Hi MilkoP40E! Thank you for your thoughtful interpretation and response above. I will certainly pass the message along to management for further discussion, and of course with an attached memo regarding a 2m version of a Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Tempest. Thanks again for your feedback, MilkoP40E! -Seba

Originally Posted by Sebastian_BHcsr

Hi MilkoP40E! Thank you for your thoughtful interpretation and response above. I will certainly pass the message along to management for further discussion, and of course with an attached memo regarding a 2m version of a Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Tempest. Thanks again for your feedback, MilkoP40E! -Seba

Any Idea how many planes bananahobby ever sold? Still would like to know just for the fun of making the equantion. Thanx!

Hi MilkoP40E! I would tell you if I knew myself. Unfortunately, in my position, I do not have access to such information. -Seba

Originally Posted by Sebastian_BHcsr

Hi MilkoP40E! I would tell you if I knew myself. Unfortunately, in my position, I do not have access to such information. -Seba

Please ask Pete about the sales numbers. He has to know somehow. If you have the numbers you can see the rate of faulty products. You can make a chart and see if quality is improving or not. If your quality does improve and you have the rate over some years and see what changes you made and what the effect was you will see what is good and what is not for your customers and your companies and product quality. Measuring this kind of info is a big part of quality improvement methods. If you go further as a company with this kind of things you end up with 6 sigma and LEAN or TPM Methods. Do this kind of research in your suppliers and own company and you will effectively get a streamlined system in partnership with the suppliers and customers. Anyhow. Good luck improving. See you around here.

Hi MilkoP40E! Thank you for your suggesting those well known methods in hopes to perhaps better the business operations of Banana Hobby overall. I will surely bring this to light with Pete and management. -Seba

Originally Posted by hepcatz

......Either way we lose our ass on TV's....

u may lose money on the sale of a tv if u only looked at it from the standpoint of only selling tvs. but u do gain something from it. from installation of the tv or the sale of a new stereo system for the tv or just the advertisement of your store.
its just like grocery stores that sell milk for a loss. they sell the milk in the hopes that u will buy other products, which in most cases u do. in the "bigger picture" selling that tv or milk "at a loss" is incorrect. at the end of the day, u make money because of it. if that wasn't the case, unless it's a charity, the company would have to shut down.
same goes for the LHS. they sell arfs at MSRP and i don't think they sell at a loss but the profit margin is not going to be that great. they will make money when you need parts or glue, batteries, radios etc.
as for banana, they are all about volume. when you actually think about what's involved with actually selling an arf, it is amazing that they can sell a plane with motor,esc, servos for $100, $200 or even $300.

Worth noting that BH does not actually make anything. They sell products produced by others in Asia. Even Blitzworks, their brand, is simply models that are usually avalable from other sources. The models are sold all over the world by numerous companies, not just here in the US by BH.

For instance, LX models makes the large 79' P-40 that you bought. If you want other 2m foam ARF warbirds, you need to go to the source, not the reseller.

To answer your original question: no, not as bad as they sound. I have 11 models from BH. 9 had no issues at all. One had a bad ESC and a missing prop adapter. I had free replacement parts in three weeks. I had another model have issues with speed controls and servos. I had free replacement parts in four weeks.

One issue with BH and the replacement of bad parts is that the parts orders are at a lower priority than the normal retail orders. A kit that does not need repacking and only needs an address label will get picked and packed quickly. A parts order that involves taking parts from a packed model often takes a week to fulfill. I have also noticed that when they have to repack a RTF model to convert it into an ARF model (to remove the Tx, Rx, battery and charger), the shipment is often delayed for a couple of days.

BH would get a lot less criticism if they placed top priority on shipping missing or defective parts that have their customers grounded and unhappy.

i've bought alot of planes from them...not a single problem with the items i purchased. they even gave me some info on requesting shipping smaller items through the postal service, instead of shipping UPS.....to help save me some $ on shipping cost ! can't beat that service

Good afternoon pilots!

