The cost of train repairs, Lionel appreciation . . .

Over the years, this has been an easy decision for me as I run Legacy/TMCC that dictates most of my engine purchases.

I had an MTH locomotive needing warranty work so I took it to a local authorized MTH service center and the man told me if he didn't sell me the engine he wouldn't repair it. He owns a hobby shop and I will never ever give him any of my business again. I have told all my modeler friends and will now gladly drive out of my way to do business with someone with some ethics.

What about the non-vision line lionel products? Those still require the owner to pay the 1 way shipping even if it's a warranty repair. I think that Lionel should consider reimbursing the shipping cost if the repair was obviously not caused by operator error or neglect.

That would probably trigger quality control improvements in the part specification and assembly process that seem to be somewhat suspect right now.

Very good point. 

Problem is, it seems the manufacturers have close to zero control on the QC department in this day and age.  It can't be the way it is because they want it to be.  So it's hard to trigger improvements in a system you have little or no control over.  (And many are fine with it the way it is, so why would Lionel have any financial motivation to do so?  This model of the end user footing a good part of the bill to make new items correct is working quite well.)

Years ago (late 90's) I did actually have success a few times (when pleading my case nicely) convincing Lionel that they should reimburse me for shipping since I had out of the box defects, but from what I hear that possibility is long since dead.

Instead of being grateful for the minority of high end products Lionel (or other importer) will suck it up and pay for you to send them their defective item, we should be more concerned why there are such a high percentage (recently, last 5-6 years or so) of lower end items where we risk adding to our initial cost to ship it to them to fix something that is supposed to be brand new.

It never ceases to amaze me how forgiving customers in this industry are.  I guess it's just the new "normal".

I'll stand by while the pitchforks and torches come out to remind us all we should be grateful such cool trains (details/features/obscure roadnames/models) are being made today, even if they don't always work out of the box and we may need to incur additional expense on a brand new item to have it repaired to a usable condition.

-Dave

That brings back the whole story of differences between an ASC and an NASC.

There was quite a bit of discussion at the time, I don't know if it has survived on this board or not.

Even though what you suggest sounds intuitive as a good will gesture, it' is quite possible the man would lose a significant amount of money by fixing a train not purchased at his shop.

I believe (but did not just check) there are many fewer NASCs than ASCs.  Let's just say there is probably a reason for that.

-Dave

MTH pays ASC's absolutely nothing ($0) to repair something under warranty, MTH furnishes parts only. The ASC eats the rest. The ASC dealer makes his profit on the sale of the item and the ASC is a value added service for their customers that purchase from them. What would you do if you were in his position?

There is currently another active thread discussing this very issue here:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/mth-service-center