O'Brien Hobby experience
01-09-2008, 07:58 AM
#226
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
ORIGINAL: scalenut52
..... it will be up to you to pay for returning shipping costs.
Thank you
DOUG
..... it will be up to you to pay for returning shipping costs.
Thank you
DOUG
I started this thread almost a year ago, and to be fair, I finally did receive what I ordered. Of course, I was also made promises to "make it up to me" which never did come about. It's a real shame that even a year later, people are still getting either extremely poor, sloppy service, or ripped off altogether.
01-09-2008, 08:22 AM
#227
RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
I started this thread almost a year ago, and to be fair, I finally did receive what I ordered. Of course, I was also made promises to "make it up to me" which never did come about. It's a real shame that even a year later, people are still getting either extremely poor, sloppy service, or ripped off altogether.
01-09-2008, 02:38 PM
#228
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
I ordered this a week and a half ago and was charged for it several days ago. The order status has never changed, it took several e-mails to get a response on the order status and I still have not seen the product. I was told it shipped last Tuesday (which I doubt since that was New Years Day). Shipping from NH should take 3-4 days max.
I do hope I'm wrong and if it does show up this week I'll gladly eat some of my words. With the amount of trouble people have had though I get this feeling I may not have to.
I do hope I'm wrong and if it does show up this week I'll gladly eat some of my words. With the amount of trouble people have had though I get this feeling I may not have to.
01-10-2008, 06:31 PM
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
I got the same thing.Ordered a tamiya toyota hilux on dec.30th took my money on Jan.3rd but I got nothing yet.Emailed them 2 times but got no response.Dose anyone have a phone number for them? They dont have it on there site.I ordered other parts several days after I ordered the truck from other sites and have recived all of it.I wish I read this before I ordered from them.
01-10-2008, 06:44 PM
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
What a scam. Two days ago I was promised a refund the next day. I figured it was a lie and of course, I still have not seen a refund.
Avoid this place like the plague! [:@]
Avoid this place like the plague! [:@]
01-11-2008, 12:46 PM
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
Guess what didn't come in the mail today? That's right, my order!!!! Guess what still hasn't happened to my bank account? You got it, my promised refund!
I sometimes wonder how certain people sleep at night. Just another common crook.
I sometimes wonder how certain people sleep at night. Just another common crook.
01-11-2008, 02:50 PM
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
ORIGINAL: Laggard
What a scam. Two days ago I was promised a refund the next day. I figured it was a lie and of course, I still have not seen a refund.
Avoid this place like the plague! [:@]
What a scam. Two days ago I was promised a refund the next day. I figured it was a lie and of course, I still have not seen a refund.
Avoid this place like the plague! [:@]
It generally takes 4-7 business days for credits to show on a credit card or bank refund. No way to make it go faster - I've seen them go two weeks and then pop up with the date the merchant submitted them.
01-11-2008, 03:09 PM
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
ORIGINAL: scalenut52
Hey,
No hard feeling, but all i can tell you is I pay the lowest possible price a dealer can pay, which may be less than your LHS. We do volume so we get volume discounts, for example our first order of B-25" was enough to fill almost half of a 45ft. Fedex Trailer.
Like I said, its great that you want to support your LHS, but honestly most people dont because maybe your shop took off the money, but most wont, and $100 is a lot of money!
We structure our prices automatically as low as we can possibly sell and still take home a paycheck.
But hey man, were all getting royaly screwed by Hobbico (Great Planes / Tower Hobbies) Believe me if they had it their way, the would be no LHS, and thats what they are gearing up towards. The handwritting is on the wall. Right now the average profit margain is about 9-15%. Now the first day of business class:
1. Thats a little low!
2. Don't buy from your competitiors!
It's really a joke! BUT........ we have fun with it, we like talking with other hobbyist, escpecially when we can help or give advice. We have thousands of customers who support us and we get to enjoy ou hobby and make a living at it.
Nice talking with you, enjoy the B25, mine is about halfway done, retracts work great, i put twin brushless electric in mine, should fly great!
Doug
Hey,
No hard feeling, but all i can tell you is I pay the lowest possible price a dealer can pay, which may be less than your LHS. We do volume so we get volume discounts, for example our first order of B-25" was enough to fill almost half of a 45ft. Fedex Trailer.
Like I said, its great that you want to support your LHS, but honestly most people dont because maybe your shop took off the money, but most wont, and $100 is a lot of money!
We structure our prices automatically as low as we can possibly sell and still take home a paycheck.
