Woodland Scenics is an on-line source (hobby shops may also carry their products) of layout and scenery materials and tools for model train enthusiasts. Although they have nothing specifically for Z scale modelers, much of what they have is independent of scale.

I placed my first order with them late one Friday evening (25 November 2005) after they had closed for the weekend. The next day I realized that I'd somehow selected three pints of "Foam Putty" when I only wanted one. So I used their "Email Sales/Customer Service" button, explained my error, gave them my customer ID and order number, and asked if they would please just ship one pint of Foam Putty instead of three. The order arrived early the following week - and contained three pints of Foam Putty. I never received an acknowledgment to my e-mail request, not even to say "Sorry, the order has already been shipped." So much for their opportunity to make a good first impression!

On Wednesday, 30 November, I found the name and address of Woodland Scenics' President and wrote him a letter. A little over three weeks later (23 December) I got a phone call from a Woodland Scenics representative. He said that he checked with the folks that should have received my e-mail and no one had received it. Their computer folks could not explain what had happened. He apologized for the problem and offered to give me a credit for the extra putty. I explained that that wasn't necessary, I just wanted to them to know that their system didn't seem to be working like it should.