caseycherish08

WARNING!!! Just wanted to share my experiance with HobbyTown USA in Arlington, TX. My 11 yea old son worked all summer and saved a little money so he could buy something of his very own. He knows daddy always goes to the hobby shop to purchase things for my planes and his brothers trucks. He decided to buy a r/c car (aprox $45). When we got the car home a few minutes later, he was excited and we opened it up to find it was missing the antenna for the remote control. I put the car back in the box and immediatley returned to hobbytown. When I got there with the car I was told that they do not allow returns or refunds. "Its written right on the wall" they said. They did not have another one of the cars my son was wanting. The employees were extremely rude. I insisted that they return my sons money but they refused. One employee "Ryan Right " he said his name was told me he didnt get paid enough to deal with unhappy winey customers. The manager refused to give me any information on how to contact the owner of the store. I cintacted the corp headquarters and of course they were no help.

I know Im not the only one who has had to deal with the incompetence and poor service and stock of Hobbytown stores. But when they start ripping our kids after we spend a lot of hard earned money in the store then they have gone to far and have got to go. We as modelers and rc hobbiest spend thousands of dollars every year on our chosen interest. So we have the power to join together and put this pathetic chain out of business.

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

whacky question... did you ask the store... or contact the manufacturer to get the missing antenna.......?

and what R/C car is only $45??

ira d

The cust in this case should not have to go to the trouble to contact the manufacture and wait for them to send the missing part that is if manufacturer would
even be willing to do so free of charge. There is no excuse for poor cust service, If the store did not unbox the car and made sure all the parts were there
and it was working properly before it left the store and they did not have a replacement car avaiable to give them then they should refund their money.

The other day I purchased a thermostst for my house, After I returned home and unpacked it I found that it had been unpacked before and as it turned
out it did not work so most likley it someone else purchased it and returned it. The store just stuck it back on the shelf for the full price and i'm sure
they didnt check it either. the instructions that came with the thermostat said not to return it to the store but to contact themanufhowever since the store
had put a unchecked unit back on the shelf just as if was a new unit, Common sense said why wait for something I need now when the store can
make it right now. I returned it got my money back and purchased a different brand and installed it and it worked fine.

weathervane

I have had nothing but great service from Hobby Town USA. I picked up a Blade mcp-X about 3 weeks ago. When I got it home I found out it had a defect from the factory. I called and took it back to the store. They swaped it out for me no problem. They are all run diferently. Some good some bad.
-Andrew

alltumbs

Sounds like its a good time to start showing your son how our court system works. Small claimsputs everyone on the same level, and humbles even the biggest smart *****.

MetallicaJunkie

the loal h town losed down... their employees were idiots... all of them....they only catered to the car crowd and electric helis

Clancy Arnold

Hobby Town USA!

Icalled both of the stores in the Indianapolis area to find props I needed. Itold the clerks the sizes I needed. The North store said they had them in stock. The wife and I drove 20 miles to the store only to find they had one of the sizes I had asked for but the worse part was they did NOT stock the other size I had asked for!!

Clancy Arnold

ejc34710

There used to be a Hobbytown around here until they weny out of business-VERY quickly. Never had i dealt with such rude and smart @^# people in my life. I refuse to buy anything from them for that reason.

acdii

The one I go to is run by very friendly people, no questions asked when I returned a mCPx that had a 3n1 problem.  Then again, I spent a lot of money with them this year, so they had better treat me well.  Their repair department is somewhat knowledgeable with planes in Helis, but they mostly deal with cars since they have an indoor track too.  The sad part is they no longer stock glow planes because there isnt any place left locally to fly them.

WaffleMan

My Feedback: (1)

I once went to a hobbytown in sanford fl the employees were knowledgable and respectful I would go back but they don't sell gas or glow stuff.

sticks247rwe

This is why Arlington store is about to go out of buisness. Corp is just hanging on. Customer service and satisfaction are the only reason any store survives. Web based bus does not have to deal with crappy sales people or lies placed in black in white. Hobby town gouges customers has damaged product and crappy service. They do them selves no honor buy staying open. I personally would rather wait two for my parts from eBay or next day from amazon. Amazon is the best Web buisness alive. Ebay is hit or miss, hobby town just sucks on any day. For those of you who think you can't wait, you can.

init4fun

The "brick & mortar' will become extinct when Amazon finally does roll out it's "Delivery Drones" as it plans to do . When it does begin service I've decided that there will be no greater irony than having model airplane parts delivered by a Drone as my very first order . I wonder if it'll be like the old Domino's promotion "30 minutes or it's free"

topspin

I can only hope that whoever owns Hobby Town USA reads this because they have lost at least three customers, you, your son, and me. If they had any sense at all they would have made your son happy just to cultivate a future customer. I absolutely can not stand that kind of an attitude from any business. Thank you for the heads up about the poor service and attitude at Hobby Town USA.

init4fun

Toppers the guy who posted before me bumped a 6 year old thread , so I think the point of the original post has become somewhat moot . Rereading his post it sounds as if it isn't long before that (Arlington , TX) Hobby Town closes .

topspin

Thank you init, I didn't realize this was ancient history but I still think they were stupid to not take care of the guy. You are absolutely right about Amazon.

jimbrock2

And...all local hobby shops are vulnerable to competition from on-line vendors. Sometimes cheaper and delivery to your door. We need the local shops; please patronize the one near you.

mushia

Maybe it is time for local hobby shops think to promote themselves.

