Revolution Models

[Keith Lewzey]

I ordered a Gyro from Revolution Models on their website last weekend. The website did not quote a price for P&P & I perhaps naively thought a gyro only weighs a few grams they surely wont charge much P&P for that. How wrong can you be.

 

A package duly arrived on Wednesday weighing under 100g for which shipping of £6 was charged plus VAT on the whole six pounds a total of £6.90 despite there being no VAT chargeable on postage. Yes I know "composite supply".

 

Now needless to say we looked around on the web for a good price for the gyro but Revolution are clearly boosting sales & profit margin by quoting a cheap price for the good not displaying the P&P on the website & then playing catch up on the price with OTT P&P charges.

 

I have been shopping on the web for modeling goodies for several years now & the most I have previously paid for P&P is £4.50 for a charger from Motors & Rotors weighing about half a kilo. Al's seem to charge a standard £3.50 for just about anything apart from kits. BRC quote a P&P price for every individual item on their site. All these prices are reasonable. Take note Revolution your price is not reasonable & I for one have placed my first & last order with you.

 

I have e-mailled to compleain & have had not received the courtesy of a reply. I would be interested to hear if others have experienced the same underhand tactics from Revolution or other modeling retailers? Tell us the good too so we all know where TO go to with our hard earned.

[Bruce Richards]

Keith,

 

Check out this old thread for lots of other examples.

[Stephen Grigg]

I ,was sent some wrong items last week,and the guy told me what I needed and he was right ,but they still sent the wrong ones  and thoughe Parcel Force it came to £12..90  to return them

[ken anderson.]

Rip Off Britain comes to mind again.........................

 

      ken anderson.....

[BB]

I have noticed of late that a lot of web retailers are adding P&P after you confirm the online purchase.  There is normally some kind of comment on the page.  Where there isn't a comment they can pretty much charge whatever they feel is reasonable.  Theres a lot of profit to be made in P&P.

[Robert Bromwich]

Hi Keith

i have just had a look at revolution models site and it does tell you the price for postage on there in 'information' on top of the home page, also when you order the item

 

Was your gyro over £50 if it was they send it by special del which is £5 min (this is without the size and weight cost and handling charges), orders over £15 are sent by recorded

of course this is just incase items get lost which most people dont like at all

 

unfortunatly postal prices have increased over the last few years to include size and weight

They my not be as clear as some good sites i.e BRC but there are worse sites places to buy stuff

rob

Edited By Robert Bromwich on 11/07/2009 09:30:55

Edited By Robert Bromwich on 11/07/2009 09:35:29

[Keith Lewzey]

Hi Bruce I just checked out "this" you quoted above & I'm coming to the conclusion that it's time to stop using most web suppliers & save all my modelling purchases either for the big shows which I attend or for my local model shop. Neither is ideal but I am getting rather fed up with the exploitation strategy of P&P employed by certain on line retailers.

 

Robert I think if we have to go hunting for terms & conditions that are tucked away as a smokescreen it doesn't say much positive about the supplier. When I ordered the item it said P&P to be added & certainly did not say see information section on the home page. It's not up front, it's not transparent & therefore I will not buy from them again.

 

I have still not received a reply to my e-mail even to say sorry we have no choice. Therefore to my mind the only way to get them to change is to give them bad publicity & potentially hit them where it will hurt in the pocket. I will never use Revolution Models again & will recomend them to nobody!

[Tim Mackey]

I think we all have examples of both bad and good service from suppliers and retailers etc, and expresion of these experiences is part and parcel of what this forum allows. As long as the tone of the comments remain calm, and factual, then I think we should all be allowed to see those comments, good and bad, and then make our own minds up as to whether we will favour that particaalr retailer or not. As any good retailer should know

1) Customers make pay days possible

2) Bad news travels very fast.

[Bryce Allcorn - BritFlight.co.uk]

Posted by Basildon Biggles on 11/07/2009 09:03:05:
I have noticed of late that a lot of web retailers are adding P&P after you confirm the online purchase.  There is normally some kind of comment on the page.  Where there isn't a comment they can pretty much charge whatever they feel is reasonable.  Theres a lot of profit to be made in P&P.

 

I'd just like to reply to this as a retailer:

 

We charge £10.50 for a plane and electric pack.  This costs us:

 

£8.65 special delivery

£1.37 Box

£0.35 Packing materials (bubble wrap, tape, label)

 

Comes to a grand total of £10.37.  So we now have £0.13 to cover the time to pack (about 10 mins a package, it actually costs us £1.25 in labour).  Postage and packing costs us £11.62!

 

We have tried couriers but they charge more based on our current business levels than Royal Mail.

