LosTxSouL94

Why can't some people roll with the punches as a consumer? If I send an email off, I amuse myself with something stupid until I get a reply. Which it pretty much anything I do is stupid.

I saw one guy selling a 1:6 Stuart to make money for his missus' new bun in the oven. I said to him, which applies to everyone in the hobby, "Family first, always". I don't understand the reason to stamp your feet and cry when a seller doesn't reply straight away. I get a bit concerned when a seller who replies straight away normally takes a while. I worry that something has happened to them. Hahahaha

I would love to buy from you, Freaky. But the Australian to American exchange rate is a killer.

saber77

Can I say something I have not tried from Curtis as of yet seeing as I"M still new to tanking I just wanted to say from a customer point of thought when I try to order form someone 1st do they have the item in stock if they don't if they have a time line when it will or will not be restock or not and when they might ship my order if they do have all that I ordered after I know Im not dealing with big Co and over the years I have delt lots of small guy working more for love of doing it then the money it's just when you send someone your money and don't hear from them after sometime you just start to think your money or goods are coming back is all I'm an old dude I rember when if you oder something by mail it could take 6 to 8 weeks for it to show up now you can see them as short as 2 days I hope you get to feeling lot better Curtis and if you stay in the bizz of selling 1/16 tanks and parts I'm sure you well get one from me too and yes dealing with some customers can be the pits sorry to say

FreakyDude

bhop Clark board really doesn't need anything if you are going airsoft other than a remote as you do have to set the preferences. For IR their might be a few tweaks needed depending on set up but it is all documented and I have pdf files i can mail.

FreakyDude

only problem with keeping everything in stock so to speak is what do you stock? even a large company expects to have fill rates at anywhere from 91 to 95%, if you fill more than that on existing orders then your wasting $$ on inventory and believe me it is easy to do.
I still have parts I have ordered when I started thinking that yes they will sell but they never did.

cleong

Curtis, you're not the only guy who has been rendering free support and I completely understand why you would want to start charging someone for technical support who hadn't been a prior customer.

Its plain to see that there's a pretty large group of guys who come into the hobby, do some research (some) and think they're being smart buying from the cheapest source out there and realizing they got a malfunctioning tank with little recourse but to come to the forums to bleat for help. And help the forums render, out of love for the hobby. But when you're in it as a business, that's time and money.

The guy from Singapore selling Clark boards has the same problem. We tell the newcomers that it isn't as simple as buying the cheapest tank. If you buy the cheapest tank from retailer A, and go to retailer B, who charges a little more, but checks to make sure each tank is good to go, to get him to solve your problem, you're a parasite.

Do the right thing and support the guys who are busting their backs for the hobby. You might think that you don't owe them anything - but imagine if Curtis, Dan, or Erik no longer answers their phones or emails because they've had it with guys buying off eBay or Amazon and coming to them for help. Do you think support is free?

DirtyBird69

Good, lord..talk about a thread going out of control..My original posts was merely to see if anybody else had heard anything(maybe he was sick,out of town or there was an emergency) that's all...wasn't trying to come down on the guy. God forbid you send the money and then don't here anything back for a couple weeks and ask for a status update..I don't think that's out of line at all!

godowar

Dirtybird, I concur. Wasn't trying to come down on the guy either, just giving some info. So we all could puzzle what may have been happening out.

EVERYONE ELSE,

I formally apologize to Curtis if anything I was saying got misconstrued. I wasn't Curtis bashing,
Just reafirmed that Curtis has seemed to go comms silent.

I was further trying to get everyone to understand that Curtis is doing us all a favor acting in the capacity he does, and to show some understanding to the poor guy.

-GoW

DirtyBird69

I agree... just for the record though I have still not heard from him even though he has been posting here..I shouldn't have to quote my Tank forum ID in my email in order to get a response...I know he's a good guy and have only heard good things about him so I'm a bit amiss as to my situation..

YHR

Generally this thread has been how selling RC tanks stuff is not very rewarding financially. That is the trouble with any "cottage" industry. They are not sustainble past the interests of the main principle. IF somehting happens to him physically or he just decides to call it quits the service is done.

