NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

This is a warning: Stay clear of Nitroplanes.com if you value your hard earned money, or expect any kind of customer support from them. Once they have your money, they don’t give a care about you anymore.

I was warned about the terrible customer support at Nitroplanes.com, but I stupidly went ahead and bought an Edge Fury 540T 50 from them anyway. Then the problems started.

My plane came with the wrong manual, and after repeatedly emailing Nitroplanes.com with no response, I tried calling them. After repeated attempts, when someone finally answered the phone, his English was so poor, I could barely understand him. Basically, he told me they couldn’t get me the manual. Apparently all these planes were shipped from China with the wrong manual!

The Nitroplanes.com’s “customer service rep” (I use the term service very loosely) was not able to tell me where the CG was supposed to be, either. Ironically, a customer service rep at Kyosho was able to give me a ballpark CG for their Edge 540, which is similar to my Nitroplane Edge. The

Kyosho CG ended up working fine, but after about 20 flights, my Edge went down, basically surviving the crash, but the canopy and cowl were beyond repair. Nitroplane’s unbelievable response was this: "We don't supply any spare parts for this plane, but you can buy another plane from Nitroplanes.com, and use your old plane for spare parts.” What a joke!
I will buy another plane, but it won’t be from Nitroplanes.com, that’s for sure.

My options to salvage my Nitroplanes.com Edge: Since Kyosho’s canopy and cowl won’t fit my Nitroplanes.com Edge, I am basically screwed, unless I want to take the time and trouble to fabricate a cowl and canopy for my Edge from scratch.

Bottom line: buyer beware, and if you have any problems with your Nitroplane.com product, don’t expect to receive any help, whatsoever, from them. They are less than worthless.

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Thanks for the information. I also was considering ordering a plane from them even though I had heard of their poor customer support. I will look elsewhere.

Did you try posting in their support forum?

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

You know it really bites to hear that. I have read about nitro planes and haven't bought anything from them, but they sure do have some nice lookin models.
I have had my eye on 4-5 of them for over 6 months now. I went up to the Toledo show and knew that they were there, and was hoping they would have 1 or 2 of the ones I wanted.
I figured if I could see it, open it, make sure everything was there I wouldn't have to worry. But, no surprise to me- they did not even have one model I was looking for.

I hate to hear posts like this, and the sad part is- it will remain the same.

Maybe you will luck out and find a model close enough to get you another cowl and canopy.

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Spend you money on Great Planes' planes. I have their Flatout Turmoil, and broke several of the control surface clips and contacted them and they sent the required parts right out.

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

This is news?? NOT!!!!!!!!
This has been reported over, and over, and over, and.............. on RCU. Nitro Planes sells ARFs, not support, not parts, not customer service. It's basically "we have your money, now go away".
Check with http://www.ak-models.com/
They sell many of the same models as Nitro Planes and may have the parts you need. They have much better customer support.

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Old, Old news. At least post this in their support forum to give them a chance to answer. Or was this just a rant to feel better? I am not a big fan of their's either, but guys, what do you expect for $100? Planes are built decent, very decent for the money they are charging. No manual? so what, I would not spend an extra $80 for a well written manual and some slightly better hardware on a 40 size plane. Also even if they did stock parts, I am sure you would complain about spending $25 for a new cowl on a $100 plane. This is just a no win situation. Yes they do have poor customer service and shipping charges are very sketchy. But when you charge a $100 for a plane you can't have high paid knowledgeable staff to solve your problems, you have $5 an hour anything you can get off the street support. We just have to either live with it or pay more and maybe get a better product elsewhere.

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

I have to agree with bkrfrmhell. The planes are not bad for the money you spend on them. As far as ARF's, all you really need is a the CG info if you have built a few already.

I too would suggesst you post this in their support forums and ask for resolution. Many people are singing their praises there so it might be worth a look. If you want a manual, parts and so forth there are dozens of other vendors who can accomadate you :)

good luck

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Too bad. They have some nice looking planes at good prices, but after what I've read, it's not worth the risk.

You have to wonder when they are going to wake up and see that if this many people are dissatisfied that the problem just might not be the customers.

