Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

I've had nothing but positive experiences with pay pal other then the fact that the process sometimes can be rather lengthy. It would be better if they would return your money first, then battle the venders for it especially when it's obvious that you've been screwed over like in my case!

Which this means the venders would stop using it causing them to have less business because customers don't have that protection or it would force venders to do the right things.

When it comes to Sierra, I highly doubt that he'll respond to this forum as he can't even respond to emails.. Maybe someone should make an order through here to lur him in..lol. Like many of others, I've yet to communicate with him.

91zulu

My Feedback: (2)

Darrel is a one man operation. This I think the main reason for the lack luster customer service, plus he has a lot more unhappy customers than a few years back, so he stays away from the phone.
Its some times easier to get to the top than it is to stay there. You know its a funny thing really to see the bad press going SGS way. Not too long ago one could have gotten shot if anything bad was said against Darrel. You know like BVM. Say anything bad and forever got to watch your back. But it is good that some are seeing that the term " YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR" today is utter garbage. SGS is a good example that you could pay top dollar and get the same head aches that many thinks ONLY come with buying cheap.
I think this thread is long over due. We need to know those that are scamming us, even if they have adds on this site. Now lets see how long it takes before RCU start to get nervous.

tuskegee

My Feedback: (1)

Warlord Joe, I see that I am not the only one who has had to wait. Sure I can see a little time....but a year. If you don't have the item and know you will not have in a short time frame ..let me know they have our e-mail, then I can reorder or go to some other E-Shop.. But to Kahlog..The shipping is a mess they don't go by size weight or area it seems like. I ordered some items that did not come over 10oz and shipping was high and then I ordered items that has some size to them and it seemed to me that the shipping is per itme not weight with thst said why should I have to pay $20.00 for shipping a small box of tape hinges and the same for a batt.. That is one way they get us..
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NOWWESHOULDLETEVERYONEKNOW ABOUT THE GOOD COMPANIES..AND VQWARBIRDS IS ON THE VERY TOP OF MY LIST TOMAS IS AWESOME. When I have had issues with any thing(andwith his productwas very few) it was fixed before I got off the line/e-mail.
Hobby People has been good. A few times I wanted a plane that they stopped selling and Mike got it for me and whe I have has to send somthing back ONISSUE it was replaced.

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

I agree.. A year is ridiculous and regardless of if they state your order will be held if items aren't in stock, they should contact you or at least ship what they have after and given time frame!

I agree, only order what's in stock with high quantities.

91zulu

My Feedback: (2)

Hobby People I had a couple experience with them and they are fantastic. As a matter of fact I think that one reason why Magnum engines are now so popular. I damaged a Mag 80 4 stroke in a crash and they sent me a new engine, before I knew it. I was shocked. I sent the engine in with a note to let me know how much to fix so i could decide either to fix or get a new one. I heard nothing from them for a few days. Came home one day say a package, What the hell?????? Saw it was from them., opened it up, brand new engine. Floored me. Never heard any OS or YS lovers say anything like that. Anyone of you out there?????

1 vote for HOBBY PEOPLE.

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

I just found out about Hobby People and quite honestly, if I had done my transaction with them instead of Virginia models, this quite possible would've been a build forum instead(down the road). I guess in a positive way that through that frustration, this thread will evolve and we now have some place to vent about companies that fall short and hopefully some will step up to the plate.

I've heard nothing but good things about Hobby People thus far and when I get my funds back from the other vender, I'll give them a shot as I know they have the item and are shipping as some already have the item from them!

I'll post when I get my funds back! See how long it takes![:@] still no explanation as to why the delay!

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

I agree. Darrell use to have great service. The last time I called, he has someone else answer the phone while he worked on my item so I was told. You'd think with such demand, he'd have someone tom answer his phones. How do you make it to tthe top as a one man operation? At some point you have to expand your operations to keep up with the demand.. This is long over due or he's going to eventually fail!

