Rott,


I'm not going to take a stick to this dying horse much more, but a good point has been made. Customer Service, good or bad, is a human endeavor. Mistakes are going to happen, and even the best people screw up from time to time.

After re-reading your post, it was as clear the second time as it was the first that you were dissatisfied with the end result. I did not at all get the impression that the point of your post was that you ran into a horse's ass and then had your problem later solved, fairly if not generously, by someone up the food chain. I also have to agree that the only flaming I read was you flaming Horizon. After reading the subsequent commentary, it's easy to imagine that the first guy you talked to might not even have been as bad as you say, especially if you were worked up (not to mention emboldened by the guys at the field telling you Horizon owed you a new setup) when you called in.

Like some of the others, I've had some experience in the customer service arena, particularly in R/C. You'd be astounded at some of the ignorant, ridiculous and comical demands that customers walk in with after they just broke something. Yes, my old shop would have been out of business long ago if we so stupidly did the bidding of every one of those 'customers'. Funny 'for example':

Lady comes in on Dec. 26th after calling in to ask about our return policy. I told her, 'new, resellable condition WITH receipt' on the phone. When she shows up, she has a low-end RC truck that looks like a real truck ran over it. She tells me, very matter-of-factly, that she's very unhappy with her purchase and wants a refund. I couldn't help but look at her as though she had two noses and one eye. I politely asked what the problem was, and she told me that it simply didn't work. After examining the truck, I saw that several structural parts were completely destroyed, as though the truck had been run, full speed, into a brick wall. Also, there was mud in and on everything. I explained to her that it looked like that truck had been run pretty hard, and she angrily insisted that it had only been driven once, and very gently in a cul-de-sac. I asked whether or not it was a wet, grassy cul-de-sac, and she started in. She told me, through much foam and spittle, and through clenched, elongated canine-teeth, that if I didn't stop trying to rip her off, right then, that she would call the local news station's fraud-watchdog THEN initiate legal action. I couldn't help but smile, but I still tried to maintain some professional decorum. I showed her on the receipt where it boldly states that we did not accept returns on used electronic items such as motors, speed controllers or batteries AND that the box clearly warns that the truck was to be used ONLY in dry areas. She screamed back at me that her son was careful to heed the box's warning, and only ran it once in the dry cul-de-sac. By the way, this prudent son is six years old (box states that the truck was intended for kids 12 and up). So, even when I lifted up the chassis and turned it upside down to have about a handful of water pour out, she stuck to her guns about the gentle once-around in the bone-dry cul-de-sac. In the end, I offered to replace the parts at COST, and do the labor for free--OR I would kindly and swiftly show her and her busted-up, wet truck, the door.

Now, that was just an extreme example of what people in the hobby retail business have to deal with constantly. Am I implying that you behaved this way? Not at all. With all due respect, I am saying, though, that looking back on the whole thread, it seems that your expectations may have been a bit on the unreasonable side. This doesn't make you Attila the Hun. Anyone who's read a few of my early posts can tell you that I am often driven emotion, and prone to knee-jerk reaction, so I think it is good advice to cool out and then look back on it after some time.

Most of the people in this hobby are the type who'd rather help someone up than push him down. But--they're also opinionated! So, don't get mad at them/us/me for disagreeing with your assessment of Horizon or "what kind of company they are". Good luck!