Stay clear of xheli and bananahobby they are bad bad!!! I have shopped on the internet fo years and have purchased anything from a fan blade to computers and 56 in tv's. Xheli and bananahobby were the worst i have ever encountered. I ordered a blue wolf from xheli on line as you could not speak to anyone. A recording said they are busy with other customers but try our direct line. Same recording on the direct line "hang up and try later. I did receive the blue wolf but it was packed in another type heli box with the directions for that heli. The tail was broken off on the heli also. After days of calling i finially got a real person and he told me to e-mail some pictures.....i did and days later received a ups return label for another company with no instructions. This process took over a month and finally got my credit less the $13 + dollars for shipping. Tried to get that back but did not even after filing a dispute with discovercard. To get my credit card. Had a similar problem with bananahobby. These two companies are never, never again will i do business with them.
I bought a heli from boomtownhobby after talking to jamie at that site. This e sky has a boom tail and other extras. Jamie said he would install the boom tail and flex skids and some other parts and personally trim the heli. I also have the regular tail body but doubt if i will ever use it. I received the heli in a few days and was amased at how it hovered and flew. I highly recommend boomtownhobby, ask for jamie.

I've never received an item damaged from xheli, but I did pay UPS 2nd day shipping on an item and they shipped it first class USPS instead.

The cost difference between the two shipping methods was $7. I called and complained at which point they refunded the $7 difference to me. I've received a helicopter from them that arrived at my house in under 48 hours and was exactly as described.

I'd say that they're a large company that handles a massive number of orders daily, and errors are bound to occur in with that amount of volume.

As far as Banana Hobby goes, I've got no experience with them so I can't comment.

I bought my Lama V3 from Xheli.com - No problems encountered. Not doubting your claims as every business has their off moments.

My first copter came from bananahobby. It was screwed up. But they fixed it by sending everything I needed to get it in the air + some stuff. Just my opinion. Sorry about your experience. Lee

I ordered from xHeli a few times now myself. Same thing here - I hear bad reports about them every so often, but I have never had a problem myself.
As for bananahobby - I ordered there twice - and both times had HUGE problems in terms of getting defective or not the right stuff - but they fixed my problems each time. Those occured as opposed to my problems with a certain other vendor with a "KRS" in its name ... there I just lost my money after sending the wrong merchandise back - and I am only one of VERY many ...

I have purchased better than 20 helis from xheli, never had a problem and the one time i got a bad canopy they sent me a new one............

haha, been there done that with xheli. I dont know how these folks have a BBB rating of B+. Their support is horrible and practically non existent. Down in the vendors thread, I and a few others had posted about our bad experiences with them. And this is what really just put them over the top. They actually came into the thread and offered to work with one of the folks that had a problem that was over a year old. Mine was a couple months old and they didnt say crap to me. Guess they didnt feel they needed to help the guy who had lost $100 to a very poorly built coaxial.

I have purchased 6 helis from Xheli over the past two years with absolutely no problems. They always ship next business day and I usually get my merchandise two days later. Their prices beat just about anything out there, especially when you use their free shipping coupon.

Originally Posted by gjenkins

Stay clear of xheli and bananahobby they are bad bad!!! I have shopped on the internet fo years and have purchased anything from a fan blade to computers and 56 in tv's. Xheli and bananahobby were the worst i have ever encountered. I ordered a blue wolf from xheli on line as you could not speak to anyone. A recording said they are busy with other customers but try our direct line. Same recording on the direct line "hang up and try later. I did receive the blue wolf but it was packed in another type heli box with the directions for that heli. The tail was broken off on the heli also. After days of calling i finially got a real person and he told me to e-mail some pictures.....i did and days later received a ups return label for another company with no instructions. This process took over a month and finally got my credit less the $13 + dollars for shipping. Tried to get that back but did not even after filing a dispute with discovercard. To get my credit card. Had a similar problem with bananahobby. These two companies are never, never again will i do business with them.
I bought a heli from boomtownhobby after talking to jamie at that site. This e sky has a boom tail and other extras. Jamie said he would install the boom tail and flex skids and some other parts and personally trim the heli. I also have the regular tail body but doubt if i will ever use it. I received the heli in a few days and was amased at how it hovered and flew. I highly recommend boomtownhobby, ask for jamie.

that sucks. and I totally agree with you Jamie at boomtownhobby is a great guy to deal with, I'd buy from that place anytime!!

I had a rotten experience with Xheli. They gave me nothing but the runaround for weeks. I finally got it resolved through their forums by a moderator by the name of Andy.

If you have a problem with them you will go crazy before it is resolved.

Also the shipping to Canada is too expensive and takes too long. Give me BP Hobbies anytime and also Helitek.

The trick to xheli resolution is going to THEIR forum and posting "hey Andy, I ordered a blahblah and got a bloobloo".

The picture emerges of a small company with minimal phone/email staff (if any at all) and one conscientious guy (Andy) who takes care of issues but only if you can get his attention.

I know of no such resolution path with Banana.

I have purchased many items from Xheli and Jamie at Boomtown. Jamie gives you the personal attention you will NEVER get from a discount house like Xheli. You cannot get wholesale prices and a guy waiting for your call with questions or problems. Thats just the way business works. Its one or the other. The phone thing with Xheli is cus they would need a staff off 50 to take care of all the guys who buy a heli and cannot fly and think the heli is defective cus it does not fly itself. Been there done that. I thought helis flew themselves also. If Boomtown sold an item that Xheli sold his price would be more.
I would never get into the hobby business.
FWIW, companys make mistakes. A mistake does not mean they are the worst company cus the problem was with your order.

Originally Posted by Z06 Tony

I have purchased many items from Xheli and Jamie at Boomtown. Jamie gives you the personal attention you will NEVER get from a discount house like Xheli. You cannot get wholesale prices and a guy waiting for your call with questions or problems. Thats just the way business works. Its one or the other. The phone thing with Xheli is cus they would need a staff off 50 to take care of all the guys who buy a heli and cannot fly and think the heli is defective cus it does not fly itself. Been there done that. I thought helis flew themselves also. If Boomtown sold an item that Xheli sold his price would be more.
I would never get into the hobby business.
FWIW, companys make mistakes. A mistake does not mean they are the worst company cus the problem was with your order.

In my case it was nothing to do with flying a heli or a newbie. They send me a defective TX with a heli and then I got the run around. The told me the TX was on the way and I recieved one from another brand of heli that was not compatible. Then they told me the proper one was on the way. A month later I still did not have it and then they tell me just because I received a shipping notification does not mean the item is shipped but simply the label was printed. Make sense to you? Not to me. I got the online live support and was passed from one to another but no one knew how to resolve the problem. Any emails send generated a reply that they would answer ASAP. However days later the answers I recieved were "rubber stamped" answers but never made sense. I finally found out about this "Andy" guy and he resolved the problem immediately.

So I decided to give them another chance and ordered some parts. BIG mistake, another screw-up as the wrong parts were send. The same run around this time, took forever to resolve.

Never again!

There is another thread about Xheli problems on the Vendors Forum.