Is ordering directly from Hornby the best option?

[Michael Hodgson]

On 23/01/2022 at 19:59, Robin Brasher said:

 Is ordering directly from Hornby the best option?

 

 

IMHO ordering from Accurascale is a better option!

[steve45]

Exactly what I've done. Instead of buying a Caprotti Black Five I've ordered an Accurascale Deltic, a big difference I know but Rule 1 applies in this case and it looks as if its going to be a lot better than any Hornby offering.

 

The TV series on Hornby was an eye opener, if a loco manages to negotiate a series of points on the Hornby layout it was deemed to be a good runner and could enter production............Really????

 

I have far more confidence in the boys from Accurascale

[Dunsignalling]

14 minutes ago, steve45 said:

Exactly what I've done. Instead of buying a Caprotti Black Five I've ordered an Accurascale Deltic, a big difference I know but Rule 1 applies in this case and it looks as if its going to be a lot better than any Hornby offering.

 

The TV series on Hornby was an eye opener, if a loco manages to negotiate a series of points on the Hornby layout it was deemed to be a good runner and could enter production............Really????

 

I have far more confidence in the boys from Accurascale

 

The TV series was roughly 70% entertainment 20% BS and only 10% documentary.

 

The 10% was about Airfix kits and the loco tests were part of the 20%.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[amwells]

12 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

IMHO ordering from Accurascale is a better option!

Direct or via a model shop? 

[slow8dirty]

7 hours ago, amwells said:

Direct or via a model shop? 

Plenty of Accurascale stockists around, that I'd have a lot more confidence ordering from than trying to get Hornby to honour a pre-order. Probably due to them trying to build a dealer network as they've grown, not tear one down.

[Mike Bellamy]

9 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

The TV series was roughly 70% entertainment 20% BS and only 10% documentary.

 

The 10% was about Airfix kits and the loco tests were part of the 20%.

 

Very interesting to see who clicked on "Agree" for that comment . . . . 

.

[amwells]

15 hours ago, slow8dirty said:

Plenty of Accurascale stockists around, that I'd have a lot more confidence ordering from than trying to get Hornby to honour a pre-order. Probably due to them trying to build a dealer network as they've grown, not tear one down.

Completely agree.

I think there is risk of personal double standards though - and to be clear, I would not call myself virtuous!
 

I have ordered most Accurascale directly through their website. On the contrary, I’ve only just ‘dipped my toe’ in with the web special Black 5 with Hornby, but I can see that may grow.  Does it make it ‘bad’ that one started online (and sells certain items direct only) and another only worked out the margin improvement from selling directly later on (and is struggling to demonstrate sustainable profitability)?

[SamThomas]

On 11/02/2022 at 17:09, Dunsignalling said:

Hornby may be the "the household name", but Hoover bears witness to that status not doing much to protect market share in the face of a growing number of innovative competitors.

Very true, many years ago I spent a short time working in an old fashioned electrical shop & many people came in to buy "Electrolux Hoover bags" !

 

For years people called any electric drill a "Black & Decker", probably many other examples long forgotton.

[Hroth]

Yesterday I decided to put in a pre-order for one of Hornbys more expensive items, so went to my usual on-line retailers to see if it were still available. To be honest, I wasn't surprised that none were listing it (I had left things a bit late...) until l got to the Kernow announcement.

 

As Hornby are still offering it as a pre-order, I get the feeling that other retailers may be doing the same as Kernow, but not saying as such.

 

Anyhow, Hornby have lost out as I've decided  not to go ahead if they're the only option.

 

[Dunsignalling]

Apart from the Caprotti Black Five, I'm only buying one other Hornby loco this year, and that was despatched by Kernow yesterday afternoon. 

 

However they sell them, they first have to make something I want....

 

John

Edited February 16, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[Widnes Model Centre]

23 hours ago, Hroth said:

Yesterday I decided to put in a pre-order for one of Hornbys more expensive items, so went to my usual on-line retailers to see if it were still available. To be honest, I wasn't surprised that none were listing it (I had left things a bit late...) until l got to the Kernow announcement.

 

As Hornby are still offering it as a pre-order, I get the feeling that other retailers may be doing the same as Kernow, but not saying as such.

 

Anyhow, Hornby have lost out as I've decided  not to go ahead if they're the only option.

 

 

We are certainly very wary of taking preorders.

 

We still have items that you could put on the "Endangered List". We have fallen foul of the "I ordered from multiple retailers to make sure I got my loco". We appear to have been down their list in Alphabetical Order and still have preorders that were not taken up. This deprives the customer who normally only places orders with us and then has to go elsewhere due to us reaching our allocation. At the same time we have had preorders not taken up as we are Tier 2 and even the most trustworthy customers thought we might not be able to get their item from Hornby.

