I received a Freewing B-17 from General Hobby. It came with a bad motor and a Bad esc.

Richard from General Hobby asked for the the Motor and esc to be returned to him. Sent it off to be replaced.

After they lost the address to return the new parts he sent it USPS priority mail. That was over a week ago and now he won't respond to emails.
The Post Office says it wasn't shipped priority. But even if it came ground it should be here already.

Does anyone have an idea on how to get a hold of General Hobby?

The Bummer is that the Motor and Nacelle were returned because the engine cowl was glued to the nacelle. So now we can't build the model at all.

There 100% Satisfaction Guarantee is looking to be a load of


Don't Bother calling them I have left repeated messages for a retun phone call and nothing. Why bother post a Phone number. It's just aggravating!

Thanks, Walter

General Hobby is still giving us the run around. They tell you they are gonna ship our parts then nothing happens. Well over a month now of screwing around.

Don't buy anything from General Hobby if you want customer service!

It looks like there address a UPS store! I think i'm screwed.
If there was a real address I'd go over there and get my money back or an airplane that doesn't have defective parts.

http://generalhobby.com/contact_us.php

.Address:
General Hobby
20687-2 Amar Rd.
#386
Walnut, CA 91789 .

I would just try contacting nitroplanes.com or bananahobby.com both sell your plane under the free wing and airfield models. Maybe they have a motor and esc replacement you can buy? Probably easier then wasting time going round and round with general hobbies.

Same guy sells under "richtop" on eBay.

Originally Posted by dhc8guru

I would just try contacting nitroplanes.com or bananahobby.com both sell your plane under the free wing and airfield models. Maybe they have a motor and esc replacement you can buy? Probably easier then wasting time going round and round with general hobbies.

Nitro Plane doesnt sell Freewing but BH does . But if you have a Freewing B-17 you can get parts at MotionRc

Ohhh shyte, I just bought two planes from this place. Sitting at the P.O. waiting for me to pick up...keeping my fingers crossed.

OK...so what happened when you got the 2 packages from General Hobby? Was everything as promised?

"Was everything as promised?" Well yes and no.
"What happened...?" Well here goes:
I ordered one of the el-cheapo, $99 Spitfire ARFs with the brown and yellow color scheme, and the Tucano EMB 312. The Spitfire with the green and gray color scheme was uglier and was ten bucks more, so no dice.
After delivery I inspected the Tucano's contents which were okay, however, the Spitfire was the wrong color scheme. It was the (ugly) green and gray! I emailed the guy, Rich, and he offered a full refund if I didnt want the plane which was encouraging. I thought about it but decided to keep it. After all it was a 1600mm Spitfire ARF for $99. The only other Spitfire this size was from Hangar 9 and it was $259. This Spitfire is a solidly built plane but there were some annoyances that you'd expect and perhaps ignore because of the low price. The tailwheel was missing. I emailed Rich and although it took two to three weeks (and a couple of extra emails from me), he mailed me the missing tailwheel. If you're persistent and not in a rush the guy actually comes through. If you need something (a part or an email response) in a hurry, forget about it.

Thanks for the follow up. It's not easy to run a business and it looks like Rich is staying on top of it. A 1600mm Spitfire ARF for $99...,.. wow that's a big plane for $99.00. Glad it worked out for you. Have fun and fly safe.....

Thanks, you too.
Big plane for $99 indeed. I was/am tranisioning from large foamies (FMS and others) to built-up ARFs and this price was too good to pass up. I've learned alot and developed some modeling skills while putting this thing together.

Dont buy from these rip offs.....I bought a plane from them and it came without hard ware. after talking to them direct 6 times , he was sending parts, but never got them... They even sent me a bogus shipping number once.....after a few more attempts and 2 and half years later ....I wrote it down as loss...This might be the way they treat people in china , but this is not china...... don't deal with these people they are just not worth it.......

General Hobby ripped me off too. Not going into the details here. Just know that they are on my "never again" list.

I will probably write them off here too.

I'm not trying to discount anyone's issues, but I actually had a good experience. I bought a "Gold Wing" (ARFMFG) Gee Bee R3 ARF from Rich. The Gold Wing sells for $299 on his site. I PM'd him on another forum and offered him $300 shipped and he accepted. So basically I got free shipping. I ordered it on 11/29 which was a Friday night. It shipped USPS on 12/2 (Monday) and arrived at my door on 12/6 (Friday) intact, and unharmed.

I've had this ARF before. I crashed the plane, but I wanted it again. I bought the first ARF from Giant Model Products who still sells the plane for $399. I paid $75 to GMP for express shipping and got the plane in 17 days. GMP drop ships this plane from Troy Built Models. GMP has never refunded the difference between regular shipping, and express shipping ($45), even though I have asked multiple times. What's my point? I'm not ringing the bell and saying everyone should buy from General Hobbies, but most, if not all, of these sellers are getting their inventory from China. If you buy online without seeing the product, from someone you've never done business with before, you're rolling the dice. It doesn't matter who you buy from.

Everyone has issues. Some people more than others, but there are plenty of ways to figure out who the bad sellers are. The knock on Rich is customer service, but 97% of his deals are good. You rarely hear about the deals that went well. I read this thread before I bought from him, and was actually a little worried. So I researched his business "Factory to You, Inc." I found out that he has a few handles on Ebay, and he sells in multiple forums. I took the time, and the effort, to research who I was going to buy from before I bought from him. I knew what the complaints were, but I weighed them against the positive feedback and decided to use him. My deal went well, and I would buy from him again.