Hobbyking Customer Service.

[swbluto]

So I ordered 10 6s zippy flight Max batteries from HobbyKing USA recently and I received them and two of them were defective. One Battery was puffed and was sitting at 7V with three cells that were completely dead and the other had two cells sitting at .9 V. If I tried to charge up any of them, I get the feeling they'd explode.

Is HobbyKing USA like a piece of crap or something?

 

[migueralliart]

Yeah man I ordered once 2 nano tech packs 6S 4.5 Ah ... BOTH came with one cell at zero volts. After that experience no more cheap LIPO for me.

 

[Jason27]

The wall mart mentality of low prices does not work with lithium battery packs. You get what you pay for. Sorry.

 

[Ykick]

Please report what, if any, warranty you receive from USA wharehouse RC Lipoly.

 

[swbluto]

The last time I ordered Lipo from HobbyKing was four years ago and ordered it from the HK warehouse (it was the only place it sold from back then). I ordered 11 sticks, they all were perfectly fine and they worked out great until they were stolen about a week ago.

But this experience from the US warehouse is very, very different. So I'm wondering if it's just the USA warehouse or if Hobbyking in general has become a piece crap?

Anyway, I did contact support so I'll see what kind of the response I get.

 

[etriker]

Many members have been burned by them.

Some take it better than others. Some don't seem to mind and accept it and suggest others accept it too ?

Surely you have been reading the forum about the hit and miss quality of these batteries ?

 

[swbluto]

Many members have been burned by them.

Some take it better than others. Some don't seem to mind and accept it and suggest others accept it too ?

Surely you have been reading the forum about the hit and miss quality of these batteries ?

But, dude, this is pure crap.

Surely they know which batteries are defective and which aren't? It's not like they assemble it and just throw their hands in the air and say "hope it lasts!". I'm sure that they know which batteries are defective when they are shipping them, and that's the part that I find completely unacceptable. It's not the "hit and miss" quality I care about, it's the purposeful crapping-on-the-customer attitude.

 

[etriker]

My first buy I got 50% good batteries.

Still have not got over it.

I picked cans up on the side of the road to get battery money and got ripped off.

 

[migueralliart]

Everybody else is going to say the same.

With these guys you get what you pay for. They got me with a small order. It was enough to make me sell all my lipo and concentrate on other chemistries/formats.

 

[etriker]

Everybody else is going to say the same.

With these guys you get what you pay for. They got me with a small order. It was enough to make me sell all my lipo and concentrate on other chemistries/formats.

Every cell I bought from you is still going strong !

 

[migueralliart]

Everybody else is going to say the same.

With these guys you get what you pay for. They got me with a small order. It was enough to make me sell all my lipo and concentrate on other chemistries/formats.

Every cell I bought from you is still going strong !

That's what an icharger 3010 and a 100$ capacity tester does!
and I'm still holding about 200 packs. If only I had time and a CD tab welder.

 

[fizzit]

I have a friend who recently ordered 12 x 6s packs and they're all fine so far. So no, not every single pack they ship has a bad cell. But no one's actually compiled data on what % are bad, and all of the information you're gonna get in this thread will be useless anecdotes.

 

[migueralliart]

I have a friend who recently ordered 12 x 6s packs and they're all fine so far. So no, not every single pack they ship has a bad cell. But no one's actually compiled data on what % are bad, and all of the information you're gonna get in this thread will be useless anecdotes.

I'm sorry man but the fact that you got 12 packs and they're all fine makes you a lucky one.

A lot of people have had better luck with the 6S 20C packs since they move faster so there is a fresh stock.

These are not anecdotes but more advisory. When you order from HK you need to know that if it is a small order half of it can be bad. I know it doesn't sound like much but on a 200$ order you're looking at 100$ loss.

Plus I got tired of dealing with all the spaghetti mess of wires.

 

[swbluto]

I have a friend who recently ordered 12 x 6s packs and they're all fine so far. So no, not every single pack they ship has a bad cell. But no one's actually compiled data on what % are bad, and all of the information you're gonna get in this thread will be useless anecdotes.

Useless, because it doesn't tell you anything about how they treat their customers.

Sure, if they were completely clueless about their batteries, than I might accept the Casino mentality but the fact is that they aren't. That implies culpability.

 

[swbluto]

I have a friend who recently ordered 12 x 6s packs and they're all fine so far. So no, not every single pack they ship has a bad cell. But no one's actually compiled data on what % are bad, and all of the information you're gonna get in this thread will be useless anecdotes.

A lot of people have had better luck with the 6S 20C packs since they move faster so there is a fresh stock.

I ordered 6s 20c zippy flightmax's. I guess maybe they didn't "move fast" because they weren't out of stock like every other 6s 20c battery I saw, lol.

Note to self: Don't order batteries if they aren't out of stock.

 

[el_walto]

I at least got store credit for my 4.5Ah capacity 5Ah pack. So I'm not complaining.

 

[el_walto]

I have a friend who recently ordered 12 x 6s packs and they're all fine so far. So no, not every single pack they ship has a bad cell. But no one's actually compiled data on what % are bad, and all of the information you're gonna get in this thread will be useless anecdotes.

A lot of people have had better luck with the 6S 20C packs since they move faster so there is a fresh stock.

I ordered 6s 20c zippy flightmax's. I guess maybe they didn't "move fast" because they weren't out of stock like every other 6s 20c battery I saw, lol.

