Ok let me start by saying that I like Tower for prices ect , but there customer servace at timeS is really poor . I ordered over $400 dollars of products in early November to complete some planes . Part of my order was two Extreme Pliots , my kids wanted to get them for me for Christmas . They were backordered for mid December , then late December , then early January , now mid January . Ok liFe is two short to worry about two stupid pilots , my kids felt bad about dad not getting his stocking stuffers but I made sure it was no biggie .
My issues is that these pilots are in every hobby shop I go in , yet Tower keeps backordering me and I am waiting calmly , but here is the good part . I am checking my credit card statement and there is this weird charge $6.95 for Tower Hobbies ??? I dont charge things that cost 6.95 then I found out that tower charged me for shipping the pilots but I was never shipped and never received the pilots . Guess what after calling them I FOUND OUT THAT THEY CHARGED ME FOR SHIPPING THE PILOTS , RAN OUT OF THE PILOTS BUT NEVER REMOVED THE CHARGED , NO EMAIL NOTHING , NO APOLOGY ECT .WOW , I THOUGHT I WONDER HOW MANY TIMES THEY DO THAT TO CUSTOMERS ???? IN ADDITION I WAS CHARGED FOR SHIPPING ON THE INITIAL ORDER , I WAS TOLD IN EMAIL THAT MY BACKORDER WOULD NOT GET A SHIPING CHARGE . SO LIKE I SAID LIFE IS TWO SHORT TO WORRY ABOUT SMALL THINGS LIKE THIS SO SINCE THEY FEEL ITS OK TO CHARGE YOU , NOT SHIP YOU AND NOT TELL YOU , I WILL JUST BUY FROM OTHER SUPPLIERS , THANKS BEWARE , CHECK YOUR STATEMENTS AND I KNOW MANY OF YOU WILL SAY "NOT ME ,THERE GREAT ' YEP THAT WAS ME TOOOOOOO.

I personally cant say anything bad about Tower Hobbies. I've been ordering from them for over 12 years now, and no mishaps as of yet. They are truly the modeling worlds largest distributer, and with a company as large as them serving almost all countries, its hard not to have complications of some sort at times. I agree, they shouldn't have charged you a shipping charge for an item that was never sent. But in all reality its probably not Tower as a company screwing you. Its probably some kid working part time jerkin you around ..MY only bad experience was with American Hobby Center in New York. I ordered a C/L plane from them with a money order about 10 years ago. (It was a Cox Thunderbolt).....I waited almost 5 months on it!!!! I kept callin them and they would say, it'll be there tomorrow. Or its on backorder...Or its not been sent yet. Truly horrible service. I was only like 12 years old then. I havent dealt with them since. Companies cant always be perfect, but Tower has a reputation of being pretty close. Good luck on gettin your situation sorted out....Peace!

Agreed , that is why I said no big deal , my issues is that how about an email or simple apoligy . I take my personal credit very dearly and I have nevr been charged in my 25 years of having credit cards and not shipped the goods . IN addition if there was ever an error the credit was entered by the company making the error immeditly and on the same statement as the charge . When calling Tower , they could not even tell me what the charge was , they had to research it for about 20 miniutes .Then they figured out on there own that they actually screwed me by thinking they were shippiing my backorder that was placed on 11/9/2004 . THey ran out of the pilots and did not ship my back order but charged me the shipping , LOL.
The customer servace people that we dealt with at Tower were professional and certainly not kids , yet they really cant do anyting but try to fix the charge , no sorry for the charge , no sorry for never shipping you for over two months ect ect ect . As a VP of Sales , I can tell you that is not good customer servace regardless of the size of the order .

I've never had a problem with Tower's customer servIce. The one time I needed to contact them for an order problem (wrong size prop shipped), they were polite, apologetic, and fixed the problem quickly. I've always found that if I am polite, and patient that the person on the other end of the phone is the same.

I also do not buy things that are not in stock, unless it's something I can afford to wait for. The estimated arrival times are just that, estimates. It's too easy for one of the trains, boats, trucks, etc between the manufacturer in China and one of the warehouses to be delayed. If the item is not in stock and I need it by a certain date, I look elsewhere. You said the pilots were in stock at "in every hobby shop" you go to. Why get angry with Tower for not having them? Just buy from the LHS.

