RC Model Reviews

I have ordered from Hobby King 8 times, and have been generally satisfied. However, my recent order (over $200) was shorted by 1 of six servos that I ordered. I contacted their customer support and they asked me to weigh the package to within plus or minus 5g, take pictures, etc. Ridiculous! I then pleaded my case and the agent said that management would have to make a decision. That was three weeks ago. This servo cost $2.49 and probably didn't cost HK more than 50 cents, and now management has to decide? Sounds like poor management to me. I'm not sure if I want to do business with them again.

I have made over 70 orders with HobbyKing and in that time I have had issues only with the odd Lipo puffing and that was 3-4 years ago and that I believe was due to the "newness" of the product and the manufacturers (Hextronic) knowledge at the time. I have never had anything missed or damaged apart from the Lipo problems. I would add that they often do have products with little knowledge or interest of the quality, but the prices make up for this and in the end it is "buyer beware". I wouldn't recommend them to everyone, but if you want bottom dollar prices (that have shaken the modelling world), know what you are buying and can afford to buy gear to stock yourself up, its a real winner.
I was at a flying feild last week and I wandered around looking at modellers gear and there wasn't one car or flightbox that didn't contain items from HobbyKing and that tells the story on their popularity.
Rules I stick to with any internet purchases.
Only purchase when goods are in stock
Always pay for EMS (unless you are happy to wait)
Watch the freight costs as they can kill the cheap prices, especially for heavier items.
Always buy as much as you can to fill your freight limit (I normally add HXT900's or other small items)
Check the costs to freight, say covering and see how many rolls to buy to make it worthwhile (can't remember, but I think is 5 rolls, then bung in some CF rods/tubes as they weigh nothing and fit the packaging tubes)

So far I've had about 30 orders with HK and the only time the delivery sucked was about when they changed over to a larger warehouse and it took over a week just to get processed. Apart from that I can't really complain, you pay cheap you should expect cheap. I don't understand these people that complain about poor service and having to ship stuff back china etc etc let me SLAP you a little with a big wet fish! you're usually paying about a 1/3 of what you'd pay at you LHS so don't expect the same service or quality as them S I M P L E!
It does pay to read the comments and reviews section on their stuff as on the flip side I've read some of their stuff is very inaccurate and barely even works, for that there is no excuse!
Overall though HK has made it possible for alot of us to get into this hobby and have 3 or 4 models instead of just 1 and ya gotta be happy with that!

Well, Time is claimed to be the art of the Swiss. They are certainly taking a bunch of it it. My (small, no Li-Po's) parcel has left Singapore.Took a week to get that far, I expect the horse will need a rest after it has swum to Australia via every island within 1,00KM of the direct route. The Swittish postal gnomes tracking service acknowledged receipt of the parcel quite quickly, but rapidly denied all knowledge of it for the next 6 days. I suppose it will have the next update a day or two after the thing is in my hands (during the Xmas rush?).

An interesting observation...

HK have just lifted their EMS freight charges [edit: to Australia and New Zealand] by about 50% -- so I went to HongKong Post's website and used their pricing calculator to get the cost of sending a 1Kg consigment from HK to New Zealand via EMS.

That was HK$153 (US$19.68)

This is very close to the previous price HobbyKing charged for sending a 1Kg package.

Their new price is $33.89 -- a more than 50% increase -- yet EMS's price hasn't actually changed.

Are HobbyKing simply trying to boost their bottom line by adding a 50% margin to freight charges now?

Or are they trying to ensure that their Australian warehouse (when it opens) is a more attractive option than ordering direct from HongKong?

Either way, it means more expensive prices for Australasians -- unless it's all a big mistake that gets fixed real soon.

I never use EMS it's too expensive and it is as slow as normal post which also has tracking info.

Just got one of their sales reps on the online chat now... trying to find out, so far he says that they have been advised new rates by HK post... perhaps they have not updated their online calculator yet, it does say "Rates are subject to change without notice..." on the HK post site..
Will upload the transcript shortly...

Transcript of online live support....
"Joey> Hi, how can I help you today?
> Hi, I'm curious, why have the EMS postage rates gone up SOOO much, over a 50% increase on the base rate that used to be about $20 USD to New Zealand
Joey> Hi Roger, kindly please noted the price is from post office. Thanks.
> have they not updated their own online price calculator I wonder...?
Joey> I am sorry I am not sure
Joey> but the price of our postage table is base on the price offer by post office. Thanks.
Joey> http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... etable.asp
> I just did a search here http://app1.hongkongpost.com/CGI/speedp ... /step2.jsp for a 1kg parcel to NZ, and the rate is still listing as 153 HK Dollars (approx $20 USD).... "

... and still waiting for a reply at the moment...
and here is the continuation...

"Joey> I am sorry that we don't know the reason about the price of postage, if there is any difference.
Joey> as we offer the postage fee base on the price offer by post office. Thanks for your understanding
> ok, thanks, I shall watch this with interest... out of curiousity, do you know when the Australian branch will be opening, AND, if I want to organise for my own postage - where do I send a courier to pick up from the HK warehouse? I could not find a physical address on the website
> I was looking at a model that is too large to ship normally anyway...
Joey> yes, if the item can't be shipped due to size/weight limitation, you can ask courier to pick up from our HK warehouse. Our warehouse is in Fo Tan Hong Kong
Joey> I am sorry that we are not sure when the our Australian warehouse open, please check our webiste for updates. Thanks.
> thanks.. bye

The interesting thing is that I just ordered some stuff from another HK-based online retailer and they shipped it via EMS at the prices advertised on the HKPost website.

Even if HKPost *are* putting up the EMS charges, they haven't done it yet so HobbyKing will still be taking a lot of money under false pretenses.

i have had two UPS orders with shipping reciept still on them and was charged nearly 3 x actual cost. Paid around $30, cost was about $11.50 If I recall.