Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!!  
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All Forums >> Radios, Batteries, Clubhouse and more >> The Clubhouse >> Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!!
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Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/20/2007 7:52:06 PM   
*JCB*



Posts: 605
Joined: 9/23/2004
From: Redondo Beach, CA, USA
Status: offline 		The ez connect on the belcrank for the mechanical retract let go on my maiden flight of my H9 Hellcat (a factory installed piece). So, the left landing gear would not extend for a landing. My choice was to do a belly landing which resulted in some damage to the firewall.

I called Horizon yesterday and they said "Ship it back so we can look at" to which my response was "uhhhh...ok." I thought about it a little more and decided this thing is gonna be WAY to hard to ship, as they wanted the whole plane back. So i called them back today and the Technician said "Do what you gotta do, we need to have that plane here" - i told him something along the lines of the my incapabilities to ship this thing safely. His response was "Well, break the wing" WHAT!?!???!! "We understand the limits of shipping, but we need the plane back to look at it, do what you gotta do to get it in a box and ship it to us. But just leave the damaged areas as-is so we can take a look at them"

at this point I am completely speechless when the tech attemps to comfort me!! He said "I know it's going to be hard to do, but just do it" So my response was "does this mean i'm getting a new plane site unseen?" to which his response was "YEP!"


Anybody out there have any experience with this? I'm afraid to wreck the plane and be S.O.L. if they don't cover it. But I guess since they told me to do that, they are liable, right?

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RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/20/2007 8:01:45 PM   
RCKen



Posts: 15019
Joined: 7/10/2002
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Status: offline 		Get his name and the time/date you talked to him. Then take the part of the plane that was damaged and be very careful with it, and box it up and send it to them. Take the "rest" of the plane and chop it off, shred it, and put it in a ziplock back and put it in the box too since he said you had to ship the entire plane. Remember he said "do what you gotta do to get it in a box and ship it to us." Well, that's what you had to do!!

Sometimes corporations can be so stupid!!

Ken

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(in reply to *JCB*)
       Post #: 2

RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/20/2007 8:30:57 PM   
3D Nut



Posts: 414
Joined: 4/27/2003
From: Effort, PA, USA
Status: offline 		You could trust them.

Spiro
FlyingThingZ Inc.


quote:

ORIGINAL: *JCB*

The ez connect on the belcrank for the mechanical retract let go on my maiden flight of my H9 Hellcat (a factory installed piece). So, the left landing gear would not extend for a landing. My choice was to do a belly landing which resulted in some damage to the firewall.

I called Horizon yesterday and they said "Ship it back so we can look at" to which my response was "uhhhh...ok." I thought about it a little more and decided this thing is gonna be WAY to hard to ship, as they wanted the whole plane back. So i called them back today and the Technician said "Do what you gotta do, we need to have that plane here" - i told him something along the lines of the my incapabilities to ship this thing safely. His response was "Well, break the wing" WHAT!?!???!! "We understand the limits of shipping, but we need the plane back to look at it, do what you gotta do to get it in a box and ship it to us. But just leave the damaged areas as-is so we can take a look at them"

at this point I am completely speechless when the tech attemps to comfort me!! He said "I know it's going to be hard to do, but just do it" So my response was "does this mean i'm getting a new plane site unseen?" to which his response was "YEP!"


Anybody out there have any experience with this? I'm afraid to wreck the plane and be S.O.L. if they don't cover it. But I guess since they told me to do that, they are liable, right?



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RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/20/2007 8:45:46 PM   
MikeL



Posts: 2457
Joined: 3/8/2002
From: Bloomington, MN, USA
Status: offline 		It seems reasonable. The warranty gives them the replacement option, which it appears they've elected to take. If they don't get the plane back, what's to keep people from making false warranty claims?

If a person can think of a better way around that dilemma, they should suggest it.

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       Post #: 4

RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/20/2007 9:18:22 PM   
bentgear


 

Posts: 2750
Joined: 3/25/2002
From: Brandon, MS, USA
Status: offline 		It appears they are more than willing to part with a new plane to have a look at the failure. Bet if its something that keeps showing up a mod will be in the works for the next batch. Also like MikeL above typed, if they don't put some requirements on the warranty they would just keep passing out new planes to some folks.

Ed M.

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RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/20/2007 10:00:30 PM   
TLH101



Posts: 5538
Joined: 12/27/2001
From: Corpus Christi, TX, USA
Status: offline 		That's standard for a Horizon return. From what I have read on RCU in the past, they are pretty good about taking care of problems with their products. Several years agow they had a model with wing problems, and they had people cutting the wings in half and shipping them back for new replacements. I think it was an EDGE 540 ARF, but not positive.

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"Old Fart" in training. (not to be an R/Cer, but to be an "Old Fart")

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RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/21/2007 1:26:45 AM   
Tired Old Man


 

Posts: 11981
Joined: 2/25/2002
From: Central, CA, USA
Status: offline 		A manufacturer has no way to determine how to improve a product if they cannot see the actual failure. Not making a design change could easily cost them a whole lot more in lost sales than simply replacing one or a few. The moment the tirades about part failures with any given product hits the 'net, the funeral march for that product will have started. It's quite important that they get the plane, specifically the part that failed, to prevent later issues.