I mean, how many of these kinds of threads do you see about Horizon? They don't have all the planes that I want, but I buy what they have, first, because it's all good stuff that works, and, second, if there's a problem, it ends up being no problem. I've only had one or two problems, but Horizon always fixes it with a minimum of fuss. I hear good things about Tower too. also, it's no excuse for poor service if you're dealing with a small company. I love doing business with 3D Hobby Shop because they have great products and they do business right. There are other good companies out there, but I don't need to look around much. the guys I do business with treat me really well.

Why would I take a chance on a company that gets so many complaints aired out on the net like nitro seems to? I'de like to get a plane from nitro because there are one or two that look really intersting, but it's not worth the potential stress and aggrivation.

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

I have bought from them, and will again, I have a few friends that have also bought multiple planes from them with no problems.. Sorry to hear about a few bad ones. But as stated above, what do you expect for cheap... if you want to pay double somewhere else, go for it. .025

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

This is exactly what I've told everyone on every thread about Nitroplanes I can find. Good planes;DO NOT FLY THEM/WHEN YOU NEED PARTS YOU ARE S.O.LUCK and they do not seem to care(if you ever even get a response from them) I have many planes from Horizon Hobby and Tower Hobbies and Global and others. Any and all problems or missing parts,shipping damage etc. ALWAYS handled promptly and courteosly. Spend the money up front for better plane,partsand service. Life is too LONG for the aggrevation you will get from Nitroplanes. Ressie Creech

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Sorry to hear you got a problem that we were not able to assist you in a timely matter. Not sure what happened to your emails but all of our emails are service by an company in India now since we get like trillion emails a day :D and it seems to me that they're doing their jobs answering them each and everyday (maybe simple filter issue on the client side or IT glitch causing some emails to bounce back).

And although I admit that we lack a few knowledgeable staffs in this ARF field, I can assure you that everyone that works here are friendly and nice people. Therefore, I'm not sure what happened between you and the customer rep that resulted into such an unexpected outrage on you. Base on the time I've worked here (about a year), normally if you are missing a manual, we can always send you one at our cost. If you need replacement parts, we have them too and they don't cost alot but you have to wait 1-2 weeks since we don't stock up on them. And I can almost guarantee that if any customer post their concerns here on our RCU support forum, it'll be taken care faster since it is the people in our office that are going thru it so we can take care of issues faster. This is the reason why we have the forum here because we know that based on our phone and email support, we cannot satisfy certain customer but with the addition of the Support Forum thanks to RCU, we are able to do alot of damage control and make sure everyone is free of aggrevation. :D

Bottomline, if you can PM me your order#, I'll send you the manual out next week. And if there are certain parts you need for the Edge, let me know too so I can quote you a decent price (it won't cost alot too).

Thanks
John

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

sorry to hear, i have the long easy and just ordered a new caonopy today on the phone, ya i could hardly understand them but good enough to get my part ordered, hopefully you can work it out with them, good luck.

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Hi there again! I've came up with a quick solution to easier service people who have issues with their order. Basically we have two threads now; 1) [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5747198/tm.htm]SPARE PARTS REQUEST[/link] and 2) [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5747241/tm.htm]SHIPPING DAMAGE/MISSING PARTS/CRITICAL ISSUE[/link]. With these threads, we can guarantee all of our customers that their requests is MADE AND SEEN by everyone working here at NitroPlanes. By doing this, we can avoid mishandling and minimize phone calls and save everyone time and thus lesser frustrations which will result in a more happier life for everyone of us :) Basically I will guarantee that any reasonable customers will be taken care of 100% of the time and you know I mean it when I say this! [>:] So rest assure everyone, I will always be on the customers' side and assist any way I can! And thank you for those we have been supporting us all along and I have to say this is the only field where over 99% of the people flying airplanes are like the nicest people in the world! and we like all nice people!

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Manuals can be found in this thread [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5436943/tm.htm]Edge 540 Manual[/link]

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

you spent time typing up this when infact this issue as already been addressed under their forum.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5436943/tm.htm

Why don't you pm John nitrostaff1 and i'm sure he'll get you a free canopy and cowl no charge. This should be posted under their forum.

