Kestrel wrote:2002EarlMarischal, I ordered mine on 17/12/12 as well but I, like you, must have ordered it after 'x' number of orders had been taken, and 'x' will receive the locos and you and I will have to wait or go elsewhere. Simple as that. Neither of us have a divine right to having one.
Missing my point old chap!
The problem in my case seems to be that their system changed my order date from 17 December 2012 to 17 February 2014!!
Sending me my J11, which was ordered separately and much later, appears to have triggered the problem, so it now appears to them that I placed the order this year rather than 2 years ago.
THAT is why I am somewhat indignant - not for any reasons of divine right!
I was also trying to warn other members of the Forum who might be caught out in the same way!
If you do ever have your phone call returned Jim, I (and others I imagine) would be very interested to know, if you can pry the information out of Hattons, just what is the cut-off date and time for orders that will still be honoured. All the better if they also can tell you truthfully and reliably what is going on with the Railroad model, especially delivery date and the extent of availability to those who have ordered one of those.......
I'll PM you about that other question shortly too.
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Spotted in The Metro this morning: a tiny piece on Hornby's continued financial problems, blamed on 'supply issues from China'. This is across the whole range, model railways, Scalextric, Airfix etc etc etc. Very frustrating- this isn't a new problem and frankly as it's been an ongoing issue for the last few years (with seemingly precious little action taken) you do have to wonder in the short term whether CotN will appear this summer and in the long term whether we'll still be able to go into a shop and buy something in a red & yellow box.
Kestrel wrote:2002EarlMarischal, I ordered mine on 17/12/12 as well but I, like you, must have ordered it after 'x' number of orders had been taken, and 'x' will receive the locos and you and I will have to wait or go elsewhere. Simple as that. Neither of us have a divine right to having one.
Missing my point old chap!
The problem in my case seems to be that their system changed my order date from 17 December 2012 to 17 February 2014!!
Sending me my J11, which was ordered separately and much later, appears to have triggered the problem, so it now appears to them that I placed the order this year rather than 2 years ago.
THAT is why I am somewhat indignant - not for any reasons of divine right!
I was also trying to warn other members of the Forum who might be caught out in the same way!
Hi 2002
I think I lost some parts in the translation. Anyway, I've just spoken to Hatton's again and it seems the system is that when you order an item, an Order ID and date are generated. If you order another item before the first is sold, that goes on the same Order ID. When the first item is sold, that retains its Order ID but the other item then gets a new Order ID and date, and so on.
We both ordered P2s and J11s and so the JIIs took the original ID and date and the P2s had new ones.
My P2 has gone through 3 Order IDs and order dates, but Paul Hill assured me that the P2 is now back to its original Order ID and date and I stand a good chance of receiving one, although he said he couldn't tell me where I was in the pecking order.
I mentioned to him that the easiest way to avoid this happening again is to give every item ordered its own Order ID and date, which it would then retain until it was sold. It's so simple but he wasn't sure if their computer could do it. Surely the answer to that is to enter everything separately. It may take longer but the job would be done properly.
After all this, I hope the lining is better on the wheels than it is on the one in Tony Wright's video. On one drive wheel, the white line is not central whilst on others it's chipped or missing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfEgc5XDZbc
James Harrison wrote:Spotted in The Metro this morning: a tiny piece on Hornby's continued financial problems, blamed on 'supply issues from China'. This is across the whole range, model railways, Scalextric, Airfix etc etc etc. Very frustrating- this isn't a new problem and frankly as it's been an ongoing issue for the last few years (with seemingly precious little action taken) you do have to wonder in the short term whether CotN will appear this summer and in the long term whether we'll still be able to go into a shop and buy something in a red & yellow box.
It's been reported in a fair few papers. Third profit warning in two years, apparently.
Still, I'm only interested in the new-generation RTR models when they get broken or damaged, as that means useful body spares - the sort of thing that Hornby just isn't geared up to supply any more.
Kestrel wrote:Paul Hill assured me that the P2 is now back to its original Order ID and date and I stand a good chance of receiving one, although he said he couldn't tell me where I was in the pecking order.
I mentioned to him that the easiest way to avoid this happening again is to give every item ordered its own Order ID and date, which it would then retain until it was sold. It's so simple but he wasn't sure if their computer could do it. Surely the answer to that is to enter everything separately. It may take longer but the job would be done properly.
I missed Paul Hill's call today but he left me a message saying my original order was good and I would receive the model. He has now gone on holiday for 2 weeks.
I would have preferred something in writing but will have to be content and hope for the best. (Not sure how long I can save a mobile phone message ).
I'm afraid I just find this whole business of moving over to pre-ordering, then subsequently pleading with the suppliers, deeply depressing (in so far as anything concerning little trains can be so). I sympathise with the production-scheduling difficulties faced by the main "brands", but I cannot help reflecting that "greed", "over-ambition", and a desire to impose supply-side constraints on the market rather than to have to respond to demand have not a little to do with this.....
The really crazy part about all this cr*p about limiting stock, and selling in house is, the few people that manage to get the model then put them on E-Bay and make a bigger profit than Hornby/Bachmann.
By e-mail today, Hattons have belatedly revised the delivery date for the Railroad model to "July". I thought that might be the ultimate truth, as the nearest thing I had to a reliable inside source suggested a while ago that it would be July for both versions, although this was in the midst of a confusing number of rapidly changing forecast dates. None of the forecasts referred to a later date I'm pleased to say.......
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Businesses generally fail because not enough people want to buy the things they produce.
Here we have a market that is very keen for the P2 and now it looks like there will not be enough to go around.
I can't remember the exact date when my pre-order went into Hattons, but it was a while ago. I'll be very disappointed if, after waiting so long, I get bumped off the list.
The really crazy part about all this cr*p about limiting stock, and selling in house is, the few people that manage to get the model then put them on E-Bay and make a bigger profit than Hornby/Bachmann.
manna
Ticket touts work on the same principle, which is why you can't buy seats for shows, concerts, etc. any more.
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