what to do now? missing pieces

[mademan]

Hey all, I just picked up an AMT street custom 76 Nova kit, got it home and opened it up, and it is missing one whole parts tree ( I compared with a friends kit) it is missing the tree with the Hood, and front suspension parts.

How do I go about contacting AMT/ertl, and will they supply me with the parts, or tell me tuff luck?

I am alright with picking up a resin cowl hoof, but what to do about susp. parts?

any help is greatly appretiated

[Jared]

i know when i either lost or were missing parts from a revell kit, i just went to their website and looked around untill i found where i could order the whole tree of what i was missing. i'm sure AMT has the same thing. look around their website and see what you can find. Good luck!

[mademan]

well i guess thats the last AMT kit I purchase

qoute from AMT/ertl site:

"Quality Control / Missing Parts:

I have a Defective item.

We apologize for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, RC2 does not stock any replacement items or extra parts, or issue refunds or exchanges for any products purchased from retail stores. If you have a product that is damaged or defective in any way, or does not meet your expectations, please return it to the place of purchase for a refund or exchange. If it is not possible to return to the place of purchase, then you may try exchanging the product at a different store/dealer near you that carries our products. Thank you.

I am Missing parts / in need of Replacement parts for my item.

We apologize for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, RC2 does not stock any replacement items or extra parts, or issue refunds or exchanges for any products purchased from retail stores. If you have a product that is missing items, in need of replacement parts, please return it to the place of purchase for a refund or exchange. If it is not possible to return to the place of purchase, then you may try exchanging the product at a different store/dealer near you that carries our products. Thank you.

I have a Damaged item

We apologize for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, RC2 does not stock any replacement items or extra parts, or issue refunds or exchanges for any products purchased from retail stores. If you have a product that is damaged or defective in any way, please return it to the place of purchase for a refund or exchange. If it is not possible to return to the place of purchase, then you may try exchanging the product at a different store/dealer near you that carries our products. Thank you."

THANKS ALLOT AMT, ill buy resins, or other brands from now on.

[Marc @ MPC Motorsports]

Hey all, I just picked up an AMT street custom 76 Nova kit, got it home and opened it up, and it is missing one whole parts tree ( I compared with a friends kit) it is missing the tree with the Hood, and front suspension parts.

How do I go about contacting AMT/ertl, and will they supply me with the parts, or tell me tuff luck?

I am alright with picking up a resin cowl hoof, but what to do about susp. parts?

any help is greatly appretiated

Did you purchase the kit at a retail store? Take it back for an exchange or refund. If you purchase your kits at an online source like Hobby Heaven or most LHS's, they will stand behind their products and make it right for you.

[Matt T.]

What Marc said. Bring it back for replacement. Then the retailer will ship it back to RC/Ertl and try to get a credit. If they're successful, RC takes a $ hit and that's what should happen - seeing as they're not supporting their product anyway.

[mademan]

I bought it from a local hobby store, and theyre policy is, if its opened , it cannot be returned or exchanged. I paid 22.00 for the kit (bent over in the first place) opened it and took it back 20 minutes after i bought it, ad he wont exchange it.

[Marc @ MPC Motorsports]

I bought it from a local hobby store, and theyre policy is, if its opened , it cannot be returned or exchanged. I paid 22.00 for the kit (bent over in the first place) opened it and took it back 20 minutes after i bought it, ad he wont exchange it.

TWENTY TWO DOLLARS!!! :shock:

Where do you live? I can tell you one thing...I would NEVER go back to that LHS. Is there a Hobby Lobby near your town? They often have 40% off coupons for any one item in the store. A quick search of Ebay turned up a seller with two kits like yours for sale at $11.50 US shipped.

Buy another kit and use the one you got for parts. It has some good ones that can be bashed on other projects. Good luck!

