Poor HobbyKing service

[sticky]

I know a few other threads have touched on this, but this is my tale (so far)....
Until this order, I've never had a problem with ordering, paying for or receiving goods from their uk warehouse.....
I ordered, and paid for through their website from UK warehouse an esc and program box on 28th July....
Another order for batteries placed after this on 29th July, these arrived promptly....
I contacted HK on Saturday 10th August as to the whereabouts of my esc order, the money has gone through PayPal to them, they said they'd look into it, 5 different staff members later I was told I had paid to an account that's incorrect, I questioned this as my PayPal invoice shows otherwise....
Still no joy, so I've raised the issue with PayPal and informed HK of this....
They've (HK) now closed my case with them, I have no goods and await PayPal to help further....
HK then have said once I get a refund that I should re-order, then contact them to check order, then they want me to contact their accounts department to confirm payment is correct...

Am I being unreasonable to think they should confirm to me the order without me having to double check? Other excellent model businesses manage to confirm by direct email reply....

[mark christopher]

Use one of the other exellent model business services then.....

[sticky]

I do whenever possible. I won't be using HK again.

[jpmatrix]

You say you ordered on the 28th of july and you contacted them onthe 10th august. Thats just under 2 weeks. You do realise that it may be going through customs which may take up to 3 weeks. You can track it if you go into your account.

Ive ordered from hongkong a few times and received every order. Although sime take longer than others depending im the value .

I think its pot luck whether it goes through customs in which case if your order did for the esc it could tske 3 weeks.

[Danny Harrison]

You say you ordered on the 28th of july and you contacted them onthe 10th august. Thats just under 2 weeks. You do realise that it may be going through customs which may take up to 3 weeks. You can track it if you go into your account.

Ive ordered from hongkong a few times and received every order. Although sime take longer than others depending im the value .

I think its pot luck whether it goes through customs in which case if your order did for the esc it could tske 3 weeks.

He said he ordered from uk warehouse ;)

[nic]

It shocks me more why any one would shop at Hobby King any way you pay peanuts you get monkeys !

[sticky]

It shouldn't matter if peanuts or gold nuggets are exchanged, when money is taken showing clearly who it's gone to, then either the goods or an explanation should be forthcoming.

[Danny Harrison]

It shocks me more why any one would shop at Hobby King any way you pay peanuts you get monkeys !

2 turnigy nano tech a spec 1s batreries for 20 quid each, thats why i do ;)

[TARTMAN]

I have never used the UK warehouse, but many things over the last couple years from the HK one. all arrived in reasonable time, ripped off by customs often and the postage is high but I could not really fault HobbyKing..... Might just be a bit of bad luck.

they sell some decent stuff and good prices but also some tat. you have to have a little gamble on some things.

:D

[Danny Harrison]

OK Ive just ordered batteries but got no confirmation. Paid via paypal. Ive contacted them. I have got this reply

'Yes, I see the payment was received. Due to a possible error when the order was placed, the order itself cannot be found. Kindly contact PayPal to cancel the payment and get the funds reversed and place a new order and try again. We apologize for any incovenience.
'

I said, cant you just refund it, it will be much quicker, paypal will take ages.

To which I got

'We are really sorry for the inconvenience that his may have caused you. This is something that we don't intend to happen. It just happens that a system error occured, and the only way to get your money back is to contact paypal for this since there was no order made on our end. I hope you understand.'

This is very annoying. They can see my payment recieved in paypal so either refund it from there, or create the order and post my things. Its not rocket science is it?

I say, just log into paypal and refund me. Reply:-

I'm afraid we cannot do that on our end. The only solution that is available is either you cancel the payment from PayPal or we cancel the order itself on our database which is not possible since there is no order.

So apparently now, companies dont have access to there own paypal and require the third party to sort out there error.

Theres my rant, I'm pretty annoyed to be fair.

[Danny Harrison]

Now I have to wait 20 days until I can escalate and hobbyking wont refund me. Surely this isnt on?

