by kaptain_zero » Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:18 am
I just finished placing my 24th order with HobbyKing. I have no qualms about their turnaround time.... backorders..... etc. They are NOT a local hobby shop, they ship everywhere in the world, get orders from same and must be inundated with orders every second of the day. I've found HK to be honest and reliable..... they cannot be faulted for the various shipping companies dropping the ball, except for those times when they miss-ship via the wrong carrier when a customer has paid for x service. I've never had an issue with HK, only with Canada Customs. When HK ships via Hong Kong post or other basic airmail service, it arrives in the Vancouver port. Canada Post hands it off to Customs Canada in Vancouver who promptly sits on that package for up to 4 weeks before releasing it for delivery. In stark contrast, when HK ships via Swiss Post.... there is a marked delay in reaching Canada vs the other shippers, but Swiss Post drops their Canadian bound packages in Montreal instead of Vancouver. The Customs Port in Montreal will accept, inspect and release for delivery, my package in approximately 15 minutes.... not 15 to 30 days like the Vancouver port, so I get that package the following day and am very happy!
An email to HK cleared this up for me (I was confused that I could not select Swiss Post when placing an order). HK will use Swiss Post when my order contains Lipo cells... No Lipo, no Swiss Post. So for me... where I happen to live, it pays for me to toss in a lipo in each order, just to ensure that I get it shipped via Swiss Post. Again.... Swiss Post is slower than HK or Singapore Post in getting TO Canada... but the fact that they ship to Montreal instead of Vancouver makes all the difference in speed to me.
As for warranty issues.... I never order stuff I'm worried about from China.... I assume all items from China will be without warranty, it's just not practical to ship things back to China. I did that once with another outfit as they shipped me the wrong item. It cost almost as much as the item to ship it back, but back it went. I waited forever and the replacement finally arrived. It was the same durn item again...... a charger, but for the wrong size cells (same model, same appearance, just slightly different in size). I contacted the company and they offered their apologies and apparently the model I ordered was not in stock so I was given a store credit + I was asked to keep the wrong charger. I won't deal with them again, but since then I simply ask myself if I'm willing to risk the $$$ something costs, and if I am, I don't feel cheated if it turns out badly, and I don't worry about it either, nor knock the company for my woes as it was MY decision. If I just have to have something, and I don't want to risk getting a *bad* unit, I'll head down to my local hobby shop and pay the inflated price they charge that includes the "no cost" service of instant replacement of a defective item. I'm not going to knock the local hobby shop either... they are not getting rich, they just have to cover the cost of doing business, like we all do.
With HK, RCtimer etc. place your bets and hope for the best...... if your horse doesn't come in.... well.... that's horse racing, eh?
By the way, I've had great success with RCtimer...... quick shipping and so on.... I get the sense they are no where near as "big" as HK and thus the attention to service appears to be quicker... If they ever get saddled with the same amount of orders per day that HK no doubt gets (and I'd bet they would love that), I suspect their service would also take a serious hit..... just because that's what happens when you grow too quickly... growing pains!
Regards
Christian aka
Kaptain "You pays your monies, and you takes your choices" Zero
"I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money."
-- Pablo Picasso