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Online hobby shop customer service

Old 05-20-2015, 07:18 AM
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ira d
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Default Online hobby shop customer service

The thought occurs to me it would be a good idea to compile a list of the hobby vendors that have good service ie have very few shipments lost or incorrectly filled and will
quickly step up and replace lost or damaged items and items that shipped by mistake.
Old 05-20-2015, 08:14 AM
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ghostofpf1
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Hobby King has treated me wonderfully over the years,,,,,way over 100 orders....
good luck
Old 05-20-2015, 08:17 AM
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and away we go,,,,
Old 05-20-2015, 08:57 AM
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porcia83
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Yup... So obvious. Because the other thread wasn't going the way it was supposed to?

Discussions already been had, ad nauseam.
Old 05-20-2015, 10:15 AM
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ira d
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Originally Posted by ghostofpf1
Hobby King has treated me wonderfully over the years,,,,,way over 100 orders....
good luck
I expected some hooray for HK replies but that is just fine.
Old 05-20-2015, 10:17 AM
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ira d
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Originally Posted by porcia83
Yup... So obvious. Because the other thread wasn't going the way it was supposed to?

Discussions already been had, ad nauseam.
The other thread discussion has went the way it was supposed to IMO, This thread is asking for different info.
Old 05-20-2015, 10:28 AM
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porcia83
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Originally Posted by ira d
I expected some hooray for HK replies but that is just fine.
Apologists, shills, acceptors of poor service....etc etc.
Old 05-20-2015, 10:46 AM
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porcia83
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Originally Posted by ira d
The other thread discussion has went the way it was supposed to IMO, This thread is asking for different info.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

C'mon......the way the original question is posed it's somewhat evident what kind of responses you're probably going to get.

The same thing accomplished as follows no?
The thought occurs to me it would be a good idea to compile a list of the hobby vendors that have good service



HH, Tower, Heads Up RC, Red Rocket, Banana Hobby (believe it or not), China Hobby Line, Value Hobby, Altitude Hobby, RA Cores and yes HK too overall. Someday I'd like to try Espirit Models...gotta save up for that one.
Old 05-20-2015, 10:53 AM
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ValleyViewRC has long been known for excellent service. I've had great luck with Tower over the years, too. SDS Hobby in China has been outstanding as well. Last but not least, HobbyKing hasn't let me down in 100+ orders, either. Maybe I'm just lucky...
Old 05-20-2015, 11:26 AM
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ira d
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Originally Posted by porcia83
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

C'mon......the way the original question is posed it's somewhat evident what kind of responses you're probably going to get.

The same thing accomplished as follows no?
The thought occurs to me it would be a good idea to compile a list of the hobby vendors that have good service



HH, Tower, Heads Up RC, Red Rocket, Banana Hobby (believe it or not), China Hobby Line, Value Hobby, Altitude Hobby, RA Cores and yes HK too overall. Someday I'd like to try Espirit Models...gotta save up for that one.
I rarely hear good things about Banana Hobby and I see by your statement you have heard likewise but i'm glad they worked out for you, And thanks for listing the hobby vendors you are pleased with.
Old 05-20-2015, 11:39 AM
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Banana is up there with Nitro Planes and HK in terms of usually getting what you want, but having to work that much more when something goes wrong. I might have a total of 12 orders in 5 years with Banana, all but three were perfect. One required PP intervention, and the other two some one on one discussions with their CSR on RCG. The last 4 have been perfect, I'm hooked on their little 50mm Viper jets with the 2 axis gyros. They continue to have stock issues, ie none in stock, and I don't like the games they play with the pricing. You have to watch and wait for the "right" price. I picked up the Vipers on sale for 80.00 shipped, then they sold out. Next time they were something like 149.00 on "sale" for "up to" 50% off and were priced at $109.00.

Never heard of ValleyViewRC, will have to look them up.


