Horizon Hobbies

[..]

Interestingly HH Europe have just posted a very public apology on their Facebook page. So they are aware of the problems .

 

 

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For over 30 years Horizon Hobby has strived to achieve two objectives—deliver great products and great service.  We know that both are important for you to enjoy your hobby.  

Regretfully, we have not delivered great service in recent days, and it will take us some time to get where we need to be.  Our recent consolidation of our service into Barsbuettel, Germany has not been as smoothly as planned. We have increased our technical resources, our customer service representatives, and our phone capabilities, but it has not been enough. We are encouraged by our team’s quick learning, and every day we see improvements.  

We ask for your patience as we work as hard as we can to catch up with the workload.  If you have any further questions in the meantime please contact our team at [email protected].  We are eager to get you back on the flying field or on the track, and we apologize for these delays.

Edited By Justin K. on 10/04/2017 11:34:42

[Erfolg]

The problems associated with reorganisation, are possibly just a manifestation of the future relationship with the UK.

[Devcon1]

It read a bit like this one a while back.

Do I see dark clouds looming over the Horizon ?

[Ben B]

I wouldn't be all doom and gloom. Both that 2012 post and the recent ones show a company being honest and upfront with their customers. Sure it would be best if they weren't having issues but at least they're being open about it and explaining what they're doing about it.

[MattyB]

Posted by Devcon1 on 10/04/2017 12:39:31:

It read a bit like this one a while back.

Do I see dark clouds looming over the Horizon ?

I have no idea whether they are true or not, but there have been rumours circulating for a while that HH have money troubles. Certainly these changes look to be an effort to cut costs; they will probably be successful in that respect, but the prospect for sales is less clear. I struggle to believe any potential buyer would be enthused to move to Spektrum or buy into HH products in general once they were aware of these changes.

[..]

Posted by MattyB on 10/04/2017 16:17:43:

Posted by Devcon1 on 10/04/2017 12:39:31:

It read a bit like this one a while back.

Do I see dark clouds looming over the Horizon ?

I have no idea whether they are true or not, but there have been rumours circulating for a while that HH have money troubles. Certainly these changes look to be an effort to cut costs; they will probably be successful in that respect, but the prospect for sales is less clear. I struggle to believe any potential buyer would be enthused to move to Spektrum or buy into HH products in general once they were aware of these changes.

Do you mean buyer of equipment or a company buyout Mat?

[Devcon1]

Ben B, It was my poor attempt at a pun rather than a pessimistic outlook. I should have put a 😊 at the end.

[Denis Watkins]

Having been away from the flying field for months, due to poor weather, recently we have been blessed, and we finally got out for a good few days flying.

Reinvigorated, this "feel good " adrenalin, rekindled my interest in a couple of ARTF on the wardrobe that needs 2 sets of gear, including rx, batteries, servos, leads, u/c, wheels, the lot !, you know the list, and one is IC and one electric,

Now a look online, never mind HH, HK, Al's hobbies, Inwood, Steve Webb's, Kingslynn, Airtek

They are all in the same boat, with some stock held

They just cannot afford to hold stock

Not one outlet could complete a full model to completion order

And using 5 outlets, I can just about get everything

It is not just HH of concern, they are All in the do do!

Edited By Denis Watkins on 10/04/2017 17:14:24

[MattyB]

Posted by Justin K. on 10/04/2017 16:44:55:

Posted by MattyB on 10/04/2017 16:17:43:

Posted by Devcon1 on 10/04/2017 12:39:31:

It read a bit like this one a while back.

Do I see dark clouds looming over the Horizon ?

I have no idea whether they are true or not, but there have been rumours circulating for a while that HH have money troubles. Certainly these changes look to be an effort to cut costs; they will probably be successful in that respect, but the prospect for sales is less clear. I struggle to believe any potential buyer would be enthused to move to Spektrum or buy into HH products in general once they were aware of these changes.

Do you mean buyer of equipment or a company buyout Matt?

Sorry, lazy words. I meant a customer purchasing their products. I have seen no information suggesting there is a sale of the company is in the offing.

Edited By MattyB on 10/04/2017 17:51:41

[Devcon1]

If HH were being totally honest about their realignment teething troubles it would better manage people's expectations by saying something on their front end website, I was always told to undersell then over deliver.

I'm not knocking HH, my absolute favourite in the fleet is the big Carbon Z Cub but.I just feel they're not going in the right direction. I'm all FrSky now as I just can't afford Spektrum hardware anymore.

[Don Fry]

But we are inundated with rumours. Did I not read recently the Futaba was pulling out of the radio control market. So if you believe both, from this forum's poll, that's 50 % of the manufacturers gone.

I'm not suggesting either is true. But please don't suggest either is false. We are not a big market. But I am hopeful if the boss acknowledges a problem.

Better that than thanks for calling blaaa, we value your company, blah, send video, inside leg measurements, blah blah. Have a good day.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Guvnor]

Money can be the only real reason HH have backed out of the UK (and France).

I doubt the small helis are selling much now, and they've probably saturated the market in ARTFs...

In the US, Hobbico aren't in the finest fettle, with TV reports of workers being refued their money from corportat saving schemes. The appear to have run out of money and ideas.

HH are out of the UK now. It'll be fun to see what happens next.

[CARPERFECT]

A reply to a previous post about not hold stock. Well i need a part for Seagull Cessna 337, ( a wing joining tube) not in stock in the EU. (Germany) Been told it`s a order item around 8 weeks. what a joke.

