Adam184

A WARNING


In early June I purchased 'The Turnigy 1/16th Mini Rally Extreme' car.

This was for my sons birthday on July 4. This was to be his second car and he was after something a little faster than the 540 motored buggy he currently has.

Im not new to RC. The specs list and price looked good as I still don't want to spend big dollars on a car a 7yr old will probably smash at some point.

This was my first order from HobbyKing. The whole order was in stock in Sydney and still took a week to get to me. I have had orders from Hong Kong and the US come much faster.

Before my son even had a go of the car(I was setting steering trim) the steering servo failed. I understand that these things happen.

What happened when I contacted HobbyKing was nothing short of absurd.
At first they wanted me to send the whole car back to them at my expense. After I complained they said I could just send the servo back. Again at my expense($5.60). It had taken almost 2 weeks to get to this point. After more chasing they said they lost the item in the post (sent registered Post) then after they got it it took another week and 1/2 for them too examin the part. (that should take 10 seconds)

They now tell me it will take 'some time' before they even have the replacement.
So hey have screwed around for a month over a part they sell for $8.

I will never order anything from them again and you shouldn't either.
I hope you have better luck in the market place than me

topspin

Adam184, I am sorry to hear about your trouble with Hobby King. There are dozens of stories similar to yours posted on various RC sites every week and you would think people would wise up but they keep buying from these crooks till they get burned. Just be glad you didn't post your complaint on the Hobby King forum, the shills would immediately begin verbally abusing you until the moderator has enough at which point in the interest of fairness, he would ban you for complaining and delete the thread.

For what it's worth, LowpriceRC and Leaders Hobby are two very good Hong Kong RC stores that actually have customer service and prices every bit as good as Hobby King. Anyway I hope your son is not too disappointed and I hope you get the problem sorted out with those crooks soon. Any reputable seller would have replaced the car at their cost, asking you to pay is just dirty.

countilaw

Topspin, your are so right. There are literally thousands of these posts over the internet of people getting ripped off by Hobby King. The prices are so tempting people sucumb to them and usually spend more than the equipment or parts are worth. The headache that accompanies the act of getting at least some customer service is just not worth it.

And lord help the shafted customer when the shills attack. They are merciless in their bashing and proclaiming their thousands of dollars of purchases and hundreds of orders where they never, ever have a problem with customer service because they never have received a bad product and the shipping arrived three days before they even ordered it. OK, the arrival of three days before it was ordered is a joke, but they seem to receive their orders within days of of placing the order.

Adam, sorry for your inconvenience and I hoped your son had a happy birthday anyway.

Frank

Mpizpilot

My Feedback: (45)

I used to be one of the guys that had good luck with HK. Not so much anymore. I've ordered probably 40 servos from the over a year or so, I've had 8 go bad, either right out of the box or during setup. I almost burned up my TF mustang when a corona mini servo burned up when i put power to it, not even hooked up to a surface!

Never mind the rcg 50cc engine that had a sparkplug hole that wasn't even threaded! I won't even go into the runaround they gave me with their so called customer service. Lesson was learned for sure.

I've had much better luck with sdshobby, but their prices are definitely higher.

acerc

There is cheap and then there is toss your money away. Pitty so many people can't distinguish the difference. Especially when very little researh would provide the answer.

ira d

What is really sad is that many people feel that customers should notexpect better from HKbecause of their low prices.

topspin

Not only sad but stupid as well. There are half a dozen hooby distributors in Hong Kong that sell just as cheap as Hobby King and in most cases the same products exactly. They provide good customer service. The shill always say "oh Hobby King would not be so cheap if they had to provide customer service" to which I sat BS. The other guys do and even have a phone number that you can call. They don't hide who or where they are unlike Hobby King. The excuse that low prices is synonomous with poor service is just ignorant.

topspin

acerc

One should not expect better when it is not offered. Or even willing. Hobby King does not care. When sale's drop then maybe. But for now it's a 50/50 keeper or throw away. At their price's that's still a bargain.

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

That's HK's customer service MO along with a few other companies" .....keep stringing the customer along with promises and delivery dates that come and go and then ignore them and soon enough they will get fed up and go away. That's what they want when you have a problem is to just buy more "stuff" and if you complain they just want you to go away.

outdoorhunting

One SHOULD expect better !!!! People out there think they're immune to the rip offs apparently. Who was it said, " there's a sucker born every minute ??" Well the internet lets them get hooked up with Hobby King & others. After ALL the warnings that we've seen on RCU & all the other rc related blogs, I don't feel a bit sorry for them when they get ripped off !!!!!!!!! Proves a point ... YA CAN'T FIX STUPID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

Their plastic covering is great. I think its better than monocoat and its 1/2 the price.

countilaw

what??


