Lots of folks have complaints about orders

[XJet]

What's going on at United Hobbies?

Lots of folks are complaining that although they are told items are in stock before they pay, one or more of those items become "backordered" as soon as the payment is accepted -- so nothing gets shipped.

United has your money and seems to sit on an order worth hundreds for the sake of an item worth a few bucks that *was* in stock when you ordered it.

Talking in the chat room and by email with some equally frustrated purchasers, it seems that some people have been waiting nearly a month for some such orders.

I'm waiting on one that has had all items on it in stock but it's now held up because some servos (of which there were *heaps* when I ordered, are now on backorder.

United Hobbies says "contact us by email" so I did (as did many others) -- but we get no reply to those emails and we're fobbed off in the United Hobby community forums.

Do we have to get PayPal to reverse the payment or what?

Yes, I'm sure you're busy but I have a friend who placed two orders just a couple of days before I ordered mine and his arrived at the start of the week -- mine remains "unposted". The originally backordered items have come into stock and are "ready" but now another part of my order (previously "ready") is on backorder.

Your prices are cheap but your service is unacceptable and your communications is non-existant.

Anyone else in the same boat is welcome to contact me -- I'm building an increasingly long list of unhappy people who's credit cards have been billed but whose orders seem to be no closer to shipping -- despite the fact that some have paid for EMS express courier delivery.

And as for the interactive help... well I've been in and out many times and never seen anyone from United Hobbies online. Hell, I've actually ended up providing *your* customers with product support when they've asked for it in that chat-room, -- even though I'm getting none from UH myself.

Here's what I suggest you do United Hobbies...

1. If you're simply too busy to get orders out in a sensible timeframe and too busy to reply to the emails you request, put a message on your home-page and on the checkout page that tells customers what the anticipated delay in shipping will be. Let people know if the average delay between accepting our money and shipping our order is two weeks - don't leave us guessing.

2. If your realtime stock control system is broken -- tell us so we know that the quantities shown might not be accurate.

3. Give people the option of shipping only those items that are in stock and having the balance of the order sent later, even if it means paying two lots of postage. We get *really* annoyed when a whole order worth several hundred dollars is held up for two weeks because a single $0.20 clevis is on backorder, even though we were told that there were 30 of them in stock when we ordered.

4. At least acknowledge emails as they're received, even if you don't have time to answer the questions they ask immediately -- at least people will know you're working on it.

5. Don't create unrealistic expectations. You've been telling people that crystals, receivers and other products would be listed in 3 days -- but they're still not and you started telling people this 5 days ago.

I could go on, but since I'm not even getting what I paid for, I'm reluctant to provide any in return for free -- even though this advice is probably worth only what you paid for it.

[CSO#1 @UHobbies]

Thankyou for your advice.
Perhaps we are victims of our own success.
In the last month orders have trippled.
This business was started to help the community get access to less than crazy prices. Up until recently I feel we have done a great job. However the last 2 weeks have seen such an increase in orders that the factories that supply us cannot cope.
We have caused such a large wave in the waters of high prices that even large USA distributors (whom I shall not name) have complained to factories, threatened us personally and banded together to try and stop us from providing these prices directly to the public.
With this in mind I sure hope that the customer can see we are trying our very best in the face of some serious competition.

Speaking specifically about your comments.
It is incorrect to say that we sell items that you are 'sitting on' while waiting for your other out of stock items.
In fact, when you order something, it is taken from the item pool and assigned to you. You may think it is out of stock if it shows a negative value, though there will still be stock on the shelves, one or more of which is assigned to your order that is waiting for other items. In reality, our stock is never 0, there are always items on the shelves, though they are assigned to customers waiting for other items which are on backorder.
You may get the missconception that the item you have reserved for you has been snapped up by another buyer because in your account section it shows 'Ready' one day and 'BACKORDER' the next. This is because it is linked directly to the warehouse stock level (which shows the amount in stock MINUS the amount reserved).
This is a fault of ours. We are intending to show as much order transparency as possible. We want to make the customer feel like they know exactly what is happening with the order, from payment to packing to printing to .. well everything. We have some ideas in the works which include being able to view live the bin locations on the shelves, this requires over 90 webcams and a better internet link and ISP.. but thats another story.

