well i went to hobby people today to see about fixing up my truck.

Unfortunately they decided to just change the wire ordering on the power plug on my reciever. The damn thing started smoking. they tried to sell me a new $100 controller, and pissed me off more! They told me it was because I had a servo misswired (wrong ordering on a servo). And that it was not their fault for swapping the power wires.

I asked them to work out a deal with me and they told me no and shortly after to get out of their store. ( I didn't cuss at them or anything just told them I got recomended here but I'll be telling my friends otherwise)

To make a long story short i quickly drew up a sign on my truck's window that said they will not take responsibility for breaking your equipment. Kinda a quiet protest. Then I had to study.

I began reading my book (i have a class later tonight)

Sooner than I thought the police showed up and told me i was on private property.

I looked for a power box telephone poll etc to stand on (public property) but nothing was available to sand on near their store.

Anyways I guess the only thing I can do now is take them to court, and tell you all about my experience with a place called Hobby People.

P.S. I don't think I will be fixing the ThunderKing now as I would have to invest WAYYY to much money into it now. But it would have been fun to have gotten back into an older hobby.

my old boss had a situation like that happen when we was getting an in-ground pool put in his backyard.
after it was 99% finished one of their companies guy came out and messed with the pump. then the next day another guy came out and did something else and it fried the pump. the pool company tried to blame my boss cause he had a private electritian install the pump.
well next thing you know me and the other 5 techs had our companies vans parked next to his store with sheets spray painted with signs on them saying stuff about how bad of a company this pool place was. Very funny ....6 vans in a row with signs on them.
we got paid for the day so i didnt mind. after that the boss took the guy to court but lost because the lack of experience the sparky had with pool pumps.

i think that hobby people place sucks, since the cost of the part to them would have been very cheap.screw them.

Maybe I should register the website http://www.thehobbypeople.com and let them know what I really think

my lhs is awesome. the guy who owns/runs it is a cool guy. friendly and he even joins us on sundays to bash.

not all lhs are full know it all ....useless ....jokers who couldnt give a crap about cs.

I have two hobby shops near me and I support the one because they have excellent service and fair prices and they are very pleasant to deal with.The other on however is not.The guy there is a total jack off.I went in to get something for my Savage one time and asked for the part I needed and he said.... "Why would you buy a Savage?They are junk"Whats up with that?I come in there for parts and some help not to be ridiculed on my decision to buy what I like.So I never went back to that store again.The other shop I go to is nice.Me and the guy that works there had a minor disagreement over what was faster(My 8port Savage or his T-maxx )but I just brought it up and we ran around in the parking lot for a while.It was fun but we never really lined them up we just bashed around the lot for a while had fun.I support my local hobby shop but if they don't have what I need I just order it online but why wait for a part to come in the mail when you can drive 10 min down the road and get it for the same price(after shipping).

Im totaly not saying that LHS's are bad, just this one! id pay 2x as mcuh for something over going there to buy it...Well im sorta banned form the store now anyways. Funny part is he calle dmy thunder king old out of date and basicaly a POS, when all the parts on it were purchased from Hobby Shack (Hobby People before they changed their names!) the controller to the reciever they friend even sas Hoby Shack right on it!

I just wanted to let others know of my ersonal experience with this place so Buyers beware! I don;t think I ever would have know how they really treated customers untill they slipped up, they were helpful and insightful untill I told them i wanted compensation for their mistake, then they because very unprofessional and irrational. I just may take them to small claims this summer as im off college in a week!

I had a run in with hobby people this past weekend at a sport compact show in carlise Pa.They were over pricing everybody on the stuff they were selling.They had a Micro RS4 rtr for 260$!!tower sells them for 199$ and the hobby people web site has them listed for 199 also.They were also selling HPI Bodies for 35$$ and they had some tamyia's for sale but I can't recall the price but I bet it was high.I think they were trying to take advantage of all the people that were there(around 40,000)and jack up the prices a little and hope no one noticed.Thanks for the heads up on there costomer service.

