Its simple, with care, honesty and integrity Hobby people are #1. hobby lobby are tied, and tower hobby would not even come close.Give them a chance , you must have gotten a bad phone operator. I have purchased from them for over 7 years , live on the east coast and they always surprise me with excellant servace, back-up and product support

WOW
After reading all these post and differant opinions I can see where customer service could be
a real nighmare and take some real skilled people to deal with all these different philosophys.
Myself I don't see what the problem is really.
You send them a rib, they send you a wing. Sounds pretty simple/amicable to me.
Rude service person ?. Hey it takes two to tango. Sometimes personalitys clash.
Look at the posts. I have had that happen a few times myself. I usually just hang
up and call back. Usually I get a new service rep and all works out.

Well, I got a replacement Magnum back from Global Hobby Services today. I posted a thank you thread in their forum ([link=http://globalservices.globalhobby.com/globalforum/viewtopic.php?t=2605]My thread on the Magnum Forum[/link]), along with a suggestion to improve service.

I personally would love to buy from them in the future (don't want Tower to control the whole business), but will have to think twice about it. IMHO a Customer Service Department too busy to return calls is a possible indication of the lack of quality in their products.

It won't be another Magnum when I do make that purchase though. I purchased it because I was getting back into RC and didn't want to spend a fortune, but ended up grounded for six weeks due to a defective product (they didn't tell me what was wrong with it - chipped cylinder liner I'm guessing). On top of that, I had to pay another $16.75 for the warranty work to be performed.

I think I'll pay that amount up front to reduce my stress level by purchasing a quality engine (OS, Saito, etc......).

Also, if this engine breaks again I'll take it apart to see if me & club members can figure it out. If ordering the parts isn't an economical option (time wise too), it'll be heading into the nearest trash container. Maybe I'll give Magnum another chance in two or three years......

Anyway, I'm a happy camper. Time to go flying!!!!!

To all,

1. The customer isn't always right. Like I told Miloh earlier, I am still in the retail business and will do anything to try to keep a customer, without totaly loosing my ass. I do indeed have a very good customer base and my business is still very successful, as of right now.

2. Hobby People does need to work on trying to get their CS reps to be a tad bit more nice to the customer. I did get a little aggravated with the person I was talking to. He simply wouldn't answer my questions, and I was never rude or called him names. He did hang up on me for no reason.

3. I did as they told me and sent them a rib from the plane. In return I got a new wing, some accessories to complete the wing, and a free set of the weak-assed retracts. If they think that they were doing me a favor by sending them at no extra charge, I would have preferred that they just leave them out. They're for a forty sized plane, and will do no good on my sixty sized bird. Nice try Hobby People!

4. Evidently HP has gotten some complaints because there is a guy who has got a post going about HP, his P-47, and how he got such good service. He had a problem with a wing, called HP about it, and he got a new wing without having to send any evidence of getting a bad wing. He didn't have to send anything to them as proof that he destroyed his damaged wing. His Post is on here, check it out.

5. In my opinion, no matter who you buy from or deal with, the company should have nice, polite, helpfull CS people. I don't know about now, but HP didn't have this at the time I was dealing with them. Also, a company should not demand that a person to go through the trouble of destroying a product in order to get a new one. Sure, there wasn't much involved in destroying the wing, but I did have to put forth the effort to destroy it, fill my garbage can half full with the wing, and spend the time to go to the post office and mail the rib. I also had to wait about a week and a half to get the new one. A customer should not have to go through all of this over a measly wing that probably cost them $20.00. It would be different if I were asking for an entirely new plane. I would have preferred them to just ask for the wing back. I would have shipped it to them at my cost, and they could have given me a credit of some sort to refund my shipping. I just didn't like the idea of destroying the wing.

There is no need in anyone else insulting one another. Yes, I have some people that agree with me and some that disagree. The bottom line is, I got my wing and it cost me effort, time, and money. It should have only cost me time. HP will not get any more business from me, and it seems as if they may have lost a couple of customers by the sound of some of the comments from this post.

Just be sure to check out dudes post. It's called Hobby People and my P-47 or something like that. It sounds a lot like mine, only the content is very much different.

John Kennedy

So, did anyone check out Syking's post? If so, what do you think? I think that I should have gotten the same results. I pretty much did the same as he, and got crap from HP. Sure, I did get a new wing, but I had to put forth a lot more effort than Skyking.

yard-dart,

I don't think there is any way HP can ever make you a satisfied customer (partially due to your attitude)

So what if they wanted the wing destroyed and a rib returned... You say it was perfectly good if that was true the covering wouldn't have peeled and you would not have needed another.

This comment summs it up for me
BTW after reading your first few posts I also thought you were trying to scam HP on the wing.. Sorry but it was your references to perfectly good that made me assume you might have an alternate use for it.

