<<...Feel free to tell them people are talking about them...>>

Trust me; they know.

I'm certainly not going to waste my time either. I just thought you might be interested to hear that someone claiming to be Irwin is active on the net. Lately, it seems that when people call to ask for him, he's alway out of the country.

Those companies are strictly a one-horse show. He does have some employees, but they don't do ANYTHING (except fill orders) without checking with him first.

I was the guy who GSP tried to charge me $20 tax for the Zero 120 ARF. Regardless, whether tax or shipping charge, it should not be charged at a trade show. Come on, when was the last time you pay tax in a swap meet?

I recently purchased a DeHavilland Mosquito 73" ARF from Giant Scale Planes. The Mosquito sold for $299.99 and was shipping to California from Coopersburg, PA. I received my VISA statement and GSP charged me $44.56 to ship UPS Ground to California.

When I contacted GSP and asked them to justify the Shipping & Handling charges, here was their response: the box dimensions are 14x22x54, with a shipping weight of 23 lbs. GSP stated that the box weight and dimensions was "Oversized", thus I would pay at the 70 lb shipping rate of $37.58 to CA. The handling charge from GSP was $6.98.

I will verify with UPS the exact charges based upon the actual weight and box dimensions after receipt of plane. I'm somewhat confused on how a plane that when built with two engines would weigh between 11-11.5 lbs, but when shipped it weighed 23lbs! GSP receives the Mosquito Twin ARF from China Model Products, shipped in large boxes containing 4-6 planes. I'm not disputing or questioning the $6.98 "Handling" charge, however, the "Oversized" shipping box weighing 23 lbs seems unrealistic.

More to come on my dealings with GSP. My plane should arrive in California on Monday, 11/29/04. I'll weigh the box and take actual measurements and then contact UPS for actual "Shipping" charges.

I recently purchased a DeHavilland Mosquito 73" ARF from Giant Scale Planes. The Mosquito sold for $299.99 and was shipping to California from Coopersburg, PA. I received my VISA statement and GSP charged me $44.56 to ship UPS Ground to California.

When I contacted GSP and asked them to justify the Shipping & Handling charges, here was their response: the box dimensions are 14x22x54, with a shipping weight of 23 lbs. GSP stated that the box weight and dimensions was "Oversized", thus I would pay at the 70 lb shipping rate of $37.58 to CA. The handling charge from GSP was $6.98.

I will verify with UPS the exact charges based upon the actual weight and box dimensions after receipt of plane. I'm somewhat confused on how a plane that when built with two engines would weigh between 11-11.5 lbs, but when shipped it weighed 23lbs! GSP receives the Mosquito Twin ARF from China Model Products, shipped in large boxes containing 4-6 planes. I'm not disputing or questioning the $6.98 "Handling" charge, however, the "Oversized" shipping box weighing 23 lbs seems unrealistic.

More to come on my dealings with GSP. My plane should arrive in California on Monday, 11/29/04. I'll weigh the box and take actual measurements and then contact UPS for actual "Shipping" charges.

I will have to chime in with my thoughts only because I have owned several CMP planes - although they are not the best quality ARFs on the market, they are sold at a very reasonable price. The planes I have or have had, Baby Cap, Cessna Skylane, Yak54, CEII have all been good (maybe not the greatest but decently good) quality.

So if GSP is the culprit here, I would be careful not to blame CMP for the shortcomings of GSP. You guys should write to CMP to tell them that their distributor is crap to the point where their image is being tainted. As people have mentioned in previous posts, Chief also sells those planes.

Try to solve the problem without affecting the innocent.

Scribnod - that's one helluva funny story! $150 shipping :-) What will they think of next?

Hello,

Looks like GSP is ripping off another customer! Make sure you weight the box and find out the exact charge from UPS then contact GSP about their outrageous "handling" charge! Regarding CMP, they are just producers of ARFs, it is the dealers like GSP that is ripping us off!!

Whew Thanks Guys! you save me from Buying from this Guy. You guys should file a class action law suite against this guy! This has to stop! They should banned this company from any trade shows or from advertising in RC forum websites.!!! it is Bad for the Hobby and bad for any internet sales period! Thing like this is what scares people from buying via internet. proof of this is in his web site which clearly shows how misleading it is. Those of you who are victims need to file a joint class act and bury this *******! I almost got ripped off. Im glad I saw this forum.......... This forum can be used as proof of his bad practices. Scares me to think that this guy has your credit card number! You guys need to confont his credit card account provider and have him lose priviledge of any credit card tansactions for illigal practices. This can be done by complaining to your credit card and file a complaint and threat of a filed class lawsuit! This has to stop!

<<This has to stop!>>

Relax. Its been going on for years, and will continue to go on, because most of those who accept advertising revenue are more concerned with the amount of ad space they sell than the quality of the product being hawked.

Irwin is a shrewd businessman; he knows the power of glitzy ad copy, and knows that "negative press" like this is a fart in a hurricane compared to the number of folks who see his eye-catching color ads and whip out the credit card.

Thanks to venues like this, more folks are aware of certain vendors and their problems. But a percentage will still be clueless. Caveat emptor...

This thread and others are certainly informative, but they probably have little to no legal value. The proof will be someone who prints a copy of the GSP shipping policy and compares the actual shipping cost with what they were billed. Unfortunately, GSP probably has enough wiggle room with their wording, they can claim that their labor and materials for packing up the item(s) is included in the "shipping cost". It's obvious they pay little, if any, attention to this forum, or emails.

