HL 304, Ludington Pier Paint Issues

Anybody have problems with peeling paint on this piece? Just got the piece and found the peeling when I began searching for the seahorse. Don't know if you can tell by the pictures, but it's beginning to peel on all sides. Should I contact Harbour Lights or go to the people who repaired my Longstone?

Peeling paint - art trying to imitate life?

I would go to HL with the problem and see what they might do. It is a defective piece somewhere along the line. Why should you have to pay to fix it?

Sandy,

I agree with Dave. Call and/or send the pictures to Harbour Lights. It is way beyond defective.

bobo

Why pay for the repair yourself. Harbour Lights should either repair for free or will have you destroy your piece and send you another piece with the same serial number. They did that for me on my Mahota Pagoda when the piece came in damaged. I sent them the flag back from the defective piece.

H.L. will definitely take care of it; my old dealer destroyed my Liberty and sent the flag back. I received another one with the same number. I wonder if all the Ludington's have the same problem, however. This is one I want to get so I am concerned. Is it a problem with the type of paint, etc., etc., etc. Maybe they all have the peeling paint.

I bought it on eBay from a former dealer who is just beside herself trying to make certain I don't think she's trying to pull a fast one. She told me to give HL her store's name so they know she's the dealer that sold it to me. I sent her the pictures as well and she's embarrassed and pleading with me to get it taken care of. I want the piece because there haven't been very many on eBay and it's a 3-digit number.

Like Grace, I'm curious if others have had a problem similar to this with their Ludington Pier. If you do have the sculpture, suggest you take a gander at it and make certain the paint is intact.

I don't know if my has a problem, but you can bet I'm going to check it tonight!

Mike

Did this dealer not LOOK at this piece before shipping it to you? I don't understand.

John,

Apparently not, but had I not been looking for its seahorse, I wouldn't have seen the peeling paint. A sliver had fallen on deck of the piece and that got me looking at the piece closely. Because she was so forthcoming, I'm going to believe she hadn't seen the peeling. It came to me in its styrofoam casing, but no plastic bag. I'm going to assume that she removed it from its container to photograph. In any event, I've sent the pictures with an email to Harbour Lights. Waiting to see their response.
Sandy

Has anyone else checked their Ludington yet?

No plastic bag. Must have been out of the box sometime. It seems the condition would be hard to miss. I wonder if it was displayed in a sunny window in the store? I've not seen something so severe as this one ever.

Keep us informed. (I know you will. )

Unfortunately, Ludington Pier is not on display at my house. It is somewhere in my storage area with another 300 or so HL's. I do inspect my pieces when they arrive but then it's back in the box and they are put in storage. If a few other people come up with the same defect, I guess I had better dig mine out and tak a look at it.

:rolleyes: Bob :rolleyes:

Mine looks ok no pealing!!

Mine is fine! It almost sounds like the piece had been wet at one time or the piece was dirty when it was painted.

I agree with Rich; it's like the paint couldn't adhere to the model for some reason. Maybe they painted it and weren't satisfied and gave it a second coat. Kind of like a bad paint job on your house - if you didn't sand and prime, the paint's going to peel pretty soon.

Sandy, is that yellow stuff on the base seeping through the paint? Or is it just part of the look of the model?

Sounds to me like it was in the sun!
HCS

My Ludington looks fine. I have to agree that it looks like it got wet. Maybe it was stored in a damp area.

Checked mine last night, without taking it out of the cabinets, but it looked o.k. to me.

Mike

Grace,

Yellow "bleed" on my piece appears to be rust put on by painter.

BTW, copy of seahorse listing put in mail today.

Sandy

I could be wrong but I don't know of any dealer that checks the piece before shipping. They get them in and put them in stock til they're sold or have to be shipped. If your in the store they tell you to check it but thats about it.

I sent a link to this thread to Harry Hine. He says, get in touch with Kathy Johns at Harbour Lights. She'll get you a replacement; "it's obviously defecting" says Harry.

Thanks, Sandy! Hope you get your replacement soon.

Quoted by Tom K:

"I could be wrong but I don't know of any dealer that checks the piece before shipping. They get them in and put them in stock til they're sold or have to be shipped. If your in the store they tell you to check it but thats about it."

Just had to throw our 2 cents worth in here, but it sounds like you haven't had a good dealer. Maybe your comments are correct for 95% of the dealers. I believe you are correct for the bigger stores, who, even though they have several employees to do the task, don't make the effort to check them.

My wife and I are Harbour Lights dealers, with no employees. Every order that comes into our store is checked twice, once when we receive it, and once when we sell it. THIS GOES FOR LITTLE LIGHTS TOO! Why? If I have a broken piece, I need to report it to Harbour Lights right away to get a credit/replacement. Also, I need to know that every Harbour Lights piece is in sellable condition when the customer wants it.

When a customer asks for a piece in the store, we don't ask them if they want to see the piece; we've already taken it out of the box and handed it to them for inspection. It would be very embarassing to us to be opening the box for the first time, and say "Gee, it looks this one is broken." Showing them the piece is not only good for customer service, it also protects us. If they happened to drop the piece when they get it home, they wouldn't be able to claim it was broken when they opened the box.

Yes, it is tedious and time consuming, especially in the summer months when you may get 100 Little Lights at a time, or the September shipment of 50 Christmas pieces, checking the lighting/adapter on each one, but we couldn't imagine not doing it that way. Whether it's Harbour Lights or a cheap $2 souvenir magnet, everything is checked when it arrives at the store. It makes sense for the customer, and for keeping business expenses (breakage writeoff, etc) to a minimum.

Jim & Ann

And that's why Jim & Ann are my dealer. . . .

Sandy

P.S. That bundle Ann's carrying should be kicking up a storm or two by now--hope both of you are getting a kick out of what's happening (no pun intended).

Sandy,

Yeah, it's kickin, according to Annie. Every time she tells me to watch, it stops kicking. Must be behavin' when Dad's around!

Jim

Most dealers with whom I have done business did take the piece out of the box for me to inspect before finalizing the sale. A couple of them did not do it unless I requested to inspect the piece. Those good dealers are gone and the ones that never cared don't even carry HL anymore. Hopefully, the situation will be remedied by Don very soon.

Jim, I certainly didn't mean to knock anyone but as I said-- "that I know of" and I didn't know you then. Now I do and I can't say that anymore. Thanks for setting me straight. Oh, BTW where are you located if thats allowed?

Any type of mold release used at the factory? If mold release is used and not cleaned from the piece, the paint will not adhere properly.

Received replacement Ludington Pier from Maine this afternoon--same number. Took about 6 weeks from when I contacted them in April. Thanks to all for thoughts and suggestions.

Sandy

It's good to know that things are running smoothly in that department.

Good PR means good business practices. Keep your customers happy and they will always be your customers.

I'm happy to see Harbour Lights took care of your Ludington Pier problem.

Bob

It's great to see good customer service, you don't get that too often these days!
HCS

I brought my posting from 2 years ago about this problem back up to the top under the "Latest Models" forum.

Tom