fozjared

I assume that this is the place to post this since I didn't receive help via email. Here is my email that I sent to [email protected]:

I received my Seawind on Monday (last Monday) and I just finished it last night (last Thursday now). So today (last Friday now) I went to maiden it. It took off smooth, and I just flew a big circle pattern, made a few laps, it was flying o.k. at best. So I cut the throttle back to about 25% and circled a couple more times with a little bit of noticed instability, i just ignored it and went back to full throttle, but when I did I heard a loud crack, then the sound of the prop cutting into the body, it broke off a blade and then just fell right out of the sky. It was terrible, I am in college and this was my christmas gift from my wife and all I could do is just watch it fall helplessly. I spent a lot of time finishing this plane, but not just that, since I am in college, I am only able to work 3 days a week substitute teaching! My wife works at a nursing home, but not for much pay, so this plane was a stretch for us, but I loved the looks of this plane and decided to get it hoping to fly it for years! The vertical stabilizer was flexible (where it joins to the body it would push down into the body slightly) from the moment I pulled it out of the package, but I just thought that to be normal.. I guess the vibrations from the engine exploited that weakness, because when I went back to full throttle the fin pushed down into the body.. I know you all at nitroplanes.com do a lot of business and I have heard a lot of good about your customer service on rcuniverse.com where I spend most of my free time outside of flying, so I hope that there is something y'all can do about this situation. I am attaching pictures of the incident, as well as a picture of the plane at the time of completion. I can include video as well if necessary, just let me know what else is needed.. I am easy to please, but need to feel satisfied in this situation. Not only did I lose the time I have invested in this plane, the crash also damaged my receiver and one of the servos, I am not demanding compensation regarding my 80$ spektrum ar7000 receiver nor the one spektrum servo that broke, but I do expect y'all to make good on this plane that either was weakened in shipping or weak from the factory. I can ship this plane back for further inspection if needed, let me know what to do, thanks!

opjose

PM John here about this.

( see the Nitrostaff1 link. )

He's very good about this kind of stuff.

plumberdeluxe

My Feedback: (209)

That is really too bad.
Would you say it is a quality issue or a bad design?
I am pondering buying an arf.
Reading things like this deter me.
I hope you get some closure.
Good luck!

opjose

He just posted this. Give him time.

fozjared

i would have to guess that this was an individualized issue with this plane because there are lots of guys on here that own both the great planes and nitroplanes seawind.. they took pictures of the insides of both and the nitroplanes model had more formers throughout the hull, which is the main reason i purchased this plane because i thought it to be more durable. there is no way that these guys who own both would speak highly of their nitroplanes seawind if theirs was like mine so i believe that it was only a one time problem. while that being the issue with this individual plane, i believe that the design/engineering of the seawind (no matter who distributes it) is off because i, as well as others had to add 21.5 ounces of lead to the nose of the plane to achieve proper balance, as the engine, fuel tank, and all servos are behind the cg!! i placed my battery all the way forward and still had to add 21.5 oz of lead so the engineering on this plane in general is bad imo.. that being said i have heard lots of good about the nitroplanes seawind and do not intend for this to be a bash on their good name here in this forum, i just need to be compensated on my misfortune with this individual plane. we will see how i fair on my losses (plural) in this plane, thanks for wishing me luck!

plumberdeluxe

My Feedback: (209)

Hi Jared,

I hope you get treated fairly.
I'm mainly a builder so this arf thing for me boils down to............
Will it hold up to my normal flying?

I've built several of the Balsa USA North star kits.
They also have alot of weight in the front nose block as well.
The 2 planes are similar to some degree but 21 oz plus battery seems high.

It sounds like they will fix you up.
I hope they do anyway.

Can that thing fly off of snow?
Dave

fozjared

i was told by an owner of one of these planes that it will definitely fly off of snow as he had reinforced the hull with some fiberglass cloth and epoxy so that he could fly it off of grass which he then went on to say that it flew nicely off of grass! all of this was good info for me as i was interested in flying mine off of grass eventually.. i reinforced the hull just as he told me to so that i could fly it off of grass eventually, the v in the hull was reinforced on mine from the nose back to the step so that added weight in the front as well so i am sure that the overall added weight was over 21.5 ounces! there are several guys on this thread who have added 22+ oz. if you will go and research this thread there is some good info on this plane:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_42..._1/key_/tm.htm

also there is a spattering of info on this plane in the great planes seawind thread that is over 35 pages long! they compare them with pictures and everything so go to the seaplanes forum and you will find that thread if you are interested in comparing the two, it seems the NP version is superior to the GP version, just not mine evidently!!

fozjared

oh by the way, i did get an email from nitroplanes.com, but all it said was if i had an issue i should contact customer service at.. and it gave the number that is on their website. so i called it several times, but every time it has been busy! i have been trying to call that number since last friday after it happened, each time i get a busy signal so i don't know what to do! i am receiving no help via email, nor am i receiving help here and i can't reach anyone on the phone so what do i do?

plumberdeluxe

My Feedback: (209)

I saw a post from a guy that flies helis writing at how frustrated he was from the help number being busy and getting stuck on hold for over an hour several different times.
They charged his card twice for something he bought.
I would write that John guy on the Nitro page and try to get his attention.
Man buddy, I hope they get you taken care of.
Sounds like it may take awhile.
Real sorry about your plane failing.
Dave

plumberdeluxe

My Feedback: (209)

I once drove almost a hundred miles to get this special alternator.
Cost me a fortune but I had to have it.
So after the drive I installed it and put the key in and....................nothing.
Had to take it off and drive it all the way back.
They tested it and it was bad from the factory.
They didn't have any others in stock.

