Bugalooob

You used to be a really fast shipper, now for some reason you've become slow as a snail..On my last order I had to pay like 18 bucks in shipping because I ordered a glow plug driver on tuesday and I needed it by Friday, the order taker said she couldn't guarantee if it would get to my house by friday..I had to go 2 day delivery..The order before that took over a week to get to my house by priority mail (priority mail to my house is at the most 3 days)...Tower are you like delaying shipping or something?...I'm through with you, I just ordered parts on RC planet that were cheaper then your site and only 5 bucks shipping

RCPAUL

My Feedback: (1)

I've had nothing but the best service from Tower. great service, stand behind their product. good prices, fast shipping.

Maybe the problem is yours.

Paul

gboulton

My Feedback: (15)

Is there an LHS around that carries Tower products?

Usually, for an LHS, it's 2 day shipping, they'll match Tower's price...and you don't pay shipping charges.

Bugalooob

How can the problem be mine?..I just ordered a Futaba sythesized 72mhz transmitter module for my 9c for rc planet for 89 bucks, tower wanted 99...I saved 10 bucks and will get it fast

Hemikiller

My Feedback: (125)

Enter your ZIP code and find yourself an LHS

http://www.gpdealera.com/cgi-bin/wcA56910ap.pgm?V=GPM

foodstick

I do know there shipping techniques have changed. I live about a five hour drive from the Illinois warehouse. It used to be a couple years ago I could call in early on a monday and SOMETIMES get the items on wednesday standard delivery, but always around 3-4 days,then it started taking much much longer. I haven't ordered much in quite awhile so I can't say what the time would be now....

MetallicaJunkie

Ive noticed Tower's shipping has gone down in the past year and a half.. They lag a couple of days longer than before on standard or free shipping

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

Tower doesn't ship things.Why are you blaming them?

LSF2298

My Feedback: (4)

If Tower doesn't ship their products, who does?

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

UPS,USPS,FE,Greyhound
RR,Airlines.
And several truck lines.

warningshot

Then why does Tower send me an e-mail stating "your order has shipped".
By the way the companies you list do not ship but are pickup and deliver service.

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

They also handle the transfer from the pickup to the delivery. The act of pickup,transfer and delivery is what is known as shipping. Tower merely places it in their hands.

bhady

I've had nothing but excellent service ffrom Tower for several years. Orders are processed and shipped promptly, and arrive on time as indicated in the e-mail confirming the order and giving the delivery date.

bhady

ctdahle

Actually, Tower may not even do that. Read John McPhee's book Uncommon Carriers. For many online retailers, UPS warehouses the goods directly from the manufacturer, picks and packages the order in a box with the retailer's name on it, and delivers it to you. The retailer is nothing more than a catalog and a web page that takes orders and forwards them to UPS to fulfill.

For some companies, if you return a product for repair or warranty service, UPS handles that too. Several manufacturers including "a well known camera company", according to McPhee, use UPS to handle every aspect of their business from the time finished goods leave the factory, and including all repairs.

I understand that FedEx has similar arrangements with some businesses.

Business is slow for many companies, and shippers can't make money running empty trucks, so they are waiting until they have full ones before moving them, which may mean dispatching a truck every other day, instead of twice daily as they were when times were better.

EDITED TO ADD > there is a website [link=http://boxoh.com/]called BoxOh[/link] that you can use to track your shipments in detail. Once you have a tracking number, you can put it into BoxOh and it will show you ON A MAP all the places your package went on it's way to you. Some times the route is very odd. I find that sometimes shipments from Tower for example, go from Nevada to Denver and then back to Utah, then actually pass through my town to a city 30 miles east before coming back to me in southern Colorado.

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

When I order from Tower I usually get a notice saying its being shipped from their warehouse in Nevada. UPS could very well be the owner of that warehouse.

rcjetflyer0718-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

towers shipping time has gotten longer. 2 years ago if I ordered something on Thursday and was shipped from Reno the latest it would arrive would arrive would be Saturday. I ordered a plane Thursday, they didn't ship it until this morning and won't arrive until Tuesday.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

What you guys are missing is that Tower is setting on your order for 4 or 5 days before they even look at it.

Then when they say it is shipped is when they notified the carrier which it may not be picked up until the next day.

I have not seen any difference in the carriers delivery times.

It is all in Tower setting around before they collect the order and prepare it for shipping.

Back 10 yrs ago if you ordered something before noon, it would go out that day on the evening shippers collection truck.

Now its some time next week?

TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

And thats exactly why I have stopped using Tower for anything. When I get a flyer from them nowdays, it goes, unread, directly in the trash.

LSF2298

My Feedback: (4)

I believe most people would call those entities "carriers". I believe Tower makes the decision on which one to call to "Ship" the order, thus Tower "Ships" it and they "Carry" it. My guess is Tower is batch processing the orders. They probably wait until the have a full truckload before they pick, pack and load the truck. In any case, I have noticed the extended time from Order to Receipt.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Horizon is not a whole lot better in the order picking situation.

Advantage Hobby is located in the same town as the two biggies and works off their inventory. At least they'll have the order picked and shipped within 24hrs

Tx_RcFlyer

My Feedback: (7)

I just got back into the hobby after about a four year break. I have noticed a big difference in the handling time by Tower also. I the past they would normally process the order and it would be shipped no later than the following day. Now, it seems they take about two days before I get a shipping confirmation from Tower and then it's not trackable until that evening. Thus meaning, Tower has been the one who seems to be the hold up on the order processing. Usually delivery time is about three days via UPS ground no matter which location they ship from. This basically means 5 working days from the time I place the order until I get my hands on it. Personally, although not what it used to be, for me this is acceptable service given I only place orders when I can use the larger discount codes and the free shipping to make the wait cost effective. Otherwise I use my LHS.

As a side note:

I have need for some high dollar stuff before next weekend, placed an order on Sat. for two day delivery. Given they won't process the order until Today (Monday), it will be interesting to see how long it takes for this order to get processed, out the door and to my door step.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Tower and Horizon think they are big enough control the hobby show and can do whatever they want to. So finance came around looking at the bottom line and sales had to take the back burner.

The bean counter appeared and laid off all the order pickers for he enjoys seeing them working against a variable backlog of two to four days as it makes his spread sheet look good.

The sales guys would rather see the orders ready immediately .

If the Chiefs felt threatened by another distributor, it would be a different story and sales service would take the lead.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

For some time now at least in this zip code tower consistantly takes three working days before the order goes from the office to the warehouse resulting in the shipper taking possession on the fourth day.

To pay much more money for two day or overnight shipping is pointless since it still takes three days to reach the back door of the warehouse.

Yes I still buy some at Tower but if it is a rush and I need expedited service they do not get my business many others offer much faster service. This has nothing to do with the shippers. The poor service is somewhere from their office to the shipping dock.

I have seen claims of expidited service by tower with their member club gig however as such I have never experianced it.

In my opinion Tower has ecellent customer service in every area except speed of shipping and in that they are among the worst.


John

foodstick

yeah old tower spoiled us in the good old days...fast free shipping for members, with a qualifying order..

and they used to have such killer deals on damaged kits and arfs. I am almost glad the deals went away I was spending WAY more money on broken planes than I ever will on good ones !

I don't know who used to price the scratch and dent ....but I'd like to shake their hand !

rcjetflyer0718-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

Just to update, the order that was suppose to arrive on Tuesday actually arrived a day early on Monday. I made another order last Friday night and it arrived this morning. I can't complain about the service plus I got $50 off my order.