Bachmann Arry and Bert rant

[MrNormalDraws]

I'm not very happy at the moment as both the Ironworks Twins I got for Christmas (Arry and Bert) have faults in them recently and I don't know if it's just the fault with the toy or if it's from the retailer I got them from. I got them mainly due to the fact that Bachmann were gonna discontinue them and I figure getting them before they're gone, as I wanted to avoid the Salty dilemma.

I bought them from ModelTrainStuff as they had a Black Friday sale and got them a week later due to a backlog the store was having. I got both them within, but I got issues with Arry as he doesn't run the same as Bert. Mainly that unless he's going at high speeds, if he goes in a slow speed, he somewhat jitters. I tried him out on Bachmann and Hornby tracks, and he still has the same issue. I sent Arry to Bachmann a few weeks ago, but they didn't fix the problem as I still experience the same problem as before.

Then just recently when I was playing with Bert, he suddenly stopped. I never did anything bad with them, as I only play the toys at least a few times a month as I don't want to wear them out.

So I'm not happy at Bachmann as they didn't fix the issue with Arry, and also at ModelTrainStuff as they gave me faulty versions of the two characters. Because of what happened to Arry, I decided to waste money on getting duplicates just in case

I don't know, maybe I just have bad luck getting these two at the wrong time.

[Chaz]

Contact their service department again and inform them of the issue with 'Arry.  I had a similar problem with my Edward model and I had to mail it back to them twice since the model came back even worse the second time around.  They were able to send me a new one in return once I mailed the old model.  'Arry is still in stock in their web store so I would contact them and explain the situation and ask if you can get a new model after having to send it in a second time.

With Bert, I'd say make sure your track is clean after not running it after a while and checking to see if Bert needs to have his wheels cleaned or oiled.  Try that and see if that does any good.

[MrNormalDraws]

I decided to contact Bachmann and Laura told me that I can replace Arry with another engine, but not the same one as they don't have him at the moment (whenever or not that means they won't make anymore or that they're just out until they can restock). So I send in a letter in the parcel to just give me another Bert (They're exactly the same, but I can remove some of the stubble to make that Bert look like Arry after Haydn said that won't matter)

I already sent my original Bert to the place, but they won't get it until Monday as the package will be there when they're closed on the weekend.

[MrNormalDraws]

I'm just frustrated on the issue with Arry.

So because I send both Arry and Bert to the place, they mistakenly replaced Bert with another Bert instead of replacing Arry with a new Bert. So I send Arry again late last week/early this week to get him replaced with Bert, but they don't believe me and instead just send Arry back today. By this point, I just feel like giving up

I can't send Arry again to Bachmann as their offices are closed until the end of the month, and even then, I don't know if they can do anything about it. I recorded a video showing what the issue is to show Bachmann that I'm not making the story up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx7hKTh_gfw

I'm kinda tempting on open the spare Arry I got from Amazon as I don't know by this point if the Arry I have right now is gonna act out.

[Chaz]

Just by the sound of your video, that definitely sounds like the motor is burning out in the model.  The good news about that though is you won't necessarily need to replace the whole model per se, but you could just buy the same motor/chassis for Diesel in their parts catalog since they are basically the same motor and tooling:

https://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68_93_612&products_id=6340&zenid=hk6pb4o6mj8lfuu3k00iotaqu3

I would try calling their service department once Bachmann is open again next month if you can first and explain the whole thing to them again.  Like I mentioned earlier, once I explained what happened with my Edward model they were able to send a new one my way for free.  But if not, the parts catalog might be your best bet.

Sorry that this is still an ongoing issue for you!

[MrNormalDraws]

By this point, I just feel like giving up. Because of the outbreak, it's likely I'll never be able to get my Arry issue fix as there's a tweet that it's more likely that they're gonna be closed for the next month. If they're not gonna be open by next Monday, I'm just sell this Arry and buy him from another site as I just feel like nothing's done.
https://twitter.com/bachmanntrains/status/1244995909546582016

If someone at the workshop would've know that how Arry wasn't working properly right away, then maybe this whole issue would've been avoid. But instead they just said they tested it, even though I know there's something wrong with it. And I can't send it to any local shops as non-essential business' are closed at the while.

The lesson I learned from this whole calamity is to never buy anything from ModelTrainStuff, because whenever I get something from them, there's a fault (Both the Ironwork Twins failed, and Oliver got a scratch on his right pupil).

[TrainFan97]

I usually buy my models off ModelTrainStuff, and I don't usually run into glaring issues like you did. I don't think it's the site. You must have gotten defective models.

[MrNormalDraws]

If I get another Arry at ebay, should I just hold onto my old one until Bachmann reopens their store (if they don't open by Monday) to see if I can get just a different engine or just sell my defective model on ebay?

Also, is that 2 year protection plan worth getting?