Hmm so much for buying in the UK!

[mpd79]

/rant

Recently I placed an order with a uk supplier, when the bits arrived a voltage sensor was missing. Checked every where in the packaging until I noticed a credit note.

Emailed the company asking when the refund will be processed and was advise will investigate. Called last week and told we will look into it ';a refund takes a couple of days';, emailed again last night got a short reply '; will look into it and refund if needed';. Guess what still no PayPal refund? Argh.

Really disappointed and will have to raise a dispute soon - just bloody annoying!

//rant off

[Matt101]

Name & Shame?

[Gadget Man]

Name & Shame?

+1

[dyls]

Name & Shame?

+1

Happy new year 

[mpd79]

Wasn';t going to but here';s a hint; a bird that flys like a robot ;-)

[richardg6paj]

Hmmm! Could that be Robotbirds.com?  :evil

Richard

[Hands0n]

Ah well, thats RobotBird off my list of sellers. As a UK business they will know very well that a Refund is more appropriate than a credit note, and that they must comply with a request to refund within a reasonable and fair time. That means within a couple of days, not padding it out endlessly.  When firms do that I makes me wonder how solvent they really are, what cashflow problems they have, and whether they can be trusted with money ahead of delivery.

I wouldn';t hesitate after the time you';ve waited. Open a dispute with PayPal and grab your money back pronto.

[Ross]

Yep...open dispute right away.  Make ';em sit up and notice.

[BJT]

I recently requested a refund to Paypal from HK after an order was duplicated by their website. The refund was processed straight away, still took over 10 days for it to appear on Paypal and then Paypal put a temporRy hold on it for another 3 days!
Brian

[Biffa]

I have bought loads of stuff from Robot Birds in the past without issue. Hope this is just a one off and not going to become a regular occurrence.

I have to say I have received a refund off them before, again without issue

[flybywire]

I';m sure I';ve bought stuff from them before, seemed ok.  Like I said in a post yesterday, a lot of folk judge  (and recommend) a dealer purely based upon speed of delivery.  Yes, of course I can understand that ethos, but wait until there';s an issue (there will be one eventually) then judge!

Some days I feel harsh towards ';bad dealers';, other days I';m more lenient, on the whole, of all the multi-rotor dealers I';ve dealt with over the last couple of years, most have sorted any issues out quickly (there hasn';t been that many thankfully), with the exception of one, who I refuse to deal with even if they were the last dealer on earth, but I';m not going to name them, it';s pointless, as I';ve done so before, and had virtual death threats from folk ';over the moon'; with their service and knowledge!! 

I think that with the invention of the internet, one or two folk have started up businesses on the back of the multirotor boom, without bringing all aspects of retail ';best practice'; with them.  Yes, they';ll chat multi-rotor with you till the cows come home over the phone, but wait until that £600 setup goes pear shape, or won';t work out of the box, and you';ll find them ';un-available';, quick as a flash!

[XH558]

Yes, they';ll chat multi-rotor with you till the cows come home over the phone, but wait until that £600 setup goes pear shape, or won';t work out of the box, and you';ll find them ';un-available';, quick as a flash!

Reminds me of a joke ...

There was a guy waiting in line at the Pearly Gates for his chance to enter heaven. The line was long and there was an offer to go for a tour of hell. On the tour he saw that hell was like one big party – beautiful people laughing, drinking, gambling. After returning from his tour he passed through the Pearly Gates but the quiet chanting and constant playing of the harps in heaven seemed incredibly dull compared to life in hell. The white clouds, wings and robes were beginning to get on his nerves. After a while he could stand it no longer and asked God for permission to transfer into hell permanently. Upon arrival into hell, he was immediately chained and thrown into a vat of boiling oil. He couldn't understand what was happening. This was nothing like the hell he visited earlier. He called out to the Devil for an explanation. "Don't confuse tourism with immigration!" replied the Devil.

Nearly every company you deal with now has an English speaking sales team and limitless English phone lines and friendly personnel ... after sale - once you';re hooked, and you';ve paid - there';s one engaged phone line in Uzbekistan with some bloke who can';t speak English   

[guest325]

I have bought loads of stuff from Robot Birds in the past without issue. Hope this is just a one off and not going to become a regular occurrence.

I have to say I have received a refund off them before, again without issue

Same here, I';ve had quite a bit of stuff off them and never a problem - I sent a motor back because it sounded rough, credited for it same day as they received it!

[Ross]

I recently requested a refund to Paypal from HK after an order was duplicated by their website. The refund was processed straight away, still took over 10 days for it to appear on Paypal and then Paypal put a temporRy hold on it for another 3 days!
Brian

My mate has just (today) been told by Hobbyking that he has been credited a fair sum of money...this after 12 months of to-ing and fro-ing emails  about duff TX/RX!!

