Edit: solved! HK screwing me on Nanotech order. What do?

jag · Oct 27, 2011

Edit: After nearly a month of wrangling and customer support emails it's now finally solved. They will ship similar batteries with a different part number at no extra cost. See last post.

Hobbyking customer service is giving me a runaround with an order of 45-90C Nanotech LiPo. I ordered nearly a month ago and they have still not shipped.

Short story: I ordered Oct 4. I made sure everything shows "in stock" at the checkout page. HK's own FAQ says that "in stock" items ship within 48h, then EMS express is 3-5 days to Canada

One week later order has still not shipped. I write and ask for the detailed reason, get a non-informative answer. Write again after two and three weeks. Get similar non-informative BS. See copies below.

After 7 emails of BS I write that I will dispute with Paypal. Only then do they bother to check with the warehouse and notice that while the 5s 5Ah 45-90C "version 4.0" Nano shows in stock on the computer, there aren't actually any on the shelf. I tell them to substitute the "version 5.0" at no extra cost to me, which I suspect is probably the same or similar cells re-labeled and marked up.

Now they got back and want to extract more money for their computer screwup. If I want the batteries now I have to fork out an extra $50 for "5.0" labeled nanos, or else wait (they can't even say how long) until "4.0" labeled nanos come in again.

What do you think? Should I fork out the $50 estra?
Say screw them and ask Paypal to refund?

Any other place to get good LiPo at reasonable prices?

Full correspondence FYI:

Oct-13 00:18
Dear Sirs,

As a first time customer of Hobby King I was pleased with the website.
I placed and paid for order 2003297997 on Oct 5.
I carefully deleted backorder items before placing the order, so all times in my order showed in stock.
Your checkout pages stated that orders of in-stock items ship within 48h.
Please give me the detailed reason why my order still only shows "received".
Now it is over one week since I placed it.
When will it ship?

Thanks for contacting the HobbyKing Support Team.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused. Due to unusually high order volumes, we are experiencing a slight delay.

We have informed our warehouse to post your order as soon as possible. We will send you an automatic email with a tracking number once the order#2003297997 is dispatched from our warehouse.

Thanks for emailing support.
If you have any other questions, please let me know.
Regards.
Rachel
HobbyKing Support Team

Dear Sir/Madame,

It is now TWO WEEKS since I PLACED and PAYED for my order. According to the account status it has still not shipped. This is NOT A SLIGHT delay as you try to put it above. Your web page says orders are shipped within 48 hours. I have been awaiting these parts to go flying this month, not next month when it will be too cold in Canada!

Please let me know the exact reason why my order has not shipped. If some item has gone missing for you (despite I made sure to order only "in stock" items), please let me know ASAP and propose to substitute the next better part. This should be at no cost to me as I have not caused this problem.

Thanks for contacting the HobbyKing Support Team.

We are sorry for the waiting. We will check with our staff in the warehouse for your order#2003297997. When there is news, we will send you an email.

Thanks for emailing support.
If you have any other questions, please let me know.
Regards.
Rachel

Dear Sirs,

It is now in the THIRD WEEK since I PLACED and PAYED for my order, and it has still not shipped. I have several times kindly asked you to let me know exactly what the reason is, so if one of my order parts had gone out of stock, we could find a replacement. I got back NO USEFUL FACTUAL information from you. Just customer service information-less nonsense! This does not make me happy.

I took a second look at the stock status now. While most of the items I ordered still showed in stock, the iCharger 106b shows out of stock. Is it possibly so that while showed in stock when I ordered, and my order page says one was "reserved" for me, you haven't been able to find one to reserve for me? If so, why couldn't you tell me that right away? Then we could have made adjustments to my order and you could have sent the package 3 weeks ago and I would have had the parts here in Canada 2 weeks ago!

As I mentioned already last week, if a part is not available let me know ASAP. You can for instance ship the next better part (e.g. another iCharger model) at no additional cost, or suggest dropping the part from the order and give me a discount on the rest. The discount will offset the extra cost I would incur having to rush order whatever is missing from other sources.

I'm looking for factual constructive and quick solutions to this order delay now! If I don't hear back by mid week, I will contact my credit card company and supply them with my order bill showing it should have been shipped in 48h and ask them to take the appropriate action to protect my money.

