Living just round the corner from this store I've been using it to buy presents for my two sons for some time, generally at Christmas. It has a good choice of most things model based and is generally quite busy and seems popular
This year I bought my son his first RC car, an electric version. Christmas morning, charged the battery and outside to test it. Great fun for ten minutes until one of the rear wheels started to wobble, then 'break' sending the car barrel rolling down the road.
Closer inspection showed one of the rear suspension uprights had failed and one of the drive dogbones had been lost in the ensuing crash...oh well, disappointing but a manufacturing fault that couldn't have been predicted so back to Model World....that's when things went wrong...
The store had opened on Boxing Day to help people out who were experiencing problems with their purchases so big thumbs up there..
I explained my problem - unfortunately as far as they were concerned it wasn't their problem !!!
1. The failed part had no manufacturing faults (??? It had failed)
2. We had crashed it so it was our fault (??? We hadn't)
3. I hadn't supervised my son (??? I was stood right next to him)
4. I was just another customer who came in and lied that whatever item hadn't been crashed/hadn't supervised the user/wanted a free replacement etc etc
The owner was rude, aggressive and dismissive. He would have been intimidating to a younger or less confident customer.
When I pointed out I had been a customer for eight years plus and had never returned anything before he wasn't interested. In fact his aggression increased..
Finally he gave me the option to buy the parts to repair the car or send it back to the manufacturer (who would say the same as him!!) with no replacement or refund..
Given I had an upset 10 year old waiting outside wanting his Christmas present back I had no choice but to buy the items from a rude obnoxious store owner.
Maybe I caught him on a bad day.... but I honestly wonder how such a person is still in business
Ultimately you buy locally for the back up service supplied. This store offers none..
Buy (cheaper) on the net and receive the same level of customer service than at Model World. It'll be less insulting and easier
ps They didn't stock all the spare parts needed either..... read more