WARNING: Banana Hobby
Profit is king and customer service does not exist. A combination of not being able to speak English, and a strong desire not to refund any money under any circumstance.
To complicate things, quality is very low, just enough to get by, and r&d and engineering and qc are out the window either due to the extra costs or the intellectual inability to do so. Hence many returns, not to mention no manuals or cartoon manuals that come with their kits.
I am betting they will set up shop with another name.
Sent them back and wrote them an email. The response back after two weeks was "you dont have to send them back, just send photos". A week prior to that I figued I would order identical parts then at least I would recieve them sooner than the replacment ones for the worng ones sent back. Oh no, havent seen a thing now for 3 months. Have written emails with no response. They have about 60US dollars of my money. How can we report these thieves, this is criminal activity!
BEWARE, DONTBUY FROMTHESEBUMS! THEYWILLSTEALYOURMONEY!
About the only thing that we victims can do is to post about this as this thread starter has done and to have such threads get bumped to the top now and then. Hopefully, people who Google "Banana Hobby" will instantly see these posts.
Google can direct to this thread when words like customer service, bad experience, beware, caution, warning are attached to posts featuring Banana Hobby.
First off I'm sorry to read reports like this all around its a bad deal but on the other hand whats worse is the fact that these people continue to conduct themselves and their business conduct with the protection of our government which has not,and nor will they ever do anything about it I know this to be a fact as I've looked into the BBB account of these corrupt activities
The sad truth is this unethical way of doing business is condoned by our government and encouraged further more anyone who may have contacted the FBI Internet fraud division have more than likely bought themselves a nice seat on the top of the terrorist watch list for the unsavory act of speaking out against the excepted act of theft by deception.
Everything that I've read in this post can be considered and defined as being competitive and business savvy.
So I went to look at the banana hobby site myself all the the red flags are right there (those are the ones that tell you stay away) rather or not you want to admit it we all want something for nothing or as close to nothing as we can get,and yep that includes me.
But there's plenty of warning signs one can look for.
#1. If the price reflects a price of a non-quality item,or in other words sounds too good to be true well...
thats likely because it is.
#2. If the body of the description of the product is comprised of broken english or statements such as "high quality components" and or "high performance motor's" well thats tells me that its a piece of crap,I mean I could go some where and grab a dog turd from someones yard poke a carbon fiber stick through it put a cheap motor on it glue some foam to it in the shape of wings and tell you how good it flies but at the end of the day its still a turd on a stick with some foam glued to it,I'm always suspicious of anything R/C that has no technical description of the tx,rx or on board electronics.
I have come to suspect that many of these cars and airplanes and all sorts of R/C vehicles are being put together with components that were reject by outsource factories building for well knowns in the R/C hobby industry and the rest is just plane shoddy manufacturing.
#3. While in Banana hobbies web site I watched a video supposedly a review of a RTF SR-71 blackbird the fellow was Pete,now Pete goes on about this grand plane ready to fly as soon as you glue the fuselage together.
Wow another grand RTF,it comes with everything the radio and even a battery charger.....
Good old Pete heads out to the local flying field to show how good this plane flies but what doesn't add up is this good old Pete decides to fly this SR-71 not with the included radio but with what looks to be a Spektrum DX7,why is this?
Well I'd have to assume the radio system that comes with this plane is yet another turd on a stick.
To sum all of this up it seems to me that people here in the states want folks like banana hobby around because there's been nothing done to them they have never been held accountable and their not the only Chinese run retailer conducting business the way they do and in most cases they sew up their loose ends so you can't find bad press on them by posting threads on the internet that looks as if someone has written a bad review on them then when you click on the site you get rerouted to one of there store fronts where there are no reviews but more of their shoddy junk one such company thats good at this is exceedrc..
What this all adds up to is making the consumer believe their getting away from crappy customer service and shoddy merchandise when they really aren't,and for those of you who seem to believe in second chances well I think they have had their fair share of second chances in fact it looks as if they came back for seconds on second chances I mean thats like saying Hitler made a few mistakes but he wasn't a bad guy once you got to know him!!!
