Tower Hobbies service slipping?

Sorry to hear that your recent shopping experiences with Tower haven't been great. Ordering the G3 expansion from them yesterday was my first order with Tower in about six months. I haven't had any problems with them or anything like that, I'm just going out of my way to support my local hobby stores as much as I can.

I am surprised to hear they've messed up your last two orders, all of my experiences with Tower last year were faultless.

Hobby lobby is also slipping ! Trying to get parts for Co Co Lama since last January , Ordered part that was finally listed as in stock & got notice it was out of stock , AGAIN ?? Every time (Expected time arrives ) they just move it up 10 more day's ,Jan. , feb. ,March , on & on & on , since last year ? They keep pushing this chopper even when they NEVER had parts ! Found two other dealers that Have the parts & at a much lower price ! So i'll have to cancel Hobby Lobby,s useless order & use another dealer from now on!

OLD PILOT

Unfortunately things are due to change at Tower/Gt. Plains/Hobbico. The company has been sold by the upper management to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). That is generally the place where the business has peaked (note the great influx of new companies in the trade and GP cannot buy them all as they did so much with the US model industry) and the top management can see the end of a tunnel WITH NO LIGHT THERE! Rather than closing the doors or trying to sell to some other conglomerate, it's better to just dump it on the employee base. Then if things don't work, well just whose fault was it? (;-((< In addition there are groups of employees within any business that seem to like fighting each other more so than running the business which they have no clue of how to do. It just turns out like the AMA's membership, fight each other so they can blame each other when the ship turns belly up. You may well be witnessing the first list of the boat in each case.

Horrace Cain AMA L-93

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

Is this a sign that the R/C hobby industry is finally making its way out the door, that selling R/C stuff is no longer profitable? Tower Hobbies is about to go the way of America's Hobby Center?

The jury is still out. I just sent a wreckd Twinstar back to Hobby Services. The ailerons failed in flight (They came pre-installed and I didn't pin them, shame on me). Obviuos mfg defect, watch this space.

Would you mind givimg me the names of those dealers. My friend has a Lama that he needs parts for. I was of the understanding that Hobby Lobby was the sole distributor for Lama.

Thanks Ken Day

Co co lama parts are in stock at BALSA USA & AT lower price than Hobby lobby ,

OLD FLYER

Thank you.

Ken Day

Ken, correction ,it was not Balsa Usa ! It should have read, BALSA PRODUCTS HOBBY SUPPLY , The other dealer for Co Co Lama is Heli Flyer .com ,they sell the Co Co Lama for $98.75 ! That's over $70. LESS than Hobby lobby ! Take your pick ! OLD FLYER

Another faultless order, my G3 Expansion Pack 1 and propeller showed up Monday after being ordered on Friday. That is some really fast free shipping!

Some years ago I had problems with poor packaging and some run-around from the phone help at Tower, along with a certain delivery man that liked to tenderize the freight, but in the last few years Tower has been absolutely flawless.

One time I received a LiPO battery that was damaged in transit. They shipped out a new one immediately at no charge, and when they received my defective battery, they credited me for the return shipping, the original shipping charge, and the price of the defective battery. In the end I came out ahead. I would be hard pressed to find anyone else in the mail order business that will go to that length to please.

In my book they still have the best service, the best selection, and the best prices of anyone. I'm not affliated with them - just an average Joe that likes to fly :)

I'm with you, Randy. Tower Hobbies has never been equalled, though some others have come very close.

Ed Cregger

Some years ago I had problems with poor packaging and some run-around from the phone help at Tower, along with a certain delivery man that liked to tenderize the freight, but in the last few years Tower has been absolutely flawless.

One time I received a LiPO battery that was damaged in transit. They shipped out a new one immediately at no charge, and when they received my defective battery, they credited me for the return shipping, the original shipping charge, and the price of the defective battery. In the end I came out ahead. I would be hard pressed to find anyone else in the mail order business that will go to that length to please.

In my book they still have the best service, the best selection, and the best prices of anyone. I'm not affliated with them - just an average Joe that likes to fly :)

Though I started this thread with a question about Tower's service, I don't mean to say it isn't excellent... just slightly less excellent than it used to be.

Recent experiences remind me just how good Tower really is:

Last month, I ordered a Li-Poly battery from MaxAmps after reading positive comments on that outfit in some electric flight forum posts on RC Groups. I paid for Priority Mail two-day shipping. The day after I placed the web order, I got a confirmation e-mail with a "tracking" number, which was really just a number that showed the USPS had been notified that a package WOULD BE mailed.

