Now come on. Are you serious?

Marc makes amazing products that work as described. I own his clunks and will be ordering a CAT tomorrow. Just because I don't agree with his HK opinion certainly doesn't mean he's trying to derail HK for his own personal gain. That's just unfounded. He sells his products on Dreamworks and other venders and sells items that Hobbyking has nothing to do with. [&:]

I am amazed that people think that just b/c someone owns a business that produces other RC products (that HK doesn't have anything to compete with) that they are talking down about HK to further their business. That is just ignorant...

The second thing I am amazed at, are that just b/c something is "cheaper" than something else (their and 90mm viperjets are only available through HK, as far as I am aware), people are "OK" with having a 50/50 chance of getting something damaged or DOA.. Completely nuts, how would you feel if you went and bought a brand new Kia that was DOA or had front end damage off the lot, but yet for $500 more you could go to the Honda dealership and get a perfect brand new car? I don't get peoples reasoning or thought process on why it is "ok" for HK to have little to no customer service, but not anyone else. Price shouldn't have anything to do with it (granted, if its a $3 battery, you should expect junk) but when it comes to a $100+ item that is not available elsewhere, Customer service shouldn't be an option, it should be the PRIORITY, right next to taking sales..

Where did you get the "50/50" stat?

Kurt

Awesome!
strange how people buy cheap and when something that does not go there way they crap all over the web about it...
and as the lame D grade comment.... Not even close.. the 40c a larger packs HK sells are awesome!
many race with them and save a ton of cash as not to buy the marked up name brand packs
in other words, more runtime for your money

You have a 50/50 chance of getting anything Damaged or DOA. It doesn't matter what it is. Its either As advertised/un-damaged or not as advertised/damaged.. make sense?

I need you in my accounting office!

Kurt

Like I said a couple of pages ago: The HK apologists will circle like vultures over anyone that tells the truth and warns his hobby mates about HK. It's like some weird cult thing.

I don't own a hobby shop or any hobby related business. None the less, I have also been vilified and called an out-right liar for posting about my negative HK experiences.

This is known as "Shooting the messenger" because you don't like the message.

Well, I say THANK YOU to MARC, a man I have never met (and who I will unfortunately not be doing business with simply because he lives on the wrong side of the pond) but who cares enough about his fellow hobbyists to share his experiences. Those of you who wish to attack the poor guy and question his integrity based upon unsupported conspiracy theories should chill. No one is getting rich in this hobby, the guy has been a real asset to it, and there's no reasonable basis for believing he's going to gain financially from this thread If those attacking him each contributed 5% as much as he has to our hobby, then we would all be much better off.

I have had hundreds of $$ of batteries and orange receivers show up at my doorstep bad, right our of the box. The hassle and expense of returning the items to China made an effort to do so pointless. When They opened up a US warehouse and a US "customer service" line I thought id try again and was burned. Again. No one answered the phone at any time of day or night for a week, so I gave up.

Flame ME now for sharing my experiences again, if you must.

I support my LHS because they support me. I also support Todd at Dreamworks because he stands behind everything he sells. When he makes a mistake he fixes it, period.

So come on, let me have it!

Don.

You are saying that you basically dont get why people buy from HK given what can happen. HK do understand and 'get' these things which is why they are and will continue to be successful

That is interesting because it is exactly the opposite of my experience. I bought a bunch of batteries from them, based on reports here, and from personal recomendation. These where for a RC Lander Hunter. The performance was extremely dissapointing. They were incapable of delivering the current you would expect from their C rating ( Iam not guessing, I used a meter to check) . Purchasing a couple of more expensive batteries from a UK supplier with the same advertised C rating, conferred a sparkling performance on the model.
When I complained to HK I got no response. I am still waiting 2 years later.
Interestingly I saw the chap who told me how great his HK batteries were, flying another Lander EDF. His model performance was crap too, but he din'dt mind because they were cheap!
The "stack it high, sell it cheap" approach is OK for me so long as the item purchased does what the vendor claims it will do, and if it doesn't they will replace it or provide a refund without quibble.
It will be interesting to see how the HK UK operation develops. They will be subject to European law.

That's your choice and I am happy for you to make that decision - one thing I can say is if it were to fail you would not wait 5 months + for a replacement!

Sad times my friends, sad times............

marcs

HK UK Operation is developing very well. I have visited the UK outlet about 5 times and spoken to both Mr Hand and the staff there. You can collect at the door and look at your purchase before you take it away. I was also treated very well when they replaced my damaged fuz from China with one from the UK stock. Now that was in my view very good service.

In the very early days it was a friend of mine who commented directly to the Owner Anthony Hand that they should introduce a buy and collect service and they did so one week later.
I am told that they are currently shifting between 150 - 250 orders a day at the moment and they are working to have a container delivered each week

One of the reasons they opened an outlet in the UK was that they were having so much damage with overseas shipping to the UK from China and of course shipping in large containers and then local shipping or collection is a way to get over this problem.

If it did fail he probably would not need a replacement cos his plane would have probably hit the deck

More choice and a large spread of prices for products is in my view happy happytimes

I am sure you could mend your L59 you have incredible building skills and make things to such a high quility why dont you just accept the situation and repair it asuming it is not too far gone. Perhaps you would like to post some pics of the damage

Hey wait a minute. Why would a jet guy buy anything from Hobbyking?

Kurt

Here are some pics of the damage to my Hawk. Repairable by someone with skill. I also waited over 7 months and am still waiting on China but the UK gave me a new fuz.

Marcs is your damage much worse than this

cos they sell some excellent very well priced 90 mm EDF/P20 jets

I would say yes, damage is around the lower fuselage, the wing root and along the bottom of the nose section.

marcs

I could but first I should not have to, and second I don't have time.

marcs

Ah so here we are as victoriap now. what happened to vicpr? same as bertieboner and bigplumbs logins i assume dennis?

off to my nice clean bed now........................

I can only speak of my own experiences dealing with HobbyKing & they have all been positive.

I've bought about a dozen Lipo batteries, a couple of cheap chargers and a model mount video camera.

All low dollar items & all have exceeded my (very low) expectations.

At the prices charged for these goodies I was prepared to accept a few failures but so far, so good.

Would I buy an expensive item which may require back up or service (like a turbine) ...... No.

John.

Don, please read my post again. I wrote that I DON'T like HobbyKing...

Hans.

Guess I'll have to admit that you're partially right. GBRJet's products are too good to pass on... Also, I'll definitely buy from Dreamworks as their portfolio selection/service/support is outstanding.
I do still feel RCU should not allow anyone with a clear commercial interest in the hobby from taking on competitors like this. Whether founded or not (which is of course very subjective in itself).

Actually it is your free choice to buy from them ,and don't say you didn't know , everybody know's what the risks involved are .

It's a calculated risk to buy direct from China .

You did not answer the question: Where did you get the number? Are you making numbers up?


Gerardo

I bought A1 skyraider 1600 from them and broke the prop in first flight, tried to order new prop from them, they say they do not stock any parts and suggested I buy the whole plane again.

Maybe you should have brought 2 Skyraiders in the first place then you would have had a spare prop already.