Did Towerhobbies just axe coupon codes? 😳

[Champ85 611]

The hilarity of Tower Hobbies/Horizon Hobby order system ineptness continues.....   I have two (2) Kyosho Optima Mid 60th kits on pre-order for US $364.99 each after coupons (remember those?  Yeah, I pre-ordered before they killed those).  This is what my credit card has for pending charges:

I ordered two. Not six.  Just two.   Yes, all but two of these should drop off after a few days, but still...  what if I had a low credit limit on my card?  I could be maxed out and not be able to make another purchase due to these "pending charges".  Total stupidity.  Tower, if you ever see this post and want to know why I won't be ordering from you ever again, this is one reason why.

[Sogogi 3333]

1 hour ago, Champ85 said:

The hilarity of Tower Hobbies/Horizon Hobby order system ineptness continues.....   I have two (2) Kyosho Optima Mid 60th kits on pre-order for US $364.99 each after coupons (remember those?  Yeah, I pre-ordered before they killed those).  This is what my credit card has for pending charges:

I ordered two. Not six.  Just two.   Yes, all but two of these should drop off after a few days, but still...  what if I had a low credit limit on my card?  I could be maxed out and not be able to make another purchase due to these "pending charges".  Total stupidity.  Tower, if you ever see this post and want to know why I won't be ordering from you ever again, this is one reason why.

wow that is... like stealing.. literally. I wonder if they get lots of dispute via credit card providers.... I heard credit card providers can blacklist them if it goes above certain threshold.

[RichieRich 766]

What a load of 🐎💩

[Kpowell911 2163]

8 hours ago, Champ85 said:

The hilarity of Tower Hobbies/Horizon Hobby order system ineptness continues.....   I have two (2) Kyosho Optima Mid 60th kits on pre-order for US $364.99 each after coupons (remember those?  Yeah, I pre-ordered before they killed those).  This is what my credit card has for pending charges:

I ordered two. Not six.  Just two.   Yes, all but two of these should drop off after a few days, but still...  what if I had a low credit limit on my card?  I could be maxed out and not be able to make another purchase due to these "pending charges".  Total stupidity.  Tower, if you ever see this post and want to know why I won't be ordering from you ever again, this is one reason why.

Thats insane!!

[DTSCB 98]

So, I got a "birthday" coupon code email from tower last month... everything I've tried to put in my cart, it doesn't work on. 

I don't know what it is for, or any rules to it.  Just that it doesn't work. 

lol

Tower, you're such a joke now. 

[Raman36 1700]

On 2/29/2024 at 6:14 PM, Champ85 said:

The hilarity of Tower Hobbies/Horizon Hobby order system ineptness continues.....   I have two (2) Kyosho Optima Mid 60th kits on pre-order for US $364.99 each after coupons (remember those?  Yeah, I pre-ordered before they killed those).  This is what my credit card has for pending charges:

I ordered two. Not six.  Just two.   Yes, all but two of these should drop off after a few days, but still...  what if I had a low credit limit on my card?  I could be maxed out and not be able to make another purchase due to these "pending charges".  Total stupidity.  Tower, if you ever see this post and want to know why I won't be ordering from you ever again, this is one reason why.

They did that to me as well on my Ultima JJ. The card had a very low limit so they maxed it out, Bank declined the charges and order was cancelled. After back-and-forth, they resubmitted the order, but this time they overcharged my card excluding the coupons.. I contacted the bank the bank and disputed the overcharge. Figured that was an easier route than trying to contact tower. It’s a circus act over there.

 

[Siclick33 37]

21 hours ago, DTSCB said:

So, I got a "birthday" coupon code email from tower last month... everything I've tried to put in my cart, it doesn't work on. 

I don't know what it is for, or any rules to it.  Just that it doesn't work. 

lol

Tower, you're such a joke now. 

Have you tried using it as a voucher rather than a coupon.

I used one before and it worked (somehow). That was 6 months ago though, and although I didn’t think they could get any worse than they were back then, I think they have.

[DTSCB 98]

26 minutes ago, Siclick33 said:

Have you tried using it as a voucher rather than a coupon.

I used one before and it worked (somehow). That was 6 months ago though, and although I didn’t think they could get any worse than they were back then, I think they have.

I did try both.

[Raman36 1700]

tower members now get a default 15% off, before coupons were close to 20% off. This now excludes Tamiya.. but does apply to Kyosho.  

[Kpowell911 2163]

I honestly believe the rumour Horizon are trying to kill RC Shops to prioritise Amazon…..

[Kowalski86 3980]

54 minutes ago, Kpowell911 said:

I honestly believe the rumour Horizon are trying to kill RC Shops to prioritise Amazon…..

Where did you hear that rumor from?

I know that my LHS has had a difficult time getting parts from them, and Horizon has been prioritizing Amazon, but I assumed that this is just temporary until they get their act together.

