Scalextric Reviews 20

Serious Quality Control Problems — Very Disappointing
I received the Scalextric Bathurst Legends set as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago and only set it up recently. Unfortunately, both cars suffered major failures within minutes of running, which points to real quality control issues.
Holden Torana (05):
The rear wheel fell off after only a couple of laps.
There was no knurling on the axle and no glue on the wheel — nothing to keep it in place.
The axle end wasn’t even cut square.
After I re glued the wheel, the motor pinion gear failed almost immediately.
Ford Falcon (1):
A minor crash broke the plastic brush holder, which should not happen under normal racing conditions.
I grew up with Scalextric in the 70s and 80s, and those cars are still running today. The difference in durability is huge. These modern cars look great, but the materials and assembly quality are nowhere near the standard Scalextric used to have.
Both cars were out of action within minutes. For a premium set, this is extremely disappointing. Scalextric really needs to address these QC problems.
I was able to use a couple of old cars to test the track and controllers, they have stood the test of one day.

Honestly dreadful. Our son got the batman and joker one for Christmas and it constantly breaks. The cars constantly stop working. We replaced the brush rolls but these are getting damaged so quickly. So surprised these are so popular its one of the worst toys I've ever seen.

My brother and myself had scalextric sets from the early seventies , they were great fun and I have been buying sets over the years for my kids and now grandkids. But now , oh dear how disappointing. Poor quality , high failure rate and don't even get me started about arc air apps , just one word about that RUBBISH ! It's really gone down the pan .I can see why so few stores stock it now. I think the people at scalextric know this too , but are caught in a loop to just keep churning out cheap junk and hope it sells. I for one will not buy another single piece of track , it's just not worth the hassle of trying to get the cars to work. The bosses in charge need to realise either improve reliability or face total wipeout of the brand. It's that serious. It's been fun the last sixty plus years , so thanks scalextric, but it's time to say bye. I hope you improve, but I reckon the brand will be gone for good soon . Shame on the cost cutters who ruined it.

Terrible after sales. I ordered a set for a friend for his sons birthday. It never arrived. been messaging Scalextric 3 or 4 times. Got usual reply then dont hear anything back.

Terrible service. 2 weeks since numerous emails sent and still no reply. Delivery left on doorstep to be stolen. Tried to call today as sick of waiting for response. Phone lines only open till 1pm. Horrendous experience.

Absolutely the worst customer service I have ever experienced. After yet another 5 emails and promises of this being resolved, now just completely ignoring my emails yet again. Will be contacting my bank to do a chargeback as clearly not going to get anywhere with this disgraceful company.

Bought as a birthday present for our son - one car stopped working after only a week, the other has stopped working too. We’ve had consistent problems with car and track and the cars keep just randomly stopping. My son has now lost all interest. Wish I’d read other reviews before buying this.

So disappointed bought this as first set for our grandsons birthday to introduce him to the world of scalextric, but problems with the track doesn’t connect properly which stops the cars, over the years we have bought and still got multiple sets without any issues - is this a design fault!?

don't bother wasting your money buying full size scalextric sets the cars are fine it's the track that is such unbelievable poor quality, such a waste of money, I threw mine in the bin, disgusted..BUT I bought a carrera go / fantastic by son loves it ...i found out it is made by ...scalextric!!
I kid you not!

I've had electric since 1985 and I'm still buying them today 2025 I will buy them till I die love them

Low quality. Doesn't work without constant attention. We have taken out the bits of track that the car wouldn't get power on and the cars stopped again. We now have a quarter size, basically tiny track and the cars still keep stopping. Where is the fun? We got the track out after my son got some new pieces for his birthday, after several hours of tweaking the track and it still not working he has lost all interest. Such a shame as I had told him stories about the track I had as a kid. The reality is the track I used to own was built to a far higher quality standard than the rubbish we bought for my son. How Scalextric have the gaul to sell such low quality track is beyond me. Bottom line if you are thinking of buying a Scalextric set i wouldn't bother unless you want to spend 90% of your time trying to get it working. Both myself and ny son are hugely disappointed, I wouldn't even feel comfortable selling this on so it is going to end up in the bin.

Not bad ordering direct from Scalextric but wish their online shop had much more items ie cars etc then they sell in the Hobby shops.

