FMA Direct - good product, bad customer service!
11-05-2002, 03:14 AM
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FMA Direct - good product, bad customer service!
Co-Pilot by FMA Direct – Hopefully the product works well because their customer service is NON-EXISTENT!
I recently purchased a Co-Pilot from FMA Direct after doing a lot of research. The product appears to be good and the price is worth it if you save one plane. I had just finished shredding my newest creation through a hogwire fence after loosing sight of it!
Now I’m a pretty easy going kind of guy and don’t normally make a big fuss if something doesn’t work out well with a supplier. I just take my business elsewhere.
However I want warn all of you about a possible problem that can happen when you use the Co-Pilot with the old style Airtronics equipment. It’s not really a problem with the Co-Pilot equipment, just with the installation documentation.
To make a long story short, if you connect the old Airtronics servo connectors without the appropriate adapters you will fry the communications board!!! Even if you purchase the adapters, you can still install them upside down. It’s a 50/50 chance, and of course I got lucky.
There is no warning about this issue except for a nondescript comment about checking the instructions from your receiver about polarity.
So, after frying my communications board I returned the unit to FMA and described what I had done. I explained that most people who see keyed connectors on electronics equipment assume that it will only plug in correctly, and that if that is not the case there should be obvious warning labels all over it to prevent this horror story from happening.
I asked them to repair it or replace it if necessary. The “customer service” group replaced it and sent me a bill for the full pop retail price of $49.95!
I sent back a suggestion to the president that he might want to consider crediting my credit card for the price and provide some kind of warning labels to save future customers this frustration.
Their response was for the president of the company to pass my e-mail on to his brother with a smart-assed comment about me being “dumber than the average bear”. (The brother didn’t have enough brains to take the other guys dumb remark out before sending me the “stick it in your ear” response. They did not give me full or even partial credit for the cost of the replacement communications board.
For anyone out there who is in business, this is a classic example of how to turn a simple and fairly inexpensive fix that would have made the customer happy into a major black eye for the company.
I won’t pass judgment on the product, and in truth I hope it works well, but I’ll have to think real hard before I buy another one. If you buy one for yourself, be very careful when you hook up the cabling!!!!
Mark Stoffel.
I recently purchased a Co-Pilot from FMA Direct after doing a lot of research. The product appears to be good and the price is worth it if you save one plane. I had just finished shredding my newest creation through a hogwire fence after loosing sight of it!
Now I’m a pretty easy going kind of guy and don’t normally make a big fuss if something doesn’t work out well with a supplier. I just take my business elsewhere.
However I want warn all of you about a possible problem that can happen when you use the Co-Pilot with the old style Airtronics equipment. It’s not really a problem with the Co-Pilot equipment, just with the installation documentation.
To make a long story short, if you connect the old Airtronics servo connectors without the appropriate adapters you will fry the communications board!!! Even if you purchase the adapters, you can still install them upside down. It’s a 50/50 chance, and of course I got lucky.
There is no warning about this issue except for a nondescript comment about checking the instructions from your receiver about polarity.
So, after frying my communications board I returned the unit to FMA and described what I had done. I explained that most people who see keyed connectors on electronics equipment assume that it will only plug in correctly, and that if that is not the case there should be obvious warning labels all over it to prevent this horror story from happening.
I asked them to repair it or replace it if necessary. The “customer service” group replaced it and sent me a bill for the full pop retail price of $49.95!
I sent back a suggestion to the president that he might want to consider crediting my credit card for the price and provide some kind of warning labels to save future customers this frustration.
Their response was for the president of the company to pass my e-mail on to his brother with a smart-assed comment about me being “dumber than the average bear”. (The brother didn’t have enough brains to take the other guys dumb remark out before sending me the “stick it in your ear” response. They did not give me full or even partial credit for the cost of the replacement communications board.
For anyone out there who is in business, this is a classic example of how to turn a simple and fairly inexpensive fix that would have made the customer happy into a major black eye for the company.
I won’t pass judgment on the product, and in truth I hope it works well, but I’ll have to think real hard before I buy another one. If you buy one for yourself, be very careful when you hook up the cabling!!!!
Mark Stoffel.
11-05-2002, 04:05 AM
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FMA Direct - good product, bad customer service!
You had to post this in 2 forums?
You screwed up. You didn't know the specifics of your radio system. Take responsibility for your mistake.
You screwed up. You didn't know the specifics of your radio system. Take responsibility for your mistake.
11-05-2002, 05:40 AM
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FMA Direct - good product, bad customer service!
Wait a minute, YOU hooked it up without checking the polarity and you expect FMA to suck up the cost of your mistake?
Didn't wonder just a LITTLE when you practically had to destroy the connectors to cram them into the old style Airtronics reciever?