Hi Martin ,
Thanks for contacting the HobbyKing Support Team.

Due to a system error with our stock level, it seems that the item N5000.5S.45 is marked as available when in fact it is out of stock. Sorry for the inconvenience.

We are sorry that we don't have an accurate time for the item; once it becomes available, we will continue to process your order and have it shipped to you at once.

Or if you can not wait for the item, we kindly advise you to remove this item, so we can ship the rest of order#2003297997 to you. If you would like to remove the item, we will offer store credit or refund to paypal to you.

Please kindly advise us.

Thanks for emailing support.
If you have any other questions, please let me know.
Regards.
Rachel

Please substitute the missing batteries using the equivalent product N5000.5S.65.

This you could have checked and done right away, not after 3 weeks. Instead of answering emails with nonsense just insist that the warehouse do their job and go look for the batteries. This would have saved both of our time and avoided the unnecessary exchange a total of 7, that is SEVEN, emails until now.

I'm disappointed I had to wait 3 weeks, but hope you will resolve your problem with no additional wait or cost to me.

I also ask that the full text of the 7 emails are forwarded to a manager so that customers can be served in a timely and factual manner in the future.

Hi Martin,
Thanks for contacting the HobbyKing Support Team.

Changes will be made on your order #2003297997 as follows:

Cancel:
2 x N5000.5S.45 $74.73x2=$149.46
Add:
2 x N5000.5S.65 $95.69x2=$191.38
The total weight will be 2671g
EMS Express to Canada (MAX 3kg) $61.74
extra shipping fee $7.03
extra payment of $48.95

Please log in your paypal account and send the amount of $48.95 USD to accounts@unitedhobbies.com

After your payment has been transferred, you should receive confirmation email from Paypal for Unique transaction or receipt ID. Please provide the ID, so we can verify the payment with Paypal and process your order promptly.

Customers are always kindly advised to contact us by live support chat for urgent matters.

Thanks for emailing support.
If you have any other questions, please let me know.
Regards.
Rachel

MitchJi · Oct 27, 2011

Hi,

jag said:
Hobbyking customer service is giving me a runaround with an order of 45-90C Nanotech LiPo. I ordered nearly a month ago and they have still not shipped.

Lousy Hobbyking customer service :shock:

?

jag said:
What do you think? Should I fork out the $50 extra?

I hate to say this but if your time is worth anything at all I'd pay the extra $50 and move on.

Hillhater · Oct 27, 2011

Any idea why they are asking for an extra $7.03 for shipping the same qty of batts ??
but otherwise, i would agree with MitchJi ....its not worth the hassle if you want them any time soon.

mud2005 · Oct 27, 2011

jag said:
I tell them to substitute the "version 5.0" at no extra cost to me, which I suspect is probably the same or similar cells re-labeled and marked up.

the version is the same as the AH so the 5.0 cells are 5AH, I would give them the $$ and get the higher capacity batts.

I originally ordered some zippy packs that said were in stock on their site, but they weren't. so I gave them some more $$ and got the nano tech.

edit: my guess on the extra shipping is the extra weight

AussieJester · Oct 27, 2011

Bit the bullet and pay the 50 buddy, unfortunate when
this sort of thing happens, hope it sorted quickly for you
anyway..

KiM

Hillhater · Oct 27, 2011

edit: my guess on the extra shipping is the extra weight

Thats cheeky for the extra 200gms ! :shock:

I would go back and request they ship the 25-50C version instead, and credit you the $46 difference...
......AND also ask for a credit for the now reduced shipping weight ! :lol: :lol: :twisted:

jag · Oct 28, 2011

Hillhater said:
edit: my guess on the extra shipping is the extra weight

Click to expand...

Thats cheeky for the extra 200gms !

Battery packs weigh the same, but they hiked the nominal shipping weight for the new 5.0. If they were honest they should be wrapping them in 200g more of protective covering. Otherwise they are just pocketing the difference.

Hillhater said:
[
I would go back and request they ship the 25-50C version instead, and credit you the $46 difference...
......AND also ask for a credit for the now reduced shipping weight ! :lol: :lol:

I thought the 25-45C was substantially worse than the 45-50. (packs are clearly different also since for the 25-40 bare packs weighs a lot less). For the 45 and 65 product line there is no substantial evidence of improvement beyond badge engineering AFAIK.

jag · Oct 28, 2011

MitchJi said:
Hi,

jag said:

Hobbyking customer service is giving me a runaround with an order of 45-90C Nanotech LiPo. I ordered nearly a month ago and they have still not shipped.

