Hum... None of your ABCD options really applies to me.
I would probably NEVER buy anything in advance, without trying the product in the shop first.
I did buy advance/unseen a couple of times before, but I have never been happy with the result, so stopped doing that.
I rather prefer trying out the product first, knowing about its shortcommings before paying, instead of being unhappily surprised discovering these shortcomings later.

The problem with no nearby shop to visit, is for me the root to YOUR kind of problems (I stress that they are YOUR problems, not to confuse the issue with Märklins quality problems, which are of course causing problems for EVERYBODY!); In this case I would concentrate all my shopping to when I CAN actually visit a shop (even if this means only once a year), -or- specifically ask the seller to assure that the product is totally OK, and in case of problems ALWAYS resort to your option D.

the problem with fixing the problem yourself is definitely a solution or an option but a.) if you have to solder wires back on again and b.) another problem arises later on whereas you have no option to send it for further repairs under warranty, they may look at the loco and can see someone has been tampering with it (solder spots).

I have had a couple problems with Märklin locos but decided to fix it myself, Roco locos have been much more reliable although they had a period as the main shaft of the motor cogwheel came loose and a drop of superglue fixed that but I never had any problems a.) the loco not working, b.) the decoder being faulty.

My hobby involves happy hours but I'm not in the habit of sending stuff back especially when you find out there is nothing wrong with the item (ESU radio control) and they tell you to re load the radio control, its not their fault but where do you get information about having a faulty components and in the case of malfunction reload it.

I'm amazed at the lack of quality control and finding a solution by introducing adequate procedures so the item in question hasn't got the same problem over and over again.If people would take more notice of the airline industry maintenance procedures we wouldn't be in this mess and today a lot of industries have taken the overall concept of quality control from the airline industry such as the food industry and many others.

John

I used (C) and sent some items back for repairs under warranty. Marklin Service department received them on 25th March 2014 and I have sent 3 emails requesting some idea of when I am likely to receive them back. No-one at Marklin has bothered to reply. My feeling is that Marklin have dropped their quality control in order to reduce costs and as a consequence the Service Department is inundated with repairs. This is absolutely very poor management and now I can see why the previous CEO was shown the door - even if he did come across as a very nice man. Maybe one day I'll receive my items - but I won't be holding my breath.

Greg

Hi Matt, virtually all the comments posted above are true irrespective of who the manufacturer is. I agree totally that quality control is very important. If I bought a few items from the same manufacturer and found more than one of them faulty I would probably think about whether I was buying from the right people.

Fortunately, I have had excellent results from all my Marklin purchases recently, so it's not an issue for me for Marklin, though I have had some problems with a couple of other brands. I gather others have not been so lucky with their Marklin.

As an example which is not MR related, I bought a Nikon digital camera about a year and a half ago. It is one of the compact models. It takes excellent pictures, but shortly after the guarantee ran out I started having difficulty selecting the different shooting modes. The buttons on the back of the camera seem to have a mind of their own, and they have to be pressed repeatedly to achieve what you want. I mentioned the problem to the owner of the shop where I bought it and he said he could send it back to the repair centre, but the standing repair charge is actually higher than the cost of a new camera! I have also discovered that others with similar Nikon cameras are experiencing the same problems. I would not have expected a company with the reputation that Nikon has to have accepted such poor quality in one of their products, but unfortunately this seems to be commonplace nowadays.

Coming back to Marklin, it would be interesting to find out what percentage of failures or defects they get in relation to the number of products they sell. We always hear about the problems, but we don't always know how many buyers are perfectly happy with what they've bought.

Hi Mike,

I sympathize with your predicament, because I occasionally buy by ordering in advance, and getting it shipped by post.
Even though the dealer here is only 12km away.

In any case, when the fault is ascertained within a few weeks of receiving the model, I believe the best option is D.
This gives the dealer a choice, which in Australia, he/she is obliged BY LAW to follow up until you are satisfied.

If the model is older, and has been used, it is simply your choice of which method of return is most convenient to YOU.

Overall, yours and my model railroad budget needs to take account of returning costs (as % of purchases) either to the dealer, or (in NA) to Walthers, or to Goppingen.
Warranty on any item (cars, appliances, toys) never did include covering cost of shipping, or return for that matter. That is a fixed cost.

regards
Kimball

At this point, I am going to provide a link to the original topic: https://www.marklin-user...5--Issue.aspx#post452267

I had considered having the wires installed and soldered locally, but due to the fact that these cables run past the motor and cannot interfere with the movement of the motor bogie, a proper installation would require expert manipulation and as any work would technically void the warranty, I decided that there was little option other than to return the model for repairs.

I did ask the dealer if they had any others in stock. If they would have had one available, I would at least have asked them to test it to see if it was ok and if there was no issue, to hold it for exchange. Alas, they reported that they had special ordered a pair of locos and both had been sold. I did not find out if the other buyer also had the same issue.

