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NEWS AND UPDATES
04/23/18
Revell Model Kits
Just another modelling bump in the road. Though this
does not effect what most of us do, we thought we would
pass this along.
Since it was
announced earlier this year that Hobbico, the owner of
Revell and Revell Germany, was in bankruptcy modelers
have been concerned for the fate of one of the world's
oldest plastic model companies. This week it was
announced that a German holding group, Revell AG had
purchased Revell and Revell Germany thereby securing the
future of the company.
What does this mean for you? First
of all, everyone in the modeling community has issued a
combined sigh of relief. You'll still be able to buy and
build your favorite Revell kits. There may be a small
delay in obtaining certain products during the
transition but rest assured Hobby Models will do
everything we can to fulfill your orders as quickly as
possible.
As with any new venture, there will
be bumps along the way but we're confident this is the
best path for Revell
NEWS AND UPDATES
04/21/18
Shopping Cart Server Maintenance
The shopping cart will be
offline
periodically
for 2 - 6 hours starting around midnight on
Tuesday, April 24, 2018 (CST).
Atlas Announces Items To Be Discontinued
HO
Scale Item #/Description
150-717 Interlocking Tower Kit
150-718 Branch Line Station Kit
150-730 Barb’s Bungalow Garage Kit
150-752 Sub-Station Kit
150-761 Produce Market Kit
150-762 Contemporary Diner Kit
150-763 Drive-Through Bank Kit
150-764 Car Wash Kit
150-780 Transformer Kit
N Scale Item #/Description
150-2880
Kate’s Colonial Garage Kit
150-22070
100-Ton Roller Bearing Trucks with Rapido Couplers
HO & N Scale Item #/Description
150-313
Universal Power Pack
O Scale Item #/Description
151-1000080 80 Watt Power Pack
151-66900* Pre-Assembled Signal Tower
151-66902* Pre-Assembled Station Platform
151-6905 Icing Platform Kit
*Available in kits #6900, #6902
Retail Store Restock and Reset
Believe it or not, we are getting ready for
Christmas!
New items are arriving daily, along with a lot of
back orders and restocks.
We
are adding another 28 feet of displays that will contain
the return of N scale products to the retail store. This
section will feature Kato, Peco and Atlas Code 80 track
along with Walthers and Kato structures. Rolling stock
will return in the fall along with Kato starter train
sets.
Also, we are expanding the HO rolling stock section just
a bit as well as new scenery items. The O scale section
will remain about the same size and still feature
Lionel. O scale usually only sales in the fall and just
after Christmas so we will not be expanding this
section.
Also, we are receiving new HO scale loco's for the
display case since most of this area has been selling
well via our Inventory Reduction Sale! Check it out!
There are some great deals as well as the Loco Blowout.
Just put Loco Blow in the description field on the main
search engine to view what is on sale!
So for the next 60 days or so the store will be in a bit
of a mess while this is going on, but our priority will
be your online orders as well as helping the customers
that are returning to our retail store.
Sales and More Sales
Don't forget about the ongoing online sales:
Tax Refund monthly with over 3,500 discounted items.
Sale ends 04/30/18
Deal Of The Day featuring Peco Items. Sale ends Monday
04/23/18 at 6am
WOW! What A Deal featuring all Lunde City Structures.
Sale ends Saturday 04/28/18 6am
Deal Of The Week
featuring Faller products. Sale ends 04/26/18 6am
Warehouse Sales. Great Deals from our suppliers
warehouse. Sale ends Wednesday 05/02/18 6am
Weekly Sale. New Items added this week!
NEWS AND UPDATES
04/18/18
More Credit Card Fraud
As you all know we have had a lot of
fraud attempts attempted at Blue Ridge Hobbies via our
internet sales system and that 2 years ago, we put
procedures in place to avoid these attempts. Most fraud
is stopped but there continues to be issues out
there. Not any with attempts at Blue Ridge Hobbies but
with other retailers as well.
