Taigen Woes
 

Just purchased a Taigen Sherman 76mm. Item was shown as a kit but didn’t say that there was no manual. I had just put together a Taigen Tiger 1 and enjoyed the build. Then I put together a Tamiya tank kit with no problems.Taigen has tank kits that say AMTR but this and other kits do not say that. I asked to return the kit and they said that I needed to pay for shipping back and a 20% restocking fee.That is bad customer support. All they said was sorry. Now I am stuck with a box of parts and a bad taste in my mouth for Imex and Taigen.

That's too bad, especially they don't seem to have a build manual on their site like they do for the Tiger I & Leo 2, at least not readily visible. Hopefully Erik will step in and make it right. I have had really good support and communication with them, although about a month ago, I was exchanging email with them on a Leo upper as they "found" some units in the warehouse, we went back & forth and I asked a couple of questions + trying to add some small parts to get a final quote, then the email stopped. I even followed up at least twice to no avail.

I ended up not getting the Leo 2 upper from them when the communication ceased. Maybe something happened and things fell through the cracks? Funny thing is that I see those Leo upper listed on their site, I bet I would have no trouble getting one if I ordered online right now.

I heard from Taigen Erik not handling RC tank anymore. but i might be wrong, trying to get Taigen RC again they said they not ship RC tank to Australia. Torro jack their price alot recently .

Erik does not handle customer support any more, he is way to busy with business. I have had success at buying parts that are not listed specifically on their site. But don’t make the conversation too long or complicated.

as for the kits, yes Imex really lacks at them and I wish they did better. I bought a kit long ago and it was really a collection of spare parts, luckily I had lots of Sherman’s already and knew what I was doing.

they are not that complicated so do your best to assemble it and post here where you get stuck and we can help you out getting it running.

Taigen Woes
 

I cannot afford to take a $70.00 hit on a Taigen Sherman Kit that is not a kit but parts that are thrown into a box with empty boxes in the bottom for fill. When you open the shipping crate you see empty boxes open in the bottom and the first thing that you think is that someone had opened the box and stole the continents. There was no instructions or paperwork in the box. I wanted to buy the LEO because they come with manual and instructions. They have a few tanks that says they are ARTR but in reality all are but the LEO and Tiger 1. If they will not return my money I will probably need help building the Sherman 76mm . Luckily, I did not buy the electronics and give them more money.

The Sherman is an easy tank to assemble, really. The hardest part is figuring out the idler installation.
screw the bogies on the sides, install the wheels with their bushings and put some locktite on the wheel screws and bogie screws.
then install the transmissions. Slip the nose in place and screw it on.
find the idler shaft and push it through the idler wheel and into the hull, take and E clip with tweezers or pliers and set it in place and push it over the shaft and clip it with the end of the pliers.
sitck the fake adjuster plastic caps into the slots over the E clip on the shaft.
install tracks, use locktite on the sprocket screws
if you have trouble pushing the caps into the sprocket and idler wheel then sand the circumference gently until it pushes in with slight tension.

Jerry, here are several videos that may help

I first met Erik about eight or nine years ago when he was just starting out at Imex. Since then I've watched as Erik's responsibilities and workload have grown and grown and grown. Finally to the point where the owner of the company got him a couple of minions to help lighten the load. So, now the minions handle most of the email correspondence and to be honest, they're not half as good as Erik is and probably never will be. Erik has always been very very good at customer service but his job has grown past that point and he now has many other responsibilities. About the only time Erik answers an email these days is when a minion can't figger things out and has to go to him for help. But having happy customers is still the goal. There may be a manual for the Sherman in the works, but like Rich said, it's a very simple tank and not difficult to put together, I'm sure that With a Little Help from the guys I'm sure you won't have any problems assembling this tank. I've built several of them and Rich has built thousands of them so I would suggest that you go ahead and begin the assembly and if you have any problems at all just come here and we'll do everything we can to help you. These guys are all about promoting The Hobby, as am I, so we're always willing to help, all you have to do is ask. Check out the videos posted above and if you have any other questions or problems, just come here and let us know.

Taige Woes
 

It is not about building the ARTR, it is about the complete build with instructions and pictures. I enjoy the long hours of the build were you put every piece in place and get the enjoyment out of the finished product. The Tiger 1 was an enjoyable build and I was looking forward to building the Leo sometime in the future.

