IF YOU'RE AN UNSATISFIED CUSTOMER -

[el bustard]

Ladies and Gentlemen;
I have been building/flying on and off since 1967 when CL was matriculating over to rc. In November of 1998, I finally met a young man who mentored me and helped stretch the life span of my planes and has become one of my close friends. This month marks my 11 year anniversary of my serious addiction to rc.

I'm now 57 and posses all the important basic skills to have more fun in this sport than anything else I can afford to get involved with. I used to fly mostly pattern/sport ships (well... still do) and I have infected my youngest son with this hobby. Presently, our highest interests are culminating in aero towing.

I have been reading blogs, links and forums for months and joined several sites. One thing I see a lot of: disgruntled customers who go from hating the product in particular to hating the whole company and then publishing their 'complaints' to stretch any moderator's tolerance. Usually mild arguments ensue from other responses of other members and then sometimes replies with subtle hostility are fired back and forth.

I am intentionally keeping the above and the following general, without mentioning any models or manufacturers in specific because I have found that over the last 11 years (and many many planes later), this is far more effective - IF you are a reasonable person.

If you are one of the many unsatisfied customers out there who cannot get what you believe is fair compensation from a company, you are absolutely not alone. I battled with 4 of the major companies and knew when I was in the right and they were wrong. This arbitration seems sometimes random, but in actuality 'they' are paying close attention, especially now with the internet giving virtually anyone with IP connection the ability to vent.

Every manufacturer out there right now limits their replacement/compensation to stringent standards and if you read their guarantees carefully you'll find CYA written mostly to their benefit. However, this does not mean they have never or rarely replaced defective goods - I know because one time my plane was replaced but the other fellow at the field never got his. And vice versa (mostly vice versa for some unknown reason). I believe personally that the big 4 are and will replace your damaged model, engine, etc. with unbiased perspectives and the proof is that THEY are still around all these years later when those who did a stooge job with customer PR have disappeared or are fading out of the picture. So take heart, what goes around comes around and time will weed out those companies that have wronged you.

Now on the flip side, I personally believe there are many 'grey' lines where one should submit their problem carefully and politely, but don't expect you'll always win. I lost a .60 sized plane due to what me and my flying buddies believed to be a nylon clevis failure on the elevator (certainly a manufacturer issue!). I submitted this problem to Dave Mathewson, pres of AMA. He found it interesting enough to forward to Dave Gee who writes the SAFETY FIRST column. They respected the fact I wasn't bashing the manufacturer, and I even admitted there wasn't absolute proof since the plane lawn darted in over ten inches.

But they replied with productive advice and published my experience(June MA issue) which gave me the satisfaction of a contribution that others can benefit by (or relate to from similar experience).

There will always be new FBN's a'comin' and I am grateful to those of you who posted warnings. But be careful - let's not create a b&m forum or worse: Crash And Whiners Post.

I love this hobby and the new technology evolving that's sooo far and above what I had to deal with - way back then!

[brycesteenburg]

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[Bunky F. Knuckle]

I hear ya...... I lost a Dragon Lady that happened to be my dads at a 4 stroke Rally SEVERAL years ago...... Culprit was the stupid EZ Connector that dad put on the elevator...... Pin that runs thru the servo arm broke.......... I never once blamed the manuf. for crashing my airplane. It was end user related crash. I now only use EZ Connectors on foamies.

I've had nylon and metal clevises fail(installing and in flying), nylon control horns...... About anything nylon related, it has failed at 1 point in time on me.

I agree on your point........ Respectfully, the responsible usage of the equipment relys on us, the end user. Once the package contents are bought and paid for, that, in my eye, should clear the manuf. of all liabilities. But I do see the gray area....... Per say, when would I contact the manuf. of said product and kindly contact them that their stuff is inadaquete. I think I would be in contact with them after 5 of the 10 clevises in the package broke during the assembly of a new airplane.

Personally, I will not use anything I feel that is inadaquete for the job I want it to do.

Again, this is my opinion, take it with a grain of salt, if you feel you have to.....

[JoeAirPort]

I heard there's a new law that you have to be fair and buy from crappy companies too. Hey they can't help it that they don't have good customer skillz (psst, it's Friday).

[wizard]

el bustard, Great first post. That is the attitude that we all should have. It is amazing what a little tact and a calm head can do to get results.

