hydravien

ok i, like many other people sheared the gear on my #35 and i had ordered the blue replacement off the net and was waiting for it to arrive. but i was impatient, so i went to the hobby store and decided to see if they had any workable replacement.
the guy at the store was so dumb its not even funny. ima tell you what happend

*me* walks into store and begins looking at a display of #35

guy at store : can i help you with anything sir?

me: yes im looking for a replacement tail input gear for my #35. do you have one?

store guy: im sorry sir but that model is a prototype from china, and we have no parts for it

me: a prototype?

store: yes they are finalizing the design

me: really?

store: yup

*me* looks at walkera brand name stamped all over heli

store guy: a lot of people have been coming in here with cheap ebay knockoffs

*me* sigh

me: youre sure that you have no gear that will replace this model?

store: no they are prototype

*me* continues to look at the stock everything all over the heli

store: can i help you with anything else?

me: yes i would like to get some replacement blades *looking at some 290 and 305's on the shelf*

store guy: im sorry those wont fit, those cheap ebay knockoffs are almost impossible to get parts for

*me* getting frusturated

me: do you have any blades or gears that will fit this "prototype"?

store guy: yes but they wont fit the ebay knockoff that you have

me: they look exactly alike

store: believe me they wont fit

*me* looks at the big signs that say walkera everywhere

me: youre sure?

store guy: yup

*me* walks out, intent on never setting foot in that place until they get better staff

true story i kid you not, this guy wouldnt even consider selling me any parts for my "cheap ebay knockoff"

credence

My Feedback: (2)

Someone should go back and inform him that everything Walkera makes is a cheap knockoff

I think maybe patience is a virtue in helicopters, using sticks and paper glue to "make it fly" usually ends up in disaster. Practice on a simulator or something untill your new part arrives

hydravien

i sheared the crap tail input gear, so i went looking for a new one but as i said.....

anyway my gear arrived yesterday so i got that on, and now i need something better than the stock battary

GroundMagnet

Ya I live is St Louis and all the LHS I've been to don't know that much about Heli's. But what gets me is instead of just saying sorry man I don't know they'll try BS.

timothy thompson

My Feedback: (1)

common problem the kids in these stores usually do rc cars. Anyone who knows airplanes would never get paid enough to work there so you really need to know what you want and how to do it. Im sure there are exceptions but my LHS sells anything to anybody no warnings or cautions. The owner is very knowlegable but when he isnt there watch out. the good employees leave for college and that. Need to get a retired rc guru in there but who will work for minimum.
Tru story went to mcDonalds and asked for half a dozen chicken nuggets was told they only come in 4,6,9,20 piece. Can you believe that is what schools are graduating? Terrifying isnt it

GroundMagnet

That’s funny. I go to the Jack in the box by my house and it goes like this 9 out of 10 time

Take your order.

I’d like a #8 large size with regular fries and a coke
That’s a #8 you want that small, medium or larger
Argh LARGE
You want curly fries or regular
ARRGGH REGULAR
What kind of drink you want
COKE YOU #$)*#)*$ F#$*()#*$
Of course I say it nicely as I don’t want any thing extra in my food.

credence

My Feedback: (2)

Hahaha, never raise **** with the service industry! Atleast, wait untill after you've got your items [sm=lol.gif]

moe_lawn

Yeah, man I work in a hobby store and do all the flying. It is hard to resist the urge to tell someone that the ebay knockoff is crap, but that's only because I get frusterated making things work. The stuff you get on ebay is usually pretty ok it just needs some extra tuning. When you buy from eflite or one of the heli companies they test fly the stuff and know what they are doing. Half the time the stuff you get on the 'net is put together by four different guys who never see eachother and are setting everything to defaults. The guy in your store should have been a little more helpful and if he couldn't help he should have at least left you alone long enough to find the parts that work. Hobby shops should be a cool place to hang out and talk about the stuff you would rather be doing while you shop.

bdavison

My Feedback: (1)

Oh man...thats funny.

Here's one.

Hobbyshop in Macon, GA

Me: Do you have any helicopter stuff?