Hemikiller

My Feedback: (125)

Imagine that, a little advertising or possibly bringing your shop into the 21st century could work wonders. We have one local shop that uses the store as their warehouse for online sales. They don't have the greatest prices, but they have a huge inventory of everything you could imagine, including repair parts, right out in the open. They also have a dirt car track, a drone racing course and when helis were huge, a sales trailer that went to events loaded with parts.

A hobby shop is not a "park your butt on a stool and count the money" type of biz, but some think so.

mushia

So local hobby also could have online service if they like.

flyboy2610

My Feedback: (1)

My hometown is also the birthplace of HobbyTown, USA. The main store in Lincoln is their south location. They cater mostly to RC cars, trucks, and some heli stuff. Not a lot for planes. I will say that the employees are courteous and helpful.
They have a satellite store in north Lincoln that has little stuff like glue, some paint, etc.
There's just not a store near me that sells much for RC planes, so most of that purchasing is done online by default.
My other hobby is model railroading. In that respect I am blessed to have an excellent hobby shop in town. The owner is a great guy, knows me by name, and stocks what he can in the space he has available. What he doesn't stock he will order at a good price. I f something goes wrong, he'll do what he can to make it right.
HobbyTown needs to follow his example.

countilaw

The Hobby Clown in Arlington Texas is such a joke. If it's not supplied by Horizon, Hangar 9 or Ares, then you can forget about them ordering anything for you. The manager smells so bad you can't stand next to him, much less ask him a question. You will gag before you get the question out. It's just a franchised toy store. They know nothing in the RC aircraft arena. They are mainly Traxxas RC cars, and Blade helicopters.

They sell glow fuel for $35. a gallon, and you can get the same brand for $18 at the other local hobby shops.

If you like puzzles, toys, plastic models they are the place to go. But you forget about R C planes.

DGrant

My Feedback: (4)

(I did see this thread is very old.. but.. here's my recent experience in learning how things have changed here..) I've learned to read the included info... all of it word for word. Many mainstream name brand companies have specific instructions if there's a problem to "not" return to place of purchase, but to call 1-800-whoever and go from there. I've been in the hobby long enough(over 40yrs)... to remember when we could count on our local vendors and suppliers to help us personally if there's any problem. Such is not the case now though... manufacturers want consumers to deal with them direct when it comes to retail hobby items.

I bought a small camera drone from my local guy, took it home and proceeded to fly it, It would fly fine for about a minute, then just freakin turn into a missle in whatever direction...and that happened several times, until I just took it back to the local guy... he checked it out and said "yeah.. well.. sorry". I was pretty PO'd, as it was about a $50 item. So I came home and started reading ALL info that came from with the item.. it did say "don't return it to place of original purchase".. "call 1-800whatever".. So I did...Having experience and years of mail order, phone order, and online ordering.. I knew it was GreatPlanes.. I got the nicest person on the line.. they listened, took the info(I was in there system already..)... and said I'll have my new drone in a few days... and "sorry about the problem"... I was like... whaaat?? I asked if I need to send the problem drone back.. they said .. nope, keep it for parts.

Yep.. they sent me a brand new sealed in the box drone.. battery, charger, all of it. So I have the new drone, an extra battery and charger, and a spare drone for parts.... because there was a problem with the first one... and I had the new one in my hand in 3 days.

In any case any hobby shop should treat any customer with respect.. but they all should know the procedures if there's a problem with any product...even if it is calling the factory.. they should know that, and help the customer by sharing that info.. nicely... That's about the best alot of them can do these days.. They must be nice and courteous though.. always.

suds79

Wow that sucks. My hobbytown here in Nebraska has been great.

I recently bought a 540 motor for an old one that burned out on my SCT. I remember as I was taking it out of the package that one of the soldered wires looked kinda shoddy. I should have paid more attention than that.

Broke the motor in a cup of water. put it in my truck. It worked. Drove it like 5 feet. then went out to the track. Drove 20 feet and everything stopped. Got home and after closer inspection, that wire had lost connection. I discovered this after calling Hobbytown.

- No receipt anymore.
- No explanation why it wasn't working (although now i know why)
- Told them i broke it in (not sure if they'd like that or not)

... Today they're replacing it for me with store credit.

+1 couldn't be happier how that played out and I look forward to supporting local stores.


Post Edit a day later:
Returned the motor yesterday. They did even better. Didn't exchange it for store credit. They simply returned it. +1 They're ordering in the motor I want.

Sure I could order that same motor online and probably get it just as fast or even faster but i'm on a recent kick where I've been pondering "what will happen to us and local workers if everybody keeps buying stuff online?". Well, i think we know the answer to that. So buy local if you can guys (okay getting off my soapbox now)

F4 Phantom blue angles

Ok guys,What is the story with Hobbytown, I was going to check one out this weekend. I guess like anything else,When you shop instore,You should check things over before you leave. If you order online,well you take a chance.

gthibedeau

My Feedback: (9)

i have found them very rude and unhelpful as well and they are the only game in town. i wont say their name again and give them free advertising but they offered the laziest, poorest, unhelpful to the point of lying ..i will say it they need to close down or we need to refuse to buy from hobby town USA. i am terminally ill and have to return and return because they sell me the wrong thing or products that are missing parts they say they came with. i think this is where they get the spare parts they burn you on. THEY ALSO SIGNIFICANTLY
MARK UP THEIR PRODUCTS FROM REGULAR PRICES. THEY ARE THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH, PERIOD.