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Old 05-20-2015, 11:42 AM
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ira d
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Originally Posted by rcguy59
ValleyViewRC has long been known for excellent service. I've had great luck with Tower over the years, too. SDS Hobby in China has been outstanding as well. Last but not least, HobbyKing hasn't let me down in 100+ orders, either. Maybe I'm just lucky...
Thanks for your reply. I might add I have been in the hobby about 20 years and most all my of dealing with online vendors has been positive when it comes to receiving accurate undamaged merchandise.
I have had the most of my orders with Tower and only one problem I can recall and with one phone it was resolved quickly. I did have another vender send me the wrong color kit but I
did not report it because I did not want to go to the hassel of returning it and waiting for another kit to be shipped out. Incidentally the vendor that sent me the wrong color kit receives a fair amount of complaints from time to time here on RCU.

Last edited by ira d; 05-20-2015 at 11:52 AM.
Old 05-20-2015, 11:47 AM
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Originally Posted by porcia83
Banana is up there with Nitro Planes and HK in terms of usually getting what you want, but having to work that much more when something goes wrong. I might have a total of 12 orders in 5 years with Banana, all but three were perfect. One required PP intervention, and the other two some one on one discussions with their CSR on RCG. The last 4 have been perfect, I'm hooked on their little 50mm Viper jets with the 2 axis gyros. They continue to have stock issues, ie none in stock, and I don't like the games they play with the pricing. You have to watch and wait for the "right" price. I picked up the Vipers on sale for 80.00 shipped, then they sold out. Next time they were something like 149.00 on "sale" for "up to" 50% off and were priced at $109.00.

Never heard of ValleyViewRC, will have to look them up.


I have had a couple of orders with Valley View RC and they went well and I hear a lot of good things about them. Speaking for myself I doubt I would deal again with a vendor if I had to have
Paypal or my credit card company intervene in a dispute with them.
Old 05-20-2015, 01:39 PM
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This is going to be entertaining.
Now we are getting 'proof' that HK is the 'worst' company out there. Flame away.

I had more then 30 orders with HK, 2 were lost, 1 was send back (partially my fault because I moved while package was on the way), customer service was rather slow and inexperienced, but always got the issue resolved and received a full refund. Sometimes took 4-5 months to get resolved.

Lost a Tower shipment once, issue was resolved instantly, refund withing a few days.

Value Hobbies - great prices, fast shipping and one doa servo for a little foamy, was asked to send item back and get replaced ($2.50 item not worth the shipping)

I'll continue to do business with all of them and others.
Also - we have a great Hobby shop, but it's a 100 miles round trip..
Old 05-20-2015, 02:32 PM
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HK, only 5 orders, no problems, I mostly never order there anymore, to much risk
Tower, dozens of flawless orders over the decades, one kinda Bad,,, I bought aluminum servo arms listed as 1.5", well that was over all dimension not pivot to outer hole as one would expect, Sure they offered a refund, but if I sent them back on my dime it would have not only cost me shipping but nullified my $30 Discount on $250 order, needless to say I just kept them
Horizon, Pricey, but hey,I need ultracote sometimes.
Value Hobby, 6-7 orders, one came missing a part, they sent it out no questions asked right away.
Radical RC, awesome
LaserToys, awesome
SDShobbies,, maybe 7-8 orders, mostly hardware,, always great if ya can wait the 10 days.

What I would give to support a LHS, just aint one around unless you're into cars/truck and quads and I aint
Old 05-20-2015, 04:23 PM
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porcia83
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No quads???....ironic!
Old 05-20-2015, 05:35 PM
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ira d
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Thanks for the replies guys it is all info that we can use.
Old 05-20-2015, 06:14 PM
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5 Stars for all the following

BuddyRC - Excellent
Actiondroneaus.com - Excellent
Aloft - Excellent
CNC Helicopter - Excellent (1 item delivered was faulty but replaced within days - no hassle - replacement was shipped before I sent back the faulty item)
Graves - Excellent
Himodel.com - Excellent
Buzzhobbies.com.au - Excellent
Multiwiicopter.com.au - Excellent
BoltRC.com - Excellent
Armattanquads.com - Excellent (Great Customer Service - they make a video of your product flying before shipping it to you - who else does this? )

Full disclosure - I don't work for Armattan and paid for my first 5 quads from him but I received a free Hexacopter Kit recently in exchange for doing a build log for his website. - This was openly stated on RCG also here.

