Lnewqban

When you visit a brick and mortar hobby shop looking for a couple of items, .............

...........and the staff tells you that they don't have them in stock..............
.............. but that you can order them through the store if you pay in advance...............
...............and also promise you that it would only take three days for the items to arrive form their warehouse......

Then, you pay in advance with a credit card and you wait, and call four days later, and............

They call you a week and a half later for you to go by and pick up your items.................

Is it common practice that they charge you shipment from wherever they get the items to the shop?[]

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

Not at my LHS. I pay the price he quotes me, which means he has added his standard mark up , but he doesn't charge shipping on top of this.

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

Get the terms, conditions, and price up front. If you don't like them, order by yourself.

If Iwas asking a shop to order something outside their normal shipment cycle Iwould exepect to pay the extra shipping. If they were just adding it to their regular order, I wound not be willing to pay for shipping.

SeamusG

My local BIG (multi-location) LHS is very impersonal - they'll order anything from other store stock or mfg / distributor. They won't call. They won't remember who I am. There is no pre-payment just inconvenience. Oh, is that a model railroad part or a car part? Only upside - 1/3 mile from home.

My local family LHS is very personal - they'll include my request on their next week's order or special order if I ask. They will call to verify that they placed my item on their order. They will call me when the item arrives - 1st thing in the morning so I have the full day to pick it up. There is no additional shipping cost. I pay when I pick up the item. If I forget my check book (no CC) they'll take a payment NTYI - "next time you're in".

My not-so local LHS is a junk drawer. If they don't have it, well, it probably doesn't exist or the owner will tell you why a $5 item is better than the $20 item that you're looking for. If you want to rebuild any Saito or YS or OS - look on the wall and you will find the parts. Thousands of rolls of film. Want a $280 Hanger 9 ARF for $140 - you'll probably find it.

Guess I'm lucky ...

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Nope. A lot of hobby shops are now charging shipping on giant scale ARFs though. I never pay in advance, period, etched in stone!!
I just gave a local hobby shop a try several weeks ago. The fellow had to order me a Xora prop, 3 days. OK. First he asked my phone number, he wrote it on a scrap of paper. Then he asked me for my phone number that he just wrote down. Feeling the doubt yet. He said he would call me when it came in. On the third week still no call. OK, I drove the 20 miles to the shop. Closed on Monday!! No add or number in the phone book. Hope he can use the prop for a butter knife.
I went through having to deal with a crap hobby shop or two when I lived up in the hills but I no longer fool around. I don't need to, I have 4 hobby shops in my area. None of them real close to me but three of them are close to each other so when I go into that part of town I hit all three. This one I tried is the other side of town. Won't be going back that way any time soon.

DavidAgar

My Feedback: (108)

Not at my hobby shop. I can order anything on Monday and have it on Thursday with no frieght charges added in at all. Good Luck, Dave

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Same thing here at Nice Twice in Vegas. If I order on Monday it is here about Wednesday afternoon. They even call me when they find my items in the order during sorting so I know when it is in. That's good service. I even get a call if there is a problem with my order like out of stock. No shipping fee.

42etus

My Feedback: (2)

My local hobby shop is 30 miles away and caters to nearly every hobby one can think of, but none very well. Even though there are 5 flying clubs in the area, his stock of airplane supplies is dismal at best. A customer is usually advised " sorry, we don't have that, but we can order it for you". Heck, I can order it my self and don't have to make two 60 mile round trips.

On the other hand, my not so local (190 miles) hobby shop maintains a huge inventory of in-stock products. They will usually give me a discount on bigger ticket items that more than pays for the shipping costs. Two day later FedEx is at my door.

