My LHS is full of idiots!

[bangstick]

Sorry if this has been covered before but i need to rant lol. Bank holiday monday i made the 15 mile trip in the rain (driving) to my LHS hoping to do one of those shops where you buy lots of little bits to finish various projects. One of the items was a turnbuckle, a very basic thing that even the worst stocked shop would have. And yes you guessed it they didnt have one in stock. I was also after any old lexan wing that i could fit on a buggy, and again nothing doing. I needed some light sand matt paint for a body i have been asked to paint for someone...... there is a pattern forming here. The shop in qusetion is Elite Models In Bybrook Barn Ashford, now it was chockablock in there with people looking to buy £2 polystyrene planes and browsers and for some reason the owner was not there but 2 what looked like 13 year olds one of which seemed very rude and harrased, the other although cheerful and trying to help didnt know his servo from his bodyclip and couldn't find anything and had to resort to the old fave "we can order it for you". Last time i ordered something i gave them 3 weeks, went in there and rather than tell the truth that the item wouldn't yield enough profit to bother ordering or they forgot they blamed the distributor. Im trying my damndest to give thses guys my money and keep them in a job but they just couldn't care less[:'(] Anyone else have the most Richard shop known to man near them?? or is it just me?

[T.C~Tamiya]

I think people who work in hobby shops have to pass some kind of test to make sure they can maintain an attitude of complete indifference towards their customers.

Last time I was in a certain hobby shop on Lothian road in Edinburgh, after being ignored for ten minutes was greeted by... "Yeah, what do you want" as I proceeded to tell him, he looked in the other direction and started chatting to a colleague, when I'd finished my question he momentarily glanced back in my direction with a look of mild irritation and said "No, they don't make those anymore" before I could say anything else he'd already wandered away from the counter to go and do something else.

BTW, was asking about Tamiya rod ends / ball joints (which are indeed still in production)

[backtomyroots]

Ditto fellas !  I have completely given up on nearly any Tamiya purchase at a LHS !  I do nearly all tamiya purchases online.  We have one Tamiya Distributor/Importer in Canada and he is the only guy that brings it in.  It has been my experience that all of my LHS's have very limited supply and nearly everything is "out of stock" "on order" or "discontinued".I have even tried to purchase from the distributor (managed some txt-1 parts once but had to beg !), but they always refer me to the hobby shops.  For example, I called the distibutor to see if they have a 2005 RC Guide Book.  They answered yes.  I have been trying to get a LHS to order for nearly 5 weeks !  Yeah - but if you want traxxas or hpi you get anything you want.  I even tried ordering items direct from tamiya usa but they won't ship to canada ! So, to sum up - thank goodness for the internet !

I have one LHS that is in town he is nice and even greets me by name - just can't get anything i ever need from tamiya.

Another "major" LHS that is about 45 minutes away has a better selection - but high prices and it's the same thing.  You almost feel like you are bothering them if you have a question and that is after you manage to get their attention !  Yet - they are always busy [:S]. 

[Nitro_John]

My local hobby shop is terrible too, the main reason I gave up the hobby 11-12 years back when I moved home was because the area has no decent hobby shops. Thankfully being able to drive and mail order/internet has solved these problems.

I remember ordering parts in the past from my LHS and after 4 weeks it turned out they had 'forgot' to order them, oviously I've never used them since.

I now use Fusion Hobbies or drive the 30+ miles to Bath if I need stuff like paint or diff grease.

[Tamiya King]

I can understand you being upset. All hobby shops in my area laugh at Tamiya. But the is fine. WQhen I receive my new 4200mAH Battery to go in my 13x2T Dark Impact on friday, I will be the one laughing as I will be doind circles around them at the track. Why is it people don't take Tamiya seriously, they think they are tinker toys until you blow their doors off, then they just go away with their tails between their legs! []

[Tamiya1/10]

I hear what you guys are saying and have experienced the royal treatment from some of these HS.  I guess I didn't dress like Donald Trump and the staff could be underpaid and a reflection of the owner.  I know is hard to keep calm when you are at the receiving end, but I just keep telling myself there are other HS and always ebay and HS with bad attitude/service willl be gone.  At the end you may loose the battle but you have won the war as the money is still with you and probably be dealing with a HS the treats you right.  On the same token you can always talk to the owner about your treatment in a calm way or if the owner is the idiot, just ask him if he is in the business to make money or loose money everyday he is open for business.