But hey man, were all getting royaly screwed by Hobbico (Great Planes / Tower Hobbies) Believe me if they had it their way, the would be no LHS, and thats what they are gearing up towards. The handwritting is on the wall. Right now the average profit margain is about 9-15%. Now the first day of business class:
1. Thats a little low!
2. Don't buy from your competitiors!
It's really a joke! BUT........ we have fun with it, we like talking with other hobbyist, escpecially when we can help or give advice. We have thousands of customers who support us and we get to enjoy ou hobby and make a living at it.
Nice talking with you, enjoy the B25, mine is about halfway done, retracts work great, i put twin brushless electric in mine, should fly great!
Doug
Doug, it appears that you have a pretty good understanding of business. If USPS delivery is truly the cause of all this aggravation, WHY USE THEM? UPS and FedEx both provide far superior tracking. Even if you had to charge a little more, don't you believe the posting of numerous complaints here is doing serious damage to your business? With the volume you seem to do, UPS can probably be competitive in cost and easier to use - unless, of course, you've been blaming USPS for your errors.
01-11-2008, 03:17 PM
#238
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
I wish UPS could be more compettive, but for some pacakges, USPS proves to be way cheaper. On jan 2nd, i contacted Fedex to see what they could do for us on rates, still waiting to hear back. It would be easier for us to just use one carrier instead of two different ones as well. Im hoping they can do something for us. Its a shame DHL hiked their rates. We used DHL for two years, when we were starting off and i never had one problem, not one!
But now, they hare the most expensive, and in a business where margain can goes as low at 6 and 7% on some items, losing some $$ on shipping cant occur.
These comments are negative to our business, i know, ive treid to stay current with them and post reply's but its seems everyone just assumes the absolute worst 99.9% of the time.
I hope Fedex can offer us attractive rates.
DOUG
www.obrienhobbies.com
But now, they hare the most expensive, and in a business where margain can goes as low at 6 and 7% on some items, losing some $$ on shipping cant occur.
These comments are negative to our business, i know, ive treid to stay current with them and post reply's but its seems everyone just assumes the absolute worst 99.9% of the time.
I hope Fedex can offer us attractive rates.
DOUG
www.obrienhobbies.com
01-11-2008, 03:19 PM
#239
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
And no, i havent been blaming anyone else for my errors, when i make and error, and i DO, I make it right, whether its free merchandise for the customer, faster shipping or some money back. If all we did was supposedly cheap people out of their money, im pretty sure I wouldnt be responding to these messages right now, cause i dont think they are putting computers in jail cells yet.
Doug
Doug
01-11-2008, 03:33 PM
#242
RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
As a FedEx Express employee I hope my company CAN help you out. I assume you are referring to FedEx Ground? Sorry that I have no influence over any of that.
01-11-2008, 03:41 PM
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
I worked in shipping for years and during that time I found the UPS shipment error rate to be roughly 3%. Meaning 3% of the time they screwed up by losing a package, delivering it to the wrong address, or damaging it. We shipped hundreds of packages a day and I rarely had to file a claim. Fedex was a little better. Their ground service is excellent.
01-11-2008, 03:43 PM
#244
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
Hi BRUCE,
Yes we would be using ground, we are currently waiting for rates back from a FedEx account Rep, her name is Mandy.
We do 200-400 packages a week. UPS is giving us the 100 package a week price break right now, my rep at USP tells me, were not elligable for another price break till we hit an avaerage of 500 packages a week.
The Mandy at Fedex seemed a little more receptive to price breaks at 200 packages. So we shall see what she comes up with. Thank you for your info tho.
DOUG
www.obrienhobbies.com
Yes we would be using ground, we are currently waiting for rates back from a FedEx account Rep, her name is Mandy.
We do 200-400 packages a week. UPS is giving us the 100 package a week price break right now, my rep at USP tells me, were not elligable for another price break till we hit an avaerage of 500 packages a week.
The Mandy at Fedex seemed a little more receptive to price breaks at 200 packages. So we shall see what she comes up with. Thank you for your info tho.
DOUG
www.obrienhobbies.com
01-11-2008, 03:47 PM
#245
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
Your cahrger was shipped USPS because it was a light package. As far as the 3% error margain, in my area, in all honesty, they screw up about 6-9% of all the packages I ship. Also many package i get from Distirubtors , like Great pLanes, they are often delayed and behind for no good reason. Ive been told by two UPS drivers in my area and by a few Post Office employee's that the Notheast is notorious for problems with all carriers. Almost every person has told me "its because it has to go through New York". Now i dont know why going through New York is a problem, but more than one person has told me that.