As far as hanging up goes only you and the CS rep know how the conversation actually went...

As far as swaying public opinion agianst HP via these boards I don't think this thread should be used as an example

Crashem,

What part of me has an attitude? And as far as only the CS rep and I knowing what the conversation was like, maybe I can give you the "nearly" exact words.

After I emailed the pictures, I called them to see if they got the email, they did. After confirming this, I simply asked "what will it take for me to get a new wing?'" He replied, "we'll need a rib from the wing." I asked, "what do you mean you need a rib?" In return he said " we'll need a rib from the wing to confirm that the wing you have now is destroyed, we can't just send you a new wing." I said OK and hung up. Now, what part of that conversation contained an attitude?

After thinking about it for an hour or so, I decided that I had a few questions to ask them so I called them back. I talked to the same guy. I asked him why I had to destroy the wing, why couldn't I just send it back to them. He said they didn't want it back, to simply destroy the wing and send a rib. Now, I'm setting there thinking about how stupid it was to do that, and why I had to go through the trouble of destroying the wing and removing a rib, disposing of it, driving to the post office and spending the money on signature mail. I sent it signature mail because heaven forbid they say that they never got it. I was going to have proof. Plus, if they would have said that they didn't get it, what was I going to do about another rib, the wing was gone. Again, where is there and attitude in this conversation? I simply asked them a question.

Here's where an attitude comes in. I told him that I would do as he said, but that HP had some pretty screwed up policies. He told me that they weren't screwed up, and if I wanted a new wing, the best thing for me to do was to send in the rib. I told him I just didn't like the idea of destroying the wing, that I as a customer, who sent in proof of the failure, should get a wing at no incovenience to me. That's where he hung up on me.

So there crashem, that's pretty much what was said. In what part of that conversation did I have an attitude? I acted as anyone else would have. Sure, I questioned their policies, but I questioned them right after the first call. It seems that Skyking did the EXACT same thing as I and he got good results, without having to send anything to them.

I don't exactly know what the purpose was of you coming on her telling me that I have an attitude when I don't. I just expect good service from a company that I spend my money with. If you don't mind going out of your way to get a replacement, fine, but don't come on here telling me that you see nothing wrong with them asking such of me. I believe that there have been more than enough people to come to my defense on this subject, and yes, they saw that I had gotten a bit upset. They, unlike your stubborn ass, understood. You, obviously, are a pushover. I'm not. I did get screwed this one time, but it will never happen again.

Did you check the covering on the wing before you put the plane together? Sounds strange that the covering would just get weak if it weren't like that in the beginning.

When I get an ARF, first thing I look at is the covering. And, believe me a quick look at the covering says alot about what you are going to see in the rest of the kit. Bought a plane with "tacked on only" covering from Tower, one of those Kyosho's, sent it back for a replacement, they sent another one exactly the same, thats it....I gave up and moved on.

Also, you shouldn't argue with a company about their policies...they have their policies...you are in no position really to judge them. I run a company and I'm sick of customers telling me about how they they think the policies are stupid...when the real thing is they don't want to follow them...and are looking for a way around them. You just don't know one tiny thing about why they want you to do X so they can help you get Y. These policies may be stupid to you but you don't know why they have them. Maybe they have to send proof back to the manufacturer for credit and all they need is a tiny piece. In such a case, it would be a very stupid policy for you to have to send them the whole wing and to be burden with the cost of shipping such a monster that will probably be destoyed on the way anyways.

And, if I were you, I would get at least 2 or 3 names and some voice recordings before you go destroy a wing for one rib. I think they are going to tell you that they don't replace wings in crashes......[X(]

2Muchthrow,

Yes, I did go over the plane pretty good before assembly. Let me explain what the cause was. First of all, the covering on the wings was cut on the very leading edge, not the bottom side of the leading edge. The cut is right where air, that is forced onto the leading edge, can get up under the covering. What started the whole incident is one of the large stripes on the wing came off, pulling the rest of the covering with it. It was obvious when the stripe came off because we could hear it flapping. Then the covering came loose.

As for arguing with HP's policies, I never "argued" about them, I simply told the guy I was talking to that I thought the policy was stupid. He evindently took it personally, as if he was the one who wrote the policies. Evidently, that is not there policy because Skyking got a new wing with no questions asked, they sent him a new wing without having proof. So, what exactly are their policies?

About the voice recordings, you are right. All they would really have had to do is refuse the rib and say that they have never heard of such. You can bet one thing, that's when I would have taken a trip to California to take a wing out of someone's ass. Satisfaction would have been achieved!

