to a phenomenally bad experience back in the 90's.  I think Joe may have thought I was someone else, but he went off on me back in the grandstand days.  I don't need that no matter what you have or what the price is.  This past York I didn't see him on Thursday or Friday so I wandered into the booth and was waited on by someone named Joseph.  This person to me looked way to young to be the person I experienced back in the 90's.  After dealing with him I was convinced he wasn't.  He couldn't have been nicer, more helpful, friendly, etc.  So I bought some things from him and put some other things on my list for Saturday, in case I still had room in the van. 

Went back on Saturday to pick up another couple of items and . . . you guessed, the real Joe I was familiar with was the only one I saw in the booth.

Well I just received a brand new set of Lionel Heavyweight passenger cars from Grzyboski and three of the unopened boxes had cars each with a broken truck on them. Shipping box shows no issues. Rats. I just looked on Lionel parts and the trucks are not available. No surprise there if this is any example of this product's history.

Rats again.

I emailed Grzyboski for a return.

I have been dealing with them for thirty years and always  had excellent results. First class operation. They use newspaper tightly rolled as packing material but it works well (never had a damaged item). They charge actual shipping (UPS or Priority Mail) and so you pay exactly what it costs them. Sometimes it can be a shocker, especially with heavy diecast items like steam engines.  IMO, shipping charges are getting out of hand all over.

Hey everyone, I placed an order from Grzyboskitrains.com and it went well.

I ordered:

Christmas ES44Ac IMPERIAL Diesel & Caboose Set
SKU: 30-20360-1
   
38572 - New York Central Sharknose B-unit
SKU: 38572
   
20-89010 - End-of-Train Device Roller Bearing Freight Truck
SKU: 20-89010
Love these things, in fact, I use them instead of the failed (all 4 of them) Lionel Lighted LED bumpers as bumpers  
34113 - Large Suburban Gray House
SKU: 34113

The only issue I had was with the Lionel B Unit car. The wheel is damaged. I called them, they were helpful, but I contacted Lionel via email today to see if they can send out a replacement wheel set or truck with wheels attached. It's not worth it to ship it back and pay again for return shipping at $10 each way only to discover the next one has another type of issue.

Concerning warranty service, esp. on old models, I hope it's better than MTH!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4z9Xiyw5VU

I assume from that video, any manufacturer would do a production run with a certain % of parts only for warranty service to minimize costs for everyone, but at $150 to replace the DCC board when a comparable new locomotive is not that much more + the wait time and poor CS, I'm rethinking of buying anything from MTH going forward.

Gigabyte posted:
    
    
20-89010 - End-of-Train Device Roller Bearing Freight Truck
SKU: 20-89010
Love these things, in fact, I use them instead of the failed (all 4 of them) Lionel Lighted LED bumpers as bumpers  
 

 

 

 

I agree with you on the lighted bumpers - problematic.  I purchased a couple of postwar aluminum passenger cars a while back - operator condition. I also bought one of the MTH EOT trucks and mounted it on the end of one of the passenger cars.  I wanted it to look correct and thus it took a lot of surgery on the MTH truck to remove parts and the Lionel passenger truck to install. It was one of those things that if I would have known how much work it was going to take, I probably wouldn't had done it. Anyway, it looks and operates great.

Steve

My heavyweight cars are on the way back to Grzyboski's and they are going to send out another new set. The only issue was UPS getting the pickup wrong and having to wait for them for 3 days. Joe Grzyboski is very responsive to emails and helpful. But all's well that ends well...

RideTheRails posted:
Gigabyte posted:
    
    
20-89010 - End-of-Train Device Roller Bearing Freight Truck
SKU: 20-89010
Love these things, in fact, I use them instead of the failed (all 4 of them) Lionel Lighted LED bumpers as bumpers  
 

 

 

 

I agree with you on the lighted bumpers - problematic.  I purchased a couple of postwar aluminum passenger cars a while back - operator condition. I also bought one of the MTH EOT trucks and mounted it on the end of one of the passenger cars.  I wanted it to look correct and thus it took a lot of surgery on the MTH truck to remove parts and the Lionel passenger truck to install. It was one of those things that if I would have known how much work it was going to take, I probably wouldn't had done it. Anyway, it looks and operates great.

Steve

The common fix for the lighted bumpers is to extend the LED's wires down into the bumper to where they make good contact.

I also bought the EOT from MTH and just use them on MTH cars. Quicker that way,

cjack posted:
RideTheRails posted:
Gigabyte posted:
    
    
20-89010 - End-of-Train Device Roller Bearing Freight Truck
SKU: 20-89010
Love these things, in fact, I use them instead of the failed (all 4 of them) Lionel Lighted LED bumpers as bumpers  
 

 

 

 

I agree with you on the lighted bumpers - problematic.  I purchased a couple of postwar aluminum passenger cars a while back - operator condition. I also bought one of the MTH EOT trucks and mounted it on the end of one of the passenger cars.  I wanted it to look correct and thus it took a lot of surgery on the MTH truck to remove parts and the Lionel passenger truck to install. It was one of those things that if I would have known how much work it was going to take, I probably wouldn't had done it. Anyway, it looks and operates great.

Steve

The common fix for the lighted bumpers is to extend the LED's wires down into the bumper to where they make good contact.

I also bought the EOT from MTH and just use them on MTH cars. Quicker that way,

Sorry, didn't see this reply, thanks, I'll try that and see if that fixes it.

