Traxxas support response..... NOT!

[jj2003]

Greetings to all. I want to start out by saying what a great group of people you have here with great support and knowledge. Far better that the company I purchased the boat from. I've been reading now for about two weeks and cannot find any better anywhere. Keep up the great work and comraderie. I Just bought my first RC boat, a Spartan. My son and I were out running her for the 4th time and each time prior and including this run I noticed the boat going much slower than the initial launch. Batteries still at 51% and motor and esc still around 98 degrees during this run. Opened the hatch and to my surprise, again water! About 1 full cup. Oh no, bad cooling jacket....no.....bad hose connects...no. Closer inspection revealed seam at bow separating. Its a brand new boat. I e-mailed customer support and this was my response:

At 09:46 PM 5/24/2011 -0500, you wrote:

John Fiegel sent a message using the contact form at
http://traxxas.com/contact.

Greetings,
I just purchased a new Traxxas Spartan for my son 2 weeks ago. We have had
the boat out 4 times now and I noticed water in the bottom of the hull each
time we took her out. Upon close inspection the last time we ran her, there
is an area near the bow that has opened up and is allowing water to enter.
Being a new boat, is the seam prone to separation and is this covered under
manufacturer's warranty?


Hello,

The only warranty is the 30 day electronic warranty. Please send a very well focused picture of the area you are referring to.

Best regards,
Steve Lindholm,
Traxxas Customer Service


No warranty on the Hull? 30 days on the electronics? For a $400 boat? Are you kidding me? Thier support is like the the ruskies on the Capital One commercial. What a joke! It makes me want to post on the Traxxas forum as many colorful words I can think of just to get banned on purpose. Sorry Peter Traxxas, but your support team sucks. My buisness is going elsewhere where I can get a decent response like " we can look into it for you and do the best we can", not a reply like only the electronics are covered. Ask your support members, if your $400 blue ray player died after four times using it, would you take it back to the store for another or would you swap out the guts for better quality parts? I really think not! I'm going with MG. I'm gonna torch this and send them the pics!

[markster]

He's trying to say you caused the hole by hitting something but if there is no obvious damage marks around it they will replace it.

[dag-nabit]

With all due respect, I understand your frustration, and I'm not trying to be a mother hen or wanna be moderator, but....

Can we go easy on f***n's. This is a general public forum and my daughter, who is my rc buddy, reads these forums.

I can certainly understand an occasional expletive to make a point, but am I out of line to request we keep this forum somewhat family oriented?

I made a post similar to yours over on Traxxas, but I went straight to the source, PM'd it directly to the mod and got myself banned for life.

It is interesting though that when Jpriami posted about the boat he modified for his friend breaking in half on the maiden voyage, Peter from Traxxas said "send it in, it's covered", but now Traxxas is telling a father and son running a stock unit "sorry it isn't covered".

Kevin

[roadrashracing]

WoW! If you would have taken a picture of the area like they asked, I'm sure if it was a flow they would have sent you a new one, but the way you are actioning, would would sned you a nice gift from my dog!:sarcasm1:

[jj2003]

To Kevin and All, my appologies to you. I dont want to get banned from here. I understand completly about the family forum. It was late, it took them 2 days to answer 1 simple question and after I read the response I wanted to scream. Sorry for venting on the board. I think I was trying to get a rise or response from a senior traxxas support specialist who may be "browsing" the threads to appologize for such a stupid response. I normally dont ever post such explitives, but I just wanted to strangle someone. It wont happen again and thanks for all the info and help.

[scoota]

To Kevin and All, my appologies to you. I dont want to get banned from here. I understand completly about the family forum. It was late, it took them 2 days to answer 1 simple question and after I read the response I wanted to scream. Sorry for venting on the board. I think I was trying to get a rise or response from a senior traxxas support specialist who may be "browsing" the threads to appologize for such a stupid response. I normally dont ever post such explitives, but I just wanted to strangle someone. It wont happen again and thanks for all the info and help.

Edit the last section of of your first post & start again , we all understand your frustration .

jason

[jj2003]

Your right! I would too. Sorry to vent and post has been edited!

[jj2003]

Did so as you sent this Jason, my apologies. I just dont understand why he couldnt ask the question, "can you send some pics?" Not start with "only the electronics are covered". This unit is bone stock, brand new. I thought water had entered thru the transom while going in reverse. But after getting the hang of driving it and not using reverse once on the 4th run, I knew it had to be something else. I just wish they would have thought out the response like I didnt. I'm very sorry for venting to such a knowledable group of guys. I cannot tell you all how sorry I am and it wont happen again.

[dag-nabit]

Thanks jj,

Hope you feel a bit better after venting...... even if it was kinda short lived. :smile:

Kevin

[LarrysDrifter]

We all need to vent sometimes. Dont feel too bad. Just keep the foul language in its place.