Did I miss something?

the pope

Welcome to the world of R.C. Its not just H.K. whoes service sucks . I had a recent experience with world models and will never buy there 2nd rate crap again. I had the unfortunate luck to buy a 40 size superstunt . When put together one wing had a twist that chubby checker would be proud of . What to do , I know twist it in the other direction and hit it with the heat gun . Good idea until the whole wing section basically collapapsed . Spend 1/2 a day fixing it ( no glue , ribs not square and no shear webs wear there should have been ) spend 3hrs on the road $30 in petrol and 2x rolls of covering . Great ! Thought Id have a bit of a whinge to the Aus. importer and their respones , ignore every email . Bugger them go higher up and see if I can get another wing , What a joke the best they can do is give me a pathetic discount on a different plane . Me says why would I want another one of your p.o.s. ? Thanks for bugger all and I promise to spread the word about your lousy stuff and great customer service ( so hear I am ). Just wait a tick things dont get any better. Try to fly the thing , 2 flights nearly 2 crashes .1st flight aleirons no good , fly it home with the rudder . Check stuff out cant find nothing wrong . Go home change receiver and wiring and give it another shot . Same thing happens and it turns out alerions to bendy and anything over 1/2 throt they just bend back in the breeze , remove from wing and able to twist them 180* without even hearing a crack , good stuff . Spend more valuable time sandwhiching them with .8 ply . Ive had better luck withe seagull and Phoenix arfs whoes quality I cant fault ! If your toaster gives up the ghost you take it back and get your $ back but if your rc stuff is faultly bad luck bend over . At least with H.K there cheap and if you know what to order you can get some bargins . Would i buy a car from them ? Probably not , I dont know if they carry spares and if its for your youngster youll need em as will most others . Cheers the pope

Adam184

thanks for all the replies.

i made the mistake of researching the model and not the company.
i found mostly favorable reviews so as i mentioned in original post i wasnt to concerned about the little fella breaking it for the price.
I didnt expect something with quality and performance to match the big brands but i did expect them to back the product.

thanks topspin ill look at the sites you sugggested as i dont have the money to blow on high end cars particulary if my sons interest dosnt hold.

in the mean time ill spend a little bit of time starting similar threads across the net.

the pope

Thats the spirit spread the word and hopefully shame them into making a product thats fit for its intended use. If we all keep quite things wont change . Its not so much things going wrong as that can happen with anything its what happens next thats important . Rc and weddings charge 10x the price . Cheers the pope

pmerritt

My Feedback: (118)

Ya gotta love the aroma of a fresh bottle of CA! DOH.

[email protected]

My Feedback: (1)

never buy from hk

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

Have you tried it? Its good stuff.

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

You have missed something if you haven't tried it.

gade600sdi

I laugh when I read these posts all the time, and see guys at my field with stuff that doesnt work all the time from this supplier. As stated above, never buy from Hobby King, some guys just never learn.

bigstick60

My Feedback: (3)

on all these forums on certain bad r/c companies, if you like and had no problem with them you are labled a shill for the company, then why?? when someone complains about this company are they not labled a shill against the company. in my way of thinking your all shills!!!!! why am i suppose to accept only one side of the story, or one party. just because you!!!!! said so. what i am trying to say here is these post are imho worthless and a lot o BS. look around before you jump and ask questions, SEARCH the internet that is what it is here for. and the final decision is yours, there is no right or wrong here, do what you want and if it does not work out it is called life, live and learn.

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

1: They should have sent you a replacement servo
2: What do you expect from HK anyway, knowing how cheap the stuff is, it can fail
3: Ive been buying stuff from them for many years, and have spent alot of money there, and have only had a cheap gyro fail, so I bought another, its still going.
4: When you realized they were giving you the run around you should have taken the $8 your complaining about and went and bought another servo and been over it.

Its the chance you take, some people have sent stuff back and had awesome customer service, some have not, its hit or miss, luckily for me everything works great, and Im going to keep giving them money! I love hobby king!

topspin

Because they actually advertised to hire paid shills. So that's why everyone casts a suspicious eye on anyone who overtly praises them even when they clearly have done nothing to help a customer or took someones hard earned money and then ignore them when they have a problem.

As for anti company shills, there may be some out there but I'm betting the overwhelming majority of the complaints are just from people like me who got ripped off by them and want others to know that they might get ripped off as well. I have seen dozens of people post stories that they were satisfied customers with many orders until one day they got ripped off.

edh13

My Feedback: (9)

I apply my 3 “Harbor Freight Tool rules” when buying from HK:
1) Okay to buy consumables – Glue, sandpaper, rags, tape etc.
2) Okay to buy tools with no moving parts – Hammers, chisels, punch, scrapers etc.
3) Be prepared to throw it away without regret.