Dai Fledermaus Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 I've always steered away from Hobbyking although many in our club use them and many on this Forum also. I needed a Rx battery, and found a 4.8 volt 2300mAH pack on Ebay for £9.92 inc p&p. Not a bad price I thought, and the seller had an Ebay shop and was listing numerous other R/C items. I didn't place the order preferring to do a bit more hunting around online. On the UK Hobbyking web site, I found the exact same battery pack for £4.93. It was clear that the Ebay seller was reselling Hobbking products because he had used exactly the same product description including their spiel about battery marketing being an evil business. There were several other things I needed so I made up my first Hobbyking order. The p&p came to £5.29, so if all goes well,l I think I'm quids in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Sunday Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 Hobbyking is great although there's a couple things to watch out for. First make sure to select your region. Such as UK. If it comes from China you'll be expected to pay import tax. Also again from China watch out for the courier I think it's SC they charge over the odds. Second when purchasing batteries, register them as soon as you get them. This way if there is a problem within the first month they'll full under their warranty. Aside from that HK is brill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 Hi Dai, I was a late starter with Hobbyking - dipping my toe in the water about 2 years ago. Since then I have placed many, many, orders with them. Obvioulsy I keep on ordering because generally I am very satisfied with my experience with them. Pluses are I think: 1. They are obviously cheap - this is particularly a benefit for batteries where they undercut the rest of the market by a very substantial amount. 2. They carry a huge stock - in terms of standard RC stuff if you want it they probably have it and they probably even have stuff you didn't know you "needed"! But all is not perfect with Hobbyking in my view - there are downsides. Principally, in my opinion, I would list: 1. Their website - in particular which warehouse you are plugged into - is very poor! I find the site complex to navigate, cluttered, garish and at times downright annoying! 2. Some, and I emphasise "some", of what they sell is cheap tat in my opinion, sometimes being a low cost poor quality imitation of the "real thing", othertimes just being rubbish that is overhyped in the sales talk. I think this is a great pity, because the vast majority of what they sell is fine - but it is as if on odd occassions they just cannot resist reverting to the "barrow-boy" stereotype! You just have to remember that strict UK advertising standards may not always be being respected in what they promote! Just to sum up, and to be fair, this does not apply to most of what they sell - just some of it and quite a small amount at that! 3. If something does go wrong their returns policy can be a little "laborious". They tend to insist on the physical return of the complete item before they will consider any redress. If the item is a large kit, and the problem is with just one small component, this is a bit of a pain. But to be fair, their reptation generally is that if you do return and have a case they will usually put the matter right. Although there ave been one or two well documented disputes over kit - some of which have been dicumented on here! But I suppose most retaillers have their issues in this respect in that it is probably possible to find individual disputes with regard to them all. Overall though, bearing mind the caveats listed above, I'm generally happy to do business with HobbyKing. I still buy major stuff from other outlets - particularly of course kits etc that that HK don't do anyway (or only do "pale imitations" of!) and I do try to support my excellent LMS to ensure it stays in business, but there is no denying the fact that HK gets a fair slice of my "modelling pound". BEB Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 11/04/2016 10:09:40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuban8 Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 On the subject of orders from the Global Warehouse, I've only been stuck for extra charges once on an order for £100 or so that was handled in the UK by Parcel Force because of its size. All of my other Global Warehouse orders have been around the £30 mark and physically small enough to be delivered by Royal Mail i.e our postman, with no extra charges. My last couple of global Warehouse orders have been delivered within 10 days, which is great. UK Warehouse works well also. I very rarely use a model shop personally, but rely on the national network of UK retailers and their on-line service. The exception being Balsa Cabin (not really a model shop as such) which is fairly nearby me for materials and odds and ends - the majority of their sales are via the internet of course. Edited By Cuban8 on 11/04/2016 10:51:19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Fledermaus Posted April 13, 2016 Author Share Posted April 13, 2016 Posted by Shane Sunday on 11/04/2016 09:46:42: Hobbyking is great although there's a couple things to watch out for. First make sure to select your region. Such as UK. If it comes from China you'll be expected to pay import tax. Also again from China watch out for the courier I think it's SC they charge over the odds. Second when purchasing batteries, register them as soon as you get them. This way if there is a problem within the first month they'll full under their warranty. Aside from that HK is brill Well the order, which was placed on Sunday, arrived today and it seems fine. There were numerous emails from them in between confirming the order, payment, when the order was picked and despatched etc . So I'm pleased. One thing Shane, how do I register part of the order which was a battery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Depron Daz Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 Only ever had one duff 9g servo, very happy with their service, either from overseas or UK. I placed an order Sunday night around 23:00hrs, was delivered this morning (from UK site of course) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Putley 1 Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 Never had a problem with HK. Been using them since the first ad appeared in RCM&E 5 or 6 years ago. Personaly I have no issues with the site. On the rare occaision a problem has cropped up, it was dealt with quickly and efficiently. When a small item needed replacing, it was done so without having to return the faulty item.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 Posted by Dai Fledermaus on 13/04/2016 13:51:47: how do I register part of the order which was a battery? In your account, go to the 'Orders' page and click on the 'Customer Services' tab at the top of the page. It's meant to be done within 24hrs of delivery, so give it a go anyway.... Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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