A mistake is when you mistakenly spill a glass of milk and not when you knowingly mass produce toy's to be sold to children with lead based paint on them,a mistake is when you dial a wrong number not when you purposely ignore a customer either by email or phone because you sold them a defective product or took their money and didn't even send them what they ordered because you either didn't have it to sell in the first place or your purposely trying to rip them off.
totally sue them. take my word for it and sue them.
i can NOT stand around and watch somebody get cheated out of something as financially serious as a hobby. talk to a lawyer, tell him/her about it and write up a lawsuit. they will change their service if you do so and with the settlement money you can buy yourself a giant scale nitro plane shipped to you expertly covered in monokote and handled carefully. you can sue them under the charges of false advertising and very poor service. thats like ordering an RTF plane with a detailed description of whats included and getting a KIT plane that is lacking balsa.
don't be afraid to file a claim. you can order more planes to provide more evedence that it is not just a simple shipping problem.
"the best thing a person can do for another person with trouble is to tell them to get a lawyer"
-william shatner
My package arrives and the outer box looks fine. Iopen the box to find a B2 Bomber box?!?!?! I ordered an SR71?!?!? Well, I open the damaged inner box to find a damaged SR71 airframe that had been jammed into the B2 box?!?!It was missing parts, my ducted fan nose cones. Anyway, emailed photos to Banana Hobby, Called, Emailed, Called..........NOTHING. Went to a live chat who said they would look into it. NOTHING. Finally contacted my credit card company with emails, photos, etc........got the credit back however, what a clear cut example of PISSPOORcustomer service. I was able to fix the plane, but it doesnt look all that good. Had to reinforce the landing gear that collapses on the cheap foam and the ESC's wont bind in sync on a GREATRADIOSYSTEM that I am very experienced with. The plane flys pretty good with several upgrades, and hand madeducted fan cones,but I will NEVERbuy from Banana Hobby again. They had their chance with an Avid RC FLYER. See the photos of Banana Hobbys screw up below. Hard to deny a photo, isnt it.
*Although im sure one of you will say "its photo shopped" or some B.S.
Just adjusted to fit the web for your enjoyment.
I purchased a SR71 complete airframe from Banana Hobby awhile ago. I had components from my Uncles damaged airframe so I figured I would put one together. Well it was $60.00 (Approx) for the airframe weighing as much as a stack of foam coffee cups and over $40 in shipping.
My package arrives and the outer box looks fine. I open the box to find a B2 Bomber box?!?!?! I ordered an SR71?!?!? Well, I open the damaged inner box to find a damaged SR71 airframe that had been jammed into the B2 box?!?! It was missing parts, my ducted fan nose cones. Anyway, emailed photos to Banana Hobby, Called, Emailed, Called..........NOTHING. Went to a live chat who said they would look into it. NOTHING. Finally contacted my credit card company with emails, photos, etc........got the credit back however, what a clear cut example of PISS POOR customer service. I was able to fix the plane, but it doesnt look all that good. Had to reinforce the landing gear that collapses on the cheap foam and the ESC's wont bind in sync on a GREAT RADIO SYSTEM that I am very experienced with. The plane flys pretty good with several upgrades, and hand made ducted fan cones, but I will NEVER buy from Banana Hobby again. They had their chance with an Avid RC FLYER. See the photos of Banana Hobbys screw up below. Hard to deny a photo, isnt it.
*Although im sure one of you will say ''its photo shopped'' or some B.S.
Just adjusted to fit the web for your enjoyment.
Another WARNING ........................... Banana Hobby = Hobby-Estore. I believe they also have one or two other online companies. ALWAYS check the company's location. Both are in Monterey Park, CA, same zip code.
You would think that these e-hobby shops would be more cognisant of the fact that thousands of modelers check RCU everyday and when you see a warning sign of poor customer service/ripoffs in at this point, 3 pages of the thread, they would get their act together. It seems that this band of e-nomads will just setup shop somewhere else so they can start all over again. I wonder if there would be a possiblity to setup a thread for e-store evaluations and recommendations?Maybe post the BBB ratings for them.This way the legitimate e-stores would take care of anylittle problem asap as most do,while the evidence would becompiled on the scammers out there. I have got to believe that all of thesesites, if they were smart,check RCU on a very regular basis toseeif something is goingsideways.