Chuck , I did not know they were in stock at the LHS until I after I ordered them .
I always support the LHS first and as stated earlier I have never had a problem with TH before but I felt that this was not handled properly considering it involved my personal credit .I have another post going called -favorite hobby show where and why , in my travels i realized that all these shops have the pilots in question and was continually puzzeled at the Tower Backorder time (almost 60 days)considering there size and buying power . The back order was not the problem , "the charge was" and I would have that problem with anyone in business no matter what business we were discussing .
Thanks
Lou

I'm another Tower booster. The have always treated me well, even on back orders. The few times I've beeen unsatisfied with a product they have always done their best to overcome the problem. I realize that they are not necessarily the manufacturers and some of the problems can be blamed on their suppliers. I bought a scratch and dent item a couple of years back that said box damage only. It was more than that and Tower made it right even though scratch and dent is caveat emptor and no returns.

It sounds unlikely that they would 1- not admit a error and 2- not give your money back.

I have dealt thousands through tower and have never been under serviced when an error has occured (2 errors). Why did you not cancel the order when you found a local supply- Was it a price difference by your (LHS)?

P.S. Here is my last order 12/31/2004- Unbeatable Prices......!!!!

DS8003 Tower Hobbies #1 Tower Super Saver Club Renewal
1 $14.99
PC7130 $30 Promotional Discount
1 -$30.00
TOWZ2200 TOWER SPECIAL OFFERS-A
1 $.00
LXES51 Robart 132 Treaded Wheel 2-3/4"
1 $10.79
LXET64 Robart 108 P-51 .60 Scale Gear Strut
1 $11.99
LXFJT2 HPI 5-Cell 6V 1200mAh Rx Stick Pack
1 $21.99
LXUY33 Great Planes Mechanical Retracts .60
1 $24.99
LXGAE953 7CAF FM R127DF 4 S3004 53
1 $228.99
LXDTB3 Futaba S3010 Standard High-Torque Servo
2 $49.98
LXHZ07 Top Flite Cockpit Interior Kit 1/5 Scale Corsair
1 $15.99
FED EX HOME DELIVERY: Shipping Waived
Total Current Charges: $ 349.71

No the price of the pilots was the same, guys your missing the point , I did not start this over two pilots worth $30 plus $6.00 shipping , it was that I had a charge on my credit card for goods and servace not rendered , it was that simple and nobody seemed to care .

You dont have to go on and on about how much you love Tower , read my post carefully and you will see that I do not dislike Tower , however i will look at every transaction a lot closer ,no matter how big or small it may be .

Have you ever had a charge on your credit card for something you did not purchase or servace not rendered ?? that was my point , you dont have to tell me how much you love them , I said before they are the Biggest because they do many things correct , however they can aslo learn how to deal with errors in a more proactive manner .

No- I don't think we are missing the point at all. Are you saying that you cannot get this resolved? If not your method or your the information your telling us may be flawed. If your back order is part of a larger order than shipping should be 0.00 And you should only be waiting for items to be in stock.


If they (tower) acknowledge that they have charged you for shipping and the item is back ordered then cancel the order and have them credit you the shipping charge. Also be sure you have not already paid for the items (they will not charge you until the order is able to be filled)- This sounds like a simple error nothing more- If you are still concerned and tower tells you to shove it!! (unlikely) Than call your card provider and dispute the charge (service charged but not rendered will win every time).. Even $6....

I thinks your problem can be solved with one simple phone call to tower- (remember be nice) Those people you talk to only make $8.00 p/hr and they don't need someone yelling at them.. Just remember they are not the enemy (the computer that charged you shipping is) Works for me every single time.

P.S. The computer charging spurious shipping cost may have an agenda -like building robotic exterminators- I for one welcome our new credit card charging digital overlords...

They, either a person, or computer, made a mistake. You called. After a few minutes, they figured it out and corrected it. It seems you were offended during the call because a) they did not kowtow, and b) it took them too many minutes to find their error. Forgive me for perhaps being dense, but I really don't see why you are making an issue of it. I can see that this discussion might degenerate into an argument, I guess I should say no more.

yes did get it resolved , first called tower and they had to have me call them back while they researched it , then called back and they said they charged me but did not ship me so the would credit my account the charge and yes they were also charging me shipping on a back order that was part of an $400 order that already had shipping in it .
Yes it was resolved , no shippment of the completed order, charged for shippment then removed , delayed project for some time , end of story .

No argument , it was just a heads up that it occured, not a few miniuts 25 min on the toll free line , then told needed to call back .
You can judge what you want just making a statement that it was not the way it should have been handled that was it . The cost was irrelavant , but no need to repeat it again .

I for one don't mind the heads up- After all I deal with tower all the time.. The evil computer aka (skynet) may have charged several people shipping. I will look my account over for any errors just in case....

See Broken has the right idea, it is a conspiracy and if you charge enought people $6. for parts they dont receive you to can become the largest hobby distributor in the US with the ultimate goal of world domination . lol