After Sales Service Bachmann (China)

[Udo]

Hello Bachmann,

some time ago, I asked you for support with some sapres to make my 2-6-6-2 running smooth.

As I live in China, I was thinking, I am close to the origin of the loco, so it would be easy......

You could not help me for some contacts....

But you could "alarm" the factory earlier for some loose srews.....

I found out a contact at Bachmann China Shanghai.

They tried to help. They transferred my mail to the "factory".

Meanwhile I got an answer:

"No spares available in the factory"

Do you call that "after sales service" ?

I have the feeling, that the "factory" is just a subcontractor without any after sales responsibility.

Best regards,

Udo

[CCSII]

Udo

Where are you in China (we traveled there a year or so ago, Yunnan, Tibet, Sechwan etc.) Perhaps if you posted what parts you needed and a shipping address, someone here could help you (stupid to send parts from China to USA to China but that may be the best way.)

Charley

[Udo]

Hello Charly !

Thanks for your offer.

I have a flat close to Chengdu (capital of Sichuan Province), but due to my work, in the moment I am living about 200km north west of Shanghai.

So to get in touch with bachmann Shanghai is no problem.

What I need for my 2-6-6-2 is in principle the gear box of the rear truck complete, including motor.

This gear box makes a squeezing noise if going forward, reverse its silent.

I tried to find out the reason for that and disassembled the gear box.

The first pinion, wher the worm gear from the motor works on, has big clearence in axial direction. Ther are aslo 2 small ball bearings.

On one side is a small brass washer, which supports the inner ring of the bearing to the housing, so this side should be OK and the outer ring of the bearing cannot touch the housing.

The other side is the problem. There is no such washer and the bearing is a little bit deep in the gear, so the outer ring and the gear touch the housing, driven to this side by the angle of the worm gear.

I made some small washer from hard plastic (I don't have other suitable material here) and the result is better.

The noise is still there but more silent.

Because I don't want to change the loco, which Bachmann China offered to me already. I asked them for either a gear box or a complete rear truck.

In my loco I have already installed a sound system and also made some other electrical changes, so the loco is not longer !as built".

I also told them, that the money should not be a problem.

I I would get a complete truck, I could use the old one for kit bashing.

This is the solution I would prefer.

To send some parts, whose origin is China, via the US back to China is not only stupid, but also expensive. I my job, we cal something like that "material tourism".

I think, if I would get a truck this way, I could better buy a complete new loco in Shanghai.

What I would appreciate is if Bachmann US contacts Bachmann China (factory) to push them.

China is a big market for Model railway.

bachmann has 3 shops in Shanghai. They only sell what they just have in stock. They cannot order anything from the catalogue for you.

There is only one small other model railway shop in Shanghai, a branche from a Hong Kong Dealer.

He has a very good service, he can arrange everything, but also has problems with Bachmann China.

I like the Bachmann locos very much. Sometimes the performance of the factory assembly is not sufficient, but this I can suffer. I am used to deal with Chinese products... and also with the chinese mentality.

Here, everything is possible, it only depends on the will of the person who you ask.

That guy from Bachmann Shanghai (Mr. Rick Li) tried to help.

But for the factory the problem seems to be "peanuts", and they don't like Peanuts.....

Udo

[CCSII]

Udo - Ni Hao Ma

We were in Chengdu a year ago last November. Stayed at the great "Tibet Hotel" just around the corner from the Wenshu Monastery. We enjoyed it and the Wuhou Memorial Temple and walking along the river. We took a two day trip to Wolong to see the pandas there. The hot Sechuan food was fabulous. We also saw the Sechuan Opera which was a little touristy but fun.

I do not own the new Bachmann engine but would be willing to try and get the part(s) you need and ship them to you. It would probably be best if we communicated by e-mail. My address is: charlessuggs(at)sbcglobal.net

Be sure and substitute "@" for "(at)" in my address. Send me an e-mail and we can work out the details (exact part, shipping address and so forth.) Let's see if we can get this solved.

Charley

[jebouck]

It's a sad day when someone living where the product is made can't even go to the factory and purchase a part.

[CCSII]

GM manufactured cars 20 miles north of us. I doubt I could have gone to the factory to get a part (admittedly cars and G scale are different but factories are often similar.) POS (point of sale) was at the dealers. Factories seldom have the Invoices, cashiers, cash, or even an office to handle such.

On the other hand, that GM factory could very well have told me where to go (not that) to get my part. Udo got no such assistance.

Charley

[andyb]

"material tourism" - that's a great phrase, Udo!  - but sadly it's so true ...

[Udo]

Hello Bachmann !

Meanwhile I found out, that all the Bachmann products (made in China) come from a company named "Kader industries", main office in Hong Kong (100 to 200 people). This company has factotries in the mainland of China with more than 5000 people.

They produce any kind of toys for a lot of different companies.

I have an E-mail address of this company, but I think, because it is too big and I don't know, which department is responsible for Bachmann products, it will be useless to contact them myself.

What I don't understand is, that neither Bachmann US nor Bchmann China is able to help me with some spares although I am willing to pay for that, I don't want them free of charge......

I know from other companies in the toy train sector, that it is no problem to get any spares....

I really hope, that Bachmann finds a way to solve this problem....

Udo