[GeoVW72]

Not to play devil's advocate here, but I've dealt with Steve in the past and found out the he "works remotely" and doesn't deal with the rest of the support team directly. He is apparently the only one that deals with all the on line support and to your credit he is a little misinformed at times.
Traxxas does have a "*lifetime hull replacement plan", which as far as my understanding is 75$ for a replacement hull.
You will be far better off to call support and talk to an actual person.

Pictures of the split will also help us and them to see the problem.

Without seeing where/how big the split is I wouldn't really call it the source of all the water in the boat. Seems to me that they always will have water in them, the transom grommet is not the best and re-seating it by re-installing the power module may help keep the water out.

[chadrob30]

I too have dealt with Steve...great guy who is kind of caught in the middle of the Traxxas BS....first step is to register the serial number of the boat. Then take a few macro shots of the affected area of the hull and email them to him....with some tact, explain that the boat is your son's, and that he is very disappointed that he cannot run it....you may have to send the boat to Plano, but I would bet that they will either replace or repair it....you may have to pay shipping one way, but it's better than nothing. Good luck.

[markster]

The stock water jacket also leaks water, more so with any modifications to the cooling system.

[jj2003]

I thank all of you for your time and also your patience with me. Again you have my deepest apologies and you can be certain you wont see it again. I have "vented" and yes it was "short lived" but it is in best interest to follow the righteous path now. I understand now that it was the combination of my son's disappointment and the assumption of Steve that it had crashed, that cause a "mental breakdown" in my train of thought. Peter Traxxas, I also owe one to you. I almost called you out without ever speaking to you and I have seen many of your responses to other members more knowledgable than myself. I am humbled and hope I can benifit from all of you who have been dealing with this much longer than myself. For money's sake, I dont see an immediate need to send the hull back. I think its more than repairable and will do so with the recomendations of a few really nice guys, who took the time to respond to another post of mine. We took her out again today to determine how bad the leak was. About 20 minutes of run time and 1/2 a cup. Not terrible and repairable. Thank you all again for your concern and enlightening me back to reality! Boy, sometimes the kids feelings really grab the parents and become exagerated quickly. Oh well, live and learn right!? Thanks again, JJ.

[scoota]

I thank all of you for your time and also your patience with me. Again you have my deepest apologies and you can be certain you wont see it again. I have "vented" and yes it was "short lived" but it is in best interest to follow the righteous path now. I understand now that it was the combination of my son's disappointment and the assumption of Steve that it had crashed, that cause a "mental breakdown" in my train of thought. Peter Traxxas, I also owe one to you. I almost called you out without ever speaking to you and I have seen many of your responses to other members more knowledgable than myself. I am humbled and hope I can benifit from all of you who have been dealing with this much longer than myself. For money's sake, I dont see an immediate need to send the hull back. I think its more than repairable and will do so with the recomendations of a few really nice guys, who took the time to respond to another post of mine. We took her out again today to determine how bad the leak was. About 20 minutes of run time and 1/2 a cup. Not terrible and repairable. Thank you all again for your concern and enlightening me back to reality! Boy, sometimes the kids feelings really grab the parents and become exagerated quickly. Oh well, live and learn right!? Thanks again, JJ.

All is good , welcome to OSE :thumbup:

[jj2003]

Thanks scoota, :)

[dag-nabit]

All is good , welcome to OSE :thumbup:

Ditto :thumbup:

[Brushless55]

Greetings to all. I want to start out by saying what a great group of people you have here with great support and knowledge. Far better that the company I purchased the boat from. I've been reading now for about two weeks and cannot find any better anywhere. Keep up the great work and comraderie. I Just bought my first RC boat, a Spartan. My son and I were out running her for the 4th time and each time prior and including this run I noticed the boat going much slower than the initial launch. Batteries still at 51% and motor and esc still around 98 degrees during this run. Opened the hatch and to my surprise, again water! About 1 full cup. Oh no, bad cooling jacket....no.....bad hose connects...no. Closer inspection revealed seam at bow separating. Its a brand new boat. I e-mailed customer support and this was my response:

At 09:46 PM 5/24/2011 -0500, you wrote:

John Fiegel sent a message using the contact form at
http://traxxas.com/contact.

Greetings,
I just purchased a new Traxxas Spartan for my son 2 weeks ago. We have had
the boat out 4 times now and I noticed water in the bottom of the hull each
time we took her out. Upon close inspection the last time we ran her, there
is an area near the bow that has opened up and is allowing water to enter.
Being a new boat, is the seam prone to separation and is this covered under
manufacturer's warranty?


Hello,

The only warranty is the 30 day electronic warranty. Please send a very well focused picture of the area you are referring to.