They then bought direct from Hornby to ensure they get their item. Theme here ?

(The actual fact is that we never let any customer down who had their orders confirmed by us. We only sell what we have been allocated and not one item more.)

 

The problem this creates with limited numbers is that there is often nothing to put on the shelf next to the Laminated Book of Dreams and Broken Promises. Also known as the Hornby Catalogue.

 

This even applies to preordering new release Airfix kits. These are not limited but customers think going direct is the safest route.

 

 

 

[Mike Bellamy]

31 minutes ago, Widnes Model Centre said:

 

We are certainly very wary of taking preorders.

We have fallen foul of the "I ordered from multiple retailers to make sure I got my loco". . . . . . have preorders that were not taken up. This deprives the customer who normally only places orders with us and then has to go elsewhere due to us reaching our allocation.

 

Would a small deposit make a difference - I understand the "normal" retailer discount is 15% so why not charge 15% of the list price up front . . . . . ?

 

You could of course be a bit selective as I'm sure you have your regular customers who will always buy from you and so perhaps as they are genuine buyers, you don't charge them in advance. Bit of a nightmare for the bookkeeping though !!

.

[Widnes Model Centre]

36 minutes ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

Would a small deposit make a difference - I understand the "normal" retailer discount is 15% so why not charge 15% of the list price up front . . . . . ?

 

You could of course be a bit selective as I'm sure you have your regular customers who will always buy from you and so perhaps as they are genuine buyers, you don't charge them in advance. Bit of a nightmare for the bookkeeping though !!

.

 

Hi Mike, maximum Hornby discount is 10%. In a perfect world what you suggest would be ideal. When we order Hornby items and I will use the Hornby seven car APT as an example; Ordered at £484.99 in January 2020. Arrived in January 2022 at £586.99 after a number of price increases which were passed on to the retailer but original price honoured by Hornby to direct sales customers. 

 

If we took a deposit at £484.99 and applied maximum retailer discount, price would have been £436.49. Remember this is a dealer discount not a price reduction built in by Hornby, this comes out of our profit, not Hornby's. The price difference would be £150 ish on full RRP. Would Hornby query why we were selling at £435 when maximum discount is at time of arrival 10 % taking price to  £528.29, thereby breaking our Terms and Conditions? Not to mention breaking our financial worries.

 

Interestingly I had a look at current APT prices. They are listed online for £365.99 for the 5 car, both 2020 releases and this years, 2022 release. The rrp is £477.99. The listing shows a lot of Hornby products but I cannot see them listed as a stockist on the Horby website.

[Mike Bellamy]

Thanks for that - it must be an absolute nightmare trying to keep on top of all that, as well as running the rest of your business and keeping the customers satisfied.

I clicked on "Thanks" but perhaps it should have been " Friendly and Supportive" - keep up the good work as it's always interesting to get the real information from a retailer.

.

[45568]

Given some of the wisdom passed on in this thread, especially by Widnes M C , I bit the bullet and ordered the Caprotti 5 from the Hornby website. It will be sent to a UK address, so I will pay VAT, but miss the 50GBP postage demanded for overseas orders. Hopefully it will be packed well enough to survive the journey to the Midlands. With luck, my wife may be in the UK to coincide with it's arrival!

I am still less than happy with the whole Hornby supply chain affair, but other than pay an inflated price on EBay after the event, I was left with little choice. Now if Accurascale announce one tomorrow, guess what I'll do!

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

 

[Knuckles]

On 14/02/2022 at 22:21, steve45 said:

........

The TV series on Hornby was an eye opener, if a loco manages to negotiate a series of points on the Hornby layout it was deemed to be a good runner and could enter production............Really????

...........

Yeah I thought that.  Quite a limited test.  Harsh yes but not harsh and comprehensive enough.   Tbere's many more tests they could do (maybe they do but we never saw).

 

With track, should of whipped out some Peco double slips, tandems n various other track bits at the very least.

 

Ah, but Peco isn't Hornby....eh.......

 

Still, many use Peco, me included so why they apparently are not testing common track pieces from other firms is an odd one really.

Edited March 3, 2022 by Knuckles

[SamThomas]

8 hours ago, Knuckles said:

Still, many use Peco, me included so why they apparently are not testing common track pieces from other firms is an odd one really.

Because Hornby regard themselves as a "one stop shop" ***. Look nor further than the dire layouts in the Visitor Centre for evidence of that.

 

*** & in all fairness, they are probably the most "ons stop shop" compared to other brands.