Value Hobby?? I don't think so!!!

[Dbono99]

Hi All
I was very happy with Value Hobby, fast shipping 3 days...until..I placed an another order with them, one item was for (5) 1160's servos at $5.00 each..When I received the order I checked the servo's, one was not working..I e-mailed Alex at Value Hobby to see what to do, his reply was for me to send back the $5.00 servos, when I asked who pays the shipping, the answer I have to pay for shipping back of the defective $5.00 servo's..Lets see now $3.00 shipping, my time, my gas, comes more then the $5.00 I paid for the servo's..My reply to him was I'll take the 5.00 hit, but that's the last order you will see from me.
Mean while Alex sends me another E-mail stating that is common policy for all Company's..My reply was to cut an paste, a reply I got from HobbyPartz.I was told to shipped the item back by the Post Office and include to the shipping receipt, so they, HobbtPartz can reimburse the shipping cost.
The least Value Hobby should have done was give $5.00 credit towards my next order,instead they lost me as a customer, as well as 75 members of E flight club.

What DO you guys/girls think???

Dan

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by Dbono99

Hi all
I was very happy with Value Hobby, fast shipping 3 days...until..I placed an another order with them, one item was for (5)5 1160's servos at $5.00 each..When I received the order I checked the servo's, one was not working..I e-mailed Alex at Value Hobby to see what to do, his reply was for me to send back the $5.00 servos, when I asked who pays the shipping, the answer I have to pay for shipping back of the defective $5.00 servo's..Lets see now $3.00 shipping, my time, my gas, comes more then the $5.00 I paid for the servo's..My reply to him was I'll take the 5.00 hit, but that's the last order you will see from me.
Mean while Alex sends me another E-mail stating that is common policy for all Company's..My reply was to cut an paste, a reply I got from HobbyPartz.I was told to shipped the item back by the Post Office and include to the shipping receipt, so they, HobbtPartz can reimburse the shipping cost.
The least Value Hobby should have done was give $5.00 credit towards my next order,instead they lost me as a customer, as well as 75 members of E flight club.

What DO you guys/girls think???

Dan

Hi Dan I Hear You I bought a dress from E Bay, the dress came in the Mail, and it had Pockets on the front of the dress that hung out to the sides the ad did not state the dress had ugly pockets, Yea the silly seller wanted me to pay for return shipping for their mistake in not stating the dress had pockets on it, and you cant see them on the pics, because they are being covered up by the hands of the Model I did not pay that much for the dress, but I did give the seller a bad time about it LOL

All stores do the same thing, they want you to send the part back at your expense, Yes That Makes me Mad too, BUT LOOK at it in Another Perspective, Chances are that you have Saved a small Bundle shopping at a discount Hobby store, I Know I have at HK, sometimes you will get a bad Part, Just Eat it, as it does not pay to sent it back, it will cost you more time and money than whats its worth, and look at what you have saved over the long term buying discounted part from lets say HK or VH, Bottom Line is, yea you got burnt a little, but your still way Ahead, thats how i see it, so just let it be water under the bridge and move forward and have fun Take care, Chellie



this is how the model was covering up the ugly pockets

[Dbono99]

Hi Chellie
Don't get me wrong I will STILL buy, from the Internet stores, in the USA.. I just won't buy from Value Hobby.. I've had
No problem with Headsup Rc /Hobbypartz/EP Buddy., will still use them
What I loved about HobbyValue was there FAST shipping too NJ.
I was just looking for one store give my $$ too,thought IT was Hobby Value..Live n learn!!!

Thanks Dan
PS I hope the Motor & ESC I got from VH works..LOL

[rcers]

Well I think you need to learn about a cheap envelope and a stamp. I recycle padded envelopes and you could likely get a small one and a single stamp for return postage. Then you stick it in your mailbox and raise the flag.

It is not uncommon for small vendors to have you ship back. Not uncommon for larger ones either.

This is the reason I no longer purchase cheapo servos - too many failures. Hitec HS55's, 45's and 65's for me. WORTH EVERY PENNY.

Mike

[Dbono99]

Hi Mike My time and effort is even worth more then the $5..00, or the cheap envelope
Too lose a customer over $5.00 makes NO sense to me!!!
I used to use only HiTec servo's 81's, But I have soooo many projects, to complete, I gotta save somewhere.Like I said before: the least HV could have done was issue me a $5.00 credit onmy next order..
Thanks for your reply
Dan
PS I have 10 years Customer Service Experience with Home Depot and another 15 years with a Electronic Firm

[rcers]

Originally Posted by Dbono99

Hi Mike My time and effort is even worth more then the $5..00, or the cheap envelope
Too lose a customer over $5.00 makes NO sense to me!!!
I used to use only HiTec servo's 81's, But I have soooo many projects, to complete, I gotta save somewhere.Like I said before: the least HV could have done was issue me a $5.00 credit onmy next order..
Thanks for your reply
Dan
PS I have 10 years Customer Service Experience with Home Depot and another 15 years with a Electronic Firm

If you time and effort is not worth the few minutes you should really consider much higher quality items with less likely hood to fail.