 

So just bare in mind that the cost of postage on the sticker is not the total cost to the retailer!  Costs for us will decrease as we grow but it is still a careful balancing act.

 

Cheers,

 

Bryce.

 

 

 

 

 

[Stephen Grigg]

And you couldnt drive there and pick it up for that price,I buy lots from Galaxy and Im sure they lose money an there p and p

[BB]

Good Post Bryce - very informative.  Excuse my generalisation  I was not pointing fingers to any individual supplier..I refer to my experiences across ALL web retailers that I myself use.  Some DO profit from excess postage charging, and some Don't.

 

BB

[Keith Lewzey]

HI Bryce

 

Absolutely could not agree more with you. You are sending out a package of a kit & electric flight pack which presumably includes motor & esc possibly li-po & servos so £10.50 is understandable for a package weighing with box from 1 to perhaps 3 kilos. My original post specified that Revolution sent me a gyro perhaps 15 grams in a box & with packaging weighing maybe 100 grams total for which I was charged £6.90. That is where I don't see the equity. I highlighted a number of other retailers where I have been charged significantly less for much heavier packages.

 

I don't buy your point completely about labour time because if you are running a high street shop you would still have to staff it. On-line retailing increases national/international exposure & the resulting potential increased sales potentially reduces the time staff are sitting around waiting for a customer to come through the door. If I am wrong in that assumption come back & tell me so.

 

Yes Timbo we all have good & bad experiences Revolution represent my bad experience, if they want my future business they should have the courtesy to reply to my e-mails & be more clear with their P&P pricing policies. I think my comments have been calm if firm in tone & I would certainly never resort to the use of inapropriate language in any post rest assured.

 

Bas Biggs I am pointing the finger at a specific supplier, why I would think is obvious from all the above. Praise where praise is due (see my post about Horizon Hobby) but there can be no praise due from me regarding Revolution.

 

Keith

[Biggestgerbil]

Posted by Keith Lewzey on 16/07/2009 09:19:54:

HI Bryce

 

 

I don't buy your point completely about labour time because if you are running a high street shop you would still have to staff it. On-line retailing increases national/international exposure & the resulting potential increased sales potentially reduces the time staff are sitting around waiting for a customer to come through the door. If I am wrong in that assumption come back & tell me so.

 

 

Keith

 

Keith,

 

As a former LMS owner, any staff are paid hourly.  So if they spend time wraping parcels and standing in line at the post office that time costs the shop owner money.  Nobody who worked for me ever "sat around waiting for customers" there is always something for them to do.  If you go into a shop and staff have their bottoms on chairs then the shop is being badly run.

 

Et. Al.

 Why do you never see customers in, for instance, Sainsburys. arguing about the price of the shopping?  The checkout person says "That will be £123.56 please" no-one ever says "I can get that cheaper a Morrisons" so I want 10% off.  Oh! it's not a good example but you get my drift.

 

Ioan.

Edited By Tim Mackey - Administrator on 30/09/2010 11:55:39

[Pete B]

Posted by Biggestgerbil on 30/09/2010 10:21:01:

 

Erflog

If I ever open another LMS I don't want you near it.

 (Now you know why I didn't last in the retail trade)

 

Ioan. 

 

1.    What's Erfolg done? He hasn't even posted in this old thread

 

2.   Barred too many potential customers, perhaps?

Pete

[Biggestgerbil]

Posted by Pete B on 30/09/2010 11:20:15:

Posted by Biggestgerbil on 30/09/2010 10:21:01:

 

Erflog

If I ever open another LMS I don't want you near it.

 (Now you know why I didn't last in the retail trade)

 

Ioan. 

 

1.    What's Erfolg done? He hasn't even posted in this old thread

 

2.   Barred too many potential customers, perhaps?

Pete

 

1,  Should have put a smiley by that... sorry.

 

2, Like most folks in retail, I could regale you with tales of bad customers. 

 

Having said that, the vast majority of my customers were great and were welcome in my store.  Some became, and are still, my friends and I am all the richer for that, not in wallet, but where it ultimately matters.

 

HOWEVER.. I had a percentage who were abusive, selfish and unpleasant.   I think I am reasonably tolerant of my fellow passengers in life, but some...Oh! Dear

 

 Here is a short list of things a food for thought..

 

1,  Your LMS owner is not a qualified shrink.

 

2,  Or an Agony Aunt.

 

3, They are quite busy. (paperwork, stock control etc.)  

 

4, They have to make a living.  Reasonable profit is a perfectly legal thing.

 

5,  What would you say if your boss came to you and said that Chinese workers got 1/3 of your pay for doing an equivilant job over there, and he was going to reduce your wages accordingly.

