[Dave F]

Have any of you visited the new Staubin's site ? I know they have become very involved with LSOL and all, but it seem that their website has been overtaken by LSOL as well. Maybe I'm just not as accomodating to change as I'd like to think I am but I gotta say that I'm less than thrilled. I'd have to say that the vast majority of my Large Scale purchases have come from StAubins over the last three years. I have found their service to be very good and overall I like them, but I'm not to sure about this new website.. I'll give them a chance, see how things develop, but I'm glad I have choices out there still.. (thank goodness for other small entrepeneurs in downstate Illinois.... tha carry a selection of limited edition Illinois Central locos..)

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the new site..

 

[pete]

Dave i,am not sure but you may have to join mls to get on the site or make up an account with st aubins. I also belong to mls so i just used my log on to get into the st aubins site. That being said mls site is not as good as lsol just my two cents.

 

[NTCGRR]

Pete
I think you have that backwards.
I have an account with ST A. myself w/o the other company.

Dave
I e-mailed Jon the head manager and he said they have had more orders with it. I told him I have had troubles just tring to find an item . Seems you have to know the item # in order to find it. Not just the company name.
RLD Hobbies site is the easiest by far for me. You can see the items and see what company to look under then scoll through to see what is in stock.

I have not ordered anything from St Aubin beings I can't find it w/o going through all the pages of a company.

 

[Dave F]

Pete, I can log in just fine. I guess my biggest issue is if you want the "best discount" you need to be a member of LOSL.. Which I have no interest in, for personal reasons. Consequently, it makes me feel like I'm being punished for personal choices and relationships..

Prop 8 come to the large scale RR hobby industry I suppose.

 

[CLRRNG]

Dave,
I never purchased from the site and never will. I have used the site in the past for referance only when I make a phone purchase, but with it being difficult to navigate through I use it very little at all now.
As noted by Marty the drill down method RLD uses works best for me.
I don't understand why buisinesses make it so complicated to do business anymore.

My message to St Aubin is keep it simple. The money you save on your site being low tech you can pass onto us with more savings.

Glen

 

[jmill24]

I too have stopped ordering from St. Aubin, my time is worth something ! So St. Aubin, don't waste my time. Liked the old on-line store much better.................Jim

 

[Rod Fearnley]

I have ordered stuff from them in the past, never a problem, good service, even over here to England. But, I have principles, and while they are in bed with Lysol, they can do without my custom. Plenty more online train stores.
Rod

 

[Dave F]

Well, it's reassuring to hear that I'm not the only one who has issues with them aligning themselves with LSOL.

Looks like RLD will be seeing more of my business. I like their Limited edition IC GP-40 anyway.. better order soon before they run out.

 

[Truthman]

My experience with St Aubins has been not so great to put it mildly. Have ordered stuff and never recieved it, had rude people on the phone so I stopped buying from them years ago. Their new website is pretty bad too. RLD Hobbies is my first choice now.

 

[blueregal]

Guy's check out who the new customer service mgr. is???????????????????? Go take a look!

 

[Stan Cedarleaf]

Guys... Call Mark at the Las Vegas store, tell him you're an MLS member and you'll get a very nice welcome and great service. Mark is still one of us....

 

[NTCGRR]

I usually just e-mail Jon Simich or Matt direct , great guys and very helpfull. Theres always a way to get things done.
The biggest thing for me after all the years is finding who has it in stock. $5 one way or the other is fine as long as I KNOW you have it.
I have grown to hate the yes we can get it but...

BTY
St Aubin was one of our donors at our Banquet last Sept.

 

[spodwo]

St. Aubins needed someone to keep their website clear of tojans. I looked at it but didn't realize that you have to go through so much to FIND something.

I wonder what the pricing will be like in the future. IN THE PAST - St. Aubins would be 2nd lowest prices with TRAINWORLD always coming in the least expensive.

 

[Stan Cedarleaf]

Just got this word from a little "birdie".. All Aristo Roadrailers on sale $49.99. Call the Las Vegas store...

 

[Semper Vaporo]

I notice that, like most NEW web sites, and unlike ME,
the developer has an EXTRA, EXTRA W-I-D-E screen,
irritating me to have to scroll left and right to be able
to view what they want me to give them money for.

 

[jfrank]

Apparently St Aubins now wants us to PAY for a membership as does LSOL to get the best prices. I don't plan to buy anything from them ever again. Good luck with that stupid plan.

 

[Mike Reilley]

I gotta agree that the site is hard to use. There's no selection for scale. You can't search by scale...enter 1:20.3 in the Search window and you get zilch. Enter 1/20.3...you get zilch. I agree with Marty that an "in stock" indicator would be a HUGE benefit. The site is overly manufacturer oriented...even if you select "By Description"...it takes you to a page where you're back into "By Manufacturer"...that ain't much help. The site is massively sensitive to spelling and the letter "s". If you enter "light" you get a completely different set of outputs than if you'd entered "lights". Making matters worse...there are some misspelled titles in the data base...and you won't find any of those items with the Search function...unless you happen to misspell the item name the same way. Lastly, St. Aubin's is known for deals...yet there's NO Clearance page on the site...so you can't find what they'd call a discount or deal.

Hopefully, St. Aubin's will take some of these observations and turn them into features that work better.

 

[NTCGRR]

Well Stan, the man, you should list the discounted items.
roadrailers are great when building 89' pigs or TOFC. I think Kevin Y. should buy a bunch of them,,then he would have his trailors and trucks for the next scratchbuild.

BTY the other web site is working with alot of other companies and we should watch out attitudes so folks will know that MLS is not made up of jurks and pain in the ________s.
The past is the past and the hobby MUST grow.

 

[eheading]

Actually, I don't have much trouble negotiating around St. Aubins' new website. My big gripe is it seems to me that their prices have all taken quite a jump. They have quit listing prices in GR magazine, which disappoints me, and their on-line prices are the same as their store prices. Seems to me that they raised their on-line prices to the store prices. I find a nunber of other dealers beat their prices by a mile. I recently saved over 20% by buying my double door boxcar from Wholesale Trains! So for me, it's the prices that are driving me away. They say join their club, but I don't feel like paying $40/year to get better prices.
Ed

 

[Stan Cedarleaf]

Posted By jfrank on 12/29/2008 5:31 PM
Apparently St Aubins now wants us to PAY for a membership as does LSOL to get the best prices. I don't plan to buy anything from them ever again. Good luck with that stupid plan.


John.... Contact Mark at the Las Vegas store and you'll be pleasantly surprised by MLS special pricing...