Bought a $32,000 car once
Paint fell off at 212 miles.
At 6 months it had been painted 5 times

I always seem to get the lemon too
Good luck buddy,
Dave

fozjared

i appreciate all of your support dave, thanks for sticking around to see how i fair in this situation.. i can't tell you the amount of car problems i have had in the past, i bought a truck that had a tire out of balance that blew a tire before i could even get home with it, left me stuck in the rain with no spare! bought a different truck with 2700 miles on it that the battery was dead when i got there to pick it up, not a biggie, just little things like that seem to happen to me as well! bought a motorcycle that had an oil leak, oil pump gear had one tooth broken which caused it to work most of the time but over time it starved for oil (within 300 miles) and burned up the head.. the oil leak wasn't apparent in the test drive, it took about 50 miles to show, and the odometer had been disconnected (something i should have noticed in the test drive but didn't) so i have taken a few beatings over the years just with vehicles, but only once with an airplane, and the beating i received was via fedex! they shipped a plane from a member on this forum to me and when i got it something heavy had been placed on it and it was obvious! broke the wings at the joint as well as crushed 5 ribs and the leading edge, i sent fedex pictures and everything but to no avail they continued to deny my claim, so i just repaired it.. only took a few hours and it was good experience for me at that stage of the game so i didn't care to much. but then fedex screwed me again when they broke a radio i bought off of ebay brand new, it was obviously their fault as well! the seller battled with them for a while and still hadn't been refunded when he sent me the money back out of his pocket! he was a great seller, he refunded me personally and may still be fighting it out with fedex for all i know! anyway, needless to say i will never ship via fedex ever again! i can understand a mishap, i cannot understand them neglecting responsibility or their lack of customer service, that is why i will never ship with them! as for nitroplanes, we will see if they can accept responsibility for this item, how they handle this situation will determine whether they receive any more of my business, which is potentially great due to the fact that i hear good things about a few of their models that i like, but if the customer service is not there for me i dont care what model they have, i just won't buy from them.. i will give them a little time though for now. sorry for the novel.

alcarafa

fozjared send a pm to john (nitrostaff1) from NM he is the nitromodels guy in charge of this forum, you 'll get an answer from him he was anice person to me, sorry cant say the same about NM sure i just won't buy from them ever again.
regards

fozjared

Pm sent to john.. hopefully he can get the ball rolling! Thanks alcarafa for your help and the advice given in your pm's to me! Thanks for taking the extra time.

plumberdeluxe

My Feedback: (209)

Alcarafa has been where your at fairly recently.
His plane self destructed as well so if he has some advice for you, it is probably good.

Fozjared,
I'll hang here till you get fixed up.
I'm curious to watch how they handle this and if you are satisfied with the results.
Let us know how it all goes.

alcarafa

You are welcome mate and good luck.

Merry Xmas and excellent 08 to you and family.
Rafa

fozjared

seems that things are in the works for a refund, pm's relayed between john and i, seems that he is going to refund me, we will see though.. i told him i would update this thread and the one in the crash forum as soon as i see the credit refunded to my card, so i will let you guys know! merry christmas!

plumberdeluxe

My Feedback: (209)

Jared,
Sounds like your going to be fine.
Merry Christmas!

fozjared

well, as of yet i have still not been refunded... i have recieved a total of 4 pm's from john. one claiming he is about to send the refund and 3 saying it has been sent, but it has been about 2 weeks since i was told the refund had been sent but that it would take a couple of days?!? so i have been patiently waiting for about 2 weeks with no refund or no reply to my most recent pm.. what's going on here?

nitrostaff1

Refund has been issued please check your paypal account. Paypal was have some problem but it's fix. Please check.

Thanks
John
Nitro Planes

fozjared

refund issued today, thanks so much john! i hope that all you guy's other seawinds go great, i hate that this one fell through on me but i won't let it discourage me from ordering from nitroplanes again! i will be back due to this understanding and customer service you have provided! thanks for sticking with me on this.

plumberdeluxe

My Feedback: (209)

Sounds like you got real good treatment from John. I like seeing that PR at work.
After 25 years of building planes, I purchased my 1st Nitro Models plane kit the other day.
Mostly due to watching posts like yours.
Good luck on the new plane.