Con-Cor Will No Longer Available
Effective 02/09/19!
After almost 15 years I have decided not to offer Con-Cor
products at all. Not that that matters since for the
most part, not very much product has been available from
them since we have been in business.
Con-Cor continually has had very long wait times for
products announced and they have missed arrival dates
constantly during this time. To get you, our customers
the best overall pricing on any product, we purchase
most of products from Walthers, our main wholesaler.
Through the years Walthers has blamed Con-Cor and Con-Cor
blames Walthers and BRH and you our customers are caught
in the middle without the product you want!
We have numerous items on back order / advance
reservations for Con-Cor that have not been filled. A
customer called the other day and stated that he
spoke with Con-Cor and they have the product but have
not shipped to Walthers so they could send to BRH for us
to fulfill the customers order.
Then Con-Cor advised the customer that they could not
offer the discount that BRH gets from Walthers from Con-Cor
items. On 02/04/19 I sent an email to Con-Cor regarding
the status of the products the customer wanted plus the
back orders and advance reservations for other
customers. This is their response:
"we do not
price compete sorry, Walthers buys a very large
volume of product from us along with buying min
quantities that are above
any of the qty /items you inquired about below.
Your best deal at the quantities you are looking for
would be direct from
Walthers."
Well that was not answering the question regarding the
availability of product and whether BRH can purchase the
product direct from Con-Cor as we have done numerous
times over the last 15 years! So we sent another email.
After two emails and no response and now the customer
wants to cancel the order, I called Con-Cor.
I wound up speaking
with the owner Jim Conway. He was very rude to me from
the start when I questioned him about the emails I had
sent. He advised me that they have had issues with
Walthers in the past regarding ordering and order
fulfillment. I advised that that was not what I was
inquiring about. I wanted to know the stock status of
the list I sent to Con-Cor. Without looking at the list
Mr. Conway advised me that most of the product that
Walthers has on their website are older items not in
production any longer. He advised that he recently has
worked with Walthers for over 100 hours to 'clean up'
their database of Con-Cor items. So, helpfully that list
thus our database of Con-Cor items is more accurate. But
again, that did not answer the question.
Then he blamed the closure of the Hong Kong factory last
August that I have discussed here in the past. This
still does not explain the issues on product
availability from when BRH started in 2005 until
2010/2011 when there where factory closing issues. Then
lack of product from 2011 until 2018 (7 years) and the
fact of product shortages during this time.
When I pressed him, Mr. Conway advised that with some
items, if they are the end of the run
availability, Con-Cor will not ship to a dealer or
wholesaler since the items will not be produced any
longer. Despite the fact that a customer wants to buy
the product now via a dealer or wholesaler. Con-Cor
wants to hold on to that item to charge you, the
customer FULL RETAIL PRICE through Con-Cor. Plus you
would have to pay shipping on whatever you purchase from
them.
So this means that the BRH customer will never receive
the product from us or any other dealer or wholesaler at
any discount price. Ever!!! They want you the customer
to pay full price to "maximize their profit" as Mr.
Conway advised.
Then Mr. Conway proceeded to blame BRH for the closure
of smaller dealers that do not have our buying power. I
advised Mr. Conway that BRH was that smaller dealer back
in 2005 and have grown due to our persistence in low
pricing and great customer service!
Well, needless to say that rubbed me the wrong way. And
Mr. Conway's tone did not help.
So, as I have stated in the past via I feel that the
trend from the manufacturers is to sell directly to the
model railroad customer. This trend started back in 2011
with Horizon Hobby (Athearn) trying to eliminate dealers
from selling their products by eliminating access to
their product database during November and December
2011.
Exact Rail and Scale Trains do the same thing. Sell only
direct to customers and do not allow dealers or
wholesalers to buy their product. This means you as the
customer are buying more for the product plus shipping!
When a dealer like Blue Ridge Hobbies with 120,000 items
in our product database will allow you to buy from one
source, at a discount, and combining that order into one
shipment when possible. Thus saving you time and money!
So, again I tried to get an answer on the product
availability in question and Mr. Conway just hung up!
How rude!
So, effective with the 02/09/19 update, BRH will no
longer offer Con-Cor items even though our main
wholesaler still does. You the customer deserve better
from Con-Cor.
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