Hobby King Again Rrrrrrrrrr

[tigerman]

Why do Hobby King make every thing difficult .About a year ago I tried to order some 6s lipo from Hobby King but they never arrived and I had to go through Pay Pal to get my money back .I need some 6s lipo so I got in contact with Hobby King who assure me that problem was solved and if I order these 6s lipo they would be deliver within the week .What a fool I was to believe them ,I order the 6s lipo from Hobby King .and again nothing .Just got in contact with Hobby King a to find out what has happen to my order and have been told they can find courier to deliver them ,exactly what happened a year ago .What a fool I was to believe them .Now it is in the hands of Pay Pal to refund the money Just a warning if you are thinking of using Hobby King ,they will promise every thing then once they have your money God help you .My advise is stay well of clear of Hobby King I would rather pay more to a supplier who want to do business with you then Hobby King

[Bob Cotsford]

Never had a problem with Hobbyking p&p costs or delivery, even with 6S LiPos. Are you ordering from the UK/Eu warehouses or direct from China? Do you live in a difficult postal area ie IOM, NI etc?

[cymaz]

I wanted some wooden props( Hong Kong only) and Sullivan wheel spat clamps. My postman has just left me a card to go to the sorting office to pay £13.01 . What really gets me is that includes the £8 handling fee!

[SIMON CRAGG]

Odd.

Just taken delivery of 4 x 6s 5000 35/50c packs ordered last Friday.

[Mike T]

@ Cymaz:

On the basis of those numbers, your order (inc. postage) must be worth around 25 quid - so £10 over the £15 personal importation threshold for VAT. Bang to rights.

What's so bad about the 8 quid? It's usually more, depending on the mail service used. It includes the cost of clearing the item through customs and the cost of remitting the money to HMC. These processing costs likely don't vary much with the value of orders.

WIW I always do a fag packet on the numbers before placing an order, to assess whether the risk is worth it.  If you get away with it - happy days.  If not - suck it up... 

RM Customs Charges

Edited By Mike T on 13/11/2019 17:56:02

Edited By Mike T on 13/11/2019 17:58:00

[cymaz]

I’ve sucked it up and spat it out ......just saying. There’s been plenty of times that the box has come through with no charges

[Keith Sharples]

Never had a problem with Hobby King UK and EU warehouses all arrived perfect and on time inc Lipos. I'll continue to use them. As mentioned did Tigerman have one of those odd post codes that can be a problem?

[tigerman]

You try ordering 6s 6200 batteries from Hobby King .Do not know where you got between £10 and £15 from ,they cost me £129 .Parcel Force will not deliver them so Hobby King do not know what to do about the delivery so why advertise them At the same time I order these from Hobby King I also order some lipo from Motion R C Europe came within 3 days from Holland no problem Hobby King are a complete joke They do give a monkeys about there customers .Because they are cheap and nasty they do not care if there customers desert them because they are cheap they will always get someone to use them .Well you are welcome to them .I have cancel my order with Hobby King and gone with a supplier that care about there customers .IE Motion RC they now have my order and I bet you the Lipo will be here in a couple of days time OK I might have paid a bit more but at least I am treated like a customer.Hobby King sucks

[Outrunner]

I got my lipos from Hobby King OK. 6s,4s,3s, and 2s no problem. I useally order them from EU wharehouse as for some weird reason shipping is cheaper than from UK wharehouse.

Phil.

[paul d]

Totally agree Tigerman, really don't understand why chaps use them?

why not support a UK model shop?

[Geoff S]

Never had a problem receiving LiPos from HK - 3S, 4S or 6S. I think I've always ordered mine for the Uk warehouse but last week I received some servos from the Euro warehouse which arrived within 10 days IIRC, there was no rush as they're for my current build which isn't ready for them yet.

The only problem I've ever had with HK is when I ordered some electronic ignition components from the Global (ie Hong Kong) warehouse and they arrived when we were on holiday and RM only keep them for a limited time which had expired by the time we got home. I never actually got them.

The web site can be a bit tortuous to navigate but the stuff arrives and works when it does.

Geoff

[Ron Gray]

5s and above, always order from HK EU, usually get them within 4 days. Always had excellent service from HK and if I’ve had a problem with anything I’ve bought it’s always been replaced or refunded with no issues.

[Bob Cotsford]

Posted by paul d on 13/11/2019 20:44:50:

Totally agree Tigerman, really don't understand why chaps use them?

why not support a UK model shop?

If HK supplies a product for up to 30% less than a UK supplier AFTER DELIVERY guess which one I'm going to use? When we had local model shops it used to be a case of going in, finding what you wanted wasn't in stock and would have to be added to the next order which couldn't be sent in until it reached the wholesaler's minimum order level. Now the nearest shop involves a gallon of diesel and 1 1/2 - 2 hours for the round trip and if I have to order and go back to collect double that - call it £7-£14 as my time is free now that I'm a pensioner. £7 pays a fair bit of p&p.

[Peter Jenkins]

Another satisfied customer for Hobby King. They are also pretty good when I've received a duff LiPo and re-sent another to replace it in fairly short order. Mind you, the website is a bit tricky to navigate to get to the right page, but once there it's been plain sailing for me. Of course, you are left with a duff LiPo to dispose of as you cannot post it back and HK don't expect it back either.

Buying from the US also poses problems for those suppliers who insist on using a freight handling agent. I learned the hard way when I bought a pair of 5 blade props for my EFlite Sea Fury - they cost £35 to buy but by the time the freight handller had taken their fee it cost me £80! So, I stick to those companies who understand US law for posting to overseas customers and are happy to sign the relevant declaration forms. But that's a different story!

