National Hobby Supply- Terrible Customer Service
 

Attached is an email I sent to National Hobby Supply after a bad experience with them. I thought I'd share it with RC Universe. As of today, 7/13/02, I still have heard absolutely nothing from them. Not sure if this is an isolated event but thought I'd share it.

Here's the email I sent:

I'm considering sharing the following experience with the 200+ members of my RC Club and the online community at RCUniverse but wanted to give you a chance to respond before I do so. Here's the tale.

6/29 (Saturday) Ordered some miscellaneous items -props; glow plugs; battery, etc. on line.

7/1 (Monday) Called to add two fuel tanks to my order hoping that I could save a little postage. First three calls phone went to fax. Finally got through and was told, " No problem...order has not gone out yet". Had a friendly conversation with whomever answered the phone. When asked about shipping I was told it would take two to three days to get to NY State.

7/2-7/5 Periodically checked for shipping updates using the National Hobby Supply provided UPS tracking number. No record of shipment found.

7/6 (Saturday) apx 11:00 AM Eastern. Called to check on order. Was told that there was no information available as the computer was down. They did have a record of my fuel tank additions on 7/1. Was told I would receive a call back with an update. Never received the call back.

7/8- (Monday)

Called at apx. 11:00 Eastern to check on order and was placed on hold. After five minutes line went dead. Called back twice and let phone ring...no answer at all.

Called at 12:15 Eastern- Phone went right to fax.

Called at 12:35 Eastern - Phone went right to fax.

Called at 1:40 Eastern - Phone busy.

Called at 2:00- Spoke with the guy who sells trains and was told, "The guy who sells the RC line can't talk right now as he is busy". "Call back later if you want". I explained my situation and expressed that I really needed to talk to someone from the RC side of their business. In no uncertain terms I was told that this wasn't possible I told him to cancel my order and asked RC Sales to call me. He said the RC Sales person doesn't have time and won't call anyone back. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that the RC Sales person was the owner.

Your customer service rating in my eyes is pretty much ZERO. My beef isn't completely about not having received my items yet as I do understand that we lost a day last week due to the holiday. It's that when I try and confirm that the order is even on its way I spend significant amount of time and energy trying to do so and come up empty handed every time. When I ask for a little consideration in the form of a phone call back, I'm told that's not possible, that you are too busy to call a customer but I can try back later if I would like. The implication being that my time is not as important. The only conclusion I can draw is that my order and potential future orders are not important to National Hobby. As an aside, all of the phone calls to date have been on my nickel, not National Hobby's.

National Hobby Supply- Terrible Customer Service
 

I would recommend that you call and ask for Mike. He and his father (Gary?) own the place. They were looking at moving because of issues with the landlord. Their inventory is low but I was told last week (while in the store) that they were going to stay and would be building the inventory back up.

I hope this helps

National Hobby Supply- Terrible Customer Service
 

I have had no problems with National Hobby Supply, one order I called on because I thought it should have arrived. I was told that they were holding the order because one item was not in stock, they sent the order that day and two days later the rest of the order arrived.