ira d

Come on lets use a little common sense here, Obviously if I buy a economy ticket I don't expect to ride in first in first class but then I know that up front don't I? OTH I
do expect to get what I paid for. If HK was to state upfront that because I paid less I should not expect to always get what I paid for or have to wait months for it and
only after jumping through hoops I might receive it that would be one thing but that's not the way they do it do they. I don't see anything first class about a company
giving you what paid for in a timely manner that is just basic service the way it should be.

ira d

+ 1 On Tower service, and it not like HK is selling stuff that much cheaper anyway definitely not cheap enough to justify the stuff they pull.

ira d

Now why would you think I don't know customer service cost money? But we all know the cost is included in the price of the product don't we and if HK chooses not to provide basic service
when you purchase from them they should state that up front. To me basic reasonable service is to insure you get what you paid for in a reasonable amount of time and in good condition.

countilaw

Look at all the trouble and money you would have saved if you had just gone to your local hobby shop. You could have paid for the batteries and taken them home with you. Sorry, after all the warnings about HK, I have no pity on anyone that spends their good money with them.

SigMan

My Feedback: (21)

cant believe people still deal with this guy. he has fooled tens of thousands of people into thinking this is a large Hobby company. he runs it all from his living room, there are NO large warehouses. you place order, then he places order with china companies and your left hanging on a limb. Mr Xu has screwed you ! but look at the awesome deal i got.... YaY !

sarpet

Hobby king is a scammer company,no warranty,not to replace the defective products.
My last order never arrived to me,last tracking was return the sender.
Many e-mail,nice words and nothing.
Paypal 40-day appeal period expired on when I believed that send the package again or return the money.
Hobby king stole my moneys 146$
Order number 2007594820
**** y_o hobby king

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

I had more them 30 orders with HK, maybe 3 of them had problems. Certain items are just a lot cheaper then at a local store or Tower.
Look for something like a 100A ESC. Even if I had lost that money, I still saved a lot.
But all I ever lost with HK is time and my patience sometimes...

And I don't know why some people here think they don't have a US warehouse. They certainly do, I received items within 3 days. Can't get things through customs that quick.
But I had it happen that an item was out of stock while the website still showed a positive stock status.

I'll buy from them again, I know what to expect and which items to avoid.
To each his own.

BobbyMcGee

There was a lot of severe/extreme weather during January and February in the central states. USPS suffered several truck accidents in that area too.

USPS does not set a priority for damaged packages or the tracking thereof.

USPS killed your package/order.

ghostofpf1

Outright lies and fabrications....

jester_s1

Hobby King is not a scam operation. It's a shoestring operation. They hire the cheapest labor they can and the fewest people they can get by with to fulfill orders. The customer service people probably speak very little English and rely on auto translators and canned replies to get by. And they are instructed to just placate the customer any way they can without it costing the company any money. HK is just fine if you want to buy a bunch of cheap LiPo batteries to fly your quadcopter with. But don't expect quality products mostly, and don't expect them to do anything for you. If your items don't arrive and the postal service doesn't seem to be to blame, you dispute the charges with your credit card and move on.

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

For Pete's sake.....

Hopefully, soon everyone will have figured out that if they want to take advantage of this level of pricing (HK's), customer service/hand holding will be at an absolute minimum.

Problems, ANY PROBLEMS, with delivery are easily handled with your credit card company. Didn't pay by credit card? Shame on you. I hope your lesson on why you should have wasn't too expensive.

Oh, and Pay Pal? Screw them! Use them if you like/must, but make your purchases with them using a credit card! If something gets sideways, don't even bother with PayPal, go right to the credit card company. You don't need PayPal to make a ruling if you didn't receive the order!

And Hobbyking a one man/bedroom operation? You're kidding, right? Or do you really believe that?

cetme308

Wow, this thread sure did get hot. Surprised nobody has made a flow chart yet. Anyway, local store then good online stores then ebay then shoddy/shady ops only if they are the only ones who have the part in stock. And if you ever do get to the bottom, use a credit card for God-Emperor's sake!

Local store is a benefit for everyone and you should do about everything you can to support them. Thou, it can be very difficult if the owner is ya know but these days most of them have long died because they didn't have a loyal customer base.

init4fun

HobbyKing is just like the New York Yankees ........

Folks either love them to the point of wanting to have their babies and get their names tattooed on their butts ,

OR ,

They hate them with every fiber of their being and will puke green slime , just like poor little Regan in the Exorcist , at their very mention !

You'll find NO "middle ground" here , I'm afraid ......

Now , ya still wanna talk about HobbyKing ? ......

mscic-RCU

My Feedback: (6)

why would any vendor do that? I have had my issues with Hobby King, but thata statement is a little far fetched.

