Hobby King......

**m4a1usr** · 05-20-2011, 10:22 AM

I can relate 100% with you. My order for some lipo sacks is now almost 3 months gone by and still one of the items I ordered still shows back ordered. 3 months and they cant get it in stock? We're not talking something complex like a custom built motor or electronics. I wont be dealing with HK for my wants any longer. Either they have gotten too big to care about customer service or they are being severly mismanaged. What ever the reason, I think they will suffer the same fate as those in the past. Regular customer base will errode and dissatisfied customers like us will post their comments on line for all to see. I hope you see your items sometime soon.

John

**siberianhusky** · 05-20-2011, 10:28 AM

Can't wait to see Diesels testing of some of the cheaper packs available from N.A. retailers.
Sounds like some of the packs have some potential if you can replace the wires with something bigger.

**properchopper** · 05-20-2011, 10:52 AM

I'm generally happy with HK, but recently when I got some 5.5's that were NOT THE ONES PICTURED, I e-mailed them. Now they want pictures from me so they can contact their supplier to check out the situation. They DO have the other part number ones in stock that are the ones pictured and all I asked for was an exchange but after I clearly pictured the issue to them they want more evidence. All for a f'ing $3.99 bag of connectors. They do huge business in all categories of r/c and must have a mountain of claims, but their customer service, while I'm sure is flooded with claims, needs substantial improvement.
OTOH I'm in contact with a local [CA]supplier of budget battery packs and hope to have some (good) news in that area soon.

**crrcboatz** · 05-20-2011, 10:54 AM

They have good prices on some things like lipos but between your experience and the horendous shipping costs I will not buy from them any more. Had the same experience on a back order of a jet unit and they had almost $400 of my money. Ended up taking a credit, bought some batteries and said never again.
U CAN TAKE THIS OLD HORSE TO A DRY WATER HOLE JUST ONCE
Spending some time on the net I have found some places to get lipos good ones mind you for about what u pay in cost + shipping with HK. They arrive in a few days and u r done with it. That to me is worth the warranty mess, back order mess, robbery shipping costs, and long wait to get stuff.
Also, the few dollars difference on stuff I buy here at OCE and 2 other American vendors assures me someone in the USA is there to talk to, email, and most of all going to be spending my money with another American. Ok off the soap box no more to be said here, the old fart is through. lol

**ray schrauwen** · 05-20-2011, 11:34 AM

So they are holding your money hostage because they will not front money to Heifei for a new SF240?
Instead you wait forever because Heifei takes forever?
Very sad, and I will not buy another esc from them if that is the case.

Just curious if it was a 240 esc?

**LiPo Power** · 05-20-2011, 11:35 AM

I had orders beeing shipped to me in the past within 11 days!!!
So some of them came in fast so that was ok. I am just very dissapiointed about their customer service and how well they are aware of where staff is... To me looks like they have some knowledge of how to sale staff but that is where it ends. For me also, I am done with them...
Please post some links here for good LiPo price!!!

**LiPo Power** · 05-20-2011, 11:36 AM

BINGO brother!!!!!!!!

Can not even get credit.....
This ESC was sent back to them the same day it was received, Lemon!!!
I am soo pist off.....

Originally posted by ray schrauwen

So they are holding your money hostage because they will not front money to Heifei for a new SF240?
Instead you wait forever because Heifei takes forever?
Very sad, and I will not buy another esc from them if that is the case.

Just curious if it was a 240 esc?

**bbill1** · 05-20-2011, 12:05 PM

Originally posted by crrcboatz

Spending some time on the net I have found some places to get lipos good ones mind you for about what u pay in cost + shipping with HK. They arrive in a few days and u r done with it. That to me is worth the warranty mess, back order mess, robbery shipping costs, and long wait to get stuff.
Also, the few dollars difference on stuff I buy here at OCE and 2 other American vendors assures me someone in the USA is there to talk to, email, and most of all going to be spending my money with another American.

OK

So where do you get your lipo's and who are the other two vendor's?

**PDR447** · 05-20-2011, 12:22 PM

Originally posted by bbill1

OK

So where do you get your lipo's and who are the other two vendor's?

I'm guessing hobbypartz? http://www.hobbypartz.com/

their prices are decent with free shipping too. only problem is that if you're in CA sales tax kills the deal a bit.

**FighterCat57** · 05-20-2011, 01:46 PM

Just an FYI, if you have a warranty problem with them, open a paypal case to accompany it. Otherwise it will be too late. If they ask why, inform them of just that, if the case is not opened, then it will be too late to have any recourse if there is more than 60 day delay.

There are a bunch of eBay scams which pre-order items and then after 60 days, just disappear. Nothing you can do about it.

I have a case opened since last year about an ESC that blew up on the bench, they said send it back, so I did. They say they are always waiting for update from the MFR. When I contacted the MFR, I was told HK didn't send anything back for warranty, ever. They did not offer a warranty to HK, so was never a possibility. When confronted HK denied it and said they are waiting for the MFR I must have contacted the wrong person.

Simply put, they don't offer a warranty. SOMETIMES there have been people that have had honored warranty, but it is not been reliable.

Again, open the paypal case immediately if the item is defective. Paypal will refund your money under their buyer protection program. I did this exact thing with a defective battery. HK denied receiving the package with the battery, so Paypal refunded the battery cost.

Scary stuff ordering overseas. It's not retail service, that's for sure. Keep your end covered.

**crrcboatz** · 05-20-2011, 02:14 PM

This guy sells good quality lipos at prices I think are good considering the c rating on them which is what i want to spend my money on from now on. As you can see he has closed for a few days because of vacation but I will post some links too to his

batteries.http://stores.ebay.com/got2gorc?_trksid=p4340.l2563

I will monitor and let you know when he returns. He sells 40+c rating and up only in several voltage ranges and mah ratings.

Here is the other one and yes it is hobbypartz.

http://www.hobbypartz.com/batteries.html

everything else OSE, HOR, fighter cat, and one gas site i still use gizzmos.

**GP73** · 05-20-2011, 02:16 PM

The stupid thing is: they are big enough to replace the ESC at their own cost, instead of losing customers like this.

**kola** · 05-20-2011, 03:01 PM

Rule of thumb with hobbyking is its all good and well untill you have an issue and have to contact "customer service" its something you have to accept that if you get bad luck with your order your better off just accepting it and moving on then trying to get it corrected.

**Fluid** · 05-20-2011, 04:37 PM

The stupid thing is: they are big enough to replace the ESC at their own cost, instead of losing customers like this.

How do you know how "big" they are? Do you know what margins they consider acceptable? No, none of us do. They have low prices because they keep their overhead low. Replacing items at their cost increases their overhead. Their "size" makes no difference, it is their margins that matter. If they replace hundreds of thousands of dollars of defective equipment at their cost each year they lose. Margin must be preserved.

Customers will always be driven to Hobby King and their ilk by the low prices they advertise. They can afford to lose lots of customers, the world is a big place and most consumers are preoccupied with cost rather than value anyway. Consider the statement below, which is repeated ad nauseum on this and other hobby sites:

"Item X is so cheap I can afford to buy two of them and throw one away if it doesn't work!"

.

Hobby King......

Hobby King......

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