Vendors and Manufacturers - READ THIS!

[toprudder]

After having a few issues involving ordering, service, and correspondence with vendors lately, I thought I would would share my observations and opinions.

Service:
First instance, I purchased two identical items from the manufacturer. One worked fine, the other would not power up at all. Contacted service, and mailed it to them.

Second instance, I purchased an item from an authorized dealer. It did not work properly when received. Again, had to pay shipping to send it in for repair. After doing a little investigation, I found that there were a lot of these units that were shipped out faulty.

In both cases, I had to wait for the items to go through the normal repair pipeline, which meant a 2-3 week turnaround, during which time they had my money and I had nothing. Maybe I am wrong, but I was hoping they would send me a new item as soon as they received the dead item from me. I am talking about NIB items now, not something that has been used and then died.

Ordering:
If you are a vendor that sells online, you should have some sort of order confirmation email to acknowledge that the order was received, and give some sort of estimated time of delivery. I ordered something recently and there was absolutely no communication at all. I emailed the company, twice, asking for this information. On the day I was ready to call the company, the product showed up on my doorstep. I never did get any correspondence from the vendor. Which leads me to my next observation,

Correspondence:
Too many times lately, I have either read about someone else, or I have experienced it myself, trying to contact a vendor via email and the vendor never replies to repeated emails. The typical response on any of the forums is "try giving them a call". Well, that is not acceptable to me. If the vendor has a website and lists an email address on the "Contacts" page, they should read/answer their emails. It would be ok if there was a statement on the "Contacts" page that there may be a delay to email, or that they prefer phone calls. Usually, the only time I have to spend on hobby related activities is after normal working hours, and email is the best mode of contact for me. Apparently there are a few vendors that it is generally known (and accepted!!) that they never reply (may not even read?) emails.

Before anyone suggests I can avoid problems like this by purchasing from the LHS instead of ordering online, don't even get me started. My closest LHS does not carry much of anything giant scale, and very little of anything else that I need. (They did not have any 4/40 blind nuts for more than two weeks, when they did get some in they only ordered two packs!!!) In some cases they would not even have an idea of what I am asking for.

The nearest hobby shops that do carry decent inventory are both about 1.5 hours away. Believe me, I stop at them whenever I am passing through the area!!! (Like when I go to Triple Tree, I always stop at KC Hobby in Archdale NC).

Let me say that most of my experiences have been good. It is just a small percentage of the vendors that seem to need a little constructive criticism, and hopefully they will read this and take notice.

Bob R.

[Stainless Skills]

Does everything have to be perfect?

[flyin woodbutcher]

I'm with you 100% on this one Bob. I had a problem with a new item that I recieved dead in the box 3 times. Cost me 22$ in return shipping for a new item. 2 months and could not use the product. They did not want to give me any thing for shipping. The 3rd time I recieved it not working it went into the trash. Bought a replacement of a different brand from another vendor.

FWB

ps this was not a gas engine.

[Edge 540]

"Does everything have to be perfect?"
No, but service is HUGE. Thats why DA, Fromeco etc.... receive so many awesome reviews and positive threads. Great service and support are almost more important that actual performance.

[toprudder]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Stainless Skills
	Does everything have to be perfect?

If everything were perfect, there would be no need for service after the sale.

[Chase]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Stainless Skills
	Does everything have to be perfect?

OMG!! A nerve has been struck here. Please bare with me.


Vendors, Manufacturers and Retailers, just so you know, SERVICE AND CUSTOMER INTERFACE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF ANY BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP you will have with me.

I don't want to talk to the acne-afflicted kid who knows NOTHING about airplanes. I don't want to pay top-dollar to be told I will have to wait several weeks for a part to be repaired or replaced, while you alrerady HAVE my money. I want to know that, IN EXCHANGE FOR MY MONEY, I am getting what I paid for.

It's a competitive world out there.

Luckily the companies I do choose to buy from have EXCELLENT customer service namely DA, Fromeco, Air Wild and Horizon. (I will not bother mentioning the companies that have disappointed me here). I have had issues which needed attention with all of the aformentioned companies and once I was able to give them the proper information, they came through every single time,and gained a customer for LIFE!...or until they treat me poorly.

Do I expect perfection? When I am spending over $100 for a single servo, $2000+ for a single airframe, $1300+ for a single engine and $1000+ for a radio in order to fly my TOY AIRPLANE, I DO expect perfection, or as close as they can muster.


For the most part, the companies that deal with the types of things I have been buying lately already know this and are NEARLY PERFECT.

I think it bares mentioning that companies like DA, Fromeco and Horizon do their very best in this regard. In the case of Horizon, their size reduces their ability to treat each customer as an individual. The trick is to get in touch with someone behind the phone-bank and establish some communication. Once that is done, it's like they were a small company with a name you can use and a person you can talk with.

Perfection? No, only one man was ever perfect. But for the kind of money we spend, they had damn-well better try.

I yield the balance of my time.


P.S. I want to add the name of another, much smaller, company that has, perhaps, the best customer service in the industry. Tim at http://www.chargerrc.com will make everything perfect, every time. I like his planes, (Foamies), and his attitude.

[toprudder]

You know, I think before I buy anything from a particular vendor, I'll send an email to them asking about the purchase. If I get no response -- no purchase.

Something similar to this happened at work recently. I needed something ASAP, so I emailed and asked for quotes from several vendors and said it was urgent. The ONE company that we figured we would end up buying from waited close to two weeks before they responded. If they had been a little higher in price than anyone else, we probably would have purchased from them since we already had some of their equipment and were pleased with it. However, we bought from someone else that HAD answered our emails promptly, had a decent price, and a good reputation.

Chase, I agree with you. There are companies that I will deal with because of the service they have provided me or other members of my club -- the word gets around!!!

Bob R.

.

[Chase]

You know it, brother.

[JeeUm]

You guys are 100% right. Although we can't expect perfection every single time, we can expect it to be correct and if it's not, then the problem should be fixed.

I recently had a prop break in mid flight, knowing that with wood sometimes you just can't see a hidden imperfection I contacted the company to just give them a heads up. I wasn't upset at all and told them I was going to reorder a new one. Without skipping a beat they refused to allow me to order a new prop and instead insisted on sending a new one free of charge. You can bet that this act cemented my being a customer of theirs in the future.

[Bryant330L]

It is crazy for any company in our hobby to NOT put customer service first. Everyone knows that is what brings people back. A faulty product should be replaced or fixed to the best of their ability. There is simply no excuse for not answering emails. I don't buy from anyone that won't take the time to answer and email. There is also nothing wrong with expecting perfection, or at least an attempt at perfection.

[Jaybird]

That's another thing these internet forums are good for. The word gets spread (good or bad) the good ones flourish.

[Chase]

JeeUm,

While I don't like to bag on poorly-performing companies in public forums unless I'm just plain fed-up, I would like to know what prop manufacturer treated you so well. I think the ones that earn it should be publicly praised.

Probably just me....