Mainspar

My Feedback: (27)

Folks,
Would like to warn others about the high risk and pitfalls inherent to dealing with Hobby4Less. I've been around the block more times than I care to share, but my recent experience with Hobby4Less (aka General Hobby and a few others) has about topped the chart in fraudulent business dealings. They advertise their products (ARF Aircraft) as "In Stock, Ready to Ship" and accept payment for orders for those products as well as the associated shipping/handling charges, even though the products are not in stock and appear to have no hope of being in stock. Attempts to communicate with these knuckleheads are generally fruitless, but when a response is actually received, Hobby4Less maintains an entertaining list of deceitful excuses and intricate delay tactics. Point being, they will take your money and then take you for a ride. Steer clear. I wrestled with them for 3 months and never received what was ordered. Finally got a partial refund for products not delivered, but never received a refund for the associated shipping/handling charges (shipping charges for products never shipped). Received only one product ordered and that kit had been pilfered of critical parts before shipping. Hobby4Less refused to replace the missing parts or take any other action. Plenty of other reputable dealers out there to choose from. Hobby4Less is not one of them.

shaggy48

Thanks for the heads up.

But their site says 100% satisfaction guaranteed... I'm guessing you didn't pay with a credit card. Because if you did you should be able to get all your money back. This type of thing is why I only make purchases using a credit card. If I don't get what I ordered, I just let my CC company know and they refund all my money.

liquid1

Bannana Hobbies is the same way..I just canceled an order that I waited for 8 days to ship It was in process so I called paypal and did the chat thing and cancelled the order..Then within minutes after the funds hit the bank I ordered what I wanted from a trusted Vendor that ships same day..

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

1)Look at the address , figure it out , if you have been around you will know who these guys are , its very easy to figure out .
2)they have at leaste 4 differant ebay names ,
I cant say anymore , just do a trace , play CSI guy and figure it out ..

liquid1

Are you talking about the vendors ..Hobby shops or us for posting the truth..I rarely get on Ebay..and I'm new to planes..

Mainspar

My Feedback: (27)

LDM,

Not sure what you mean by "look at the address, figure it out". Look at what address? I placed an order from the Hobby4Less website after running a search on this forum. That forum search did not provide much information...so, I created this post to help inform others in the future. My mistake was attempting to work with the vendor; but, I simply wasted a bunch of time on them.

Like liquid1, I was not aware that this bunch was working ebay, as well. If you have other names for them, it might be a good idea for you to add them to this post for the benefit of others.

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Ok , you said you have been around , no offence but you have been fooled . Very simply .
Ok , in this day and age when anyone can search with a click of a key on a computer you can find anything out by looking up registered name with so many professional organizations ect like the BBB , chamber of commerce .
I used ebay as a refferance because while searching on ebay I tracked 7 names to one very irreputal old time distributor in southern cal .avg ebay rating is less then 95% and that is very bad considering the trade rate under ecah of the names .

The company that you bought from as Hobby4 less is very well known company under two other names , one is just starting to go from bad to incredibly bad and the other is beyond anyone in the RC world buying from them ever again . I am not talking about Banna Hobbys .

Its 2010 again no offence you work way to hard to send your money , spend your money with companys that wont supply anything but problems 80% of the time and 20 % Ok servace .

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

do you think there is a reason why I am not posting the names , again do a search on RCU , ??????

outdoorhunting

If I remember right. A while back, someone came up with the idea to start a thread listing ALL "crooks " on it to let us all know who to stay away from. The mods shut that idea down!!! I believe the reason they used was, someone could really screw a vendor up with a "personal vendeta".

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

You can't expect RCU to stick their chin out like that. RCU is a commercial enterprise, after all.

Now, if one really believed they were right in calling a spade a spade, why not start a personal blog and list the information there? Me, I'm not brave nor rich enough to do so.


Ed Cregger

Mr67Stang

In our great American history if a vendor were unscrupulous he would be publicly flogged and ran out of town. That's much harder to do these days due to geographical seperation between the vendor and consumer as well as touchy feely relationships that may give vendors protection (this I have not witnessed but has been eluded to). Aditionally the possability does exsist that an unscrupulous or inexperienced consumer could slander a vendor and unwarrentedly discredit a vendor. How many times have you seen, "I bought the plane and it crashed within 15 seconds. I asked for my money back and they refused." Oh and of course it was that persons first plane so a P-51 Mustang is the obvious choice for learning.

So, I believe we should have a rating system for the vendors out there. Just like we have for ourselves here in the RCU marketplace where the consumer can give a rating and leave comments on their experiences with that vendor. Yes, the BBB does something like this but the word gets out faster and far more detailed in a smaller community such as ours. With such a tool we can publicly flog and run thos bussinesses out of our virtual town. Some tar and feathers too

Mainspar

My Feedback: (27)

Mr67Stang - Fine words, Sir. And, spoken from my beloved North Carolina, as well. I also remember reading a post just like the one you quoted...seems like it was a P-40 or such...crashed on the first flight and the guy wanted a refund! If that's the deal, then I am ashamed to admit that somebody owes me a few refunds! Yeah, there's interesting behavior on both sides of the fence.

NM2Km - Concur that RCU should not be the one to post a Crook list; however, I believe that one of the great services that forums provide is the opportunity for members to share and compare experiences and information. That's all I wish to accomplish here.

And, LDM - If I had not run over my secret decoder ring while riding my Stingray bicycle 40+ years ago, I might be able to understand your comments. Thanks anyway. When I stated that I've been around the block a few times, I meant around the block a few times; like leading men in foreign lands, conducting difficult business. I've never watched CSI or most any primetime TV and I don't spend much time "surfing" the internet. My failure there, I reckon.

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Mainspar in my real life I carry and defend the flag enought and the freedom of speech , I sincerly play with RCplanes to relax and have less drama . My will to do the right thing makes me peer into things like this thread and make post that will hopefully direct people to the easy answer without getting kicked off RCU for damageing an important vendor . I like RCU and most importanly its members . I dont like the moderation of the vendor forums and like you and others I do feel this should be an area we can post honestly ect .

However I have been warned by banned members that this is not always the case and even the PMs can be reviewed .
So with that , its really easy to see who hobbys4 less is , just look at some other major mail order suppliers in that same southern cal area , with the exception of spelling it out , its all there for you to figure out

cgoffa

My Feedback: (4)

i googled their tn and got general hobby website with same tn? was this a vendor with an evil reputation?

HmmDad

My Feedback: (1)

Not worth buying anything from generalhobby. This guy rips you off. By the time you have to fix everything inorder to get your plane to fly right its just not worth it. Watch how you pay for fedex shipping but he sends it out USPS then pockets the difference. If you are missing parts he just says that that type of plane does really come with that, even if it is in the picture of parts or not. Stay away, beware!