Have a great day!

[huggiebob]

Yes, same problem here in Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA. I went to my local hobby shop, who is listed on Tamiya's dealer page as an off road Tamiya supplier, and was cold shouldered! I was after wheels and tires for my Dyna Storm and you should have seen the look they gave me before they turned their back on me and walked away.

This place brags about being family owned and operated and in business since 1967, it's a wonder that they're still in business. No sense complaining to the owner!! It's a shame, I do spend a good bit of money on my hobby and they will never see any of it. I resorted to just ordering from Tamiya USA and get fabulous service without the bad attitude!

Being an old guy, I grew up with hobby shops that would bend over backwards to get what you requested and take the time to work on a problem with you. Heck, I worked in a slot car track for a few years in the late 60's and would have PROMPTLY been fired for displaying the attitude I ran into here. I'll be moving back to Colorado in a month or two and hopefully I'll find a decent shop there.

I'm sure all hobby shops can't be judged by a few bad apples, but it sure is frustrating!

Bob

[supergreg]

I know what you all talking about, but I have a more positive example in my town (Cologne, Germany). There are at least two guys behind the counter who are willing to help you out friendly and know something about Tamiya. Some time ago I chatted with one of them about classic Tamiyas and he did know what fascination I was talking about (unfortunately he couldn't provide any vintage parts, but it was a nice chat though). Looks like the two more aged guys are always happy when someone steps in not asking for the usual giant nitro monster truck [].

Of course there are others around who match the description given above, but hey: Just stand and wait for the right moment and when one of the youngsters approaches tell him 'Thank you I'll just have a look around' [].

Prices are (as usual) a lot higher then on the internet and most of the time it's quite hard to stand to the golden 'support your lhs' rule.

[steviedee]

to be honest my lhs are pretty good, they dont stock that many tamiya kits if any at times but they still know there stuff. the range they carry is a little limited but they do order in and are **** quick too.

they are my nearest authorised delear/repair centre for carson too, which is good as i have now got the 1/6 carson attack, and with my driving i will need some parts very soon.

as for prices they are reasonable, sometime cheaper that the internet and sometimes a little more expensive, but to be honest, its always nice to have someone to see face-to-face if there is a problem.

i've attached a link to there site as in my opinion they are well worthy of being a lhs, and are all round good guys.

www.nitroflight.com

[jozza]

I'm fortunate - there are 3 decent shops near me. One of them does have a poor attitude to anything other than the RTR monster truck customers, so that's the last one I would go to for spares, but the other 2 are fine. They both have trouble getting hold of Tamiya parts and don't keep stock though, but to be honest there isn't a big market for Tamiya bits where I live so I don't think any less of them for not stocking them.

For Tamiya parts, I've discovered that it's not normally worth the trip to the LHS (unless you happen to live near Stevenage ) so I always order online from the sponsors of this site or from Ebay. You have to wait a few days for the bits, but at least they are all readily available if you know where to look, and thanks to the internet it means that it's a lot easier to source spares for the Tamiyas than it used to be.

Model shops with attitude exist, but they won't last. We used to have a shop near us, who would not order anything for you, wouldn't be at all interested if you wanted a part they didn't have in stock. Now they have closed down.

[tailo]

Luckily my LHS in Watford (DMS Racing) is excellent.  What they don't have in stock they will order for me.

Tailo.

[minijosh]

I'm lucky, I got Mr Pushrod in my LHS. Maybe that's not so lucky, he gets all the good deals.

[sandmax]

Got the same problem here in the Netherlands. When i need some parts for my Tamiya's they look funny at me and then want to sell me a savage or something like that. I'm not interested in those cars. Just need some parts that cost a couple of euro's and they want to sell you a car for a couple of hundred euro's.

And i agree with supergreg. The older guys from the shop know what you're talking about when you ask something about a SS or the M-01 chassis (my cars) And can give you some tips and tricks. About 2 weeks ago in went there and needed some small parts for my M-02 Beetle and the old guy jumped between the parts and found also an alloy steering set NIP(got it for 20 euro) and universal shafts NIP (for 12euro) Because he thought it was great that the car was still running.

 The young ones ignore you or only want to make money without to much questions. Seems to be the problem everywhere.

[Incredible_Serious]

I'm lucky, I got Mr Pushrod in my LHS. Maybe that's not so lucky, he gets all the good deals.

