HORNBYTrain Set - R1271M iTraveller 6000 Digital OO Gauge Locomotives Model Railway Train Sets, Starter Electric Model Train Kits - Steam Engine Model Building Kits, 1:76 Scale Model Train Gifts

4 of the Hornby products we purchased - for hundreds of dollars - broken down within 2 months, despite their being treated with tremendous care and caution. Shoddy workmanship. The Acela, a 5th Hornby product, was broken the day we got it and we returned it for a refund.The iTraveller engine was always hesitant about working and broke down within 2 months.Hornby company has plummeted. Many of the products are defective. Moreover, we sent 4 engines back to Hornby for repair. We should have done a simple return instead. The engines got there in 4 days but then were stuck at customs for more than 4 weeks. Hornby and USPS/Parcel Force never informed us a customs payment had been slapped on them that Hornby refused to pay. Now they're supposedly heading back to the US - unrepaired - and we're told it may take a very long time.Hornby refused to issue reimbursement for $670 worth of defective trains, not including tax. They refuse to send us replacements. They say we must go through Amazon. Amazon says the return window is no longer open, even though it was open at the time we shipped the engines to the UK. Amazon just has a computer to talk to you, so you can't make it understand sense. Hornby has real people, but they don't understand sense either and can't get around their bureaucratic rules that conveniently serve their own profits.Amazon said we have to go to the manufacturer. Round and round. Asked Hornby again, and they still refuse to issue reimbursement or replacement for their 4 defective engines because we did not buy them directly from them but through Amazon. Never heard anything so absurd and so tight-fisted. They obviously earned money selling these engines to Amazon. So why can't they pay us back? Why should they keep their $670? This company makes millions and can't afford to replace 4 engines and can't afford to make operable engines.Hornby is hard-hearted, cold-fisted, and bureaucratic. Their engines are junk. Don't waste your money on Hornby. Stick with Bachmann. Their engines rarely break down and when they do, you get immensely better service. They're located in the US so you don't have to deal with UK customs and poor UK customer service.