Him: No, but there are some planes in the back.

So I go look at the planes. He had some Gillows kits, and a bunch of old SIG Kits that looked like they had been there for 40 years and a bunch of SuperTigre engines.

Me: Do you have any electric stuff?

Him: What do you mean by electric?

Me: You know, flys on an electric motor instead of these glow fuel engines.

Him: Oh they dont make anything like that yet. Its still a few years away. But we have some rockets up front that use batteries to power a camera that takes pictures.

Me: Trying as hard as I could not to laugh my *** off right there in the middle of the store.


Now here's the real kicker.....

They had copies of PARKFLYER magazine on the shelf next to model trains.


I had to leave the store, because if I didnt I was going to say or do something that probably would have gotten me shot or something.



Here is some more McDonalds fun....

Goto McDonalds and order something, when he/she gives you the price, ask them if they take Federal Reserve Notes.

50% of the time he/she will say NO
50% of the time he/she will say "Let me ask my manager" then the manager will come out and say "NO"

Now look at the top of a dollar bill.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

oops

C'mon guys, don't dis the hobby shops. Most hobby shops spend their time trying to stock things that people more commonly order from Ebay now, and simply cannot specialise in the 40 or so areas they get stuff in for. And then they still need to make enough money to pay their staff, in an industry full of tyre kickers....

Yeah, I find that some are crap, but they stock things like 2mm carbon rod, which I use a lot. And they feel they need to use their "mine is better than what you are referring to" line a little much, but they do answer my questions at least.

On the other hand, I've spoken to some of them lately, and mentioned some of the better, cheaper stuff I've been finding, and they look into getting it. I've put one local place onto the T-Rex distributers, because their existing Heli distributers are ripping them off.

As for quality tuning and testing, I'm presently placing a wholesale order with a Heli manufacturer to get some stock to work with, and I'm going to retune the heli's and see how well they sell when set up for operation, competing with the same model "untuned" but then I don't have any overheads, so I can afford the experiment... And if they don't sell, I have stock to last me a few years

No, I'm not a hobby shop.... But I do appreciate what they do.

Educate them - They exist to serve their clients. They will likely pick up on any good ideas you show them...

And if you get an older place that's not familiar with electric flight, then show them a park flyer or micro electric heli... You'll probably find them a new market.

Especially since the Hobby shop market for small electric heli's is STILL about 10 times the size of the Internet market.

David

hydravien

i cant not knock this guy. hes just that dumb

me: can you help me with my helicopter?
him: yes what kind?
me: walkera 400
him: sorry we dont have parts for that model. they are chinese and the parts are almost impossible to get a hold of.

so i wait a bit and go back the next day

me: can you help me with my helicopter?
him: yes what kind?
me: shogun 400
him: parts are right over here
me: sigh

oops

Hi Hydravien,

Some people aren't dumb - they're just crooked. But if you think it's dumb, play the game..

The conversation could have gone like this...

You: Hey, look, don't tell anyone who told you, but I'm real close to Walkera.... They sold me a prototype also - Factory direct - except I asked for mine to work with other parts, and they custom built it... But it really cost a lot... Much more than the crap on ebay... More than some of yours actually.... They said it would work with those (point at wall) parts... But heh, don't tell too many people OK, because the other suckers on Ebay might want the same version....

eg, Pander his ego, convince him he's right and then just make sure he know's the customer is always right...
Don't make him think you got something he's trying to sell for a zillion dollars for a fraction of that price. It will piss him off and he might not sell to you just to cause you hassles.

I get the same attitude from most of them, and sometimes it's just them.... Afterall, think how many people buy stuff, then try to return it. Many hobby shops would rather not sell something than have someone try to return it.

Occaisonally I am wrong. Heh, I wear those purchases... Now the hobby shops see me coming and actually give me service, rather than the suss stuff... And I get to show that I can make any parts work in my Heli...

Regards
David

bdavison

My Feedback: (1)

Im lucky enough to have TWO fantastic hobby shops near me.

