New Canadian Coal Gon at Springfield

[John]

Why does PWRS have to sound like such a pyramid scheme or scientology every time it comes up?

Can't they just be a normal retailer? Put it in your cart, pay, have it shipped? Is that so tough?

+1

[havingfuntoo]

You can buy just like any normal hobby site, but there is also a few extras available to those who want them, and if you buy enough you can get rewards for you custom. Ed I think you are getting carried away a bit there with your descriptions ........ you can always say no to their offers and suggestions!

By the way, I am not defending or protecting PWRS just telling it the way I see it and how I have found it.

[lock4244]

Yes, only available from PWRS which is their perogative as they have paid for the tooling, but the best part about that is that the profits from the sale of this car will go straight toward the tooling for the next Canadian freight car (which most Canadian modellers 1970s onward will be keen to have!).

Tim

MIL or HS Bulkhead Flat?

[Ian MacMillan]

You can buy just like any normal hobby site, but there is also a few extras available to those who want them, and if you buy enough you can get rewards for you custom. Ed I think you are getting carried away a bit there with your descriptions ........ you can always say no to their offers and suggestions!

By the way, I am not defending or protecting PWRS just telling it the way I see it and how I have found it.

I agree with Ed and don't think he's getting carried away at all. I will not order from their website for the same reasons... Its also why I hate buying through Abes of Maine's website, and most of the time I will order though B&H Photo, even if it's slightly more expensive.

[sirenwerks]

I agree with Ed and don't think he's getting carried away at all. I will not order from their website for the same reasons... Its also why I hate buying through Abes of Maine's website, and most of the time I will order though B&H Photo, even if it's slightly more expensive.

+1. It's creepy.

[lock4244]

Yeah, I've ordered from them a few times without issue, though not in a number of years. General rule, if ordering through any vendor is a ball breaker, thanks but no thanks. Not into learning the secret handshake.

I also find their pricing to be too steep, and the zero discount route might work for them, but not for me personally. I've yet to add a single of their HS cylindricals to my fleet due to cost... they might have a higher fidelity and newer tooling than the IM car, but it isn't worth 2 x the price. And in Canada the sales tax is pretty high (13% in Ontario, so all you MD haters ain't got nothin' on us). Sorry, my modeling dollar goes largely south of the 49th parallel.

Though if they do the HS / MIL bulkhead flat, it'll be hard to resist...

[John]

I would order 1 or 2 things from them even @ MSRP for a unique model .. have ordered from Canada before .. but not if I have to jump through a bunch of stuff ..

Somewhere on here we had a PWRS rep respond a long time ago to previous concerns .. then they left ..

[Scottl]

Well, I can handle a lot if it means a great model and I don't get a bad vibe from PWRS at all.  To get a common prototype in all the variants and paint jobs, even some of the obscure second hand repaints, is remarkable in my view, for any railroad, anywhere in n scale.  They deserve some of my dollars, even if I have to fork over tax with it.  Better than the random UPS and Fedex thievery with customs handling.

[havingfuntoo]

Ok ..... I will out myself ....... I have been a rep for PWRS for the last three and half years. Finished with them about a month ago, I was responsible for the Australian and New Zealand clients. Some of the claims made here are justified as I have learned from talking to my clients, but I can assure you all, that if you clearly spell out how you want to be treated your wishes will be respected. The company has come of age and as most of us know with age comes respect . I always respected the the wishes of my clients, I would offer deals when applicable and help them to understand how PWRS's complicated system worked. Once you know how it works then it can offer you some neat information and they have this quirky reward system, like flying points on the airlines, you can choose if you want to be part of it or not. They also operate as a simple click and ship show if that is how you want it. I know ..... as do my clients that wanted it that way.

I have now left PWRS as mentioned above, I own a separate business formulating and manufacturing cleaning agents, and building truck washes (for 21 years now) that keeps me busy, the PWRS thing was part time for me ..... I enjoyed the fellowship of individuals with the same hobby as mine ......... similar to the fellowships I see at railwire in many ways. Until PWRS I was a very private modeler and now will probably return to my old ways.

I don't think you can take anything away from the NARC models marketed by PWRS, and for the record, the price I payed for all the NARC cars I own was the same as any one here who owns one and bought it from PWRS. No special price on this stuff not even for staff ...... do you think that pissed me off ....... you bet.

The detail on these cars and their accuracy in MHO makes their slightly more expensive price tag justified, plus each car that has been modeled actually exists in the real world!!!

I believe give praise where praise is due, I know there are good people at PWRS that work very hard to look after PWRS clients. Some times it is worth having a second look especially if there has been a passage of time since you last looked ....... things do change. 

 I am not looking for a fight with those who for what ever reason do not like PWRS,  and I am sure there are some with good reason not to like them (I used work there) and  PLEASE don't read this as an add for PWRS, IT IS NOT, it is my personal comment in response to some of what I have read and how I know it to be so.

     

[havingfuntoo]

Somewhere on here we had a PWRS rep respond a long time ago to previous concerns .. then they left ..

That was not me, I have been very careful not let my connection to PWRS spoil my experiences here. To me this is all about enjoying trains ...... not selling them ........ it is my hobby!!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Thats the thing. Why do they need a "rep" at all? They have a website. I want something, I go there, I order it.

Amazon doesn't have reps, and god knows how much money I've spent through them (Prime is a genius thing... I end up buying a ton of little crap because it's much easier to fire up Amazon on my phone than run around trying to find "velcro for an ez pass"). And I do that because it's easy. Pull out my phone, swype "amazon ez pass velcro", click "buy".

Make it easy and hassle free for customers and they'll buy.

But if I deal with a retailer who has to "respect my wishes", well, then they aren't, because my wishes are to no have to deal with some whacky sales scheme in the first place.

[Scottl]

In the end, it is all preference, but I will keep my eye on the game:  this is a massive home run for those of us who model these roads.  What has been lost in this mumbling about service and online shopping is an incredible model offering and yet more evidence for the negative nellies that n-scale is doing very well.

[lock4244]

I'd have picked up a few cylindricals had they been better priced, and have no need for these coal gons being a southern Ontario modeler. If they produced something I needed that wasn't already available cheaper, they'd get my money. There are a lot of Cdn freightcars out there still to be done and I found the grain car senseless duplication (yeah, I know that the IM and NARC cars are different builders, but still pretty much the same). At least this car is unique.

If they did the barrel ore cans CN and ONT used for the ore trains, well, ouch! Price would become less of an impediment.

[Puddington]

The slab side hoppers would attract me like a hockey fan to a pint of draft....they are a huge hole in North American car fleets as they were seen darn near everywhere. I still think True Line will take anoher dip in the N scale pool with them eventually.

I have no bone to pick with NARC or PWRS; I didn't like their old method of phone assaults but since they got their web site going they are but one more club in the bag....and they are working to bring Canadian prototypes to the table...

[wcfn100]

Look at Pud. King of the Idioms. 

FWIW, I think the slab side hopper is one that has a drawing in one of the Car Builders Cyclopedias.  I can't say there's a direct relation but many of the recent offerings by several companies are in these books.


Jason