Your idea of splitting orders is exactly what we are working on now.
A customer can email us and request us to split it. Obviously there are many factors involved in the decision and we are trying to make logic for the ability to let the customer split it and pay the postage difference. It's tricky and hasnt been done before, we are working on it now.

Emails.
Generally emails are answered within 24hrs. Our CSO Karen does a fine job as far as I can see. Though if you are having trouble getting a reply, you can email support or sales @unitedhobbies.com or call: +852 9154 0070

Crystals.
Perhaps we spoke to soon regarding the crystals. Though Im sure they as well as the 35 and 40mhz rx will be listed this weekend.
I am aware that many people are waiting on this. Though you may also know that we had some issues with Corona's USA distributor as they got upset with our pricing. This created issues and we have had to delay the listing to confirm pricing and also create the member pricing.

Your business advice is note and we thank you for it.
We will keep trying our best and pushing to get your orders out as fast as possible.

Thankyou
Jason.

[MartinL]

The problem with your system is that u do not asign the product to your order when u hit "BUY" U have 2 processes.....1 .. I got your money ........2 Its going to be PICK.
Between hitting BUY and PICK it could be a 3-6 days lapse..THAT IS WHY IT IS OUT
OF STOCK. When a person hit buy...it should be put aside right then.

[carlosponti]

i do want to make a comment about those US distributors they sell to the LHS and undercut the same hobby stores by selling online at the same price or cheaper. But they still do not come close to the prices you offer. my wife ordered some stuff for me for Christmas though i haven't opened them yet i am so far pleased with everything as is. I do hope that you can improve the service you already provide because you are doing great by selling direct like you do. I would like to make one suggestion that you on your website link directly to the product on pictures you are displaying. for instance someone asked about a particular servo. that servo picture linked to the servo items page. link instead directly tot he servo you are displaying.

[XJet]

Thanks for providing the clarification -- I can seen now why so many people are confused in respect to the backorder situation.

Perhaps on your order status-page you should put "reserved" or "picked" beside each line of the order as it is filled. That way, customers could see that the items have been taken off the shelf and put aside for them -- even though those items are now on backorder for others.

This would allow people to see whether an order remains unposted simply because you're busy or because one of the items currently flagged as "backordered" can't yet be supplied for that order.

And, as I have said -- please put an "average time to ship" figure on your website so customers don't have unreasonable expectations. I think we've been spoilt in the past by your very quick turn-around and are now perhaps expecting too much :-)

Just let us know what to expect and we'll be a lot happier.

It also means that if we want something urgently (perhaps as a Christmas gift) we are then able to source elsewhere (albeit at a higher price).

These are the things that make for happy customers.

[Fishmasterdan]

I for one would like to say I appreciate what you guys are doing for the hobbiest.
It its hard to remain patient when you want to get something off the ground.

I would also like to comment that it does take a few weeks to get your stuff and if you cannot wait I would not order from United, I would order from a local store.

I have had a postive experince with United. Just be careful what you are buying. There product descriptions are poor and there is no directions that come with there products.

[CSO#1 @UHobbies]

Thanks for providing the clarification -- I can seen now why so many people are confused in respect to the backorder situation.

Perhaps on your order status-page you should put "reserved" or "picked" beside each line of the order as it is filled. That way, customers could see that the items have been taken off the shelf and put aside for them -- even though those items are now on backorder for others.

This would allow people to see whether an order remains unposted simply because you're busy or because one of the items currently flagged as "backordered" can't yet be supplied for that order.

And, as I have said -- please put an "average time to ship" figure on your website so customers don't have unreasonable expectations. I think we've been spoilt in the past by your very quick turn-around and are now perhaps expecting too much :-)

Just let us know what to expect and we'll be a lot happier.

It also means that if we want something urgently (perhaps as a Christmas gift) we are then able to source elsewhere (albeit at a higher price).

These are the things that make for happy customers.

Good common sense information.
We are in the middle of barcoding bin locations at the moment, once that project is finished we are improving the cart system in January.
Small issues like 1 item out of stock can fester into large customer problems when clarity isnt as good as it should be.
We will be more prepared next Christmas, thats for sure!

Thanks.