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Old 05-20-2015, 06:45 PM
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ira d
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I was trying to remember all the vendors I have dealt with but some I can't, I will put Tower at the top of the list but others I feel that I received good service from on
purchases are Boomerang jets, Valley View RC, Redwing RC, Dreamworks Model products, Tech Aero, BVM jets. Thats all I can think of right now that I had no
problems with but there are some I did have minor problems with one was TBM models. But from most vendors everything I have ordered arrived in good condition
in a timely manner and most of the time was complete if not I was not charged for the items until shipped.
Old 05-20-2015, 09:43 PM
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If one deals with stores all over the world, one will have something go wrong with an order, it is inevitable. I bought a kit from Tower, $260 shipped. Arrived just fine but had two major pieces missing. Tower replaced the complete kit and told me to keep the one I received. Wow! About a year later, I order the missing parts for $10 and received them within four days. Had a problem with a new Futaba radio. Sent it back, they sent me a brand new one. Service like this is hard to beat, even for the price, which is darn good most of the time, especially with the shipping costs like they are now. Bought an item from a Chinese company. It was to be shipped from their "west coast warehouse" in California. After a week I sent them an e-mail stating that I had not received it yet. They told me to give it another week. What? Another week? Ok. The same thing. Well, it finally showed up, total of a month in transit. E-mail to them asking why a month, then was told that it came from China and NOT from here. Needless to say that they will not be getting any of my business again. Banggood is the name. Bang-less if you ask me………just say'n……..
Old 05-20-2015, 10:45 PM
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Hobby King has treated me wonderfully over the years
Old 05-21-2015, 05:55 AM
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I've purchased from all the above vendors with success. A few month ago I purchased some batteries from banana hobby. One of the battery had a defective cell. I called them up, they told me they are going to send me another one and just keep the defective one so I won't waist my money and time sending it back. To me, that's pretty good customer service.
Old 05-21-2015, 04:05 PM
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I remember a few years ago I put an order in with Tower for about $200. I got a $20 rebate for this.
Now they send me a wrong part ($50 fuselage). So I contacted them, they would get me a return label and send out the
right one after receiving the other one.

So I asked if they can send it out right away, I'd pay for it and get reimbursed when they received the one I was going to send back.
No problem, didn't have to pay for shipping and it arrived quickly.

The surprise happened when they only give me $30 back. They deducted $20 as my order now would not qualify for the rebate anymore....
When I ordered the right part, it was considered a new order.

I'd still had qualified for a $10 rebate, but that didn't seem to matter.

Still - Tower has a very good customer service. You will find occasional slip ups anywhere.
Old 05-21-2015, 08:57 PM
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On a more recent basis I just had an outstanding experience several months back and a prime example of what most can only just dream about in regards customer service from DreamWorks Model products.

John
Old 05-21-2015, 10:20 PM
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ira d
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Originally Posted by OliverJacob
I remember a few years ago I put an order in with Tower for about $200. I got a $20 rebate for this.
Now they send me a wrong part ($50 fuselage). So I contacted them, they would get me a return label and send out the
right one after receiving the other one.

So I asked if they can send it out right away, I'd pay for it and get reimbursed when they received the one I was going to send back.
No problem, didn't have to pay for shipping and it arrived quickly.

The surprise happened when they only give me $30 back. They deducted $20 as my order now would not qualify for the rebate anymore....
When I ordered the right part, it was considered a new order.

I'd still had qualified for a $10 rebate, but that didn't seem to matter.

Still - Tower has a very good customer service. You will find occasional slip ups anywhere.
Slip up's can and will happen but I think a good reputable company will keep them to a minimum and on the rare occasion they happen they will quickly make them right.
At the end of the day that is all most people expect from a vendor and I for one don't think thats asking too much no matter what you paid for your purchase.

Thanks for the feedback and yes I like doing business with Tower also

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