Luna_Rendezvous

and if you need them yesterday, don't be such a tight arse, and use the other shipping option of UPS world wide saver!!!!!!!!

Luna_Rendezvous

and thirdly, it might not even be USPS fault, australian customs have been a known bottle neck in the postal system [/rant]

noahdear

My Feedback: (2)

So that would mean that USPS or Oz Customs are deliberately delaying Tower shipments and letting through all private parcels bought from ebay USA?
Possible but not likely.
Anything that has been siad so far does not explain why more recent purchases are delivered before Tower shipments, except the DHL thing.
And why pay $50US to ship a $2 part?

digital_trucker

Maybe they think that pilot bust is a terrorist?

cjshaker

I've ordered a lot from Tower Hobbies over the past two years, and they have an almost perfect record
with me. I really like the fact that they bag the small parts, instead of just dumping them into the box
loose as some other companies do. When the box becomes ripped, or when the tape lets go, the bag
still keeps everything together.

In contrast, I've had several screwed up orders from small RC businesses here in the states. I've had
some small orders that were each missing one item. One of them was missing a small airplane kit, which
was physically the largest thing in the order. Makes you wonder how that could happen.

Chris Shaker

airbatic

Tell them you know me and command them not to make error.

Kraus

noahdear

My Feedback: (2)

My 1st shipment arrived on Friday (shipped 21st December). So far the 2nd shipment is M.I.A. The 3rd arrived today but the postmark says it came via Belgium (of all places). No wonder they charge so much for shipping and it takes so long.

SGC

Ahhhhhhhhhh Belgium , obviously some non english speaking or geographicaly challanged postal worker thought Australia and Austria were 1 and the same , but what can you expect when the wages offered are a pitance.
Stewart

buzzard bait

My only beef with them is that on my last order I got signed up for their "Super Saver Club", at my cost, without my asking for it.

Turns out they had a box for it on the screen that was checked. You have to notice it and UNcheck the box in order NOT to sign up for it. That is just downright sneaky and disgusting.

They did correct it as soon as I complained. And that is a consistent theme with Tower--they make good on complaints.

But no business should be out to trick its customers in that way. It really left a sour taste after many years of great service. Why risk your good will that way?

Jim

tewitt1949

Buzzard, The same hing happened to me. They did correct it but I still had to call and get my named removed from that service. I just put in another order and we will see what happens to my order(if its all there, and I will check!!).

noahdear

My Feedback: (2)

They should be a postal worker in Australia. Apparently the pay and conditions are very good.

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

The pay and conditions are terrific in the US post office. That's just what happens when you use the Federal bureaucracy as a business model.

RJCadet

My Feedback: (1)

I've spent hundreds of dollars with Tower in the last 8 years and have never had a problem with receiving wrong parts or parts missing other than back ordered items. Now that I've stated that, I suppose the plague will be on me too. But, I guess that's OK as it seems they will always make things right. Tower is the one of the best. I don't have much choice anymore as LHS is too far away and understocked.

tewitt1949

Glad to hear you've had good luck with Tower. Since my first post in this thread, I placed another order with Tower and it arrived at my house in 3 days. One item was bck ordered and they stated that. Then it showed up 2 days later. Thats the Tower I'm used too. My son in law placed an order with Tower and I ordered a new sealing iron with him. It died about 2 weeks later. I called them and they sent a new one, no questions asked.

kingbee

Interesting thread... Few weeks ago I ordered some stuff from Tower, about sixty bucks worth, and imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found a Super Tigre 40 that I hadn't ordered! And at the same time they stiffed me on a tube of Testor's glue.

I called to let them know about the motor. The lady seemed a little amused, and asked if there was anything missing. To be honest, I was kinda hoping she'd tell me to just keep the motor and call it square, but they wanted it back. So a week later I got my glue and a prepaid shipping label for the motor return.

They're sure efficient at inefficiency. Does Dilbert work there I wonder?

Cheers,
Dave

build light

I have had nothing but good experiances with Tower from the 1970's forward.

The worst thing I have faced is that when I would get a box and the entire order would not be present along with a note saying the balance of the order was being shipped from a seperate whse. location.

