[wizard]

Thanks for letting us see a little of the other side of the phone. I personally have made calls to both companies you mention and have always had great service from both. Your comments enforce many issues that are not the problems of the distributor but the individual or manufacturer. I know that there are a lot of people out there that have a hard time admitting that the problem was caused by faulty setup or maintenance.

A couple of examples of the service I have received not mentioning brands. I had one kit that crashed during maiden. It failed due to the supplied hardware. I called to report the problem with the hardware just to make sure that the company was aware of the problem. I did not expect the plane replaced. I was told to box up the pieces and return them for evaluation. In a few days, I received a new kit. This was a 50cc sized plane and I was impressed with the company.

Another example. I was flying a plane involved in a hard crash. The crash was a result of loss of control. During the post crash, many of the components that could have resulted in the loss of control, were damaged to the point that it was impossible to determine if it might have been a switch failure or battery lead failure. Even the battery pack suffered extensive damage. I sent the entire radio in for testing. The transmitter and receiver both checked out OK. The company replaced the antennas on both. (The transmitter antenna had some small bends and the receiver antenna had been damaged in the crash) The radio was returned with no charge for the service or shipping. I still use that radio and receiver to this day without any additional problems.

I think that the main thing that we as hobbyists need to remember, take responsibility for your own actions, use some respect and common courtesy when dealing with others.....it goes a long way.