Hornby Reviews 120

Horrible stock control (takes weeks sometimes before delivery) and flaky chips and faulty locomotives (we had three fail over a six month period) made Hornby a really bad experience for us.

People tend to use Hornby because they remember them from when they were kids (me included!) but trust me Hornby is not the same company now.

Recently placed an order for two items that were in a sale. Changed delivery address to my neighbour due to other commitment. Contacted Hornby Hobbies early today and they stated that the items haven’t been collected by DPD local yet. Find that confusing. Due to an email stating that they been dispatched and should have been delivered yesterday.
No clear response on when the carrier will collect him?

Cheap overpriced crap. Don't waste your money. Horrendous company who basically steal your hard earned cash and send you cheap plastic products that don't even work properly! Stay clear.

Hornby have failed to deliver my LNER coronation observation car preorder, ordered years ago. Money was taken from my account as they said it had arrived in stock. When my order didn’t appear I was told by email this was due to a system error and a new order had been added. This didn’t arrive and when I inquired about this by phone I was told it was being packed and would be despatched that day. Still no order but now I’ve been told it was out of stock and that’s why my order wasn’t sent and I’ll be given a refund. So first 2 stories weren’t correct. I thought preordering direct would have guaranteed my item but sadly I was mistaken. Beware of making the same mistake.
EDIT SINCE HORNBY REPLY
Obviously I contacted Hornby Customer Services. They are the ones who eventually informed me that my model was out of stock so they would not fulfil my pre order and issued a refund for the money charged to my card.

They are scam company been in financial trouble ..have terrible customer service.. lie and not to be trusted beware!!!

See reply from Hornby very disappointed all lies

Hornby managed to lose my order in their warehouse, told monday it had been dispatched come friday nothing delivery company still waiting for it. I phone Hornby get told my order will be looked into I will get call that afternoon, nothing. Same thing happened the following monday, rang them again on the tuesday told thay were just organising a replacment I will recieve I will recieve in 3 to 4 days meaning I will have waited 2 weeks. However that afternoon I got an email telling me the item I had ordered was out of stock I was being issued a refund. I have got a very disappointed Grandson.

I bought the Pocher 917 through the Hornby web site. I ordered it on the Wednesday and received it on the Friday. Started building it and loving it. Good quality Good customer service and fantastic postage, packing and delivery. I have bought Airfix as well but had to wait a little longer , a few days, but this was less than 48 hours from purchasing to receiving.

Ordered a train set but found that the space that it would take up was too large. Looked on the website and it stated phone for a refund. Phoned and told needed in writing so email sent. Received details, by email, of how to return. Returned and received a refund in just over 48 hours.
Previous reviews stated had to wait days for a refund but that was not my experience. Customer Service answered all emails promptly with the information that I needed. Good service.

First class fantastic service. No delivery delays of a quality product. DPD right on the money with excellent tracking and accurate delivery times. An altogether great consumer experience. Plenty of Hornby bashing around but my transaction could not have been better.
The new TT120 range is awesome.

Scalextrix Order was only part delivered, I rang and spoke to Celeste who was really helpful. The problem was resolved very quickly and communication was excellent.

For a company having to raise their prices as they lose money they do not improve customer service. Marking an order dispatched then 3 working days later the order still being in the warehouse when I paid “express” is disgraceful. No apology just a written excuse when it’s still in the warehouse despite marked as dispatched.

Not really for young children, but for a collector you can’t really go wrong,
or a walk down memory lane of .
I think the prices in the cafeteria were reasonable and the quality of the food was great.
Entry fee into the museum is very reasonable

Hornby are 💩 they are overpriced Chinese rubbish and don't buy them simply buy old Triang Wrenn or British made Meccano or Trix Ttr as wasting money on this garbage simply isn't worth it m!

I bought a Hornby train set which I received in 7th June 2024. The loco was faulty, so after speaking with customer services I returned it after only 3 days of owning it.

It is now the 26th June, Hornby still have my faulty loco. My last enquiry was a week ago, I was told the loco was still in a queue waiting to be looked at. At no point has anyone from Hornby offered me any update, I have to keep contacting them to find out what is going on.

I made the point that, given the item was faulty on arrival, Hornby should replace it with with a new one. This was ignored.

I have to say my venture into the model railway hobby has not been a great experience, I have a track laid out with no loco. However, what upsets me more is the total indifference of Hornby staff. They simply do not care.

I will build my railway eventually but I will try and avoid Hornby products in future.

I have recently purchased a second hand Hornby DCC select controller and I wish you send it to Hornby for firmware upgrade before shipping it to Hong Kong. I've made an enquiry in advance, and the CS team replied that I have to send the controller to their UK service center, the upgrade cost was £15. I then proceed with the purchase and send the unit to Hornby.

The upgrade time was terrible and took close to 2 months, I was only informed about its completion when I send an email asking about the progress. I then wishes to settle the fee by credit card with online payment, only then I was informed that online payment is not available and the only menthod is by card over phone transaction.

I find the lack of payment channel for customer service absurd. They have online payment facilities for their online shop, so not having online payment options for customer service seemed a bit unusual. It is also Hornby's responsibility to warn customer about their lack of payment channels, especially for those from overseas. Their lack of communication in this area resulted in my unit being stuck at their center. If overseas customer requires service to their Hornby product, this also means it is impossible for them to pay for any service at all. While I have been actively looking for solutions in my previous emails, they provided no alternatives and insisted there is only one way to pay. This clearly shows the Hornby's poor competence in effective customer communication, poor efficiency in the service, and their uncaring customer service.

While Hornby aims to sell the product globally through their website, my poor experience with theit customer service team clearly demonstrates the lack of commitment for Hornby to support its own products internationally. I am very disappointed by this experience, as this shows Hornby's poor competence in effective customer communication, poor efficiency in their service, and their uncaring attitude towards their customers. I would avoid Hornby products in the future.

Recently ordered a couple of airfix kits from Hornby Hobbies.

Kits arrived fairly quickly and were very well packaged.

Slight issue with one of the kits (dried out paints) but i contacted customer services and they had a new set of paints out to me within a few days.

Very happy.

Do not pay for express delivery. It is a con. I paid for this service as it was a birthday present. Their interpretation of express delivery is 6 days - while standard delivery is apparently 5 days. According Hornby's response it takes them 2 days to process the order before initiating the delivery.

Truly atrocious customer service. Promised goods would be delivered by end of last week when I enquired where they were, as expected not delivered. Called Monday, supervisor said they would call back by 15:00, didn’t. Called again today to request to talk to a manager, not called back but apparently “all gone home”. Yes the product has finally been delivered and is of its usual high standard but just looks like they are paying lip service and holding out till I get the goods and hope I go away. No response to email. Given the number of items I buy, strange behaviour. I’m hoping this is just a blip. Could quite happily give up the hobby as a result.

Got a Hornby super detail 31. It's absolutely garbage. Runs like poo and constantly derails in areas that other locos have no problems on. Terrible quality. Makes me want to throw it at my wall. It's probably only a matter of time before the mazark rot arrives aswell. I'd be better off putting it on a Lima chassis. If lima chassis are well serviced they run well and will haul mountains. No wonder this company is making a loss with terrible models like this bieng produced. Buy Bachmann, Vi Trains, Heljan (Diesels) and Lima guys. Don't buy theese overpriced toys.