PowerBoxDanny

My Feedback: (47)

Agree 100%. And we don't expect that from any customer unless they agree before they place the order. There will now be disclosures in regards to possible delays if the order falls in that specific time period so that our customers are educated about what to expect. Boat orders add an immediate 3 weeks at the tail end but for a savings that big I think it's worth it. We're on it!

Pepperpete

It's clear that you are aiming for a high level of customer service Danny which is a step in the right direction. I've been looking at the new F-18 as well. My concern is the number of people who have had serious issues with time frames but also communication. It sounds like nobody reached out to help them. And only now when it's aired on the forum does it seem like people are getting attention. That makes me very nervous. I would much rather deal with someone over here in North America but why is this only being dealt with now? I agree with Andy and would like to know why it sounds like those waiting such an unreasonable amount of time were not either contacted, compensated in some way for their time, or refunded with the option to be first to buy when the aircraft really did show up?

I'm not trying to stir the pot...I would like to know.

DiscoWings

My Feedback: (76)

ba bam!

DiscoWings

My Feedback: (76)

Yes shipping is high, but lets keep it in perspective: 10% off a 9000 airframe is $900.00 saved; if shipping is $1300 (which is the highest I have seen, even my avanti xxl was 1050 and that was a huge plane) your overall cost is $400.00 more, I would be the shipping cost form Chief insured is also $400.00 to your door. So in the end its a wash or close...

Now things change on black friday obviously as a delicious 5% coupon on the jets makes it too good to pass up so since we are talking about 6-11 month delivery times its best to order then!

FenderBean

disco, not to butt in but do you have your avanti yet? if so have you started it yet?

Kim Couturier

My Feedback: (120)

After the horrible experience I have had with Chief, ie, Dana, I will never do business with them again....wish I had hooked up with you, Danny, as you seem to be a good guy....good luck to any of you buying there.....I have never been treated this poorly by any sales rep in almost 30 years in RC......I'm sure I'll get some backlash for making this comment, but oh well..

pilot tw

Hi,

i think shipping by container is very good idea for every one, because some time the box too big and often damaged by DHL or customs of China , and if damaged the parts or fuselage that we can make the replacement to customers no problem, but the customers need waiting more 8-10 weeks again, this will make customers are unhappy ..., so, please contact to Chief aircraft for place your order and shipping by container., Thank you for understand!

Pepperpete

Lots to think about. Some pro's some con's. Apparently you either love Chief or you hate them. Not really any middle ground.

Lil Chief

My Feedback: (3)

It's Here!!!

Lil Chief

My Feedback: (3)

F-86 arrival!!

jamesef91

I rarely comment on these threads,but in this case I feel compelled to . I placed an order through Chief in November for a large F-86. I placed the order with them because of the outstanding service I have enjoyed over the course of many years. When a Powerbox Royal died while setting up Dana exceeded my expectations in dealing with it. While it has been agrivating waiting almost 10 months for the plane to arrive I have to temper that with the fact that two years ago I placed a factory direct order with another manufacturer for a hawk during the same (Chinese New Year) time frame and experienced the exact same delays. The difference is that when I contacted Dana he was honest and professional instead of dishonest and defensive. I'm excited about their plan to stock airframes here in the USA and if you look at the risk they are taking on in doing so, it's a very bold move. Hopefully one that pays off well for them, but one that will definatly pay off for all of us in the form of reduce wait times and cost. Of course special orders will always be subject to these same issues, so my only suggestion would be that a proactive Email a few months in explaining the delay (although already understood by most) would be beneficial. Thankyou Dana and the Chief Aircraft team. I look forward to the arrival of my new toy, and won't hesitate to place my next order through Chief Aircraft.

PowerBoxDanny

My Feedback: (47)

Listen guys, this is getting out of hand here. These forums are like a pack of firecrackers, one person says something and all others jump on board and start popping as well just because they can and all the sudden, others take your complaining as scripture. For those of you saying, "Oh my god Ill never buy there for sure", Find out for yourself what is going on and why. Arrive at your own conclusion. These people ranting are doing exactly that, ranting. But they do have a reason to be upset about this last shipment and I understand and have apologized numerous times on behalf of Chief.

To arrive at the conclusion that this is the way we do business on a daily basis is just plain incorrect. Chief has been in business for over 30 years and one delayed order dictates their entire working model? Please. For those that are educated, you know better and for those who aren't, yes you know who you are, go find another thread to troll.

As someone posted "why are we only now addressing the issue", we are because up till right now, we have been handling these issues directly with the customers over the phone. Why would we start a thread on a shipment being late so the same guys come on here and tear us apart? If they had such a HUGE problem with this, why didn't they come on here and address it before? We would have addressed it instantly. The issues flows both ways. If you have a problem with the way Dana handled you, at any time, you could have come on here and addressed the issue and we would have addressed the problem to provide a better experience.