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

In the matter of replacement parts for my Edge Fury 540T 50: Yet another week has passed and I have heard nothing form Nitroplanes. So I tried calling, yet again. It took me all morning to get someone there to pick up a phone. When they finally answered, once again I was informed that Nitroplanes cannot get spare parts for my Edge 540T 50, and that I am out of luck.

So which is it, Nitroplanes? Can you get the parts for me, or not? And why the heck did you torment me by sending an invoice indicating you were shipping me an entire new plane, followed by an email saying I wouldn’t be charged for it? What else could I do but assume that you were sending me a replacement plane as a peace offering because you found out that you couldn’t get my spare parts after all; and you felt badly for putting me through so much frustration and inconvenience. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I should have known I gave Nitroplanes far too much credit on that one.

When I asked the phone rep about the invoice showing a new plane was being shipped, they informed me that Nitroplanes is not in fact sending me another plane, but could offer no explanation about the invoice. So why did Nitroplanes send me a shipping invoice for merchandise they do not intend to ship? This is a lousy thing to do on a number of levels, especially after I asked about it, and was told I would not be charged.

This behavior is unethical, wrong, and not acceptable in today’s sophisticated marketplace. I feel genuinely mislead, and ripped off by Nitroplanes and their misleading customer support emails. I am also fairly sure the what has happened here is highly illegal, and that Nitroplanes could get in a lot of trouble for sending invoices indicating they are shipping replacement merchandise, only to reneg and then not following through.

I still have the email dated 4-25, order number: 128379 indicating that a new plane is being sent. It says nothing about spare parts, such as a canopy or cowl on the invoice. And it is definitely not a copy of a past order. So what the hell?

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

At one time RCU was a great source for real info from modelers , I love this site and I know it need ad money to survive . My concern is that the RCU members did there job and warned everyone that Raidentech , egrandbuy , jaydrc and the other names created by the now nitroplanes .com was a very difficult company to deal with .
Raidentech alone was probably the worse name they operated under .
SO then they change there name , and try to clean up there act on RCU .
You guys that say "what do yuo expect for $100" , that is total bull, for $100 you can expect to tweek and reinforces and replace hardware for about 20% of the plane , no biggie , but you should get all your parts , no damage in shipping , good responce by an english speaking person , this is AMERICA AND THAT IS WHAT IS EXPECTED .

If not then , dont expect steller reviews and a forum to continue to be credible with " I am sorry I did not see your emails lol "
I travel to southern Cal once a month , I cant tell you how many times I have called Nitroplanes while in Cal to see if I could visit the facility to see first hand what you are getting ,
I cant get a live person on the phone , ever or a call back .
You can even map quest it , because there is no street address lol .
My point is , spend about $75,000 a year out of the gazillion your making in your top line and hire a great customer servace phone agent , with real responce time and case assignmnet numbers , then you can call yourself a credible company on RCU

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

LDM have you had problems LATELY with them?

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

It should not have to come down to this and you know it!. I personally feel the quality of your product is poor. Even if it wasn't Customer service is #1 for me when chosing any product. Prime example for me is Morris Hobbies. Dealt with them one time several years ago and will never again. Just from all the talk here on the RCU, Nitroplanes sits right along side them

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Trollmaster:

What did you purchase from Nitroplanes?

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Just give nitrostaff1 a PM and your problems will be over, The man will help with no BS, just understand that it might take some time for them to get the parts and ship them out.

I went though the same fight when I had broken and missing parts. I made a complete ass of myself bashing NITROPLANES, all I had to do was give nitrostaff1 a PM and problem resolved.
Dont call,dont E-mail, just give the man a PM, This is the best way to get help.

I know we all like to get what we paid for the first time with no problems, but sometimes it happens, PROBLEM, and then we are all ready to jump off the deep end kicking and screaming as I did. We all know theres is plenty of work and lots of time spent building an ARF, just give nitrostaff1 a PM requesting the help or parts and move onto a different stage of the build wile waiting for your parts.

They have made big improvments over the past year, and once you find the proper avenue to get the help you need, its not that bad, infact you will be surprised ,they do want to help and will.

take care , dont stress , have fun and happy flying

Dave

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Op , no I have not , because I was afraid to try them again .