[Kpowell911 2163]

2 minutes ago, Kowalski86 said:

Where did you hear that rumor from?

I know that my LHS has had a difficult time getting parts from them, and Horizon has been prioritizing Amazon, but I assumed that this is just temporary until they get their act together.

Ive heard it on various forums etc. No substance to it, but its an explanation for how Tower has gone from genuinely one of the best RC Shops on the Planet, to, well whatever this is from Tower?

If in your scenario, why would Hoizon be ‘temporarily’ prioritising Amazon? It wouldn’t be temporary, and if anything prioritisation should always have gone to the hobby shop?

[Kowalski86 3980]

Just now, Kpowell911 said:

If in your scenario, why would Hoizon be ‘temporarily’ prioritising Amazon? It wouldn’t be temporary, and if anything prioritisation should always have gone to the hobby shop?

Oh I agree there, my LHS is holds one of the highest "Tiers" for being a HH dealer, and is (or was) one of the biggest around.

My only question is what would HH gain by focusing on Amazon.

[Sogogi 3333]

39 minutes ago, Kowalski86 said:

Oh I agree there, my LHS is holds one of the highest "Tiers" for being a HH dealer, and is (or was) one of the biggest around.

My only question is what would HH gain by focusing on Amazon.

Less stuff to worry about i guess. As long as inventory stuff gets input correctly, amazon does all the payment, etc. (not sure if HH wants amazon to do all the shipping stuff).

When i look around, I am quite surprised lots of people buy stuff from amazon. More enthusiasts tend to buy stuff from specialized stores, regular folks just buy from amazon.

[Champ85 611]

9 hours ago, Raman36 said:

They did that to me as well on my Ultima JJ. The card had a very low limit so they maxed it out, Bank declined the charges and order was cancelled. After back-and-forth, they resubmitted the order, but this time they overcharged my card excluding the coupons.. I contacted the bank the bank and disputed the overcharge. Figured that was an easier route than trying to contact tower. It’s a circus act over there.

 

4 of the 6 pending charges did drop off, leaving the remaining two to finally post.  And I received both kits last week.  I thought everything was finished.  But then on Monday March 4th Tower added another $364.99 charge and that has now posted today, so I just sent them an email to remove it.

[GToddC5 1546]

I promised myself I would no longer consider a purchase through Tower on anything that's a pre-order, since I've been burned a few times. Therefore, I've been sitting back watching people around the world get new kits that Tower still didn't have - nothing new there. Well this past Sunday during a daily search, it appeared that Horizon had stock of certain new kits. SO, since I still had ~$120 in Loyalty Points to use at Tower, I checked their site and sure enough, two of the new kits dropped off pre-order status and appeared to be In Stock status. (They actually managed to resolve SOME of my past issues and honored the LP owed and credited my account - nice work there, Tower, but still a ways to go). Then for giggles I decided to check for coupons, and there's currently a March event going on for 15% off, and NO mention of exclusions or order limit! Long story short - Tower has a 15% going on and it works with Tamiya as of a couple days ago. After knocking off my $120 in LP, the coupon took off another ~$72. With the LP savings, coupon savings and therefore less tax, I basically took home one of the kits for free. I am only bringing this up now because they actually posted last night and are supposedly due to arrive maybe tomorrow - we'll see. I'm not mentioning the two new kits names because I don't want to jinx myself - I may have already said too much . Hopefully I'll be posting a pic of the two boxes, in the Mail Thread very soon!

15% isn't bad I guess, but certainly not as good as saving $75 off $300 as in the past. Also, It will be interesting to see if 3x/4x Points returns some day. Fingers crossed!

Anyone else have a good recent experience to share?

[Kpowell911 2163]

3 hours ago, GToddC5 said:

I promised myself I would no longer consider a purchase through Tower on anything that's a pre-order, since I've been burned a few times. Therefore, I've been sitting back watching people around the world get new kits that Tower still didn't have - nothing new there. Well this past Sunday during a daily search, it appeared that Horizon had stock of certain new kits. SO, since I still had ~$120 in Loyalty Points to use at Tower, I checked their site and sure enough, two of the new kits dropped off pre-order status and appeared to be In Stock status. (They actually managed to resolve SOME of my past issues and honored the LP owed and credited my account - nice work there, Tower, but still a ways to go). Then for giggles I decided to check for coupons, and there's currently a March event going on for 15% off, and NO mention of exclusions or order limit! Long story short - Tower has a 15% going on and it works with Tamiya as of a couple days ago. After knocking off my $120 in LP, the coupon took off another ~$72. With the LP savings, coupon savings and therefore less tax, I basically took home one of the kits for free. I am only bringing this up now because they actually posted last night and are supposedly due to arrive maybe tomorrow - we'll see. I'm not mentioning the two new kits names because I don't want to jinx myself - I may have already said too much . Hopefully I'll be posting a pic of the two boxes, in the Mail Thread very soon!