We are trying to provide a service here to make the purchasing of a great product easier at almost a loss as the learning curve is steep and unforgiving as you can see.The majority of you do not have a clue what we deal with in order to make this possible and the huge amounts of money it takes to do what we have been doing. All you are doing is cutting off a connection for us to get these products here cheaper and a few of you might stop the efforts here for everyone else. Chief Aircraft has been in business for over 30 years and does not need to provide this service to stay in good business by any means. If we fail at providing these services all of us guys who want big jets will get stuck for paying huge freight fees. Us providing this service is a choice that can be easily retracted and as of right now, it would be the easiest option. Its easy to complain and tear a company down but what's the alternative, the alternative is no one because no one is shipping this manufacturer in by container loads. Some other companies piggy back but they do not pick up ALL the ocean freight the way we do.

Disco Wings, maybe you cant read or understand very well but Chief is Skymaster USA now and eventually you will not be able to buy direct. Read what Anton just said. Your math is also wrong because we also give discounts here which you did not put into your math. The new hawk will cost $1450 possibly to ship. Who wants to pay $1450 to ship a plane. That's all the servos and some.

From here forward as I have said ad nauseam, we have implemented what we need to so these delays don't happen again, and as far as Dana, you guys can call me and Ill take care of you.

Thanks again.

DiscoWings

My Feedback: (76)

If skymaster wants to cut out all other distributors and shoot themselves in the foot its their problem, I know of people that have bought 5-10 jets directly from skymaster and it would be amazing if Anton/john all of a sudden said go buy from a distributor now Sounds like you guys want to eliminate all competition and be the sole importer. . ALso it also "Possibly" cost 800 to ship if it ships in 3 small boxes so lets not go on what is "possibly" going to be and see what the prices will actually be.

Bottom line as of RIGHT NOW its not any cheaper buying from you guys vs buying direct; but that all changes when you guys have a listed coupon so how about making a permanent 5% coupon on all skymaster jet orders. If you do that then ya Chief Aircraft is the way to go.


So Danny 5% off all SM orders?

DiscoWings

My Feedback: (76)

nothing has been done on my airframe its in the box, watching yoru build thread and noting down all mods that need to be made so far I have:

1) Apply hardwood blocks to control surface horn mounts
2) Apply skymaster rudder re-enforment mod, still not clear how that is supposed to work...
3) cut out wheel wells for air intake?
4) waiting for someone else to fly with a b300f so far no one has

once this all has been done I may start...or I may just sell the whole thing with the turbine which is also nib...

PowerBoxDanny

My Feedback: (47)

Thanks for the contribution Disco.

luge_racer

This is a repost from my Facebook (a little over a month ago). It details my experience with Chief Aircraft and has absolutely nothing to do with any delays of product but instead very poor customer service by whom I would later learn is the owner (?). I wanted to be a customer and was completely blown off.

"So I have been shopping around for quotes on the Skymaster F-15 that I want. Originally I had been planning on ordering it through Chief Aircraft in Grants Pass [I also live in Oregon]. However after sending them multiple emails with no response I decided to seek out quotes elsewhere, like an eager customer normally would.Today I emailed them again asking for a quote but also telling them that I have found two other quotes and I was getting frustrated with Chief's lack of response.
I started looking up reviews of Chief Aircraft online and they were a mix between 5 stars and 1 star, for both RC and full scale aircraft. I then, finally, received two emails in response. The first stated that he (Dana) had been on the road and would get me a quote later; that's fine, although do they only have one person running the place? The second stated he then read the email completely (mind you, this email was 4 sentences long and I don't understand why he couldn't read it fully in the first place) and decided to pass on selling me the airplane!?! He also stated that the aircraft are shipped to their builder in Florida (BVM?) and implied that they are the only Skymaster dealers... weird.
Anyways, this being my only experience with Chief I will happily take my business elsewhere. If I'm going to throw down many thousands of dollars on a toy I'd much rather deal with someone who wants my business and treats me as a customer, not as a nuisance.
It seems as of they need to work on their customer service; a reoccurring issue among online reviews."

On a further note I did order my F-15 from another distributor who actually wanted my business, responded to every email in a timely manner and even worked with Skymaster to accept a payment form that I preferred to use. They will likely get any further Skymaster business from me.

dubd

I'll throw in my two cents since I've been a long time customer of both companies. I've ordered from Chief and Skymaster many times and I've never had an issue with either. When I needed to work with Chief's customer service I received attentive care with a solution that exceeded my expectations. All of my orders from Skymaster arrived in 12 weeks on average, so it's unfortunate to hear some have had much longer shipping times.

One of the advantages of Chief's relationship with Skymaster is the in-stock kits, which I tend to order. I'm very tempted to get a T-33 or Cougar when one of the more popular schemes are in stock.

DiscoWings

My Feedback: (76)

So that's a yes 5% off? You guys had it before just saying...

FalconWings

My Feedback: (57)

So BVM will no longer support Skymaster?

PowerBoxDanny

My Feedback: (47)

BVM continues to sell Skymaster products yes.

