Modelmaster not delivering goods

helenk1234

My husband's hobby is making model trains and he has used  company called Modelmaster based in Ayr before. But this time he ordered goods in September and they haven't arrived.  He has tried everything to contact the company but they don't answer the phone or respond to texts or emails. We even sent a recorded delivery letter. Modelmaster used to accept PayPal but in September he only took bank transfer which means we can't do a chargeback. We have now googled and it seems hundreds of people are in the same boat. My husband's order was £35 which isn't a huge amount but if it is affecting hundreds of people it adds up to a lot. The Moneysaving expert AI suggests complaining to Trading Standards and this is likely to be more successful if as many people as possible complain at the same time so I am posting on this forum to see if any other member on this site has been affected.

Robin9

From their website:  

13th DECEMBER 2023

I'm aiming to post out as many orders as I can before Christmas and New Year. - and working long hours with lots of coffee and help to achieve it! 

sheramber

https://modelmaster.uk/

........................

You can help me by NOT texting or phoning to ask where your order is - it was probably out of stock but SOME replacement stock has now arrived from our etchers and printers during the past couple of weeks. so please help me get orders out quicker by NOT 'Chasing Up'!

RefluentBeans

To be honest - I can appreciate small retailers working hard around Xmas to get stock out and if a one man band - dealing with customer service issues can take away the time you could be packing orders etc. But that line on the website of ‘don’t contact me’ is actually insane. Especially for an order placed 3 months ago. 

When your partner placed the order, did they get told of any delays expected, or did it appear the item was in stock? 

For future reference - bank transfers are about as protected as cash transactions which means the only way to get a refund is for the retailer to give the refund or to get the court involved to get a refund. With PayPal business transactions (not the friends and family option) and card transactions, you can claw the money back from unscrupulous retailers. But with transfers it’s not really possible. 

user1977

At least in this case you have an individual’s name and address to pursue (though it appears to be only the business address).

soolin

I just checked with my OH and DS as they buy a lot of model rail things, but they haven't used this particularly person. 

They did say that there are a lot of very small sole traders who get swamped with orders they can't fulfil and they are aware that this isn't the first time someone appears to have dropped out of sight like this. One thing to be aware of, there are 2 companies trading with the same name - be very careful with reviews as they are being left for the wrong company in many cases.

Other than that I can only echo the points above, the bank transfer was just the same as handing cash over and realistically if your items don't arrive then you are unlikely to see your money again. I am usually very forthright with my views on people paying by bank transfer , but having been around model enthusiasts for decades I am also aware that a lot of this industry relies on trust.

Lastly Is it worth contacting one of the big model railway magazines to see if they can raise a query at all as some years ago they did this with another single hander who wasn't fulfilling orders and got a bit more of the story, and of course raised the issue for anyone else thinking of placing an order. 

molerat

Posts on various model forums have poor service / delay for months complaints back in 2021 so nothing new it seems.

HillStreetBlues

No longer accept PayPal and this https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC590883
Wouldn't fill me with much expectation.

user1977

HillStreetBlues said:

No longer accept PayPal and this https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC590883
Wouldn't fill me with much expectation.

To be fair, that doesn’t appear to ever have been more than a dormant company.

HillStreetBlues

user1977 said:

To be fair, that doesn’t appear to ever have been more than a dormant company.

I look at is as someone's hobby but doesn't know how to run it as a business.

Undervalued

molerat said:

Posts on various model forums have poor service / delay for months complaints back in 2021 so nothing new it seems.

You tend to get this in many specialised fields with similar tales of delay and other problems. Even with well known names (within their highly specialised field) are very often "one man bands" operating from from the kitchen table, spare bedroom and garage! Often they are run by an enthusiast, generally very knowledgeable about the hobby but with little or no skills in running a business.