Lionel is making changes to their Warranty Services. Only Lionel will repair products, dealer warranty repairs have been eliminated at the dealer level.
Here is the link.
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I hope they have the man power for the increase in work.
Fortunately for me I live about 1 hour from Concord. I have previously taken warranty repair items direct to Lionel since I trust myself to take better care of transporting my trains to and from Lionel than the common carriers.
Interesting.
@superwarp1 posted:I hope they have the man power for the increase in work.
Gary said a mouthful. They will not only need more techs but trained techs. Hopefully they have this all planned out. Unfortunately where a former service center could do a menial repair with warranty parts now this fall directly back to customer service.
I’m not sure for the high end Legacy stuff this is much of a change for the majority of us but I’d just hate to see them get swamped with starter sets and smaller items that the service centers used to fix.
Again I’ll wait and see.
My trains always break after the warranty period.
Jon 
Didn't at one point MTH offer extended warranties? What ever became of that?
Sad to say I wasn't very impressed with Lionel's Concord, NC Service up until now.
I had my first and very likely my last Factory Warranty Repair last year.
Berkshire Lion chief Plus 2.0 Locomotive had 4 issues listed to repair.
1.The smoke unit had a wheezing sound and didn't chuff smoke. (Fan unit was replaced.)
2. One of the drivers wobbles. (Wasn't repaired or addressed. Still wobbles.)
3. Front driver axle intermittently makes a fairly loud clunk clunk clunk sound that one can hear and feel while running if you lightly touch the boiler while it runs. (Said they didn't hear it. perhaps they just couldn't get it to do this or they didn't look. I don't know. It did it on its first run when I got it back.)
4. The chuffing sounds are very low volume compared to the rest of the sounds and my lion chief starter set locomotive chuffs. (Wasn't addressed or even mentioned. Yes I have adjusted the volume through the app.)
It took about a month to get it back.
I know that in the grand scheme of new O Gauge items $500.00 may not be much. I know that nothing is perfect, however I expected a little better from Lionel. I thought that Lionel would repair the issues or at the very least address all of them.
This doesn't come as big surprise to me. While I know of a very competent repair tech in a neighboring state, I, unfortunately had a local (PA) Lionel repair tech make some bad gaffes, all the while they're ordering and replacing parts that were, in all likelihood, not even broken. In one particularly aggravating case, after replacement of some electronic board, it turned out to be a defective Molex connector; $140 worth of parts replaced for a twenty-five cent connector...and he kept all the parts too; this type of thing undoubtedly gets expensive for Lionel, and the consumer if the item is out of warranty. I had another local repair tech replace modules in brand new engines that other techs later told me only needed to be reprogrammed. In still other cases, techs replaced smoke units that other techs later said only needed servicing, oiling, etc. None of this stuff is cheap, and while my experiences are anecdotal, perhaps they're common given Lionel's policy.
With Lionel's new policy, I surmise they'll at least be able to track and record what's been done, which if done diligently, may eventually reduce the number of "repairs of repairs" and part orders and repair expenses.
@PSU1980 posted:Lionel is making changes to their Warranty Services. Only Lionel will repair products, dealer warranty repairs have been eliminated at the dealer level.
Here is the link.
Actually, only Lionel will do warranty repairs on products, a big difference from "Only Lionel will repair products". 
I'm actually happy to see this change, I have no issue with not having to do the paperwork involved with warranty repairs.
@Paul Kallus posted:This doesn't come as big surprise to me. While I know of a very competent repair tech in a neighboring state, I, unfortunately had a local (PA) Lionel repair tech make some bad gaffes, all the while they're ordering and replacing parts that were, in all likelihood, not even broken ...
Paul,
Are you telling us that, based on your experience, it's likely that most Lionel Service Centers around the country are incompetent, and that's why this change is being made?
Or, are you asking us if we've all had similar experiences to yours, justifying the same conclusion?
Either way, if the Service Network is that bad, this hobby is in BIG trouble. If the market leader and its network can't do the job many entry level purchases will lead to nothing but frustration for the newbies coming in. Not good for long-term business.
Hopefully there's another reason they're making this change. Like maybe cost reduction?
Mike
Lionel hasn't had any service classes since Mike R. left Lionel. Since then us service guys have been 'flying by the seat of our pants' when new items and systems have come out. I would think Lionel is getting tired of sending out 'free parts' under warranty and paying the tech or shop for labor also, when the part order doesn't fix the problem. This way all parts must be paid for by the shop or person. Service notes and bulletins would be of help.
@Chuck Sartor posted:Lionel hasn't had any service classes since Mike R. left Lionel. Since then us service guys have been 'flying by the seat of our pants' when new items and systems have come out. I would think Lionel is getting tired of sending out 'free parts' under warranty and paying the tech or shop for labor also, when the part order doesn't fix the problem. This way all parts must be paid for by the shop or person. Service notes and bulletins would be of help.
What Lionel pays a service station is pathetic. I know many places that dropped repairs for just that issue.
@ThatGuy posted:What Lionel pays a service station is pathetic. I know many places that dropped repairs for just that issue.
I have always avoided warranty repairs if possible.
I know I get quite often - "Will you just take a look at it. (for free!)" This is what happened in the past with MTH purchases from elsewhere, and I suspect now with Lionel as well. It will be painful to tell the person that yes I could fix that in 10-20 min but I can't do it due to Lionel's policy. Instead they will have to send it in and wait 1-3 months.
Jim
@Jim Sandman posted:I know I get quite often - "Will you just take a look at it. (for free!)" This is what happened in the past with MTH purchases from elsewhere, and I suspect now with Lionel as well. It will be painful to tell the person that yes I could fix that in 10-20 min but I can't do it due to Lionel's policy. Instead they will have to send it in and wait 1-3 months.
Jim
And pay high shipping rates to get it back to Lionel.
Well, when one talks of service, has anyone else noticed that quite some time ago, (like many years) Lionel quit posting downloadable service manuals and bulletins for newer trains? Check it out for yourself. I truly believe Lionel stopped writing and publishing these service manuals etc. even for internal use way back then!
On the plus side, you still can download the instruction manuals that came with a train purchase, not that they even broach the subject of how to service, or illustrated parts diagrams, or even part numbers for anything new. If you check for parts, not all repair parts are even available to the consumer!
Just stating the real state of Lionel third party service - no resources from Lionel to help you out.
So the dealer lets his repair man go(if they have one) and no online manuals what do you do with out of warranty items? I know get a bigger trash can.
Gunny
@gunny posted:So the dealer lets his repair man go(if they have one) and no online manuals what do you do with out of warranty items? I know get a bigger trash can.
Gunny
Well, after all, it is disposable income. I cringe when something goes wrong with out of warranty trains. You are on your own. Turn those high end locos into dummies and take the hit on Ebay or trash them and buy the newest wiz bang featured loco.
@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:Paul,
Are you telling us that, based on your experience, it's likely that most Lionel Service Centers around the country are incompetent, and that's why this change is being made?
Or, are you asking us if we've all had similar experiences to yours, justifying the same conclusion?
Either way, if the Service Network is that bad, this hobby is in BIG trouble. If the market leader and its network can't do the job many entry level purchases will lead to nothing but frustration for the newbies coming in. Not good for long-term business.
Hopefully there's another reason they're making this change. Like maybe cost reduction?
Mike
Mike, I did state that my experiences are anecdotal. About a year ago, I had asked a Lionel customer rep if they could recommend a repair person, and she gave me only one contact - and it was the same person I already knew of, and not surprisingly that person is very busy. It seems logical that there are many other competent techs around the country. Finding them and getting on their schedule seems to be the trick.
