Athearn Challenger, Good Grief!

[Mark W]

I’m tempted to call and complain to get them to send me a free car.

Good luck with that. 

On the other hand, the Consumer Protection Act is your friend.  I think many others would agree, 6 months and counting fails to be a repair in a reasonable amount of time.  If you want your $400 back, go get it (Athearn then keeps the Challenger of course).

[kverdon]

So you suggest that I file a claim with the FTC?

[Mark W]

No, not yet at least.  First, call/email, perhaps even send notarized/certified letter if you feel the need, and let them know that you're not satisfied with the product or warrant service and would like your full purchase amount refunded.  After that, one of three things will happen.

1. Your repaired Challenger, or a brand new one, will arrive next week.
2. You get your full refund.
3. Two weeks go by with nothing, and then you file the claim. 

Unfortunately, my father had to do this after the fourth unsuccessful repair attempt on our first run MRC Challenger.  A brand new Tsunami Challenger arrived the following week, though we did have to concede a little and now live with coal fired 3958 instead of oil fired 3985.      Given the real 3985 was operation back then, and completely sold out, we can't fully blame Athearn for that part.  Especially after the long back and forth, we're just happy to have an operational unit.

[kverdon]

Thanks Mark, I think I'll give that a try. One issue I am concerned about is that though I had the mechanical issue that has been discussed with the 1rst Challenger, my 2nd had an electrical issue (that Athearn was also aware of) and that if they fix the electrical issue without addressing the gearbox issue then I'll wind up waiting another 6 months to a year to get THAT fixed.  At the very, very, least I am going to insist that along with my electrical issue, they apply the gearbox fix to my loco as well.  If they refuse then I will request a refund and if they refuse that, file with the FTC. 

thanks for your help,

Kevin

[rgengineoiler]

Well,  I also was trying to out think myself in that,  if I accepted the free freight car,  then am I committed to wait forever for the repair and can not file with the FTC.  Not sure if that could be true but I did think it odd that Athearn would call now and tell me this,  when I have been stalled by them for three months and others much more time (6mo's) waiting and wondering.  Alex was really pushing me to choose a freight car and I at the time was in a hurry for stuff I had to do so I just told him I would think about it.  Well,  I've thought about it.  I don't need another freight car.  I need a perfectly operating 4-6-6-4 Rio Grande # 3805 N Scale Steamer.  Doug

[delamaize]

I called on Weds asking about how things were going with my challenger, He called me back today. The gentleman I talked to, I think Alex, was his name, said they are fighting with the factory in China on getting the redesigned gearboxes manufactured. He said, once they were able to get the parts, it wouldn't be too terribly long until they got them fixed. I guess they obviously have quite the back log of challengers that need to be fixed. Sounded like they are extremely unhappy with their factory, I wouldn't be surprised if a new factory for them might be in the near future.

he offered me the free freight car also. I decided to take a 50' PS1 in NP. I told him that it's just model trains, and as long as I get a properly working locomotive back, and it doesn't take a year to get it back, I was ok with it. It sucks that it is like this, but this is the reality of China manufacturing these days.

[peteski]

Sounded like they are extremely unhappy with their factory, I wouldn't be surprised if a new factory for them might be in the near future.

Do they really have choice to go elsewhere? I thought that after some mergers there were only couple model RR manufacturers in China. And they are probably kept pretty busy by the companies they are already manufacturing for.

[mmagliaro]

Oh to be a fly on the wall and hear what's going on between Athearn and the Chinese factory.  From what I saw in there, this problem did not look that hard to fix and shouldn't need a whole new gearbox - just a change in the coupling and some neater wiring procedures.  I wish they would explain in detail what's wrong and what parts are needed.  I think after people plunked down $400+, they deserve a more thorough explanation.  "It needs a new gearbox" sounds like the sort of explanation you get from a car mechanic when they don't want to give out too many details.

