oldoak

My Feedback: (6)

not a usa based outfit most of their products are out of hong kong via singapore so thats the reason some items takes a blue moon to get to the buyers.very shady opperation.

aspeed

Just though I would put this in. They sent me this email. It may explain some of the delays lately. I know I was surprised to get my LiFe batteries at all when I ordered them because of international policies against lithium batteries. There were some jets that caught on fire that were using them. It is hard even to get LiPo's from the US even now with air freight. Anyway here is the email....Our International Warehouse based in Hong Kong has been affected by changes in Hong Kong Customs policy. The new Customs Department policy is to inspect ALL parcels leaving Hong Kong (not just HobbyKing) and are refusing to accept shipments containing certain items. This has caused two major issues that I wish to address:

Issue One
All orders containing lithium-based batteries that were placed between the 23rd of September and 2nd of October have been refused by customs and are being returned to our shipping dock in Hong Kong. Some orders not containing these items could also have been affected. This has also caused further delays to orders containing these items due to the backlog.
To remedy this, we at HobbyKing are upgrading all returned shipped items to a premium courier provider that will deliver your parcels to you shortly.

Issue Two
Due to the above issue, our Customer Service channel has been overwhelmed. This means that unfortunately all customers will have difficulty contacting Customer Service and for this we sincerely apologise.
If you are trying to contact customer service, please know that we WILL get back to you as soon as possible. To improve efficiency and improve response time, we request that you create just ONE support ticket. Your help on this matter is greatly appreciated.

aspeed

To ensure that this does not happen again, we are:

- Integrating Fedex as a shipping option from Hong Kong to the world. Fedex has their own in-house Customs officers which will streamline the process and ensure faster dispatch and delivery.
- Establishing another Customer Service Centre in the United States which will be staffed by modelers and will be able to answer all technical product enquiries. This is in addition to our two other Customer Service Centers.
- Opening more and expanding our existing regional warehouses so that more customers can enjoy lower shipping costs and receive their orders quickly.
- Negotiating with different shipping companies to be able to offer a complete range of shipping options.


As you can see, we are urgently taking steps to fix this issue. We have all hands on deck packing orders and answering emails (from Senior VPs to secretaries to janitors) to ensure that this backlog is met. We expect to be up-to-date within the next week or so.

Please know that we strive to provide you with the best possible service. We regret any inconvenience or frustration that you have experienced.

Your patronage is important to us, and we hope that you will continue to give us opportunities to serve you.

Sincerely,

Anthony Hand
President
HobbyKing

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

Nothing like coming up with excuses as to why you don't have a customer service department. Someone or something else is always to blame .

Dansy

My Feedback: (53)

your such a troll......waiting for my latest order to arrived from HK......yoppyy!

aspeed

It wasn't HK batteries, it was Lithium batteries on the plane itself for when it is not in the air. It was a big thing that grounded all the new jets for a long time, in the news. I agree with the troll thing. Must own a hobby shop. I can't say I wouldn't have bad feelings in the same situation. If you look on the back of your transmitters, you will find everything is made in the far east anyway. May as well get it fairly direct IMHO.

dionysusbacchus

My Feedback: (25)

LOL! You should have been in RC in the early 70's, a 6 channel radio cost $500! Converted to today's money that is $2,958.69! That was a radio with NOTHING programmable, just a box, you had to install all the servo's in the correct way to move everything correctly, all adjustments were done at the linkages. You live in the golden age of RC, you can get a plane ready to fly with radio and batteries out of the box for $75. Back in the day you had to build it from sticks and it cost the equivalent of about $1,000.

If this hobby is to expensive, you need to move on to something else.

Nothing wrong with Hobby King, if it's $100 and it breaks, who cares? Try something else...

aspeed

Yep. Minimum wage was $1.50, and a Rossi (which I needed 2 of) was $120. Canadian hobby shops were always double of the US shops. The Can.dollar was pretty bad then. A basic 4 channel $200. Servo reversing was a luxury. Earlier in the 1960's there was pulse, and reeds, and escapements. Before my time flying thankfully. I liked control line better. (still do, kind of) Minimum wage now is $10.25 and an AP .06, .09, or .15 is about $35. Much better value now. Better quality stuff now too. Mufflers then were extra, and cost as much as some motors. I could go on, but am tired of typing.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

Yep remember those days well including teaching yourself how to fly no club didn't even know where one would be, teaching yourself how to fly from scratch made you a decent builder before you were a flyer. My first radio warned against using re-chargeable batteries man were dry cells expensive when you had to buy a bunch of them.