For Blue Ridge Hobbies, any fraud that is not recovered
costs a lot of money. For example a $100 fraud takes
about $2,000 in good sales to recover that $100. Our
profit margins are very very low, so it takes a lot to
recover from these thieves.
We have recovered all of the funds from the recent fraud
attempts directly from the perpetrators. But we had to
threaten one with the police and every made a police
report on that matter before he got us our money back!
We had another fraud attempt last week that we have
stopped. So the games continue it seems.
Last year Broadway Limited put out a fraud alert about a
group that had hit them repeatedly. Blue Ridge Hobbies
go hit by that same group once, but they tried 15 other
times. Recently Walthers put out a fraud alert and this
week Lionel has done the same:
From Lionel:
"Good
Morning, we wanted to send out another note on this, as
the guy scamming dealers is still out there. He
continues to hit dealers in various areas from NC to MI.
Please be careful of anyone that wants to send Fed Ex or
any other carrier for same day pickup.
He is going by several names such as Jerry Wilson,
Robert Carson, Jerry West, JW and there are probably
more.
He does not always go for the big ticket items. He
recently contacted a store looking for a large order of
track. He also does not always ask for Lionel products.
Sometimes he asks for other manufacturers items.
If a call seems sketchy, tell the caller you do not have
Fed Ex pickup or that you will need to call him back,
and if it is a scam he will most likely hang up.
Please contact the police if you get a call from this
guy. Hopefully he will be caught soon!
LIONEL SALES TEAM"
One of my previous jobs was as a Collection Manager for
Barclays Bank and one of my duties was credit card
fraud. So I am well versed in how to handle these
situations and who to contact within the Secret Service
and the FBI and the USPS for interstate credit card
fraud, wire fraud and postal fraud. When an attempt
occurs, we do not play games!
So far we have not had to raise prices but that time may
come soon if the attempts continue.
NEWS AND UPDATES
04/14/18
Very Profitable 2017!
As you all know from our News and
Updates from the past, BRH has had steady increases in
sales over the last couple of years despite the lack of
product availability. Well it turns our the our net
income was up a whopping 66% over 2016! So, that is
great news!
New Search Engine And Shopping Cart
I have been developing our new search
engine that is much much faster and easier to use as
well as a new shopping cart. BETA testing will begin
soon and I will be asking our Track Crew Members to help
test the new system for a couple of weeks! One that is
great about this is that it is our search engine and
shopping cart that we created and customized and can
change as needed to make it better!
Retail Store Restock and Reset
Christmas time is coming and new product is coming
in with just 8 months to go before the holiday. So we
are resetting the store as time permits and we are
adding new products as well as enlarging (just a bit)
our O Scale section and re adding N scale back into the
store. This will include track from Peco, Kato and Atlas
with structures from Walthers and Woodland Scenics as
well.
What's Up With Grand Central Gems and others!
Communication from the manufacturers and wholesalers
remains and issue.
We still have not heard a peep from Grand Central Gems.
Just to clarify, we will not be updating images any
longer for MTH-Railking and may drop that line of
products as we move forward. This manufacturer is a non
seller for us mostly because they do not have very much
product to sell.
On another, more positive note, we are getting great
communication from Kathy and Gary at Bowser / Stewart
Hobbies and excellent response time from Doug at
Bachmann who responded to my email within 30 minutes!
New Shipping Schedules
I
have had to adjust our shipping schedules just a bit due
to increased volume with the shipping carriers routes.
USPS now is arriving at BRH between noon and 1pm (used
to be around 10:30am) and Fedex Freight now arrives at
from 10:30 to 11:30am (used to be 9 to 9:30am) and the
regular Fedex Ground route driver arrives between 1pm
and 3pm (on Thursday he arrived at 4:30pm!).
So, with this, order will take a bit longer to
ship to you all by about a day. This is because we have
to check in the deliveries, sort for shipping, repack
and ship and then have the respective shipping carriers
return to pickup the orders for shipment to you.