Didn't wonder just a LITTLE when you practically had to destroy the connectors to cram them into the old style Airtronics reciever?
11-05-2002, 04:13 PM
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FMA Direct - good product, bad customer service!
Yes, and no. It's not FMA's fault that he plugged the connectors in wrong.
BUT...FMA could have cut him some slack. Just to make a customer for life. You can bet that it does not cost them $49 for that board, so all they did was profit twice and make an upset customer. What would it really have cost them?
I plugged two Cirrus servos in backwards a couple of years ago, and toasted them instantly. I let the smoke out of them. I sent them back with a note, asking for a repair cost, to Hobby Shack(now Hobby People) and Randy Be'loff sent me two new ones, with a nice note. And made a loyal customer.
Nobody HAS to do that. I was perfectly willing to pay for the repairs, and perfectly candid about it being my mistake, but they did it anyway, and it was very smart business.
BUT...FMA could have cut him some slack. Just to make a customer for life. You can bet that it does not cost them $49 for that board, so all they did was profit twice and make an upset customer. What would it really have cost them?
I plugged two Cirrus servos in backwards a couple of years ago, and toasted them instantly. I let the smoke out of them. I sent them back with a note, asking for a repair cost, to Hobby Shack(now Hobby People) and Randy Be'loff sent me two new ones, with a nice note. And made a loyal customer.
Nobody HAS to do that. I was perfectly willing to pay for the repairs, and perfectly candid about it being my mistake, but they did it anyway, and it was very smart business.
11-06-2002, 02:04 AM
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FMA Direct - good product, bad customer service!
Yes, I hooked them up backwards!
They slid right in - no problem! No keying to prevent it and no warning to watch out for it!
After they sent me the full retail bill and the nice reply, I went back and verified that their instructions made no mention of the possibility of putting "any" connector except the JR in backwards. If, and when you put most of them in backwards, nothing terrible happens. With the old Airtronics, if you don't use the adapters, you will fry the board any way you plug them in. No mention of using the adapters.
I didn't expect them to fix the situation for free, however I did expect them to just cover their costs. I personally would have replaced it and made a positive impression with a customer rather than calling them dumb and stiffing them for the full retail price when I knew they had the rest of the $139 system that was useless without it. That's usually called taking advantage of the situation.
Believe me, I can affort the $49. I posted this to help others avoid the same situation since the manufacturer doesn't seem to place a high priority on protecting their customers with som simple documentation and warning lables.
They slid right in - no problem! No keying to prevent it and no warning to watch out for it!
After they sent me the full retail bill and the nice reply, I went back and verified that their instructions made no mention of the possibility of putting "any" connector except the JR in backwards. If, and when you put most of them in backwards, nothing terrible happens. With the old Airtronics, if you don't use the adapters, you will fry the board any way you plug them in. No mention of using the adapters.
I didn't expect them to fix the situation for free, however I did expect them to just cover their costs. I personally would have replaced it and made a positive impression with a customer rather than calling them dumb and stiffing them for the full retail price when I knew they had the rest of the $139 system that was useless without it. That's usually called taking advantage of the situation.
Believe me, I can affort the $49. I posted this to help others avoid the same situation since the manufacturer doesn't seem to place a high priority on protecting their customers with som simple documentation and warning lables.
11-06-2002, 02:30 AM
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FMA Direct - good product, bad customer service!
Mr. Stoffel
It seems that you have found out the hard way that which many others have learned. You may get a great product that works really well, or you may get a product that may not work at all (as I did). But as far as customer service is concerned, FMA doesn't have any.
Personally, after purchasing two of their products over 2 years ago, I have not, nor will I ever again, have the desire to purchase one of their products, at any price or quality.
Silversurfer
It seems that you have found out the hard way that which many others have learned. You may get a great product that works really well, or you may get a product that may not work at all (as I did). But as far as customer service is concerned, FMA doesn't have any.
Personally, after purchasing two of their products over 2 years ago, I have not, nor will I ever again, have the desire to purchase one of their products, at any price or quality.
Silversurfer
11-06-2002, 02:38 AM
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FMA Direct - good product, bad customer service!
I've had my problems with FMA equipment, too. First the Tettra receiver cost me a plane, then the replacement was DOA. And the servos I got from them were just not great quality. Although they seemed to be out of the same factory as so many other brands, the FMA ones just felt like they were the runts of the lot, cheap noisy, and nasty.
But YOUR product does not seem to be a problem. I think it is imperative for the user to check polarity before plugging stuff in, it's not their fault you toasted the device. But they could have handled it much better.
But YOUR product does not seem to be a problem. I think it is imperative for the user to check polarity before plugging stuff in, it's not their fault you toasted the device. But they could have handled it much better.
