Hobby king warning usa warehouse purchase
 

I have been known not to have problems with HK, but that has changed. Ordered a 3 channel 2.4 surface transmitter for boat from HK USA warehouse that included a modular type 3.7 volt battery. Transmitter delivered in four days and did not have that special battery in the box. Contacted HK via email and was issued a case number and directed to weigh the package and take a picture and reply-which I did all the steps they asked me!

At this time I open a complaint with PAYPAL- after two weeks and not hearing back from HK I elevated the complaint to a dispute for a refund.

Got the email this afternoon from PAYPAL on the dispute that was ruled in my favor for refund only after I return the Transmitter to HONG KONG!!!!!!

(I was thinking this is BS-I ordered from the USA warehouse but I needed to ship the radio back to HONG KONG to get a $33.14 refund but the outbound shipping back to them was on me.)

Needless to say I was angry!!!!

I contacted PAYPAL via telephone and spoke to Customer Service and explain the costs associated with returning the product would exceed the money spent -they put me in touch with a supervisor and she has agreed to make a one time credit on my PAYPAL account for $33.14-and to keep the transmitter which I guess could be a paper weight unless someone think it would possible to rig a 3.7 volt battery lead.
She also stated that the account for HOBBYKING was under review by PAYPAL due to the number of customer's complaints and monies being given back and they had bad rating with them. I am not going to buy nothing from them again. I did not buy that much (about $800.) in 24 months and I should have listen but I know better now!!!!

Well that sucks Jim, yet at least you got you funds back after pain of unneeded time wasted.

HKc can make up any rules they like, but are not binding in the US especially since HKc has a US foothold in at least 2 states.

Myself, if I were to buy from HKc again, I would use the newer Ebay store and make sure the item(s) were US based.


Don't know the TX nor battery hack for your radio but shouldn't be too hard.


Jared

Now you know Jim. I have been accused of bashing but after going through what you did not once, but three times, I decided they are simply less than honest and the RC community deserves to her about it.

The outfit in New York is nothing more than a PR band aid and they are not really very effective except in a very few cases. Anyway I hope you now understand the frustration that people feel when they post about their bad experiences only to be pounced on by a bunch of fans telling them " I have never had a problem with HK, what's wrong with you?" .. We see that all too often and it is not helpful in exposing Hobby King for what they really are.

Seems like the same old story . I had to get a special physical size battery for a project a few weeks ago and Value Hobby and EPBuddy were out of stock. HK had some in the USA warehouse and I figured OK some say they have improved so let's give em another chance.
I ordered 5 LiPos that were in stock on a Friday and I noticed by the end of day the status changed to "sent to warehouse to be packed". I figure great, how long can it take to pick 5 batteries and box them up? I should have these by the end of next week. Well next week comes and the status hasn't changed. Tuesday, Wednesday come and go and the status is the same. On Thursday after the status still didn't change , I was successful in opening a chat and asked why the order is still sitting? I was given a canned line response and said a message would be sent to the warehouse. Friday comes and it finally changed to packed and shipped and I got it on Thursday the following week. Would it have still sat there if I didn't call to complain......who knows?
Almost 2 weeks to get 5 small LiPos and with the other guys I get them in 2-3 days. Should have just waited for the others to get new stock !

That TX Lion looks alot like the Flysky FS B800.
http://www.hobbypartz.com/79p-fs-b800-battery.html
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Flysky-FS-B800-3-7v-800mAh-Lipo-Battery-For-FS-GT3C-FS-GT2B-GT2B-RC-Controller-/170839203128
http://www.amazon.com/Fs-b800-Batter.../dp/B00C4OO9H0

Good to hear you got your money back.

Keyman-thanks!!!! It is the same radio but different sticker !!!!

If that battery will fit and work I would purchase through the Amazon link. Even though the storefront is on Amazon, it's location is actually in China, at least there is more buyer protection with Amazon. (Click on a sellers store then Detailed Seller Information)
Also, shipping could be 17 - 28 business days which is too close to PayPal's 45 calender days for me.
Hopefully you can find a battery from an US based distributor, even though I may cost a few dollars more.

"Good luck Jim"

Jare

That battery looks a whole lot like the battery for my wife's Nikon camera

I ordered from Hong Kong and after 7 weeks I e-mailed Customer support. 2 months later (now) I got an e-mail with a tracking # 3 1/2+months after order. I did receive my order at 8 wks. Normally it took 4 wks. but the last 3 took 7-8 wks. Hmmmmm relucktant to place a new order.