You have to be patient with Penfold I bet... []

Alex

[DJTheo]

Can only agree, also don't have any real good LHSes around anymore, seems most good ones I know closed in the RC crisis? of the early 90s when big chains and huge music stores got into fashion.

What nerves me most isn't the high prices as I understand they have big costs to cover, not even their lack of stock, but their lack of knowledge and how often they lie to sell something they have. Thats why I also buy 95% of my RC stuff from internet, not only better prices and availability, but even service (if something breaks or doesn't fit) and advice is usually better! [:^)][^o)][*-)]

Cheers

[bender]

In Australia it's the same situation []

There are only a few shops to start with, and virtually all of them charge excessively, and there is no "service" to speak of, as most of them wouldn't know the difference between a tyre and a propellor []

What is perhaps the most frustrating is the time they take to order anything.

All I can say is thank goodness for the internet[]

When you can order an item on-line, pay only about 50% of the "local" price, and have it delivered in less than 5 days (as opposed 4 or 5 weeks) then there's no wonder many people don't even bother with their LHS.

 

[Prescient]

In the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />UK it would appear Tamiya is a diminishing brand in the LHS. I live in an area where there is a fair concentration of hobby shops every few miles. There has definitely been a shift from Tamiya to the RTRs from the likes of HPI, Traxxas, Losi etc and there are justifiable resons for this. Coupled with the ever increasing advent of affordable nitro buggies, cars and truck the sole days of cutting the parts off the sprees seems eons ago. At the end of the day its all down the to businesses needing to make a profit and unfortunately Tamiya doesn’t have the same demand it used to. This is easily demonstrateable by the stock held by the majority of the LHS I have been to recently. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

For example, I found a King Blackfoot and a few other kits in one shop the other day. The giveaway, all the kits were mechanical speed controller ones, the dust on the boxes and the fact they were so high up on the shelves a mountaineering expedition was needed to reach them. The rest of the store was taken up with Losi, AE, HPI electric and nitro offerings + a few choice helis and planes.  Course I did buy the Blackfoot though. Customer service was good although there was like a wave of silence through the shop when it was apparent I was buying Tamiya. There was not one visible Tamiya spare in the shop, that I could see either. None of the LHS I have bought Tamiya kits from in the last couple of years hold many spares. This is ultimately down to the fact there is a huge list of spares and catering for all the kits and customers as and when parts are needed does not make economic sense given the range of kits they stocked and sold, some of them don't deal with the spares at all. Equally the Tamiya kits are pretty robust for park bashing given the speeds they do (based on the kits sold in my area) so the need to carry the spares is limited, compared to a nitro truck which was doing 40 mph when it hit the jump badly.

My very local shop (30 yards down the road) holds four Tamiya Kits, three TT01s and a Lunchbox Reissue. The rest of the stock are spares, tools and other brand kits. Customer service is excellent but getting parts is an issue.

Considering the above, the biggest underlying problem is that none of the LHS to me stock the performance Tamiya kits but instead stock the TL01s and TT01s at prices (of Tamiya old) which when compared to RTR offerings from HPI, Losi etc just does not make consumer sense for fun or racing. Not only does this make it difficult for staff to recommend the Tamiya kits over the competition but considering what prices they are available for mail order or in the right stores in the UK its crazy. I draw the line at £140 for a TT01 kit only or £160 for a Black foot extreme kit only from one local store.

Customer service can be bad in any industry though. Taking a large PC chain store as an example. I am yet to meet a member of staff there that actually knows what the are talking about, seem interested or actually want to help.

 

 

[richytanimal]

I must admit I agree with most of the above comments, myself and Lemming went into our local model shop a while ago looking for the nearest colour match for his stripped Avante shell (they don't stock Tamiya paints). When we said what it was for the chap said it would be better to buy another shell. After we explained that original Avante shells were a bit thin on the ground and a tad expensive, he then suggested we just chuck the shell in the bin and stick a 1/10th touring shell on it!!!

Rich.

[GPZ1000RX]

Here in the UK it's not just hobby shops and Saturday is the worst day!

Go into any sort of specialist shop and get "served" by the Saturday boy, if what you want is not part of their very limited experience the following usually occurs,

Their eyes glaze over with a "whats this cretin talking about" look,

and their jaw starts flapping in a breeze that sounds a bit like "we don't stock those", "they don't make them anymore" OR, even more annoying "we'll order one" but they don't or can't so you spend the next 3 weeks not trying elsewhere because you've ordered (and sometimes paid for!) one already.