Here is an example that happened to me. I had purchased an ARF kit, it was when I was just starting into gassers. I assembled it with the supplied hardware. On the first flight the plane went in due to a problem with the clevis supplied. When I inspected the rest, every clevis supplied had the same problem. I got home from the field and placed a call to the company and explained the problem, explaining that I was wanting to let them know that there was a problem with the hardware to possibly prevent the same thing from happening to another customer. The customer service rep asked me to ship the remains to them for evaluation. Again, I was just trying to help point out a quality control issue. One week later a replacement kit arrived with a nice letter thanking me for pointing out the problem.

If I would have just went online complaining or called being rude and vulgar, I'm sure that I would have never received a replacement of a $600 airframe.

[smokin]

This is a good thread. I hope that it keeps the "tone" and goes the right direction.

I am 100% positive that consumers have a better chance of things going their "way" when they contact the manufacturer FIRST and discuss their issue calmly and politely. It usually ends up not going the consumer's way when their first step is to flame the product/company online prior to the manufacturer having a chance to rectify the situation.

A lot of things can be resolved in a short amount of time when we are calm and collected. This goes for both customer AND manufacturer. There are obviously going to be certain "issues" with any product every now and again. When I sell a car at our lot, I tell each one of my customers the same thing when they are ready to drive away in their "new" car....

"If for some reason you have any issues with this vehicle, please don't judge us on the issue... Judge us by how we handle it!"


Keep one very important thing in mind guys.... We often forget this one....

It is a GREAT idea to contact the manufacturer and let them know when we are HAPPY with things as well as when we are concerned about things. This goes a LONG way with building credibility and a good "working" relationship with that company. We most often just contact companies with our sorrows and not with our victories. ALL manufactures LOVE success stories!

[flyin4fun]

	Quote: Originally Posted by smokin
	This is a good thread. I hope that it keeps the "tone" and goes the right direction. I am 100% positive that consumers have a better chance of things going their "way" when they contact the manufacturer FIRST and discuss their issue calmly and politely. It usually ends up not going the consumer's way when their first step is to flame the product/company online prior to the manufacturer having a chance to rectify the situation. A lot of things can be resolved in a short amount of time when we are calm and collected. This goes for both customer AND manufacturer. There are obviously going to be certain "issues" with any product every now and again. When I sell a car at our lot, I tell each one of my customers the same thing when they are ready to drive away in their "new" car.... "If for some reason you have any issues with this vehicle, please don't judge us on the issue... Judge us by how we handle it!" When it comes to Aerotech, we certainly plan on building a very satisfied customer base through selling a superior product. But believe me, when the time comes for us to deal with product issues, we are certainly prepared to MAINTAIN our customer's satisfaction through service and support. I look forward to being able to rectify any and all situations that our customers have with our products... Especially when they come to us first and give us the chance to be judged by "how we handle it." Keep one very important thing in mind guys.... We often forget this one.... It is a GREAT idea to contact the manufacturer and let them know when we are HAPPY with things as well as when we are concerned about things. This goes a LONG way with building credibility and a good "working" relationship with that company. We most often just contact companies with our sorrows and not with our victories. ALL manufactures LOVE success stories!

Not to intentionally "flame" ya there buddy...but this started out without naming companies..and I would like to see it continue that way....this site should NOT be used for sales pitches either.
NUFF SAID

[smokin]

Be it that I wasn't attempting a "sales pitch", I went ahead and removed from my initial post the comment regarding our customer satisfaction model at our kit company.....I certainly didn't intend to color outside of the lines here by mentioning my own company and it's attempts at a solution to these customer/manufacture issues. I was thinking that folks might like to see the opinion of a manufacturer along side of those of the consumer here in a polite and straight forward forum. I apologize if I was wrong.

I am assuming that the rest of my comments are allowable as they represent my personal opinoins about the communication process between consumer and vendor in a product complaint/resolution situation.

[flyin4fun]

	Quote: Originally Posted by smokin
	Be it that I wasn't attempting a "sales pitch" I removed from my initial post the comment regarding our customer satisfaction model at our kit company..... I am assuming that the rest of my comments are allowable as they represent my personal opinoins about the communication process between consumer and vendor in a product complaint/resolution situation.

I understand that....BUT..your company did NOT have to be named to make your point...and I made a mistake also, I said this site should not be used as a sales pitch...I was wrong...THE FORUMS should NOT be used for a sales pitch...BUT you can always BUY advertising here on the GIANTS "site".