[tripoli]

For those who had not caught it on other threads, I had placed an order with a Century Wings distributor in England to get the Jolly Rogers AJ200 since all the other distributors had sold out at the time I placed my order. I was willing to pay the extra cost, double the cost of getting one here in the US because I really wanted to have the Jolly Rogers pair in my collection. As luck would have it, I received the plane with the nose of the # 202 plane and the wings of the 200 plane model.
I tried contacting the original seller and did not hear back and contacted CW directly hoping I could get compensated for the total cost I had paid to get the defective model. The reply was that they would only cover the model and not take responsibility for any extra cost in dealing with their distributors. Hoping to get the full compensation in trade I posted here hoping someone would step up for CW. After posting, I heard back from the England shop, but the issue became the cost of return. It would cost another $ 60 to return the model, which did not make sense given I could buy another one for the cost of just returning it. We both posted hoping that CW would take care of this through their US distributor network, as most business distribution networks do. The Flying Mule here in the US balked at the idea of having to handle the issue and did not want to cover the initial cost at first or the extra cost in the end. I was referred to CW as it was considered their issue, not a local official distributor.
Going back to CW, I had the same response, they would handle the shipping to and fro and only replace the model with one, definitely would not factor in my cost with dealing with another distributor of theirs. In the end, I figured I would get one good model out of it all after spending hours trying to deal with this and at a cost of $ 114 for the original model.
Sure enough, Century wings swallowed the cost of returning it to Japan and shipping it back to me with a replacement model of my choice of the models available at the time. I received the one model as promised today.

Still a bit peeved at the cost I had to eat on this, I do have some questions to ask.
Why would CW spend another $ 120 dollars to have the model shipped back to Japan and forth back to me in the US when they could do it more cheaply through the US distributor, and with better customer service and relations? Even if it was just one model being returned, why not contact their US official distributor and have them ship one or two at a much cheaper price and give credit to the distributor directly from CW? After all, that that’s what real business networks are about. The customer would get better service, hopefully better compensated and it would be better public relations with the customer. The way this was handled, everyone looses. I cannot believe the bull headed foolishness in handling it this way.

The only thing I can assume from this is that CW does not have a real distribution network in place. It’s a flat buy and sell distribution with no relation to the manufacturer to the distributors and then customer. Although this does not make sense given the wing edge replacement policy, it’s the only explanation for the total fumble and huge cost by both me and Century Wings in handling this particular problem.

I work in a family business. They can be good for bad depending on the family, in my case without a raise in the last eight years it’s the latter. So my hobby dollars are carefully spent when I do go for something like this. More over, I work with close to different 400 companies in the US and round the world including China. 99 % of those I work with rely on their distribution networks for cases like this. Otherwise, the cost of business gets too high at the cost to the customer. This Hobby of aircraft modeling certainly is building hobby industry. Why would any business that made this obvious of a production mistake not try to make up for it with their customer in such a competitive environment?
I choose carefully which product I am going to spend my heard earned dollars on. When I go out of the way on a product and something like this happens, I hope a company will respond in kind with top customer service. I have to do so everyday with my customers in my business. I will go under in my business industry if I don't. My company won't deal with companies that screw the customer in any fashion. The customer and quality has to come first. Especially now with the economy tightening, disposable income shrinks with it and that means less dollars are likely to be spent if customer service is not at its best.

Did not see it here with Century Wings. Not with the defective product, the customer relations and not with the customer service afterwards. Worse, I saw an in-effective distributor network totally not working together with a total disconnect top down. Finally, the solution posed showed a supreme costly effort and on Century Wings side that left both sides unhappy I am sure with the resulting action for the resolution.

[lanslide]

Hi Tripoli - sorry to hear you are still upset. If I may ask, what business are you in?