[sticky]

Now I have to wait 20 days until I can escalate and hobbyking wont refund me. Surely this isnt on?

Sorry to here you're having similar problems Danny. As I've said, they're handling of poor service to me has put me off them. Cheap or not, they are no longer reliable in my eyes...

[Danny Harrison]

Ye, they are basically gonna hold onto my money for 3 weeks knowing that they will refund me after. They know its a mistake there end, but apparently cant refund through paypal. Are they lying to me?

[sticky]

I have the same, PayPal is my only hope of a refund.
HK are no longer responding to me....

[sticky]

I can't decide if their sites been hacked, hence missing orders, or if they're basically crooked!

[sticky]

Hopefully other potential customers can make up their own minds if HK are now worth the hassle.....

[Dufty07]

I had major problems with them......they (HK uk) are reg. in Australia, they suspect for tax reasons, and come under there trading standard laws, also Hk.com is reg. in honk kong and good luck getting anywhere with there trading standard, I was told I had very little rights and what rights I had were SLIM-to-NONE. The customer services are a company who are hired out to other company's to be there customer services. They repeatedly closed my issues. I ordered and then cancelled the next day. easy refund you would think.....I waited for 2 months with promises I was getting my money back, I was even told I had been given it already...I was lucky I used my credit card as I had to get them involved and visa have refunded me, otherwise I would still be w8in.....
DONT USE THEM:thumbdown::thumbdown:

[Danny Harrison]

Hopefully other potential customers can make up their own minds if HK are now worth the hassle.....

when i did the payment on paypal the following hk screen was some error page to be fair. They should still refund me though, as opposed to letting paypal do the leg work for them. They have acknowledged they have my money, but they 'cant' refund it without an order number apparently. Certainly wont order again, thank god it wasnt a big order, imagine spending a grand on quadcopter parts and this happening :(

[Col]

Danny - I honestly can't understand why they can't simply send you the cells! Or are you just after the refund now?

[Danny Harrison]

Danny - I honestly can't understand why they can't simply send you the cells! Or are you just after the refund now?

Me either I asked for them to just create the order and link my payment to it. Thats apparently too difficult and I 'have' to get a refund through paypal and order them again :thumbdown:

My advice is either dont order from them or make sure to create a hobbyking account as this might of made it easier to resolve. Either way the service is still shocking, its not like I can be defrauding them when the transaction shows exactly what I paid for and my delivery address.

[mark christopher]

Had several purchases my self with no problems, but I did set up an account

[Frecklychimp]

Sounds to me like they have run into problems with Paypal,

Paypal would still accept payments if account was locked down but account holder cannot give refunds or withdraw funds etc.

it still happens to high volume large turnover businesses as it does to small businesses and personal accounts.

Potentially they are not sending stock out whilst paypal account is locked as they don't want to potentially lose funds for 6 months if account is locked or hacked?

[Danny Harrison]

Worse case scenario I'm out of pocket 50 quid, which sucks. But at least I didn't bite the bullet and order a quadcopter set up from there!

I get very pissed at things like this but I feel better now Ive had a rant and see others have had similar problems. :thumbsup:

[Lowie]

do I understand this correctly?
You made an online order, payed via paypal and the money was transferred.
So they (HK) do have received the money but ask you to contact paypal for a refund?

If HK recieved the money, it would only be logical that HK does the refund?!??

(Or did HK never received your money and paypal didn't pass your £ to the HK-account ? In that case it's Paypal that has your money and that should refund you, no?)

[sticky]

In my case the money has been taken through PayPal, no goods, have to wait for PayPal to hopefully refund as HK won't!

[jo90]

Having read through all this is would seem HobbyKing are crooked. The way in which PayPal works meens that once the transaction is complete then the money will sit in HobbyKing's account. They can EASILLY transfer this back or even cancel accepting the money which forces the money back to you, the buyer, but to your PayPal balance, not bank account. Either way they should be able to do this style of refund.