Note to self: Don't order batteries if they aren't out of stock.

Never order batteries that are out of stock unless you can afford to wait around. HK takes way to long to restock sometimes.

 

[dogman dan]

Goggling " Hobby City USA" I got squat.

May I assume you are ranting on hobby king? Send em back then if you bought from the USA warehouse.

HK supply right now is appalling. I barely got a few 6s packs shipped recently, but just had to buy 4 3s packs to get another 5 ah shipped. Even the China availability is bad in 5 ah sizes.

I haven't gotten a single bad pack from HK in years now, but early on I got a small order of 4s packs that was 100% defect. It's a crap shoot. Re stocking lipo now as the old stuff has timed out, so it's possible my over all defect rate will eventually reach only 5%. It's was 10%.

Tolerable I think, especially since now you can return a stinker.

 

[The fingers]

Are we talking about the Hobby City in Anaheim, Cali or an online only store of the same name?

 

[Ypedal]

I am sure the cells are good during pack assembly, but they dont keep them sitting on a shelf for months to weed out stinkers so by the time the packs are built, packed, shipped, distributed, and finally get in your hands, bad cells have self-discharged and puffed.

My first go at HK packs , 6S 20C packs, was pretty bad... had to do lots of repairs... but the next year i got a few dozen more and all arrived and are still working perfectly.

last year i got a dozen nano-tech packs for my KMX and again, all in perfect condition..

I ordered a few 8ah 5S packs last week or so.. waiting for them to arrive.. fingers crossed..

The guys working in the warehouse packing boxes likely ( i cannot say for sure.. duh .. nobody can ) do not check each pack by opening each box, unwrapping the bubble wrap and checking cells .... not happening at the prices we pay.. fact of life...

no company would intentionally ship bad product, that's just nuts, but the higher the quality control, the higher the pricetag.. if you want perfect packs you can go ahead and pay 200$ for a premium brand lipo pack rated at 100C... but for that price you can get 4x the capacity at ebike C rates..

 

[etriker]

I am sure the cells are good during pack assembly, but they dont keep them sitting on a shelf for months to weed out stinkers so by the time the packs are built, packed, shipped, distributed, and finally get in your hands, bad cells have self-discharged and puffed.

My first go at HK packs , 6S 20C packs, was pretty bad... had to do lots of repairs... but the next year i got a few dozen more and all arrived and are still working perfectly.

last year i got a dozen nano-tech packs for my KMX and again, all in perfect condition..

I ordered a few 8ah 5S packs last week or so.. waiting for them to arrive.. fingers crossed..

The guys working in the warehouse packing boxes likely ( i cannot say for sure.. duh .. nobody can ) do not check each pack by opening each box, unwrapping the bubble wrap and checking cells .... not happening at the prices we pay.. fact of life...

no company would intentionally ship bad product, that's just nuts, but the higher the quality control, the higher the pricetag.. if you want perfect packs you can go ahead and pay 200$ for a premium brand lipo pack rated at 100C... but for that price you can get 4x the capacity at ebike C rates..

I am sure they have had lots of calls about their batteries showing up at customers houses with dead cells.

They know they send puffed bad cells in the mail.

My guy in China had to send my rtc chips without the little batteries because of li ion mailing concerns.

People that use the mail to dump bad li ion will make it harder for people to ship li ion.

 

[melodious]

I'm wondering if there are certain Hobby King LiCo bricks that have a better "traffic rate" That is, some models are more popular leaving little room for leftovers that get stagnated on the shelf.

I too am curious about the USA customer service side of things.

 

[migueralliart]

I'm wondering if there are certain Hobby King LiCo bricks that have a better "traffic rate" That is, some models are more popular leaving little room for leftovers that get stagnated on the shelf.

I too am curious about the USA customer service side of things.

I believe all models that are 3S-6S with a large enough capacity and lower C rate like 20C-30C are commonly sold.

Nano techs are a hit or miss since they are a bit more expensive they sit on the shelf more.

Lately I've seen 8AH 6S bricks being sold out in days. They bring a new batch and they sell it pretty quick. They are a bit more expensive but they also have more capacity which means less paralleling and less spaghetti mess of wires.


I understand why they ship sometimes bricks with lower voltage cells and they don't care. I mean frankly these guys don't have the time and resources to capacity test each pack. Not to mention at the prices they are selling these bricks. Shipping bricks with cells at 0V is a BIG no for me so I stopped doing business with them.

If I ever consider getting into lipo again it would be probably for small packs of high voltage and high C rate that I can bulk charge in half hour.

I always wanted to have a 20S1P 5AH arrangement but pretty much all their nanotech 10S packs have 4 leads instead of 2.

 

[SamTexas]

I have a friend who recently ordered 12 x 6s packs and they're all fine so far. So no, not every single pack they ship has a bad cell. But no one's actually compiled data on what % are bad, and all of the information you're gonna get in this thread will be useless anecdotes.

Your friend's (not even yours, second hand information) example is the most useless anecdocte of all.

 

[fizzit]

I have a friend who recently ordered 12 x 6s packs and they're all fine so far. So no, not every single pack they ship has a bad cell. But no one's actually compiled data on what % are bad, and all of the information you're gonna get in this thread will be useless anecdotes.

Your friend's (not even yours, second hand information) example is the most useless anecdocte of all.

You have completely failed to understand my point. And I personally tested the packs myself.