HobbyKing

[Bob Everitt]

I recently purchased three Turnigy 5000 5s lipos from hongkong, the delivery was OK taking just over a week.  A couple of days after receipt I unpacked them and checked the cell voltages.  Two packs were ok but the third has one cell showing 0.5 volts.

I contacted HK by E-mail and was shocked by the response.  They said that unless I checked the batteries on the date I received the parcel and reported any faults on that day they would not replace or refund for the battery.

They furter claim that they check the cell voltages on all batteries before despatch, and no refunds will be considered unless the battery shows an out of balance greater than 0.234 volts.

I consider this very shabby customer service.

I would recommend buyers avoiding the Turnigy brand lipos as I am aware of balance issues and I am concerned about the quality and QC of this brand.

Has anyone else had similar experiences

[Tim Mackey]

Nope...all the turnigy stuff I have has always been fine and very good VFM. Thats a bit of blow there Bob, but I suspect that many retailers including "home grown" are getting much stricter with returns and complaints about lipos .

[simon burch]

Been buying Turnigy lipos for a while and had good use from them, however the last batch of 40C 3S 2200 I bought all puffed within 10 cycles. Seems to be a few people starting to claim problems, whether this is down to the volumes being sold, or the quality of the lipos being reduced is hard to comment on.

 

My last lipos were Long Max tipples bought from a UK shop as they stand behind the warrenty and double check the cells before posting. Paid a bit more, but decided as they would be expensive to return to HK (being 5000Mah 6S packs), I'd play safe.

 

Cheers,

 

Simon

[Tim Mackey]

Same here re the Tipple packs Simon - Giant Cod, keen prices too, and they sell a lot of turnigy gear too, so I would far prefer to purchase from them than HK

[Mark R]

Glad to hear i am not the only one who suffered from Turnigy 'puffy' batt...same spec as yours Simon.

Much much prefer the Tipples from GC....so far posting has been excellent,usually 24hrs, which to my mind is blinding.......

[Bob Everitt]

Very interested to read your comments.  I was a bit concerned that I being a bit harsh as like Tim i have bought a lot of kit from HK and have generally been impressed with delivery and value for money.  Looking at the HK site last night against a number of Turnigy battery products there are recent reviews complaining about puffing and cell out of balance.  I suspect that there may be production problems with the current Turnigy Battery products.  However the Flightmax and Rhino lipo's seem solid.

 

My biggest dissapointment was their policy that they would only honour a warranty claim if it was made on the day of reciept of the shipment.

 

Now wheres that GC site................................

[Chris Card]

This is very poor service in my view, lucky for me I've never had a problem with items from HK but this story is filed in my memory banks and will make it less likely that I order from them in future.

 

How did you pay for your order Bob?  If Paypal was involved you may still have recourse to raise a dispute via their website. 

[Bob Everitt]

Thanks Chris, i did pay with Paypal and will take it up with them.

 

Have had a look at the GC site looks good.  Just a bit light on stock.....................

[Dusty]

Strange, have over 10 Turnigy Lipos and they spotty dog, charge, fly then ballance and see.. they have some guts !

 

I balance mine after every discharge from a 500mah 2s to a 5000mah 5s 30-40c

 

Have you tried another charger/ballancer? Turnigy from Hk should come with a waranty sticker on the back?

[Bob Everitt]

Hi Dusty, as I have already said I have bought loads from HK and been happy with my purchases but recently there seem to be problems.  This lipo is new out of the box and one cell reads less than 0.5 Volts.  I dont expect any amount of balancing will get that cell going.   You will see the warranty sticker on the box, but if you dont report a problem on the day your package arrives the warranty is void.

 

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Bob

 

A friend had exactly the same with a HK Turnigy 4S 4000mAh pack a few weeks ago - a cell that died after two flights. Needless to say, he won't be buying any more.  

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Administrator on 24/06/2010 16:49:02

[ken anderson.]

the LMS......is the way to go--many a good UK supplier will have what you want.....

 

   ken anderson....ne...1

[Bob Everitt]

Hi David & Ken.

 

The moral of this saga for me is to avoid the Turnigy Brand of lipo's, however my experience with the Rhino and the Flightmax brands has been good.

 

I take your point about the Local Model shop Ken, and emotionally I agree with you but the lower prices available from China have enabled me to try set ups that would not have been possible had i confined my purchases to the high street.

 

Bob

[Tom Foreman]

Hi Bob, I know it won't be much consolation to you, but if you have a good balance charger like a Cell Pro that charges through the balance leads, you may be able to rescue the cell or if your feeling confident  you could always split the pack into a 4cell pack,  at least it won't be a total loss.

 

Tom

[Bob Everitt]

Thanks Tom.

 

I have a balancing charger and I will try that but I recently spent days to correct a cell that was 0.2 of a volt away from the rest so I am not very optimistic.