Thegood ones would be rewarded, the bad,................... toasted and roasted.
Does this make any sense to do a qualitynon-quality vendor thread? I know in dealing with folks like MountainModels, Steven Aero and Syssa, responses havebeen tremendous with any and all issues or questions.They are obviously much smaller companies thatsell their planes/engines directly. I understand they are a limited range of product companies but I try to buy from them whenever I can but they donot coverall theneeds to utilize in building. I just use them as an example ofe-vendors thatdo business theright way.
When you get to thelarge e-mail companies like theTowers of the world, along with many many more great e-retailers, their service issues are magnified a thousand fold just by sheer numbers of orders. The good one's take care of business, not just deposit your hard earned bucks and start screwing with you.
You can buy the same kits from a ton of sites, the ones that benefit the most,and rightly so, are the ones that respond to the needs of their customers in a timely manner on the service side of the business. If I have to pay $10 more for an item from Tower, not saying that I do!, I will go with them all day long, they followup if there are backorders,whenyou call, they are all over your order, they care ...........what a concept!!
Service is King in every aspect in business, that is what sets the good apart from the rest of the crowd.
I think we are doingthe right thingtorat out the bad. It is just as beneficial toreward the goode-companies. After all,wewant to enjoy this great hobby without having toworry aboutgetting the products we need to keep our projects moving forward. If I see one bad review on customer service, I usually give the benefit of the doubt. Stuff happens.
When you see all the consistently negative e-mails as above about BH, then as they say, the proof is in the pudding.
Any thoughts about setting up a seperate thread on e-company service?
I for one would think this would be a tremendous help. When you are sending $100's upon $100's of dollars in good faith to an on-line company, you have madea leapof faith that they will do what they say they are going to do in a timely manner. The good ones should be acknowledged and the bad ones run out of the business.
We have to protect each other. That is the right thing to do so we can enjoy this great hobby to the fullest.
Wow, Now I’m scared! I just ordered a SR-71 from Banana Hobby Last week. According to UPS it’s on it’s way and should have it This Wednesday June 9<sup>th</sup> 2010,
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Is this thing a pile of junk? has it been revamped at all along the way.
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This is my first dealings with Banana Hobby and after reading stuff on the forum now I am a little worried that I made a big mistake.
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I’ll repost when it comes in and let everyone know what I get.
<o></o>
Bob
I purchased a SR71 complete airframe from Banana Hobby awhile ago. I had components from my Uncles damaged airframe so I figured I would put one together. Well it was $60.00 (Approx) for the airframe weighing as much as a stack of foam coffee cups and over $40 in shipping.
My package arrives and the outer box looks fine. Iopen the box to find a B2 Bomber box?!?!?! I ordered an SR71?!?!? Well, I open the damaged inner box to find a damaged SR71 airframe that had been jammed into the B2 box?!?!It was missing parts, my ducted fan nose cones. Anyway, emailed photos to Banana Hobby, Called, Emailed, Called..........NOTHING. Went to a live chat who said they would look into it. NOTHING. Finally contacted my credit card company with emails, photos, etc........got the credit back however, what a clear cut example of PISSPOORcustomer service. I was able to fix the plane, but it doesnt look all that good. Had to reinforce the landing gear that collapses on the cheap foam and the ESC's wont bind in sync on a GREATRADIOSYSTEM that I am very experienced with. The plane flys pretty good with several upgrades, and hand madeducted fan cones,but I will NEVERbuy from Banana Hobby again. They had their chance with an Avid RC FLYER. See the photos of Banana Hobbys screw up below. Hard to deny a photo, isnt it.
*Although im sure one of you will say ''its photo shopped'' or some B.S.
Just adjusted to fit the web for your enjoyment.
Another WARNING ........................... Banana Hobby = Hobby-Estore. I believe they also have one or two other online companies. ALWAYS check the company's location. Both are in Monterey Park, CA, same zip code.
