[flaps]

I am dying here wanting to share info about both good and bad buying deals.

I posted something a week or so back about a vendor on here, no names and no real details, there was of course a ton of opinions, but it seems like we should be able to post somewhere on here about good and bad, not too bash everyone but geez I have had 5 or more orders in the last 3 weeks come to me. Two vendors were great and deserve a thank you on here so other buyers know they do a very good job. Then I have 2 really bad shipment issues, and one of them it is the second issue, I did not realize ( Brain fart ) when I ordered from there site it was the same vendor I had an issue with on an Ebay purchase. I gotta tell you I am pretty easy to make happy too, I am not looking for instant shipping or anything, I am content in getting my order within a week or so but I want it to be complete, I want the shipping cost to be fair and I want the planes and boxes if possible to be close to like new. I can take a crushed corner or the like but not poor packing again and again. And I hate when you order something and they do not have your whole order, if this happens the Vendor should consider some sort of offer or sub or reduced shipping cost. The reason I buy a few models at a time is to combine shipping and save some money on shipping cost.

I think we need to be able to share this info on here, the good the bad and the ugly. If the info looks like complete BS to the Admin then he can remove it.

I know many people can be crazy picky about stuff, but all I want is my order filled the way I ordered it or some option to replace missing models where I do not lose and or at least communication about the issue.

I have received not new damaged plane from an Ebay sale and the offer to take care of it was BS. They new when they shipped the plane it was not new and must have been a return or on display.

I have recieved from the same company a shipment with damaged models, poorly packed, and not the complete order with the same shipping price as if it had been shipped complete, I will never ever buy from them again.

I ordered from another 1st time order from me Vendor and get an email that par for the course they do not have all the models in stock, the email was a little hard to understand so I sent a reply asking for clarification, then got back the same original email, so I asked if they had any offer or subs for the missing models and if they did not could I get a new total with the correct shipping without the models they were out of, now no response???

I just do not get it, I know a lot of the Vendors in this business are struggling to stay profitable in this hobby seems like not enough collectors and many of these Vendors must work out of there house, which I also understand, as many that have tried having stores over the last 2 years are now out of business, so the Hobby can not support a real store best I can tell, but geez at least try and take care of things when you the Vendor are wrong and do things badly, then maybe you would gain a customer for life. Now theres a bad run on sentence for you.

Wow , I feel better already, this is like free counseling, just typing this post in makes you feel a little better.

Opinions??

Flaps

[HotTrap429]

I sympathize flaps. Bad service, incomplete orders, and unfair, heck even deceitful shipping charges have no place in our hobby. I concur that we should have an avenue to share these horror stories with each other. So far, I've been extremely lucky. All the vendors I've dealt with have been great, as have been my ebay sellers. Just once I had an ebay vendor not ship quickly and the model had a few blemishes. But it wasn't worth the hassle to complain. But I felt awful and stressed out for a couple of weeks and it wasn't a pleasant experience.

My rule of thumb is to listen to other collectors. If I'm not sure, I'll pm them to give me the whole story. I'm trying really hard to limit myself to two or three vendors. I'm also trying to ween myself off ebay. Can you pm me and let me know who this vendor is? I want to avoid this one at all costs.

Thanks,
HotTrap

[butcherbird]

This is a tough one Flaps.
The pitfalls of posting negative feedback on the forum are obvious.
My suggestion would be to post any negative experiences without naming names.
Members who are curious to know who the offender is could then contact the "offendee" via PM. (as I have done)

[flaps]

I have three main vendors now that do an overall great job, One I got from a member recomendation on here, but I tried two new vendors mentioned on here and both have issues that are not petty but real legit issues.

As for Ebay, I like it the best. Good selection, Based on Comments you can usually read between the lines and get a great deal and fair shipping from a reliable source.

Most on Ebay will combine shipping cost as well, which I like to do.

I have had only one bad experience on Ebay and low and behold it is with the same vendor I ordered off of around Memorial Day, both times Ebay and Online from there site there were serious issues, I think they are a pretty big company too, but I will never ever buy from them again.

Flaps

Originally Posted by HotTrap429

I sympathize flaps. Bad service, incomplete orders, and unfair, heck even deceitful shipping charges have no place in our hobby. I concur that we should have an avenue to share these horror stories with each other. So far, I've been extremely lucky. All the vendors I've dealt with have been great, as have been my ebay sellers. Just once I had an ebay vendor not ship quickly and the model had a few blemishes. But it wasn't worth the hassle to complain. But I felt awful and stressed out for a couple of weeks and it wasn't a pleasant experience.