Robert

Ralph78

I have had a few problems with missing items from Tower about 2 years ago. I started using Omni Models and have had "Great" service. Also if you order a minimum of $100 the shipping is always free. I get my "stuff" from Omni in about 2-3 days. The only drawback to ordering from Omni, is the selection is not as good as Tower. The prices at Omni are equal to Tower is all cases.

kbear

I agree and at the same time disagree. Tower is the one making the decision as to who they use for shipping. If there are enough complaints about the shipments it is still Towers job to look into it and maybe shop around for better service. I work in this industry ( I won't say for who) and know that when there is a complaint from one of our large customers, my email gets full quick. I have always been happy with Tower. my last order had been split between two warehouses and so some items got here later than others. Thinking back, the shipping lists for both showed the entire order but listed the items not from that warehouse as not shipped. I was given two tracking numbers and was able to keep an Eye on the shipments. As for defective products, It is not Towers job to to do quality control for say Hitec or OS. It seems to me, though they the are quick to fix the problem. Missing items, now that's Tower on that one and again the seem to be quick to fix. I can think of several RC companies that should take a look at Tower to learn how to treat a customer. (Hint hint Lanier, CG).

Scar

My Feedback: (3)

er... you might want to check your recent news. Great Planes bought Lanier, after Lanier bought CG.

Good luck,
Dave Olson

tewitt1949

In my earlier posts the shipper was not at fault as the box arrived in perfect condition but much of my order was missing. It obviousally was not put in. I agree tower is not resposeable for quality control of the items they sell, but if there is a problem they are the first one to get a hold of. If they can't get fix the problem then they will give you a number for the company who makes it. As of now, tower is back on my good side, but I will be watching for missing items in the future.

mylamo

My Feedback: (1)

In my experience Tower is about the best and most
reliable shipper anywhere.The problem is the awful
quality of the offered products.Magazine reviews are
not reliable so one must take a chance on Tower's ad.
Let's face it some of that stuff is junk.The engines are
a good buy as are some fittings and hardware. If I
ever find a good use for the Accu-Cycle and their servo
extensions or connectors I could say they're perfect.
Ralph

cjshaker

I've posted before that Tower Hobbies had a perfect record on shipments to me. Guess I jinxed it.

Got my first screwed up order in two years yesterday. Received three pit stands for RC cars instead
of three rolls of yellow monokote. The part numbers had some digits in common...

Tower is shipping the monokote out right away.

Chris Shaker

Wingdinger2

I once bought bought a plastic model at Tower and they sent me the wrong thing, but promptly sent a refund and the right model, plus they let me keep the other one. Two for nothing, nice, huh?

vasek

My Feedback: (4)

I've been ordering about 5 years with TH and thus far am 100% satisfied.

I have them ship overseas it takes 10 days to get & with the Super Saver Club even the shipping cost is OK. Plus I get a freebie with the coupons every time. NICE!

V.

ppplum

I've been doing business with Tower since 1975. They are a really fantastic company. In fact, they built my trust up about mail ordering. Here's what I ran into. The advertised a Sig 1/4 scale Extra. I ordered it and everything they recommended... servos, batteries, cables... everything. They said the plane would be back ordered. They were out of stock. This was in June. Their speedy delivery service got everything to my house within 1 1/2 weeks... except the plane. I waited for the plane. June went. Then July, then August, September October, December went by and finally the plane arrived in January. When I opened up the instructions I noticed that they had recommended a smaller sized servo than the manufacturer recommended. So I called Tower to exchange the servos. They were brand new and unused in the original box. I explained the situation. The darn 'lady' said the window for an exchange had expired. Craps! It was one of those low profile servos which just don't fit anything else. So it's still sitting in my parts box. But be careful of this problem.

I still have Webra 120 that's around 9 years old unused in the box too... along with a Brison 3.2 that's 3 years old... untested and unused. Guess some people (me) just don't learn.

I attribute the problem to one jerk of a 'lady' because I still order from Tower. I just am careful about that back order thing. I still regard Tower as #1 in the mail order world. Fantastic prices, fantastic service... just one lousy employee.

I also had the same problem with Amazon. I bought a printer and under the add, the showed a higher capacity toner cartridge. I bought the printer from Amazon but ordered the toner cartridge from a company that guaranteed my satisfaction, 100%. I order the cartridge using the model number Amazon had listed. When I got the cartridge, it was too big. I tried to return the cartridge to the company that guaranteed 100% satisfaction but found that the gave no phone number and no email address... or street address. On their site, as I looked around, it said to return it to the manufacturer. Unfortunately, there was no address or phone number for the manufacturer. Skunked again.