I just wanted to clarify that Banana Hobby is not affiliated with any other online or retail hobby shops. We only have one location, and go under one name which is Banana Hobby, and we are located in California. Additionally toP51Strafe, I am very sorry to hear that you received the wrong item. By no means was this done on purpose and we will gladly issue you a prepaid return shipping label to return the B2 to us at no charge to you, and get the correct item shipped to you right away. If you haven't already contacted the office to get the matter sorted out, please forward the photo and your order number directly to me at [email protected] and I will make sure that you are taken care of.
Thank you,
Saralyn C.
Banana Hobby
I purchased a SR71 complete airframe from Banana Hobby awhile ago. I had components from my Uncles damaged airframe so I figured I would put one together. Well it was $60.00 (Approx) for the airframe weighing as much as a stack of foam coffee cups and over $40 in shipping.
My package arrives and the outer box looks fine. Iopen the box to find a B2 Bomber box?!?!?! I ordered an SR71?!?!? Well, I open the damaged inner box to find a damaged SR71 airframe that had been jammed into the B2 box?!?!It was missing parts, my ducted fan nose cones. Anyway, emailed photos to Banana Hobby, Called, Emailed, Called..........NOTHING. Went to a live chat who said they would look into it. NOTHING. Finally contacted my credit card company with emails, photos, etc........got the credit back however, what a clear cut example of PISSPOORcustomer service. I was able to fix the plane, but it doesnt look all that good. Had to reinforce the landing gear that collapses on the cheap foam and the ESC's wont bind in sync on a GREATRADIOSYSTEM that I am very experienced with. The plane flys pretty good with several upgrades, and hand madeducted fan cones,but I will NEVERbuy from Banana Hobby again. They had their chance with an Avid RC FLYER. See the photos of Banana Hobbys screw up below. Hard to deny a photo, isnt it.
*Although im sure one of you will say ''its photo shopped'' or some B.S.
Just adjusted to fit the web for your enjoyment.
Another WARNING ........................... Banana Hobby = Hobby-Estore. I believe they also have one or two other online companies. ALWAYS check the company's location. Both are in Monterey Park, CA, same zip code.
I just wanted to clarify that Banana Hobby is not affiliated with any other online or retail hobby shops. We only have one location, and go under one name which is Banana Hobby, and we are located in California. Additionally toP51Strafe, I am very sorry to hear that you received the wrong item. By no means was this done on purpose and we will gladly issue you a prepaid return shipping label to return the B2 to us at no charge to you, and get the correct item shipped to you right away. If you haven't already contacted the office to get the matter sorted out, please forward the photo and your order number directly to me at [email protected] and I will make sure that you are taken care of.
Thank you,
Saralyn C.
Banana Hobby
On the SR-71, I bought one a month ago, crashed it 6 times in half on takeoff attept in grass and on a road. Tried real short grass at another field...she flew..and in 22 years of all sizes of RC models, she's my favorite. Not for beginners, needs lots of runway..and i mean lots. Once inflight she is great, although I did lose her 2 weeks ago after6 fantastic flights. I have ordeed another and expect it any day. I've orded several thousand dollars worth from Banana in last 3 months, I have had no complaints. I did have a bad transmiiter on the WW2 P-38, they responded and i never bothered to return it, I cna replace parts myself i want to. I really have been very happy with them, but people today are very picky.......your buying China cheap products, not $1000 models, I'm very very happy with everything i bought and i bought 10 jets, a glider, a few Cessna's. Just my 2cents worth.
Banana Hobby just wanted to thank you for your ongoing support for us! We are working very hard to continue to grow, improve, and provide the best we possibly can for all of our consumers.
Happy Flying!
Saralyn C.
Banana Hobby
I am betting they will set up shop with another name.
I just wanted to let you know that Banana Hobby always has, and always will be Banana Hobby. We have never operated under a different name, nor do we plan on changing our name in the future. From a business standpoint, this would not make sense as we would be unable to build a consumer base if we were always changing names and locations. Banana Hobby has moved once. We moved because we outgrew our first location and needed a new a larger location toaccommodatethe growing business. While we do have some angry customers in the past, we want to hear from them so that we can resolve the problem and right the wrong. If we aren't contacted about the matter, we won't be able to resolve it. Please let me know what your order number is, and what went wrong with your order. I will be more than happy to assist you in resolving it as you seem to be pretty upset with us!
