airbusdrvr

I made a Tower Hobbies order a month or so ago over the weekend. The order did not ship until the following Thursday. All items were in stock with no back orders. This past Saturday, Jan 31, I placed an order that had all items in stock. Now as of Thursday morning, Feb 5, three-plus "business" days later, I have a UPS tracking number that says "Billing Information Received" but UPS doesn't yet show it in their possession. I remember when I could place an order with Tower mid-day and it would be shipped that night. This last order was paid through my Paypal account with a balance that allowed instant payment. I have paid to be a member of their Tower #1 Tower Super Saver Club. What's happening?

F4U Corsair

My Feedback: (22)

My experience with Tower is that if you use PayPal they wait until the payment clears before shipping. If you use a credit card they ship within a few days. I quit using PP with them. Just my experience!

airbusdrvr

Interesting!

Boris23

I have made many purchases from Tower, always paid by credit card, and never waited more than a week for in-stock items to arrive.

firstplaceaviator

My Feedback: (27)

Why don't you ask Tower Hobbies and let us know "what's happening".

Trax540

My Feedback: (1)

Everytime i order from Tower i check my status of the order and without fail every time it is shipped within 2 days. Ive never waited longer than id say 4 MAYBE 5 days from the time of order to recieve it. Perhaps the fact that im in Chicago and there Warehouse ships from Champaign IL only 4 hours south helps
But regardless of wether it ships from there Reno NV warehouse i always recieve within the week.

TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

This is exactly why I stopped using Tower years ago.

tommy s

My Feedback: (55)

I ordered items from Tower on Jan 19th and haven't recieved them yet. I called and the girl at Tower
said the order hasn't been missing long enough to consider it lost. I guess they don't want my business
any longer. The funny thing is the last time I ordered from Hobby City in freakin' Hong Kong the order
arrived in 4 days !! Good old American service !!

tommy s

JimO

My Feedback: (7)

This is one of the reason I went to Advantage. Placed an order yesterday morning and got shipment notice last night. I found that if I place my order before 12 noon it usually goes out the same day or at the most the next afternoon.

JimO

dignlivn

I have noticed lately that it takes 2 days before it is
shipped. Then another 4 days to arrive. The bad economy
must not be hurting Tower. I too use to get same day shipping,

dignlivn

I have noticed lately that it takes 2 days before it is
shipped. Then another 4 days to arrive. The bad economy
must not be hurting Tower. I too use to get same day shipping,
but no more. I sent tower my comments about, How modelers order
on Monday to have the order for the upcoming weekend.
I never got a reply[>:]

I wish I had a LHS,
Bob

firstplaceaviator

My Feedback: (27)

Or, maybe it is hurting them and they are short handed. Maybe they are so short handed that they are having a tough time keeping up with their responsibilities. All this speculation is pretty dumb. The only people who know what's going on work at Tower Hobbies. Perhaps someone (airbusdrvr) should call them and put this rumor mill to rest.
Doug

DoctorS

My Feedback: (1)

I've been ordering from Tower for many years now. I always get my order within a week or less, never a problem. I just ordered some paint for a project last week. I ordered on a Sunday, and the order arrived Friday.

DrS

WCB

I've never had a problem. I placed an order last Friday night. It shipped Mon. from the Nevada whse. and arrived Wed. I've been ordering stuff for years and always had good service and I always use credit card.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Ever since their Nevada facility was built, here in northern Arizona service deteriated to the point that we can count on shipment actually going out only after four working days. This before the shipping entity ever receives the package. This applies even if one pays additional for two day shipping.

da Rock

What's happening?

Well, "a month or two ago" was when? Christmas rush.

And what's happening everywhere in the U.S. is that businesses are struggling like crazy to keep meeting payrolls. I got an order just now. 20 minutes ago. The UPS truck just cleared the neighborhood. I don't remember if the order was placed on Sunday or Monday. Today is Thursday.

The order had $50 off the total because it was over $250. And three of the items had volume discounts. So there was about another $8. And no tax, so that was around $20. And shipping was waived. What's that? $10 now? Man, you can turn your back on about $80-$90 worth of savings, but I'm not going to. And the closest LHS doesn't even have two of the items at all, but did tell me why I didn't want them. Yeah, right.

Worst shipping time to get to me in the last year or so has been just over a week. Most take just under a week. Of course, I didn't order around Christmas rush time.

aglaser

I placed a 200 dollar order on Jan 2 and recieved it on the 4th! Im i their super saver club and just used the free standard shipping.. The longest Ive had to wait for an order is a week.. I have never had any problems with tower and I buy all my kits and engines through them

Stickbuilder

How long does it take for Tower Hobbies to ship what I order?????

That one is easy. About as long as it takes my Local Hobby Shop to close for good. I won't order from Tower. I need too many things that I need right away, so yes, I will spend a little more (very little more) and make my hobby purchaces from my local dealer. If he has to order from Tower, then so be it. I will still get my order just as quickly, and he will still be there when I absolutely must have that certain prop or servo on Saturday. If I let him close down for lack of sales, it's my fault. Tower won't care if another LHS bites the dust. A few bucks a year might be the difference. think about it.

Bill, Waco Brother #1

airbusdrvr

Just talked to a very nice customer service lady at Tower. She had not a clue why my last order placed on Nov 30(weekend), which was invoiced on Monday, did not ship until Thursday. Nothing to do with Paypal. She also could find no reason that my order placed Saturday, the 31st of Jan, did not get packed until last night(Wednesday) and UPS still doesn't show it in their system(Thursday afternoon). If I had a LHS I would use them. The nearest decent one is 30 miles away. A couple are closer. One is mainly into cars and the other very few use because of the owner.

Boris23

Dear Stickbuilder,

You make a very interesting point. Definitely something to consider.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Well they may set on the order three or four days but when they decide to ship it and if it comes form Champaign, it gets here in two days unless it crosses a week end.

If the order is shipped from Reno, it takes a week after they get around to shipping it.

macdona

My Feedback: (3)

I try to buy from the lhs, but he never has any inventory and must be close to going away. I will not buy from Tower because of the Reno warehouse. They now charge me sales tax and the freight is the same for across town delivery and they will not let you pick up.
It sucks.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Back 10 yrs ago your order would go out the same day if you got it in before noon Central time

TFF

I find it is 2 days after the order is made it is shipped. I figure it takes that long to get in line. The tower warehouse is also the hobbico warehouse. It is not just the orders they take, it is every hobby shop in the US that they fill orders to.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

It is also the Omni warehouse