[Denis Watkins]

What I did Carperfect was to measure the hole accurately, in my case 2 models, one 12 mm, one 14 mm, and then ordered one ally tube, and one 12mm carbon fibre tube from ebay

Both models are in the air now, and even if the tube was heavier, it is not so long, and it lays directly on your C of G, so any extra weight is diluted along the wing

[Erfolg]

Are you making a reference to Hobbico, being sold to the workers in 2005? There appears to be a reference of some kind to restructuring the pension scheme, is that correct?

I thought that BHS was a unique situation, was it just a carbon copy from the USA?

Situations like this have always puzzled me, as when Amerang, gobbled up KK and many others, it did not seem to make sense as the brands just killed, no attempt to make use of them, as far as I could see. Is Staufenbiel different?

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Don Fry]

Off topic, but shifty Green, having walked away with Two hundred million pounds of his workers pension fund, has with another of his companies funds, appears to have trousered the thick end of six hundred million pounds more. Not sold the carcass yet. We hold breath..

So for misappropriation of funds on that scale does you a knighthood, what do you have to do do to get a senior position in the aristocracy.

[Dave Wilshere]

Unfortunately you probably will never hear the real truth behind the poor management that has caused their demise, it goes back years, involves several big stores who bullied discount, undercut everyone to 'box shift' and ultimately did not pay their bills. If you knew the full extent you would not believe the figures we are talking about. My 11 year old daughter would have been a better MD as she understands the difference between turn over and profit and that you need to get paid...

HH happily supplied the big guys at prices that allowed them to sell at a price the small guy could not BUY at. It meant their customer base shrank massively and the guys who stopped buying, paid their invoices and were invoiced at a higher (profitable) price. Its school boy business.

If they had balls and pulled in the debt many shops you know would have gone by now.

Then the real reason the hobby is collapsing...drones. Yes really, its taken people from every aspect of the hobby, anyone can fly one. So boat, car and free flight people can 'pilot' one. But its the boat, car, aeroplane and particularly helicopters (one continuously profitable aspect of the hobby) who went drones...and stopped buying servos, Rx's and even Tx's. So ALL radio manufacturers have seen a massive fall off in sales, because most drones come with a Tx and don't need an Rx and servos.

Hobby shops who sold the plastic fantastic heli's Concept 30, Shuttle, Raptor etc made a fortune on the weekly crashes and 'need' to upgrade helicopters...many of these shops jumped on the quad market without seeing they were kissing good bye to profit...they don't crash as much, cheaper to repair, quicker to repair. People who loved the mechanics of a helicopter left the hobby...for the same reason HH sealed the eventual doom in our loved hobby...BNF foamies, the only pleasure is flying, no building pleasure or pride, so its like everything these days its instant gratification and then throw it away.

Its why clubs are shrinking and the hobby is too. BMFA numbers still good? Obviously...the drone dudes need insurance, does not mean the hobby is still alive as we know it.

Don't you all find it strange the shops like SMC don't have a HH account? Huge business, paid their bills...does not make sense does it! Well think about the other side, if you owe HH a packet.

I stopped supporting HH years ago when I saw what they were doing.

[Devcon1]

That made interesting reading Dave and gives an inciteful view of the industry from someone who knows it. It kind of backs up what I heard some time back about some very unique, some might say special, trading agreements between HH Harlow and some select UK retailers which resulted in some unplanned personnel changes.....

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Did you mean insightful, Devcon? Your word has a somewhat different (but possibly relevant in context) meaning!

Edited By Martin Harris on 10/04/2017 23:00:31

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Not so sure myself, our club has more heli flyers than ever, our m/r flyers are all flying on their own tx's, no servo's but multi times motors esc's to buy, foamies have been a boon to our club they've brought many a member, most go on to fly bigger and better stuff, some even go on to use balsa n ply

John

[Devcon1]

Sorry, I did mean insightful as meaning full of insight. I didn't mean it to be misunderstood or any other meaning, my mistake. Well spotted Martin 😋

Edited By Devcon1 on 10/04/2017 23:15:56

[MattyB]

Posted by Steve J on 10/04/2017 19:43:35:

Posted by MattyB on 10/04/2017 16:17:43:

I have no idea whether they are true or not, but there have been rumours circulating for a while that HH have money troubles.

Source? Hopefully not rcmodelreviews again.

Nothing with any decent provenance, just rumours on RCGroups, hence why I stated "I have no idea whether they are true or not". I did talk to a model trader recently though who will remain nameless; he deals (maybe now that should be dealt...) with HH regularly. When I asked him about the company he simply shook his head and remained silent.

PS - Congratulations on your promotion to forum moderator. Will you be giving warnings and points for those whose sources you don't agree with in future?

Edited By MattyB on 11/04/2017 00:21:09

[Colin Leighfield]

The trouble is that it is the big businesses that have created the incredible range of choice and price opportunity that has spoiled us all so much and raised our expectations to a level that would have been unsustainable not many years ago. However big businesses have the same commercial obligations and pressures regardless of what their specialisation is and they have to pursue business strategies that keep their banks happy and chase profitability, those objectives don't always align with what us modellers might think is ideal.

That's life. If HH are indeed on a downward track that eventually takes Spektrum with it, it won't be anything new. However I'm not speculating on it, I don't see the point. I'll carry on using it because I have happy experiences and expect that service arrangements that are rarely needed anyway will be resolved through the German source. If not, over time and if I haven't popped my clogs in the meantime I will move on as I eventually did with JR, which I had no problems with either. I doubt very much if we what we think is going to influence anything anyway, the UK market, while clearly worth having, is a pretty small fish in the very big international pool. My blood pressure remains within the normal range.