Best regards,
Steve Lindholm,
Traxxas Customer Service


No warranty on the Hull? 30 days on the electronics? For a $400 boat? Are you kidding me? Thier support is like the the ruskies on the Capital One commercial. What a joke! It makes me want to post on the Traxxas forum as many colorful words I can think of just to get banned on purpose. Sorry Peter Traxxas, but your support team sucks. My buisness is going elsewhere where I can get a decent response like " we can look into it for you and do the best we can", not a reply like only the electronics are covered. Ask your support members, if your $400 blue ray player died after four times using it, would you take it back to the store for another or would you swap out the guts for better quality parts? I really think not! I'm going with MG. I'm gonna torch this and send them the pics!

Just wanted to say, your vents are always welcome at OSE
Traxxas could learn so much from some of the members and from the owner at this great site who will not ban for venting on a product that sucks
and for keeping it real :beerchug:

[jj2003]

Thanks brushless 55,
I will try to keep it to a minimum of course and I'm pushing to get my next model away from Traxxas. I've found a very nice H&M Drifter XL and I'm pretty sure it will be my newest edition. Sorry Traxxas, "you lost me at hello", now I'll go spend a $1000 with someone else. Can you say"LOST SALE"?! Learn from your mistakes!

[Brushless55]

Thanks brushless 55,
I will try to keep it to a minimum of course and I'm pushing to get my next model away from Traxxas. I've found a very nice H&M Drifter XL and I'm pretty sure it will be my newest edition. Sorry Traxxas, "you lost me at hello", now I'll go spend a $1000 with someone else. Can you say"LOST SALE"?! Learn from your mistakes!

I hear you buddy :beerchug:
I've spent about 3grand on Traxxas in the past, but now because of the bull I've seen traxxas pull on this boat towards customers, I'm saying no more new traxxas products for me... the only traxxas products I will buy are used from other members who need the cash for other things :thumbup1:

[jj2003]

After a few great recomendations from some of "the crew", I purchased some Loctite plastic epoxy for the repair. It states on the package that it bonds ABS plastic. Boy did it ever! Carefully using a small detail brush, I was able to get the seam"welded" and were back on the water. I also took some vids on my phone but when I tried to view them on the pc, they are sideways :P, and have to use vlc media player to rotate the video to the correct aspect. Not a prob for me but I wanted to post a few on the site for viewing and figured it would be to much for anyone to go thru to view them. Going out tommorrow at gallager beach for a few more runs. A few minor upgrades such as a prather s215 balanced and polished(grimracer balancer) and a full aluminum cooling jacket with a transom monted water pick up, thanks to kinect racing.(shipping was unbelievably fast). Cant wait to see how she "rolls". I've seen some pics somewhere here on the forum of a gps unit inside that showed speed results. It wasnt the eagletree system( I'm going to save that upgrade for the drifter xl) and wondered if anyone knew what it was (garmin maybe)? Thanks for all your help fellas, youve been great!

[Brushless55]

ausome drama here guyz!!! keep it up!!!! lets plan another traxass forum attack and tell members to sing up with lots of accounts! if a short fact and a simple request blows us up liek this i bet if he had sent a 2 line answer we wood be livid!!!

hey pal, we wont put up with crap of bashing traxxas just to bash them!:ThumbsDown01:
OSE is a great place for info and help to one another
I'm not sticking up for traxxas one bit, but it is lame just to start a thread like that....

[dag-nabit]

hey pal, we wont put up with crap of bashing traxxas just to bash them!:ThumbsDown01:
OSE is a great place for info and help to one another
I'm not sticking up for traxxas one bit, but it is lame just to start a thread like that....

:iagree: well said Bushless.

We are here for frank, open, honest discussion about the good and bad about this Traxxas product.

And to help others find solutions so they can maximize their enjoyment of this sport/hobby.

If someone needs to vent occasionally, we empathize, and then try to help.

If you have something you want to tell Traxxas, go direct to the source and unload on their forum at the risk of deleted threads, infractions, and being banned for life.

Kevin

[Humphrey]

:iagree: well said Bushless.

We are here for frank, open, honest discussion about the good and bad about this Traxxas product.

And to help others find solutions so they can maximize their enjoyment of this sport/hobby.

If someone needs to vent occasionally, we empathize, and then try to help.

If you have something you want to tell Traxxas, go direct to the source and unload on their forum at the risk of deleted threads, infractions, and being banned for life.

Kevin

frank open honesty is a tricky thing. my post just got deleted for it :confused2:

[Brushless55]

frank open honesty is a tricky thing. my post just got deleted for it :confused2:

deleted because of what you said and making it sound like OSE is backing up what you said :doh:

your words...
"lets plan another traxass forum attack and tell members to sing up with lots of accounts!"
:ThumbsDown01:

[Humphrey]

dont taze me bro! i was just pointing it out.

[Brushless55]

dont taze me bro! i was just pointing it out.

Pointing what out :confused2: