Big company gripes?
#1
Thread Starter
My Feedback: (8)
Big company gripes?
I recently read a post that is currently "locked out" and it was about a major hobby distributor being an evil machine that didn't care about the customer. This (RCU) customer expressed that the major mail order company has given him the "shaft" in the service department, now I don't know about most of you out there but I find that most mail order companies try their hardest to offer the best prices and reasonable product support. I only believe that you are entitled to full customer support at your local hobby shop, after all that is the price we pay for saving a buck or two. The company that is caught in the cross-fire of this members sights has a long history with me and I still have every receipt form day one of dealing with them, every time I had a problem with the product they sold me, they promptly replied and resolved my situation. I once bought a replacement canopy for one of their planes I had and it arrived partly dented, after calling them they told me not to worry and I had one three days later, they didn't even want the old one back! But here's the cream of the crop, I bought a 1/3 scale Pitts from a local hobby shop and sat on it for 6 months unbuilt, one day I opened the tower talk and saw the new christan eagle, so I called them and asked if I could get the christian eagle instead. To my suprise they said that I could send the pitts to them and they would send me the christian eagle as long as my pitts was NIB and I paid the shipping, now how's that for customer service! I let the cat out of the bag with plane names but I believe that tower hobbies does a great job selling me product and helping me resolve problems with my products, bought through them or a authorized dealer of their products. I managed two retail stores and I give tower hobbies an A+ in their customer support, the only thing they don't do is install the part for you!, just try to get TREK, Cannondale or Ride snowboards to send you free parts in one phone call, they won't![:-]
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: west hartford,
CT
Posts: 353
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
I haven't had to great luck you have but learned that crying about it gets you no where too! I just cross them off my list and move on.
#4
Member
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Manchester, UNITED KINGDOM
Posts: 42
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
ORIGINAL: planebuilder66
I believe that tower hobbies does a great job selling me product[:-]
I believe that tower hobbies does a great job selling me product[:-]
As a UK modeller, I have never really had to rely on Mail Order, as I am situated close to a number of very good model shops.
However, recently I have been trying to find a supplier in the UK for Slimline Products Excel + F1 Fuellers - with no luck.
Then just last week I came across Towers web site, (while I was wasting some good building time!), and saw that they stocked them. Some what apprehensively I decided to put in a small order and wait a long while for delivery.
I ordered the goods on a Thursday, they were despatched the following day, and arrived at my door on Monday morning. Now thats what I call GOOD SERVICE!!!!
Will I order from Tower again - YOU BET!, (just wish they would send all those lovely kits you have in the States that we can't get)
Andy E.
#5
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Brandon, MS
Posts: 2,756
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
Planebuilder 66, the key words that I took in when I read the above was "I asked" and from your overall tone you were friendly when you called.
To say it another way, a lot of people load the gun, point it at their foot, put some pressure on the trigger, then call in and demand stuff and don't know why they wind up shooting themselves.
Ed M.
To say it another way, a lot of people load the gun, point it at their foot, put some pressure on the trigger, then call in and demand stuff and don't know why they wind up shooting themselves.
Ed M.
#6
Senior Member
My Feedback: (11)
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Las Vegas,
NV
Posts: 1,713
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
Here's one for you about Tower... Yeah they're great but..... I've got two new 1/4 scale planes that I needed a bunch of stuff for so I went to the TH website (one of the best for functionality and searches) and made my order. It was shipped from the Illinois store to the west coast. Took about 6 days. I finally got the box and went through about a 3 page invoice to make sure every thing that I had ordered was there. Sure enough, every piece was there. Included in my order was a bottle of Great Planes thread locking compound. When I went to use this thread lock on a 4-40 bolt about an inch long, all I got was a spritz, more air than material of thread lock. Not even enough to cover one screw. I contacted TH by e-mail and told them my delimma. Not two days later, I got a package in the mail and it had a new container of GP thread lock. Good, I shook it and it too seemed not to have any in it. So I took off the cap and tried squirting a drop on my finger tip. This one was even worse. Not even a spritz of thread lock. So I took off the little dropper cap and looked inside the bottle. There hadn't been any thead lock material in the bottle what so ever. The bottle was still clean. I called TH and told them they had to check their inventory of Great Planes thread lock. I've got two bottles with nothing in them. The customer service rep told me that there was about only five drops in a bottle. My response, a whole bottle and only five drops. Yep he said and confirmed that with someone else. Five drops. I told him that if each bottle contained five drops, then the bottles were defective and I only got a spritz, less than a drop out of one bottle and nothing out of the other. He said he's check the inventory and send me another. Well, this was cute. A box arrived at my door a couple of days later. This was a huge box. Maybe a cubic foot so I thought there was no way a little bottle of thread lock in that thing. I opened it up and sure enough, one little bottle of thread lock. I crossed my fingers and shook the thing. I didn't hear any liquid sloshing so for the last time, I took off the cap to put a drop on my finger and sssprrittzzz. That was it. Barely shot any out onto my finger. That was yesterday. Today, I'm going to Walmart and get a bottle of thread lock. I usually get one of these bottles about once every couple of months and it has a little more than a spritz in it. I'm giving up on Tower for thread lock. But let me tell you, their service is great. They spent all that time packaging and shipping two bottles of thread lock with nothing in them.
Needless to say, I won't bother Tower about the thread lock again. Nor will I ever order Great Planes thread lock again. At least I've got two nice shipping boxes that are just the perfect size when I do need to send something back.
Needless to say, I won't bother Tower about the thread lock again. Nor will I ever order Great Planes thread lock again. At least I've got two nice shipping boxes that are just the perfect size when I do need to send something back.
#8
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Brandon, MS
Posts: 2,756
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
232Cap-Tain, very good post. I now know that each time I go to pick up a bottle of thread lock to shake it to make sure something is in there, especially if its a certan brand. Its also intersting that the support person was so honest about the product. I bet is they had to eat enuff shipping cost to keep replacing that bottle somebody, somewhere might just question what is going on. Maybe its time to fire off another nice email requesting another bottle
Ed M.
Ed M.
#9
Senior Member
My Feedback: (11)
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Las Vegas,
NV
Posts: 1,713
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
Each plane. About 25-30 drops per plane. Hmmm... That's six bottles. My fingers would get pretty sore after shooting off e-mails. I'll just get some permatex loctite from Walmart and be done with it. I would have thought they would have received a couple more complaints, and not just from me. Man, but would I have a lot of boxes.....
#10
Thread Starter
My Feedback: (8)
RE: Big company gripes?
It seems to me that most people get upset too fast, it is compounded by the fact that the customer service is not there to see the problem, this is what we in the retail industry call the guessing game. We have to first be polite, calm down the customer and find out the situation, from there we have ways of finding out if the claim is legitimate or not, but in most cases it's best if we just exchange the product to make the customer happy. The one thing we do forget is that these customer service people have a lot of rude calls all day long, the first thing I do is ask them how they are doing, if they say "good" your home free but if you hear them pause and ask "how can I help you", tell them " that bad, huh?!". Usually they will laugh or soften up a little and give you a better chance at helping you. As far as the loctite issue, that is kind of a bum wrap but they tried like crazy to get you some, next time just get it from an auto parts store, you'll get more for your money and it's direct from loctite corp.
Thanks for the replies ,[:-]
Ray
Thanks for the replies ,[:-]
Ray
#11
Senior Member
My Feedback: (11)
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Las Vegas,
NV
Posts: 1,713
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
Upset, me? Not at all. Had it been a $1,000 motor that didn't have a connecting rod, maybe. I just couldn't get over it. The shipping box the size of three big shoe boxes combined for a bottle the size of a Dristan Nasal Mist squirter. Tower has always been great to me. If I were to have any complaints, it would be towards Great Planes and NOT Tower Hobbies. But for a $3.00 item, that's the cheapest worry I have. I just want to make sure I get a good quality product. If the thread locker I got didn't hold the motor bolts on like it was supposed to, then forget the $3.00 item and I'd have to buy another $2,000 airplane. I just had to respond to the "Big Company Gripes" because of the comedy over this little bottle of Thread Locker.
#12
RE: Big company gripes?
You are correct, before I got into what I do now, I worked in with the Airline Industry. All Customer Service. People tend to treat the way they are treated even though the "Customer is Always right." I'll bet customers don't even know what is said about them just after they hang up or walk away from the counter. And you gotta watch that passive-agressive behavior. Although I wasn't called on often to check passengers in, those that gave me a hard time for nothing got the best seats on the plane. (Those that won't recline) I wonder if they ever put 2 and 2 together?
#13
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Victor, ID
Posts: 251
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
I don't like supporting Big Business and avoid buying frito-lay, coke, pepsi, and tower hobbies when possible. You can often beat tower's prices anyway. Gotta admit, there's nothing like their website in the r/c world for easy use, search, completeness.
#15
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: abcde,
Posts: 175
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
ORIGINAL: Low Wing
I make my own lock-tight...along with all my other hobby need's...
I make my own lock-tight...along with all my other hobby need's...
Is it really you, Ted Kaczynski?
Is that a full T3 line you have in your cell?
#16
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Eldorado,
TX
Posts: 135
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
If you ever had to employ someone then you know how difficult it is to find competent help. It's no long a matter of choosing the best of the best, but choosing the least of the worst. This is what we get from a society that is too tolerant and accommodating. How much more would you be willing to pay for a new plane, radio or engine in order for these companies to hire more competent and responsible help such as yourself?
#18
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Eldorado,
TX
Posts: 135
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
That's not true, companies would love to get a five dollar an hour employee for five dollars. But thanks to unions they're forced to pay twenty dollars an hour for a five dollar an hour employee.
#20
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Nacogdoches, Tx
Posts: 305
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
The reason Tower or any other large retail company is large is because they found out early on how to take care of the customer. Retail companies that don't take care of the customer don't get large. They usually just quietly dissappear.
Insurance companies are the only industry that I know of that can offend 100% of their customers and still thrive..........strange.
Cajun[8D]
Insurance companies are the only industry that I know of that can offend 100% of their customers and still thrive..........strange.
Cajun[8D]
#22
Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: COBURGVIC, AUSTRALIA
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Big company gripes?
I have placed an order with TH and everything went according to "Hoyle". I think some of the complaints posted may well be bona fide but when you consider the volume of business they conduct via mail/web order then I think they do a pretty damn good job. I think you guys in the States/Canada have got it "made in the shade" when it comes to Mail Order for anything. I wish some of our local operators(Australia) could take notice of what their counterparts are doing overseas. I Know its pretty disheartening when its your order gets stuffed up but doing a dummy spit does little to resolve the situation. Best to be clever than loud. And BTW, a bouquet to the guys at TUFFlight I had a very seamless experience ordering some bits from them.
Anyway Thats My 2 cents worth from downunder!
Anyway Thats My 2 cents worth from downunder!