Mobius models replacment policy

I'm in the process of building the Mobius Viper Mark VII. Nice kit, except for the fact that the canopy was very fogged and unusable. I contacted their customer service through E-mail and was told a new canopy would cost me 2.95. Well, I paid it, but in my opinion that's pretty poor customer service seeing that it was their mistake. Just putting this out there. Ive heard of other model companies replacing damaged parts at no cost. This defiantly makes me think twice about any future Mobius purchases.

Pay it. Support smaller companies that make cool kits. If not your only choice in the future may be a level 1 snappy from Revell.

Jake88, you certainly should expect something better. Darth M. certainly states a different perspective and although commendable, support for a company includes letting them know when they don't live up to your (reasonable) expectations so they have the chance to improve. A worse thing would be to swallow disappointment & silently abandon them without promoting any dialogue. Moebius is not an individual working out of a garage, it is an incorporated company that should be striving to perform at the level we (and I suspect, they) expect.

Plus, there are real benefits to good customer service. For example, I still harbor a great deal of good will for Monogram, even after (oh, so many) years as they, over an extended relationship, provided excellent customer service in support of their products. Conversely, I am still somewhat leery of Revell because of an opposite impression resulting from hinky marketing and a seeming inability to provide simple replacement parts even after 'jumping through' their hoops. Granted, neither Monogram or Revell are the same organizations they were when I made those initial impressions - and perhaps the merger improved the new corporate culture - yet still, those feelings remain to taint my view of them. Good will and trust is a powerful thing and valuable.

Essentially, unless a company can absolutely ensure 100% quality assurance for each & every kit that leaves the factory (as apparently Tamiya does...) they must be ready to deal with the occasional problem. If they are smart, they will also strive to make their process as painless as possible; aiming for a certain level of 'Scotty' should also be a goal since an amazed customer is truly a customer for good.

That said, I have been a long time fan of the Moebius folks and their products as they (like Pegasus among others who came after) have done wonders to rejuvenate the SyFy aspect of the hobby. As such, I believe taking your 'feedback' to their Facebook page may just help them improve in the future. I fully support their efforts as proven by the selection of their kits I have purchased, including some of their automotive kits (which are awesome, btw.)

For what its worth...

R/ Robert

Exellent perspective and advice Robert, thank you!

Revell of Germany's customer service is excellent. You will get most of the pieces for free. If you explain to them what you are planning you might even be so lucky and get free decal sheets and single parts of kits you haven't bought from them.

You're fortunate they had a spare part, I've been trying to get a replacement decal sheet from them for their TOS Galactica model from Moebius for over 12 months and they never have stock.

One of the problems of companies offering free replacement parts is that many have abused that policy, either by mucking up the part themselves or falsely claiming a sprue tree was missing/malformed. But I do agree that a company should stand behind their product. Moebius is a smaller name, but they do produce a lot of stuff in plastic that no other company would even consider. Perhaps you may get a discount coupon towards future online purchases for your trouble. Hopefully you didn't have to pay postage on top of your part fee. That is the real cost. Good luck with your build.

TazMan2000

TazMan, I've always wondered about the issue of 'fraudulent' parts replacement claims. I have, unfortunately, heard otherwise upright modelers discussing how they sent off for free 'replacement parts' to support some project or another. Tamiya is one company that charges for spare parts (as full kit trees), at least to their domestic market under the assumption their kits are 100% perfect out the door. I don't have a problem with such a business, ahh, model as long as the same level of production assurance is credible.

On the other hand, I'm not sure how widespread the scourge of falsified claims is, in spite of my personal anecdotal evidence. An instance of a faulty kit would soon become known by the number of reports of the same problem. Not too long ago, I had to ask for help with short-shot parts (incompletely molded) in the Kitty Hawk SH-2F kit. I actually spoke to the folks involved (Pacific Coast Hobbies, a KH distributor & tasked with parts replacement) and they knew of the problem so there was no question of my claim's validity. It is the occasional or unusual situation, such as parts damaged because of packaging or shipping failures. I once had a decal sheet that was covered in a fine mold because (apparently) some moisture entered via a shrink wrap breather hole. In fact the whole kit stank of a mold which fortunately could be neutralized except for the decals. How could a company anticipate such an occurrence? Yet, that is part of the 'game' when they commit to customer service.

If it were a perfect world and everyone could be counted on for the truth, then free parts service would be for kit faults and 'pay parts' would be for something modelers do themselves. But, alas...

Regards, Robert

I agree with your statements, Robert. It's a complicated situation when you provide this type of product internationally. It really depends on the type of product.

