hobbyking CHARGED me to remove back ordered item from order

yes thats right, they charged me 25 cents out of my bonus points to remove a back ordered item from a 2 month old order, they said it would only take 10-25 days! bloody a** hats

ive spent 2000 bucks on there stuff and im thoroughly disappointed this time. i don't think ill ever spend anymore on hobbyking.

buyers beware of hobbyking!

Don't the bonus points get awarded based on the amount of money you spend on an item? If you no longer purchase the item wouldn't it make sense that the bonus points get taken away too?

Originally Posted by porcia83

Don't the bonus points get awarded based on the amount of money you spend on an item? If you no longer purchase the item wouldn't it make sense that the bonus points get taken away too?

yes the thing i removed was a motor that cost $18.01, i got that 18.01 back but they also removed about $0.25. i thought it was a error but then i emailed them. heres what the email says:

i said

"hello, i had an order where i wanted a car motor removed. i asked cheryl
(the live support staff member) if she could remove the motor. before i
asked her i had $1.23 in points, after she added the 18.01 from the cost of
the motor, it went to $19.12.

if i am correct, $1.23 + $18.01 is NOT $19.12. i consulted her about this
issue and she told me that she too saw that i had $1.23 points in my
account before i had the motor removed.

please ask cheryl or look at the chat i had with her, because i believe
that i had some money accidentally removed because of a technical error
with your systems. please add the money that you owe me and check up on
your points system because i believe there is a glitch.

this happened with the last time i had something removed, i lost no more
than $0.20 and i did not bother to consult anyone about it but because it
has now happened twice, i want you to make sure everything is working
properly and i would like the points i lost given back to me.

please also add the points that i lost last time i had items removed. it
was, like i said no more than $0.20."

THEY SAID: "Thanks for contacting the HobbyKing Support Team.

Please be advised the system will charge your bonus points for fee automatically once you deduct the items for your order, as you have removed several item from the order# 2005761731. If you have any concerns please contact us.

Thank you for your understanding and have a nice day!

Thanks for emailing support."

I want to bloody kick them ****'s in the face

I sense the frustration, and if it's this annoying to you the best way to get them to understand that is to not use them anymore. Most companies will modify what they do based on bad PR, or a loss in sales. Despite the bad press here, I don't think it's affecting them in the least as they continue to grow. It's all about the money me thinks, and when they aren't getting it, perhaps things will change.

Wow, not getting your angst over this .25 cents worth of free bonus points.

Really, you have saved how much money by using HK instead of any AUS vendor? What have you spent in time, energy and angst over this .25 cents? Just write it off and move on.

Originally Posted by colj00

yes the thing i removed was a motor that cost $18.01, i got that 18.01 back but they also removed about $0.25. i thought it was a error but then i emailed them. heres what the email says:

i said

"hello, i had an order where i wanted a car motor removed. i asked cheryl
(the live support staff member) if she could remove the motor. before i
asked her i had $1.23 in points, after she added the 18.01 from the cost of
the motor, it went to $19.12.

if i am correct, $1.23 + $18.01 is NOT $19.12. i consulted her about this
issue and she told me that she too saw that i had $1.23 points in my
account before i had the motor removed.

Well, it could be that they just gave you credit for the motor at the current price instead of what you were initially charged for it. Don't get me wrong, this would be terrible business too. I think this is more likely than charging you to cancel an item.

The question then becomes, "Can I pay more for an item than it is worth immediately afterwards?" The answer - Sure can. And I'm not talking depreciation here.

I have found that there is a small glitch in the HK ordering system that is a real sore point to me. A burr under my saddle so to speak.

Everybody knows that there is a price that you see on any HK page that is shown when you are not signed in - the "public" or "unsuspecting customer" price. Then there is the price you see for an item when you are signed in - the "loyal" customer price.

Frequently, I will open a lot of tabs for items that I want to order over a few days and then add them all to my cart when I'm ready to order. During this time, I'm not signed in but I can do that when I'm ready to order.

Keep in mind all of these tabs have the "unsuspecting customer" prices. I've learned that if you sign in after adding everything to the cart the prices DO NOT change when you sign in. You MUST sign in before adding the items to the cart in order to get the cheaper price reserved for the most loyal customers.

But wait, once you sign in and start adding items to the cart the price doesn't change then either. What's going on here? Well, the price in the opened tab is the price you are going to pay. You can either

1. remove the item from your cart and open a NEW tab for the same item and add THAT item to your cart instead or
   
2. click the link for the item listed in your cart and add THAT item to your cart too. You'll end up with 1 more than you want but ALL of those items change price. Reduce the new quantity by one and you are set.

I ALWAYS check the prices of the items in my cart now by opening a new tab for each item in my cart and comparing them to what HK is going to charge me when I click "continue". Sometimes I catch one that isn't the lower price and add one more as in option 2 to fix it.


So, I wonder if the price you were charged is the "not logged in" price but they gave a credit based on the price you SHOULD HAVE been charged as a member. In my experience the difference on small items is $0.10 - $1.00 so $0.25 fits this scenario very well (especially for an $8 item).

No matter, you should have been refunded the amount you were charged no matter what the price of the motor was on the computer. I just think this is a reasonable explanation for what happened.

Plenty of places do this. Ever been to Kohls? I know its .25 but people were abusing this system (check out the hk freebies thread, its freaking ridiculous what they were doing). Imagine if 100 people did this a day. Place an order, get a bunch of bonus points, then remove items from the order and keep the bonus points.

Originally Posted by Obake

Wow, not getting your angst over this .25 cents worth of free bonus points.

Really, you have saved how much money by using HK instead of any AUS vendor? What have you spent in time, energy and angst over this .25 cents? Just write it off and move on.

you have a fair point but they just shouldn't charge people to remove an item from an order.

I'm sure i can remember seeing on a few HK products that you can gain bonus points for buying certain products and sometimes free postage if you add another small item to your cart,maybe your motor was one of them items,so after you took it off your order list they took the points back,just a thought but as someone else has said,is 25 cents really worth getting upset over? still at the end of the day just think how much money we have all saved with HK,like i've said before if it wasn't for them i know i wouldn't still be in this hobby,my LHS and most other online shops/stores want way more than what the product is really worth,so if it had happened to me which i know it hasn't i'd let them keep the 25 cents and put it down as a tip.

As far what Goober is saying,i'm not 100% sure thats right as i've done what he said and been on a HK product and not signed in,after a few moments a price pops up at the bottom right of the page which is or close to what i would of paid if i had of signed in.

Originally Posted by startazz

As far what Goober is saying,i'm not 100% sure thats right as i've done what he said and been on a HK product and not signed in,after a few moments a price pops up at the bottom right of the page which is or close to what i would of paid if i had of signed in.

Yes, that is the price you would get if logged in. But if you add the item to the cart while not logged in BEFORE you get one of these, you are charged the higher price even after you login. If I were the one who programmed the shopping cart, I would change the prices of all the items already in the cart during the login process so the customer pays the "login price" or "one time offer" price.