service

Sadly, Lionel no longer offers any non-warranty service.  I suspect they just don't have the help to support it.  I'm sure many folks would love to send their stuff directly to Lionel for service, who better to know how to fix them?

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Sadly, Lionel no longer offers any non-warranty service.  I suspect they just don't have the help to support it.  I'm sure many folks would love to send their stuff directly to Lionel for service, who better to know how to fix them?

That goes without saying, but in the end these are not cheap toys and the warranty and support is at the very least *ucks. The other pet peeve is that we have no standard for anything but track size. I have friends who are into HO and most things are standardized and the manufactures not only stand behind their products but really want you to have no issues. Just a shame.

All reasonable observations, but it is what it is.  I'm not willing to go to HO, too small and fussy for me to work on nowadays.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

All reasonable observations, but it is what it is.  I'm not willing to go to HO, too small and fussy for me to work on nowadays.

Neither am I going to HO, but it just gets harder to justify pricing and then the abandonment of the product.

@ThatGuy posted:

Neither am I going to HO, but it just gets harder to justify pricing and then the abandonment of the product.

I hear you BUT they haven't abandoned anything.  There's no law requiring them to offer service in house, or at all for that matter, unless it's under warranty.

Remember that 'O' is a much smaller market than HO.  Practices are different.

And that Lionel has a service network, which it has advertised and relied on since it's earliest days, with many good technicians, many of whom in today's world are on this forum.  Use it and you'll be fine.

Mike

@ThatGuy posted:

Neither am I going to HO, but it just gets harder to justify pricing and then the abandonment of the product.

Athearn's warranty is one year from purchase within six years from product announcement, will not cover cosmetic damage, misuse, modification or self repair.

Scale Trains has a warranty form, but doesn't indicate how long the warranty is.

Rapido Trains will only warranty against manufacturing defects as long as a model is in stock and will maintain a 6 month parts inventory for a given product.

Walthers is a one year warranty for Walthers products purchased only through authorized dealers.

It appears receipts may be also required for all of the above.

Rusty

@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:

I hear you BUT they haven't abandoned anything.  There's no law requiring them to offer service in house, or at all for that matter, unless it's under warranty.

Remember that 'O' is a much smaller market than HO.  Practices are different.

And that Lionel has a service network, which it has advertised and relied on since it's earliest days, with many good technicians, many of whom in today's world are on this forum.  Use it and you'll be fine.

Mike

A company that walks away from its products, and please don't tell me they do not. Try getting parts for a five year old item is on a slow path to closing. Just think about a 10 year old engine good luck getting that fixed. No Lionel always had in house repair, this company is more into other things and higher prices. Shame but that's one  reason today fathers don't buy trains. Just think five or six hundred dollars for a decent set when he can buy a laptop or I pad for the same amount and it has so many other uses.