Search the Community

I pre-ordered one of Airfix's big Tiffies from my local model shop in expectation of the sort of quality displayed at the release at Telford. When it arrived, I had heard about the canopy issues and opened the box with a mix of hope and dread in roughly equal parts. Sadly, the hope soon dissipated, as the canopy was cracked. I immediately rang Airfix's customer care line, only to be told by a recorded message to e-mail. Luckily, I have that ability, so I did e-mail them. After over a month of waiting, I finally recieved a replacement from the second line, as there "is an issue with the parts coming from one line". These were worse. Not cracked, but dimpled and uneven, with areas of varying thickness and clarity. I contacted Airfix once again and told them that they actually had problems with both lines and asking for replacements that they would be prepared to accept themselves. I also took the opportunity to point out that they had incorrectly addressed the package, so it is lucky that the postman knew my name. Another 6-8 weeks went by and I eventually got an e-mail saying that they had had the parts back from the Post Office, marked "undeliverable", which means they had been stuck in the sorting office for over two weeks, improperly addressed again and asking whether I still needed them. I said I did, but once again, was prepared to wait for something useable. Two weeks ago, I had another message from Airifx, saying that they were terribly sorry but they were still trying their best to rectify the problem and were expecting new samples early the following week and would contact me if they passed muster, going on to offer me more replacements with "less visible dimpling". Imagine my reply. Given that there is no subsequent mention of the new samples they were awaiting two weeks ago, I assume that these have also failed to live up to expectation. I am now less than impressed with Airfix's response to this, very disappointed with them and would much rather have seen the release delayed until the canopies were sorted out. My earlier suggestion that they compensate me for the additional expense of obtaining Alley Cat's resin replacement seems to have been met with stony silence. I'm sorry that's all a bit long winded, but I had to set the scene for the question, "Is it personal, am I being unreasonable, or is everyone being messed around by Airfix over what should be a bread and butter piece of production?" Chris