Dennis

aspeed

Yep, none of those wimpy idiot cords. I had to hand the transmitter to the training guy when things looked bad.

GerKonig

Right, I still remember in our club a guy (the pres.) got his first 1/4 scale, q Bud Nosen Citabria with a Quadra. He passed the transmitter to another member to fly it for a while (new plane). When handing the transmitter over it slipped, fell on the gimbals and stopped working. The Citabria went in nose first not far from where the "transmitter slip" happened.

Thing actually lok better in the old days thanks to Alzheimer and early onset old age dementia...

Gerry

tdwmb7

My Feedback: (6)

I love HobbyKing! Buy the Turnigy 9XR for $60 and compare to $400 Spektrums.

Desertlakesflying

My Feedback: (28)

I guess when I get something from HobbyKing that isn't exactly as described, is damaged, or doesn't work I'll worry about it.

kdunlap

My Feedback: (12)

Not my experience with them. But sorry you had a bad time. I'd buy from HK again..

aspeed

How much did it cost to return you $6 servo? You can buy 5, throw away one and still be half price of the LHS. I have had bad scenes returning stuff at LHS's too. Not normally though. Oh and I am Canadian thank you very much! I go to Florida once in a while too, and still go back home. Kind of cold though. I think the quote from HK would make me wait a couple of weeks before ordering again from them until they get their shipping company firmed up.

GerKonig

Last Friday I ordered 5 Futaba Y harnesses 15 cm in length and 5 that are 30 cm in length. Total cost (delivered) $16.50. Price at Tower? About $6.00 each. You do the math. Well, let me help you: It would cost over $60.00 plus shipping.

Not buying from HK? Are you nuts? What is it with Florida...? The water perhaps? Of course I do not buy servos from them, or kits, or gas engines... But there are a lot of things I do buy from them for many years now, like wire, lifos, lipos, connectors, etc.

But, if someone (that is not out of his/her mind) gets stuck with one low cost servo, why would he/she spend a lot of time posting and answering idiotic posts here?

Maybe you are on HK payroll. It would make sense, you drum up a lot of messages of people like many of us that did not have problems with them... You look like a complete moron complaining about a servo, plus a lot of people will post their cases of no incidents with HK, the way a see it, it is free advertising for HK what you are doing.


Gerry

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

Not just Florida we have a couple of guys here who refuse to pay for new and buy other peoples junk at swap meets for their models. I have seen them take new connectors from servos that no longer work and solder them on the old Futaba pin style they got a bag of for $5 at the swap meet. Then they put them in their latest model worth several hundred dollars. Needless to say they dump a lot of their planes in the corn or soy beans and spend a lot of time rebuilding. They think 2.4 is the cats meow because of all the next to free 72 stuff out there. When these guys fly most of us head for the safety of the shelter with its hard roof.

Ever get the feeling if he wasn’t bxxching about his six dollar servo it would be something else just as insignificant. Need to get a life eh!!!!!!!!

Dennis also Canadian!!!!!!!!!

aspeed

Hey Dennis, I reserved a table at the London swap. Maybe I can pick up some servos. ;-)

Bozarth

My Feedback: (15)

Your expectations are self-created..Perhaps you don't fully understand exactly where you are ordering from. Its like buying a hot dog from 7-11.

Kurt

jzrf6c

Easy. Just talk with those that have bought it before you. There is tons of help at all the RC forums.

earlwb

I buy locally from my local hobby shops first. Then I'll go online as needed for other things the hobby shops don't usuaully deal with.

