My LHS is full of idiots!

[Hillman666]

Just thought I would share the ignorance and bad customer service of my Local Hobby Store with you all. [!]

At the beginning of the month my mate crashed my lunchbox and broke one of the bottom suspension mounts. I wasnt too worried as I wanted to get the CVA short shocks for it any way. So on the 4th of this month I went to my LHS and asked if they could get them for me. They said they could but it would take a couple of weeks. I left a £10 deposit at their request and waited and waited and waited! After hearing nothing for over 20 days I phoned them today, only to be told that they couldnt get them and that even if they could they wouldnt fit my older lunchbox as they were designed for the newer pumpkin which was a slighty different chassis [8)] Deciding not to argue with the idiot on the phone I stated that I would be in to pick up my deposit.

So after work today I went straight to my LHS to get my deposit. Im greeted by the guy who took my order in the first place. He didnt look too pleased. He went on to claim that they are fed up with people making special orders and not collecting the parts or cancelling special orders. He said to me that on this occasion he would refund my deposit as he had been able to cancel the order in time [?]

Somewhat puzzled I explained that I only came to collect my deposit because I was told on the phone that they couldnt get them!

He said that was not true. He said they were on order and would of taken 6 weeks as they came from Hong Kong!

After explaining again what I was told on the phone he replied that he was not prepared to order them again and that they wouldnt take special orders in future! [xx(]

It seems to me that they havent a clue what they are doing in that store. Im fed up with that sort of service from places like that. Either they want the business or they dont! Im hardly to blame for the mix up am I? [!]

So after 4 weeks of waiting Im back to square one. I still have a broken Lunchbox that I cant use and I still have the problem of trying to get the shocks again! [:I]

If anyone can help with the shocks please email me! I just want to use my Lunchbox again []

And if any of you fellow Tc members have had similar experiences with your LHS it would be good to hear Im not the only dealing with Idiots []

Thanks for reading this. It was good to get it off my chest. My rant is officially over! []

[Shodog]

sounds like one guy doesn't know what the other is doing at that shop. Your best bet is to get them from a Hong Kong seller on ebay.

To run CVA's you need the extra u shaped mounts which are in the pressed parts bag. I used the standard 3" cva found on the Monster beetle and fox. For the front I had to install shims because the shock was too long and the camber was off

I am not sure whether the short CVA's will work. Are these the same ones used on touring cars?

JIm

[Scorchio]

OUCH! Not nice, luckily the folks down my local LHS really do know their beans, and occasionally like a good old chin wag about the old Tamiyas. They did me a huge favour on a near complete NIB Rough Rider once for which I'm forever in their debt. Nice guys but they still wince when I want something a bit odd.

I know the type of guys you mean though, I've fallen prey to them else where.

Please send me the phone number of your LHS I fancy a bit of bogus phone fun [}][].

[minijosh]

I got the hook up at my LHS. Mr_Pushrod is my main salesman. He's a member too so that makes it better. He understands but I'm not saying the other guys there cannot help. But alot of the other hobby shops I go to are poop. If it doesn't say Losi or Traxxas, they didn't know that there were "others" that made rc's.

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

i thought the pumpkin and lunchbox had the same chassis?

all apart from different body mounts [?]

[jozza]

This seems to be common with hobby stores; I lost count of how many times I was put off Tamiya cars because "you can't get the spares". However, I now have a new LHS who deals with Tamiya, he doesn't carry many spares, but doesn't have any problem ordering them in, and won't take any payment till he has the goods in stock [^]

Most of the time I get spares from the Hong Kong or Canadian/USA dealers on Ebay or victor101 though.

The shock mountings are small U shaped metal brackets (part BP1 from the metal parts bag), they could be scratch made quite easily if you have trouble getting hold of them, I bought some shocks from ebay which already had the bits with them. I've just seen them on www.modelbuild.co.uk for £4.50, in the Vintage section, part # 9405328, I've dealt with this guy before and he is very helpful, so give him a try!

