I want to disagree with at least one word that Craig uses in his post: "most". I agree that many hobby stores may take their time ordering a special order item - but I'll bet that far more try to get the order in fairly quickly. Also, just because an item is ordered doesn't mean that the item was in stock. Walthers doesn't automatically say that an item is in stock. I have that problem with another distributor - their online database may show an item, but sometimes that very item may be the last one in stock, and it's been pulled to the "Hold" shelf for another customer. It's not removed from the database until it's shipped and invoiced. Also, to assume that your LHS is ordering that item from Walthers may be incorrect. There are a lot of other distributors out there, and your dealer may prefer to deal with someone else. Time to get off the soapbox... Pat
I've also had good results from Walthers direct. More than once I've ordered from other on-line hobby shops in which the items were in stock, only to get half the shipment! Then never to hear from them again after they said it was back ordered! Sure you pay more for Walthers but I think their Advanced Search is excellent. The junk mail thing is true! I ordered my brother a gift from Walthers one Christmas in which I used a silly made up middle name for him. Well we are still tracing several company junk mailings back to that same order a few years ago.
Here in the UK I have ordered from the Walthers website, with the items sent to me and billed by a hobby shop in England. This way I have no hassle with customs, etc. as it is all taken care of by the hobbyshop. And I am billed in pounds. The times I have used this it has worked very well indeed.
I'm going to go ahead and offer an answer to my own question: Feather River Trains. Prompt friendly communication + hold of an in-stock item while an order (<$30) was placed with Walthers + shipment notification = a very satisfied customer. Thanks Chuck. Progress on my shelf module is looking promising.......stay tuned.