I've had loads of "fun" courtesy of HiFi, bicycle, hobby, DIY, music, you name it, shops over the years.

As for sensible purchasing advice, don't bother, that's a sure way to even more bull.

Learn to build, use fix and maintain it yourself!

That said, if you find a GOOD retailer then support him, and let us know about it.

[mr_pushrod]

I just have to add that in the UK at least, not all the blame must lie with the LHS. Yes, there are plenty of unhelpful people in badly stocked shops out there but there are are also plenty of good model shops out there that have to deal with a useless distrbutor. I can recall a number of times when we have ordered a part for a Tamiya car that we wouldn't normally keep only to be told that it had to come from Japan and would take 6-8 weeks! This wasn't just for really obscure stuff but also items like a TB-02 gear case. They also never seem to know what Tamiya have new, almost always we know what Tamiya have just announced before our rep will. Your LHS in only the final link in a long chain of suppliers so isn't automatically to blame.... 

[TWINSET]

I think when you go in a LHS and two of the staff are ignoring you and heavily debating how best to advertise old-stock speed controls on eBay, it's time to go elsewhere.

My local has one truly helpful guy, the other other two couldn't care a whole lot less if you were in there or not.

My average spend per trip (when I HAVE to go there) is about 75 quid, so a hello would be nice periodically.

 

I even took a NIB RR in there once to see if I could trade it in, only to be told they were worth about 50 pounds,  then found out about their ebay store - Hand on heart truth!

 

So many shops are closing and blaming the internet now, perhaps some of these guys really need to look at why people do go to the net in the first place - it's not all about prices!

Some shops I would recommend without hesitation are Time Tunnel, DMS, Modelsport, Fusion and Apex - these are the only other shops I have dealt with, so no reflection on any I didn't mention (Unless they're in Kidlington, in which case, see the above!!)

 

 

 

[steviedee]

to add to the shops i can recommend fusion models, the service is top notch, i have yet to experience the others ;-)

[akemag]

Well, seems like you guys do have some Tamiya cars/parts for sale in your LHS. In Sweden you basically will NOT find any cars/parts at all, anywhere. Ok, theres one place 100km from me where they have a TA03 NSX or something. Didnt get a good look as it was high up on one shelf. But no other parts, i asked. They said it´s better to get a Kyosho or whatever since they have spares for those.

If you live in Malmö, in the very south of Sweden, the only Tamiya importer has a store. But they are EXPENSIVE, especially on ball bearings. I´ve had to pay one invoice twice after 6months because one former employee scamed them. THATS NOT MY FAULT. I order just about everything online, faster, safer, better.

[rcvintage]

Well, seems like you guys do have some Tamiya cars/parts for sale in your LHS. In Sweden you basically will NOT find any cars/parts at all, anywhere. Ok, theres one place 100km from me where they have a TA03 NSX or something. Didnt get a good look as it was high up on one shelf. But no other parts, i asked. They said it´s better to get a Kyosho or whatever since they have spares for those.

If you live in Malmö, in the very south of Sweden, the only Tamiya importer has a store. But they are EXPENSIVE, especially on ball bearings. I´ve had to pay one invoice twice after 6months because one former employee scamed them. THATS NOT MY FAULT. I order just about everything online, faster, safer, better.

Amazing to think that there are Hobby Stores that don't stock Tamiya.

Tamiya are still the number 1 selling Radio Control brand in the world, as of 2005. I bet some of these places are guilty of plain ol' prejudice.

Regarding price, the funny thing is, Tamiyas are cheap on the Internet. They don't seem to be way overpriced anyplace except for the hobby stores. Re-release Frogs here sell for $260 - $280 in hobby stores, when they're $140 on the internet. That's a big difference. Considering that Frogs were a similar dollar amount ($140) back in the 1980s, and taking inflation into account in the years since, Frogs (on the net) have never been cheaper. AND they include an ESC - outstanding!

On top of all that, Tamiya is still made in Japan, whereas nearly every other brand in made in China or Taiwan. The cost of labour is higher in Japan, so the pressure on Tamiya must be high to maintain reasonable prices.

The finger ultimately points at hobby stores and importers for trying to make excessive profits on items that are obviously FAR cheaper at wholesale rates.

[theshopkeeper]

90%+ of Tamiya production is now in the Phillipines...