Vollmer after sales service

Hi folks,

Vollmer´s exact address is:

Vollmer GmbH & Co KG
Porschestraße 25
D-70435 Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen

From this, I guess that the rumors I heard are indeed true, that Vollmer does make model kits, but that their main business are automotive parts cast in plastic (prize question: who might be one of their major customers judging from the address? ).

The "English" bit may very well be true, as many model makers such as Vollmer, or Gützold, or Auhagen are rather small, often family-run businesses. Whether you get a response largely depends on how well the person that´ll open your email will understand what you want from them, or whether they have access to some colleague who speaks better English - if that very colleague isn´t available, then your email will be left unanswered ffor quite a time.

In addition, many spam filters "take care" of mails like "I bought...", or "I need..." with a .com or .uk ending, as there´s been a flood of these recently. "Bitte schicken Sie mir Ersatzteile" ("Please send me spare parts"), or "Ich benötige Teile für Bausatz 12345" ("I need spare parts for kit 12345"), with the actual email in English might do the trick. English being simple English. When I call Gützold or Vollmer having grown up in the far north, even I have problems understanding the German dialects these people are speaking (on the other hand, since our dialect tends towards the Danish, Heljan poses no problems for me ). If I called or wrote them in English, there´s no telling how much of what these people would make of my request.

This being said, German Babelfish translations more often than not are a riot. However, usually one can make out what the original intention of the writer was, which is most important.

I made this offer to Johan, and since I´m still on sick leave (meaning I have the time) and I like it here, I´d like to extend it to all of you: if you have any trouble communicating with German companies, write or pm me your request in English, I´ll translate it into German and return it to you so that you can send it to the intended receipient. Maybe that can help straightening out some problems.

QUOTE I made this offer to Johan, and since I´m still on sick leave (meaning I have the time) and I like it here, I´d like to extend it to all of you: if you have any trouble communicating with German companies, write or pm me your request in English, I´ll translate it into German and return it to you so that you can send it to the intended receipient. Maybe that can help straightening out some problems.

Thanks for that offer. I may well take you up on that, when I have a problem.

That's a very kind and helpful offer ME26-06! I think for a modeller who has anything to do with the Continent German is the go. Boy I wish I'd taken it as school!

Thank you very much for your generous offer ME26-06! I think I speak for all forum members when I say that you have just displayed what the hobby and forums like this one is all about - a camaraderie and support that reach beyond borders

I have sent you a PM with all the details and are looking forward to hear from you soon.

Thanks and regards

Johan

QUOTE (Johan de Villiers @ 16 May 2007, 08:48) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>...
I have sent you a PM with all the details and are looking forward to hear from you soon.

Thanks and regards

Johan

Hi Johan,

I got the PM and will translate it asap. Would you like me to return the translation to you so that you can send it, or should I send it under my own name and email address?

Tomorrow (thursday) is a bank holiday over here, so I´d send it on friday and phone them on monday whether they received it.

David, the approach of learning German grammar in German is probably derived from our own foreign language teachings over here - for instance, I wasn´t allowed to speak any German in my English or Russian classes at school (in the state of Schleswig-Holstein), and my girfriend, who is from and went to school in Lower Saxony tells me the same about her English and French classes. I guess you can file it under "German teaching approach".

This having been said, when I was in hospital a few months ago, I met a woman from London who got stuck there because she had a car accident under way to her relatives, who were UK military stationed in Hameln, and broke her leg real bad. She put up with German so she could talk a bit with the old lady in her room, and decided that German really isn´t so hard if you don´t try to learn it from a book, but rather by just talking to people in the foreign language you´d want to learn. I don´t know for sure if she´s 100% right, but since that is how I learned English, I guess there´s some truth to it. Another way to do it is how my girlfriend brushes up her English at home: when we watch a DVD, we watch it in English with German subtitles, so that she can read what´s going on in the movie when she doesn´t understand the words that are spoken in the movie.

Tom

Hi Scooter,

Thanks for the positive note.

I am confident that with the kind assistance of ME 26-06 I will have this matter sorted out soon.

Regards.

Johan

Hi Johan,

like I said, I emailed them today, yet have no reply so far.

I´ll phone them on monday and play a little harp sonata on their nerves...

QUOTE (ME 26-06 @ 18 May 2007, 20:20) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Johan,

like I said, I emailed them today, yet have no reply so far.

I´ll phone them on monday and play a little harp sonata on their nerves...

Hi Forum Members,

I now received a reply from Vollmer with the kind assistance of ME 26-06 and the matter has been resolved to my satisfaction

Thank you once again ME 26-06 - it is much appreciated!

BTW - Green,red and black is beautiful especially when it comes in the form of a model of a steam locomotive.

Kind regards.

Johan