Now I'm scared, I ordered from them in Jun and got an email that it was shipped, needless to say is not here yet.

If it's shipped you'll likely get it. It's when is says released for packaging or whatever for a week that you might as well just immediately cancel the order. I still order from time to time from the US warehouse. But if the package doesn't ship within 3 days I cancel the order.

I ordered 4 Life batteries from the USA Warehouse in March. Then I was notified that the USA warehouse didn't have them so they were sent from China. Still no batteries and I am done with them. They only get one chance to burn me. I don't care how good of a deal there stuff may be. If it never arrives and customer service sucks then it ain't worth the aggravation.

Jim, It was only a matter of time that you would get stung. You are only one of the thousands bitten by HK. I would not be surprised if PayPal quits servicing HK someday. It's just a matter of time.

Sorry you got bit.

Come on over to Dallas and let's go flying. The weather will be cooling off soon.

Frank

whats really wild about this is PAYPAL gave you the money back NOT Hobby King. How do I know .. because I own a web store and have won cases that were filed against me yet it was paypal that reimbursed the customers. paypal said they occasionally do this to keep their customers happy.
That upset me because we all pay higher fees to paypal to cover stupid costs like this. HK should pay for the return, repair and reshipment back to the buyer.

Paypal should have cut HK off sometime ago. HK IMO makes up for their low prices by not providing proper customer service and in some cases outright cheating their customers.

I wonder just how many disputes they have had and think about all the folks that did not file a claim and just took the loss. I have ordered several orders from HK over the past three years and fortunate everything went OK. I just like others could have loss, but I only would purchase a certain amount that I was willing to sacrifice should it not get to me.

I stopped ordering from them about six months ago just because of all the issues fellow RCers have had with this outfit. If I do order it won't be anything much at all cost wise. It is a shame this company can put those big ads in the RC mags and yet folks have so many problems with them.

What amazes me is you guys want something special but aren't willing to pay for it. Why anyone would buy something other than standard, off-the-shelf and in stock from HK is beyond me. Even then you can get screwed if it really isn't off-the-shelf.

A fellow flyer I know and fly with bought an HK battery and also a Tower Hobbies battery of similar chemistry and size rating. He was willing to pay the TH price. The TH battery was triple the price, maybe even quadruple the price of the HK battery. The irony is that the HK battery has out performed and out lasted the TH battery hands down. Should we just pay more for every thing and automatically believe it is going to be better?

I order things from many vendors from different countries for client engines. In the past few months, I have noticed that shipments leave the origin country in a normal time frame then appear to enter limbo for an undo amount of time. This sounds more like a US custom thing. Look at the tracking on the packages and see what is going on. Whether registered or EMS, they all have messaging. Is the tracking showing item shipped and accepted by whatever origin country it is leaving. There will be another message saying origin country preparing shipment then hopefully within a week the message should say cleared customs.. Usually JFK, Jamaica.. if you do not see the cleared customs message but do see origin country preparing shipment then the package is in limbo probably in customs. I have checked into this a hundred times. The past few months have been ridiculous. And finally if the package does not show having left Hong Kong then that is shippers issue meaning Hobby King but I am yet to see a problem with hobby King not actually sending something ..

I bet Tower would have replaced the battery if it performed that poorly had he asked. As far paying more it does not always mean it's a better products but
you want to buy from a company that you can trust and that most of the time means you pay more.

Academy Awards for Hobby Suppliers:
BEST QUALITY stuff: Horizon
BEST SERVICE: Tie, Horizon and Tower
BEST WEB SITE: Tower
BANG FOR THE BUCK: Hobby King (hands down, no doubt)
SMALLER, but still good guys: Hobby People, Hobby Express, Value Hobby, AMain, Heliproz, Century and others

Clearly HK has its detractors. Clearly some guys get the runaround. They make you prove your claim. The others don't, only sometimes. Not good that it happens, but you can't deny the bang for the buck.

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What happened to it was worth the risk with all the money you were saving??,,,,,,,,,, Buy a battery you should still be ahead, no?

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I was not responding to your message I was responding to toolmakers message.Read the quote....

As for your quote.... I dont know how "special" the battery is whether Lipo or NIMH or LIFe. they are all made with individual cells so make a battery. I am sure you saved a pile of cash buying from HK versus tower, correct? otherwise you would not be using them in the first place. Does the transmitter work? If so then make a battery and get over it.