15% isn't bad I guess, but certainly not as good as saving $75 off $300 as in the past. Also, It will be interesting to see if 3x/4x Points returns some day. Fingers crossed!

Anyone else have a good recent experience to share?

Hopefully tomorrow is a good day. Looking forward to seeing what secret kits you ordered

[GToddC5 1546]

1 hour ago, Kpowell911 said:

Hopefully tomorrow is a good day. Looking forward to seeing what secret kits you ordered

I bet you could guess pretty easily, I've just been conditioned over the last year to be cautiously optimistic on Tower's ability to get orders correct. I'd love to have the confidence to say "I ordered so-and-so kits". For all I know, I'll be receiving two kits that I ordered six months ago and was told they cancelled previously . And if you think that can't happen, think again! I received an old order for a Lunch Box Mini and a Midnight Pumpkin, weeks after they cancelled the order and forced me to place another order (which shipped and delivered right away!) because their system was screwed up and my first order was never going to be shipped.

Edit to add: I should probably mention that when I check order status, there is no ship date or tracking number provided, and still reads "awaiting shipment". The only thing I have to go by is the email they sent, with a bunch of reference numbers that IN NO WAY corresponds to ANY of the order numbers in my history , so there's no way for me to know what's coming my way. Tower is still very much a soup sandwich.

[GToddC5 1546]

Woo Hoo, a success story from Tower, finally!

* Honored "lost" Loyalty Points from previous deals gone wrong - Check

* March 15% off code worked on Tamiya kits - Check

* Shipped and received within three days from ordering - Check

* Order status showed as "shipped" and tracking number - Negative (but emails were sent alerting me that something was on the way - no way to tie it to the order # however)

Almost feels like the old days.

Almost.

[GToddC5 1546]

For anyone paying attention, It looks like the Tower coupon for March now includes the exclusion for Tamiya and Redcat. Looks like someone goofed and I snuck an order in under the radar over the weekend. Just when I thought there was hope for the old way . . .

[Kowalski86 3980]

6 minutes ago, GToddC5 said:

For anyone paying attention, It looks like the Tower coupon for March now includes the exclusion for Tamiya and Redcat.

It's weird how Tower can't offer discounts on Tamiya, yet Amain and a few other outlets can. Redcat on the other hand...I don't get, they're very much a "cheap" brand, I wouldn't buy one without a decent discount.

[ShadowyStingray 2]

Congrats @GToddC5 on having success at Tower and getting them to attempt to "make things right!"  Just out of curiosity, did you have the HS2 pre-ordered already or did you just buy it when you saw it was "in stock" recently?  I pre-ordered two the day it showed up in their system (11/08 I believe) and I received one last week and one this week.  I was worried they were going to play the usual shenanigans and tell me "it didn't go through" but to my surprise, they did actually get fulfilled.  I also had 3 or so transactions for the same amount from Horizon for each order on my credit card, same as others.  If you were able to order an HS2 recently and have it fulfilled quickly, that sounds like they either got a lot in or didn't have too many pre-orders (maybe since the word is out they suck and better to try somewhere else first).  They managed to "lose" my Super Sabre pre-orders even though I ordered them also on the day they appeared in their system and then went out of stock so either they didn't get many Super Sabres or there were lots of orders for them.  I am still waiting on my re-order with "make good" loyalty points they gave me, even though the status for it is currently "in stock."  I hope they actually honor that transaction soon.

[GToddC5 1546]

@ShadowyStingray I saw on Sunday that is was In Stock and took a chance - no more pre-orders for me.

They made me reorder the Squash Van, which I did, and the next day it went to backordered. The only reason I haven't ordered from somewhere else is now I'm afraid I'll get two from Tower since they may have not properly cancelled the first order. It's so frustrating.

[tamiya_1971 648]

I just ordered an Egress from them (waiting for one to be in stock for awhile) and the coupon worked. I had one when it first came out and am looking forward to getting it "back". 

[Raman36 1700]

9 hours ago, Kowalski86 said:

It's weird how Tower can't offer discounts on Tamiya, yet Amain and a few other outlets can. Redcat on the other hand...I don't get, they're very much a "cheap" brand, I wouldn't buy one without a decent discount.

This is TamiyaUSA’s work. The member coupons brings the price well below Tamiya MAP. So they most likely told Tower to exclude them going forward.  

Amains coupon discounts are 10% and cap out at $25 ($250)

Personally believe TamiyaUSA’s sales have declined year after year and and to offset, they’ve  implemented an MAP, stopped Japanese sites from international shipments outside of Japan and now have done away with discounts.  
 

They should just bite the bullet and start offering everything on their US site and MAP and call it a day.