I wonder how long it would really take a tech at Athearn to just fix what's there instead of using an all-new gearbox.   Even with hundreds of them to fix, think about it.  If you could fix 2 each day, that's 40/month (just working 20 work days).  That's 240 in 6 months.  And that's just one person doing it.

[rgengineoiler]

Well, here I go again.  It is May 17th and my Challenger has been in for repair since January 8th when Athearn received it and checked it in.  Out side of offering me a free freight car, (REALLY!),  I have heard nothing after that.  June 8th will be six months and nothing.  I know others have been waiting longer but patience on my part is at an all time low.  They have my Money, my Challenger, and I will not quit this thread until Athearn makes things right for all of us who are affected.  It may be summer and I am busy on the acreage until late October but I think about this every day.  Why should any of us have to go through a situation such as this.   Come on Atheran,  Talk to your purchasers,  keep us all informed about your crap manufacturer in China.  Maybe we all should charge Athearn interest on the use of our money.  Come on Athearn, DO SOMETHING!!!   Doug 

[MK]

I agree and feel bad for all you folks.  I wonder if anyone has done anything more than waiting, like file complaints with the BBB, credit card company, state Attorney General, etc.  I can understand a few weeks but a few months?  And it's not a cheap item too.

Can you imagine this happening in any other industries?  You take your car into service and they are keeping it for a few months.  Or you bought a new refrigerator and it's sitting there in your kitchen not working for months.  Or you booked a flight and each time you showed up at the airport, it's overbooked...for the 10th time.  Etc.

Keep us posted.

[mmagliaro]

Well, here I go again.  It is May 17th and my Challenger has been in for repair since January 8th when Athearn received it and checked it in.  Out side of offering me a free freight car, (REALLY!),  I have heard nothing after that.  June 8th will be six months and nothing.  I know others have been waiting longer but patience on my part is at an all time low.  They have my Money, my Challenger, and I will not quit this thread until Athearn makes things right for all of us who are affected.  It may be summer and I am busy on the acreage until late October but I think about this every day.  Why should any of us have to go through a situation such as this.   Come on Atheran,  Talk to your purchasers,  keep us all informed about your crap manufacturer in China.  Maybe we all should charge Athearn interest on the use of our money.  Come on Athearn, DO SOMETHING!!!   Doug

Well I, for one, don't mind you keeping us updated on this.  I am glad you are doing it.    Do you have the option to tell them to just forget the whole thing and demand your money back?

[atsf3751]

I had two problems with my Big Boy 4014 from the latest batch. First, the second truck locked up tight. I sent it in for that and got it back fairly quickly, it was the same engine. Second time the sound was really messed up, this time it took a couple months and I got a new engine and I have about 15 hours track time with no problems. The problems this batch has had will probably make Athearn gun shy of making any more articulateds in N. Is that a good thing?

[peteski]

The problems this batch has had will probably make Athearn gun shy of making any more articulateds in N. Is that a good thing?

How about finding another contractor to manufacture the next batch?  It seems like it is a quality problem with the manufacturing, not a design flaw.

[atsf3751]

How about finding another contractor to manufacture the next batch?  It seems like it is a quality problem with the manufacturing, not a design flaw.

There aren't that many companies that make model trains in China, at least that is what I understand. What if Athearn already uses the best? And if they choose to go to another country, which one? And if they did that it would have to start from scratch because China would probably keep the molds.

[peteski]

There aren't that many companies that make model trains in China, at least that is what I understand. What if Athearn already uses the best? And if they choose to go to another country, which one? And if they did that it would have to start from scratch because China would probably keep the molds.

My point was that Athearn shouldn't be gun-shy considering producing the next run. There should be options available.  All the models designed and assembled in China have some design and production quality issues. But it seems that some are really bad. Remember the BLI sound decoder which kept blowing up?  BLI issued a recall. Even Scale Trains' Big Blow is not totally problem free. But none of  these problems are so bad that there would be no solution.