 Joined: 08/09/2015(UTC) Posts: 2,078 Location: Cowansville, QC
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Hi evryone  Did anyone have any problems with this dealer? I find them unprofessional, they don't answer my emails. They received a steam locomotive for repairs several weeks ago. No news from them. I'll give them a few more days and then notify the Brawa company. It's not the first time I've had problems with them. Not all dealers look like Mike from Westend trains. Thewolf |
Project Estrie Rail Road-CS3-Track C- Itrain-Digital |
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Joined: 28/11/2007(UTC) Posts: 8,238 Location: Montreal, QC
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I have been dealing with Mr Menzel and ERH for many years now. I have only good things to say. I had the chance to visit them in Surrey when I was in Vancouver in 2014.
They have been good with obtaining models that I have ordered and for getting parts for damaged models.
I used to be in Toronto much more frequently and habitually visited the Sorges and John's Photo. For the last decade, I have had less opportunity to be in Toronto and when it comes to mail order, ERH and others have a slightly better presence than any of the Toronto shops.
Since ERH moved to Summerland (inland), it would be much more complicated to visit them if I am ever in Vancouver again, as it is now a longer trip than a side trip.
As far as your Brawa locomotive, I would guess that they would have to get in touch with Brawa or the distributor, arrange to have the model sent back for assessment/repairs, wait for the model to come back and then ship it back to you.
Try giving Mr Menzel a call on the toll free number during the hours listed on the website.
Regards
Mike C
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Joined: 08/09/2015(UTC) Posts: 2,078 Location: Cowansville, QC
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Originally Posted by: mike c  I have been dealing with Mr Menzel and ERH for many years now. I have only good things to say. I had the chance to visit them in Surrey when I was in Vancouver in 2014.
They have been good with obtaining models that I have ordered and for getting parts for damaged models.
I used to be in Toronto much more frequently and habitually visited the Sorges and John's Photo. For the last decade, I have had less opportunity to be in Toronto and when it comes to mail order, ERH and others have a slightly better presence than any of the Toronto shops.
Since ERH moved to Summerland (inland), it would be much more complicated to visit them if I am ever in Vancouver again, as it is now a longer trip than a side trip.
As far as your Brawa locomotive, I would guess that they would have to get in touch with Brawa or the distributor, arrange to have the model sent back for assessment/repairs, wait for the model to come back and then ship it back to you.
Try giving Mr Menzel a call on the toll free number during the hours listed on the website.
Regards
Mike C Thank you Mike Very appreciated A wheel at the back of the tender was constantly pulling out of its axle. I don't think it's necessary to contact Brawa in Europe for such a small repair. I understand that you appreciate them, but personally for me they are missing something to appreciate them like you. : not responding to customer emails is, in my opinion, a lack of respect and politeness Thewolf |
Project Estrie Rail Road-CS3-Track C- Itrain-Digital |
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 Joined: 11/08/2015(UTC) Posts: 1,091
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I've only dealt with them once, they had something I wanted that no one else did. I found them to be quite helpful and they got it to me quickly. What I appreciated, despite their now almost remoteness from when they were in Langley, they shipped from the US and so avoided the Canadian postage charges, which to and from the US are quite significant. I'd use them again without a question if they had what I was looking for. |
American by Geography, Australian by Birth. I am an original Ameristraylian |
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Joined: 18/11/2017(UTC) Posts: 166 Location: California, East Bay
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I've dealt with Eurorail for the last 1-1/2 years or so and they have been great when contacted over the phone. Email has been a bit less consistent, though, so I'd also suggest trying the phone approach.