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by tripoli

For those who had not caught it on other threads, I had placed an order with a Century Wings distributor in England to get the Jolly Rogers AJ200 since all the other distributors had sold out at the time I placed my order. I was willing to pay the extra cost, double the cost of getting one here in the US because I really wanted to have the Jolly Rogers pair in my collection. As luck would have it, I received the plane with the nose of the # 202 plane and the wings of the 200 plane model.
I tried contacting the original seller and did not hear back and contacted CW directly hoping I could get compensated for the total cost I had paid to get the defective model. The reply was that they would only cover the model and not take responsibility for any extra cost in dealing with their distributors. Hoping to get the full compensation in trade I posted here hoping someone would step up for CW. After posting, I heard back from the England shop, but the issue became the cost of return. It would cost another $ 60 to return the model, which did not make sense given I could buy another one for the cost of just returning it. We both posted hoping that CW would take care of this through their US distributor network, as most business distribution networks do. The Flying Mule here in the US balked at the idea of having to handle the issue and did not want to cover the initial cost at first or the extra cost in the end. I was referred to CW as it was considered their issue, not a local official distributor.
Going back to CW, I had the same response, they would handle the shipping to and fro and only replace the model with one, definitely would not factor in my cost with dealing with another distributor of theirs. In the end, I figured I would get one good model out of it all after spending hours trying to deal with this and at a cost of $ 114 for the original model.
Sure enough, Century wings swallowed the cost of returning it to Japan and shipping it back to me with a replacement model of my choice of the models available at the time. I received the one model as promised today.

Still a bit peeved at the cost I had to eat on this, I do have some questions to ask.
Why would CW spend another $ 120 dollars to have the model shipped back to Japan and forth back to me in the US when they could do it more cheaply through the US distributor, and with better customer service and relations? Even if it was just one model being returned, why not contact their US official distributor and have them ship one or two at a much cheaper price and give credit to the distributor directly from CW? After all, that

Considering that you got screwed from one distributor already and I don't think that CW has any responsibility over how Distributors handle themselves, you should be lucky that CW is dealing with you directly to get this resolved as best as they can. And most probably in a more timely manner. If they send it out to the distributor, and the distributor falls over and delays sending you the item are you still going to complain that CW didn't pressure them to get it to you ASAP? And what if that distributor ships you out one with a gap problem that they forgot to check. You're going to complain to CW again aren't you? To be honest, I think you are really being unfair towards a company that does an excellent job and much better than the rest. Try getting the same result from Dragon.

[tripoli]

Finished the post, got interrupted here and cut it off midpost.
I work in the vitamin supplements field, alternative medicine as it has been coined. Part of my job is to run a mail order department, I oversee the books, work with customers directly and with distribution from ordering raw materials for distribution to manufacturers, to dealing with multiple company networks for wholesale and retail sales. It's a billion dollar industry although a decent portion of this industry still runs ma and pa like shops. Ours is a middle ground sized business. Still working as an in between from the largest companies distributing to smaller businesses as well directly to the public. The mail order has been a super part of our business , growing each year quite well. Great especially because the local economy here in has tanked. Having diversified a bit, we are able to much better able to hold our own better than the other smaller industry businesses. Still I would love to take our business to a higher level but I am lower on the family tree totem pole. Had to fight to start an internet business end years ago getting bawled out for "not knowing the internet was a passing fad". Like working in Dilbert enviroment. I guess experiencing situations like this just does not sit well for me, I am extremely competative for both the business end and my customers as well.

[lanslide]

Tripoli, sounds like interesting work but you should consider writing novels for a living! I'm an architect in Fort Lauderdale but I should have been a pilot!

[Andrew]

All I can say is that ONLY you are discomforted by this. If there were more than it would be a serious issue. I sure am glad they are out there and I've been really happy and with their products and service. I've never had a problem dealing with them. If anything, you should attack the distributor/retailor for screwing you over.

My screwed up experience was with buying some Witty stands from Flying Mule. But i'm not going to go and bag Witty for that. Overall, CW has done a fantastic job.

[lanslide]

Trip, I started my diecast collection 10 years ago how about you?

[stalag8611]

Tripoli I've been following your posts, and the responses, and your issue is not with CW, but with a questonable seller. So, since you live in Toledo and are familiar with the American idiom, I suggest you "suck it up" and get on with your life. NB: Don't use the dealer again or, better yet,. advise readers of this forum, via PM, just who the dealer is.

[hworth18]

This topic was already discussed in another thread that was locked, and is not to be reopened..