ORIGINAL: Nathan_L
Wow. Apparently I need to move our shop into making stuff for the R/C crowd because apparently the demand for good customer service is zero if 50% of people would still do business them.
Only if your business is geared towards your love for the hobby, NOT if you want it to be very profitable. Truth is: very few (if any) are getting rich in manufacturing R/C accessories. It's a real 'niche' market. Look at what happened to Heritage/ SkyShark. They offered high quality, U.S. made warbird kits, but went out of business because too many felt that they were over-priced. These guys were just trying to turn a reasonable profit, and DID love the hobby.
So the sad news is" it becomes a SELLER'S market. So few companies are willing to invest into something new and/ or improve thier existing products because of the cost of doing so. Enter Joe Entrepreneur: a guy with a great idea, but no prevoius business experience, and lacking in resourses to mass produce the product he envisions. Once he DOES get the production lines rolling, he is swamped with orders and doesn't do well under stress. He is definately not getting rich (better not quit his other job), yet some complain about his hi prices.
Again, not defending him, but I am undersatnding what he is going thru, to an extent. As for the lack of communications: that is what irks me most, as it does many others. But like I said: he is certainly not the 1st.
One more thing: I do not beleive that Doug is a crook/ he is not trying to rip anybody off. I believe he simply does not have the resources to keep up with demand, and will ultimately either deliver the goods OR offer refunds to customers who he cannot deliver to.