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

I own a LHS. If i know you and you are a regular I don't ask for money in advance. I tell you if you'll wait until i order on Mondays no shipping charge. Other then that I can do anything up to overnight but you pay shipping.
On the other hand. In the beginning I wasn't asking for payment up front from anybody. You should see the stuff I have that nobody picked up. I had to pay to get it and it's still here.
So now if I don't know you, you pay that way I don't care when you come.
On big ticket items I do ask for a deposit.
I make out a sales slip and both of us get one. when it come in I call that day.
If I find out it's on B/O I'll call and you have a choice to cancel or hold and wait. I'll refund the money if you cancel.
I take orders at the field and will call the next day to let you know I ordered and when to expect it.
Dennis

saramos

My LHS doesn't charge me up front, quotes me a competitive price and does not charge me for shipping. There have been times when they even have offered to stock items if they think it might be an item I'll want again. On the other hand, there are times when I'll get items from them rather than saving a couple of bucks by ordering it online.


Scott

jetmech05

Dadstoysbg hit it....I used to work at my LHS.....we ordered on Tuesdays received on Thursdays....no shipping charges at all because we just ordered your stuff with the stores stuff.
He is correct though you can't believe the special orders that never get picked up....You'll have a customer that looks like he's about to wet himself dancing around...to order a part we call when it comes in and then....nothing...we call again next week and still nothing.....Oh you talk to the person they just don't ever come in to pick stuff up.....we had a list of customers, regulars even, that had to pay up front due to their history
If you have a LHS that has a warehouse in a different location than the store you are in he goes to the warehouse all the time anyway....it's unreasonable for you to have to pay shipping charges

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Not all hobby shop owners are created the same. D's in Merced Ca. and Hobby Town in Fresno Ca. are two of the {{I can order that for you}} and you will never see the item ordered and if by any chance it does come in then a phone call to you well never be dialed. This last shop I tried was Henderson Hobby. No number in the book, no phone call letting me know if the part has come in or not then to drive 20 miles to find the shop closed on a week day. Sorry, no way would I ever give these people money up front for any reason. If it needs to be ordered I can place the order myself and have it show up at my door. Finding Nice twice in Vegas was a god send. Great service but just so rare these days. They did start passing on the added cost of shipping to the customers for those big over size boxes but they show you the shipping bill before they charge you.
Some hobby shops are just better then others and if you don't have a good one in your area then you have a computer and phone. You don't need brand X hobby service to order for you.

jetmech05

Gray is correct as well....hobby shops, businesses in general, won't stay in business long without customer service.
When we had a customer that needed a part ordered then we filled out the order slip and placed it under the drawer in the register....collected daily when we closed out the register. when parts arrived we priced and put aside specail orders.....then we stocked the stores items then we called the customers that ordered parts because it was now after normal working hours and you caught folks at home....

phatbob02

My Feedback: (126)

The same goes for me. I can call and order, leave my name and phone number and they call me when it's in. They also match the price of the big on-line retailers.

Lnewqban

Bad experiences are only bad if you don't learn from them.

Thank you all, great posts!

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Your saying you don't use a scrap of paper?? Nice uses a note book to place there orders but it's all the items they need, not just customers items so there orders all get placed on the same day. When there order arrives everything is marked off as they sort them. I don't know if it's just because they know me, I think not, but they phone and mark my items when they find them in the box then set customers items in another box so they know where to look for them. I have gotten my call and gone right over to pick it up and they were still sorting the order for stocking.
When I order something maybe not often asked for I'm asked what I use it for. If it sounds good the owner will often order several of the item to stock. These items often become a hot item for them.
When I moved here I was so lucky to have been taken over there and introduced to the owner and his crew. After living in the land of useless hobby shops I feel blessed. You don't find dolls or little green army men in this shop. The owner has a bit of stuff for cars and boats but he caters to the model airplane people. A lot of giant scale items, builders supplies and last but not least, {depending on how you think} tons of ARFs and electric items.

frets24

My Feedback: (15)

Same here, with the addition of; they ALWAYS beat Tower or Horizon's base price and the tax never, ever even comes close to what the shipping charges would be. Monday order usually in by Thurs at 11:00 am-5:00pm at latest.

carlgrover

Whenever I used to order something through a hobby shop they never charged me shipping fees. It was always the cost of the item plus tax. However; I would be promised a phone call when the part came in (5 days). After a two and a half weeks had passed, I had already called the shop several times to be told it hadn't come in yet. After another week of no phone calls I would call again to be told it was there and I could pick it up (45 minute drive). I will NEVER order from a hobby shop again.