Since you have experience with Home Depot and that other company, you see how many customers abuse return policies. Every brick and mortar store that I shop at requires you to return the item to the store (at your time and money expense).

Most companies post their return policy. As does Value Hobby:
http://www.valuehobby.com/page.php?page=supportcontact

At any rate - My daddy taught me a great lesson in life - "Cheap stuff is cheap, don't expect much out of it".

I just spent 30 minutes swapping out a servo in an Alfa plane that was a cheap knock off. I sure wish I had spent the extra $3-$4 on a Hitec servo for that model rather than me spending all this time now getting it setup with a proper servo. Because as you point out, my time is worth that!

Mike (No longer buys cheap servos!)

[Dbono99]

Hi I used to buy Hyperion/ESC's motors for ALL my projects..I think you even helped me on few of them..
Just converted 2- 40 size fuel planes to E flight, using HobbyPartz, Monster 46's/Exceed ESC/Gens Ace 4000 5's 25..All for under $150.00..CAN'T beat that with a stick!!!
I couldn't be much happier..!!!! Both flew better the when they where fuel planes..
I guess Bottom line "To Each it's OWN".whatever works for you fine.

Sig Kobra/Hyperion 3025-8
Sig LT25 /Hyperion 3019/10
Miss Texas/Hyperion 3013/12

Dan
PS I checked the pieces on the Hyperions motor, couldn't believe how much they went up.
My latest project The Swallow G Force 3538 $26.00/ESC $23.00

[rcers]

And my last Monster Power motor (a 60 size) failed after exactly 3 flights. I have had good luck with some cheapo stuff. Others not so much. Servos - never again for me!

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by rcers

And my last Monster Power motor (a 60 size) failed after exactly 3 flights. I have had good luck with some cheapo stuff. Others not so much. Servos - never again for me!

Went to an electric fun fly today, where a flyer had a giant scale model with one of those $80 3KW motors in it. Burned up the motor and with it the ESC on the second flight, bought another one and now has about 15 flights with no problems.

Lets see, my Hacker A60 is around $200 or so, and the el cheapo motor is 2X$80, or $160. And the Hacker and the associated Castle Creations 80 Amp HV ICE ESC now has about 50 flawless flights on it.

Folks say I'm wasting $$$$ on those high quality motors. Go figure.

[airmail wf]

Dan did you ask them to credit $5.00 to your account?

[stuart]

dennny........+1 on the better equipment,i use turnigy motors in a few planes and the smaller ones[35-30-1100's]work great,i push em hard and they hold up.

thank the folks here at wf for suggesting eflight power 60 and cc 100ampesc for my hog bipe...everytime i fly it which is most weekends i feel very confident it will hold up better than 1/2 price cheap motor/esc's.

so you advise is with out a doubt best taken when a person can afford to and when the bird is something special.

[Dbono99]

Airmail: To credit my account, that was up to them..I DON'T make the company's polices..They didn't, sooo they LOST a customer..NO problem for me..Many more company's out there..

Thanks Dan
PS I think to LOSE a customer over $5.00, is NOT a good business practice, not with ALL the competition out there nowadays

[Dbono99]

Hi All I just came across this post..This is what customer service is ALL about.
Horizon Hobby has great customer service
I am putting together a pulse xt 25e and after getting it together in the house, I fired it up to check everything. I started moving the surfaces around and trying to center them when one of the servos started making a grinding noise. I called them the next day and talked to Nathan. I was figuring I would have to buy one and send this one back and let them look and see if it was my fault it messed up or defective before they might refund the original. Before I could even explain any of that he was getting my name and address to send one out. Wow!! He said just keep the old one and we are sending one out to you. And...they must have overnighted it because it's already here. Thank you Nathan, Thank you Horrizon Hobby. I'll definately keep ordering from you and spread the word about you.

73, scott

[Glacier Girl]

Ok I understand your frustration, but slow down a second and lets look at this from the other side of the counter.

VH sells you some servos. You call and tell em one is bad. They have no clue if it is bad or not, only you saying it is. So they tell you send it back.

Yep your dime to ship it back.

Now then two things, one if you had paid to ship it back and it was bad, you would get a new one and possibly your credit. BUT you did not and you are giving us a one sided story of how VH is terrible. Yet you didn't follow through with the return.

So how can you say you wouldn't have gotten your credit.


Secondly, how else is a small time place to protect itself? Every tom, dick, and harry could call them up telling them their servos are bad, even though they aren't, just so they get a free servo. Take a pop over to the beginners forums if you need examples of folks who don't know how something works, and blame the seller, motor,esc, rx, pack and so on, when in fact it's their inexperience that's the problem.

And really if 5 bucks and what ever your time is worth, is that big of a deal, maybe you should think of something else as a hobby, if you can't afford it.

You bought some of the CHEAPEST servos out there and then want world class customer service, like the Horizon example.

Sorry it ain't going to happen. There is a reason you pay higher prices at Horizon, yes a better product, but you are also paying for customer service and the ability to toss freebies to customers.


