Proace

Ever purchase a kit and give a quick inventory of parts and start building?( the kit doesn't have a parts list) I did on a House of balsa AT-6 Texan I purchased from Tower Hobbies. While into the building process I found out I was missing all 1/4" sticks. Well a quick trip to the LHS and a few bucks later I was building again. Then a couple of days later while building continued I found out there wasn't any 7/8" triangle stock included in the kit. So again another trip to the LHS and a couple of bucks more I was building again.
I called Tower and informed them of the problem they were nice and said sorry. I e-mailed HOB and Don P. replied with "we will look into it"
Should have I returned the kit after finding the problem or did I do the right thing and just letting them know?
I have built quite a few kits of the years and this is the first time I have ever experienced this problem. How discouraging would this incidence been to a first time modeler?
Maybe I am just mad because after paying Tower Hobbies S&H on the kit, the cost of gas and the cost of new balsa I could have gotten a better deal on the model at my LHS.

fastlash

My Feedback: (7)

I did return a kit to tower that was defective, bye the time I paid the postage and ins. plus the 3 week turn around , I lost money, won't buy mail order unless the savings is huge, not only that if I don't buy from my local lhs, he may not be there for the small stuff that can stop you dead on a project, so I think you did the right thing as far as your own sanity goes, most good hobbie stores are pretty close to tower if not find a new one!!!And you get to see what you buy!!!!

jgiles-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

HOB should have offered to send you the missing materials. I'm surprised that they didn't as they have been in the hobby business for a long time. Certainly they would not still be in business if there kits were consistantly missing parts and they did not respond satisfactorily to customer problems.

Of course there may be some "smart" business people that would say you would make more money on the kit by leaving stuff out! (Lanier )

azenigma

I just received a HOB stealth sport from tower hobbies and it was missing the tail skid wires. After speaking with Tower they told me to call HOB. HOB was very helpfull and said they would ship the replacement that day.

Great service on HOB's part.
Duane

TomJacoby

Taking a look at the kit contents at your LHS is good, but if there's no bill of materials in the box, not a big help.

If it was me, I'd rather have the parts in the box to start with. Guess you can give them an "A" for customer service and an "F" for quality control.

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

In passing, had talk with Don from H.O.B. on this situation. This seems to be prevalent with purchases from one of the larger hobby distributors along the east coast.

It was explained that Joe Schmuck for Rhode Island isn’t too good of a model builder. He botches up the canopy or cuts the spars too short. He then complains to the distributor, offering some excuse, most often the parts were bad or not included. The distributor then opens up another kit, and mails the affected part to the poor building consumer. This keeps the consumer happy, and invites a return of business. However, months later when all is forgotten, the same opened up kit gets resealed in cello-wrap, and sold by the distributor as a new item. You come along and see a sale, buy the item, and find it missing parts. If the distributor is lucky, you will not open up the kit for a year or so, and then beyond warranty point, so that there is no viable complaint.

Other situation I have heard about, is that a purchaser will complain the kit is missing a host of parts. Entire sheets of wood being gone. This is often a scam. The builder wrapped the A/C around a powerpole, and now wants replacement parts for the damaged. In this case, same excuses were used, however it is requested that the entire kit be returned. In such way, this ensures the distributor or manufacturer that no hank-panky took place already, and the story is plausible.

A number of years ago, I drove to a two day hobby show in Reno. In this event, the local hobby shops bring in their slow selling items and offer at a discount. I purchased a model there from one of these guys, and he says the plans are missing, but can be obtained. I write the manufacturer and he graciously sends me a set of plans. From this, I make an assessment and inventory. The kit supplied retracting landing gear struts are missing. I send a letter to the manufacturer again, explaining the situation that is was bought new from the retailer (have receipt) and missing the retracts. They could have been removed via theft in the store, or removed by a previous buyer and the whole kit reshelved. The manufacturer writes me a note indicating to ship them the whole kit, and a replacement one will be sent out. After about one month I have a complete kit. In visiting Reno the following year, I find in talking to an employee from the store, that the manager got billed for the value of the missing parts, as they were once stapled to the bottom of the box, and no way could have been lost, or not packaged.

Parts may be missing, but the true blame goes to locations other than you think.



Wm.

Proace

Its a shame things go on like this in the model world. Now I have to decide if I will ever purchuse from Tower Hobbies again (not good for TH but good for my LHS) and/or not purchase a HOB kit again(not good for HOB but good for other kit manufacturers) I was never given the option to return the kit for a replacement by either even though I would have been reluctant due to the turn around time and the fact that I was under way with construction. Even now that the kit is nearing completion and in the next couple of months I will be considering the next building project which was planned out to be the HOB P-51 before this incidence but now I don't know and probably not from Tower either. I guess that maybe the point is a "I am sorry" would have been good enough for me and it still isn't too late but they have my money now and don't care.
Later, ACE

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

Don says they usually send out the poor or missing parts no fee to the purchaser, however be prepared for a lecture. He wants to know the circumstances of your purchase. He likes to keep track of where the purchase was made from.

However, watch that the original H.O.B. seal isn't broken upon receipt.


Wm.

Proace

The only seal on the box is one on the lower box flap and it says in red "IF SEAL IS BROKEN CHECK CONTENTS BEFORE ACCEPTING" and the seal wasn't broken but I don't know if the seal is TH or HOB.
About the missing parts..... when I opened the kit everything was packaged very neat, better than some I have come across. There wasn't a parts list only an instruction manual and decal sheet. It had a good list of parts required to finish the kit. Anyway I did the normal thing, I looked at the instructions and the die cut sheets and stick bundles and that was about it before the building began.
It goes together good I have to say. The filler block for the vert stab is going on as I chat on-line.
ACE

P.S. I hope this issue is resolved to the TH because this kit is attracting me to the HOB P-51.