I am shocked at how poor Revell's service is for missing parts!

I agree..Squadron and Sprue Brothers have the best customer service I've ever seen.  Totally opposite of Revell. 

Cbax1234

I agree..Squadron and Sprue Brothers have the best customer service I've ever seen.  Totally opposite of Revell. 

Cbax 12234 and others, I think that you will find that your opposing statements are relative to a persons individual experience at a specific point in time. If I were to take your statements at face value I would conclude that I would never want to deal with Squadron's or Sprue Brothers' customer service because they would have to be horrible if they were opposite the excellent customer service that I have received from Revell. If you have read through this entire post, you would see that there are good and bad reports of Revell customer service. And, if you were to deal with Squadron or Sprue Brothers long enough it is inevitable that you would hit a bump sooner or later.

Like I said, I have NEVER had trouble with Revell in the past - JUST THIS ONE INCIDENT.  I'm not saying they DO have bad customer service.  Maybe the person dealing with my request was having a bad day?  Shipwreck, you're taking things the wrong way.

If there is something Revell should be praised about, is their parts replacement system. Totally different and easy. I had to call Tamiya for a small Falcon CJ 1/32 missing part and I felt they were doubting my word. I get parts from Revell very quick after ordering on-line.

I built the Revell U Boot 1/144 and lost the cannon to the carpet monster. It took over a month because they explained over the phone that although Revell USA takes the order for the missing part, it is actually sent from Germany. For local kits, they do deliver within a week or less in the states. Sorry to hear about your story, but my experience with their missing parts and customer service is A+.

Remember, if you import a Nissan Model to the states that is not sold in the USA. They wont have parts for it and chances are their customer service will not know what are you talking about. That doesn't make their customer service poor.

Another thing we should consider, Revell USA and Revel Germany, are 2 different entities for different markets. Revell Germany gets to the USA AFAIK thru ''Gray'' Market. Gray market is legally imported by dealers (hence gray, not black), not by Revell USA. If there is someone we should point our fingers is the dealer and not Revell. Revell USA is actually doing us a favor  helping us find a part from a kit they did not bring to the USA in the 1st place.

I'm neutral about Tamiya.  It all depends on if they have the parts or not.  And the cost to replace them.  I've had it both ways with them..good and bad.

El Taino

Another thing we should consider, Revell USA and Revel Germany, are 2 different entities for different markets. Revell Germany gets to the USA AFAIK thru ''Gray'' Market. Gray market is legally imported by dealers (hence gray, not black), not by Revell USA. If there is someone we should point our fingers is the dealer and not Revell. Revell USA is actually doing us a favor  helping us find a part from a kit they did not bring to the USA in the 1st place.

Revell USA does import Revell Germany kits to the US market. They list them on their website and had many of their kits on display at the recent iHobby show in Chicago. While the two companies have operated completely separate since 2006, they still work closely together in terms of some kit development and mold sharing. For example, the big Gato-class sub releasd in 2006 was developed jointly. And both companies rebox the the other's plastic: Revell USA is selling the recent "Star Wars" kits and the upcoming 1/32 scale He 111 and 1/72 scale B-17 kits in their own boxes, while Revell Germany has reboxed some recent Revell USA car kits.

Cheers, Aaron