FenderBean

-={O_o}=- Y

JSF-TC

My Feedback: (2)

The more I think about it, using the Chinese New Year as a reason for the extended wait time seems more a way of shifting blame to Skymaster and away from Chief.

If the entire Chinese economy suffered a 3-4 month impact every year as a result of their New Year celebrations, they wouldn’t be the economic powerhouse they are today.

It appears to me that the issue is more with the business model Chief is using, particularly to support custom or non-stock item orders.

With a US based stock, their model should work great, with rapid delivery and reduced shipping, but where it fails is in the delay to fill the next container.

Using some simple assumptions, I can match my 8-9 month experience.

If we assume a 14 week (3.5 month) delivery for a ‘direct-from SM’ personal order as previously quoted, with 1 month for scheduling into their workflow, 2 months build and 2 weeks shipping, and we now apply that to the Chief bulk container model, with a period where they collect enough orders to fill a container, a period for SM to build the orders and a period to fill and ship the container.

Allow 3 months for Chief to assemble sufficient orders to fill a container (part unallocated stock kits and part custom orders). That’s a total guess on my part. If SM start scheduling and building as the orders are received by Chief, there would be a 3 month delay after closing the order book to build the last ordered kit, and then a one month shipping period before the container arrives at Chief.

If you place your order when Chief opens the order book for a particular container, the above implies that you will wait a minimum of 7 months (maybe 8 with the 1 month New Year impact), and if you are lucky and order as they close the order book, then you will wait 4-5 months.

And saying to 'call back in a few months' to reduce the wait time is not reducing the wait time at all. Once I decide to order a kit, the clock starts then. Waiting to place the order by 3 months, so Chief can say that they've reduced their order time by 3 months still gets the model to you 8 months after you decided to order one. It doesn't change anything.


With the above model, I don’t see how Chief could significantly reduce the order time for custom or non-stock items, unless they had a container leaving every month, which seems unlikely.


The above it not meant to be throwing rocks at Chief, but just some thoughts on trying to explain my experienced long wait time. If they can build up a comprehensive US based stock of kits with a good selection, they should do well. I’m just not sure it works well for custom orders unless you are happy to wait that long. Honesty, not optimism at the time of ordering is required.


I wish them the best.

Paul

(and I have a tracking number for my F-86 - Thanks Danny.)

PowerBoxDanny

My Feedback: (47)

Hello Paul, I thought we were beyond this but I cannot just leave this where you say we are pushing the blame on Skymaster. As I mentioned before, you are not the only one who waited a long time, every aircraft on that order waited the same time as you. This is not our first order and previous orders arrived between 12 and 16 weeks so what you are saying is implying I made all that up. You are incorrect.

There are issues with the Chinese economy that I am not going to go into detail here with you but I would be more that happy to have a conversation on the phone with you about it to satisfy and educate you so that you can decide when the best time is to place your order through any manufacturer to avoid these delays and why. Unfortunately your theory above is very much off the mark and incorrect. We do not wait to get enough orders to fill containers. We preselect our own inventory order and send that in, then we have a short period to add orders like yours but the process starts as soon as they "accept" the order based on how busy THEY are.

If you scroll up and look at the container picture, its half empty. You think if your theory was correct it would be? No sir, it would be a wall of boxes packed so tight you couldn't fit a fart in there. Anyone who knows about shipping container loads over seas knows that the price to ship a container is the same whether there's one kit or its chock full. That means since WE eat the ocean freight to provide a service to our customers, guess who's loosing big money on an item that doesn't have a huge markup. Hey, as I mentioned before, you are more than welcome to DHL, keeps our economy flowing except DHL is a German company!

Give me a shout at the number below if you want.
804-829-3759

AndyAndrews

ALL of my SM jets came in air. I've never waited for a boat. It's great to have stock in the USA to avoid extra shipping shipping costs if possible though. I agree with what was said regarding informing the customer if it's not in stock and they buy from Chief, they may have to wait until a CONEX container arrives which could take months. Information is king. It's much better to inform a customer that it could take 9 months or more because a company is trying to build up stock for a overseas shipment to save freight costs, than to have a disgruntled customer base.

PowerBoxDanny

My Feedback: (47)

Roger that Dave but customers don't have to wait for the boat. They can DHL the aircraft and if its small, well it'll be around $500 to $700. As Anton already said above, DHL damages a lot of airframes so if that happens, which has a much greater chance of happening, then you have to send your plane back and wait another 8 to 10 weeks for another plane to be built. Via Ocean freight, Skymaster packs the container, and we unpack it. The chance for damage is reduced many times over since only the invested parties handle the load.

So as far as price, if you want to order the new big hawk, the new 1/5 F-16, any of the new F-18's you can air freight it and pay $1350 and up to $1500 for the big Hawk and roll the dice on damages. As there's more and more damage with these big expensive jets being damaged by DHL, Ocean freight may become the only way to buy them get them here safely. Prices will rise and that 10% discount, not for very long.