RCM&E Plans Service.

[Martin - RAM Models]

Heads up Guys if your thinking of ordering plans.

Just had a hugely frustrating phone call to Nicole chasing a plans order I made three weeks ago as a present for my fathers birthday.

They have issues with their supplier. Lengthy delivery times are mentioned on the dispatch section information (not any of the screens you use during the order process). No use to you if you've ordered before and think you know what to expect.

Anyway mines been about three weeks and after ringing up I've cancelled my order in disgust. Can't get me a date they will be printed, can't progress it any, can't confirm if their printer has my requested plans on the server and as a result tell me if I will be waiting another week or another 3 weeks or in the post tomorrow.

If your printer can't give you the company that gives it business any information to pass onto your customers I suggest maybe getting a new supplier.

Poor effort guys

 

 

Edited By Martin G on 08/05/2013 10:50:06

Edited By Martin G on 08/05/2013 10:52:59

[kc]

You didn't say whether this was some very obscure plan from the X LIst or just a normal recently published plan. Most of us would be interested to know whether this is likely to happen to any order.

Very surprised that nobody from RCME or MyHobbyStores has replied to reassure forum members..........

[Martin - RAM Models]

Without checking im unsure if the plans I requested are x-range or not. Pretty positive they are not though.

Since my original posting I have had a couple of emails from the manager of the department dealing with this.

Due to his postive replies I am now thinking here is someone who seems to be taking my complaint seriously and although there are clearly problems with the system, they are trying to address them and in my case now trying to help me, and pretty efficiently so far.

So to round up, yes disappointing that I have had such problems but at least they are trying to help me and resolve my problem.

[Steve Hargreaves - Moderator]

RCM&E & My Hobby Stores are in fact different parts of the same group so trade as seperate businesses. Deputy Editor of RCM&E David Ashby usually does what he can to smooth over these issues but is currently on holiday. He is back soon though so I will bring this to his attention & I'm sure he will do what he can.....

[Cheryl MHS]

Hi All,

I work for MHS and just wanted let everyone have a quick update on our current plans situation.

Unfortunately our printers have recently ‘upgraded’ their server woth no prior warning to ourselves which has frustratingly lead to major delays with plans printing as well as some plans going ‘missing’ from the system. (New technology isn’t all it’s cracked up to be!)

We are working very hard with various other people outside of the company to try and obtain all the missing plans ASAP, sadly this is taking much longer than we would like and we are fully aware that the current service being offered is unacceptable. All plans that we know are currently missing have been taken off sale temporarily until we can obtain the plan again.

Unfortunately although everyone is working hard to resolve the issue we have no exact timescale of when normal service will resume although our printers have assured us it will be within the next 2-3 weeks. We are all hoping for much sooner.

With regards to informing customers of the delays unfortunately due to the design of the website we are unable to put a message on the checkout screen to advise of the delays however we have added info to the delivery tabs and delivery information page, all customers ordering by phone should also be getting informed by our customer service team.

Nicole is also currently working on emailing or calling all customers with orders that we are aware are outstanding to inform them of the delays.

Much like Martin we believe our supplier to be offering an unacceptable service and are currently looking into alternatives but sadly it’s not as simple as just picking a new printer to print our plans and away we go.

Cheryl

MyHobbyStore

[Greybeard]

Thanks for the explaination, it's appreciated.

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Thanks for that update Cheryl - very helpful. Hope you get everything sorted soon!

BEB

[kc]

Surely the Moderators should change the heading to reflect the situation.............a reasonable explanation provided within 24 hours seems acceptable and cannot really be termed poor effort ( an explanation within a few hours would have been better! ) Maybe change it to " delays at the moment" ?????

 

But I am amazed that plans are not printed by MHS employees.......even local shops can print this sort of stuff now . Lets hope that the plans have not been destroyed for ever and that the full MHS range will be available in due course.

Edited By kc on 09/05/2013 17:28:42

[Gary Vinten 1]

i had to cancel a plan from them .

Had an email to say it was dispatched and waited for three weeks no plan !! then an other email saying it had been dispatched waited 2 weeks then phoned them only to find they had a problem after some pushy comments on the phone i got a refund and the plan still hasn't arrived so something has gone wrong big time (will find another company ) they need to be a little more sympathetic on the phone to keep customers rather than just saying we cant give you a refund and that is it.

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Posted by kc on 09/05/2013 17:25:45:

Surely the Moderators should change the heading to reflect the situation.............a reasonable explanation provided within 24 hours seems acceptable and cannot really be termed poor effort ( an explanation within a few hours would have been better! ) Maybe change it to " delays at the moment" ?????

Point taken and acted on.

BEB

[Gary Vinten 1]

my plan order was placed back in march so yes it can be termed a poor effort its taken about 2 weeks for them to put something on this forum and there web site to say there maybe delays !!

[Cheryl MHS]

Hi KC,

The main reason for not being able to print the plans ourselves is due to the specialist printers needed, they simply wouldn’t fit in our office! Although we would love to print them in house as it would make issues like this one far less likely! Not only this but MHS has a very small number of staff so we sadly dont have the resources to be able to do everything in house.

I would also like to reassure all customers that if they want to cancel thier order rather than wait they are of course entitled to a full refund, please get in touch with Nicole if you wish to cancel your order.

Cheryl

[Martyn K]

My experience of the MHS plans service has been excellent. Glitches like this simply remind is how good it was and hopefully normal service will soon be resumed. Patience is a virtue ( I am currently waiting for a plan - but I am not losing sleep over this unexpected delay).

BW

Martyn

[jeffrey mundell]

After waiting for some 10 days for a plan i ordered and contacting Myhobbystores, and getting a reply that said they did not know when i will receive the plan,i decided to post the fact on the forum,i got a reply next day asking for details of the plan order,which i sent yesterday evening.

This morning i received a reply saying that the printers did not have the plan file on there system,so the file was found by Myhobbystore and sent to printers with instructions to get it printed,and sent recorded post,hopefully to be received by me to-morrow.and also they have given me a credit on my account of £5.

I must say they acted very quickly to resolve the matter and i thank them very much.

Well done Myhobbystore.

best regards Jeff

[unleaded]

my biggest problem is the shipping cost to send plan ,cnc kit and cowl,canopy for the Harvard is 182.00 quid which works out at $250.00 which is outragious , i know it is worked out on volume /weight but after looking at various countries outside the euro zone the shipping cost is all the same which leads me to think that they have come up with a figure that coveres any other country and we will charge that amount to ALL customers and let them lump it VERY VERY DISAPOINTING SYSTEM it is not hard to work out different shipping rates thye shipper would do it for you

so you wont be getting my $ which is very unfortunate again the modeler cops in the hip pocket again

Ray

[David Davis]

I must just say that a combination of lengthy delays and high prices is likely to lead modellers to other sources of supply.

David and Cheryl were very helpful, and explained the situation very clearly recently, when I had to wait a fortnight for my Barnstormer Baby plans to arrive. I also had to pay £14 for what is after all a small model. Had I wanted to buy a plan for the 63" or 72" Barnstormer I would have only had to pay £10 to DB Sport and Scale.

There are some very dissatisfied modellers out here.

[Andrew767]

David

I must say i agree with your last sentence. The prices do seem to have risen to an enormous degree. I'm going to build a Mini Jazz in the new year but i won't be using MHS mouldings. In 1997 the canopy and cowl were £6.50 inc p+p, the current price is £28.00!!!....but even allowing for inflation!!??.........

Andrew