This is about the workers at Local hobbie shops......

80% of the workers don't know nothing...absolutely nothing what’s so ever…in my area there are many hobby shops…and that’s the case with all of them

What you think?

I hate my LHS's. I have 2 and they don't carry tamiya, Ofna, or anything . Most of the time I get down there and have to find out myself. I hate them. I'm so glad they are building a new one down here. Hopefully they will no something. I would not be in r/c if it wasnt for the internet.

I agree. There was this one guy that work at my LHS and i asked for a exhaust coupler and he gave me a tuned pipe! Then i was thinking is it going to be the same price as the coupler?

i couldnt agree more with you guys... thats why im getting a job at the hobby shop! bring back customers and get a little discount myself... plus it looks like a fun job.

Well, I live near a larger city (Atlanta) and there are several hobby shops around. Some are a long drive but, in Atlanta, you have long drives where ever you go. It has been my experence that the help in the LHS' varies widly. The one closest to me is VERY, VERY good. They've been in buisness over 25 years and all of their help tend to be very savy and helpful on most aspects of the hobby from racing mini's to heli's. If one of the guys does not know something they will hand you off to someone who does. It's not unusual to have two or three people helping you out. They are also reasonably honest about their reccomendations on vehicles and parts/upgrades.
Other stores have downright unfriendly help and many more just hire whatever minimum wage help the can find. Of the 7 or 8 hobby shops I can think of there are two that I trust and a third that's ok. The rest I don't go to unless it's as a last resort.
To sum it up, I think to say that all lhs' have bad help is the same as saying all r/c'ers are stuck up snobs. It's your frustration letting you make too broad a generalazation and it's just not always true.

Man you guys have alot of Hobby Shops. I only have one that is a LONG drive[&o][&o]

Well i have 2 lhs that i can go to and neither are far drives as one is near my sisters house and one is near my work place. The one near my work place is more geared toward's the noobs and really only stock traxxas and duratrex trucks/buggies and mt's. So there not much of help to me but they are knowledgeable somwhat. The other one is very knowledgeable in just about everything and will do just about anything to help you out. And they are very willing to take 5 or 10% off to repeat and loyal customers. Heck i got 15% off on my losi so im not going to complain.

I work at my LHS which is in the middle of downtown Manchester. I'm probly the only one who has any clue as to whats going on with the rc car's that w carry. I remember my boss trying to sell someone a 3.3 T-Maxx when we really only had the origional T-MAxx. I decided not to say anything because I think the customer knew what he was getting.

it that reason also why you ll ALMOST NEVER find a hobby shop authorized to do service work as many dont know much let alone send someone to the Manufacturer Tech classes usually offered to BECOME authorized... its a shame but also a reality of a throw away society. easy to buy new than repair older... ect.
Timmahh

lol. once i was at a hobby store up north in sudbury( only canadian's will know the place) asking for a new motor for my tamiya. and he comes back with a microsizers motor so im like "uuhhh that isn't the right size but close though ) then he's like no way i own a tamiya and this is there motor size. so i went to the car got my tt-01 and showed him that the motor is in fact a 540 size can. so he thinks that it's some special car or something because he knows tamiya cars have microsizer motors. lol. so i said w/e. then i was looking at the revo they had out of the box and he's like."so i see u like the duratrax revo !!!!!!!!!!. lol. that guy was pissing me off that day. i never went back

You have to look at the people who are willing to work in these shops as well. Most guys that are in the hobby have jobs that are good enough that they can afford to be in the hobby. Meaning they went to college or spent enough time in a certain field to get a lot of raises and what not. The knowledgable people aren't going to leave a nice $50 k a year job to get paid 6 bucks an hour to work in a LHS. So that leaves it to the high school kids who are willing to get paid that low, or the retired guys who are just looking for a way to spend their time, and are knowledgable. More often than not, there are way more high school kids then the retired guys, so it looks like most shops are probably going to have people that don't know a ton about this stuff... Just my 2 cents

I have one LHS located in Burlington, Skycraft Hobbies. It is about a 20minute highway drive. So far I have no complaints. All the guys in there are friendly and very helpfull. I find most LHS's have the most trouble answering questions about boats as they are not as popular as planes and cars.

Ryan

THe hobby shop nearest to me (15 min dive) IS very very good, and when i started out the guy who works there help me, and he still does if theres somthing i cant figure out. There are about 2 other hobby shop within a 30 min driver for me,one is brand new, and i havent gone there yet, and the other hobby shop the guy who works there is such a POS that i will never go there again hint hint hobby nut

We have an LHS in the area (Detroit) that is great. They have their own indoor track and all of the workers are experienced racers. Some are sponsored. These guys can fix anything and really know their stuff. They don't try to sell only what they have either. If you need someting they don't carry, they'll order it or tell you where to get it. Top-notch outfit. We also have a LHS chain. Not so good, but if you find the right person, you can usually get the right answers.

