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Excellent customer service from Revell GmbH


AlexB

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Folks are often quick to moan when things go wrong, but we should also congratulate when they go right!

 

A few months ago I purchased a 1/72 Revell Red Arrows Hawk kit from a vendor on eBay and it sadly arrived without the clear sprue.

The vendor gave a full refund and informed me there was no need to send the kit back.

No quibbles, so that was good.

 

I spent a little while trying to find a vacform canopy for the kit, to no avail. I found a 2nd generation Airfix canopy in my spares box, and a trial fit suggested it wasn't quite going to work.

I then thought I best check with Revell to see if spares are available.

 

I completed the form on Revell's website and awaited a response (they explained at the time there's a back log due to the pandemic, so I knew I'd have to wait)

 

Eventually I got an email from Chloe at the Tring UK office, I explained what had happened and expected to be asked for a small payment to at least cover postage, but she said she'd follow up with the German side, and I waited...

 

Just yesterday I started wondering what had happened, as a few weeks had passed, and this morning by complete coincidence a surprise package arrived with a Deutsche Post label.

 

The canopy has arrived!!

 

Fabulous result, and now no excuse for me - a build must commence.

 

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I've had several spare parts/decals from Revell, both for kits I had, and that I didn't/don't.  They never asked for any money.  Both GMBH and USA arms have always been good in that respect.  Didn't know they had an office in Tring though.

 

Airfix on the other hand, last time I requested spares (for a kit I had) wanted a flat £5, paid by cheque - talk about dinosaurs!

 

If I need a spare part for a Revell kit I will always go to them first.

Edited by RobL
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Yes, have to agree. Revell Gmbh are top class when it comes to supplying spare parts. I was given a kit of the Revell 1/35th scale Crusader Mk.1 by a friend, but he'd used the road wheels for another project. I contacted Revell and explained what had happened and said that I was willing to pay for the parts. In less than a fortnight I received a parcel from them containing two sprues with all of the road wheels, free of charge. You can't ask better than that.

 

John.

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50 minutes ago, Toe said:

Lets hope it isn't taken advantage of which isn't unusual in todays society and Revell decide to stop being so generous :(


Yes, that would be bad.

I explained the circumstances and expected to pay.

 

 

I do recall getting replacement decals from Airfix for no charge years ago too (probably early 1980s). I wrote to them asking how much they charge for a decal sheet because I didn’t like the options in the matchbox buccaneer kit I’d been gifted! The Airfix buccaneer decals arrived within a week, no charge!!

 

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4 hours ago, AlexB said:

but she said she'd follow up with the German side......

 

.....

 

...Fabulous result.

 

Nuff said. I like Revell.
Revell has German blood running through the company DNA. Looking at my name it can't be that bad...
It is just being professional. Just as when Revell publishes their 314 is RAL 1001, it is and when publish their 42 is not quite RAL 6014, it is not quite RAL6014.

One danger with such entreprises is the market. DO we WANT professional businesses?
My childhood was spent in SAABs. from 80ties to early 90ties. Great cars. Engineered. Cherished by few. Too few. General Motors took over and bye bye SAAB.
Let GM buy BMW or Mercedes Benz and in 20 years people will talk about "those cars 10 years ago".
 

Edited by Steben
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The people in Revell might have figured out that a bit of goodwill costs very little but is always repaid. Quite simply if they messed you about you might never buy Revell again but you will and indeed you've spread the word and impressed others for their customer service. 

 

I don't mean to suggest it's a cynical ploy on their part but good customer service is good for business. I think we forget sometimes that a company isn't just a faceless entity. It's people often doing a job they enjoy. 

 

Well done those people. 

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I've never needed to use Revell's clearly excellent service.

I have, however, had good experiences with Airfix's customer service. The decals in my first issue Seafire FR46/FR47 disintegrated years ago so when the kit was re-released a while back, I emailed Airfix asking to buy a sheet from the second issue. Lo and behold, I received the sheet a couple of weeks later with a lovely hand written compliments slip saying there was no charge and they hoped I'd enjoy completing my model.

I had a similar pleasant experience when I asked to buy a sheet to double up the notoriously translucent decals on their Severn Class lifeboat.

