@Brakeman
I think it was your YouTube video that made me check my own Märklin models for Zinc Pest, and set me down the path of my own "Zinc Pest Adventure". I owe you a big "thank you".
For all others, here is my Märklin Zinc Pest story:
I started collecting Märklin in the late 1970s, and inherited a lot of Märklin from my father. My collection grew steadily, but very slowly. Until I started study in the university and working a little in the evenings. For many years I had planned what models to buy. When starting to make some money, the buying began. For many years I bought approx. € 3-6000 worth of Märklin annually. All up until a 3 years ago. After that, I have not bought anything from Märklin. During the last three months I have spent € 8-9000 on Roco, NMJ, Jeco, Fleischmann, BRAWA etc., and I am very happy. But that is another story. So why am I boycotting Märklin?
Firstly, I must say stopping collecting Märklin has been very hard for me, as it has been an important part of my life for, well, all my life. And my collection is quite big. Märklin is almost like family to me, so to stop collecting was like a "divorce". I am still very sad about the whole thing. I was ready to sell everything, and stop model railroading. Luckily, collecting other brands was the solution for me.
After seeing BrakemanHOs video three years ago, I rushed to open my closet with the "American Part" of the collection. In case anyone is wondering, my box cars had been tested right after I purchased them, then stored in the ordignal boxes in a room with low humidity and very stable temperature of 20-22 C. Initially I had a lot of problems with the models, due to broken parts, bad painting, missing paint etc. So I spent a lot on shipping these models back and forth from the store before I put them away for storage. I was already unhappy with the quality and the fact Märklin moved production to China. But I liked how the models looked, so I turned a blind eye to the matter.
After seeing the video of the Zinc Pest infected box cars, I had to open all boxes and look through all my 200 models of this kind of box cars. I had bought all models Märklin had realeased up until this point, and at least two identical cars of all models. It turned out 20 cars were infected. They showed the classic signs: bulging frame/floor, trucks standing at an angle; only two of the four wheels touching the rails, couplers were stuck. I was heartbroken. After reading online, I found the Germans who ran Märklin were no longer the Märklin family. The old workers were gone. The production moved overseas. To China.
(Snip - objected comments removed)
Märklin was no longer the brand I grew up with. It looked like Märklin on the outside, but on the inside it was now taken over by some zombie-virus. Only the brand name was the same.
It turned out I had cought the desease in time. By carefully breaking the metal underframes with a set of pliers (the metal was like a sheet of ice; it broke very easily, I was able to rescue the platic body. I found I could breake the metal to pieces with my fingers. So this was the dreaded Zinc Pest. A result of impurities in the metal, due to the fact Märklin had some incompetent (snipped) producing for them. And charging me full price as if I were buying "Made in Germany" quality. A scam! I was able to rescue all the plastic bodies from the infected cars. Had I found out a little later, the metal might have warped even more, braking the plastic bodies in the process. I was happy, because I wanted at least two cars of each model. I collect Märklin, and a "hole" in the collection would bother me immensely. Now - all I had to do was to e-mail the Germans in Göppingen, and get 20 new frames for my cars. Little did I know it was about to go from bad to worse...
I e-mailed my two dealers first. Because of many business-trips to the USA, I had bought some sets from a well-known dealer in Texas. After having left many tens of thousands of dollars at that store, I was expecting some help. They basically did nothing, and the last e-mail I got told in plain English I should leave them alone. I e-mailed Märklin every month for over a half year before they finally told me to ship the cars to them. I explained I did not want other models as a replacement - I wanted exactly the models I had, because I am a collector. I asked for 20 metal frames, but pointed out I needed the boogies with wheels, as well as couplers and attached details like air tanks and pipes. All these details were broken because of the warping. I contined sending e-mails every month for almost another year asking for the new frames. Finally a parcel arrived. On the shipping documents Märklin had written the original item numbers on all the sets, and their full retail recommended price. In other words, the value of the parcel was many hundreds of euros. Consequently, customs asked me for a couple hundreds in inport taxes. The parcel was returned to Germany automatically a month later since I refused to pick it up.
"Marklin (edited)" re-sent the parcel, this time with a more correct value on the documents, so I only paid a little in import taxes. My joy of finally being able to put together my US box cars and take one of my four Big Boy out for a run was quickly overshadowed by the disappointment of finding 20 metal frames inside the shipment - all without boggies/wheels, couplers, brake lines etc. I e-mailed Märklin again, but no answer. I e-mailed them every month for almost a half a year before they finally answered. They would send 20 undercarriages. In the meantime, I had bought a lot more Märklin, and there was something wrong with much of it. Locomotives that didn't run. Cars with missing or broken pieces right out of the box and a lot of cosmetic blemeshes that had to have happened in the factory. I am talking about expensive models like the Super Chief and Big Boys, the BR 01 150 museum locomotive and such. I returned everything to Märklin. Shipping cost me close to € 100. Märklin always refused to pay for shipping when I asked.
Some months later, they e-mailed me and told they were ready to return everything to me. I stressed that they must write that the shipment consists of items repaired under warranty to avoid the import tax. They confirmed this. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad, but Märklin actually wrote the full retail price of all sets when returning my models to me. For some sets, only one car was actually inside the shipment, but they reported full value of the entire set. The total value of the shipment was many thousand euros, and customs calculated I had to pay close to €600 in taxes. Of course I could refuse to accept the parcel like before. But I was on a business-trip, and another well-meaning member of the family collected the parcel. And paid the tax in full on my behalf. The tax on the items that were not even inside the box. And to top it all off, the parcel only contained 20 metal frames, again without the boggies/wheels, couplers etc. And some of the original white Märklin boxes were ruined by the people at the "Reparaturservice". As a collector I need the boxes to be in mint condition...
I contacted Märklin about this error, but I had to e-mail them once a month for yet half a year before they responded. Their answer was "we did nothing wrong". I e-mailed them the PDF of the shipping documents they themselves had filled out, that showed how they had reported the full value. The value of items that were not even inside the box. After that, they have never answered me.
Not only did they charge me full price of Märklin items that were in reality el-cheapo-China-crappo, let me pay for all shipping, not follow any instructions I gave, make errors that cost me over a thousand euros, executed terrible customer service, were slow, rude, arrogant and incompetent - and left me with a pile of broken models and destroyed boxes. And never took responsibility for the errors they made that cost me a lot of money
If anyone at Märklin reads this, I hope you understand that I will never buy your products again. So far, your poor service has turned a big fan into a hater, and you have already in only three months lost many thousands of euros which I could have spent on Märklin, but instead spent on your competitors.
I will celebrate the next time Märklin goes bankrupt.
Edited by moderator 11 February 2018 07:18:21(UTC)
| Reason: Questionable expressions deleted or changed) - Mod.
