4.14.2009

Fleischmann and Trix Warranty Woes and Cheers

A quick post to share my (limited) experience with warranty service from the two main German N Scale manufacturers. I write this as I just shipped off my Kof II back to the dealer who will likely send it back to Germany for warranty service (unaccountable stops and stalls, which I think are more than just a symptom of the locomotives limited electrical contacts and dirty track issues). I am somewhat optimistic, as my one other experience with Trix was very positive.

And since these manufacturers do offer at least a one year (I see most are moving to two year) warranties, I intend to take advantage of it!

Trix / Marklin: "CHEERS!"
My Trix Mobile Station stopped working late last summer. Unable to resolve this through the manual, I took the somewhat intimidating step of collecting my reciept, composing a mail, and shipping the Mobile Station off to the Trix repair address in Germand.
Within a couple of weeks, I recieved an email notification that they had recieved my item and were working on it.
Less than 5 weeks after sending it, it was returned to me and has worked perfectly since then.
In my estimate, excellent service and responsiveness from Trix / Marklin.

Fleischmann: "Jeers"

I purchased a Fleischmann digital starter set last year, but had some problems with the Class 64 steam locomotive that came with it. Apparantly, it seems like it could be the drive rods are binding up, or something is wrong with the motor. I returned it to the dealer, and after an intial attempt to repair, I still experienced the same symptoms (jerky movement, stopping). The dealer then sent it back to Fleischmann in Germany for repair. Unfortunatly, this was back in late September, and as May is approaching, that means over 6 months with the manufacturer.
As my dealer explained to me, the Fleischmann/Roco merger is not going all that smoothly and a lot of things are delayed and not going entirely well. Be that as it may, 6 months for a warranty repair? Seems very excessive.

Again, neither of the above are representative examples given the small sample, but clearly my confidence in getting back a repaired Kof II from Trix (however, there's obviously the bankruptcy issue with Marklin / Trix at this time!) is much higher given their fantastic performance with the Mobile Station.

3 comments:

  1. You are lucky - any Japanese items sold outside the country are NOT officially covered by any warranty :-(

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  2. Indeed, even getting parts for Japanese trains can be a pain (I speak here from experience). That said, I've heard tell of some people successfully sending their Micro Ace trains off for warranty service…

    Still. I would be nervous at 6 months with no news. I feel for you!

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  3. I'd like to believe its because the Japanese quality is so much better that they don't need a warranty! :-)

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