My rule of thumb is to listen to other collectors. If I'm not sure, I'll pm them to give me the whole story. I'm trying really hard to limit myself to two or three vendors. I'm also trying to ween myself off ebay. Can you pm me and let me know who this vendor is? I want to avoid this one at all costs.

Thanks,
HotTrap

[hworth18]

There is a category in the marketplace where you can post your "good" trading/buying experiences.. With "Bad" experiences, it is hard to justify a complaint about someone when you only have one side of the story.. I sympathize with your situation but there is NO place for that on this forum..

[HotTrap429]

Originally Posted by hworth18

There is a category in the marketplace where you can post your "good" trading/buying experiences.. With "Bad" experiences, it is hard to justify a complaint about someone when you only have one side of the story.. I sympathize with your situation but there is NO place for that on this forum..

Agreed Harry - pm is the best way to handle a negative/bad experience. Personally, I'm going to stick with my normal two or three vendors and not worry. Stuff happens and it's better to avoid these issues if at all possible, but there are times when you've got no control. I'd hate to negatively impact someone's business. Let them do that on their own.

[mm33926988]

Gavin, Harry and other esteemed moderators:
It seems that posting negative comments about retailers is verbotten. Understood. Is there a good way that we membes can post positive transactions with vendors so that if I am considering ordering from a new retailer I can check here at the forum and find out how many other members have had good dealings them? If I would see that company X has 300 positive comments and company Y has only 5 then I would be more comfortable ordering from company X. It would be even better if the retailers had a percentage score like on eBay. Members would NOT post specific complaints or negatives, but could PM to Admin or designated person whether positive or negative transaction and then Admin could adjust the scores. Is this possible? Is it legally defensible? We all would like to know which retailers we can trust and the few we should avoid; but we definitely do not wish to put this great forum in jeopardy. Thanks for listening. BTW I have seen a number of positive comments about transactions with another forum member but none regarding actual retail businesses. Is it OK to post positive experiences with retailers?

[hworth18]

Originally Posted by mm33926988

Gavin, Harry and other esteemed moderators:
It seems that posting negative comments about retailers is verbotten. Understood. Is there a good way that we membes can post positive transactions with vendors so that if I am considering ordering from a new retailer I can check here at the forum and find out how many other members have had good dealings them? If I would see that company X has 300 positive comments and company Y has only 5 then I would be more comfortable ordering from company X. It would be even better if the retailers had a percentage score like on eBay. Members would NOT post specific complaints or negatives, but could PM to Admin or designated person whether positive or negative transaction and then Admin could adjust the scores. Is this possible? Is it legally defensible? We all would like to know which retailers we can trust and the few we should avoid; but we definitely do not wish to put this great forum in jeopardy. Thanks for listening. BTW I have seen a number of positive comments about transactions with another forum member but none regarding actual retail businesses. Is it OK to post positive experiences with retailers?

I have thought about discussing a "rating" system with Gavin and something like it may be implemented down the road, like a "satisfactory" rating system (0=unsatisfied to 10=Very satisfied) or something similar..

If you intend to do business with an online retailer, my suggestion is that you could always post the question here "Hey has any ever dealt with retailer "XX"?? Then members can post their experiences with them or PM you if they had a bad one and they can discuss it with you as to why they weren't happy with "XX" retailer..

[Iroquois]

There was a post going, about good and bad vendors which is closed.
But to add some what to what was being said, it amazes me the lack of thought that some people who sell these planes have, and I do mean a few, these planes are not cheap, and we as collectors dont just collect the plane itself, but most of us also consider the boxes as part of the collection, so we look to have the boxes from the manufactures that the planes come in, to be in pretty good shape. And like what has been said before on the other post, a dent here happens and most of us live with it.
But I have had bad packaging at least 3 different times to where not only was my boxes crushed, but the planes that were in them were broken, and one time it was the last one that they had, and nobody else had it and I had to get it off of ebay at a much higher price.
The cost for the planes and the shipping and handling charges dont come cheap, so you would think these people would want our business.
Also I may be wrong but I would think most people who sell would also be collectors, and that they would really take alot of care in being honest about the product they are selling, also if they are a collector you would think they would take more care in packaging.

I must say of all my planes I have received from the UK but once came to me exactly like they said whether it was a ebay sale or vendor. I have never received a damaged product from the UK. And I have bought a few!!