 

OK, this post is on the Revoloution Models thread.  I have never dealt with them. I do not know them.  So this is in the wrong place. Sorry.

 

 

[Tim Mackey]

I amended your post whilst you posted again - however please be careful about making such remarks - especially if you

1) Spell the persons name incorrectly

2) Meant it as joke yet forget to indicate this.

[Biggestgerbil]

I am not normally this bent out of shape but some of the opinions expressed on this forum really take the biscuit.

 

Ioan.

[Biggestgerbil]

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 30/09/2010 11:57:52:

I amended your post whilst you posted again - however please be careful about making such remarks - especially if you

1) Spell the persons name incorrectly

2) Meant it as joke yet forget to indicate this.

 

Yes Tim, you are quite correct.

 

To quote a computer store owner I used to work for "The customer is always right, except when he isn't"

 

Ioan.

[Tim Mackey]

Yes but surely people are entitled to their opinions Ioan - and we are quite happy for people to express them providing they remain inside the guidelines of the C.O.C  which are linked to for easy reference at the bottom of every post

I'm sure we all disagree strongly with certain opinions occasionally, but hey ho, thats folk for ya

[Tim Mackey]

Posted by Biggestgerbil on 30/09/2010 12:03:00:

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 30/09/2010 11:57:52:

I amended your post whilst you posted again - however please be careful about making such remarks - especially if you

1) Spell the persons name incorrectly

2) Meant it as joke yet forget to indicate this.

 

Yes Tim, you are quite correct.

 

To quote a computer store owner I used to work for "The customer is always right, except when he isn't"

 

Ioan.

 

 

LOL - I know what you mean Ioan.... having served almost 30 years in retail

[Biggestgerbil]

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 30/09/2010 12:04:45:

 

 

LOL - I know what you mean Ioan.... having served almost 30 years in retail

 

Tim, you are my Hero!!  Why are you still sane, ARE you still sane.

 

If you really want to wake up at night screaming, open a computer store.

 

Ioan.

[Pete B]

Yep, having spent 30 years in public service, I can confidently say there's "Nowt stranger than folk........."

 

Pete

[Lee Smalley]

firstly i do not mind how much a retailer charges for P+P as long as it is plainly visable and explained this give me the option to purchase it or not !!!

 

secondly i was trained in teh early years in a massive reatil company and here you are taught that the customer is king and is allways right, no matter !! we all know how awkward and down right rude they can be and how mad they can make you at times, but they pay your wages at the end of the day and you must tolerate them (unless they are violent or aggressive) unfortunatly people who own model shops are not allways of this opinion they are after all modellers and their service or lack of it can be very poor and their tolerance of the odd customer can also be very poor, you as a LMS owner have the right to do whatever you wish but i fear if you take the attitude of biggestgerbil you may not be in bussiness very long, you are after all servicing the strangest customers of all ......modellers!! 

[Tim Mackey]

Posted by Biggestgerbil on 30/09/2010 12:09:19:

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 30/09/2010 12:04:45:

 

 

LOL - I know what you mean Ioan.... having served almost 30 years in retail

 

Tim, you are my Hero!!  Why are you still sane, ARE you still sane.

 

If you really want to wake up at night screaming, open a computer store.

 

Ioan.

 

1) Ah, a fan at last - I love a bit of hero worship

2) who says I am ? - certainly not Mrs Timbo

3) I was mad, ( caused by the job incidentally ) now I am just a recovering nutter

4) If you dont even want to get to sleep at night to start with - try running a chain of 120 supermarkets

 

Computers eh.... mainly as a hobby, I used to build custom PCs for people just after my retirement from selling beans, and after 5 years of that - decided it was a sure fire recipe for nervous breakdown number two. Now I dont touch other peeps machines

[Biggestgerbil]

 

Computers eh.... mainly as a hobby, I used to build custom PCs for people just after my retirement from selling beans, and after 5 years of that - decided it was a sure fire recipe for nervous breakdown number two. Now I dont touch other peeps machines

 

Tim

So it is not just  me then.  Phew.

 

To others..

I put my hand up, I am a rubbish businessman.

 

I am not not willing to toady up to some moron who thinks he/she owns me because I am standing behind a shop counter.   On the other hand, if I go shopping I try to respect the shop assistant. Generally speaking they have a sort of non-job with scant prospects on minimum wage.  If I am unhappy with service I receive then it's time to leave and make other arrangements. 

 

When I go to my LMS (45mile round trip) I try to judge the owners mood by counting the blood vessels in his eyes. 

1, Few to Meny.  OK to ask for discount

2, Many to Lots.  Show BMFA and club card.

3, More than lots and hands shaking.  Scoop up goods, pay and leave.

 

Ioan.