I have two LHS's near me in IL. I have Venture Hobbies in Wheeling; they do great business and are EXTREMELY helpful. The only problem is they don't carry all brands, because they go off of customer's opinions of what to carry. Another LHS that I go to occasionally is Al's Hobby Shop, in Elmjurst, a little bit of a drive, but they have large amounts of inventory and parts. I haven't asked them for any help yet, but it looks as if they have their act together. It's interesting to hear all of the stories of people's LHS's.

i have three hobby shops here in milwaukee i go to. the first is happy hobby which is about 4 blocks from my house. it's a nice shop, the lady who owns it lives in the shop, well upstairs actually. she's cool, but she over charges on every thing. well not everything, but i'd never buy a car/truck there, only parts. i went there thinking i was going to buy a savage x, until i seen the price she stuck on the box. $559.99 for a SAVAGE X! i checked every where else, and it's like 449 to 419. also, this is the only lhs person i've seen walk around the shop BAREFOOT. everything in there looks kinda old and dusty, kinda like an old corner store selling dented cans of corn and other can goods and stuff with dust on it. dont let me start on her "bargain" bin. she had this pink buggy body in there, and she wanted like i think 100 bucks for it. IT WAS PINK AND BEAT UP!! i guess she does have to pay rent to keep her house/shop open though. she only has one other employee there, and he comes on rcuniverse from time to time. then there's hobbytown in germantown, about a 10 minute drive. they're okay. one of the workers knows a friend of mine. funny he was over his house when i stopped by, and my friend told him i wanted to race (never said i wanted to race him, dont know where he got that from), but the guy was like i cant right now, but i'd beat him. when he saw who i was, he didn't repeat what he said. he knows what i got. then there's greenfield news and hobby, about a 20 minute drive, they're decent, havent bought anything from there yet. dont have much of a selection. this is why i shop on the net most of the time. i told the lady at happy hobby i ordered an os .18 cv-rx and she said she coulda ordered it for me. i just thought yeah, probably add 50 bucks more to the price. i asked how much she wanted for a hyper 8 yesterday, she wants 499.99 for it. seems alright, but towerhobbies has it for like 399.99. well this post is long enough.

this is whyi love my hobby shop we have a plane guy atrain guy and a truck guy(me)but we dont have a slot car guy we all kinda help with that www.wingsandwheelshobbies.com

I have a hobbypeople in my town and the people who run it don't know anything and don't care. There is a new HobbyTownUSA and the difference is amazing. I think it's cause Hobbypeople is a chain store where the employees and manager are just paid by the hour and they know that the store will stay in business no matter what so they don't need to try and make customers happy. Hobbytown is a franchise so the owner has his own money invested therefore he gives a darn. F Hobbypeople in Rancho Cucomunga and Hesperia and their darn XTM line!!!!!!!!!!!!

we WILL BEAT tower's prices but sorry we dont deliver its diffrent here cause hobbytown wont help you unless u know the part number to what u are getting

I have a LHS right by me about a 10 minute drive. I love the store everyone there is helpful and very nice. they dont try to sell you some part that is $40 when you dont need it. Love them, they have a indoor track and all. and if you go in with a nitro they will go outside with you and help you fix it until it is fixed not just a temp. solution. good people! [sm=thumbup.gif] thats for them
PS. LHS name is larry's performance RC's

I'm in San Francisco and I go to Franciscan Hobbies, like 20min away. They are awesome. Very nice staff, and they know alot. They exchanged my battery even though I told them I was the one that melted the wires, and I didn't even ask for an exchange, I asked if it was safe to use. And I wanted to buy some stuff which they had in stock, but they told me to get it at a hardware store if I wanted to because it's alot cheaper. What nice people.

Heh heh, that's what YOU think! Let me tell you, the "fun" part wears off pretty quick and becomes a once in a while thing after you get more involved in running the place, keeping stuff in stock and dealing with the public. It's kind of interesting seeing things from the other side of the counter for a change and i can kind of sympithize for what some guys go through when someone getts pissy. Now i do kind of agree with ya'll, some people are just plain working in the wrong field and others are just total sleeze balls out to get the most cash off of you. In everyone else's defence though, some people come into the hobby shop asking a simple question but they'll describe one thing when they mean something totally different and they just stark confuse us. For instance, the other day a guy asked me, "You know that clutch on the car (doesn't tell me what car)? I need a new one, it got bent."(after about 15min I narrowed it down to a shock shaft on an inferno RTR) .........Need I say more? People come in asking questions like this all day and they look at me like I don't know squat when they can't even provide enough info about the make and model to give me a descent description to pull a part. Half of the time I'm flying by the seat of my pants anyway because of the striking lack of info that people provide when they want assistance. All I'm saying is give the guys a chance, because more often than not they've been in there all week answering wild, off-the-wall, rediculously repeditive questions and trying to work with difficult people who want help but don't know the difference between a wheel and a shock tower.

Heh...
I belive that. It would be a tough job.

I worked as a service consultant for GM for a while and Let me tell you, there are some people out there that are really hard to deal with.
Plus, like aero says, The customers expect you to know EVERYTHING and they usually can't explain the problem without actually showing you.

never had that before usually we get repeat customers and we know what they have and in our computers we type in the name and it shows the model and part history this way we keep repeats and create a happier atmosphere we also keep all the parts out from behind the counter(unlike hobbytown(we trustthe customer more)) so if they know what they need they can grab it we do alot to keep them happy and enjoy working there

Like most specialty business' it's a hit or miss deal. Basically like others have said they hire who will actually work there. Like with my local hobby shop. One kid is super nice and seems to know his stuff. I went in there asking noob questions five minutes before closing time but he was patient, friendly, and helped me figure out exactly what I wanted/needed. There's another kid that works in there that's a total douche. He acts like an R/C guru even though he couldn't answer a couple of my noob questions. He gave me the impression that he didn't want me in there so he could remain sitting on his butt getting paid to do nothing. Maybe he's on this forum and will chime in about his laziness.