Complain about a product or service

Dale's Train Station

Norfolk, VA

Dianne of Grants Pass, OR, writes (10/21/02):
Last December, 2001, I purchased an LGB train car for my son for Christmas at Dale's Train Station while visiting family and friends in VA, but he already had that one. So when I tried to return it, Dale said, "There are no returns for credit card or cash, but I will give you either store credit or exchange it for something else in stock."

Eddie and I looked in his store but didn't find anything. Since we live in Oregon and only visit at Christmas, we decided that a store credit would not be feasible. So, then, Dale brought out the Pola buildings catalog and told me that he could order anything out of the catalog and have it sent to me when it arrived in his store, and that he could have it there in 3 weeks after the Christmas rush was over, by mid-January or towards the end of January, 2002. So, Eddie looked in the catalog and found 'Bobby's Pola Sawmill' that he wanted.

I told Dale and he wrote out the order while we were there. I applied the credit for the train car that I had returned together with an additional charge for the difference between the train car and the pola building. I charged the difference on my MasterCard. On my January MasterCard statement, the charge appeared for the pola building that had been ordered but not received. I called Dale to ask him the status and he said, 'I ordered it Monday after Christmas, and it should be in anytime and as soon as I get it, I will send it out to you.'

I paid MasterCard despite the fact that I had not received the merchandise. It is now October, 2002, and I STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE MERCHANDISE. We have called numerous times and each time we call, Dale tells us, "It still hasn't come in yet, but I'll send it to you when it does." It's been almost a year since we ordered it and paid for it, but we still do not have the building. We are very concerned that we will not get anything for the money that we have already spent and if anything would happen to Dale we would have no recourse. HELP!

Dianne should have contested the MasterCard charge last January. She should send Dale a certified, return-receipt-requested letter demanding a full refund within 30 days. If she does not receive it, she can sue Dale in Small Claims Court next time she's in Virginia.

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