<edit>Ah, re-reading this it looks like you want the shocks rather than the mounts? If that's the case, victor101 should have some, or any of the normal Ebay sellers.

[quik_d]

i've got 2 LHs's in my local area, one onced laughed when i mentioned tamiya [!]. if it doesn't have a nitro engine then he doesn't want to know, and the only parts he has ordered for me were completely the wrong ones! I wouldn't have minded so much but he took the part numbers straight from the manual took 2 weeks to get them and then they were still wrong!

on the other hand my other LHS is great, i seem to spend at least half an hour everytime i just "pop" in to grab something. They are very helpful and friendly and will try to get hold of anything you ask for. They even split one of their kits to provide me with all the suspension and drive parts to convert my dads TL-01 to TL-01B status. top blokes! only gripe is they tend to forget my orders sometimes! but then it is always busy in that place. I'll let them off i guess [8D]

quik

[_4-0_]

Hobby shops are a pain! I've never been in a model shop that's not tried to put me off tamiya. I went into one asking about the soon to be released TT01 BMW M3, only to have them try and sell me some nitro thing that looked nothing like the car it was supposed to be based on. BAH!

Maybe the answer is to have a Tamiyaclub recomended list where members recoment shops that we've had good experiences with. To start it off, I recomend Fusion Hobbies as been the best in the world (and they can have my soul if it gets me my BMW's before anyone else [])

It's a good idea I think seeing as there's about 1000 potential customers on this site plus visitors. It would be in the LHS interest to get a recomendation.

[Scorchio]

For us way down south folk I'd have to recomend Fratton Models Portsmouth, Tamiya (though not many spares but they will order) The guy who runs the RC car section is an electric man himself. Nitro is also stocked the only drawback is the millitary only colours on Tamiya spray cans [V] But if you need them theres a static model shop in Porchester precinct that stocks the lot []

[quik_d]

hey cheers scorchio! i'm going down to portsmouth soon might have to pop in there. anyone know of any other GOOD rc shops in devon area?

[fury_dice(2)]

quote:Originally posted by quik_d

hey cheers scorchio! i'm going down to portsmouth soon might have to pop in there. anyone know of any other GOOD rc shops in devon area?

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id="quote">id="quote">

Erm, Portsmouth's in Hampshire. Did you mean Plymouth? Sorry if I misunderstood your post...

[quik_d]

well i'm going to the same place as i went last year and we went to portsmouth, wasn't too much of a trek from where we were. or maybe i'm just delusional? [xx(]

[AirForceOne]

My current LHS is aweful. They charge 200 Euros for a King Blackfoot, 250 Euros for the Midnight Pumpkin.[] He refuses to order spare parts for the Tamiyas because he doesn't like them.[V] My old LHS back in the states was good on that, they'd order whatever you wanted if they could, and if they couldn't they would direct to someplace that could.[] The owner really likes the Clod Buster.[]

[GPZ1000RX]

Hobby shops tend to suffer from the same problem as other "speciality" stores, (hi fi and cycle shops spring to mind)

They tend to be staffed by enthusiastic and opinionated young males who often don't have the life experience to empathise with anyone who isn't on exactly the same wavelength as themselves, they also don't have the necessary depth of subject knowledge and no historical knowledge at all!

This tends to lead to a defensive "the customer is wrong" atitude when asked for anything beyond their experience. Their mouths say "sorry we don't stock them sir" while their eyes say "what's this moron going on about?"

My local RC car shop was a slightly unpleasant place to visit 10yrs ago but now it's quite good! The reason is that they still have the same staff, who are now 10yrs older and have largely aquired the relevant people skills and trade experience. Consequently they are now very busy even mid week now.

If you find a store that you can build a good relationship with they are worth paying a little more to for your gear as they will often go the extra mile for you when you really do have a problem.

