Connie drive gear

[armorsmith]

Mr Bachmann, can you give us a feel for when the Connie drive gear will be back in stock?

[the Bach-man]

The service department will know. Give them a call.
Thanks!
the Bach-man

[armorsmith]

Let's ping this to the top again.

I called the service department as suggested, and receive the same kind of evasive answer. NO HELP.

It is now almost three months later, and I call again.  This time I get a voice mail that says "Leave a name and number and we will get back to you."  When??

I asked the question here because my place of employment makes incoming phone calls difficult at best and I work the same hours as Bachmann industries.  I had hoped to see some response in the last three months.  Is this the same way my phone call will be answered?

If you don't know when they will be received, please just say so.  If they will not be produced again, please just say so.  Take a hint from the failure of Aristo Craft, anger the customers with poor service and evasive responses and the customer will go elsewhere.  Put simply, I am in engineering, I know how to replace the part another way, but I would rather replace it with a manufacturer's part.

How about the respect of a REAL reply instead of the usual evasiveness.

Regards

[Chuck N]

Barry at BARRYS BIG TRAINS in Phoenix does a lot of repairs on the CONNIE. Here is some contact information he posted on my large scale.com.



I am still here:

6822 W. Villa St.
Phoenix, AZ 85043
623-936-6088

[email protected]

Chuck

[Loco Bill Canelos]

You can get a perfectly good replacement gear from NWSL, no need to wait for Bachamnn

I don't remember the NWSL stock number, but it is listed on their website.

Bill

[armorsmith]

@Chuck - Thanks for the info, I am already well aware of Barry's repair and reputation.  I am also aware of pricing and my budget is thin right now.

@Bill - I am aware of NWSL's replacement gear, and I am sure I can find the part number if I hunt the site enough.  It is an option.

However I think both of you missed the point of my post.  It had less to do with the part than Bachmann's attitude toward their customers.  As was suggested, I called Customer Service the first time, and was met with a response that stated "This is customer service, you should have called parts.  Here is the 800 number."  The attitude in the voice was "Why are you bothering me with this."  That is not an appropriate attitude, and the answer should have been worded differently.  Maybe I should have read her the response from this forum directing me to call Customer Service.  That was then.

Yesterday when I called (the upstart of this follow on post), was nothing but multiple voice mail after multiple calls.  My prior experience with Bachmann leaving messages and writing emails has been FAR LESS than stellar.  I have waited three months for the first polite request for information to be replied to with real information, to no avail.  Apparently there are those who have Bachmann's attention and get responses, the rest of us seem to be ignored.  Customer service is at the customer's convenience, not the manufacturer's.

As I said above, I am in mechanical engineering, I know how and have the resources to source a replacement gear.  I just don't wish to spend my money or time re-engineering what the manufacturer already has.

It is customer service like this that makes me think, "For far less money than the MSRP on Bachmann's products I can scratch build a better product."  Then I look at the months of work it will take.  However, as the cost of fast prototyping for small runs continually comes down, it becomes more attractive every day. Sooner or later, the serious modeler will ditch Bachmann as a source of material (even if it is for bashing) in lieu of getting exactly what he wants for equal or less money.

Maybe a good supplier of scratch and bash parts is in the future.

[Chuck N]

I understand the customer service.  When the tender trucks on my Connie tender broke, they didn't have any and didn't know when they would.  Unless they are making the gear out of a different material, you will have the same problem again.  That gear and the tender trucks are the weak links in an otherwise very nice locomotive.  My experience has been that emails are a waste of time.  You have to call them.

Chuck

[armorsmith]

Chuck,

That was my point.  The replacement gear and axle on the parts web site (out of stock) is a brass gear as opposed to the cheap plastic it will replace.  I could send the broken axle and gear to any of several small gear producers and get an exact replacement, but for much more money.  All I really asked for was a REAL answer to an otherwise simple question.

FWIW

[Barry BBT]

NWSL part no. 2226-6

Barry

[Bucksco]

Call the direct number (215) 533-1600 and ask for Bridget Wallace.

[armorsmith]

Foreward Progress!!

Thank you Yardmaster!!

[chuckger]

  If you cant get a gear from Bachmann, the Northwest gear is a direct replacement. I replaced a gear in a connie im working on and it runs fine. There is a photo how to on changing the gear on LSC. I believe its in the Connie Thread.

  Chuckger

[Chuck N]

Armor, let us know if you are successful.  Chuck

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Barry, Thanks for posting the gear number!

For those interested, here is the link to the step by step instructions.

http://www.the-ashpit.com/mik/gear.html

[armorsmith]

@Chuckger - I am aware of the NWSL replacement, and have read many good reviews of it.  But it is still a plastic product.  I am looking for a brass gear.  At shows this loco may run for 6-8 hours continuous.  If I am going to spend the time to tear this thing apart to repair it, I am only going to do it one time.

@Chuck N - I will most definitely report back what is relayed to me.  With luck ( ) I will not get another version of "shuck and jive).

@Barry and Bill - Thanks for the part number for the NWSL gear and the link to the "how to".