Frequently asked questions

Site related - Payment related - Model related

What are your priorities?

Do you have a Club that offers discount?

Do you have a guest book?

Do you sell other aviation related products other than models?

Do you promote any manufacturers products over another?

Do you stock full ranges and are committed or just models that will sell?

I Bought a model that stated it was in stock and now I have been informed that it will need to be ordered in, why?

I have seen a site in the UK with prices considerably below the average?

I have seen negative comments about Replica Miniatures on forums, should I be concerned?

Some pages on your site state "Sorry, work in progress", why?

When I view your website, everything is squashed up and I have to use the scroll to view it?

Do you own other website names and if so, why?

Question: What are your priorities?

Answer: Always the customer. Purchase satisfaction and customer care are always our highest priority.

Whilst other sites may claim to be number one and full of promotion, We know that we have two feet placed firmly on the ground and will never profess to be anything else.

This is reflected in our company motto "We are not number one, You are". We will always keep our customers fully informed, whether it be the latest releases, delays or bad news. As soon as we know, you will too.

Question: Do you sell other Aviation related products other than models?

Answer:   No. Whilst other retailers offer more than just models, we only sell models to collectors and travel agent markets, therefore we offer a 100% dedicated and knowledgeable service to our customers.

Question: Do you stock full ranges and are committed or just models that will sell?

Answer: Yes we are committed and therefore do stock full ranges. However, when introducing new ranges to our website they are not always immediately shown in full and if you are seeking a model from any of these new additions and can not find it, please contact us with your requirements.

Question: Do you promote any manufacturers products over another?

Answer: No. All of the manufacturers that we stock are carefully selected, treated equally and meet our customer requirements. Ultimately it is the customer that makes the purchase choice, not us and it is a decision that we will always respect.

Question: Do you have a Club that offers discount?

Answer: No.

Question: Why not?

Answer: Whilst other retailers run membership clubs that offer you a discount, you have to pay an annual subscription for that privilege. At Aviation Miniatures, all of our products are already discounted by 10% on the recommended retail price and more on some models? 

Question: When I view your website, everything is squashed up and I have to use the scroll to view it?

Answer:   Our website is designed for viewing at a screen resolution of 1280 X 1024 pixels. Recent research and surveys show that the majority of internet users have moved away from the traditional 800 X 600 monitors and are now using high resolution monitors. These monitors are set as standard to 1280 X 1024 and to cater for both resolutions this would mean running duplicate sites or making text etc smaller and harder to see, such as MSN.

Question: Some pages on your site state "Sorry, work in progress", why?

Answer:   Availability of models and manufacturers are always in a constant state of change. Sometimes it is easier to take a page off line and work on it, rather than keep publishing and confusing the customer.

Question: I Bought a model that stated it was in stock and now I have been informed that it will need to be ordered in, why.

Answer: Hands up to this one! it does happen on the odd occasion, due to the constant change in stock levels and the ability to keep track of 2000+ products on a daily basis. This is one of the reasons that we will never constantly publicise how many models we have on our site or otherwise and in the event that this should occur, we will always offer a refund immediately and not hold your money until new stock arrives.

In the near future, this is set to change with our forthcoming new website. This will utilize a live feature, which means that items shown as in stock, are in stock at that time.

Our current website is updated numerous times and on a daily basis, except for our Model News and Pre order pages. These are only updated as and when we are advised of new release models and the date and time are shown accordingly.

Question: I have seen a site in the UK with prices considerably below the average.

Answer: As in any retail market, competition is always good for the customer and we maintain a constant price watch to remain competitive, our prices are based on the recommended retail price set by the manufacturer and around other leading retailers, not individual sites. 

There are a number of internet sites that use non relative & erratic pricing to attract attention and enhance sales. This can sometimes lead to slogans  like "Supermarket prices" and "Our Price".

A good point to Remember with a supermarket is. Firstly they buy in bulk and secondly what they take of the price off one item, they add it on to another popular item to recuperate the cost.

Ask any supermarket manager and if they are open, they will admit it. The "our price" motto is as always, to grab the attention of a customer and nothing more. We have seen this on some websites, where models are actually more expensive than we are. Yes we may not be the cheapest and it is always the customers choice where they shop, but ask yourself, how can a retailer make money with up to 20% off the RRP and continue to trade! This type of marketing raises order placement, fulfilment and security issues that any customer should be aware of.