Hobby People SUCKS..

so does tammies hobbies in beaverton Oregon...At least there RC car counter guys. Too much attitiude

It does not make a difference what was wrong with the truck or why you took it in. If they damaged it further than it already was then they are responsible for the repair. It does not matter if something was wired incorrectly or not. The electronics were not smoking when you brought them in. They should have seen that and corrected the problem.
As a business they take the responsibility when they say "YES" we can fix it.

As for court I am not a lawyer but I think you might have a hard time proving your case. It would cost you just as much to file as it would to replace your rcvr.

I think your best bet is to just not do business with them anymore, and find another shop.
If you really feel you must do something, I would contact the owner with written letter or email and let them know what happend. Then inform them that you are updating your experience as it progresses on this forum and others. They cant do anything about that but come and read it. You did see how posting your sign got quick action.

Word of mouth makes and breaks businesses all the time.

Keep us in the loop

Goodluck

Dbow

BREAK them!

Advice well taken, I may stop by today and try to return a reciever I bought and ended up not using, Luckily if they refuse to let me return a brand new reciever (ended up getting another one working that I had previously thoguht broken) then I can just dispute payment on my credit card. Ill let you guys know how it Goes.

BTW there was absolutly nothing wrong with the truck, as replacing the remote-reciever with some old school KO ProPo stuff, seems to have fixed the probelm and I now have a running car. Too bad ill just have to order my superrooster and batteries from elsewhere

Some LHS will not allow returning electronic items.

Before you try and return the receiver, go the the store and look around for signs concerning their return policy. It is is not clearly marked/posted, and they did not advice you when bought, you should be able to return it.

If you file a complaint make sure you direct them to this forum because they probably won't care if it's just one person but 100 people will make nice dent in there business.Post your experience at other forums as well to rally more supporters and direct them to those forums as well.

I hope not, Its brand new I never even plugged it in.

Anyways I got a call from a Hobby people Owner and he said to give him a call and we can probably resolve the problem. Im going to call him back in a little while and, arrange to talk to him next week (he said that was as soon as possible).

Good to hear that the owner is involved.

hmmm actualy I just found out it was the vice president.

Good to hear, Im sure you will get some satisfaction.
Did you write and got a response or did the company outright contact you?
If you didnt, how did they get your contact information?
Just curious.

Regardless though if someone takes it upon themselves to repair and item and damages such then they are responsible for that item. Unless of course they make you sign a waiver which nobody does.

I also wanted to comment on something that Dg2b posted. Dg2b is soooooo correct on that post. Most hobby shops wont take back merchandise no matter what. Even if it has never been used or open or whatever. Heck most wont take it back if its defective, they usually tell you to seek out the manufacturer.
This burns me up because the hobby shop is there to provide support. Some give nothing, we all have seen threads on this so I wont go any further.
I will add that if you have a Hobby store that does take returns and offers good support (Like Hobby Town USA) be sure and stop by this weekend and spend some money. Hey we all can think of something we need right now right? lol
I have a list...lol

Anyhow, Im greatful to have a HobbyTown in my local area..Great shop.


Keep us in the loop Justin

Dbow

So, is Del's T-Maxx faster?

I don't think they wanted to take it back, but I told them about how I used a multimeter and what not and figure out the problem with the thing, I think they just didn't want more trouble, the guy that kicked me out just kinda stared at me.

Ill let you know what i hear on monday from the vice prez.

Well I went in today to work out a deal with them. basicaly they would only give me $20 off a new purchase.

So they found a reciever that was compatable, and wanted to charge me $30 for it, however it was only $10 more for a compleate new reciever and radio combo, so basicaly they were still forcing me to buy something new and would NOT replaceme reciever with an equaly good one.

I managed to get my reciever to work by bypassing the blown resistor and running the power spliced into a servo. So it still works, just not all the way. I doubt I will purchase anything from their store ever again. They were only giving me $20 off a product that was marked up $20 to begin with.

I asked them if they would just replace me blown reciever with a new one and they still refused. Im going to be calling the vice president again to let him know how i feel about their service, but at least the reciever works, although im not sure how good it is to run it this way.

