Hobby King

[alex nicol]

I've only used HK a few times but haven't had any real issues. I Ordered a set of electric retracts which didn't work. Contacted the help desk, sent a quick vid showing servo working but retracts not. A few hours later I got an email back asking me to set the retract ATV on my tx to max and as if by magic all worked well. Turns out I'd had air retracts in and the atv was close to min as the retract valve had a very short throw

[Stearman65]

Posted by Nigel R on 21/11/2018 12:02:06:

" I have had one message from HK asking me to change the status of the dispute from cancelled/refund to not received, which isn't true"

What's not true about "not received"?

Perhaps the paypal dispute status affects whether HK can refund easily, here I speculate of course.

Personally, nothing but good results from HK. They are what they are, the Amazon of RC, box shifters, as such they work very well.

You need to read the previous posts on this. Briefly, they agreed to refund the UK portion of the order without any further action from me during the 30 minute+ conversation with their chat line, unfortunately it is too long to copy on here & would need multiple posts. Nothing happened, so I sent another message & received a message contradicting their previous promise & asking me to change the Paypal comment. IMO all this prevarication on their part is to enable HK to hang onto my money as long as possible. As of 12 noon, Paypal have removed my payment from HK's account as they had not replied to 2 previous PP messages, the sorry situation still drags on, no money & no goods.

[Dave Hess]

Posted by Stearman65 on 21/11/2018 07:27:48:

I know who I'll be using in the future & it won't be Hobby King.

I think that'll be your loss. I've been using HK for donkeys years, and I've had a 100% success rate of getting good stuff at good prices. the only thing I don't like about them is that their search engine brings up nearly everything rather than what you're searching for.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Aaaaargh.

Just spent ages ordering loads of various bits, supposedly from U.K warehouse, then checkout tells me bits are from all over the place, and I've more fffffafing to do, I hate shopping.

[Stearman65]

Someone on here assumed Hobby King was an American company, they aren't They are part of the Hex Tronic Group whose registered office is in Hong Kong. so essentially, it is Chinese.

The address is

 

Rm A1 20/f Mg Twr

133 Hoi Bun Rd

Kwun Tong

Hong Kong

[Ronaldo]

Sorry to hear so much dissatisfaction with Hobby King, but to be fair I have ordered many items from them over the years with no problems. What I will say though, is to be careful to check the item/s are in stock first and not to order anything on 'back order' as I find they sometimes do not always manage to restock certain items, so you could be waiting a very long time for a refund, or for the item if it should become available again. Also I only ever order if the item is available in the UK warehouse. So far I have always received my orders from Hobby King within two to four days.

 

Edited By Ronaldo on 22/11/2018 00:19:20

[Stearman65]

The moral of the story is, if you must use Hobby King & not one of our struggling UK companies, pay by Paypal. See attached screen shot of email received from them this morning.

[brokenenglish]

I live a long way from any LHS and I've used HK Europe a lot over the last 6 years. The result is total satisfaction, except for one case of "silicone" fuel tubing which was far too hard to be used for that purpose. Thus, I now use HK or Century UK for everything "electric" or RTF, but I use other excellent sources (Inwoods!) for anything related to i.c. and building.

Edited By brokenenglish on 22/11/2018 06:56:00

[Ben B]

I've also been very happy with Hobbyking to date- in fact just last night I made yet another order. When there is a problem I've found their online chat helpful and there always seem to be someone available to discuss the issue with. For the sake of complete transparency I should confirm that I had to use it last night- I ordered a few things on back order last spring which suddenly showed as "shipped" but never actually arrived, but they're refunding and I'd long since bought those items elsewhere anyway!!!

Equally, most of the stuff nowadays is quad related and I use banggood for it.

Do agree the HK search engine is useless. I knew exactly what I wanted last night and it still took me exiting the site and googling back in again e.g. "Hobbyking nanotech 370mah 2s" to find it!!!

I hate to think how much their bad search engine is costing them- not sure everyone would be as stubborn as me. Then again can't complain about the prices- got the above batteries for £2.50 each (they're actually really good for microquads- internal resistance is about 12-14) and I got some 12v 2/3s chargers for I think about 10p more!!!

[JCFlippen]

As a relative noobie I split my spending by buying kits and bits from UK dealers wherever possible with my LHS (RC World Ltd) top of the queue.

I take up unmissable HK good offers when they occur. I have found HK to be very good and although I have had a few quality problems with foamie kits they have always been resolved speedily. The initial chat line can feel like a waste of time but as soon as a supervisor can be involved all is sorted quickly.

This is a great hobby - I wish I had found it earlier - by at least 20 years!

 

Edited By Bruce Rawlings on 22/11/2018 09:22:33

Edited By Bruce Rawlings on 22/11/2018 09:23:10

[Tim Flyer]

I use HK especially for retracts and oleos. I have not found anyone else offering a decent range at good prices . I have quite a few sets of their heavy duty electric retracts and they have been very reliable. I also agree their search engine and website isn’t easy to navigate.

[Nigel R]

Their search engine is beyond hopeless. Google works better at searching their website. Awful!

Can't beat them for anything small, foam, or motor/ESC/battery related.