It does sound more like there is trouble at HobbyKing, either be it cash flow (in which case they cannot get the stock in and still take the money hoping they can accumulate enough to then buy stock) or something else affecting PayPal (which may be a legalised thing hence we arent aware of it). A good example was a company from a few years ago who kept taking money for orders that didnt arrive or simply took months to come through, and they where 100% UK based. They traded under one name (i believe it was liquidated) noly to then pop up as another, and yet under the new name the same practice continued. I found out by means that there where cash flow issues with orders coming into them, hence parts where not even on the shelves.

This does hark back to us buying from the UK again in respect of 100% UK shops being where we order from. Yep, it is true that at times we have to look overseas as some items are simply that much cheaper we have to (given the £'s in our pockets are getting fewer). However it also shows that some goods are 'to good' to be true. If you are going to buy overseas then I recomend 2 shops that i trust. RC Market and RC Mushroom. Great service, sure slightly dicey comms (as their english isnt really very good) but the service is excellent. Saying this though of late, with customs clamping on items over a set £ mark, alot of stuff can now be got in the UK as cheap, or maybe a few quid more (but with that safer feeling that it is only coming a few miles, than in a plane or boat overseas).

I do hope you get this resolved. It's crap how PayPal wont help when it's clear they could easilly, but lets not forget they are probably making interest out of the monies sat in their holding accounts !

[bodgit]

If you use a credit card to fund your paypal then you should complain to your card provider. They are more likely to act faster than paypal or HK.

[RichyUK]

I've been using Hobbyking for maybe 5-6 years now, I have used them a LOT, firstly when I was into RC heli's, for batteries and chargers, and now I use the UK site for batteries (I have around 15 packs of Nano Tech cells) and cheap servo's. I've personally never had an issue with their service.

I've had some lipo's turn up puffed, but I always fill in the warranty numbers on my account when I receive new packs, but after a couple of e-mails and pics of the puffed packs along with the warranty number they quickly sent a new set out. And a friend has had a similar experience.

It does seem odd on the paypal thing, they really should just go onto paypal and send the refund, maybe they can't access it right now? Not sure, but I certainly wouldn't say they were crooked in any way.

[jimmy noke]

I had a similar problem with Durango I placed an order and paid via PayPal got the email notification to say its been paid so I waiting for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks I started writing emails to Durango and ended up phoning them as the money had been paid to the but under my account @ Durango it was still showing awaiting payment...
Eventually Durango refunded me the money and asked that I place the order again which I did paid in the same PayPal account and no problem...

[sticky]

HK first said they couldn't see my order, then that I had paid the wrong people (despite it being done automatically through their PayPal account that shows they have the money, same details as previous and subsequent order that were correct), then they've refused to converse with me and I must await PayPal refund.
As I said, HK then asked me to reorder then contact them to check order, then contact their accounts dept to check payment!....

[andys]

Sorry you guys are having problems.

Sounds like PayPal have the money and the errors occurred before the money was sent to Hobbyking for you at least Dan.

Personally I'm a new Hobbyking customer. I've had the odd problem - wrong item shipped in one order - it did get sorted though - just slowly !

I did set up an account right at the start - and it logs / tracks all my orders. I'm on my 19th order and I would highly reccomendations them for items you simply can't buy elsewhere.

I buy all my car gear from MB models - but the quadcopter gear I've bought is not available locally - if at all.

I've never had an error whilst ordering online - but I use a Mac with Safari - id never shop online on a windows PC - or worse still use IE !

Hope you all get sorted - but I for one think Hobbyking are a good thing as long as you know what you are ordering - also the Hong Kong orders come though reasonably quickly - around 3 to 4 weeks for me. If you want something in a rush - look elsewhere ;)

[knighthawk]

As with most subjects we can only post our experiences and views !