Click to expand...

Lousy Hobbyking customer service ?

jag said:

What do you think? Should I fork out the $50 extra?

Click to expand...

I hate to say this but if your time is worth anything at all I'd pay the extra $50 and move on.

Had they bothered to check actual stock and tell me right away I would have probably just paid. After being jerks and stringing me along with BS for nearly a month, I'm reluctant to have them get away by skinning me for $50 more.

If there's no comparable source I guess I'm kind of stuck though.

Does anyone have an actual manager email where I can at least fill someone's mailbox with complaints?

redorblack · Oct 28, 2011

I don't know where you are located Jag, but if it's in the US, you might want to just cancel the order and reorder from the US warehouse and save a ton on shipping. They just got a bunch of stock in, so probably have what you want.

theRealFury · Oct 28, 2011

That really is bad customer service, sorry to hear your having so much trouble with them.

As for what to do, its up to you. If you can wait and like to give them hell then i would stand your ground and demand that they substitute you at no extra cost due to messing you around for almost 1 month.

If that does not work then ask them to cancel your entire order. They will either try to resolve the issue amicably without loosing your business or they are not worth wasting your time and money on anyway. If they just cancel your order without trying to resolve further then you have 2 options... look for another supplier elseware (99% sure they won't be nano tech cells) or order from another warehouse where they are in stock.

If you can't wait then like the others say, either bite the bullet and pay the extra $50 or take the 25-45c and ask for discounted shipping and refund of difference.

Let us know how it goes.

Fishmasterdan · Oct 29, 2011

I cannot believe anyone would even think about paying these dirt bags an extra 50$. They obviously screwed up the order, they need to make it right or refund all your money. IMO letting companies and dirt bags get away with charing extra for poor customer service is the reason its so rampant these days!! What ever happend to crediblity, honesty, and, integrity. Hobby King is known for their poor customer service and yet we still keep buying from them :roll:

jag · Oct 29, 2011

Success at last. After 1 month of wrangling, 10 or so emails, HK finally agreed to fill missing/out of stock pieces in the order I had paid for a month ago with the next better parts and get it shipped. I'm hoping it ships in the next couple of days so I'll have the gear next week.

Rachel, Oct-29 14:20 (HKT):

Hi Martin ,
Thanks for contacting the HobbyKing Support Team.

As per your request, we have made the following changes on your order.

Details are listed below:

ORDER ID: 2003297997

Cancel:
2xN5000.5S.45 $74.73x2=$149.46
Add:
2xN5000.5S.65 $95.69x2=$191.38

Our management has confirmed OK to make the above changes without extra payment. Your order is now under process. We will ship the order as soon as it has been packed.

We will send you an automatic email with a tracking number once the order is dispatched from our warehouse.

Gordo · Oct 29, 2011

I believe our upbringing is to blame for our frustration. We have been raised in a time, in a place, where the customer was "always right." Look at the success of Walmart, Harbor Freight, etc. The same stuff you can buy online at 1/2 the price, but with a no questions asked return policy. When you buy from across the pond, you are dealing with a different planet. The customer is ALWAYS WRONG. The first lesson in cash flow, is get the money. Never mind if you have the product or not. If you have it, delaying the shipping only makes the cash flow look more positive. As Dan says, we are the problem because we buy from "dirt bags".
You can do very well in any business if you get the money before shipping, even if you sell the product for your cost. You charge enough for shipping and handling to cover your overhead and invest the cash flow. The income from the cash flow becomes your profit.
How do you compete with this model if you carry inventory, offer fast shipping and customer service?

Edit: solved! HK screwing me on Nanotech order. What do?

jag

10 kW

MitchJi

10 MW

Hillhater

100 TW

mud2005

10 kW

AussieJester

1 TW

Hillhater

100 TW

jag

10 kW

jag

10 kW

redorblack

100 W

theRealFury

10 kW

Fishmasterdan

100 W

jag

10 kW

Gordo

100 kW

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