I received a reply from Goeppingen stating that the customer is responsible for paying the shipping to Germany and Maerklin will pay for the repairs and shipping it back to the customer.
I replied that I did not think that the customer should have to pay what amounts to an extra 20% to get a model with the assembly error corrected. The onus should be on the company to deliver functional goods. I am waiting to see what kind of reply that I receive, but I have already taken some initial action.

Effective immediately, my dealers will be informed that all of my orders (locos) must come with a signed certificate from the supplier stating that the item has been inspected and all functions tested.
I have also decided that I will NOT be acquiring a second Maerklin Re 420 LION, meaning that my Zurich S-Bahn consist will have dual locomotives from another manufacturer.

So far, this adventure has cost me a little extra and has already cost the company at least 250 Euros in lost revenue.

Regards

Mike C

By the way, there is a dealer in Detmold that provides for return shipping in the event that
a model does not meet the buyers expectations

Regards, gene

I checked the USPS/DHL tracking information on the loco that I returned to Goeppingen for repairs and according to what I could find out, a customs/post notice was sent to Maerklin over two weeks ago and DHL still does not show that the loco has been picked up from the Post Office. I don't know how frequently Maerklin retrieves returned goods from the mail, but I would hope that it is more frequently than once a month.

Regards

Mike C

My conclusion was that;

1) DHL either don't properly inform the sending postal service or they don't listen or log it properly and
2) Marklin doesn't know what's going on between departments.

Best of luck,

Shane

I received a message from Maerklin saying that "Reparatureingang"

vielen Dank für Ihren Serviceauftrag und das damit in uns gesetzte Vertrauen. Das/Die von Ihnen
eingesandte/n Produkt/e wird/werden schnellstmöglich von uns wieder instand gesetzt.

I take it to mean that Maerklin has received my defective loco.

I would have like to have received a more personalized response and hope that the returned loco will be accompanied by a note or apology.

How hard can it be to write "Dear Sir: Upon inspection of the item your returned to us, we noted that there were wires missing on your locomotive and this will be immediately corrected and the model will be returned to you as quickly as possible. Thank you for your interest in Maerklin."

I still feel very definitely that the customer should not have to bear any additional expense to get a manufacturing flaw corrected. Especially not when it amounts to a 25%+ increase in the price of the item.

Regards

Mike C

I'm with you on this Mike, but I can also see the conundrum Marklin are in.

The first thing is that by and large, they are a German company primarily supplying and servicing German customers. Yeah yeah I know the anecdotes about more of their production going to Switzerland than anywhere else but you get my drift. So from that point of view, they have little control over where on the globe a customer might be located and freight from outer-Mongolia might be quite a tidy sum indeed. Therefore in the case of a Loco which was previously operating normally and then failed due to premature failure of a part etc the offer to repair free under warranty provided the item is sent to them at the owners expense is probably not unreasonable and certainly not out of line with other manufacturers.

But... having said all that, Marklin do choose to operate internationally, they make many many models specifically for the N.A market and frankly, if they were to decide to abandon ALL production and exports for and to countries outside Europe, could they even survive financially?

So, if it is indeed a documented manufacturing defect as appears to be the case, then in this instance I would argue that they should bear the freight cost both ways but absolutely they should return it at no cost to you. But I can also see that they do need to exercise some control over incoming freight costs, otherwise they'd have every T, D&H sending repairs back to them by chartered jet!! (ok, kidding slightly)

If it were to be a big enough problem, perhaps they should look at some form of Return Authorisation where they pre-vet warranty claims, and then if accepted THEY should arrange collection of the unit using their preferred freight company, ideally someone 'like' DHL who have worldwide representation etc, even if you needed to get it to their local depot armed with the consignment info and they would take it from there. You'd think M. would be able to negotiate the handling of something like this at far more competitive rates than customers doing it ad-hoc.

It would seem your only option is to bypass their Service Dept and direct your concern right to the top and let it filter down. At the end of the day, QC let them down on this, it should have been picked up much sooner and would serve as a reminder that a stitch in time saves nine.

Wonder if anyone did any tracking of the number of units that left with these wires missing, right down to recording Serial numbers because that would very quickly show a trend if you had 700 units all sequential and all with the same problem, 100% a manufacturing defect. On the other hand if they did catch it quickly and only say 150 went out well with the 'fault' (omission) at least they caught it, and the cost of covering freight for those units wouldn't cripple them.

Did I read earlier that you did in fact buy it from a Dealer at the other end of your country?, how would the freight costs there have compared with sending direct to Marklin? (at least it would have been their hassle from that point and possibly as a dealer they may have received a higher level of response?

Cheers

Steve