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Well the warnings have been going our for a few years to stay clear of these guys. Just a live and learn situation. If your the type who just like "begging for it", then they are just the company for you! The odds are better on a deal out of Ebay.:eek:

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

When u buy things over the net, you usually get screwed.When u walk into a shop and people have to deal with u face to face (and usually in front of other paying customers) its amazing how the customer service is dramatically better.The local guy who owns a shop and sells RC cant afford to piss his customers off with passed down bad results from a company with inefficient support/parts issues.
The bottom line, buy over the net at your own risk, find someone who has a shopfront and usually has an expert supplier who has filtered out the BS for u. P.S- Since 90% of ARF's are probably going to come from China in the years ahead, (contrary to local companies who say they make it in the country u live in, which is mostly BS,most stuff is already China produced....the problems wont change,BUT I know the local shop owner WILL SPEAK English Or your local language...NO Need For "Lost in translation"problems over the net...Find a great store and keep enjoying the wonderful world of RC.

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Trollmaster:

What did you purchase from them?

Have you purchased anything from them?

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

I know exactly where your going with this comment. The answer is No. They do not even come close to providing the size or quality of an Arf for me. So apparently I do not have the right to complain on an area I have not been stupid enough to get myself into? The writing is all over or in this case all over the "net" Has been for years.

Most of their planes (especially the P-38) looks like it was designed by a 1st grader, brought home and dad said "what is it?" Kid says "its a awpane daddy" Well lookie here, thats real nice son.":eek:

Now there may be many who's dealings wityh this company have been great but there are as many who have had nothing but trouble from day one. Customer service is a priority for me. if they don't have it, I don't buy it. When long time people here on the RCU comlpain about an item, I pay attention.

Take Dave Patrick. Darn nice planes but a lousy business setup. many got taken. Do what you want but i will continue to tell people to stay away. Nitroplanes made this bed a few years ago and they have to lay in it. Maybe they got their act together but i doubt it.

Look at this! Engine cowls that look like garbage cans.

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

So you're effectively being true to your moniker.... ????

You haven't deal with them and what you are reporting is merely hearsay.

HMMM...


At the very least LDM has had dealings with them and can gripe for a reason.

BTW: You haven't actually seen the plane that you posted the picture off have you?

Most of our club members find that the pictures do not do the planes justice at all.



I've been treated very well, and I've been able to clue others into how to get their problems resolved as well with very quick response.

If you don't wish to purchase from them because you think you'll get great support service someplace else, great.


You very likely will, with a larger organization that can afford to charge more on the models to offset the required support staff. No wonder Tower, Horizon and others charge so much more for almost identical planes.


Then some people LIKE the inexpensive models and are willing to forgo support as an offset to the price as long as broken items, mis-shippments, etc. are resolved.

I'm up to 12 Nitroplanes planes under my belt.

I've had problems with broken parts on 2, 1 bad shipment, and 1 other plane where I had to go and get parts for it as I purchased it from someone else.

All of these things were graciously dealt with, and I even ended up with an extra plane to boot for my troubles.

This is a fairly good track record for me, and on 12+ transactions, this is not "luck" by any stretch of the imagination.

Some people account for good experience by calling it "luck". That is specious.

How you as a customer handles a problem often helps turn what may appear to be a bad situation into a good one, unless the company you are dealing with is simply intransigent.

I haven't seen the latter with NP, our club members haven't seen it too.


I do find plenty of complaints about Tower and Horizon as well, whom I've also have had great luck.
I told one person who was complaining about someone at Tower not helping them, to call back at a different time so as not to deal with the same A-hat. It worked for them.

Should we have to deal with this? No as a consumer we shouldn't... but it happens.

Likewise I've had screw-ups with NP, and they've fixed each one.

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Yeh and RCU is full of "hearsay" and photos clearly show.

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Have you seen the plane?

If you wish to see what they look like take a gander at those photos posted by people who ACTUALLY have purchased the planes.

The web site photos are not indicative of the real things, which IMHO are far better.


---

But yes, RCU as a few people who do post based upon nothing but hearsay.

e.g. those who have had no experience, yet still badmouth, a vendor, or someone else for no real reason.