Jerry, I suspect there's not an assembly manual for the Sherman because I looked around for you under Torro and they also only market 2 boxed kits - Tiger & Leo, both of which have assembly manuals. Torro kits
And if you refer back to Taigen's site, they never show any box with their ARTR kits, only for the Tiger & Leo.

The ARTR "kit" you bought is probably assembled by IMEX from parts (nothing wrong with that). If you choose to move ahead with the build, I am sure Rich and Crius would be of great help.

This sounds like a fun build. Tricky with no instructions but fun. We have confidence in you Jerry!:)

Some of us do A LOT of scratch building so not having a manual is pretty common. The Armoured Models SU-152 conversion has no manual or even pictures. Their TUSK2 kit has some pictures that come with it with no instructions. I guess I'm just used to it. There are a lot of resources here to draw from if you decide to build it. Not sure what's worse, having a manual ala Vandra with parts that don't fit like they should or having no manual with parts that need no tweaking. I think I would take the latter of the two choices.

Taigen Woes
 

Received an email from Taigen stating that the boss is out of town and he will respond Monday. We will see how this plays out, I will let you know the outcome.

I will get on this asap. I took a much needed mini vacation last week on Thurs/Fri and went silent from work while I was out. Spent a few days up in the woods riding the bikes and hanging with friends. The newbies are not fully trained yet but alas I need a break every once and a while. I've got a few days worth of stuff to catch up on but I'll try to get it taken care of by the end of the day. I miss the days when I only had tanks to deal with haha. The minions have already started responding to things they weren't sure of or didn't have the ability to do, we do get a lot of messages so please be patient if we/I don't get back to you today as I am training them which takes a bit of time.

Also yes, I did mention it before but I rarely do support anymore due to the amount of new responsibilities I have at IMEX. I easily work 50-60 hours every week and enjoy doing so. The work is hard but the pay and rewards are good. I enjoy my work and my bossman/owner is a great guy too. The downside is I no longer can provide the advanced support I used to on demand, but much of the emails we get these days aren't too difficult. I'm still around if the techs need and I do still train everyone here at IMEX (from front office to warehouse) but typically you only get me if you stump the newbies as I'm usually working on new products or backend work here at IMEX. Don't worry, I'm still our RC guy, I'm still beta testing stuff to this day. Just pulling offline a bit for my own sanity.

Ok so I believe I did respond to this a few min earlier. This was about our 7 piece kit for the Sherman, he is unsure of how to build/assemble it. The assembly shouldn't take more than 15m or so, hopefully he just lets us know where he is confused and we can make a short video on that or I've offered a return for him at no charge. As you guys know the factory only makes two from the screws up kits and here at IMEX we make all the kits up and give you guys a good deal on them. There is no instructions for it as it is only usually 6-8 pieces or so. This is the first time I've got a serious complaint about it and I'll look into getting some quick instructions made in the future if people actually need them.
As for the boxes yes we do use recycled cardboard, packing paper, and lately even got a air bubble machine (one of the best purchases we made for the mailroom IMO) to help with packing. The turrets and lower hulls are huge and the rest of the boxes do not match well so we end up with empty space. Extra cardboard boxes, packing paper, etc is used when possible as it save us (and in return you the customer) a bit of money and that adds up at the end of the year. I may sound a bit goofy for this one but I'm a big RRR guy. Anything I can recycle I do, cardboard and paper get a second or even third life before I toss it here. Cardboard usually doesn't make it into the smaller boxes but it is great for larger boxes to help keep its shape on long trips. That I apologize for personally, it is a policy I've put into effect about a year ago to help reduce trash on both our sides of the supply line. I am also looking into compostable packing materials too, polystyrene is soon to be banned in the next few years as a packing material in some countries so I'm planning ahead already. I know it is a bit off topic but search around for "mushroom packing" and see what I'm talking about.
Anyways, this definitely did reach my desk today as well as a few other sharp tankers that my minions couldn't answer. I'm getting back to everyone as fast as I can, I also have some design work to catch up on a new drift car we are releasing soon and I have some 1/10th scale accessories for you guys to release on the site later today/tonight if I can get to it. Please give me until tomorrow if you didn't get a message back from us today and if you don't hear back from us by tomorrow send us another please! We get upwards of 50-100 emails a day sometimes so things do slip between the cracks sometimes.
Also thanks to the forum members messaging us to come here and help! I rarely check my email anymore and bossman has me so busy I don't get to play on the forums like I used to so I can miss things. We are always happy to help though we may be a bit slow at times due to training.