It seems to me that it is not really important that they pay attention to this forum. What is important is that a good service has been done here by letting potential buyers know about their bad business practice. Once business's get a bad name for ripping people off, it is unlikely that I or many others would buy from them even if they cleaned up there act. There are to many good Dealers and Manufactures out there, so I would not take a gamble on doing business with a Company like GSP. RCU gets a lot of traffic from people doing research on there next Plane. So if this post saves one guy from getting ripped off, then this post has surely done a great service, and I also believe that bad news about a company spreads much faster then alot of us may believe. It will catch up to them eventually, but sadly not until enough people get burnt by them. Also if I had some say in RCU Policy, which I don't, but I would be putting a notice above ads from company's like this that RCU does not support any claims made by this Company, and is just simply advertising for them, because it don't do RCU that good either to be associated, or appear to be promoting a Company that is known to rip off RCU's Membership. I know that you can always find a few complaints about any Company or Manufacturer, but from what I am reading about this Company, they are obviously giving customers the shaft, and are bordering on deceptive business practices.

Past buyers from GSP this is a start! http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp . go see if you can file a complaint! If he has violated anything listed in this site, you can file a complaint!

bump

Here would be a good buy BUT check out the shipping charge!! To my zip it would cost $66.00 That is just to much so i have to pass it up. Im just glad i used the calc first before i bid.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...944554574&rd=1

I dedided I was interested in one of the things they were auctioning. Sent a message asking how much shipping would be from PA to NC. The answer was $27. I told them it was too much. They said they had plenty of them, make an offer. I offered $15. They said no. I upped the shipping to $20, they never answered. Asked a second time, in case they lost the first email, still no answer. They've relisted the thing at least 3 times now. Guess they don't really want to sell if they can't gouge people on shipping charges.

At least you got an answer. I tried twice to find out the shipping an an ARC CAP 232 for my ZDZ80 and never got a response. I guess the shipping amount would be based on the selling price[:@]

I am tempted to call and get a cost but think they might change their minds if I don't pay enough for it.

Hello,

Whatever you do, MAKE SURE of the shipping charges plus "handling fee" BEFORE you buy the item! Ask in writting. Beware when the rep tells you " ..it's about x dollars..." because they WILL gouge you on the "handling fee". It is amazing how they stiff people and sleep well at night doing it. I guess there are people who do like the Fusco Fiasco deal... Dai

I was well aware of the hidden fees, thanks to this thread. That's why I emailed them before bidding on the auction. It was a decent plane, at a reasonable price. I just wasn't going to legitimize their inflated shipping charge. I'm sure they've paid about as much in insertion fees as they would have lost from the difference in shipping fees.

Ok , I am confused , I sold a giant scale Dumas Donzi boat , fibergalss hull , all the woof ect . The box was huge , I shipped it from Pa to Upsate NY UPS ground , total cost $10.????? I sold this boat on RCU so you can check me out not kidding and the person who purchased the boat received it in three days !!!!So why is there so much charge for these planes to ship ?

Good question. Unfortunately the only one who can answer, GSP, ain't answering. All that's left is for us to do is speculate that they do it to inflate profits. I felt that $27 shipping for a .60 size ARF was excessive.

Hello everyone! Having never dealt with GSP nor H&H, I took your advice posted in this thread and ordered my cmp Hellcat 70" ws from Raidentech.com. $199.00 plus $15.27 ground shipping to my door.

Hello,

GSP, are you seeing that you are loosing clients due to your unethical practice? Dai Phan

I will point out one thing, as a past business operator, and was at times in the business of selling product at trade shows and such....if a vendor is an established business in a formal situation where they are paying for boothspace, and are required to apply for a temporary vendor's license to sell product at that show in that location - then that vendor is required by law to charge all applicable local and state (and federal if the product requires it - like firearms) sales tax on anything sold from that booth during that show.

It's not a regional club swapmeet or a garage sale - government will look the other way when it's indivdual to individual sales, but when it is a business to consumer situation, in a face to face sale, the taxes should be an understood part. That's not so bad really , as legally they can't charge you more than the taxes or they are in violation of state and local laws, and can be reported to BBB or whatever authority applies to the situation.

$20 for handling in a situation where the "handling" was nothing more than picking the box up off the floor and handing it to you is frickin insane though.

I'm comfortable ordering from Chief, and wouldn't ever think of ordering from GSP after reading these forums.

With regard to the trade show and sales tax stuff....

Ohio in particular is pretty attentive. At the Toledo show, mfg exhibitors are advised in advance about the tax issues.

Smaller garage sale and one-day swap meets may not have such issues. But then again, this is Ohio...... they do anything they can to get a few extra $$$ out of us

Pete how do you like the plane -Hellcat that is ??

Hello,

Thanks for your information. Now I know better about tax in trade show. Still, it doesn't explain that I was not charged tax at every other booth @ Toledo show. I guess cash transaction are more likely to be tax-less. I did pay GSP cash though.

$20 was the tax for the $279 item.

I wouldn't have contended about the $20 at the cashier had another guy not confirmed me the "out-the-door price" was $279. At that point I decided I shouldn't waste my time with this kind of company. However, earlier while I was checking out the kit, Irwin walked over and sternly said to me, why did I open the box? I said I may possibly buy it. He said it's also possible it will become another opened box item. Hence, I didn't want to withdraw my purchase, partly due to Irwin's pressure. [X(]

Fortunately, GSP was offering free foam plane cradles for a plane purchase. So I promptly declined the free cradle to offset the beyond-quoted $20 they called sales tax.

Regardless, I have finished the CMP Zero recently, and it has turned out to be a wonderful bird. I just posted some pictures in the Warbird section.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/CMP_...2588607/tm.htm