One is Tony Stillman's Radio South. Tony is a great guy, AMA VP over
our district, and runs one of the hottest hobby shops around. The great thing about Tony's shop is he stocks what the locals want, not just randomly filling the shelves with the misc and useless parts. While his shop is small, its jam packed with the hottest stuff out there. From Hatori headers for YS engines, to every new shockflyer out there. Best part of all is his shop is within walking distance from my workplace, so I head down there on my lunch hour. I'll buy from him LONG before I order anything online for three reasons.
1. Im supporting my local hobby shop.
2. I know Tony will back up his stuff.
3. If Tony doesnt have it in stock, he'll order it.
Tony's electric interests mainly cater to the indoor 3D plane crowd, and its hot here. Most of the local pilots have at least 4-5 3D planes and fly them every week in our local gym.

The other hobby shop is Hobby Central in the local mall. This place is like a virtual walmart of parkflyer stuff. From the GWS stuff to Parkzone's newest offerings you can find it in there. The staff is new to airplanes and helicopters, but they are learning rapidly. They are stocking the Blade, Shogun, and Dragonfly's, and parts for them all.

There are good hobby shops and there are bad hobby shops.

The good ones are the ones that listen to the customers and stock the items that they need and want. When someone comes in there looking for something they dont have, they order it for them REGARDLESS of where they bought it, or if its a cheap knockoff.

The bad ones are the ones that moan everytime someone comes in looking for parts for an aircraft they didnt buy there, or telling them they bought a cheap knockoff, and refusing service, or not keeping up with the hobby, or not knowing a **** thing about R/C.
Hobby shop owners that dont know anything about the hobby is like a Plumber that doesnt know how to plumb....completely useless.

GroundMagnet

Bdaison,

I agree the problem here is dumb or should I say un-trained help and of course most of the stores are just now getting into Heli some have them but few fly them so questions get BS. I don't have a problem in the world if someone say Sorry Sir I don't know but give me some time I I'll find out. When I was a newbie (probably still am but I can fly with out crashing if I want) I would go to the LHS and tell them Hey look I'm new to this do I need this and will it work. OH yes this will help a lot!!! Twice I got parts for birds I don't even own. It boils down to managment or lack of and training and hiring kids a low wages so they don't care. IMO


Tony

hydravien

actually its not only me that has a problem with the people there. almost everyone in our local club doesnt like them. it wouldnt be all bad if he would help us with anything, but as soon as you tell him its from ebay, he will say sorry cant help you with the chinese knockoff's. and then he will go and help another customer. really thats what he does. supposedly the store owner knows a lot about helis but he is never. and i was going to buy my cheap ebay knockoff from them, because they said they would have full support and parts for that model. they said that in may. it is now the end of july and still no heli or support

futura

My LHS gave the employees blade CP's. The Manager fly's a shogun. 30% of my times through the door, they are hovering Blades in the isles or putting together park flyers in the back or having competitions on G3.

There are 4 LHS in my small City. They range from the worst story in this thread to the best. I found the best by going to the flying fields (6 inside 20 miles) on the weekends and tracking down the shops that had employees that were at the fields. If your at the field, your flying, you know what is new, wanted and works/doesn't work.

Rob helped me with my walkera 22a (e-bay purchase) but I had to tell him the hornet II parts were a match. He's a global supplier so I then had a LHS supplying parts.

I got a shogun from him eventually.....after flying the 22a for him to see, he let me fly his shogun......SOLD!!!

All the global (hobbypeople) CNC shogun parts are hanging on the wall.

It's nice to see new and perfect heli's built up and on display....its far better in my oppinion to see crashed heli's because it means the employees are getting valuable experience. Though it may not be too safe to fly a Blade in a hobby shop. It payed of....they sold all 15 in last weeks order two days after the shipment came in. With the employees crashing, the walls are stocked with Blade and Shogun parts.

They also sell everything from slot cars, trains (all scales), science kits....even ant farms......and 2mm CF rods. ( :

We are very lucky....but I think the key is to share information with your LHS.....pick one with employees that are out playing the game on thier time off. You tell them what you need and they get the dealer discounts. Fly what they fly and you get in on thier orders and discounts. The employees won't fly something that its any good and will know how to get the most value out of the model they use.