Like a lot of people, that kind of service goes a long way with me. Also, as a good business knows, its a lot cheaper to keep a customer than it is to attract a new one. Thank you Airfix!

 

Phil

 

 

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8 hours ago, RobL said:

Airfix on the other hand, last time I requested spares (for a kit I had) wanted a flat £5, paid by cheque - talk about dinosaurs

 

And I thought they were just charging this fee for overseas ‘customers’? Yes, I’ve received the email and cheque request for GBP 9.00 for just the one Beaufort clear part which equates to about 47% of the overall kit price! Things have obviously changed at the Airfix spares department and not for the better in my opinion. 

Cheers.. Dave 

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13 hours ago, Steben said:


Let GM buy BMW or Mercedes Benz and in 20 years people will talk about "those cars 10 years ago".
 

The way General Bullmoose is going, it's more likely that BMW  or Mercedes will buy THEM! The bean counters rule supreme - not that long ago GM got out of all the RHD markets for reasons not explained entirely satisfactorily. Holden, GM's Australian arm, has vanished completely, much to the dismay of many Holden fanatics, and Vauxhall and Opel (which I would not have said was a high flyer in the RHD world) went to Peugeot. I'm wondering if we'll ever see Vauxhall back on the market here ...

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I received excellent service from them too.  I had a 1/72 Hawker Hunter Mk 6, but unfortunately the canopy had a couple of tiny 'bubbles' caught in the moulding. I filled in the form on Revell's website about obtaining a replacement, including a close-up pic of the faulty canopy part, and very quickly got a polite reply stating that the kit was no longer being manufactured so unfortunately they could not send me a replacement. Strictly speaking, that was absolutely true, as the kit was several years old, and was not in production at the time. No argument there from me.

 

However, I noticed that the 1/72 Hunter FGA9 was still in production, which used the identical clear sprue to the Hunter Mk 6, so I re-submitted another form on their website, explaining the situation in the hope that Revell would then be able to send me the replacement canopy.

 

About 10 days later I received a brand new replacement clear sprue in the post (this was during the lockdown in June last year I should add) from Revell, totally free of charge, and very neatly packaged too. Excellent customer service from Revell, could not fault them, a very professional company to deal with.  🙂

 

 

 

The faulty original canopy section.

 

49973208362_8223bb0455_o.jpg

 

 

 

 

How the replacement from Revell arrived.

 

50022043721_8956b4d8ae_o.jpg

 

 

🙂

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9 minutes ago, AlexB said:

Yes, just go to the website.

Spare parts service – https://www.revell-service.de/en/spare-parts-service/

 

 

I wonder if they would send you multiple parts like car tires for example if they allow it?

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6 minutes ago, busnproplinerfan said:

I wonder if they would send you multiple parts like car tires for example if they allow it?

A few years ago I bought from Revell a load of lifeboats so I could convert one of their Titanic models to the Britannic. afair the charge was quite nominal

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3 hours ago, Black Knight said:

A few years ago I bought from Revell a load of lifeboats so I could convert one of their Titanic models to the Britannic. afair the charge was quite nominal

So they might look into it, I don't mind paying shipping or whatever.

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It is always a good sign to hear/read that one has received good service from any company in replacing/repairing a missing/broken/incomplete part, instructions, etc. We(myself included) have all had this happen. Getting the part with no problem is what good companies do to show their honor to us. Often there is no charge, but, some do ask for return postage. That is fine as that is not so inexpensive as it once was.

Joe

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When I broke the canopy of my Eduard 1/48 X-1 "Machbuster", they were happy to send out a replacement, free of charge- with my next order from their webshop!

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Its good to see this, and the hope is it does not get abused.

 

Im sad to say this is what happened at airfix. I know from a visit there and speaking to the ladies who used to run the spares service. They had to build up a database of people requesting parts as it was getting out of hand.

 

Julien

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  • 4 weeks later...

Lost part arrived from Germany today. No charge. Sturdy cardboard box and bubble wrap, all for a basically flat piece. 1 x 1.5 inches. 

Excellent service in about a month. 

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