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

I have the good fortune of being able to go to thier warehouse in person and buy stuff. True they do not want traffic, but I have known them for some time now. They do not have any customer service. They only have great prices. They move alot of merchandise and many types of merchandise. The RC product division is a small portion of what they sell.



You need help, come here, their instructions are wong anyway, but the products are awsome for the price.

Steve

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

In the matter of replacement parts for my Edge Fury 540T 50: Yet another week has passed and I have heard nothing form you or Nitroplanes. I tried calling again and it took me all morning to get someone there to pick up a phone. When they finally answered, once again I was informed that Nitroplanes couldn’t get spare parts for my Edge 540T 50, and that I am out of luck, end of story.

So which is it, Nitrostaff1? Can you get the parts for me, or not? And why did Nitroplanes send me an invoice indicating they were shipping me an entire new plane, followed by an email saying I wouldn’t be charged for it? What else could I do but assume that you were sending me a replacement plane as a peace offering because you found out that you couldn’t get my spare parts after all; and you were trying to make restitution for putting me through so much frustration and inconvenience.

When I asked the phone rep about the email invoice I was sent showing an entire new plane was being shipped to me, (not a canopy, and cowl, but an entire new plane), they informed me that Nitroplanes is not sending me another plane, a cowl, or a canopy… period. And no explanation was given as to why the invoice was sent. So why did Nitroplanes send me a shipping invoice for merchandise they do not intend to ship? This is more than a simple screw up. This was misleading, and a lousy thing to do to an already frustrated customer.

I still have the email invoice, dated 4-25, order number: 128379, indicating that a new plane is being sent. It says nothing about spare parts, such as a canopy or cowl on the invoice. And it is definitely not a copy of a past order. So what can you do to make this right?

RE: Stay Away From NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

This is not the right place to post this nor get this resolved.

You may want to try their support forum instead and also PM them directly from here.

The latter works quite well, and usually results in a response the same day.


BTW: Usually when I get a shipping invoice, for what appears to be something I previously purchased, it indicates that they have posted the replacement and it is already in transit.

Shortly thereafter the item appears at my front door.

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

I was simply amused that the original poster had to scroll past the Nitro Models Support forum to post that they have nonexistant support.

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

I posted in several different forums hoping to get a response from Nitroplanes. The existance of a Nitroplanes support forum doesn't guarantee any actual support is taking place.

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

Guarantee?

No, certanly not, but most of the posts in the support forums have been answered and most of the problems posted there have been resolved.

The main exceptions are those that have not given their invoice numbers ( which NP seems to need to determine exactly what you purchased and when ) even after repeated requests to do so.

But this is a far cry from "non-existant".

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

The Nitroplanes Support Forum is simply a publicity and advertising stunt to give us the impression they actually care. Sort of like a Step Parent.

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

This from a guy who has yet to purchase anything from them?

C'mon.

You're keep saying this without any actual self admitted experience or knowledge of how they do anything.

---

Maybe you haven't even looked there yet.

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

I've read a lot of good and bad things about this company, and many others, in these forums. However, I can only comment based upon my experience with them.

I bought a plane from them; it showed up in less than a week. It came with a wrong flap. One email and three days later the replacement part showed up on my door. Then I noticed it was missing a manual. One email and a week later the manual showed up on my door. No fuss. No excuses. No problems. Their models are nice and the prices are reasonable for what they are. I'd buy from them again.

Tim

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

I have never had a problem with them at all. I have 2 of there planes. No Problems.

RE: NitroPlanes.com, Nonexistant Support
 

I ordered their 60 size evergeen brand maria p51 mustang, about a year ago, got the plane within a week, it was packed well and had all the parts , no damage,,,,,,... The only problem was it was a sorry built pile of CRAP and i do mean CRAP, Out of all the arfs i have bought in the past two years,, it still stands as the worst one yet, and i have bought at least 25 from several differant companys. Nothing fit, just about everything was made wrong,,,,, had to be a friday afternoon plane;), or something like that, i just dont know,,,
The plane is sitting in the corner of my garage unfinished still,,, and will soon be placed in the trash,,,,....some of their planes look very good on their web site,, and maybe one day i will give them a second chance ,,, maybe??????????????????