Unfortunatley other tthen Tamiya, and maybe Taigen, our whole hobby is made up of guys with a passion. Maybe they all fall into fall into this category. Rumor is the only reason Tamiya does 1/16 scale tanks is because MR Tamiya loves them. When he is gone the 1/16 tank releases might be gone too.

Imex-Erik

If and when you meet me Dan you will see I have plenty of passion for the hobby I love my job and I even do stuff outside of work at no charge to my boss just because I enjoy it. Taigen is about 90% of my job and it always gets first priority from me even if I have IMEX stuff to do. You may not see many personal builds from me, but in the future it might start back up. When I started no connections to the public were being actively pursued and I wanted to change that. I made it my own goal to reach out to forums (I did more than a few in the beginning but RCU ended up being my go-to) and to setup and maintain both the Taigen and IMEX Facebook accounts. This helps get people into the hobby as we have a MUCH large reach and people feel much better about entering a new hobby if they know there is someone to talk to 9-6 M-F on either the phone or internet in multiple places.
I also visit almost every hobby show we go to minus the out of country ones (as of now) and the tanks are MINE. No one can sell them or even give specs on them except for bossman and sometimes I take over and take his spotlight I really like what I do and I'll be making sure Taigen keeps stepping up our game a bit at a time!

Edit: Also, even though our IR sales are very tiny, we have absolutely NO plans to stop IR production. I believe IR is a very important part of tanking and so does bossman. This is another bit I just wanted to add in... Even though IR is not near as popular we do not care and still will be pumping out both airsoft AND infrared models for all future tanks as well.

tdipaul

I too made a purchase (on 2/21) of a TK22 and haven't heard anything. Sent an email yesterday and hope to hear back soon. I'm in no rush so its really no big deal.

But when 2 weeks go by without any communication it is bothersome, especially in this day and age. Got to communicate something.

It went down in a similar fashion with RC Command but I hope history does not repeat itself here

DirtyBird69

Just a quick update, finally received one small email saying, "They were sent. I’ll ask the wife what she did with the receipts for the shipping as they would have the tracking." .....that's it? Still nothing, no parts...no tracking info...and on top of it I received multiple pm's from other tankers having the same problems... just sayin....don't intend on beating a dead horse...but this is not a good way to conduct business, he's great right up to the point you pay, then he falls off the face of the earth..

FreakyDude

Dirty bird now that I can associate who you are on RCU with your customer name based on the info provided in this post I have credited your 16 bucks, try and get the 3 RX18's for the price of a coffee and shipping anywhere else.

tdipaul

Freaky Dude,

I am another Buyer who is experiencing a service disruption at this time (in this case for a single TK22).

At the time of the order I did not ask any time consuming questions or haggle on the price...as easy a transaction as it can get, me thinks.

Please refund my hard-earned money today and there'll be no hard feelings

Regards,

P. Snyder
Hillsborough, NJ

PS: now you know who I am too

FreakyDude

tdipaul once you return the board that was shipped, at your cost i will gladly refund you.

tdipaul

There seems to be a big misunderstanding here because I have never received anything from you, Immortal Hobbies, or anyone from Canada, ever.

Please email me the tracking that shows there has been a delivery.

It is quite possible that it was mis-delivered and the recipient doesn't know what to do with it. Unlikely but not out of the realm.

With a tracking # at least we'll know something.

Airbrushler

From what i got from Freaky Dudes post is that he was ill
and getting stuff shipped in waiting for it to get from whereever lets say China then unpack then inventory then go throught the orders and then find a box then package the product so it don't get damaged,
find who ordered what, then address it
get all of what needs to go out for postage then drive to or have ups come pick them up then it takes who knows how many days to get to anyone if it goes through customs who knows how long they sit a stare at stuff before they go through it.........SIGH!
anyways i think you guys are bitting the hand that feeds you cause i think Freaky Dude if i'm not mistaken is the NorthAmerican distributor of a lot of products..Clark Board i know for sure
i'm sure it's not as easy as it seems to actually work full time and then to take care of every single person at once so lets all step back and take a deep breath

not trying to start anything just trying to smooth things out you do what you have to do

YHR

The statement below is made out of context with anything that might be going on between a customer or vendor on this forum . It is my opinion of what I would expect personally as someone who particpates on this forum and sells a few thngs as well.

