Horizon Hobby not so good

[Chris Theakstone]

In march this year I brought a Blade MSR for some fun at indoor meetings, after only 20 five minute flights the main motor failed, I phoned HH to inform them of the failure and they said send the motor back (I went out and brought another motor). I heard nothing at all from HH, last Friday , 5th August a package arrived from HH with a replacement motor ! and a note saying they should last much longer.

So it took them almost 5 months to replace the faulty unit.

This was one of the reasons when looking to upgrade my TX I avoided the DX8.

 

Not exactly the customer service some rave about.

 

Chris

[TonyS]

That's a shame Chris.

When my DX7 failed and I had to send it back to HH for repair it was back within two days...seriously. They must have received it the day after I posted it. Fixed it the same day and posted it back immediately. I was frankly astounded.

Seems service can be mixed though I've not heard many complaints.

 

[NigelH]

I think that you are one of the rare people who managed to slip through the net. They are only a phone call away and have a specific support option set up in the all routing. A quick call would have been all that was needed to sort things out.

Stretching back over quite a few years, I’ve bought many items from Horizon Hobby and my experiences of them have always been very positive. Only last week, I received the same high standard of service from them on two different occasions.

I sent back a faulty AR7000 for testing and was sorted out within three days. I also sent an eccentric (colour matched) spinner back to them and I got a new one only two days later. That’s impossible to beat.

With regards to you choosing not to buy a DX8, I see this as a wasted opportunity to pick up a splendid transmitter. It’s your loss.

I’ve just bought my own DX8 and it is much better than my trusty old DX7. The free AR8000 receiver is a real bonus making the DX8 an even better proposition. Of course, I have no doubt that it will be fully backed up by Horizon Hobby.

Edited By NigelH on 08/08/2011 18:23:58

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

I experienced HH's customer service recently - the first email I sent got lost somewhere but when I approached them again as I hadn't heard anything, they replaced a slow fly Fokker D VII model which had failed in flight by return after I emailed tham a picture of the damage as requested.

 

I hadn't even asked them to replace it - just queried whether there had been any problems with others as I'd been attempting a roll, which was not specifically mentioned in the instructions although loops and stall turns were recommended. I simply observed that the failure occurred during the recovery which would have been much the same as the stall turn recovery which was a recommended manouevre.

 

I'm sure a lesser company would have hidden behind the instruction leaflet but I can't fault their response. They were very apologetic for losing the original email and I'm glad to endorse their reputation for fair and fast response.

[Anthony Billings]

Hi Chris,

you must be one of the very few that have slipped through the net with HH, I have only heard of good reports about the customer service from HH. I have not had to use them myself, my Dx7 was not one of the affected one's subject to recall, and my MSR has behaived itself for over a year despite being flown into nemerous objects in the house much to my wife's disgust and objections, but it really is great fun, I even smuggled it away with me on our last caravan trip and had great fun outdoors with it in the still air evenings.

Tony

[Cyclicscooby]

I ordered a new set of wings for my E-Flite Extra 260 480, after a magnetic tree incident, and it took 10 MONTHS to get them, and they cost £70, over half the price of the kit..

 

10 months is a joke... No E.T.A, No apology, nothing....

 

I was going to complain to the HH stand at Weston park, but didn't think it would achieve anything

 

I'll certainly think twice about getting another, which is a shame, as I like most of the E-flite range

 

 

 

Luv

Chrisie.. xx

[Richard Wood]

After a couple of months of enquiring HH sent a new DX6i Tx as

posted Here

This was at about the same time as the DSM2/DSMX recall bulletin

appeared on the HH website.

The new DSMX 6i Tx I received is useless as it needs the DSM2/DSMX

software bug fixing - a bug there certainly is - and must also be returned!

 

Bad luck & bad timing quite possibly, but I don't know if I can be bothered

with the thing anymore.

 

 

[NigelH]

I think that people should remember that Horizon Hobby UK cannot possibly stock every part for everything they sell. I had one of those E-Flite Extra 260 480s. It was a good model. I sold it on to make space but I shouldn’t have. I bought it maybe five years ago. Back then, I’m sure that they would have had plenty of spares for it. In your case, maybe they were no longer keeping so many spares in stock due to the age of the model and then they could have been reliant on getting in spares themselves ?

It seems fair to assume that if spare parts have not been delivered, it’s because they’re out of stock. Horizon Hobby UK don’t so ‘retail’ as such. In most situations, I’d expect people to be buying spares from the usual retailers and then it would be up to them to chase up delayed items.

Really, don’t think twice about buying more E-Flite stuff. I love just about everything that they’ve made (especially the balsa ones) and I’ve bought most of them. It seems that you like them as much as I do so don’t miss out on all the new stuff. Where’s my E-Flite Staggerwing ?

 

[Cyclicscooby]

Hi Nigel..

 

I would love to agree with you, but...

 

When I got it, it was their new 'Flagship CAD design'.. within 6 months they'd released a load of other ones, BUT they still sell the Extra, so if people are still buying it, then its age is irrelevent

 

http://www.horizonhobby.co.uk/aeroonline/e2eflite/e2planescon.html

 

Still for sale.. !!!

 

Like I said, I do really like E-flite stuff.. I've got their motors, ESC's and servo's in half my planes, and wont stop buying them, but that doesn't make it any easier to accept a 10 month wait.. It was sooooo long, that both the overlander lipos ballooned waiting to be used again, so it's actually cost £40 more, as I've had to replace both of those too..

 

Rant over.... It's all in the past now... Roll on my Birthday and an E-flite UMX Sbach...

 

 

Luv

Chrisie.. xx