Mine to be fair are of great a service and products ( for the price )
I ordered 6 x lipo packs for my Carisma GTB

Ordered them on Sunday Evening, Delivered on Wednesday Lunchtime.

Again as others have said, I have an account with them ( Maybe this is the issue )

[djmcnz]

The way in which PayPal works meens that once the transaction is complete then the money will sit in HobbyKing's account. They can EASILLY transfer this back or even cancel accepting the money which forces the money back to you, the buyer, but to your PayPal balance, not bank account. Either way they should be able to do this style of refund.

I wouldn't make that assumption.

It's not just plausible but entirely likely that their order and dispatch systems are only connected to PayPal via API's (probably via a separate payment gateway). The operators are highly unlikely to have direct access to a corporate PayPal account. Their access is probably limited to managing orders that exist in their system.

They're possibly just offering the best advice they can.

I do think if this is a common occurrence HK should put in a procedure to manage it. Creating a manual order or reversing the transaction at their end seem to be obvious candidates.

Doesn't mean HK aren't to blame either, or perhaps PayPal failed to communicate a complete transaction, we simply can't tell.

It still sucks for people impacted and I hope it works out for you.

[mattr]

FWIW i've had a paypal transaction hang for a few days before now. Money had gone from my bank account, cleared paypal and disappeared. The recipient had a failed order on their system. (Not Hobbyking BTW)

Paypal refunded eventually (week or so). It was their issue, no one elses.

[Danny Harrison]

do I understand this correctly?
You made an online order, payed via paypal and the money was transferred.
So they (HK) do have received the money but ask you to contact paypal for a refund?

If HK recieved the money, it would only be logical that HK does the refund?!??

(Or did HK never received your money and paypal didn't pass your £ to the HK-account ? In that case it's Paypal that has your money and that should refund you, no?)

HK have acknowledged reciept of the money but there system has not generated the order.

They wont generate the order for me or refund me. I have to go through paypal for it. For first 20 days I have to try resolve with seller, who wont refund me or send me my order....

Then paypal allow 30 days to decide the outcome, sometimes longer. :/

[Danny Harrison]

New update...

We really do apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. However as much as we would like to continue with the order the payment was sent to an account that we are no longer using that is why you are not provided with an order number. What we can do is you may open a dispute with Paypal regarding the payment and place another order and you may send it at accounts@unitedhobbies.com

The order was placed using the hobbyking website, now its beginning to sound crooked :( Financial difficulties seems plausable now. Paying again to an email not even through a website. That would be very unwise me thinks...

[sticky]

Now I have to wait 20 days until I can escalate and hobbyking wont refund me. Surely this isnt on?

New update...

We really do apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. However as much as we would like to continue with the order the payment was sent to an account that we are no longer using that is why you are not provided with an order number. What we can do is you may open a dispute with Paypal regarding the payment and place another order and you may send it at accounts@unitedhobbies.com

The order was placed using the hobbyking website, now its beginning to sound crooked :( Financial difficulties seems plausable now. Paying again to an email not even through a website. That would be very unwise me thinks...

That's what they've said to me :-(.
They've now appologised and said they have no order from me.....Goal posts keep moving!

[traffman]

Sadly it seems they are relying on Paypal to refund your money.

They will in turn be in the red with Paypal. Slightlly crooked way of dealing with problems .

Experiences i have had , Paypal seem to support the buyer more than the supplier.

However everyone has a different view , so dont take this as gospel.

[jsw123]

New update...

The order was placed using the hobbyking website, now its beginning to sound crooked :( Financial difficulties seems plausable now. Paying again to an email not even through a website. That would be very unwise me thinks...

If the original payment was through their website, and they're now asking for another payment to an email, I would be very cautious/suspicious.

[sticky]

PayPal have just refunded me, thankfully!!!!

[RudolfXC]

unitedhobbies.com redirects to hobbyking.com so is owned by them.

[Danny Harrison]

PayPal have just refunded me, thankfully!!!!

Me too :)