[Mike T]

Posted by tigerman on 13/11/2019 20:23:49:

You try ordering 6s 6200 batteries from Hobby King .

Just did a test order. 2 x 6s 6200mAH Zippy compacts. £127 the pair, from either UK or EU.

Because of Parcelforce restrictions (as detailed in the delivery Ts & Cs) ordering from the UK w/h will cost you £19.71 delivery. The same order placed with the EU w/h is post-free.

Nothing on the site led me to believe there'd be a problem with this order if I'd gone ahead. I think you've just come up against a one-off communication problem. My last contact with their customer service people was hassle free.

[Andy Meade]

I bought three 6s 62000 mAh packs last month from Hobbyking UK warehouse - they have to be delivered by a "man in a van" type of courier - no problems at all, arrived in 3 days.

[Alan Gorham_]

Posted by Andy Meade on 14/11/2019 15:09:34:

I bought three 6s 62000 mAh packs last month

Wow! 62000 mAh capacity. Are you electrifying the MoHo??

[Andrew Calcutt]

Because of hobbyking most of the models shops have closed,I find turnigy batteries poor and now use overlander.I would guess that most of the retired modellers don't spend much every year ,so the savings are not much,compared to the damage done to the many small businesses.I don't buy from hobbyking,wish others would follow suit

[PatMc]

Posted by Andrew Calcutt on 14/11/2019 16:13:33:

Because of hobbyking most of the models shops have closed,

Nonsense.

Take a look at retail in general across the UK. The stores/shops that didn't adapt to modern retail trading trends have either disappeared or been taken over.
It's the traders who offer customers the most attractive overall packages who survive.

[Keith Sharples]

Posted by PatMc on 14/11/2019 17:49:14:

Posted by Andrew Calcutt on 14/11/2019 16:13:33:

Because of hobbyking most of the models shops have closed,

Nonsense.

Take a look at retail in general across the UK. The stores/shops that didn't adapt to modern retail trading trends have either disappeared or been taken over.
It's the traders who offer customers the most attractive overall packages who survive.

Agree with PatMc, so much is done online now the High street is suffering or it has to evolve. Saying that I recently order through their web site a GT power 4 X charger from Kings Lynn Models (an actual high street shop and the best price I could find!) Within 10mins of placing the order online they rang, it was out of stock but some were arriving with them 2 days later and I would have mine the next day would it be a problem? It wasn't. The day in question arrived and so did my charger Well done Kings Lynn Models. They sound like that have evolved to cope with national online sales perfectly.

Edited By Keith Sharples on 14/11/2019 18:17:19

Edited By Keith Sharples on 14/11/2019 18:17:56

[Michael Barclay]

Posted by paul d on 13/11/2019 20:44:50:

Totally agree Tigerman, really don't understand why chaps use them?

why not support a UK model shop?

Who probably buy from China?

[Piers Bowlan]

I have never had a problem with Hobbyking, - hundreds of orders from me. Now, I mostly buy from the UK or EU site for a quick reliable service and no duty/handling charges. I have never had an order not be delivered. Also, if the site says it is 'in stock' it is, I wish I could say that for some uk retailers.

The UK model shops that have survived have a good online presence and reputation. I use those too. e.g. Sussex Model Centre, Steve Webb Models, Kings Lynn models, DB Sport and Scale, SLEC, Balsa Cabin, Sarik Hobbies, to name just a few. I am sure you can think of dozens of others.

[Erfolg]

Are Hobby King perfect, no. Is the LMS perfect, well no. Of the two, HK offers a far better service and value for money.

It was HK and Giantcod (before their demise) that has been a principle factor in keeping aeromodelling accessible to the average guy. Additionally they have made a massive range of product available to us modelers. That is better than Ripmax, Mc Gregeor and Perkins combined.

The quality of the goods sold seems in general to be very good. As for Overlander, well i stopped using them some years back, perhaps they have now improved. That is an issue for retailers and distributors, a reputation is easy to loose, far harder to rebuild.

The most frequent issue i have had with goods ordered from HK, is the postal service. Not HK itself. I accept anything ordered from Hong Kong will often take many weeks to get here. From Holland a week or a bit more. The UK is often very quick indeed.

My major criticism with HK is a internet site that does not improve from a users point of view, seemingly less friendly than many years back. I can only guess the improvements are in the stock and purchasing aspects, that we users do not see.

[tigerman]

Strange but true .Can anyone explain this with Hobby King .I took Outrunners advice .I really find those Zippy lipo really good and a price I like ( I have a Admiral Pro 6000 Lipo at £99 and put it up against the Zippy 6200 at £69 and in my opinion the Zippy performed better )Any how Why does it cost £18 postage from Hobby King to post a 6200 lipo from the UK and like Outrunner surgested it free from the Europe Warehouse ????.Not complaining ( just save myself £18 ,thanks Outrunner )just order from the European Warehouse .Do not know if this is true ,most properly not but I have been told the Hobby King Warehouse will no longer ship the 6200 from the UK due to the dangerous good act ,you will have to go via the European warehouse .Suit me at free postage Strange if it is true it still has to be delivered by a UK courier !!!!!

[Don Fry]

Tigerman, why go on about HobbyKing.

Surely your beef is about the UK postal and courier services. As regards whatever interpretation they choose to place on carriage of dangerous goods that is the source of your problem. When the goods cross borders however, then internationally agreed interpretations come into play. Play by those rules, or you don't ship across borders.