As the world wide web continues to expand, anyone can set up a website which leads to back room and short lived businesses. Over the last year we have seen a number of new web sites offering identical products at substantially lower prices with all kinds of promises. These disappeared just as quickly as they appeared.

Because of minimal overheads and low profit margins, they sell at below average prices and the latter usually causes their demise, leaving their customers with no comeback. This type of site generally has their origin within auction sites and have no back up from the manufacturer etc.

A quick check list.

A PO Box? Although used by many large and well known companies that receive high volumes of bulk mail for different departments, you should be wary of any niche market websites that use them and request payment via them. There are no real reasons for using one unless they have multiple departments or something to hide. Mail is correlated in the same way for a normal address as they do for PO boxes so always check the contact page and make sure that a full verifiable address is available.

A mobile number? If the site does not contain a verifiable land based telephone number, you should avoid buying from them. You could be speaking to someone on a bus!

Question: I have seen negative comments about Replica Miniatures on forums, should I be concerned?

Answer: The answer to this question is both yes and no.

As with any Ecommerce website, including the large well known ones. There are always some problems that arise and these can be easily highlighted and exaggerated within forums by users. This is because some forum users assume that because they can use alternative names for themselves, they have no identity and can post anything they like without risk of comeback.

This can lead the unwary into believing anything others want them to believe, lead to un necessary anxiety for customers and the worst possible question anyone can ask is. Are blah, blah, blah any good?

This will usually bring out a limited number of people who have had a bad experience and will play on it for all its worth, including exaggerating the circumstances to suit their own end, even if this means ignoring the rules of the forum that they agreed to when joining.

Forums are a great source of information and  if used diligently and responsibly, they can be a great resource but not every model collector around the world are members of such websites, just like every customer that we have ever sold models to in the last 6 years are not necessarily signed up to any of them.

We are not the only company to have suffered from this and we will no doubt not be the last!

On one forum we found 84 posts (at the last count) related directly to supposed disgruntled customers (namely two prolific posters) and when we broke this figure down, by reviewing all of them. It surmounted to just 4 or 5 people (not bad for 6 years trading!) making repetitive statements and in one case a totally unfounded statement that cannot be possibly substantiated by the poster and one that we consider so serious, that legal action may ensue in the near future against this individual.

At one point and in response to certain claims. We did consider introducing a web page to our site, called "Funny old world". Within this page, we intended to highlight certain issues that customer/forum users would claim to have happened to them and this would have included such items as address edited emails, emails that posters claimed to have never received but had replied to and included our own replies! As well as other customer discrepancies that we could prove to be totally wrong and untruthful.

In regard to the 84 postings and for the record. The rest of the posts were either unrelated to us or totally off topic but what never ceases to amaze us is how these forum users seem to know our business better than we do!  

Therefore, to take onboard just a few localised statements that are most of the time stretched beyond the truth and outdated. It can only create a false illusion and in truth, the only way that you will ever find out is to make a purchase and decide for yourself and that is a statement applicable to not only to us, but to all online retailers no matter what the nature of their business

Question: Do you have a guest book?

Answer: No. On a retail based website, we believe that a guestbook has no place. Whilst we appreciate positive and negative comments from our customers via email, at the end of the day a guestbook is totally editable by the webmaster or proprietor concerned and can be used for their own promotional purposes.

For years we have all seen testimonials within the advertising industry proclaiming that Mr H of Manchester was totally satisfied and would not look or shop elsewhere, etc etc!

In a web based guestbook, a webmaster or proprietor can easily create their own comments or remove those that do not show the company in good esteem. Therefore we do not utilize this available function. 

 Question: Do you own other website names and if so, why?

Answer: Following a raised point within a forum and one that is not related to us. We do own other website addresses but these are only alternative domain names directly related to this website and our company names. We do not employ the tactic of registering domain names that are miss representative of the model manufactures or their products.

The misuse of domain names as mentioned above, can easily lead a customer to believe that they are dealing with the manufacturer or their importer/distributor agents directly. When in fact, they are dealing with nothing more than a retailer.

This tactic is usually supplemented by small print and is nothing more than the age old fish on a hook policy, that as far as we are aware, is not condoned by any of the manufactures or legitimate agents acting on their behalf!

Rule of thumb. Make sure you know who you are actually dealing with, look for the signs and check that it is the legitimate manufacturer, importer.