This set just takes up space (and a lot of it) but doesn't really work. We spend more time trying to make the cars go than actually playing with it. They just stop randomly at certain points round the track. When I contacted them shortly after purchase they said I could send the set in to be looked at (even though their website says they offer refund or replacement for faulty items - don't believe them). Months later they sent it back, with no comments at all - not clear if it had even been tested. When we were able to test it again, it was exactly the same as before. Don't waste your money on these shoddily built sets. Oh and when you start to type your review, if you go to a different tab briefly, it deletes your one star review and reverts itself to 5 star when you go back. Just a dishonest company all round!

Terrible customer service
Don’t reply to emails
No returns or complaints process
Generally very amateur

Omg I ordered my 6 year old grandson his first scalextric for Christmas plus extra car I ordered direct as they had good sale well he loved it set worked great until we put extra truck on then it made handset smoke so I emailed them and after wait got a email saying the wanted sticker no there is no sticker on box so sent picture back they then sent email to say what is batch no I don’t even know what that means they can see I ordered direct so what is problem

Having posted twice on Scalextric's own website about quality and description of one of their latest released cars, namely "C4495 Ford GT40 - BOAC 500 1968 - Drury / Holland"
Both posts have been deleted!
This car was announced nearly 12 months ago, yet despite much external input, the finished model which has just been released looks nothing like the car it claims to emulate/replicate.
Totally wrong colour is only one of the issues.
If you can't get the small details correct, don't try and con the buyers!!

This car looks really good so I ordered it directly from Scalextric along with two other cars via their website.
I was hoping to give it a good run around my track but alas no. I pressed the hand controller and the car went a quarter of the way around my circuit, which isn't large and died. I swapped the braid plate for another but nothing.
I contacted Hornby customer services via email and here is their response.
"I would recommend that you get the car sent into us for inspection by the quality team. If you are happy to do this, please can you confirm your address details and telephone number, I will then raise a case for you and supply you with all information needed in order to get that sent into us.
Please be aware all spares are subject to availability, and please note all inspections can take up to 28 days".
So I packaged it up and sent it off with Royal Mail tracking. Hornby received it on the 17th October 2024, but after 20 days no word was heard from Hornby. I again emailed Hornby for news of my car only to be told.
"You car was booked in on the 21/10/2024, ( 4 days after they received it ), and is in the queue".
Queue?
That must mean they still have not opened the box to look at it. Why not just send me a replacement by return of post?
Now imagine if you took a defective item back to a retailer and they said we will take a look at it so come back in a month, how would you feel and is that even legal?
A few months ago I returned a different Scalextric car to a popular online seller and within a week a replacement arrived.
If only Hornby worked that way.
Still sat here waiting for my car.

Customer service there isn’t one, had scalextric sets growing up and the same for my oldest boy just got a 360 drift set with the mustangs.only only one side of the track worked the Cars stop and start can’t do a full lap then the controller started smoking and got really hot. Been trying to contact them via messages on the website but they can’t even be bothered to send a reply do g waste your money quality of the track is bad nothing like the older sets

Customer service awful. Do not pay for express delivery, takes longer than free delivery

Bought the microscalextric law enforcer set for my kids at Christmas. Not even in March yet and it is broken. Track does not feed the current round. Built it on the table and the floor still the same result. Massive waste of money and poor quality.

I recently bought a Scalextric ARC PRO Powerbase which arrived damaged. I purchased it from a reputable 3rd party high street shop, not direct from Scalextric but please bear with me because the problem is with Scalextric, not the 3rd party trader. The shop I bought it from contacted Scalextric on my behalf. Scalextric refused to provide a replacement or refund me stating that the damage must have been caused by the buyer. Scalextric came to this conclusion based on 2 photos that I sent, they never requested that it was returned for a full inspection to be undertaken. I felt sorry for the 3rd party trader who provided me with a full refund without question.

The problem with the item is that the socket to accept the transformer plug was misaligned meaning that I could not plug the transformer into port one of the powerbase. Scalextric said that I must have forced it. The item it was out of the packet for circa 2 minutes before I identified the problem. I have been putting plugs into sockets for about 50 years of my life and have never before caused damage to one. I know when something is being forced or not and this certainly wasn't forced. It would beg the question if the design is fit for purpose if Scalextric think that it's possible to cause damage by inserting a plug.

It appears that Scalextric take the approach that the customer is always wrong. I have bought Scalextric all my life and have never before had cause to request a replacement item or make a complaint. The response from Scalextric was disappointing to say the least.