First Broadway Limited experience, and it wasn't good


gizmo said:
Yesterday I received a BLI product and right out of the box pieces are broken off. I sent an email asking them how they planned to fix it and did not receive a reply. Business etiquette requires all messages be returned no more than one business day. As it was getting later in the day I tried to call several times but the calls were not answered. The last call received a message stating they were closed even though it was during published business hours. I will not buy another BLI product and will give them bad press at every opportunity due to the poor response. I believe very strongly that it's not if you have an issue with a company but how quickly and effectively they handle it that determines their integrity. BLI has failed miserably in this regard.
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Buy any MTH product, and have a need to talk to anybody at customer service there about it, and let us know how it goes.
 
gizmo said:
Yesterday I received a BLI product and right out of the box pieces are broken off. I sent an email asking them how they planned to fix it and did not receive a reply. Business etiquette requires all messages be returned no more than one business day. As it was getting later in the day I tried to call several times but the calls were not answered. The last call received a message stating they were closed even though it was during published business hours. I will not buy another BLI product and will give them bad press at every opportunity due to the poor response. I believe very strongly that it's not if you have an issue with a company but how quickly and effectively they handle it that determines their integrity. BLI has failed miserably in this regard.
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I would not be so quick to come to the conclusion that BLI and their customer service are horrible. First off its a Friday and not to mention they may shut down for Christmas, they dont have many employees as I understand it. I own 2 BLI steam locos, a 2-8-2 and a 4-8-4. Both are of their recent Paragon 2 line. Both came with issues. The Mike had a couple of broken parts and the Northern had a large scratch on one of the drivers. In both instances I emailed BLI and received a response within a few days which is perfectly reasonable for a company of their size. Within a week or so I received my parts in the mail at no cost. I installed them on my own and enjoy running my locos when I can. I am a very satisfied customer. Be patient, they will take care of you.
 
eric2448 said:
I would not be so quick to come to the conclusion that BLI and their customer service are horrible. First off its a Friday and not to mention they may shut down for Christmas, they dont have many employees as I understand it. I own 2 BLI steam locos, a 2-8-2 and a 4-8-4. Both are of their recent Paragon 2 line. Both came with issues. The Mike had a couple of broken parts and the Northern had a large scratch on one of the drivers. In both instances I emailed BLI and received a response within a few days which is perfectly reasonable for a company of their size. Within a week or so I received my parts in the mail at no cost. I installed them on my own and enjoy running my locos when I can. I am a very satisfied customer. Be patient, they will take care of you.
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Yes, this. They can be slow to respond, but they are a small operation, their tech help department is all of four people, and it's the holiday season. They DO get back to you, and they're quite helpful, as you should see further up this thread from when I had my problem. Since then, I've bought three more items from them with only one minor issue, a missing instruction sheet, which they emailed me next day.
 
I know BLI's people all went home Thursday night, and only one came in yesterday, and he left at noon. The only reason he came in was to send out a smoke unit fan motor to me, he was going to leave as soon as the mail was picked up.
I don't remember seeing anywhere either in the warranty paperwork or on BLI's website where they promised 24 hour response to any real or perceived issues.
It is not a computer or something that requires 24/7 support, it is supposed to be part of a hobby.
 
Again, I just checked both their website, and every piece of paper I have that ever came from Broadway, and nowhere in any of it does it say they will respond to you within one business day. That is only YOUR expectation, not reality. Therefore, your complaint is unfounded. Even if they did have staff available for 24/7 support, they can't email parts to you, or repair your train via email or telephone.


And don't expect a lot of sympathy here if all you joined this forum to do is complain about a particular manufacturer. That is a quick path to become a former forum member, no matter what forum or which manufacturer.
 
It is a real shame that Bowser has chosen to discontinue and destroy all the tooling for the Mantua steamers! (I understand that the tooling is worn out and the cost of replacement probably couldn't be justified by potential sales.) But I have had more good luck with the old Mantua/Tyco steam locomotives than anything else, except maybe the older Athearn blue box diesels! Yes, the Mantua drive trains with the direct drive and open frame motors were not the best. Installation of a gear box, either the cast type that bolts to the frame above the bull gear on the powered driver axle, and that has the worm gear in it, or, when they were available, the late Harold Mellor's stamped brass ones. (Yardbird Classic Trains had a few of the first type, took care of the gearing problems. The next step was to install a can motor. (In my case, most of my locos have Canon 22mm coreless motors...not made anymore.) Of course a decoder and sound for DCC operations would be a plus. But, I've had better luck with these, and kitbashed a bunch of Mikados into 2-10-2's and 2-10-4's, as well as creating a 4-8-4 from their Pacific and a 4-wheel trailing truck. Also I made a great Mountain from parts of the front end of a Pacific and the back of a Mike. I've considered adding DCC and sound, but have heard that the coreless motors can be prone to overheating when operated from a decoder. As I have over 50 locos of various brands that are DC, I can't justify converting the DC equipped ones. I have bought several DCC units, mostly diesels, but don't plan to convert most DC units due to cost.
 
Gizmo, this is a tough time of the year to get fast technical response from any MR company. Most all are swamped with customer orders for Christmas and have very little time for anything else. I know the disappointment you felt with the failure of a new engine, but there is no reason to auto-condemn a product line or the company because of it. Your predicament is not unusual in the hobby with any company. They are all relatively small and with few employees. It would be nice if they performed an inspection and/or a run-test on the units we order, but there is no time and you would pay much more on the end with much longer shipping times.

Ref. BLI: I have 11 BLI and two PCM (same company) units that date from 10 years ago to present. All give and have given excellent road service and loads of enjoyment.
Be patient and relax...that is what the hobby is about.:)
 
I understand. Perhaps I was a little too quick in my original post which I have since updated as well. I guess I just have to let the dust settle and see how it plays out.
 
I have 6 BLI products, 2 steamers, 2 GG1s, an NE2 and a CZ Pullman. I am fortunate in that I have not had a problem needing their support department. Some of their more recent offerings seem to have problems with increased frequency, based on comments from the different forums. However, that seems to be a problem with ant product imported from China of late. I had some QC problems with Athearn genesis products, which were resolved to my satisfaction. The reply time from my initial complaint was about a week. None of these importers maintain a large staff, but from my experience they will all work with you if you let them.

joe
 
im lucky i have the older bli big boy & no issues ,but like i posted before when i did need a harness they send it for nothing :) so i cant complain
 
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