Call Horizon back, get a name of a person that has directed you to take the action, also get their company e-mail addy and inform them you will be sending an e-mail, send the e-mail with the same information requesting written confirmation of those instructions, and send it on it's merry way.

Horizon likes their customers and wants to supply them with good products. This may just be one of the ways it's done, plus you get to help out a lot of people later down the line.

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RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/21/2007 1:56:59 AM   
khodges


 

Posts: 5131
Joined: 7/3/2003
From: newton, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Our LHS says Horizon is really good to deal with when he (read: his customers) has any problem with a Horizon product.

But it has to make you wonder, when they can have such a cavalier attitude, such as "Yeah, throw in in a box and send it to us, we're gonna give you a new one anyway" about the profit margins involved between them and the manufacturers, versus what we have to pay for the stuff.

It comes across to me like "well sure, we'll send you another one, we've only got 20 bucks in it and you paid 400 for it".

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RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/21/2007 4:00:24 AM   
Live Wire


 

Posts: 3840
Joined: 11/20/2002
From: Sterling , CO, USA
Status: offline 		JCB
Take it to the nearest table saw and do your thing No crash damage.

< Message edited by RC Outlaw -- 3/21/2007 4:01:01 AM >

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RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/21/2007 7:50:16 PM   
BarracudaHockey



Posts: 10974
Joined: 7/13/2003
From: Orange Park, FL, USA
Status: offline 		Thats odd, I suggested the same thing when shipping back a F100x and he said not to cut it up, I ended up cutting all the CA hinges and boxed up the carcas in the biggest box I could find, I mean, they sent a call tag so shipping was on them, the hard part was finding a big enough box.

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RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/21/2007 8:21:31 PM   
JohnBuckner



Posts: 3999
Joined: 12/23/2001
From: Kingman, AZ, USA
Status: offline 		I think its not all that unusual or stupid and essentially these importers (even the large ones) are in the same boat as the final user, they are in many not neccessarily all case's just middlemen. In addition to finding any faults these importers are going to need to document chronic failures for any possible recovery from the actual pacific rim manufacturer.

While its unlikely any returns to the actual offshore manufacturer occurs but it is likely that the importer does this type of return so that he can carefully do photo documentation for the manufacturer.

John

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RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/22/2007 4:20:34 AM   
submikester


 

Posts: 1260
Joined: 8/13/2004
From: El Segundo, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Josh, remember when my Corsair had its mishap with the horizontal stab on the maiden flight. I talked to Hobby People and they told me to send them the firewall and the tail.

I said "The firewall?"

"Yes, the firewall."

"Ok"

So I took a saw to it and cut of the front and back of the airplane. Put it in a box and what returned was a new airplane. By you sending it to them they get to look at the problem and QC it. They also ensure that you're not simply trying to get an extra airplane out of them (I suppose).

There you go. Sometimes it is just easier to fix the damage and in retrospect that is what I wished I had done. Maybe you should consider that before you start hacking things up.

(in reply to JohnBuckner)
       Post #: 12

RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/22/2007 7:57:44 AM   
*JCB*



Posts: 605
Joined: 9/23/2004
From: Redondo Beach, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Every time i walk by the plane in the garage, i think to myself "I'm not sure i have the heart to cut this thing up" Truthfully there is little damage to the plane, consisting of two cracks in the firewall (that i've noticed). But on the other side of the argument, what if my repairs aren't good enough and the firewall fails, then the plane is trash!!

Mike, i think about repairing it everyday, but then other thoughts cross my mind like what if i miss something, what if this, what if that...but then i get to thinking that i could repair it in 1 hour and enjoy flying the plane next week vs many hours of building the plane all over again and putting other projects on hold. It's like i'm fighting a battle with myself!!! I think hacking it up and getting a new plane is the lesser of the two evils -but i will have a friend do the hacking, one that is not into RC planes...

Everyone, I appreciate all the comments and i now see the point in them wanting me cut up the plane and send it in, it's all making sense now!

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RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/22/2007 11:57:57 PM   
3D Nut



Posts: 414
Joined: 4/27/2003
From: Effort, PA, USA
Status: offline 		Hello Guys,

Talking from experience. It's better to lose a plane, then a customer.

Spiro Markozanis

FlyingThingZ Team




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RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/23/2007 2:26:41 AM   
*JCB*



Posts: 605
Joined: 9/23/2004
From: Redondo Beach, CA, USA
Status: offline 		i love the attitude 3d nut! I completely agree, and wish more people would run their businesses (not just modeling & R/C) by using this philosophy! And it seems like Horizon has taken on this approach..



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RE: Horizon's Advice on shipping a plane...CRAZY!!! - 3/28/2007 1:59:23 AM   
*JCB*



Posts: 605
Joined: 9/23/2004
From: Redondo Beach, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Well...as the saying goes "no guts, no glory" - it was hard to do, but i did it!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sPs4jj80I1I

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