Crashem,

This ones for you, I think maybe if the shoe was on the other foot, you would have different views. I enjoy building and flying airplanes very much, you could say I'm becoming pationate about it, but I have a life outside of flying and the majority of the money I make has to go to bills and other crap to maintain the lifestyle I choose to lead. I'll bet about 90% of the people in this hobby have to do the same thing. If you are one of the fortunate few that is independantly wealthy, then being treated like crap by a $10.00 an hour CS rep probally wouldn't bother you; you could just go and buy another plane and hope the person building this one did his or her job and built a quality ARF. I said that to say this. I make a good living, but I am not to the point to where I will let companies srew me, I dont think I ever will. If you are not satisfied you have every right to voice your opinion. I'm in the service end of my industry and if one of my techs does something to upset a customer, I'm doing everything I can to make sure that customer is satisfied, and will come back and spend more money with my company. I'm kind of fed up with people taking up for the CS guy in this thread, that's his job. He gets up every morning knowing he will have to deal with problems, if he dosen't know how to satisfy customers, and maintain his companies policies, and do it with a better attitude, he needs to move on. If you personally, would be satisfied with the way HP handled the whole deal thats fine, I would not reply and call you a weak individual who lets people walk all over him, but don't critisize people that have a backbone. You say Yard-Dart has an attitude, I say Yard-Dart has every right to do what he did, infact, I would not have been so nice to the "poor little CS rep.". Ah, that feels much better. Crashem, Its not too late, if you start drinking a lot of milk and taking calcium supplements, before long you to could have a backbone!!!

I have dealt with Hobby People I have have never had any problems. I have returned several things for replacement and it was promptly taken care of. I understand why you wouldn't want to destroy the wing as you could keep it as a backup. But, personally I would rather spend $3-4.00 to return a rib by signed recepit mail than pay the $10-15.00 you would have to return the wing.

Shford,

Check out Skyking's post on the next page titled "Hobby People and P-47". It will just about explain what all of this is about. They have evidently changed their replacement policy since my problem with them.

John

John,
I have read Skyking's post and it does mirror the experience I had with them. I wonder if you got a person on the phone who didn't know the correct procedure or was gun shy from having his ears burnt by other customers in the past. I also noticed that Skyking corresponded by e-mail as I did. My e-mail was answered by the service manager and everything was quickly taken care of. Maybe e-mail is the way to get the boss instead of a clerk. Maybe you just got the wrong person on the phone. I do agree with you about destroying the wing. Maybe that is just their way of making sure the wing isn't used by someone else.
Sam

yard-dart,

Chill out man, trust me....its just not worth all this effort (from a guy with a hot temper, which led to a stroke at 35yrs old)...

Oh! It's all good now!

It was your attitude on this thread I was refering to.

I had a problem with a Sig Sukhoi SU31 wing a while back. Sig replaced the wing at no charge but wanted the original wing back. Oh how I wish they only wanted a rib back! That sucker cost me a fortune to ship back to them![&o]

Crashem,

Simply refer to post #85!

yard-dart,

Back on the first page of this nonsense you said, and I quote:

"Last and final note. For all of you that think I'm mad, I'm not. I was at first when I talked to that jerk-off at Hobby People, but I got over it that evening. I simply came on here to express my thoughts and opinions on the issue and I start getting bombarded by people who think that it was stupid of me to question HP. You guys are the ones who came to me and started making the wise cracks. You that do so do it because you're on a computer where you're out of harms way, which is the best thing for you. So, for all of you wise-asses, happy typing! "

.....do you expect anyone to believe anything you say when you can't keep your word right here in front of everybody!??

Have a nice day

Gary

Gary,

Come on! Is that all you've got? Sure, I think people should believe me because everything I've told is the truth. Look, it really doesn't matter if people believe me or not, I got my new wing and that's all that matters. As far as me not keeping my word, that silly little thread you left is as weak as things come. Of course I left more remarks, simply to defend myself. As you've already read, some people agree with me 100%, and some don't. Get a grip fella! If that's all you've got, wast your time on someone elses post.

ROLFMO

yard-dart.........

To think that I was arguing on your behalf.....

I suggest you take an anger management course (or just seek professional help), or you'll keep having customer service issues.....

With that comment, I'll be doing exactly what the Hobby People rep did.....

click (dialtone)........................................ .........

Look, it really doesn't matter if people believe me or not, I got my new wing and that's all that matters.
[hr]
I'm glad you got your wing....so Hobby People are not that bad after all....

Stick-n-Rudder,

Thanks!

If anyone cares. I had a Hobby Shack ( at the time) Schoolboy that had a wing failure in flight. My grandson was flying. They were very nice on the phone and asked that I send the plane back to them for inspection and handling. I gathered all the pieces and shipped them back per thair request, AT MY EXPENSE. I NEVER GOT A RESPONSE OF ANY KIND FROM THEM!!! I didn't photograph it so I have nothing to prove what happened!! At least Tower & several other at pay for the return shipping!! Just what I think of Hobby People!