This email is long and for those who don’t have time to read this, my summary:
I can not recommend PhoenixRC due to non functioning hardware and poor customer service.
First, I would like to thank all those who responded, through this forum, PM’s and directly, to my request for help from all corners of our world. The modeling community is truly a brotherhood in a fascinating and timeless hobby.
We all make decisions on how to spend our hard earned money based on several factors. Like many of you, I spent considerable time reading the forums and reviews, noting the comments and comparing the many offering available. Items which are important to me, in no particular order:
- Value
- Post sale support
- Where the item is made
- Comments and recommendations from others
Value, based on many excellent reviews and comments, PhoenixRC appeared to be the best for the money. Though I have learned; many of the aircraft shown in the reviews, i.e. Bell Jet Ranger and Bell 47 G have been removed.
Post sale, many posters sited prompt replies and satisfied with their customer service.
Where the item is made, I live in California and normally try to support the companies in the USA. I have a good customer in England and have visited Mildenhall Suffolk, many times and always enjoyed the hospitality.
Comments and recommendations - all were positive, that I read.
I order PhoenixRC from Tower Hobbies. Shortly after installing and starting to enjoy the program, the controls started acting up (stop working) and this message appears:
"Please Reconnect or Switch On Your Transmitter"
I contacted Tower Hobbies for help and was told they don’t support the product, just sell it. There is no replacement, refund or credit for my purchase because it is software. They advised I take the matter up with the manufacture.
A total of eight emails were sent to PhoenixRC (
[email protected] or
[email protected]) on this issue, after the first three I received a reply from
[email protected] claiming they had sent a response and I was just not receiving it.
In one of the email they asked if I was using an adaptor to connect to my transmitter and if so which type. They also asked if I applied pressure to the adaptor to regain correct function. I answered; I am not using an adapter, tried two different JR radios and checked, wiggled and changed USB ports many times.
They then emailed saying I received a faulty USB interface and said to contact Tower Hobbies. Well, as stated above, that was the first action I took to no avail.
By this time I’m getting frustrated with their negative support and sent another email, this time attaching a scanned copy of my Tower Hobby invoice and the side of the box containing the Proof of Purchase label. I asked them to send something that will make the program work, to the shipping address on the invoice. If not, I'm sure the lost in sales from relating my experience with their poor customer service and non-functioning product will far out way the cost to do the right thing.
The next email said they would contact Tower Hobbies and try to discover why they were not willing to help me with the problem. They further wanted to inconvenience me by asking me to send the faulty USB unit from California to the UK.
I never saw a name in any correspondence, only “PhoenixRC Support“, no phone number or address is published on their website, though an address was provided to return the faulty hardware. I included my phone number in all emails.
When considering where to spend your money on a simulator program, I can tell you my experience with PhoenixRC was not good, I now own a non-working product and even though in the short term PhoenixRC may have received the profit from this single sale, this company’s goals for the further in the international market place is questionable.
In my company we build relationships one at a time with our customers which last a life time. Our customers are why I have a business and they are foremost in everything we do.
If anyone from PhoenixRC should read this, step-up do the right thing. I would like to post a positive resolution to this issue.
Respectfully,
Tom Hall