Told him at the time...dispute it with Paypal.....but no..just kept e mailing

[Cloudbuster]

all my grief is with HK at the mo two orders placed money gone from my account but nothing from HK have spoken to them twice now, no record of order only the paypal transaction, its proving to be a real pain as all these things take days to sort !!! and i still have no batteries  ... will be buying from elsewhere from now on even if it means paying a little extra...

regards rob

[richardg6paj]

Agreed about HK. Will never use them again. Never anything in their "UK WAREHOUSE" always has to come from Hong Kong.
I have never had any problems getting things sorted once a dispute has been opened with PayPal. I don';t waste my time sending emails.

Richard

[flybywire]

I grapple with ';perception'; and ';expectation'; myself.  Let me explain:
When dealing with a global company/brand/name like HK, I have always ';expected'; trouble, but have been prepared to buy and take the risk because they are the cheapest on the planet.  When I buy from a UK dealer however, I ';expect'; to get first class service, and quibble free and fast refunds (as we are charged premium prices).
My experience however has shown almost the reverse, I have never had an issue with HK, and I have returned stuff.  I have however had annoying and immensely frustrating run in';s with a UK dealer, which has for me at least levelled the playing field.

[Dek]

What is really winding me up at the moment is the amount of UK online model shops that advertise page after page of stuff for sale without any of it being in stock. I';m sick and tired of seeing the word "backorder", sorry, no I won';t backorder anything. Some just take the mick with the amount of stuff that';s "out of stock". I spent all Sunday looking to buy landing legs to convert to retracts from UK online shops, every single one were "out of stock", bought a set from a Chinese dealer with a warehouse in the UK on a three day delivery. As far as the Chinese dealers go I must have been very lucky indeed with my orders from HK,DX and RcTimer as they';ve all without exception arrived within the stated delivery date and never been wrong. Oops, sorry there was one when I ordered a 7" FPV screen and they had it returned to them by Hong-Kong post, refunded me the day they realised what had happened.

[flybywire]

Dek, i ordered £200';s worth of stuff from my ';dealer from hell';, it came up as in stock when i made the purchase, then i get an auto genrated mail telling me that the item was on back order and would be sent out as soon as!

This went on for weeks and weeks (it was a Droidworx part, so was, i thought difficult to get in UK).  He kept assuring me that it would be here ';in a week or two at most';.  It never did.  A couple of months later i saw Buzzflyer had one in stock!!  I mailed the idiot and told him i wanted my money refunded, which he did.  My purchase from Buzzflyer came next day.

[mpd79]

Thought I would give them one more reminder before opening a dispute and they did it! Delay was apparently caused by confusion over the order, because I added to the order paying in two lots. Well its all sorted and I still got my bits allot quicker than buying from overseas - hey maybe it was a one off as others have had good experiences.

I must point out that what I did receive was processed and delivered in very quick time.

Mike

[flybywire]

All';s well that ends well eh?  ::)

[richardg6paj]

While some retailers should be knocked if they fail to provide a good service. I think we should also praise those that do give a good service.
Here';s one to start with. Horizon Hobby, I sent my Spektrum DX6i for repair, (faulty throttle pot). The whole thing took 4 days including postage time and all done free of charge. Can';t get better than that. Thanks Horizon! 

Richard

[fruitsalad]

+1 on the horizon customer service..
sent me a new roller for my dx6i when it broke..

[andythilo]

I';ve placed around 18 orders with HK so far. Not a single issue. Batteries I only buy from the UK warehouse, and generally they';ll have what I';m looking for and you get it next day.

For online retailers such as the OP has an issue with or those that have stuff on backorder, well in this day and age, can we really expect them to keep thousands of pounds of stock? Many will get stuff in direct from the supplier, and so can add a few days on to your delivery time. If all else fails, eBay usually has most things, sometimes good prices, sometimes not. OrangeRX for example, they sell loads of HK stuff. Twice the price though. I bought a 12V regulator and a video switcher from them as HK don';t have any even in the global warehouse.

[flybywire]

For online retailers such as the OP has an issue with or those that have stuff on backorder, well in this day and age, can we really expect them to keep thousands of pounds of stock?

Well, yes!

What other reason should you pay ';premium prices';?  I don';t want to pay a middle man to hold on to my money whilst he faffs around trying to get something in stock that he advertised as a stock item.
Yeah, I get annoyed with this stuff!!

Andy



P.S even ebay traders can do it!  Every one I';ve ordered from over last 5 years has delivered virtually next day.

[piMagnum]

Unfortunately, it seems to be you can';t get very low prices and good service, and where it really shows is on the support side.

Having had two orders go fine with HK (although the order acknowledgements I received were unreadable), one went wrong - two days running. Two Paypal debits but no order placed - and no refund yet either even after their ';7 working days';.

It';s a shame these larger companies can';t behave properly in business, then they would have it cracked. It';s a false economy to do things like hold on to customers'; money. And as has been said, it';s usually very difficult to make contact with any sort of decision maker.