WARNING about Family Land out of Australia (aka RC Hobby Creations l

I am hoping that everyone who reads this will not only heed my warning, but also warn others.

Several weeks ago, I placed an order (for my drift car) late at night through this business' website - https://familyland.com.au - and, early the next morning, realizing that what was ordered was not needed, I immediately emailed them, requesting the order be canceled. At that point in time, the payment was still being processed, and they could have easily canceled the order, and immediately refunded the money.

Before I continue, I will also mention something about their outrageous shipping costs. What I ordered (a package of 6 bearings) was $17AU...and, for that, they were charging $24AU for 'shipping'. Like I said, outrageous shipping cost. I've ordered both parts from RC BoatBitz (also located in Australia), and paid less for shipping for even larger packages.

Anyway...moving on...by that afternoon, not having heard back from them, I contacted PayPal (whom payment was submitted through). I explained the situation to them, and ask them to contact the seller to have the order canceled, and funds refunded. Just as Family Land ignored my direct request, they also ignored the request coming from PayPal.

The following morning, I filed an online claim against the seller, through PayPal. Unfortunately, due to PayPal's limited number of "reasons", I was forced into selecting an option that, technically, was not accurate (there was no option listed even remotely close to my reason for filing the claim). Upon the seller receiving the info from PayPal regarding the claim, they immediately had a shipping label printed, thus creating a tracking number, and then reported back to PayPal that the item had shipped, even providing them the tracking number. This, however, was a LIE, as no such package had shipped.

The TRUTH, based on my order details, as shown on their website, showed that the payment had been 'processed', and that the order, itself, was 'processing' (ie. it had NOT 'shipped'). Because of the information the seller provided to paypal, PayPal decided to find in the seller's favor. Had PayPal bothered to check the online tracking through the Australia Post website, they would have easily seen that no such package had yet shipped.
This whole situation, in regards to the seller, was nothing more than a 'ruse', just so that PayPal would find in the seller's favor.

Later that day, after receiving the "claim denied" email from paypal, I called PayPal, to have the claim reopened. At this point, they changed the reasoning to "package not received", which, in turn, created a new PayPal claim number. At that point, the seller was, once again, contacted, and they were given a certain number of days in which to respond. The following day, the package was in the hands of Australia Post. However, the seller could have easily recalled it, as they had the ability to do so anytime prior to the package departing Australia. However, once again, they ignored all requests/contact from paypal, and purposely allowed the package to cross the Pacific.

This morning...which, as 'chance' had it, was also the final day that the seller had to respond...I, once again, received a "claim denied" email from PayPal, with the reasoning being that they received 'proof' from the seller that the package had been delivered...but, once again, this was nothing more than another LIE from them. Checking Australia Post tracking, it was easy to see that no such package had been delivered. According to Australia post, it was listed as "out for delivery" two days ago (5/19 Australian date, 5/18 US date).

Throughout this entire ordeal, Family Land (aka RC Hobby Creations) has PURPOSELY done nothing but ignore all contact from myself & toPayPal, and provided lie after lie to PayPal has (so-called) "proof")...and, because of these lies, PayPal has found in favor of the seller (twice, in fact).

I am not posting this for getting suggestions on how to get my money back...I am already in the process of doing that by different means. The purpose of this post is to warn everyone against purchasing from Family Land/RC Hobby Creations. For all I know, they could be an outstanding hobby shop for those who are local to them, and (possibly) even for others throughout Australia & New Zealand...but, for anyone outside of that area, it would behoove you to learn from my experience, and avoid them at all costs.


~ More peace, love, laughter, & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

Hey many thanks for the heads up. i almost ordered stuff from them last year, but the shipping was a bit too high.

Gotta agree with you, shipping costs were a little too high.