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

I had some trouble when I ordered tires for my Vette. That was on www.tires-easy.com. Website showed they were in stock and I put in the order and did not hear from them in about a week. After I send an e-mail, I was told the tires were out of stock and they were not sure if they would get them back. So I picked a different type. Same thing - out of stock, not sure...
Then I asked them to refund my money. They agreed and I waited a few days - no refund. Send another mail and was promised again that I will have my refund tomorrow. After 3 more days I filed a claim with Pay Pal and they took care of it - the next day I had my money back.
I was glad I had used Pay Pal and did not have to go through the hassle of having the bank disputing the charges.

Lifer

My Feedback: (1)

As far as honorable retailers go, Tomas at VQ Warbirds is clearly at the top of my list. Highly recommend that you do business with him.

91zulu

My Feedback: (2)

I had the same issue with Airpower. Ordered retracts from them and right away some one took my money through paypal. Long story short after a long wait I received the wrong item tried to get hold of them no answer at all. Finally filed a claim through paypal and got a prompt response right after that. Finally after 6 weeks I got my retracts. Turned out not what I thought they were. Can`t use them in my Me 109.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

I will throw one out there. I just ordered and recieved a Kit from Precision cut kits. I was a little nervous with the order as they would not respond to any emails, but they had a fairly good reputation on here RCU. Much to my surprise, my kit arrived in one week!
Well, that was great as they must have had some in stock. The problem is with the kit and what I got for my $550.0. I can describe this kit in one word STERLING! Anyone that has ever built an old Sterling kit knows what I am talking about. The parts cut is absolutely terrible. Mis- alligned, innacurate, parts missing. I will never order a kit from then again. I could have saved a ton if I would have cut it myself, and I should have. I am going to have to recut many of the parts myself. 9 ribs are missing and 2 formers. The canopy bottom plate is so mis alligned it is unusable. Every single former is broken in several pieces. I had to find them all, and tape them back together until I go to build the fuselage. Even still, I could not find all of the broken off parts and will have to cut and add my own wood to fix them. The laser work was pathetic. I will say the ribs look good but a lot of the feet were broken off and had to be located and taped in place. They should have left these parts in the balsa sheets for shipping and protection. One of the worst kits I have seen in a long time and a real disappointment for me as this was my first experience with a kit cutter. The overall quality is pathetic really.
So if anything, I recommend no one do business with them unless you want a pile of junk!

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

Vertical, may I ask which kit you ordered? I ask because PSK has been and always will be my favorite kit cutter. Granted; all the kits I've built were popular fw190's but I've bought the Anderson ta152, Dave platt FW, and the vailly aviation FW190 from them with great customer service, perfect cuttings and fast shipping. Tis is also strange because they normally do a quality and inventory check prior to shipping.

Man, I hate that you had such a poor experience with them. I hope the new TA 152 I'm soon to order maintains the quality I've been use to for the last 8 years of dealing with them.

[email protected]

My Feedback: (1)

i had a deal like that with paypal will neve use them anymore

91zulu

My Feedback: (2)

See this is what i`m talking about. $550 is a lot for a kit. Much less a crappy one. There is no pride any more in some of these businesses. I see them at some of the show I go to but never bought any of their kits. They have a few kits I would like to get but now I think I`ll go the short kit route from Lazer Lazard or Bob Holman. I saw a LL kit and it was nice work and Bob too. The Precision kits I see at the shows look good but it is not the first time I hear complaints of folks receiving badly cut kits from them.

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

On another note Vertical, I would've sent the kit back.. You paid good money and shouldn't have had to do a thing to it other than assemble it!

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

Ahh.. Bob Holman.. Another example of a great person to go broke with! That guy is awesome..I have several of his items and to be doing this from home ( his wife often answers the phone) he has great customer service...

Laser lizard is also another great place to get short kits. I had recently came into plans for a TA 142 and they were nice enough to cut the parts from scratch..now I have the plans and now a full kit for a 144 Inch TA154! Ha!

91zulu

My Feedback: (2)

Yep thats one I`m looking at ,the TA152, I have the plans for the, I think the 92". Nice bird. If you get the kit from them give us a heads up on it Ramstein.