One thing about a forum is that is should be transparent. Many of us promote our agenda's, and generate interest on the products through dialouge here. So being part of this forum is a two way street.

If someone is having an unresolved issue then I think as group we want to hear about it. IF a person has trouble with Battle Armor I would hope they would send emails first and allow me a chance to resolve the issue they were having before they started blasting me here.. However at the end of the day if they were not happy with my response, and felt they were treated unfairly I would expext some feedback.here I would then debate in public my opinion and point of view to counter the allegations of wrong doing. I would then allow you fine people to make your own conclusions on the matter based on the facts shared here.

To me part of the benefit of being on this forum is to be in the know of the products available, and where they can be purchased. I personally don't want anyone cutting Battle Armor any slack just because I have been around here for 9 years. What keeps the peace is the value experience of the purchase. What makes up that value is the product and the consumer experience buying it.

tdipaul

Well said Dan.

I believe this is how all good businesses think and operate.

...Now if I can just get a tracking number or my money back (still haven't heard anything yet).

tdipaul

Still no tracking or refund.

bhop73

So, has anyone heard from him since he posted in this thread? I placed an order, fully paid, on the 5th of this month and have been trying to get a status update or email reply and haven't heard anything.

tdipaul

I ordered on 2/21. After two weeks of zero communication I asked for an update.

Aside from the initial order acknowledgement on 2/21 (and his odd #40 post) there's been no communication made to me at all.



File a dispute now!

Tanque

I'm certain there's a good explanation for
any delay, Give the fellow the benefit
of the doubt.

Jerry

tdipaul

So if there's a "good" explanation for the delay why not communicate it? Most people are very reasonable and patient. I waited two weeks before questioning anything and in my book and in this day and age this is more than reasonable and patient. If anyone disagrees with this please chime in.

Also, see post #40 dated 3/8: "tdipaul once you return the board that was shipped, at your cost i will gladly refund you".

Ok, so if it shipped back then where's the tracking number?
Ok, so if it shipped back then where is it now because I haven't received it yet.
Its been 6 full business days and shipping from the GTA to NJ doesn't take that long.

Tanque

Wow. I'm glad I no longer attempt to sell to this market.

I remember sending out small pamphlets for Maier's 1/10 Panther in the early 80s. The cost? In the beginning simply a self addressed stamped envelope.

One guy I'll never forget. He'd sent an envelope with no stamps. because I had to get stamps as I was out of them when his request came in
my response took a weekend longer to turn around. The guy was furious! He threatened to report me for mail fraud just because I didn't turn his request
around when he thought I should ( instantly I guess )! I wanted so bad to laugh....

If you've been following this and similar hobbies you find all manner of people selling products; some are perennially swift, some drag their feet.
Most of you would have a cow if you knew how long I wait from stuff from Europe for my hobby.

Perhaps the silence is for a very personal reason I don't know. What has been the track record of this seller up to now? does this fit his pattern?
If not can't you imagine there's a good reason? Haven't you considered that the cause is so personal as to have the man be unwilling to share?

I remember buying a set of reloading dies from a guy on ebay. Perfect record, nary a complaint to be read, I paid for my purchase and then nothing.
I complained, I whined and got very cross. Never heard anything. Paypal reimbursed my cost. 6 months later I received a note from a family member
that the fellow, an elderly man had passed just after receiving my payment. His fault was that he didn't leave his affairs in order. But the family member
felt compelled to explain if for no other reason that to preserve the lost family member's reputation.

I was fairly convinced the fellow hadn't planned on dying during our business transaction. In hindsight it seems a pretty far fetched ruse to up and die to cheat me out of 30 bucks.

Let's hope it's nothing so awful here.

Jerry