Intermountain/Centralia 2022 passenger cars wrong fonts!

[altohorn25]

After a 2+ year wait I just received 3 new Intermountain/Centralia passenger cars.   They are:
6-6-4 sleeper, SP Golden State  Golden Creek
4-4-2 sleeper, IC (leased from UP) Imperial Bird
4-4-2 sleeper, IC (leased from NYC) Rip Van Winkle Bridge

ALL THREE use incorrect fonts!  The most egregious is the SP car - here's a photo (still in the box):
(Attachment Link)

What the heck?  The train name is in entirely the wrong font, and the silver box on the letterboard is too tall, so this isn't readily fixable with decals.  Weirdly, the car name is in the correct font - which is the same font that should be on the letterboard.   I'm not even sure what font they used, but it's not even close to anything that was on the Golden State.

It's not like they didn't previously release a good dozen + cars with the correct font, so I can only assume no one is doing QA any more.

The Two IC cars are equally strange.
Imperial Bird uses the UP font for the letterboard, and for the "Union Pacific" lettering at the car ends, but the IC font for the car name.    I have pictures of it two ways - all UP font, or all IC font.  Not a mix.  But it's close, so I can forgive this screw up.

Rip Van Winkle Bridge uses the UP(!) font for the letterboard and NYC lettering at the car ends, but the IC font for the car name. It should be all IC font.   UP font on an NYC car? That's just blatantly sloppy.

(Attachment Link)

I'm not sure whom to complain to - I don't want to make it my hobby shop's problem.  Do I complain to Intermountain or Centralia?  $59.00/car is far too much for me to pay for this kind of sloppiness.

I'm quite disappointed 

The font on that Golden State car is inexcusable for the price that you're paying for that car.  I can't beleive they'd release something so far off......

[nkalanaga]

I can.  That's one of the advantages (to the seller) of mandatory pre-orders.  If one wants something, it HAS to be reserved, and by the time it can be examined, the seller has your money.  With an unscrupulous seller, it can be quite profitable, as long as people keep falling for it.

[ncbqguy]

I can.  That's one of the advantages (to the seller) of mandatory pre-orders.  If one wants something, it HAS to be reserved, and by the time it can be examined, the seller has your money.  With an unscrupulous seller, it can be quite profitable, as long as people keep falling for it.

That assessment is harsh and unfair.
For this sort of situation I believe Micro-Trains is the only company that can walk out to the various departments during production to insure the product is right….and communicate with everyone involved face to face in English.   Most everyone else doing N Scale products is separated by an ocean, language and different cultures.  A project manager here cannot talk to all the people doing the work.   
Having worked under these circumstances unboxing production always involved holding one’s breath. 
If problems of the presented degree don’t get resolved that is a cause to become upset at the importer.  But be aware, even on this side, like in your job, not everybody has full control of their projects.  Even M-T has done stuff that somewhere somebody in the process overruled or overlooked
I wish all the goods and services and institutions we deal with in our “real” lives had the integrity and responsiveness of Model Railroad Companies.  Over the entire history of model trains of all types and sizes there have been VERY few bad actors…less than one can count on one hand.
I could start listing companies that likely people who complain the loudest here work for that I would like to comment on their organization to…. 
Perhaps InterMountain should be given the chance and time to get the factory to make things right before heating up the tar and plucking the chickens….
Charlie Vlk

[altohorn25]

I understand that mistakes are made, but then I guess if I were said company I would release a statement in regards to that mistake and provide information on if it is going to be resolved or just "too bad, so sad." 

I find it hard to believe that no one at Intermountain caught the fact that the font wasn't even close to correct on that Golden State car and let the product be shipped without any explanation.  I guess they got the shipping container from China, unloaded the boxes, and shipped them to distributers without even looking at their product.  I just don't understand that part......

As I said before, when you're paying that much for a passenger car, I expect at least the basic things to be correct (roadname, font, colors are close, etc....).

[wcfn100]

I find it hard to believe that no one at Intermountain caught the fact that the font wasn't even close to correct on that Golden State car and let the product be shipped without any explanation.  I guess they got the shipping container from China, unloaded the boxes, and shipped them to distributers without even looking at their product.  I just don't understand that part......

