ORIGINAL: do335a
Does not matter who the retailer is. Sometimes it works out well and other times it doesn't.
Bought a GP 1/3 Christen Eagle ARF through my LHS a few years ago., Virtually every part was damaged when it arrived. I called Tower and they acted as though I was the biggest scammer in the universe. Took over a full year to get that sorted out. With the replacement parts (all old stuff returned), came another defective cowl. Took a couple more months to get that sorted out.
I can understand why you had such problems with that.
It is normally the LHS's responsibility to make this right, not Tower's. Tower supports what they provide and leaves after sale LHS support to the LHS itself.
ORIGINAL: do335a
Got a Giant Aeromaster ARF a couple of years ago. There were a few minor defects which I was not about to question since it was not worth the effort. However, there were many damaged wing ribs. Pieces fell out of the wings when I took them out of the box. Called them about it and they could not have cared less. Basically, hung me out to dry.
Had a hinge sloting machine. It went up in smoke with a giant flash when plugged in while still quite new. Hung out to dry on that one too. Tossed it, switched to Robart hinge points and haven't looked back.
I almost can't believe they treated you that way.
Once when I called CS I got someone who seemed to be very indifferent to my problem(s) with an order. Even before we finished talking I merely hung up.
I called back about three hours later and got a very pleasant CS agent who took care of everthing brilliantly.
On the whole I've only had one mediocre experience out of hundreds of purchases and a half dozen CS calls.
It's always important to cite your order number. They DO look things up and respond well particularly to recently shipped order problems. With these they've always given me the benefit of the doubt.