Hobby Fags won't be recieving much buisness from we while I rebuild my thunder king into a Nitro Thunder King, and spend some serious cash.

Justintoxicated, what I would do if I were you is make a call to the Attorney General, Consumer Affairs!! They'll send you out a form to fill out, then, I would contact a lawyer and file a lawsuit. I did this with a company called ProCare Automotive and I have a lawsuit against them as I'm typing this, for messing up my car, (not RC). Then I would contact a local tV station that deals with consumer type problems and explain this situation to them and if they air it, HobbyTown WILL stand to loose a lot of customers over this and possibly more! Publicly televised bad publicity is not good for any business!

But, before I'd do this, I'd go back to HobbyTown and ask them one more time unemotionally and tell them that you have contacted the Attorney General Consumer Affairs and that they are sending out the forms, you've consulted a lawyer and called TV stations and that he, the manager, can fend for himself! Then, walk out quietly.

Just to clear this up.... His problem is with Hobby People and not Hobby Town.

Also Through in the words Better Business Bureau And actually file your complaint with them as well. If you hit up as many officials the Business Owner will be SO SWAMPED with paper work they will do anything to get out of it. I love Hawaii for this, they allow you to adress the public on T.V. with a letter that they read out loud. With that the only way to clear up the issue is for the business owner to write in and try to explain. Heck if you really want to bash them get in contact with the Local Newspaper as well. Contact the local government as well. MAke sure to explain to them thay they agreed to work on the car. Make sure you explain every detail. Doing work on the part involved does hamper your case though.

Did they offer to have the part fixed? They should have.

Heck this makes me want to start a LHS. Some one comes in I blow they High dollar RX and charge them for a new one!!

Gotta a Walmart? They have a Buletin Board? Post flyers.
Get a sticker made for your vehicle with Calvin peeing on "Hobby People"
Public education is the key.
Paper work is the key.
Constantly contacting the owner. Record conversations. ALWAYS get a number and call them back to discus the issue. They have yours you need theirs. Never stop with the first person that'll talk to you GO HIGHER! If the VP contacted you ask for the President. Then ask to go higher! They can't get work done talking to you.
Finally make an agreement with them you'll stop if they'll replace what they broke.

Threaten court. Threaten to sue. Contact a lawer for a free first consultation and ask how credible the case could be. Court Costs them money.
Eventually EVERYTHING will ADD up and they will cave in and satisfy you to so they can stop wasting money and not have to worry about the money that it'll take in courts.
Goto their store and stick around till they ask you to leave. If you walk by some one that's there to get something worked on tell them to be ready to buy something to replace what the store helps break.

Nothings free in this world and store get away with too much these days. It's time for the consumer to have more of a say so in things. The consumer PAY'S THEIR SALARIES! IT used to be the CONSUMER WAS ALWAYS RIGHT! Now it's just the opposite.

this is kinda a double edge here but smaller hobby shops tend to be more freindlly,by that i mean the ones that arent a franchise or chain,but the smaller guys dont seem to be able to get the cool stuff in as quick you can get some very good deals though,glad to hear you have a good hobbytown near you dbow,but mine stinks,bad service high prices,there is one guy that will give you a deal everynow and then,but for the most part bad,iv sworn off ever going there again anyway,sad to its the only place to race,my point is when you buy from the guy that owns the place when you have a problem he is going to remember you and be more likely to help,cuz hes in the biz cuz he likes the hobby,god knows hes never gonna be rich!
wes

I totally support the local hobby shops here in the san gabriel valley, CA. There are shops in the area and the closest one to me is, unfortunately, hobby people. I bought several items there that I was over charged for. I had the misfortune of actually buying them because I am new to the hobby. The last time that I went in there I felt like I was really getting taken advantage of so I walked out. I now do all my shopping at a lhs that is farther away but the service is great. I can sit inside there all day and kick it with the owner/operators and I will never get sold something that I don't really need.
justintoxicated...more power to you brother. I hope that you fry these !@#$%ers like they did to your receiver.