[jbwelda]

i would:

a) throw that stupid kit away (it probably wont build properly anyway) and never even look at another amt/ertl offering at least as long as that loser rc2 has anything to do with them or for that matter, that loser ertl has anything to do with amt.

check to see what tamiya or another quality mfger has to offer that interests you

c) if you got some time to waste, write a "f you" letter to rc2 reminding them why they cant sell any kits (eg: customer service, beancounters evidently choosing what to release and really crappy quality control) and tell them if they cant do it properly then dont do it at all (which seems to be a foregone conclusion in this case).

maybe they will send you another kit if you do #3. but it will probably be missing the same parts. and you should just trash it anyhow because its most probably ###### on a stick.

just my humble opinion...ive already done #a and typically follow my advice on #b.

oh yeah one more:

d) tell that hobby shop to piss off while youre at it. and mean it. in this day theres no reason to support a lhs with an attitude like that; not when you can probably get anything for half that price on line or at worst on ebay.

22$ for an AMT kit? :shock:

is that a model king release or something? if so i would contact model king (or whoever) and see if they care when amt/ertl/rc2 losers obviously dont. from what ive heard MK might just be sympathetic.

[Zoom Zoom]

I bought it from a local hobby store, and theyre policy is, if its opened , it cannot be returned or exchanged. I paid 22.00 for the kit (bent over in the first place) opened it and took it back 20 minutes after i bought it, ad he wont exchange it.

Not only would I never give AMT another dime, I'd also never give another dime to that worthless, predatory hobby shop owner. $22 for that kit is highway robbery, and not standing behind his product tells you he not only doesn't want your business, but to go elsewhere.

[mademan]

Not only would I never give AMT another dime, I'd also never give another dime to that worthless, predatory hobby shop owner. $22 for that kit is highway robbery, and not standing behind his product tells you he not only doesn't want your business, but to go elsewhere.

its kinda my fault, I saw the kit, and had to have it. I actually went in there just to pick up a 1.00 piece of tubing for exhaust on my 66 nova. you think 22.oo for a kit is bad, man... 1:18 diecast (walmart brand) american muscle that are 9.99- 18.99 at walmart, are 69.00-99.00 there. tamiya kits are anywhere from 40.00-84.00, its simply retarded. i bought both my rat packer model king kit, and my boss nova kits off ebay... both for 25.oo not each, for the two!! btu I had never seen this kit anywhere before.

I already solved the problem, i called up my buddy at psf hobbies, and I have a resin cowl hood on the way.

btw im located in prince albert, saskatchewan canada. there no hobby lobby anywhere near here, we have a hoby world an hour and a half away, but its the same thing, 20-30.00 basic kits that should be 9.99 tops.

that is all for now

[Guest zebm1]

I just spent $75.27 minus 4.92 tax, shipping 10.99 from Phoenix Model company for:

Retail Price

1. 1/24 Aston Martin DB5..................................... 35.95 9.95

2. 1/72 Hummel Late Production........................... 13.25 10.60

3. 1/72 Panzer JG Elefant..................................... 12.50 9.99

4. 1/16 1919 Hispano Suiza.................................. 23.00 18.39

5. 1/72 German Maus.......................................... 12.99 10.39

Perhaps yu should try these guys, great prices...I ordered yesterday, got them today...but I only live about 40 miles away.

zeb

[lordairgtar]

I know model kits cost abit more in Canada, but that guy is taking advantage of the hobbyists. I'd shop online from now on.

[mademan]

I know model kits cost abit more in Canada, but that guy is taking advantage of the hobbyists. I'd shop online from now on.

I never buy kits from him, its just that I hadnt seen this one before and figured id grab it up cause it was the only one. even if I had ordered it from the states, with exchange, and shipping I woulda payed at least 20.00 for it though.