[booger]

few things to remember here, we appreciatte you getting prices low, and reasonable shipping charges to the usa. But the one thing american companies are relearning right now is that by trying to automate everything. you loose personal service. and alot of companies are bringing back that personal service.
Great prices and speedy delivery are always good things but follow up after the sale and that's what makes customers, repeat customers. treat people fairly and they will be happy to buy your products.

[canadagoose]

So far i have placed two orders with United Hobbies and have been very pleased with the products and quick shipping. I will continue to place orders if this is what i can expect, keep up the great service!

[XJet]

To their credit, UH did have someone (wo)manning the interactive support chat-room tonight and they sorted out my order. Apparently, even though there was plenty of stock when I ordered, some of that stock was faulty (servos without connectors) so my order was placed on hold until new replacement units arrived.

UH kindly offered to upgrade my order to another (slightly more expensive) option and, although I'd rather have had the original item ordered, I preferred to get the order expedited so accepted their offer.

The bottom line is that it all boils down to maintaining good communications and I guess they're now aware of that and putting in the work required to ensure it.

Full marks to UH.

[Chatenever]

I've placed four orders with UH and I've been well-pleased. That's not to say that everything has worked perfectly, without any hitches. But EVERY one of my emails to UH has been answered by Karen within 24 hours. In one instance, my order was delayed because at the same time I ordered, another buyer placed an order for 400 :eek: of the same batteries that I had ordered. UH, upon their own initiative, split my order and sent me everything else, and followed up with the batteries a week later.

Their web site is changing (and improving) weekly. Check-out procedures are getting streamlined, stock inventory tracking is now assigning stock to pending orders, users are invited (and encouraged with a discount on their next order) to fill in some of the technical data that is not being provided by the factory, they are adding products to their line-up, and they are attempting to give us a heads-up on what's coming out next. Sure, they've been promising crystals for the Corona receivers in three days for a couple of weeks now, so I guess they're not perfect. But for $12.95 for a great little receiver, I'll wait another day (or week) or two for the crystals. No big deal ... I'm just waiting to place my next order until they've got 'em. If you can't wait for the crystals, UM-1 crystals are pretty common and easy to order elsewhere.

A suggestion for you buyers ... UH has also improved their shipping options. You no longer need to place a huge order to justify a high minimum shipping charge. Shipping is only $3.00 for a 100g order, $5.00 for 200g. Place several small orders instead of one large one, and you won't get held up waiting for one item that is out of stock. UH web site also shows you what small items you can add to your order without any additional shipping charge (to get you up to the maximum allowable weight for that bracket of shipping charge). Very cool.

And, oh, yeah, don't forget ... shipping is FREE on the Corona receivers :D

[XJet]

Much as I like UH for many of the items they stock, I buy my (rebranded) Corona receivers elsewhere (Hi Dave :-) -- where they have all the crystals in stock and they offer absolutely unbeatable and personalized customer support. The difference in price is only small and well worth paying (IMHO).

UH have some great deals and are really getting their act together but they're not necessarily the best place to buy *everything* -- just some things :-)

[CSO#1 @UHobbies]

[QUOTE=XJet]Much as I like UH for many of the items they stock, I buy my (rebranded) Corona receivers elsewhere (Hi Dave :-) -- ...QUOTE]

Sadly though.. Vampower bought the Rx's before Bphobbies got Corona to sign on the dotted line.
Even OEM is not allowed to be sold in the USA any longer. This means vampower wont be getting a second order.

[FlyDave]

I'm with you XJet.

My fault was to send back 2 items, that i received wrong, for a replacement...

- 1 month now, i didn't received the correct items
- i wrote to karen o whoever receive emails, and they simply answered "thank you"... thank you for what ???? for loosing my money ????
- i re-wrote to karen, and she simply answered that the adress where i sended my 2 ESC is wrong. BTW, i've taken the adress from UH website !! so they are giving out the wrong adress ???? grrrrr :mad:

I've sended back the wrong items here :
4F Wah Lok Industrial Ctr. 35 Shan Mei St.
Northern Territory - Fotan (0000)

Be careful if you send some things back, this is not the correct adress (as karen has told me).

Now what ? if this is not the correct adress... where is my 2 wrong esc's ? and most important : where is my 2 correct ESC's that i paid for ???????????

so UH... answer this now please...