Thank you,
Saralyn C.
Banana Hobby
Yes, I too have been the victim of theft from this internet sales company. It's a small amount but I see these people are criminals. I bought a helicopter on line, didnt show for6 weeks. After sending emails, four I think, I recived one back saying "good news, your parcel was shipped yesterday" . Since I am in Canada, it showed up another 3 weeks later. It wasnt the one I ordered but I was happy to see it. It wasnt long before I needed additional parts, ordered them, 5 weeks later got them, wrong ones!
Sent them back and wrote them an email. The response back after two weeks was "you dont have to send them back, just send photos". A week prior to that I figued I would order identical parts then at least I would recieve them sooner than the replacment ones for the worng ones sent back. Oh no, havent seen a thing now for 3 months. Have written emails with no response. They have about 60US dollars of my money. How can we report these thieves, this is criminal activity!
BEWARE, DONTBUY FROMTHESEBUMS! THEYWILLSTEALYOURMONEY!
I am so sorry to hear that you received the wrong item! We will not require you to ship the helicopter back to us since you are international and it would be far to costly to do so. Please send me your order number and I will be more than happy to right the wrong for you.
Thank you,
Saralyn C.
Banana Hobby
Thought I'd chime in on this thread.
First off I'm sorry to read reports like this all around its a bad deal but on the other hand whats worse is the fact that these people continue to conduct themselves and their business conduct with the protection of our government which has not,and nor will they ever do anything about it I know this to be a fact as I've looked into the BBB account of these corrupt activities
The sad truth is this unethical way of doing business is condoned by our government and encouraged further more anyone who may have contacted the FBI Internet fraud division have more than likely bought themselves a nice seat on the top of the terrorist watch list for the unsavory act of speaking out against the excepted act of theft by deception.
Everything that I've read in this post can be considered and defined as being competitive and business savvy.
So I went to look at the banana hobby site myself all the the red flags are right there (those are the ones that tell you stay away) rather or not you want to admit it we all want something for nothing or as close to nothing as we can get,and yep that includes me.
But there's plenty of warning signs one can look for.
#1. If the price reflects a price of a non-quality item,or in other words sounds too good to be true well...
thats likely because it is.
#2. If the body of the description of the product is comprised of broken english or statements such as "high quality components" and or "high performance motor's" well thats tells me that its a piece of crap,I mean I could go some where and grab a dog turd from someones yard poke a carbon fiber stick through it put a cheap motor on it glue some foam to it in the shape of wings and tell you how good it flies but at the end of the day its still a turd on a stick with some foam glued to it,I'm always suspicious of anything R/C that has no technical description of the tx,rx or on board electronics.
I have come to suspect that many of these cars and airplanes and all sorts of R/C vehicles are being put together with components that were reject by outsource factories building for well knowns in the R/C hobby industry and the rest is just plane shoddy manufacturing.
#3. While in Banana hobbies web site I watched a video supposedly a review of a RTF SR-71 blackbird the fellow was Pete,now Pete goes on about this grand plane ready to fly as soon as you glue the fuselage together.
Wow another grand RTF,it comes with everything the radio and even a battery charger.....
Good old Pete heads out to the local flying field to show how good this plane flies but what doesn't add up is this good old Pete decides to fly this SR-71 not with the included radio but with what looks to be a Spektrum DX7,why is this?
Well I'd have to assume the radio system that comes with this plane is yet another turd on a stick.
To sum all of this up it seems to me that people here in the states want folks like banana hobby around because there's been nothing done to them they have never been held accountable and their not the only Chinese run retailer conducting business the way they do and in most cases they sew up their loose ends so you can't find bad press on them by posting threads on the internet that looks as if someone has written a bad review on them then when you click on the site you get rerouted to one of there store fronts where there are no reviews but more of their shoddy junk one such company thats good at this is exceedrc..