We have been on the new schedule for about two weeks and
it seems to be working fine, but we are also seeing
increased retail store traffic as well. Right now it is
still myself with some help from John on Wednesday
mornings.
Please check the store policy page for the updated
shipping schedule.
New Walthers Name Train
Look for the next
WalthersProto Name Train announcement on April 17th. As
with all Name Trains, this one will be in high demand,
so be ready to place your orders quickly to avoid
missing out!
Upcoming Preorder
Deadlines
April 18: Atlas Preorders
April 27: Atlas Preorders
April 30: Wheels of Time Preorders
April 30: Bowser Preorders
April 30: Intermountain Preorders
April 30: Rapido Preorders
April 30: Trainworx Preorders
April 30: Walthers Preorders
Bowser HO & N
Arrivals
You will love the newest arrivals from Bowser! HO new
products include Alco C636 diesels, ready-to-run PRR N8
Cabooses, X32 Boxcars and 100-Ton 3-Bay Hoppers. New N
Scale models include new schemes and road numbers on the
popular Airslide Covered Hoppers. These new releases are
moving fast and some road names
and road numbers are already sold out. Don't miss out -
order now!
New Book from White River is a Great Northern Modeler
Must-Have
The Great Northern by noted rail historian Richard
Yaremko covers GN's fascinating history with a
concentration on the transition era. Loaded with plenty
of photos and fascinating text this must- have book for
GN fans and modelers is selling fast. Order now to
before it is sold out!
Five New Titles from
Morning Sun Books Now Shipping
Books are great for modelers looking for photographic
reference aterial and for railfans who want to
learn about railroading "back in the day" These books
sell sell out fast and some are already in short supply,
so get yours now!
Order All-New
Atlas Trainman N Scale 60' Heavyweight Passenger Cars
Now
Newly tooled N Scale 60' heavyweight passenger cars and
sets are rolling through fast! Based on prototypes
constructed for several railroads these all-new models
feature interiors in the passenger-hauling cars, fine
decoration, free-rolling trucks and AccuMate knuckle
couplers. These detailed cars are perfect for
those of you who operate on sharp curves or who have
small steam-era layouts. Make sure to order extra
combines, RPOs and baggage cars since many railroads
also ran these on secondary passenger runs.
They're in stock now but are already in short supply, so
get them running on your layouts now!
NEWS AND UPDATES
04/06/18
Rumor Mill!
We have heard through the grapevine from a reliable
source the Walthers Shinohara Code 83 will be in short
supply soon. It seems Mr. Shinohara is in poor health
and will be shutting done operations soon. The includes
all Shinohara product! We understand that Walthers would
like to take over production of the track due to its
popularity, however nothing has been finalized.
Our suggestion would be to purchase all the available in
stock supplies now to ensure you get the product you
want.
Note to Peco, this is time time to add some the curved
turnouts and crossovers that Walthers Code 83 Shinohara
offered.
Bye Bye MTH-Railking
Very soon BRH will stop offering MTH-Railking
products for sale via our website. The simple fact of
the matter is that they have a lot of products announced
but produce very very few items that actually can be
sold. Also, they have very poor customer service.
The database of MTH products takes a lot to keep up with
for virtually no sales due to the lack of product
available.
So, soon, we will be eliminating thier items from our
database off offerings. This is have minimal effect on
over all sales for us since we do not see hardly anyone
ordering MTH products via our website.
NEWS AND UPDATES
04/02/18
Happy Website Anniversary!
Thanks to everyone over the last 13 years that have
supported the Blue Ridge Hobbies website.
We have strived to offer great prices along with great
service.
We had our issues with the our website over the years,
we continually have tried to make it as easy site to use
which has been a challenge. We are working on getting a
new search engine and database along with a new shopping
cart done ASAP.