Thanks Mark, I'm having a shorting issue on one of the MTH Locomotives I ordered from them as well as another issue with a LC+ Rio Grande locomotive. I was going to send in the MTH locomotive to MTH service, but it looks like if they are not a Authorized Seller, I have to exchange it with them, I may need to do the same with the LC+ [ https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...-shaking-slow-moving ]

Gigabyte posted:

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience buying anything from grzyboskitrains.com? I usually buy a lot from modeltrainstuff.com and love their prices / service / return policy, but they don't have what I want in stock, but grzyboskitrains.com does...but I read if you have defective merchandise, the return shipping is on you, and reviews elsewhere weren't too kind with customer service from them. If I go with them, do they package well? With MTS, your stuff is literally drowning in peanuts, wrapped in rubber bands, always packed well.

I tried Pattrains, but it's out stock and others like trainz and trainworld are too close to MSRP.

Thanks!

My two experiences with them:

First. I bought the Lionel Legacy Southern Crescent set with the heavyweight cars as my first purchase from them. The locomotive was defective. I had to pay return shipping.  Waited weeks with no update. I called to see what was going on with my locomotive and was told by the father he had no idea what I was talking about.  I was eventually connected to the son (he calls himself the "third") who said they were working on it.  A week or so later I called again.  Same story. After this same cat-and-mouse game for 5-6 weeks, I called again and told him I was going to file a credit card dispute. He said he was about to call to tell me he confirmed it was defective and that they would be shipping me out another one. The replacement is fine. 

Second.  I preordered three sets of the Vision PFE reefers cars.  The mother took the order.  I asked if she wanted a credit card and was told no, that they'd be in touch when the cars came in.  Months went by and I saw on this forum that others  received theirs. I called and spoke to the son.  He said their order hadn't yet come in - something to do with a dispute with Lionel over a payment - and not to worry, he had my number and would call me as soon as the shipment arrived. I called almost a month later. The son gave me the same story. He'd call me when the order arrived.  I called again almost another month later. He said the cars were in but he now had no recollection of any of our calls, no record of my preorder and he could do much better selling them online than to me.  At first, I thought he was joking ... he wasn't.  Suffice it to say, it wasn't a pleasant conversation. I've never bought anything from them since, nor will I.  

Peter

 

Last edited by PJB
PJB posted:
Gigabyte posted:

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience buying anything from grzyboskitrains.com? I usually buy a lot from modeltrainstuff.com and love their prices / service / return policy, but they don't have what I want in stock, but grzyboskitrains.com does...but I read if you have defective merchandise, the return shipping is on you, and reviews elsewhere weren't too kind with customer service from them. If I go with them, do they package well? With MTS, your stuff is literally drowning in peanuts, wrapped in rubber bands, always packed well.

I tried Pattrains, but it's out stock and others like trainz and trainworld are too close to MSRP.

Thanks!

My two experiences with them:

First. I bought the Lionel Legacy Southern Crescent set with the heavyweight cars as my first purchase from them. The locomotive was defective. I had to pay return shipping.  Waited weeks with no update. I called to see what was going on with my locomotive and was told by the father he had no idea what I was talking about.  I was eventually connected to the son (he calls himself the "third") who said they were working on it.  A week or so later I called again.  Same story. After this same cat-and-mouse game for 5-6 weeks, I called again and told him I was going to file a credit card dispute. He said he was about to call to tell me he confirmed it was defective and that they would be shipping me out another one. The replacement is fine. 

Second.  I preordered three sets of the Vision PFE reefers cars.  The mother took the order.  I asked if she wanted a credit card and was told no, that they'd be in touch when the cars came in.  Months went by and I saw on this forum that others  received theirs. I called and spoke to the son.  He said their order hadn't yet come in - something to do with a dispute with Lionel over a payment - and not to worry, he had my number and would call me as soon as the shipment arrived. I called almost a month later. The son gave me the same story. He'd call me when the order arrived.  I called again almost another month later. He said the cars were in but he now had no recollection of any of our calls, no record of my preorder and he could do much better selling them online than to me.  At first, I thought he was joking ... he wasn't.  Suffice it to say, it wasn't a pleasant conversation. I've never bought anything from them since, nor will I.  

Peter

 

Thanks for sharing that Peter, I hope it doesn't turn into a drawn out CC dispute with them on my 2 item exchange -- even worse, they are not a MTH Authorized Dealer, so there's no warranty, I didn't notice that on ordering, I just assumed that. I offered them to charge my card again for the same items, and when I get them, I'll re-use the box they shipped it in and return the defective locomotives. This is what I love about MTS, no hassle return policy and they offer a prepaid UPS return, I must have ordered close to $4K from them and only exchanged two defective items in the past few years with them, fast service and no hassles on exchanges. Based on my experience, if I really want it, and it's not in stock from a dealer that accepts returns prepaid / no hassle, I'm going to buy local, in my case, Train World. Yes, they are more expensive (closer to MSRP) on most things and I have to pay tax, but I get what I want and if there's a issue, I can easily drive there to replace it.

cjack posted:

Well I just received a brand new set of Lionel Heavyweight passenger cars from Grzyboski and three of the unopened boxes had cars each with a broken truck on them. Shipping box shows no issues. Rats. I just looked on Lionel parts and the trucks are not available. No surprise there if this is any example of this product's history.

Rats again.

I emailed Grzyboski for a return.

Update...

Grzyboski took the set back prepaid, inspected them, said yes they look damaged in shipment maybe by a hard drop. They inspected another new set which were perfect and shipped them to me. The new set is fine.

So...I'm well pleased with the communications and the service. The set was on sale as well.

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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