I would like to thank you all for the feedback.

MRrcRC, please know that Banana Hobby is simply a retailer and is not a manufacturer. The manufacturer provides us with the models, their specs, and EDA's of models. TV does simply cost a bit more but it is a personal preference as to whether the pilot would like to obtain the TV version or the normal version.

Thomas, we do notice the time duration regarding the parts and at this time, Banana Hobby is currently working on a solution to speed up the process. I do apologize for the time duration that you had experienced to get the parts mentioned.

KCinNC, thank you for your support.

Sincerely,
Nancy

Nancy, thank you very much for listening and noting my comments.

Glad to hear BH is working on these issues. I think you will be much more respected as a supplier when you can fix defective and missing part problems in the prioritized, speedy and efficient way that places like Tower and Horizon do, now.

I worked for a large mail order hobby shop from 1975 until 1980 ( the Hobby Market in Fort Worth, TX, well before the internet!) Our policy was that any order errors, missing parts or problems had first priority to be picked, packed and processed when they came to the warehouse.

The folks waiting for their problems to be solved have already gone through an ordering process and have waited for their order already. It is imperative that a supplier note that and do all humanly possible to get the their missing or defective parts so the customer can enjoy their original purchase.

I would give Banana Hobby a "B" grade for solving my problems in a decent but not great amount of time and that is certainly more than passing.

However, I think you guys can get an "A" grade if you apply yourselves and give these issues the very, very timely attention they deserve.

Originally Posted by Thomas B

Nancy, thank you very much for listening and noting my comments.

Glad to hear BH is working on these issues. I think you will be much more respected as a supplier when you can fix defective and missing part problems in the prioritized, speedy and efficient way that places like Tower and Horizon do, now.

I worked for a large mail order hobby shop from 1975 until 1980 ( the Hobby Market in Fort Worth, TX, well before the internet!) Our policy was that any order errors, missing parts or problems had first priority to be picked, packed and processed when they came to the warehouse.

The folks waiting for their problems to be solved have already gone through an ordering process and have waited for their order already. It is imperative that a supplier note that and do all humanly possible to get the their missing or defective parts so the customer can enjoy their original purchase.

I would give Banana Hobby a "B" grade for solving my problems in a decent but not great amount of time and that is certainly more than passing.

However, I think you guys can get an "A" grade if you apply yourselves and give these issues the very, very timely attention they deserve.

Good evening Thomas.
I understand and absolutely agree with you. We will definitely do our best to improve in providing everyone the best service that we will be able to offer. We can understand the enthusiasm that each individual gets when receiving the aircraft purchased, as I, myself, would feel exactly the same way. The happier the customer, the better the sales!
Sincerely,
Nancy

Made my first order (F-86 V2) last Friday and the order arrived today(Thursday), as described and in perfect condition. This is as quick and reliable as any supplier I have ever used and better than some. Very good job!

Originally Posted by dr-squared

Made my first order (F-86 V2) last Friday and the order arrived today(Thursday), as described and in perfect condition. This is as quick and reliable as any supplier I have ever used and better than some. Very good job!

Good evening dr-squared.

Thank you for your feedback.
I'm glad to hear that everything arrived in perfect condition. Make sure to test the electronics before assembling them.

Sincerely,
Nancy

Hi Nancy, can you please check your PM box. I sent you one last week. I have been waiting for months to get two of my ESC's replaced and still have no idea when they are coming from Alex.
He said he ordered them with the wires and plugs attached.

Pete

Originally Posted by sonic liner

Hi Nancy, can you please check your PM box. I sent you one last week. I have been waiting for months to get two of my ESC's replaced and still have no idea when they are coming from Alex.
He said he ordered them with the wires and plugs attached.

Pete

Good evening Pete.

I checked my inbox on here as well as my email. Unfortunately, I didn't receive a message from you.

I'm sorry to hear that you have been waiting on 2 ESCs for months without an update. Can I have your order number so that I can look into the issue further please?

Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,
Nancy