Hobby King

[johnkim100530]

Total cost is still cheap. In US, the tax you must pay if purchased domestically cancels out extra shipping cost from Hong Kong.

My order usually arrives in one week.

[RCModelReviews]

Total cost is still cheap. In US, the tax you must pay if purchased domestically cancels out extra shipping cost from Hong Kong.

My order usually arrives in one week.

You're in the USA right?

These over-charging situations seem to affect only those outside the USA. I think Russians are being charged as much as three times the actual EMS freight charge.

[Roger]

My prices were the same as old from Hobbyking only just under a month ago, so it must be a very recent change...

[Ampair]

If the poll were taken now, my vote would be for "Poor" purely because there is nothing lower. Worst shipping service I have experienced, and now it is going to be 50% dearer. I cancelled my most recent order (Not that losing an order under $US150 will spoil their balance sheet) purely because of their rapid drop in value of service vs cost. They are not only off my suppliers list, they are off my Xmas card list too.

[mpthompson]

I agree with Ampair. HobbyKing is my last resort for ordering simply because of fulfillment issues and shipping costs. I'll still continue to do business with them, but it's worth my time doing thorough searches for alternatives before I give HobbyKing my business. I believe they could go a long ways towards fixing things just by managing expectations, but taking money and then having an order sit forever in the "processing" queue wears thin after a while.

[Daedalus]

I see tonight that there now is 2 options for EMS

EMS Express to New Zealand(MAX 1kg) NO LIPO $21.97
EMS Express to New Zealand(MAX 1kg) $33.89

So I guess they have gotten on top of this issue - maybe, but I wonder if others will be doing the same?
Has anyone purchased Lipos anywhere else in HK? and has it effected the prices of freight?

Wayne

[Foxbait1]

1kg ems to Canada it shows 29.44 no lipo or 33.89 with lipo while the US has only the 1 charge 25.95, without the lipo/no lipo crap lol. Just a thought but depending on what plane they get this stuff on, it may end up going to BC (Canada) first. Why the difference to here?? lol I order life battery packs from another place in HK an the shipping for then was about $7 Ca. plus they were here in less then a week, regular post. Neil

[RCModelReviews]

Yes, it seems that the pressure of public outrage may have forced HK's hands in respect to their EMS prices.

Still a puzzle as to why the USA doesn't have a two-tier pricing system for EMS freight though - and I notice that HK are still "creaming it" on shipments to some countries by not offering 0.5Kg increments in its charges, even though EMS does set its tariffs in 0.5Kg steps.

[lental]

Bruce (and others) --

I appreciate this topic. I started in this hobby last November...less than a year ago, and began ordering from HK almost immediately. I was impressed with the prices and shipping was never a problem with any of my 37 orders. But early on I encountered problems. My first was with a battery balancer which reviews had indicated was questionable. Foolishly, I ordered anyway, erroneously thinking the problems must have been fixed. I was wrong and the product was bad out of the box. It was a $22.00 product and I paid $15 to ship it back. After six weeks I received the replacement. It didn't work either but I was smart enough not to ship it back a second time. I spent $37.00 not including the original shipping for a product I could have bought in the US for $45.00 with some expectation that it would have worked the first time. But, I continued to order from HK.

In late April I ordered a large foam Cessna with floats because the price had been reduced from $159 to $99 and shipping had been reduced from $97 to $59. It arrived quickly but without the floats. When I complained HK informed me that the floats had been eliminated and that was why the price had been reduced. The website continued to say floats were included.
In addition, the large (50 A) ESC/BEC included with the airplane didn't work. HK had me send photos of the ESC so they could determine what could be done. After I sent the pictures the conversation ended. I heard nothing from them for three months. In the meantime, I ordered another ESC/BEC from another source for $11.00 with free shipping. It arrived in five days from Hong Kong and it worked.

During that same time but unannounced, HK switched its transmitter system from version 1 to version 2. I had ordered a V1 combo plus an extra V1 6 channel receiver. Neither receiver worked but the V1 transmitter was OK. The V2 system is not compatible with the V1 system. Since the two receivers cost only $12 each, I chalked it up to bad luck. I attempted to order two more V1 receivers but they were out of stock. I asked in two different locations on the HK forum if HK planned to restock the V1 receivers for people who had already invested in the V1 system. I received no answer. I assumed that this meant that there would be no more V1 6 channel receivers but HK had V1 8 channel receivers in stock so I ordered two. As an afterthought, I decided to order two more (at $14) just to make sure I would have V1 receivers for future use.

None ( not one) of the 8 channel V1 receivers worked. I filed a complaint with HK support and received no answer. So, I decided I could no longer afford HKs cheap prices and ordered a new well known and reliable TX/RX system with two spare receivers. After three months I got and email from Yuki at HK support asking me to tell him/her again about the problem with my ESC. By then, I was done with HK. HK, while it has saved me money, it has also cost me money. The costs have outweighed the savings. I simply can't afford HKs cheap prices, anymore.

I may order again but the orders will be small and will only be for stuff that can't go bad or , maybe, batteries which still are pretty cheap compared to US prices even with shipping. However, I've found a US supplier which has good batteries for a few dollars more than HK and flat rate shipping of $2 per order. That makes them cheaper than HK in the long run. At this point they don't have nearly the variety but I expect as people leave HK, and they eventually will.

I don't object to HK having a bad product occasionally...any supplier will...but their unwillingness to provide decent customer support to fix problems is simply bad business. And, it doesn't take a lot of bad product to outweigh the savings. Further, experience has also showed me that HK is an unscrupulous and unethical supplier who doesn't really give a damn about what customers think or experience.

Receiveing six bad receivers in three orders over a three-week period at the end of a product run can only lead me to believe that HK was clearing its inventory of V1 receivers and was shipping product that had been returned earlier. It is virtually impossible to get that many bad receivers in that short of a time period unless it was deliberate.

So I say to anyone that cares...If you buy from HK, do it with caution and carefully calculate what the same product will cost you in your country compared to what it will cost you if you get one or two bad products from HK. You'll be surprised to learn that you really don't save that much in the long run from buying from HK. Plus shipping will be less and if you do have a problem it will likely be fixed quickly and with a smile.


lental
Tallahassee, FL USA

[JBC]

I think HK will only do something about their shipping prices when it starts to hurt in the hip pocket and that time I fear...will be soon. It's very obvious that they are fudging the numbers when it comes to shipping as I have put identical items from different suppliers (hk and brand X for example) and the non HK shop has been cheaper. I can't really complain about their customer service though. In all my orders there has only ever been 1 time where something was missing( a prop)and I notified them and they credited my account All emails I have ever sent them they have responded within a couple days and I even tried out online live support chat the other day and to my surprise I was helped out within about a minute after logging on
I think HK are good for somethings and not others, just a trial and error I guess.