Oberst

I had bad dealings with Glenn Torrance and Nitroplanes, but so far everyone has treated me like a valued customer everywhere I did business and they were quick with my orders. I don't deal with Banana Hobby, so I can't comment on that. There are hobby shops online that would love to take your money for a product and take their time mailing out what you ordered.

Ordering online is a learning experience. Some have had good experiences and some have bad from the same dealer or business. I guess the best thing to do is if you get screwed once, don't try to do business again with them. It's like the old saying, " Dog bite me once, shame on dog. dog bite me twice, shame on me."

Paypal screwed me with fee's in the past with E-bay, so I closed my account and I don't use them anymore. Plus I heard so many horror stories about them to know for me it isn't wise to try to deal with them again. I just use my own bank now, ( much more secure) they do everything Paypal does without the additional fee's.



Pete

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

I purchased the anderson 114 inch and the quality was superb! I'll have another here shortly.. This one for me.
I sold on on rcu a while back and the person that received it was very happy with it! I wish now that I kept that one as it to say the least was beautiful, Anderson designs are flawless at least to me. His kits are specifically through places like PSK and the plans are free to download on his site. I call his kits." think less" as all the figuring out has been done and anything extra that you want to do to them is the only thinking part. I know there are others out there cutting these but I prefer PSK based on past experiences.

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

Another awesome kit designer is Meister-scale... I built the 84 inch messerschmitt and the Dora and would love to get ahold of the Anton. Great customer service and product. I've never heard any complaint on them and if you do a thread on your build, you're guarranteed to get multiple post from Dino on you bird, tips and tons of support! They really take pride in their kits. And to top it off, they fly what they design! If it wasn't for the TA, I'd be getting the Anton from them.

If your looking for a great warbird " trainer" their kits are the gentlest to fly.

91zulu

My Feedback: (2)

Yes Meister is on the good list for sure. Dino is a good guy to deal with. Met him a few times.


Ok so the kit was good. All right maybe I`ll look into it.

Oberst..don`t know what bank you are dealing with but most of them has fees.. lots of fees. Same as Pay pal. that is why my dealings with them is just far and in between.

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

I'm not sure about the 92 inch version but I think the more popular the kit, the better the cut will be. I also purchased the Don smith fw190A which I also sold because to honest, the kit was at least at the time.. complicated[&o] (too much of a challenge) and the Vailly FW was more builder friendly.I still have the cowl and canopy for the Smith FW so if anyone has one, you can have these parts..

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Mine is the 114" Andersen TA 152. I wonder Ram, how closely did you look at your kit? Mine was a shambles. I thought really hard about sending it back, but I figured that was going to be too much greif. I can make it work, but I swear, it looks like they were training a new guy on mine.
For the record, I am a machinist in a custom wood shop. I make tooling and machine wood parts all day for a living. I can see every single issue with the cuts and what went wrong. I am not super picky, but this is a terrible job. I just hope I get the replacement parts soon. In my contacts with them, I did not appreciate the attitude either.
Ram, You really should take all your parts out and lay them over the plans. Take a serious inventory if you have not. There was nothing spectacular about my kit at all.

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

I checked every part all to find out that the wing plans came out wrong from kinkos. When I got the plans re-done from a CAD company a friends works with (he snuck me in some free work) all the parts were perfect. You really have to be careful with the plans. When everyone downloads their own plans, you almost have to buy the cutters plans as yours may vary. I've spoken with PSK on cutting their own plans to go with Andersons' kits and supply the kits with them, that way there's no confusion.

I know there are several ladies thatnwork there at PSK, maybe the one you spoke with was having a bad day. I've been fortunate not to have had any problems with them and for some reason, they remember me personally..

Trust me, I'm not going to bat for them.. I am however grateful for the customer service I received.

Wen did you get the kit, I'm sure they'll work with you. I do know for $550, I wouldn't just take it!!! regardless of having the skill to rectify the kit!

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

I printed my plans to our plotter at work. THey are accurate. I verified the dimensions. I ordered this kit at the end of September. You did not have any broken peices? I do not see how that would be possible the way it was packed. I feel if I would have sent it back, I would not have had my money refunded and it would have cost me all of the shipping anyway. What I recieved was worth about half of what I paid for.