[Gates Mini Racing]

My mistake is simple but painful, young and naive (pre my knowledge of TC) I went into my LHS and asked for some polycarbonate paint for my mini. He said you dont want that you want acrylic, it will work fine. Needless to say I was hesitant, but, after much convinving (and eventually deciding he knew more than me) I reluctantly said okay, and brought it. Week later, horrible patches. Nice. My lesson don't believe people who want to sell you something, because they dont have something else. (I could have throttled him)

[Green Blitz]

If you're in Oz check out hobbiesaustralia.com.au (Frontline) or perthhobbycentre.com.au. I've used both and no probs so far online or by phone. And they dont wince at the tamiya word.

[Hillman666]

Good news! My lunchbox is up and running again! No thanks to my lhs though [!]

But big thanks to Victor101 for listing the shocks I needed on Ebay! And Big, Big, Big thanks to fellow Tc member Disco for supplying the all important U brackets for free! [^]

Thanks again Disco! I owe you a beer! []

[jozza]

Good to hear it's up and running. I've just put the oil dampers onto my Pumpkin, and it's changed the handling dramatically - a well worthwhile improvement. The only downside is that the stock dampers (well, dampers in the loosest sense of the word []) are nice and shiny chrome, whereas the CVA shocks are black and don't reflect the underbody lighting quite so well. But I'm happy to put up with that for a truck which doesn't roll every time you turn a corner []

[McLaren]

The problem here in Norway is not the LHS, but importer!!!!

They don't have any parts or bodies in stock!!!

I ordered a set of rear wheels and tires for my F103 2.5 YEARS ago!!!

Still not gotten them, I only own Tamiya cos the quality of the kits are awsome.... And same like rest says, LHS always want to sell Kyosho or some other brand..... I think Tamiya should up the game to the importers!

I even registered a company for selling RC parts, but the importer would not sell me parts cos it was not my full time job!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to help people in same situation as me, but I was rejected..... Very arrogant!!!

So there, I said it..... [}][}][}]

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

quote:Originally posted by jozza

Good to hear it's up and running. I've just put the oil dampers onto my Pumpkin, and it's changed the handling dramatically - a well worthwhile improvement. The only downside is that the stock dampers (well, dampers in the loosest sense of the word []) are nice and shiny chrome, whereas the CVA shocks are black and don't reflect the underbody lighting quite so well. But I'm happy to put up with that for a truck which doesn't roll every time you turn a corner []

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my pumpkin has hardly any grip at the front end, it turns like an oil tanker! heres what ive learnt (if you can call it learning[])

pumpkin will roll if :

you try to pull a 180 skid by reversing whist the truck is moving forward and turn at the same time. (dont turn and it shouldnt roll) []

you wheelie, let the front drop down and turn sharply straight away

get to much grip at the front whilst turning (grippy tarmac surface will cause that [])

go full speed reverse and then slam into full speed forwards

go full speed reverse and then turn sharply

attempting any jump of any kind

um i think thats it []

pumpkin wont roll if -

you dont steer and just go forwards all the time

you go really slow all the time

you fill the chassis tub and tyres up with sand

you place on shelf with no battery or radio gear

or fit oil dampers!

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im bord, cant you just tell lol []

[jozza]

quote:Originally posted by mymonsterbeetleisbroken

pumpkin wont roll if -

you dont steer and just go forwards all the time

you place on shelf with no battery or radio gear

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id="quote">id="quote">Hehe, spot on that advice, though I reckon it would still roll if going in a straight line and it gets caught by a slight crosswind []

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

quote:Originally posted by jozza

quote:Originally posted by mymonsterbeetleisbroken

pumpkin wont roll if -

you dont steer and just go forwards all the time

you place on shelf with no battery or radio gear

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id="quote">id="quote">Hehe, spot on that advice, though I reckon it would still roll if going in a straight line and it gets caught by a slight crosswind []

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id="quote">id="quote">

darn i didnt think of crosswinds []