Ralph. |
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Joined: 14/04/2011(UTC) Posts: 34 Location: Coquitlam, BC
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Being in the Vancouver area, Euro Rail have been my local dealer for going on 20 years now for Z, then Marklin HO, and now N scale (I know...). I have only ever had good experiences with them and a lot of iffy or bad ones from other dealers around North America. That said, since the move to the smaller town of Summerland BC, they have had a hard time finding staff to help them out and have been understaffed at times. When things get busy they get behind on email (and repairs) and the best thing to do is just call the store. I will pick up the phone when I need to change an order or hold a shipment or anything urgent and send an email for general inquiries like the status of a backorder. For any repairs I have sent them the hold up has usually been the manufacturers sending parts - in one case it took Trix 8 months to forward a simple $5 part.
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Joined: 15/10/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,319 Location: Washington, Pacific Northwest
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Originally Posted by: Thewolf not responding to customer emails is, in my opinion, a lack of respect and politeness
Thewolf
I'd had a part that broke in transit (the shipping frame - part of the packaging one needs to ship the locomotive back to ESU or otherwise) on an order and emailed them several times. Got no response, so I understand your frustration - especially for us folks that think email is a better way to communicate as it allows communication in a desynchronized way. Checking their website showed they knew they were behind on emails and they indicated to call them on their toll-free phone number if one needed help. So I phoned them up, spoke to a person and referenced my emails; they looked up the emails, then handed me off to the chief, we briefly chatted and he indicated he'd order the part that ESU had indicated the dealer would have to order from them. So its true, their email responsiveness appears non-existant, but you can likely get answers and updates by using the toll-free phone number and speaking to someone in house. They were very professional when speaking with them in person. While I'd prefer not to interrupt whatever they were doing to have them on the phone, that seems the way they want to work, so thats the way its got to be with ERH. |
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Joined: 14/04/2011(UTC) Posts: 34 Location: Coquitlam, BC
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Originally Posted by: Minok Originally Posted by: Thewolf not responding to customer emails is, in my opinion, a lack of respect and politeness
Thewolf
While I'd prefer not to interrupt whatever they were doing to have them on the phone, that seems the way they want to work, so thats the way its got to be with ERH. Years ago I volunteered to help them out with email while Walter was away at the toy fair in Germany (an excuse to hang out in a train store all day - OK!) and I was honestly blown away by the volume of email they get. They have a system that manages incoming email (rather than just using Outlook) and they try to prioritize responses for urgent matters but even sorting through the new mail took a lot of time. I was not very good at it and only about 1/2 as efficient as they were but just wading through and answering politely the many technical questions, special order requests, shipping issues, general questions such as when is Marklin going to release XXXXX item etc took massive amounts of time. I think they used to have an auto-responder on their email that acknowledged they had your message and to use the toll-free line for anything urgent.
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Joined: 15/10/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,319 Location: Washington, Pacific Northwest
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Originally Posted by: dzug Originally Posted by: Minok Originally Posted by: Thewolf not responding to customer emails is, in my opinion, a lack of respect and politeness
Thewolf
While I'd prefer not to interrupt whatever they were doing to have them on the phone, that seems the way they want to work, so thats the way its got to be with ERH. Years ago I volunteered to help them out with email while Walter was away at the toy fair in Germany (an excuse to hang out in a train store all day - OK!) and I was honestly blown away by the volume of email they get. They have a system that manages incoming email (rather than just using Outlook) and they try to prioritize responses for urgent matters but even sorting through the new mail took a lot of time. I was not very good at it and only about 1/2 as efficient as they were but just wading through and answering politely the many technical questions, special order requests, shipping issues, general questions such as when is Marklin going to release XXXXX item etc took massive amounts of time. I think they used to have an auto-responder on their email that acknowledged they had your message and to use the toll-free line for anything urgent. Yeah, its not trivial to solve - a normal mail reader won't help much, you need some filtering and categorizing functionality. If they had an email form to submit requests with instead of raw email that might help, because then they could require entry of: 1) Order # - which lets messages pertaining to an active/past order bubble to the top 2) Subject/Category Selection - so they can focus on groups that need more immediate response (sent in for repair, damage on order delivery, etc), and respond later with general inquiries where they could auto-respond with an FAQ as an example. |
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