Get something no one has and your on your own....except for the forums that is.

bdavison

My Feedback: (1)

Futura,

You hit on a good point.

The really good hobby shops are the ones that are run by pilots themselves.

Its a sure bet if a hobby shop is run by people that dont fly, its gonna be a lousy hobby shop.
There is a hobby shop here that used to be really good back when it was run by a pilot, but now his son has it, and he doesnt fly....poof. It went down hill from there. Now its full of oil paints, and women's arts and crafts.

The hobby shop in the mall had a great selection, but the folks that worked there hadn't flown or dealt with helis before. They started carrying the Blade, and none of them knew much about it. So I went to the hobby shop and did a demo of the blade heli in the store. Needless to say they've sold TONS of them. I also let the guys fly my Hirobo XRB around in the store. Now they have a much better understanding of heli's and they understand what it takes to fly them. Now they can give their own customers better information when selling their products. Also, now they know me as a local pilot and a customer instead of just a guy that browses their store.

sparkling_fist

i live in uk england london.

and i dont know any heli clubs that are close.
and the only hobystore i know is "hamelys"
and that place is a rip off

it sells a raptor 30 v2 for £400
(near $700)

there is a really bad helicopter (looks over 15 years old)
electric.. tail motor,. and is over £300

so i buy all my stuff from ebay.

btw does any1 know the difference between a walkera brushless actiyator bec and esc?
i think they are ment to keep ur heli blades turning at a onstant speed instead of slowing down as the battery runs out

JohnFH

My Feedback: (6)

My 2 cents on the matter....
I work for my LHS, I am responsible for the heli support and parts ordering, we won't sell any heli we haven't personally built and flown (tough job, but someone has to do it). I stock parts for most of the major brands flown in our area. Between stocking kits, parts, radios and..... there is several thousand dollars sitting on the shelves.

To be totally honest, we are not fond of the people that come in and say "I just bought it off the net, can you help me...." It is not cheap running a store, and trying to provide good customer support and also compete with internet pricing. To then have people ask for all kinds of help on something they didn't buy from our store, is a little frustrating.
If you want your local hobby shop to be able to hire experienced help, start by purchasing from your LHS, the more of your business they receive, the more we learn about the products you use, and in turn can provide better support (I learn a lot from customers).

It is a two way street, you want your LHS to be a place of support and parts, you need to rethink the next time you hit the "buy" key on the computer, and consider taking a ride or making a call to your LHS. We can't be there for you, unless you are there for us.

hydravien

my lhs just doesnt have the knowledge to help me tho. i live in a town where there are two hobby shops, one where the staff are knowledgeable and helpful. all the people from the local club go there. however if you goto the other store and ask for a simple part, they will not help you. i tried to buy some align 315's from them. the guy wouldnt sell them to me because they wouldnt work. i cant support them if they are going to act like that now can i? i dont mean to be rude but thats the way they are

Sabot

forget hamleys. there are loads of good clubs and stores in and around london

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

Hobby Town USA I ask them why they do not carry any helicopters or parts in their stores(2 stores here)?Answer:Helicopters will not fly at this altitude at all so why carry them?So I asked them how I get my Nitro and Electric to fly so well here?Answer:Blank Stupid stare and no answer.They are all morons!!!!!![:@]

hydravien

wow thats funny. thats like the people at the hobby store here

corey19981

hehe! mate, hamleys is a world famous toy store! it's not going to be cheap! (know the shop, been there a few times since I live very close to london)

futura

That LHS I was mentioning above....with the guys that fly at the local fields....


Hobby Town USA.....


It really comes down to the people that are working the shop...not the company name of the shop.

I bought an Ebay heli....had tons of problems and they still helped me....they also demo'd thier stuff for me and have gotten over $1200 from me so far since then. Granted, I was in not just asking for setup help but buying electronics and upgrades trying to get my Walkera to fly....they had good reason to help.