What this all adds up to is making the consumer believe their getting away from crappy customer service and shoddy merchandise when they really aren't,and for those of you who seem to believe in second chances well I think they have had their fair share of second chances in fact it looks as if they came back for seconds on second chances I mean thats like saying Hitler made a few mistakes but he wasn't a bad guy once you got to know him!!!
A mistake is when you mistakenly spill a glass of milk and not when you knowingly mass produce toy's to be sold to children with lead based paint on them,a mistake is when you dial a wrong number not when you purposely ignore a customer either by email or phone because you sold them a defective product or took their money and didn't even send them what they ordered because you either didn't have it to sell in the first place or your purposely trying to rip them off.
1.) Our prices are low because we buy directly from the manufacture.
2.) All item descriptions and specifications are direct from the manufacture. We realize that they are not 100%grammaticallycorrect, and a new website is in the works to correct this matter.
3.) Pete ALWAYS uses his own radio, for no reason other than his own personal preference. In my experience, most RC enthusiasts will order a kit without the radio because they have their own.
Yes, the manufactures are located in China, however Banana Hobby is located in California. Our products come directly from the manufacture, through customs, and to our warehouse. Banana Hobby has no intention of ripping anyone off, or stealing anything by any means. Additionally, Banana Hobby will request that you review our BBB account again in detail, and take a look at why our rating is what it is. The BBB states that the major factor in our rating is due to unanswered complaints, while when you review the total number of unanswered complaints, there aren't any. I personally had a meeting with our BBB account manager, and they are reviewing our account because we are being wrongfully graded. With that being said, I am sorry to hear that you feel that way about Banana Hobby. Please let me know what the issue with your order was, what the order number is and I will be more than happy to work with you in resolving it!
Thank you,
Saralyn C.
Banana Hobby
Thanks Saralyn C. for posting.
I am new to Banana Hobby and should be getting my SR-71 Tomorrow according to UPS tracking info...
I am keeping a very open mind to this purchase and Banana Hobby, Because I know most good reports never get posted and the bad one get splattered everywhere.
But, I would hope that if I don't like it or it does perform as I would hope that we would be able to return it.
Because right now I am a little scare after reading many post of the SR-71 and almost considering refusing delivery or just plain not opening the box and sending it back to guys..
Thanks again
Bob
wow! did i just get an ear full! i was just looking to find some performance upgrade ideas from rc u bloggers and found this forum. i had already ordered and received the 6ch blitz rc works f-15 eagle and was wondering if anyone had any ideas for optional batterys or other upgrades. ordered 1-27 received 2-11 ups ground to florida paid (pay pal) im sure to have lost some sleep after reading these nightmares. but i must tell you all that so far everything looks ok. the instructions leave alot to be desired but for someone with building experience its not too tough to figure out. i too was intranced with the neat web site and great photos and impulse took over. the f-15 eagle looks fantastic and the parts fit well. you get what you pay for, the servos arnt anything special but seem ok for the application. i love the retracts! i hope its not too underpowered, tho im not expecting a rocket. the quality of the foam is above average and attention to detail is strong too. i will try to post an update after the glue dries and i get a flight in. ricky
Glad to hear that you received your F-15 and that all is well with it! Please feel free to contact me directly should you have any questions or concerns, I will be happy to assist you.
Thank you and happy flying!
Saralyn C.
Banana Hobby
I am betting they will set up shop with another name.
I just wanted to let you know that Banana Hobby always has, and always will be Banana Hobby. We have never operated under a different name, nor do we plan on changing our name in the future. From a business standpoint, this would not make sense as we would be unable to build a consumer base if we were always changing names and locations. Banana Hobby has moved once. We moved because we outgrew our first location and needed a new a larger location to accommodate the growing business. While we do have some angry customers in the past, we want to hear from them so that we can resolve the problem and right the wrong. If we aren't contacted about the matter, we won't be able to resolve it. Please let me know what your order number is, and what went wrong with your order. I will be more than happy to assist you in resolving it as you seem to be pretty upset with us!
Thank you,
Saralyn C.
Banana Hobby
It seems some of your staff have changed since my dealings with you. Perhaps others will get a much better treatment than I ever did. And no, you only get to sting me once.