[XJet]

Well UH have looked after me so I have no gripes, but your situation does sound different.

Just talking with as many people as I can about UH's service, it seems that they're going through typical growing pains that can strike any small business that becomes a much bigger business overnight. To a degree, they've become a victim of their own success.

However, to their credit, they seem to be putting a *lot* more effort into providing customer support and sorting out the small percentage of orders that get stuffed up in some way. I think we have to remember that although there are a handful of people (which included myself) whose orders seem to get delayed or incorrectly filled, there's also a much, much larger number of people (also including myself) whose orders have been filled promptly, accurately and with professional levels of service.

So long as UH keep taking onboard the feedback they're getting then I think they will become a significant force in the hobby.

I am buying an increasing amount of stuff there although, as I've previously mentioned, they're not my only source of stuff on the Net and I don't expect that to change any-time soon. I wish them well and give full credit to Karen for the obviously long hours she's currently putting in.

FlyDave, I hope you get your situation sorted -- I'm sure you will. UH (like a number of other companies that ship out of China) appear very aware of the importance of customer satisfaction.

[GD5015]

Can't complain about the service!. I have been ordering on the internet for about 10 yrs. I have never had anyone change an order on the fly. Always told I would have to cancel and reorder, IF anything at all could be done. UH just got my business for a long time to come. Everyone makes mistakes, but it's how the mistakes are addressed that's most important, IMHO. And UH seems to be addressing mistakes quickly and TRYING to get the customer taken care of.

John

[growweirdstuf]

I just got my package, it did take a while, but I got it. Came in a flimsy brown bag. It didn't matter because each item was individually wrapped in bubble wrap. I ordered 3 brushless motors, 1 esc and some other hardware. All the electronics work! The motors were quiet and smooth. I wish the motors came with instructions. The motors came with lots of hardware and such, but I don't know how some of it attaches. One of them came with a nice prop saver. But, it was meant for a motor with a smaller diameter shaft. Overall, I am really pleased with this purchase and would not hesitate to buy from them again. :)

[anatoly]

I just received my first order: a couple Li-Po packs, a couple of BL motors and an ESC. Got here in 13 days from the date of order, that's pretty good. The only thing that seems to be missing is that for the little 24g hexTronic CDROM motor, there was supposed to be a spare non-threaded shaft so I could attach a prop saver. I just emailed support about it, hopefully they will be able to send one out.

[XJet]

My only concern is that now (after a posting warning folks about the risks and (il)legality of changing transmitter crystals in the USA), I can no longer access the Community Forums over at United Hobby (404 page not found error).

Perhaps it's just a "technical hitch" but obviously nobody else is having an issue and when I use another computer with a different IP number and a browser without my UH cookies there's no problem.

Hmmm.. :-)

[Greg_Granville]

I see that UH is no longer allowing out of stock (back-ordered) items to be added to your shopping cart. That's a very good move. Thanks!

The idea is to prevent a large order from being held up indefinitely by small items that may be out of stock.

However, you still need a way to handle unusual cases. Such as you discover your inventory of an item is wrong, or you have to pull it for some reason. And of course, you have existing back orders - some of which are apparently never going to be filled - such as the Corona receivers (i.e. there are 31 back ordered RD820's at this moment). How will you handle that?
Obviously, those orders can not be held up forever...

I realize that refunding money via PayPal is not free and probably isn't practical given your small margins.

I think the solution to just ship out the orders immediately minus the unavailable items and issue the customer a credit for the value of the
missing items.

With the new policy of not accepting back-orders, this should not happen very often, but when it does, it's good for UH (they have the money and don't have to refund it) and it's probably enough to keep most customers happy too. Most UH customers are happy campers (except those caught in the previous order log-jam problem) and are almost certain to be placing another order again in the near future. They use their credit from the previously unavailable items and everyone is happy (in theory at least) :D

[Vamooska]

[QUOTE=XJet]Much as I like UH for many of the items they stock, I buy my (rebranded) Corona receivers elsewhere (Hi Dave :-) -- ...QUOTE]

Sadly though.. Vampower bought the Rx's before Bphobbies got Corona to sign on the dotted line.
Even OEM is not allowed to be sold in the USA any longer. This means vampower wont be getting a second order.