[62rebel]

it's always a rough time when you get hit by the missing parts gremlin; i guess i've been fairly lucky to only get a few kits in 30 years with this problem. it's also tough on us when a manufacturer changes what USED to be a modeler-friendly missing parts program to a f-o policy. buying mail order seems to be your only alternative to being fleeced by your local shark.

blaming rc2 or revell or the guy next door is easy; but if they took the wal-mart approach to everything (money back no questions asked) many businesses would find it hard to stay open.

if rc2 doesn't have a program to help RETAIL customers, what makes you think they honor claims from retail STORES?

the only remedy to this guy's problem is IF he must buy from the local hobby shop is to open and examine the kit AT THE COUNTER at the time of purchase with witnesses to vouch for the condition and contents. otherwise, i'd stay ncompletely away from and keep my friends out of that shop, period.

[Matt T.]

Customer Service is dying. I've quit two different retail establishments in the last month due to sub-par service. You need to vote with your wallet. (I'm an easy-going guy, don't fly off the handle at the drop of a hat. But if I'm paying for a good or service and I get a ration of s**t with it, I'm gone.)

With the internet nowadays there is certainly no reason to support a LHS that has outrageous prices and no return policy. I think people feel some sort of misguided obligation to support their LHS no matter what. Why? Treat it like any other business, IMO.

[Marc @ MPC Motorsports]

it's always a rough time when you get hit by the missing parts gremlin; i guess i've been fairly lucky to only get a few kits in 30 years with this problem...

It's one thing to purchase a current kit with missing parts. Try finding parts for a Johan Rebel Machine!!! I purchased what appeared in the pictures to be a complete, unbuilt kit with all parts off the spure only to find when I received it that the bumpers were missing!!! :x And when Modelhaus doesn't have replacements, you're basically screwed. And I paid $65 for this one. Lucky for me, I've learned to resin cast and a fellow model builder loaned me his mint unused bumpers to cast. He even had to cut them from the tree!!!

See, it could be worse.

[62rebel]

jbwelda; what happened to you that has made you hate AMT kits so much? AMT management, SURE; development, yeah; but the whole line?

i used to be ambivalent towards Revell for some of it's older kits being pure PITA to get looking good, but as far as hating them? at least they aren't Palmer ######; the ones our well-meaning but utterly clueless aunts and uncles bought us for birthday and Christmas presents!

[jbwelda]

"hate" is a very strong word...lets just say that ive not really loved the moves the corporations that have controlled AMT for the past decade or so have made. theres the quality control issue, theres the issue of not including all the parts from the originals, theres the distant stance they seem to take to their customers and there are the staid (by my standards anyway) offerings. but you cant have everything i guess and i was just expressing my frustration at what, when i was a kid a long time ago, was to me *the* best model company (but my subject interest was a bit different back then) with consistently interesting subjects and lots of extras in the box and nice box art and all that. to see them reduced to their current state (not to mention the future state of non-existance that may come about) is very disheartening to me.

but theres plenty of other stuff to build so im not going to run out of material...more likely i will run out of time first!

[62rebel]

so it's the same frustration the rest of us feel with them i suppose. i remember monogram's seventies foray into the wider world of near-toy models and carried that image into the eighties and beyond in my mind. the really great monogram kits are long gone IMHO; ditto for AMT and revell (and my oldies favorite JoHan) but even incorrect issues of kits are better than none at all. i developed a marked distaste for revell's kits in the eighties due to bad engineering, incorrect details and some kits that just plain couldn't be built well out of the box. i very nearly gave up car modeling altogether during the plastic-tire period; virtually no example of those tires looked accurate/correct/realistic no matter what you did with them (except TOSS them). i used tires from junked or old kits to build new models as long as i could; after that i let the hobby slide for ten years.

[41CHEVY]

I WAS REFERED BY A R/C 2 REP TO CALL GOLD COAST HOBBY. 1 516 759 4094 THEY OFFER REPLACVEMENT PARTS FOR SOME OF THE ERTL KITS. WITH R/C 2's BLESSING . EMAIL THEM AT GCH19@OPTONLINE.NET Paul