PLANE JIM

My Feedback: (109)

No not at all-Bought arf from Tower from their damage sales side of the site- delivered to my frt door per fed ex tracking-nothing found when I got home. Either the Fed Ex guy put it at wrong address or some one stole it-Tower sends out another one in less than three days and also it was a new one with no damage -I did nothing but call them and explained I have received nothing-No forms to fill out, no claims to process on my end just a 72 hour delay-

HOBBY KING STILL SUCKS!!!!

guitarsbanjo

I've had good luck and bad with Tower too, they ain't always peaches and cream. But most of the time they are excellent. I did have an order for 2 8cell NiMh battery packs for my GP Slinger, this is just as LiPo's had taken off, they both were no good when I recieved them. One was dead flat 0 volts out of the package and the other had about 4-5 volts. I tried charging and cycling them, one would not charge above 9v. period, the other would charge to a little over 10 volts, but would drop to about 9 overnight just sitting on the shelf. So I called tower, on the toll free number, they gave me a non-toll-free number to call the "tech support department" (I think that's what they called it) where someone spent an hour, on my dime, explaining to me how I just didn't know how to properly use NiMh batteries, that they had to be cycled several times before reaching full capacity...blah, blah. I tried to explain that I did in fact know all of this, I'd been racing 1/10 scale electric cars since the mid '80's, and I had used both a programmable charger, and a plain old dumb charger on them, that the batteries even when dead should not have been below 1 volt per cell when I got them, and neither would put out 9 volts under a load. After an hour of this, they still refused to refund my money, I even offered to ship the batteries back for them to test. They would only send me like for like replacement batteries, which I didn't want, because like I explained to him, if I got 2 bad batteries out of this batch, I don't expect to get two good ones next time, I figured they'd been sitting on the shelf for a long time since everybody was quickly adopting lipos. Anyway, they did ship 2 more (defective) batteries. All of the 4 packs they shipped had at least one dead cell in them. I took them all apart and tested each individual cell, I work in the electronics industry, so I'm no dope when it comes to this sort of thing. But that was one time I was chapped with tower, and wouldn't buy anything from them for a long time.

I've always gotten what I've ordered from HK, I did get one dead reciever and had a brushless speed control that didn't last beyond set-up, but neither was worth the headache of trying to deal with them for the money back. I couldn't have bought crystals for a reciever for what I was paying for the receivers at HK.

[email protected]

My Feedback: (1)

everyday people say how they where ripped off by hobby king why do people buy from them stop buying for 6 months see if they will wake up there

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

Because that's how it works. The seller is responsible for the buyers shipment from the time it leaves the sellers door until it arrives at the buyers door it the same condition as when it was shipped. If something happens the seller is responsible to track down the shipment, send the buyer another item(s), or reimburse the buyer. That's why it's the sellers responsibility (not the buyers)to buy insurance with the carrier they are using and if they make a claim the buyer is reimbursed immediately by the seller and the seller waits to be paid by the insurance co. The same applies to selling on this or another site. The only exception would be FOB or another arrangement agreed upon by both parties where the buyer would be responsible for all shipping costs from a certain point.
As far as HK, they are in it for themselves not for their customers. Why do you think they moved out of Wa state? Because they chose not to pay their fair share in taxes to the USA from the get go so now they are running to another state to do it again for a few more years .

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

HK is here to stay. As long as they are so much cheaper then their competition, people will continue to buy from them.
There are a lot larger then most people realize. With warehouses all over the world they probably move more items then any other RC retailer.

So if everyone is willing to spend a little more, HK will be out of business quickly. We all know that's not going to happen.

I am glad HK gives me the choice to get certain items at a bargain price. There is a little risk that I have to wait a very long time, but I accept that fact.
The op here had bad luck, and it is still not clear if HK or USPS made the mistake.

jetmaven

OliverJacob , look at rcacessory.com . They are located in Florida . They stand behind their products .
If what you need costs a few bucks more , who cares . Life is too short for the grief you get from the auto-translate response
crowd . I have no idea why any one would patronize based on price alone .
When the hobby / sport you love turns to crap over an issue a few dollars ,the fun goes away .
Then what do you have .

acerc

Packages through USPS are sent by way of zip code first, then locally separated to streets. I had a twenty eight hundred dollar motor shipped with everything correct but one digit of the street address. The package made it to the separation station but was placed on hold because there was no such street address. Fortunately for me I personally know my mail carrier and he not only told me what to do but also called the PO two towns away and said I would be there shortly to pick them up. USPS sorting is computerized and if anything is off it will eject and send to lost and found without the found, basically.

By the way, I don't by from HK or any other source that has the posted issues they have had. I do my research and spend the money to get it from reputable merchants.

radfordc

My Feedback: (14)

I've saved way too much money over the last few years to not shop at HK.

ira d

I think you may be asking why would HK intentionally send a falsified address? I say why not? With their record I don't put anything past them I just can't believe
all their problems are accidental.

mscic-RCU

My Feedback: (6)

I think you all just should stop buying from them. I have dealt with Chinese vendors for over 15 years now in my business and I accept the fact that basically they do not care once they get your money. It is ludicrous to think once HK turns a package over to the shipper they are responsible for it until it reaches the door. I do agree that they are the ones that have to initiate a trace for a lost package. Their customer service sucks, and if you can't accept that then pay the extra 30% and order from one one of the big boys. I selectively order from HK and only from one of the US warehouses. By the way, the western US warehouse is still in WA state.

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

Really? Do you really believe they would intentionally send a package to a wrong address so they get it back and keep the money? Hahahaha
Do you have any proof ??

When a shipment gets lost, they have to deal with it, they reimburse the customer (they'll eat the cost for shipping) and spend their time
to handle the issue.
It will cost them money. And the customer sometimes has to jump through the hoops to get the issue resolved.