Anyway , Im hoping to establish something with Fedex by the end of the month.
And just to reiterate, I am giving you my word (you can take it or leave it) that we did actually ship your charger and we did run a creidt for you. As i stated before if the charger shows up , I will make arranges for a return at my cost.
DOUG
www.obrienhobbies.com
Anyway , Im hoping to establish something with Fedex by the end of the month.
And just to reiterate, I am giving you my word (you can take it or leave it) that we did actually ship your charger and we did run a creidt for you. As i stated before if the charger shows up , I will make arranges for a return at my cost.
DOUG
www.obrienhobbies.com
01-11-2008, 03:49 PM
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
Hi TEACHU2,
Building in the costs is tough, 90% of our competetors charge $7.99- $8.99 for S&H flat rate. We need to keep ourselves in line with that. We are planning to raise or Shippign from $7.99 up to $8.29 on February 1st, in order to keep in line with shipping cost increases that happened on Jan 1st. Every year they go up. BUt in the end, we gurantee the best prices, so we need to keep to that.
Thanks
DOUG
www.obrienhobbies.com
Building in the costs is tough, 90% of our competetors charge $7.99- $8.99 for S&H flat rate. We need to keep ourselves in line with that. We are planning to raise or Shippign from $7.99 up to $8.29 on February 1st, in order to keep in line with shipping cost increases that happened on Jan 1st. Every year they go up. BUt in the end, we gurantee the best prices, so we need to keep to that.
Thanks
DOUG
www.obrienhobbies.com
01-11-2008, 03:58 PM
#248
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
No thanks needed. Im sorry that you have to experince the same things that started this thread. But I promise to make things right in the end. After we get this cleared up, I would like to ask if you would try us again when you need something, whatever it is, I will make sure you are "taken care of". We need every customer we can get and I really hate to lose someone. Eventually Tower Hobbies is gonna rule the hobby earth. Over 300 R/C shop and over 500 Train Shops went out of business alone in the US. Thats a shocking Stat. If you give us another go, you will see that these problems are NOT "business as usual."
Thanks, have a good weekend everyone
DOUG
www.obrienhobbies.com
Thanks, have a good weekend everyone
DOUG
www.obrienhobbies.com
01-11-2008, 04:23 PM
#249
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
ORIGINAL: scalenut52
Your cahrger was shipped USPS because it was a light package. As far as the 3% error margain, in my area, in all honesty, they screw up about 6-9% of all the packages I ship. Also many package i get from Distirubtors , like Great pLanes, they are often delayed and behind for no good reason. Ive been told by two UPS drivers in my area and by a few Post Office employee's that the Notheast is notorious for problems with all carriers. Almost every person has told me "its because it has to go through New York". Now i dont know why going through New York is a problem, but more than one person has told me that.
Anyway , Im hoping to establish something with Fedex by the end of the month.
And just to reiterate, I am giving you my word (you can take it or leave it) that we did actually ship your charger and we did run a creidt for you. As i stated before if the charger shows up , I will make arranges for a return at my cost.
DOUG
www.obrienhobbies.com
Your cahrger was shipped USPS because it was a light package. As far as the 3% error margain, in my area, in all honesty, they screw up about 6-9% of all the packages I ship. Also many package i get from Distirubtors , like Great pLanes, they are often delayed and behind for no good reason. Ive been told by two UPS drivers in my area and by a few Post Office employee's that the Notheast is notorious for problems with all carriers. Almost every person has told me "its because it has to go through New York". Now i dont know why going through New York is a problem, but more than one person has told me that.
Anyway , Im hoping to establish something with Fedex by the end of the month.
And just to reiterate, I am giving you my word (you can take it or leave it) that we did actually ship your charger and we did run a creidt for you. As i stated before if the charger shows up , I will make arranges for a return at my cost.
DOUG
www.obrienhobbies.com
As far as Tower Hobbies - ever read how they started out? http://www.towerhobbies.com/thistory.html and http://www.state.il.us/hpa/Illinois%.../306Scheid.pdf
01-11-2008, 04:32 PM
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RE: O'Brien Hobby experience
I also remember back in the early '80s, their customer service 800 number was staffed 24 hours a day! I remember building a Sailaire in my dorm room at Sac State. Called Tower in the middle of the night to order stuff..... That Sailaire spanned the room corner to corner.....