For example, let's say you bought a stereo from your local electronics store, take it home and plug it in and discover that it doesn't function. Guaranteed you would not phone and complain to the manufacturer...you would pack up again and take it back to your electronics store for a replacement or refund. Try that with a model at your LHS. (Most have a policy about open packaging, but I have heard LHSes occasionally take back merchandise, but I can count all of the times I've heard that on one hand). In my years I've had hundreds of kits, and offhand I would say that Lindberg, AMT, and Airfix are the biggest culprits with malformed parts and quality, however, those manufacturers seem to be the only ones who made the sort of kit I was looking for in the genre and scale I was looking for. It's frustrating, and I vow never to buy another kit from them, but when they are the only one who manufactures a particular item I desperately crave, I usually give in and hope that I get a "good" kit next time. Personally, Tamiya, Dragon and most recently Bandai I would say have been the best at quality and parts being intact with Tamiya being the best. (I haven't purchased any Trumpeter kits but I've heard they ar excellently).

Known problems on the production line are sometimes slow to resolve, since some companies may not have high tech quality control technology at their factory and it may be months before customers purchase the kit (and In my case, many months/years before I build it). By the time customer complains roll in the factory is already are producing other kits. I have seen the result of extra channels being cut into the moulds to accommodate better plastic flow.

In short, there's not really any answer I could give to solve the issue, and each company has to decide what their customer service policy is, and of course, we ultimately decide which manufacture to buy kits from. No offence to Moebius, but they are the little guy in comparison to large firms such as Tamiya, Revell and Bandai. If damaged parts from a manufacturer happen often, let the manufacturer know through a wisely worded email.

TazMan2000

Good points, Taz. Model kit production is a human endeavor and so subject to less than perfection. One issue is when the actual 'factory' is not under the direct control of the company, as is so much the case these days with China being the primary provider for plastic kit production. Often, the kits will arrive via a shipping container, already 'bagged', after a long ocean voyage for final 'boxing' in-country (often by a temporary workforce brought in just to support the shipment.) So the model company may face a full production run suffering from some fault that must be dealt with either before or after the kits are shipped. Since the supplier is a half world away, the delay awaiting replacement parts may be disastrous. These are some of the realities of the 'modern process'.

R/ Robert

This post wasn't about me trying to get free parts from Mobius. Just trying to get them to stand behind a product that I payed them well for. And when I found a bad piece they made me pay again, That pretty much sums it up. This discussion should be locked.

I consider myself lucky- I have had only one factory defect part in all my years of building. It was the top saucer from Bandai's Enterprise refit kit. THe kit was prepainted with a gloss-white/flat-white aztecing (which looks pretty good), but this part had 1/3 the saucer mispainted- it looked like something blocked the mask.
I took the kit back to my LHS and they swapped the part out for me from another kit, then returned that kit for credit.

I do agree that Moebius should have replaced the fogged canopy without charge since it was a factory defect- sending them the defective part first even. Factories are run by humans and things happen- that is part of life. Stepping up and taking care of the customer goes a long way to build loyalty.

jake88 said:

This post wasn't about me trying to get free parts from Mobius. Just trying to get them to stand behind a product that I payed them well for. And when I found a bad piece they made me pay again, That pretty much sums it up. This discussion should be locked.

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Nobody was accusing you of anything. I simply mentioned a possible reason why some company don't give replacement parts out for free.

TazMan2000

TazMan2000 said:

Nobody was accusing you of anything. I simply mentioned a possible reason why some company don't give replacement parts out for free.

TazMan2000

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I know TazMan, I just need to let this one go.

I remember years ago buying the Alien3 creature kit made by Halcyon,....opening the kit I found that the clear dome that fitted over its head was broken in two,....I phoned them & had the part posted FOC.

I also bought a Ferrari Testarossa kit by Fujimi with missing wheels & tyres,....I was very surprised how quick I got the parts posted to me,....great service again FOC

J

2.95 is likely the cost for them to ship it to you... and I think that is pretty reasonable. I've had a couple of instance where I needed a part replaced and they were VERY good about it. the VAST majority of people asking for parts are people like me that lost or damaged the part. Its pretty rare to have one screwed up out of the box. And I think its very reasonable for me to pay shipping on a part they are giving me essentially for free.

Your example is a bit different BUT - policies like these are put in place to handle the most common cases. I can see your point about paying twice... but flip it and you have 100s if not thousands of people calling/writing them asking for parts... would you do it for free - as a business?

Moebius - has been better than most at being able to get a replacement part out in a timely manner in my experience - maybe its because they charge a couple of dollars...

Personally I'm fine with it although I see the point.

Jedi Dade

Well I got a pristine new Viper canopy in the mail two days ago. Good service from a good company. I suppose I was just heated up about the 3 bucks but when you think about it its not a bad deal. Forward progress can now continue.

Sorry to have turned this into a "gab-fest", Jake! Glad your build is back on track, though, and look forward to seeing how it turns out.

Regards, Robert