Further checking of the number on the USPS site in later days never showed the package had actually been accepted for mailing. I contacted MaxAmps asking if the package had indeed been shipped and got a not-very-customer-friendly reply with no response to my question. Same with the second inquiry. After two weeks, they agreed to send a replacement. The replacement was a bad battery... it set off the alerts on my Thunder Power balancer.

I sent it back for exchange with delivery confirmation. They received the battery on March 30th. No communication from them. I e-mailed them April

5th to ask the status of my replacement, since they had my returned battery for a week. I was told the message was being forwarded to the shipping department so they could give me the tracking number of the package. Well, I haven't heard from them. Great service... I won't be dealing with MaxAmps again!

During the same time period, I placed an order with Northeast Sailplane Products for an E-Flite P-47, Li-Poly pack and a receiver. I got an order confirmation reply the next day. After a week had passed, I still hadn't received a shipping notification. They gladly accept web orders, but all customer service inquiries have to be done by phone on their regular toll number, so I called them long distance during business hours on my "dime." I got a recording that said they were heading to Toledo for the show and would be back later. Great... it's been two weeks since I placed the order and it hasn't even been shipped yet.

I wish Tower had a greater stock of electric flight supplies.

Good flying, desmobob

I'm neither defending nor deprecating the hobby outfit you dealt with, but I will slam the USPS tracking system. It flat does not work. Hasn't yet, regardless of who shipped me goods.

Nor are the UPS tracking numbers that Office Depot gives you valid. Everyone I've shipped to using that service complains that the tracking numbers are invalid, yet all of the items shipped show up within a few days of shipping.

Ed, NM2K

I agree. I ordered some goodies from Tower this past Monday. Was told the goodies would be shipped from Reno. I figured it'd take 2-3 days tops to get here to CA. Delivery was attempted Thursday morning. I didn't know about the delivery attempt until Friday afternoon when I discovered it was "undeliverable as addressed" Call the Post Office to find the package - they have no clue where it is. I was told it could be in the local carrier's truck, at the Post Office, in a truck on the way back to Reno or at the Reno Post Office. I've been on the phone for about 2 hours trying to locate the thing - no joy thus far...

I've found UPS's tracking to be quite accurate. Can't really comment on the accuracy of the numbers issued by Office Depot as I just hit up the local retail location when I need something.

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

I don't truly know where the problem lies, so I shouldn't nail either of them, to be fair.

UPS has been really good for me. Office Depot does transfer the items for UPS pick up just fine. It is the numbers that they utter which are causing me problems. Customers have trouble believing me when I give them numbers that show up on the UPS tracking service as being issued to other folks whose goods were already delivered.

In the end, my goods are delivered promptly and reliably. It's an issue for eBay customers that have been stung before and who are looking for a bit of a confidence builder. I may take to sending them a copy of the Office Depot receipt via scanning/emailing, just to quell their fears. Or, if my legs continue to recover (which is really rare - thanks to whomever is praying for me), I'll just take the packages to the USPS in person, or have the UPS truck stop by the house. Either would be less expensive and just/more reliable than using Office Depot as a drop.

Ed Cregger

My "issue" was with the USPS, not Tower.. I got hold of Tower 1st thing this morning and explained the problem. Tower is shipping me a new part and shipping it priority mail on their dime. In addition, once they receive the mis-addressed package back, they're going to issue me a credit on the 1st package. Took all of about 5 minutes to get sorted out.

Makes it kinda hard to figure out just where the package is...

I do UPS pickups all the time. Just gotta call 'em, tell 'em what you've got and when you want it picked up. It helps to have the package weighed when you call...

Tower Hobbies has an excellent web-site that is VERY easy to understand and place an order. In most cases, you see what you're ordering and they even post the Tech Notes to make sure it's what you need and want. Yes, I've ordered the wrong items and they have also sent the wrong items on occasion. However, EVERY TIME, they paid the postage both ways to make it right, even when it was my error.

When I complained that the battery issued with a RTF plane did not fit in the compartment, they sent a new battery pack, which was identical to the first one but of a different brand name. I solved the fit problem on my own (by altering the opening) and ended up with TWO battery packs. When I placed my next order, they gave me credit for all the previous postage.

During the Christmas season they must have hired extras in the shipping dept because ALL my orders came through in record time. The boxes had labels on every side marked 'RUSH'. It might be that I was a new customer.>:)

Now that Christmas has gone and they've reduced their staff, the orders have slowed a bit. Now they get to my house within 4 to 5 days. I CAN'T COMPLAIN! ____________________________________________ Earl Scherzinger 'AMA' #40329

--------------------snipped a biy