Well lets see. Since I am on my fourth order...I guess you might have erred.
You have your information wrong sir. Before you pop out a reply like you did may I suggest contacting me for clarification. Your above post is dead wrong.
Vammy

[Greg_Granville]

[QUOTE=CSO#1 @UHobbies]

Well lets see. Since I am on my fourth order...I guess you might have erred.
You have your information wrong sir. Before you pop out a reply like you did may I suggest contacting me for clarification. Your above post is dead wrong.
Vammy

That's very interesting. If in fact VamPowerPro can get OEM branded receivers from Corona RC for USA sales, but United Hobbies can't, something is very fishy.
I wonder what could be in the contract agreement between BPHobbies and Corona RC that allows OEM branded Corona receivers to be sold to the USA market by one company, but not another. Something really stinks here.
If there's a conspiricy against UH brewing here, I hope it backfires.

[Vamooska]

Greg,
I would tend to agree that something like that would stink too. I believe in a level playing field for all....period. I feel that everyone should have a fair shake at promoting their brand no matter what the label says be it Vampowerpro, Corona or Acme. I think that Corona as a company is a fine source for a refined product and I am happy to carry their engineering.
My views on exclusives are different than others. I worked many hours generating the respect and trust from customers that purchase my batteries, motors and other performace upgrades. I eat a lot of profit doing it too....but then again I am old school in my approach to my patrons.
To answer your question, I dont think a conspiracy is brewing but perhaps a supply shortcoming could be a source for heartburn?
Respectfully
Vammy

[wolw]

I'm still waiting for 35MHz (Europe) recievers from Corona to be listed at UH, there's sure a lack of them and someone is getting them.

Europe needs some competition and I sure would like to buy them from UH, fast and cheap.

Jeff (Vammy) has given extraordinary personal service on everything I've bought from him, that's how you keep customers coming back :) Can't use US recievers though ;)

Greg,

Happy Birthday :)

//Peter :)

[CSO#1 @UHobbies]

Greg,
I would tend to agree that something like that would stink too. I believe in a level playing field for all....period. I feel that everyone should have a fair shake at promoting their brand no matter what the label says be it Vampowerpro, Corona or Acme. I think that Corona as a company is a fine source for a refined product and I am happy to carry their engineering.
My views on exclusives are different than others. I worked many hours generating the respect and trust from customers that purchase my batteries, motors and other performace upgrades. I eat a lot of profit doing it too....but then again I am old school in my approach to my patrons.
To answer your question, I dont think a conspiracy is brewing but perhaps a supply shortcoming could be a source for heartburn?
Respectfully
Vammy

It wouldnt be the first time a factory has told a few lies.
We were told by Corona themselves that only bphobbies were allowed to buy the rx into the USA, OEM or otherwise.
We questioned them several times as we noticed the Vampower Rx's. They told us that Vampower purchased these prior to the bphobbies agreement.
This is exactly what Corona told us.
(If you would like the email of this conversation, I will gladly forward it to you. Please PM me)
We have two orders in the pipeline now, 1 OEM and 1 Corona brand.
We are not allowed to sell to the USA any longer though this isnt a large concern.

To Vammy.
We like what you're doing, and in a way, we cheer you on. We in no way wish you harm your sales and If our comments have caused concern, we appologise.
We try to maintain a good level of transparency with our company, we dont hold many trade secrets close, we tell customers exactly what is happening, warts and all.

Rgds
Jason.

[osiris4isis]

[QUOTE=Vamooska]

That's very interesting. If in fact VamPowerPro can get OEM branded receivers from Corona RC for USA sales, but United Hobbies can't, something is very fishy.
I wonder what could be in the contract agreement between BPHobbies and Corona RC that allows OEM branded Corona receivers to be sold to the USA market by one company, but not another. Something really stinks here.
If there's a conspiricy against UH brewing here, I hope it backfires.

It's called monolopy and soon or later will backfire. Won't be long before
other companies start putting similar if not better receivers. I'll bet if it is
done by a non-US company, US companies and distributors will scream unfair
and want to put import tax on it. I'm already boycotting all purchase from
BPHobbies because
1. Corona scandal
2. Raise their shipping prices and rules
Too bad since I've just started to order from them.