init4fun

Yes , Mr. Byrne , you DID misunderstand me , and I'll freely agree that may be partly my fault as well . Let me try to explain my side , once , without anger , and see if the post lasts more than the 1/2 hour my last post about this did .

If HK were to actually make good with each and every customer , there is no way their stuff could be priced so inexpensively . Were they forced to provide the same level of customer service as all the other hobby retailers , their prices would reflect that . Tell me , which other retailer even comes close to HK in number of complaints of defective/non delivery , without resolution ? The pure simple fact is that by having no effective customer service , the are taking money from all of our pockets but not all of us are getting viable product . It isn't much of a stretch to then conclude that all these "I've got 500 orders and not one broken part" folks savings have come at the expense of their fellow RCers who got nothing . It may not fit the classic definition of the "pyramid scheme" but it comes darned close . Bottom line , if HK had to "play by the same rules" as the other retailers , their "great deals" would quickly evaporate .

Also ,

Yes I know I mentioned the Chinese and our economy in one of my posts (is that post still here , or was it deleted as well ?) . That was a mistake on my part as it has nothing to do with HK . Sure , like every American I am disgusted to see our country financially beholden to any one , be it the Chinese or anyone else . Thing is , it's not the Chinese telling HK to screw over a percentage of it's customers to maximize profit , no , that comes from Mr. Anthony Hand himself , the owner of HK ! The Chinese are just like ANY other manufacturing nation , they will build to the pricepoint requested by their consumer base . Now , if we have a system whereby we build to the lowest dollar that's one thing , but does that really justify repeatedly broken/non delivered product ? Bottom line here is that this isn't a Chinese problem , it's a HK problem , brought to you by an Australian (Hand) who has made HIS disdain of US AMERICANS plainly evident in posts at that cesspool known as RCG .

There simply CAN"T be any other way of looking at it that your "savings" came from my pocket , whether it was you directly , or the evil hand of Hand , reaching into my pocket to take the money for which I and many others have NOTHING to show for

I hope this clears up any misunderstandings as to the nature of my vitriol regarding HK

Happy Flying ....

init4fun

Hi Frank ,

I agree 100% !!! My BS detectors were ringing as loudly as yours when I read that little piece of fiction , but having had enough posts removed yesterday to fill a darned WHEELBARROW , I decided best to leave it alone . Thank You Sir for saying what I wanted to but wasn't willing to waste the soon to be deleted keystrokes on .......

jester_s1

The decent and honest online retailers have a hard time of it because of companies like HK. There are too many cheap people who shop for price only and only get unhappy when HK costs them. Tower and a several other good retailers can't compete on price, even for the same items. Tower doesn't sell the super cheap stuff that HK is known for because there is no money in it if they stand by their service policies. Those 2.99 servos that fail at probably 10-15% would cost them more money than they could ever make selling them unless they went the HK route and simply acted as a distributor instead of a retailer. The hobby community will never learn to put these bad companies out of business by spending our money with people that actually care about the customer.

hairy46

My Feedback: (1)

Hobby king has never gotten an order from me, and you guys are the reason, I have read so many times of fellow rcers getting burned from them! Thanks again for the heads up!

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

If that was directed at me… I don't recall "scolding" anyone, or calling them un-American. I DO recall questioning some individual's common sense… so, if the shoe fits...

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ghostofpf1

Ordered some more lipos from the USA warehouse on thursday and a couple orange surface DSM2 rx from the int'l same day....already shipped....Ordered a Reverb hotliner last night for a friend and shows as being in the print que already....
I guess some peoples "luck" is better than others.I have well over 130 successful orders with HK and will continue doing business with them
until they give me a reason not to.
awaiting the inevitable
ghost

Uncas

My Feedback: (1)

Adam184
I guess you have to weigh the options. Spending another $8 or whatever to get the car running does not really sound too bad to me. There is some time inconvenience but this is the problem with all on-line purchases. I understand it is for your son and you don't want to dissappoint him. I wouldn't either.
The other option is to buy somewhere else like a LHS, ToysRUs, if one is available or Tower Hobbies, etc. But my guess is the cost would have been higher. Your Local Store may have been able to give you instant satisfaction if something was defective and sometimes that means a lot.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

LOL,,, No,, I rarely shop there,, only 5 orders in 4 years since I got back into planes,, all without issue BTW. I prefer to use Value Hobby,, the shipping is much quicker.

triggerpuller03

Take it easy man, when you buy from best buy or wall mart or any other retail store in America the products are usually from China. But when you purchase from these stores you are paying employees salaries or wages. Even though the products come from china you are not directly sending your money to China. And I am not in your business I do not even know you so you are way out of line. Have a nice day.

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

What gripes me is people like Futaba are having their items made in China and charging insane prices for them. I hope you noticed Futaba greatly reduced their receiver prices lately. HK is just showing what the true price should be if it is made China.

triggerpuller03

On -Your -Six-. Take it easy man, when you buy from best buy or wall mart or any other retail store in America the products are usually from China. But when you purchase from these stores you are paying employees salaries or wages. Even though the products come from china you are not directly sending your money to China. And I am not in your business I do not even know you so you are way out of line. Have a nice day.