As you know manufacturing issue have been around since
2011 with no end in sight. Even with these issues, while
the others continue to go out of business both on line
and with their brick and mortar stores, Blue Ridge
Hobbies sales remain strong!
For example, 1st quarter sales for 2018 where up 31%
over 1st quarter 2017 and the best 1st quarter
since 2013!
So again the trend is good.
This week we have our yearly website anniversary sale
for one week only. So take advantage of the lower prices
on all in stock items!
NEWS AND UPDATES
04/01/18
THIS IS NO JOKE!
Since we have had a couple of
complaints regarding the cost of shipping we wanted to
review the following:
SHIPPING COSTS
Per store policy as indicated on the store policy
page which you have to agreed to when processing your
order, Blue Ridge Hobbies does not quote shipping rates
prior to shipping due to many factors including but not
limited to product available to ship in any one order,
size of packaging and number of boxes to ship. We ship
via the lowest cost available based on your answer to
the shopping cart question regarding shipping. The cost
of shipping, insurance and if required due to type of
product shipped or first time customer, is a pass
through cost with no mark up at all. We use the USPS and
Fedex Ground for our shipping and the cost of that
shipping is based on the rate tables of the carrier at
the time the order is packaged and shipped. The shipping
price comparison is noted on your receipt. We can not
call you to give you the cost of shipping.
UNDER $50.00 ORDERS
Per store policy as indicated on the store policy page
which have advised you have read and agreed to, at the
bottom of every web page and at the top of your shopping
cart and at the top of the shopping cart credit card
page, orders less than $50.00 are charged a $3.00
processing fee. This cover all shipped orders and orders
pickup up at the store.
The
reason for this is that credit card fees and processing
are high we have to enforce this policy. This not a new
policy, the minimum order amount has been increased from
$25.00 back in July 2013 and updated to reflect new
credit card processing requirements and PCI compliance.
NEWS AND UPDATES
03/31/18
Another
Great Month At BRH
I know I have been whining a lot about the state of our
great hobby, but the fact of the matter is that there
are a lot of current modelers, new models and those
recreational modelers that continue to stream into the
retail store everyday. So that is great. This is one of
the reason I have adjusted the retail store and phone
hours. I will look at what will occur over the next
30 days and I may add yet another day to our weekday
schedule!
Overall sales for March where again up! In fact up
22% over 2017 same month sales and the best March since
2011 when the manufacturing issues started.
New customers are up 32%, repeat customers up 264%,
receipt totals up 48%, average receipt total up 3% and
total items per sale up 5%. So the trends have been good
as we get into the slower season for the next 3 months.
While I think that most of you are happy with our
prices and how I do things and have set policies based
on people trying to take advantage of us, at BRH
we try to keep your over all order cost low and
give you the best overall customer service we can. I
have had several recent new customers that have had
issues. These issues revolve around product availability
and cost of shipping. Negative online reviews have been
given and one complaint filed with the BBB.
The BBB complaint was about the delay in receiving a
pre ordered item listed as unknown availability date in
November 2017. The customer was blaming BRH for
the delay in the customer receiving the item. While this
overall had really no negative effect on the BBB rating,
it was more about the time and documentation to explain
the situation to the BBB and yet again to the customer.
We explained the delay verbally two weeks before the BBB
complaint was filed.
Now I am fighting with the BBB over the rating drop from
A+ to A not because of the latest complaint but because
we do not want to pay to become accredited or update our
profile which was done within the last two years.
Nothing has changed in the profile. So, to get an A+ rating they are
extorting either money or information from the business.
They did the same thing two years ago to us and continue
to do this exact same thing to other businesses around
the USA and Canada! We will stand for this!
If this type of abuse continues from both customers and
the BBB, I will close the web store and the retail
store. I just do not have the time to deal with people
who do not understand or are just advantage!
Grand
Central Gems
Those that have been following our email
about the lack or customer service with in the model
railroad hobby please take note. It has been over a
month now and we still have not heard back from Grand
Central Gems after numerous emails and calls to there
contact info!
