For what it's worth the damage shown in the picture and what you describe with the broken stand offs doesn't sound like anything that would have happened during assembly, and if it had it would most likely been caught at final QA.

I'm willing to bet money that the damage happened between manufacturing and when it got to you, I don't doubt the culprit here was during shipping. Whether the box was dropped, kicked, bumped, and had something fall on it matter not. Whatever impact cracked the hull most likely caused a big enough jolt to snap off the standoff as well. remember the weight of the gear boxes would have been hanging on the self tapping screws that were most likely overtightened during assemply, which stressed the plastic and when the tank took the impact the plastic gave way and sheared off the standoffs.

Bottom line, any manufacturer - or disctributor, for that matter, worth their name would stand behind the product and do what was needed to make it right with their customer. Production 101 dictates that a certain number of defective units, replacement parts and/or service expendatures are calculated into the original sale price of the item and amortized accross the production run.

No matter what kind of business you own or operate, you are going to experience problems and issues, the difference between mediochre companies and great companies is how they react when a problem arises. I think Mato has spoken volumes about how they care (or don't) about their customers and their reputation. Unfortunately this is a reoccuring theme with many companies that import items for a variety of hobby industries, it's also the same reason why you see many suppliers go by the way side. matomart is making thier own bed and one day they will need to lie in it.

Where's Backyard Armor today? And ask yourself why Phil @ RCTankwars is so highly regarded on this forum. He runs an honest business, sells his products for a fair price, communicates with his customers regularly and stands behind what he sells. And because of that people would be willing to go our of there way to give him their business. Matomart should pay attention - word of mouth is a powerful thing whether its positive or negative.

I'll climb down off my soapbox now, sorry to hear your experiencing this sort of crappy service from yet another RC vendor Sturmgeehr


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