 

As for messing with cell configurations I have been frightened off by all the warning I have read.........................   am I mistaken?

 

Bob

[Tomtom39]

Lack of Service from Hobbyking

 

Similar problem with new LiPo one cell showed .6V drop on first use (50% of charge used ). Took over a week (5 emails) before I got a  response. Which basically said if it was not reported within the disclaimer/notice then they were not responsible. (They also failed to answer my queries in full!!)

 

Moral of my experience PAY A LITTLE BIT MORE AND BUY FROM A UK SUPPLIER

 

I WILL NOT BE USING HOBBYKING AGAIN

 

[Danny Fenton]

Everybody is extolling the virtues of GC. And indeed their service seems very good and quick. I have just recived an ESC and it is dead, ah well as they say, win some you lose some. Not sure if the postage and hassle is worth me returning it. I needed it for this weekend and it failed so I will just scratch it up to experience.

However on the invoice are some points that are not on the website regarding warranty on LiPos. Have you seen it?

 

Lipos are guaranteed for a month provided they are not used or modified. Modifying includes changing the connectors. Not used means not flown or charged.

 

After you have charged them or flown them they are yours. It is very simple - if you are not happy with these terms - BUY THEM SOMEWHERE ELSE

 

Their advise is to check the voltage when they arrive and flag a complaint at that time.

 

Not sure how that stands in the eyes of the law and the legal rights of a consumer?

 

Cheers

Danny

[sparks59]

FWIW, I have bought Turningy and Rhino Lipos from HK and, touching wood, haven't had a problem with either yet.

 

I can't buy from my LHS as the only one in Abu Dhabi that I have found has yet to progress much in the world of electric flight. It's yet to catch on here, well unless you count cheap Chinese made helicopters with nimh packs and small washing machine motors.

 

So mail order is the only way, if I have a problem with HK, then maybe i'll look into using an alternative MO supplier. 

 

sparks 

 

 

 

 

[Bas La Bois]

I am in the process of  long drawn out dispute with Hobbyking over the non delivery of a complete order that I placed with them in September.  After emailing customer services three times without reply I posted my enquiry on their customer order support forum (which incidentally has 144 pages of complaints at 15 per page).  It was only when after three weeks and I filed a dispute with Paypal that I received a reply from them. 

 

They wanted extra postage for the items I had ordered although at the time of ordering everything had gone through fine including payment.  In the end after a number of contradictory emails in and out of the Paypal dispute process, I had to escalate the claim to get my money back.  Hobbyking wanted me to close my claim before they would send my order but then I would have no protection if the order 'got lost' in the post.

 

Hobbyking is cheap and if nothing goes wrong that's great, but when it does go wrong the customer service people just cannot cope with the scale of complaints.

 

The company is expanding at a phenominal rate at the moment opening warehouses all over the world and probably on a shoestring budget and which are very likely under staffed.  That customer services are the least of their concerns is plainly obvious.  So as many complainants have already voiced on numerous RC forums, buying from them is a lot like gambling, 'you pay your money and take a chance'.

[Stephen Lindley 1]

If you buy from any supplier in places like China it is basically buyer beware, after all what can you do other than shop else where. It is up to you if you want to take the gamble but they are cheap.

 

If you buy in the UK you have rights and the law on your side. A disclaimer on an invoice or a web site means nothing unless it is lawful IE doesn't take away your rights. If it all goes wrong you can resort to the court system but most sellers would sort it before you got through the court door. Only problem with the UK is the price and if you want to shop in person finding a lhs with the stock.

[Tomtom39]

A further Issue with HobbyKing.

 

A club member recently bought some Lipo battery packs from the German warehouse of Hobbyking  (he liked the prices!)  using Paypal.

Having heard of my previous experience with said company and the problems I had with them  He asked me to check the packs.We found one of the cells in the packs to be defective. You must be aware of following:-

 

1.You have to register the code on the battery with Hobbyking on the day of receipt.

2.You cannot change the connectors or it will invalidate your 28 day Warranty)

3. If you have a problem with voltage drop in a cell compared to the others   HK will  request a photograph showing the voltage on each cell whilst connected to a Watt/volt meter (before you charge it !)

4. They will take between 3 and 8 days between each email/query that you raise with them (don't expect to have your answers fully answered!)

5. We took legal advice and went back to Paypal (complaint was filed within 10 days of first email to HK . Understand Paypal give you 20 days. HK were keen that we should cancel our complaint prior to dealing with the problem. DONT!!! . Got money back via Paypal (Including Postage etc) He went to a local model shop and bought another pack for £6 more but at least will have peace of mind that if he has a problem he can go back to them and has various rights of recourse under UK/EU law.

 

Support your local Shop/dealer - he may be more expensive - but cheaper in the long run!