Unless there is damage to the box shipped to them, they don't examine the N scale stuff.


Jason

[Bill H]

That assessment is harsh and unfair.
For this sort of situation I believe Micro-Trains is the only company that can walk out to the various departments during production to insure the product is right….and communicate with everyone involved face to face in English.   Most everyone else doing N Scale products is separated by an ocean, language and different cultures.  A project manager here cannot talk to all the people doing the work.   
Having worked under these circumstances unboxing production always involved holding one’s breath. 
If problems of the presented degree don’t get resolved that is a cause to become upset at the importer.  But be aware, even on this side, like in your job, not everybody has full control of their projects.  Even M-T has done stuff that somewhere somebody in the process overruled or overlooked
I wish all the goods and services and institutions we deal with in our “real” lives had the integrity and responsiveness of Model Railroad Companies.  Over the entire history of model trains of all types and sizes there have been VERY few bad actors…less than one can count on one hand.
I could start listing companies that likely people who complain the loudest here work for that I would like to comment on their organization to…. 
Perhaps InterMountain should be given the chance and time to get the factory to make things right before heating up the tar and plucking the chickens….
Charlie Vlk

Hear, hear Charlie. Well said.

[wazzou]

I've been involved for the NPRHA in some custom runs with a couple of manufacturers that have production overseas, exclusively.
In every case, we were first sent drawings that included the Pantone colors listed and all lettering layouts for font, placement and color for both sides and both ends.
Once these were marked for correction or just approved, we were sent physical samples of the cars for review.
It should be done the same in normal production as well.
If it's not, I'd be quite surprised.

[oakcreekco]

Over the decades I've bought and dealt with numerous manufacturers in the MRR world.

Various business models are used. Some very good, some not so good.

Concerning IM, they are consistent with how they do things.

I'm very pleased, I just don't do business with them at all anymore.

[nkalanaga]

To everybody:  I wasn't referring to Centralia, or Intermountain, explicitly in my comment.  I was responding to Nate Pierce's comment that he couldn't believe that "they'd release something so far off".

Yes, there are reasons, some valid, for it happening.  But my point was that it is a disadvantage of the current reservation system, and that a company can make money by producing incorrect products, at least until enough people quit buying from them. 

[JoeD]

Maybe contact the manufacture first and talk with them before going public on a forum with what may or may not be a problem. (not saying this is not an error, but give them the opportunity to fix it)  Just me thinking out loud.

Joe

[JMaurer1]

Leave it to MTLJoe to nail it.

Personally, I really like a bunch of the products that IM makes...but I have waited for some of them for YEARS before they didn't make some of them. As a result, IM has convinced me to wait until something that they have announced is physically OUT. If that means I miss something I wanted from them, so be it. I waited for over 5 years (might have been 7+) for the GPEX Milk cars (Chateau Martin) and they never came out. In fact, I have never seen one of the 6 roads that they have claimed to have been released.

On the other side of the coin, I waited to see the Gibson Wine 8k tank cars and bought a bunch (the NWP had more than a few wineries back in the day and even more now). I just wish that they would be consistent with their releases and release them in a reasonable time...but there is no good excuse for releasing something that is just wrong.

[JMaurer1]

Three different previously released passenger cars, two different lettering styles, and none of them look like the picture that Nickleplate posted.







Nickleplates:


Intermountains preview

[nickelplate759]

Update - I was able to contact Intermountain by phone today (2nd try).    They offered me a choice - return the unsatisfactory cars directly to them for credit against future direct purchase from them, or I could return them to the retailer.     I chose the former.

[altohorn25]

Three different previously released passenger cars, two different lettering styles, and none of them look like the picture that Nickleplate posted.







Nickleplates:


Intermountains preview

The font in the letterboard is supposed to be different based on which railroad owned the cars, Southern Pacific or Rock Island.

[Mark5]

The font in the letterboard is supposed to be different based on which railroad owned the cars, Southern Pacific or Rock Island.

That's a good point. I know that on the N&W cars that were in UP pool service (painted UP yellow), the "NORFOLK AND WESTERN" was done in N&W style font.