Problem with lighting of a MTH 20-91757 O US Army 1942 Bay Widow Caboose (Train World Exclusive)

It appears to be within warranty. Get it fixed, or get it exchanged.

As of this morning, item still in stock at Trainworld.

Thank you for your reply. Yes I've talked with Train World. They only cover their sales for thirty days. MTH covering for 1 year? I have thoroughly looked at the website. they have no customer service. You can't get an RMA. You have to pay postage to send it to an authorized service center both ways with no guarantee they will be able to figure it out. After all the lighting works. The axels are grounded, but the wheels connected to the axels are not. How is this possible?. I don't want to pay another $85 plus tax plus postage at Train World. I will think at least twice before purchasing any MTH products.

I thought when MTH bailed on mfg in house repairs, the policy was that you HAD to take the item back to the point of purchase for repair under warranty. Sounds like either a misunderstanding with TrainWorld, for all their bravado about taking care of the customers TrainWorld is not living up to their responsibility as an authorized MTH dealer.

I will be following to see the resolution. It certainly will have an affect on future purchases …

If trainworld wont help you, buy a new one from them and return the old one under the 30 day policy.  It might be a little low handed but they dont leave you much option.

@Bossman284 posted:

If trainworld wont help you, buy a new one from them and return the old one under the 30 day policy. 

Yeah you're right. After Jim M's reply above I called Train World again, after last speaking to them on Friday, and spoke with Abigail. She said she was about to call me about it. She said they had reviewed my case and would make an exception and send an RMA. I would pay postage one way but they would fix or replace the unit and send it back free of charge. So somebody cares after all.

Posting on this thread to avoid these rush-to-judgment posts and to clarify.  Our team saw this thread this morning and checked our email messages and the last email we have on file from Dave 69 GTEL is from August 26. We already have a ticket for our CS team to reach out to him for our mechanic to take care of the issue.  It is Monday morning our mailorder facility is closed over the weekend so we are working the tickets chronologically as they come in.  Yes, our standard policy is 30 days which is the industry norm.  I'm not sure who he spoke to over the phone on our side but it is possible he received the wrong information as MTH is unique. If that is the case we do apologize. With 80 different brands depending on the representative they may have just given the blanket response and not known the exceptions.  If he knows who he spoke to I'd be happy to look further and make sure the right information is shared.  Emails are a lot easier to track which is why it is hard to say what went wrong here.  That being said, as with all dealers, MTH is the rare exception as they have a unique circumstance with a warranty.  Usually, when these tickets come in we try to work with MTH to resolve this issue or handle it ourselves.  Im sure many of the forum members can attest to this as we have always facilitated these warranty issues on MTH products. For further clarification, MTH has been resolving many warranty issues over 30 days for customers when they call MTH, and if it is under warranty. Customers generally have to call MTH directly to get in touch with them on warranty issues or in many cases we will email MTH on the customer's behalf if they cannot get through to MTH. We have done this many times for all of our customers and will continue for Dave.

@TrainWorld.com posted:

Posting on this thread to avoid these rush-to-judgment posts and to clarify.  Our team saw this thread this morning and checked our email messages and the last email we have on file from Dave 69 GTEL is from August 26. We already have a ticket for our CS team to reach out to him for our mechanic to take care of the issue.  It is Monday morning our mailorder facility is closed over the weekend so we are working the tickets chronologically as they come in.  Yes, our standard policy is 30 days which is the industry norm.  I'm not sure who he spoke to over the phone on our side but it is possible he received the wrong information as MTH is unique. If that is the case we do apologize. With 80 different brands depending on the representative they may have just given the blanket response and not known the exceptions.  If he knows who he spoke to I'd be happy to look further and make sure the right information is shared.  Emails are a lot easier to track which is why it is hard to say what went wrong here.  That being said, as with all dealers, MTH is the rare exception as they have a unique circumstance with a warranty.  Usually, when these tickets come in we try to work with MTH to resolve this issue or handle it ourselves.  Im sure many of the forum members can attest to this as we have always facilitated these warranty issues on MTH products. For further clarification, MTH has been resolving many warranty issues over 30 days for customers when they call MTH, and if it is under warranty. Customers generally have to call MTH directly to get in touch with them on warranty issues or in many cases we will email MTH on the customer's behalf if they cannot get through to MTH. We have done this many times for all of our customers and will continue for Dave.

Thanks Ken. As you can see I promptly reported that TW had helped and corrected the issue and provided good customer service. No worries. I already have the unit in an old TW box I found and it's going back to you under RMA this afternoon.

Best regards,

Dave 69 GTEL

Nice to see the retailer stand behind the product, and provide respectable customer service to you. Was good of Ken to jump in and clear the air.👍

@Dave 69 GTEL posted:

....................................... I contacted the pickup and the inner and outer surface of each of the wheels and no lights. Touched the ground to the axel the wheels were attached to and the lights came on. It seems the entire wheels themselves have become nonconductive. This would not seem possible. Has anyone seen anything like this before?

Hi Dave .   Can you post a good close up photo of the bottom of the type of truck you had issues with ?

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Hi Dave .   Can you post a good close up photo of the bottom of the type of truck you had issues with ?

Would if I could but it is already in the mail to TW.

@Dave 69 GTEL posted:

Would if I could but it is already in the mail to TW.

Safe to assume you don't have another caboose that has the same kind of truck wheel arraingment ?! 

Actually that's my only MTH caboose. Everything else is Lionel.

I received a call from the repair technician, Sal at TW yesterday and he said that he had tracked the problem down to loose screws somewhere in the trucks. I wasn't totally clear. But they prevented consistent grounding of the wheels. He tightened them and says they will not loosen in the future. So the caboose is apparently repaired and will be coming back to me. Thank you Sal. Good job!