And you worked for Home Depot? Let's just say in my business I've dealt with them from PA to FL. And no matter what I bought from them that didn't work, or was missing parts, I had to take it back. I got my money back, they didn't pay me for my time or gas, nor did they ever say they were sorry, or even offer a discount.


p.s. just so you know, HobbyPartz, is just another name of the same company, who also goes by Raidentech, NitroPlanes, and a few others. And if you think ValueHobby's customer service is bad, I suggest you do a little reading up on these companies.

All of these companies are resellers. They buy containers of stuff from China. Horizon on the other hand owns their companies, HiTec, Spektrum/JR, Multiplex, Hangar9, E-Flite, ParkZone, HobbyZone, etc. So when you talk to them you are talking to the the company that not only sells to you, but also controls the manufacturing.
Not so with these other internet sellers.

[Dbono99]

FYI The servo's ($5.00)are working GREAT. The thin CA I purchased from VH was older then me I'm 67..LOL I couldn't get the THIN Ca to wick into the wood were the cloth hinges were, it came out more like a THICK Ca, then a thin one, even had threads from the bottle..I had to use my medium Ca for the hinges.
What was I suppose to do? send the thin bottle of Ca back to HV?
Sorry NO more VH for me!!!
Horizon yeah GREAT customer service.YEAH Right!!!
I ordered 2 rolls of Ulta kote on line, on a Sat morning, 5 minutes later I realize I had ordered the WRONG blue..Sent them E-mail right away.You know what I got a bunch of BS. The order didn't ship till Mon, which I new before hand. There excuse was they couldn't find my order cause Monday is there busy day.I was told to return the one I didn't want and reorder The one I wanted.. I couldn't wait another week for the covering.

Dan
PS I must have gotten LUCKY with the servo's 4 of 5 work

..

[racie34]

you didn't return the servo though..they'll never credit you for it.
I use them alot and never have problems. On the phone he is always courteous and handles everything right away.

[Henry Sistrunk]

I have good luck with their Motors, Batteries, and Servos. Fast service with no parts failures.
Henry

[longbikez]

We all get upset when things don't go as we think they should but it would be a mistake to turn your back on Value Hobby. Sure they do not have the outstanding service that HeadsUp has but then Heads does not have the depth of coverage that VH has when it comes to batteries. So buy batteries at VH and electronics at Heads. All of which is better than sending your money to HK.

[prof_fate]

As a business owner and a consumer this seems perfectly reasonable - if you buy something local and want to return or exchange it what do you do? You GO TO THE STORE, right?

How is this really any different?

Bring me the item in question so we can check it out. If indeed it's defective we'll replace it free of charge. Brick and mortar or web makes no difference, does it?
Now I'd hope the web store would send the new one out at no charge.

[Henry Sistrunk]

I'm with you Gohmer. Throw the 5 dollar servo in the trash and move on. It's not worth the cost to mail back and if you don't mail it back he has to trust your word that it was defective. TRASH IT.
Henry

[Dragonflyer]

Don't throw it in the trash, you now have some spare parts for the other four. The other four $6.25 each, pretty cheap servos.

Bill

[CNY_Dave]

Originally Posted by CHELLIE

Hi Dan I Hear You I bought a dress from E Bay, the dress came in the Mail, and it had Pockets on the front of the dress that hung out to the sides the ad did not state the dress had ugly pockets, Yea the silly seller wanted me to pay for return shipping for their mistake in not stating the dress had pockets on it, and you cant see them on the pics, because they are being covered up by the hands of the Model I did not pay that much for the dress, but I did give the seller a bad time about it LOL

All stores do the same thing, they want you to send the part back at your expense, Yes That Makes me Mad too, BUT LOOK at it in Another Perspective, Chances are that you have Saved a small Bundle shopping at a discount Hobby store, I Know I have at HK, sometimes you will get a bad Part, Just Eat it, as it does not pay to sent it back, it will cost you more time and money than whats its worth, and look at what you have saved over the long term buying discounted part from lets say HK or VH, Bottom Line is, yea you got burnt a little, but your still way Ahead, thats how i see it, so just let it be water under the bridge and move forward and have fun Take care, Chellie



this is how the model was covering up the ugly pockets

-snort- this must be the internet, saw this post and my reflex was to check to see if the poster was a man or woman


Dave

[stuart]

Originally Posted by CNY_Dave

-snort- this must be the internet, saw this post and my reflex was to check to see if the poster was a man or woman


Dave

i know ya must be kidding...,she's all woman ,one of the few gals who knows rc better then some guy's here. another sweetheart is kristy carnage,also very rc smart. glad we have beauty around the wattflyer!!cause i'm just "plane" ugly brother.

[Crash Test Dummy]

I have been a VH customer for a long time and Alex is a stand up guy.

CTD

[Mike Sloan]

I too have been a long time customer of VH....however, I have not had any problems...until now....
I just ordered a 60" Neptune from VH. It arrived with a cracked fiberglass engine pod. I'll let you know how Alex handles this. So far...2 emails have gone unanswered.