Taigen Woes
 

I responded to your email about my concerns.All I want is to return the Sherman and order the Leo 2. Thank you for responding to my email.

Erik, the kits are a fantastic way to get a collection of parts for those who want to choose gearing, electronics, paint, etc. Thanks for making these "kits" available. I know I got a little giddy when I saw they were finally available again........its been soooo long. By the time you've had to repair a RTR tank a few times, you are an expert on assembly and instructions simply get in the way. I can also see where someone might be overwhelmed by the little bags of misc. parts, (though forums like this are more than happy to help). Maybe a simple disclaimer on the product page about instructions would avoid this.

Taigen Woes
 

I am wondering how long it takes to get a return authorization and to let me know if I am getting a full refund for the Sherman.Everything is boxed and ready to ship back to Imex.

Taigen Woes
 

I have reread the thread from Erik about a refund but have not heard anything back about the refund and the return shipping label. Please let me know how to proceed so I can get on with my purchase of the Leo 2.

Wow my friend, you gotta give us a bit of time to process things. We are not a factory line, we are a small business with a limited staff. I had to rush an employee to the ER yesterday and was with them until almost 1am. Emergency surgery is tomorrow at 7:15am for a gallbladder removal. This is a VERY good employee and my lead assistant. I didn't get home until very late and I'm catching up now. Sending us more messages only bumps you to the end of the line as the system combines that info to present to us. If you wouldn't of bumped the thread I would of got to you on one of the first emails this morning actually. You should have it by now, if not it should arrive soon via email.

Taigen Woes
 

Sorry about your problems.

Since becoming interested in tanks again, I took a gander at the Taigen site for a perspective purchase. I couldn't find any info on shipping/return policies using the link on the site as it referrers to a Privacy policy instead. Same goes for the Imex-rc site. The only site associated with Imex where the Shipping/Return policy works is the Imex-Model site. Not sure if that is on purpose or a coding error (and has to do with a little more flexibility in dealing with a smaller customer base on those sites).

Anyway, after reading this thread, I guess I've confirmed that the policy is indeed as indicated on the Imex Model site. No big deal, as it isn't an uncommon practice in terms of Returns. $8.99 shipping isn't bad either on such a high dollar item either. Really need to think carefully and read through the policies thoroughly before making such a high dollar purchase in the first place.

What concerns me about the thread or a prospective purchase is some of the bizarre interactions I'm witnessing here. I can't remember seeing such an unprofessional and, at times, lackadaisical response to a customers concerns from an employee of a company in a public forum. "Sorry I couldn't respond earlier, but I was busy partying with friends in the woods with your hard earned money." is not a really good way to earn a (prospective) customers respect. Nor is blaming the 'untrained minions' for what would seem just adhering to company policy. To top it all off, now we are using one of those minions' private health issues as an excuse for what would seem like poor communication.

For now, I think I'll pass.

A wise decision. Dealing with IMEX is a total crapfest. They won't see another dime out of me.

Taigen, in my experience, offers great service. I have never had a problem with them and everyone deserves a vacation. I think Erik was just giving an explanation for his delay and asking for a patient customer (no offense to Jerry). If he simply just said he was attending other business, I guarantee you that someone would ask why. And I do not have any affiliation with Taigen either, so my sticking up for the company and a fellow tanker is just because I believe that this needs to be said. I would hate for a small company that has served many beginner and experienced tankers well in the past to fall under because of one mishap. I am sure that the new Taigen "minions" will become experts once their training is complete and while the service may seem a little less responsive now, I believe that it will become greater very soon. We are all humans and thus make mistakes. We all value each others opinion (this is a forum after all;)) but we need to also accept that nobody is perfect and unless they are a complete dirt bag (I can also guarantee you that Erik is not), they will learn and become better people in the end.

That is just my take on this. Please no one get angry and come after me for posting this:rolleyes:.