I have bought from HK numerous times. I have had pretty good luck. Now I have had some things quit working after I got the stuff, but it was dirt cheap. Having a $3 servo quit is a risk one can take, I just order extra ones at the time, expecting that I would have some not work right. Now as to how I order I prefer to use the USA warehouse first, especially for Lipos. I order the Lipos separate from the rest. That way if it takes forever to get here then the rest of the stuff arrives. I also don't order anything that is not in stock at that time. Sometimes a out of stock item is never replenished.

I did have a couple of items get delayed, and I eventually asked for them to cancel the order for those items and they did do it. I d one odd issue with a payment I made that didn't get into their computer, but they did correct it OK. Granted it did take some time, several days though. But their customer service department tends to be overwelmed all the time anyway. Also I do not order around the Chinese New Years holiday season as China pretty much shuts down at that time. Nothing will be going anywhere.

If you do order something bigger such as a RC plane. Use your phone or something to make a video of you opening the box up, and take pictures too. So that if it was damaged or missing items, you can show proof of it. Many people just open the box and then discover a problem with the order. They have numerous rip off artists trying to rip them off all the time. so they tend to think everyone is doing it. Also be polite, going on the attack like a rabid bulldog will turn them off quickly. Be factual and short anc concise in your letter or message going on with a rambling incoherrent letter is unintelligble to someone that may have limited understanding of English. Heck it is usually unintelligible to most people that know English too. I have seen that already numerous times from someone trying to get customer service to do something.


Yes ordering from HK in China and getting it shipped is expensive. It is still expensive to do it in the USA too. Wait until you sell something and ship it to someone in the USA to get a idea as to how much it costs. A lot of people are shocked when they find out. Some compoanies arrange contract deals with UPS or Fed Ex to help reduce costs and that helps in some cases. HK is actually fairly cost effective when shipping stuff in comparison to what it costs a individual to ship something. But shipping a large RC plane in a big box is going to be expensive no matter.

pilotdb09

Combatpigg,
If you want a 50 cc engine, I have an almost new Quadra 52 with C&H electronic ignition and a Pitts style muffler included. I was in a thied scale Cub, ran beautifully before the Cub was ruined by an unusual accident. A ladder fell on it and broke the fuselage back rendering it useless. The engine survived just fine with not a scratch, but now is useless to me. $635 of usable material for $295.00.
I will ship at least expensive way of your choice.
Pilotdb09

FLAPSDOWN

I couldn't agree more. I started in the late 60's and flew pattern in the late 70's early 80's. Engines, tuned pipes, retracts and Proline radios were outrageously expensive. It surprises me how popular RC was. My local clubs were 3 times as large as the clubs today and the summer was filled with activities. Purchasing was limited to the LHS or through magazine ads. An ARF was nothing more than the sound a dog made. At least the magazines had pretty girls on the cover. But enough of the reminiscing.

I'm put off by people who complain about the prices. It's the hobby we chose to participate in and it's not cheap. It's a lot cheaper than it was back in the day. If you want to fly something cheaper, there's always kites.

I don't purchase from Hobby King because I try to support my LHS and then companies based in the United States. I also purchase quality components and often believe you get what you pay for. That's why vintage RC gear flies off the eBay shelf at unbelievable prices. I collect kits and watch them often. My favorite was an original Sig Kadet which sold for $360. Hang on, maybe it is more expensive now.

Dansy

My Feedback: (53)

I dont support LHS because they never have what I want......but yes they can order for a hefty percentage profit......well I can also order for $0.00 HK is a great place for batteries wire ect and I do fly 2m pattern just have to check what your buying, they have some crap stuff just like any LHS I have been too and some of them even resell HK stuffs for a very good profit!

When I started flying long ago....I used the LHS because the Internet didn't exist yet, but that has change long ago Either the LHS align their price and make only a reasonable profit or they go out of business either way I will keep buying and flying....it's nice to say that we need the LHS (I don't) but it's money and it does grow on tree!

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

I owned a lhs for 18 years. Dandy, what do you a connsider a fair profit? I can tell you for a fact that some items on the net are priced below what I could get them. What did you expect me to do sell below my cost or not stock it on the store. What you could'nt get from the net was knowledge and experience. You couldn't ask the net to bring ful to the field on Sunday or ask me to wait untill Friday to get. paid. get pla