Anything large, wood, IC, or where I want a "quality item" (surprisingly often) and I'm shopping elsewhere.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Ordered Thursday am, arrived all present and correct today, parcel force delivered.

Not much packing in the box either.

[Stearman65]

Latest Update on my Hobby King Experience.

Just to back track for those who don't want to trawl through my past posts on the matter. Back in early November I ordered 2 Lipo's & a charger, the charger & one lipo were supposedly in stock in their UK warehouse & one lipo in their EU warehouse. 6 days later I got an email saying the lipo & charger were ready for collection in their UK depot, this despite having ordered them to be sent to my home. There followed a long saga of emails, chats on their support line which eventually ended with me cancelling all the order, A few days later there was no sign of my refund in my Paypal account so I raised a dispute & got my money back.

This morning, almost 3 weeks after the order, a lipo arrived seemingly from their Belgium warehouse, must have walked & swum here? On opening the box the invoice emanates from China, which accounts for the protracted delivery time. What to do now, get them to collect it? keep it & tell them to debit the PP account, or say nothing. After considering my options I will email them & get then to send a pre paid postage label & send it back, mainly because it differs so much from my other two lipos bound for the same model.

[Dave Hess]

You ordered it because you wanted it. It'll always be useful even if you ordered another. You should therefore send HK the money for it and keep it because that would be the ethical thing to do.

I very rarely write personal comments, but I feel moved in this case. From what you've written in all your posts, you come across as a very vindictive customer. I don't think that you'll win many friends boasting about how difficult you want to make life for other. Somebody made a mistake, which I would say was, on the balance of probability, was you, though whoever it was isn't important. What you should do is work together with the seller to remedy the problem so that there's the minimum loss and inconvenience for both parties.

From all accounts I've seen apart from yours, and based on my own experience, I'd say that HK is a very considerate and ethical supplier. We need more like that. They must ship out thousands of of orders. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if a few go wrong.

[Peter Christy]

I think if I'd gone through that rigmarole, I'd be cheesed off, too!

I don't order much from HK, but everything I have ordered has always arrived promptly and correctly.

--

Pete

[Stearman65]

Posted by Peter Christy on 01/12/2018 12:52:16:

I think if I'd gone through that rigmarole, I'd be cheesed off, too!

I don't order much from HK, but everything I have ordered has always arrived promptly and correctly.

--

Pete

[Robert Putley 1]

Dave Hess,

With reference to H K, having been a customer for the past seven or eight years, I entirely endorse your comments.

[Steve Colman]

I have been using HK for some years now and only ever had a problem with one order which was sorted out amicably using the chat option.

Recently I placed and order totaling around 250 euros during the Black Friday sales; a selection of small items from the EU warehouse and a heavily discounted 1.7m electric model from the UK warehouse. Both arrived 6 days later, well packaged and with everything present and correct.

I will continue to use them.

[Don Fry]

I would be careful with the don't say anything option Stearman. I think it would be contrary to Section 1(1), Theft Act 1968. Maximum sentence 10 years if my memory serves.

[Stearman65]

Posted by Don Fry on 01/12/2018 14:19:20:

I would be careful with the don't say anything option Stearman. I think it would be contrary to Section 1(1), Theft Act 1968. Maximum sentence 10 years if my memory serves.

Already been in touch with them. but as I've found in the past they don't exactly do things in a hurry.

If I was you I'd be careful what you write, which could be construed as libel.

Read this. Libel and slander are both forms of defamation. Defamation is a common law tort, governed by state law, in which an individual makes a "publication" of a defamatory statement of and concerning the plaintiff that damages the reputation of the plaintiff. The distinction between slander and libel comes in the form of the publication.

[Ben B]

It's not libel if it's a statement of fact. You asked what to do and offered up saying nothing as an option., Don just pointed out quite correctly that if you were to do that it would legally be theft. It would be defamation if he suggested you were likely to do it or had done it before. Many people think that if, for example, the bank transfers the same amount into your account twice or a company mis-delivers something to your address you can keep it- neither are true, both are classified as theft.

I suspect Don was trying to be helpful! Not sure how helpful it is to start accusing him of libel. Now the question is- is that in itself libellous :D

I suspect HK might well say you can keep the lipo, I've always found their customer service very good.

[Ben B]

ps You can the weather is horrible- everyone's getting grumpy

[Tim Mackey]

Posted by Nigel R on 22/11/2018 10:40:40:

Their search engine is beyond hopeless. Google works better at searching their website. Awful!

Can't beat them for anything small, foam, or motor/ESC/battery related.

Anything large, wood, IC, or where I want a "quality item" (surprisingly often) and I'm shopping elsewhere.

AMEN

[Don Fry]

One very strange thing, I bought a Yak 55M off them in the summer, as a short term solution to my small hack crisis, i.e. all broken. It has sat, for one reason or another, unfinished. The kit came with a mini CD, but for a larger version. Thank you for that. So I was using the online "build" guidance, but when the enthusiasm returned, it's discontinued, and no guidance on the site. No C/G, control throws.

Today, search "hobby king, yak 55m", on Google, and the HobbyKing page comes up, as a discontinued item, but with access to the build instructions. Weird website. Pity I like what they sell.

Thank you Nigel R, for the search tip, would not have crossed my mind to simply put the request on Google, rather that the HK site.