Giant_Scale_Gasser

My Feedback: (84)

Sadly, most of those Chinese wholesalers are a complete cancer to the hobby. General Hobby, Nitro Planes, Hobby King, World Models and all the rest like them are ALL the same. They speak English perfectly when you are buying but cannot manage a word of it when you need customer service or help for a complete piece of crap that shows up at your door. They make YOU pay to send back THEIR inferior piece of crap.

You want to stop putting good hard working AMERICAN business owners out of work and get better service from people who share the same passion for this hobby? Buy from our Country and STOP being so DAMN cheap! Or at least if you buy from China-King, or one of their cousins, don't ***** about the quality or lack of service you get. EXPECT IT.

It amazes me that so many keep these dirt bags in business an act shocked when you get a piece of trash in the mail! I am guilty, I did it once. Bought a 50cc Ultimate, spent $400 and promptly sold it at a swap meet for $150 without so much as reading the manual.... that was sarcasm, there was no manual. Honestly, that was a $250 lesson learned and that was all I needed. You get LESS than what you pay for from China King... It's that bad most of the time.

RichardGee

My Feedback: (156)

Mega DITTOS. I too made the mistake once (30cc Yak) - same deal. Never again.
Buying from these far east merchants is the epitome of "penny-wise and pound foolish"

gotfuel7

I have ordered many things from Hobbyking, including batteries, servos, planes, RCG 50cc engine and miscellaneous items. One plane (radjet 800) was crushed by USPS and I contacted hobbyking and they sent replacement parts to me at no cost within a week and credited me $30. I have yet to be disappointed by them.

Giant_Scale_Gasser

My Feedback: (84)

eagle33

Who are these half-dozen vendors in Hong Kong that are price-competitive with Hobby King? I'd like to visit their web site. I'm all for a bargain coupled with customer service.

[email protected]

My Feedback: (1)

i try to buy all american>>that way other companies dont get our money we need to keep it here

Airplanes400

My Feedback: (349)

You can't buy American when it comes to electronics ... cell phones, cameras, computers, I-pads, Kindle, TV's, microwaves, stereo's, cam-corders.

Also, most of the fish we consume came from China too!

More products than anyone realizes came from China.

Just because an "American" company sells it, doesn't mean it wasn't made in China.

Hell, even the American flag is made in China. I believe only one US company makes them here. But their sales are dwarfed by the sales of the US flag made in China. Up until this year, no one made a fuss about the American flags in the Olympics being made in China.

badazzgti03

My Feedback: (4)

All I gotta say is buying for hobby king, is either hit or miss and count on buying as is for being so cheap! They're customer service sucks! if its delivered messed up! just deal with it or fix it yourself. I mostly buy parts and batteries from HK...just sayin!

init4fun

Please , Fellow RCers , Let's not loose sight of the fact that this is not a "China problem" , it's an "HK problem" .

Yes , the Chinese will build to whatever quality level and pricepoint we the customers specify , just as Japan and all the other countries that manufacture goods .

NO ONE in China is telling HK to rip off it's customers by having non existent customer service , that little "gotcha" provided exclusively by HobbyKing , , , , you know , , , good ol , , , Australia based, , , , HobbyKing ........

john43055

My Feedback: (33)

Hi, can anyone tell me about HK 1800mm beaver? What i have seen on youtube, etc. tells me its convertible to nitro. However reading these posts I am leary. Couple guys in our club have their electric J3, and it does fly good. have been curious abouth this beaver , 70" span.
thanks

topspin

I suppose what bothers me the most is the fact that the owner, Anthony Hand, is Australian and not Chinese. All of the Australian people I know, including family members are decent honest people. So I have to assume that Mr. Hand operates by a different set of rules. There really is no excuse for the way they treat customers and the owner even sticks it to his own countrymen.

They are just an unscrupulous company who take advantage of their customers with mercenary tactics like issuing store credits for less than the value of a defective item. Store credits can't be used for postage. Store credits are your money in their bank account. I just read about a guy who received a defective plane that cost over $300.00 and when he contacted Hobby King they offered him $ 20.00 dollars toward the purchase of a replacement. That is not how you treat customers who pay your salary. I have been called a hater and all sorts of other names but really it just boils down to the fact that I have a problem with stealing.

GerKonig

Good luck with that. Most of the over the counter medications, with American brand names on them, are manufactured actually in India. The cost in India is a fraction of the cost of manufactuing them here. Did you notice the price dropped 80%? No you did not, because their profit went up 80% and they are not sharing with you:-)

Gerry

on_your_six

My Feedback: (11)

You guys are something. You can't believe a word of truth. EVERY SUPPLIER has some bad deals.

I am not going to bag on ANY of them about an $8 servo going bad. Yes the OP is right but there are many products in store today that you cannot take back after purchase with missing/defective pieces. It says clearly in the packaging that you must deal with customer service on any of these issues. I found that just the other day on some shelves that I bought from Home Depot. Had I read the packaging, I might not have purchased. Nobody like dealing with customer service. They get paid to bury problems.

Some of you might remember a long problem I had with an AMERICAN company getting a $1,200 problem resolved.

init4fun

Yes Sir , the clear fact of the matter is that HK does not in the least represent the ethos of the Chinese , or even the Aussies ... Nope , that lil lack of professional decorum belongs to Mr. Hand alone ..