Please remember that BRH customer is directly relates to
the customer service we receive from our suppliers!
InterMountain Railway
I had a
conversation with IMR this week and it looks like they
may be making some changes to new product announcement.
It seems that the waiting years to build up enough order
to produce items, they may announce products and if the
run announcement does not produce enough pre orders, the
within 90 to 120 days of the run announcement if the run
profitability threshold is not met, the run will be
canceled!
Also, steam era box car runs are not selling as well
currently. So there will be less and less offerings of
new product according to our source.
Of course, none of this is official, just part of a
conversation
I had with IMR about the long long wait
times for product!
Shipping Costs
Just a
reminder, especially to our newer customers. Shipping
cost are a pass through cost to you. This means that
whatever the cost of shipping to us is the cost of
shipping and insurance to you. There are no
markups.
If you do not like the cost of shipping, please contact
the Post Master General in Washington, DC.
The same
holds true with Fedex Ground pricing.
Packages
sizes and weight and ship to location deeply effect the
pricing of shipping.
We do not create the rate tables. The USPS and Fedex do!
Keep in mind what you are ordering. For example flex
track and a Walthers model kit usually have to ship in
two separate boxes. One box for the track and one for
the model kit!
John and I do our best to consolidate shipping into the
most cost effective and least number of packages to save
you shipping costs. So always pick the CHEAPEST shipping
option on the shopping cart form so we can shop the shipping for you and get you
the lowest price. If you pick USPS for example and Fedex
is cheaper, you will not be notified! You will have to
pay the higher price based on how you dictate your
shipping preference to us.
We sometimes are processing shipping very early in the
morning at times. So we can not call you to discuss the
cost of shipping. Western US customers take note. We are
shipping across the country to you and there is a high
cost to do that in some cases. Again, we will get you
the lowest cost of shipping based on the rate table that
are supplied to us. We can do no better. The
shipping cost is the shipping cost!
PLEASE NOTE:
Shipping Costs And Comparisons Are Noted On Your Sales
Receipt For You To See
New WalthersMainline HO and Cornerstone HO Tooling
Preorder by April 30th and save an extra 10% on exciting
newly tooled HO cars and kits! This month we've
announced the all-new 85' General American G85 Flatcar
in its multiple variations. We've also announced great
new schemes and road numbers on the popular 40' AAR 1944
Boxcar. The newly tooled Cornerstone
American Bungalow kit is a model of homes built by the
thousands in the 1900s and still in widespread use
today. All of these new models will be popular, so order
now!
HO Jeeps and Rovers and Porsches Oh My!
The latest vehicle arrivals from Brekina include many,
many worldwide favorites including quick-selling Jeep
Wagoneers, Land Rovers, Dodge Pickups, VW Vans, Porsches
and more. You will love these foreground-quality models
because they can add a timestamp to their scenes and
they're highly detailed with appropriate
decoration, interior seats and wheels that roll. If
you're not familiar with Brekina vehicles, take a look
at these snew arrivals and order now before they're sold
out!
Con-Cor HO 45' Containers Now Shipping
Containers for loading intermodal trains are must-haves
for many HO modelers and the latest arrivals from
Con-Cor. New schemes for the 45' Euro-International
Standard Corrugated Container two-packs include popular
shipping lines
such as Tropical, Matson, Hapag-Lloyd and more. There
are four container numbers per scheme (two in each
two-pack), so make sure to order both sets of each.
O Scale Sales with New Woodland Scenics Lighted
Vehicles
Perfect for any O Scale railroad new Just Plug(R)
vehicles will add interest to layout street scenes. A
dozen new 1940s to 1960s vehicles are great for
transition and early-diesel-era scenes. Each features
working lights that bring
streets to life. They're designed for plug-and-play use
with the Woodland Scenics Just Plug lighting system.
They're sure to be popular with scale and three-rail O
gaugers, so order now!
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