The Model Centre 50% Off Sale

Crazy Prices!

The Model Centre 50% Off Sale

TLDR;

Right place - Right time, thank you to @utility_branch_line (Instagram) for telling me about the deal, and The Model Centre for honouring it.

FULL STORY

On Saturday even Utility Branch Line (Instagram) sent me a message “Did you notice The Model Centre doing 50% off on various models”. No, I had not, so I quickly popped on to the website on my phone to see if by chance the two Rapido locos I have been looking at for many months are included.

After about eight pages of search, I eventually find they are. I pop them both in my basket and then try to decide which to bin off; as I cannot afford both. While “humming and haring” a little voice in my head tells me “this is very likely to be a one off” and I should order both as I'm not going to see 50% off the price of these locos soon, or possibly EVER again.

So I go ahead and order both on the credit card vowing to make sure I list on Ebay three of my older locos to help cover the cost. Then I get about messaging others in the model railway community to let them know of the insane discount. I get a couple of messages out to people and then I get a message Utility Branch Line again - saying that the prices have gone back up! No!

I quickly check, and yes he is right. These locos are now only 25% off. Damn, I now need to message those I had just told about the deal that those amazing prices were gone. It was clear the 50% discount was a clerical error and had been corrected quickly.

I then started to suspect that even though I managed to order these two Rapido locos at 50% off the RRP, The Model Centre would probably cancel the order. Utility Branch Line and I discuss this to great length over various messages over the next two days. Google AI helped me find in the TMC terms and conditions of sale that they are not obligated to fulfil orders for price discount errors. Arrg! I am not going to get these locos am I?!

So next it is a waiting game. Waiting for the possibility of an email saying the order is fulfilled and dispatched or that the order has been cancelled due to stock issues. Or, waiting for the email saying the order has been cancelled due to a clerical error.

Surprisingly, and to my delight the order complete email came through. It looked like The Model Centre was going to honour the pricing error. Utility Branch Line then got a message saying his order had been shipped. A few hours later I got the same message for my order. So at that moment it looks like the order will arrive.

Early this afternoon the parcel arrived. Two locos at the bargain discount of 50% off were in my hands! Hopefully tomorrow Utility Branch Line will get his order through too.

I just want to say a massive thanks to The Model Centre for being such good sports and honouring our orders, when they could have cancelled them and had the right to do so, too. This is truly amazing customer service. Thank you.

I also want to say a massive thank you to John (Utility Branch Line) for bringing this amazing sale to my attention. Thank you sir!

Now I need to get these babies on the rolling road and get them run in!

Rapido Ex-LNER J52

Rapido 16" Hunslet

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