Support Your local hobby Shop??????

[Tombomb]

I have experienced no satisfaction in my local hobby shop. Really!!
I've been to other shops, where your best friend is at the counter, and sometimes meets you at the flying field.

I'm in another town, now, and I'm not flying, but, these guys are weird.
"It's either in you, or it's not" they would say, at the slot car track, nine years ago.

Well. they sold the track. It is in Chicago if you want to race.
I still have some slot cars I want to sell, since the track is gone.

A year ago, into RC, now, myself and my son, too....it is where it's at, and the slot car hobby guy recommends a Losi 8 T.

I'll take one!

A year later,...."we dont have parts for that,..only for the 2.0. But we can order them for you."
I said.."well, so can I."

I needed another banana plug charger connector. Bought one for a buck and a quarter last year. This week, the one I bought there cost $3.99!

I also bought some filter oil........here's the kicker..

How many receipts do you get that say "THANK-YOU COME AGAIN", or similar,..

My hobby shop receipt.....
First line is the date.
2nd line reads..........
" All Sales Are Final. No Returns."





I looked all over the receipt... no "thanks" anywhere.
I told my son, "Do you know what "No Returns" means? It means we don't return to the store."


I will copy this post and slip it in his mail slot.
Thanks for reading.

 

[SMaxxin]

I haven't walked into a hobby shop in over a year or two, I buy everything on line.

 

[gnarkill]

Most hobby shops are trashy anymore. I have to drive an hour and a half to get 2 clutch bearings. I have to drive an hour and a half to get after run oil because the cap that they put on them fall off when they are just sitting there. I can't walk into a hobby shop and get a replacement part that day. What's his excuse, It will be here thursday. Thursday comes he says "It didn't come, It will be here saturday. That was 3 hours of wasted time and gasoline because it still wasn't there saturday. I like to buy there because relatives have been going there for 20+ years but he doesn't have anything. I tried to get a can of paint for lexan, he didn't have a can of white or a jar for an airbrush. I'm about done with them. When I can't get parts day of, My gallons last longer. I wonder if people will read this?

 

[robmob]

I told my son, "Do you know what "No Returns" means? It means we don't return to the store."

LMFAO

That's a good one.

 

[hamz9561]

There are still some good LHS out there. I found one that the people that work there are actually into the hobby and make time to answer questions as well as fix RCs. The store is clean and has a nice road track at which they sponsor racing on the weekends. It is about an hour from where I live and the prices are a bit higher, but it's a small price to pay for help and some fun.

 

[MotoGod]

My LHS is great. It's a husband and wife owned effort. They sponsor a local off road track, and they run onroad racing in a local parking lot every Friday night. Great People. The prices are a bit higher than online, but on big ticket items...they will almost always price match for you. It's VERY beneficial to get to know your LHS owners/workers. I have had so many things either handed to me for nothing or worked on for free it's not even funny.

My first experience with this shop was with my Duratrax Warhead. I bought it used, and couldn't get it started. I brought it down, and after they finished jabbing and poking fun at Duratrax...Otto slapped it on his bench tweaked the carb a bit and fired it up. Handed it back to me and charged me $0. He told me that he charges a fortune to work on the Duratrax vehicles though because they are so time consuming to work on.

Bottom line...it's hard to race without some local know-how and a local parts supply handy. Ordering online is great and all, but when you need stuff NOW....online shopping can be a hinder. I have to use online sources for all my XRay parts...but if my LHS carried them...I would probably buy everything there.

 

[RusTLeRx350]

Sorry to hear about that. I'm pretty lucky, because my local hobbyshop also sells Cell phones, computers, and all kinds of stuff, along with the RC Stuff, so going out of business is not really a problem at the moment...as for the workers, they are some real nice guys. They cut me deals all the time, and even got me a brand new ESC for about half price.

 

[slowngreen]

My lhs can kiss my ass! they dont know crap about any thing, but act like they do. They will tell me a price on the phone and then take it back in person wich really really pisses me off cuz its a long drive! And have lied to me about a few things recently and thats more than enough for me to stay buying online.

 

[insaneatvs]

I know our invoices say " THANK YOU FOR YOU BUSINESS!"
and then we try to promote a new product line

"WE NOW STOCK LUBE GUARD CHEMICALS AND CENTRIC BRAKE PADS AND SHOES"

 

[Racer 1966]

The shops here are nice to deal with and stock plenty of parts if you like Traxxas products. Most everything else is ordered in as needed. But I need a lhs to be in business to get fuel,can't afford hazmat fees for shipping it! So I buy some stuff there when I can but most parts I order myself online.

 

[Amoeba]

I feel your pain.

A good LHS is worth their weight in gold. I'm always telling people who need a good LHS that Remote Control Hobbies in Woodinville, WA is awesome. Very knowledgable people, good support, and they go out of their way to keep their customers happy.

A timely example from today: I have a JR 9100T servo that's jittering badly. I called and asked to see if they could look up my receipt so I could grab a copy so I could send the servo in for repair/replacement (JR's got a pretty good 3yr warranty). They looked it up and in addition to printing it out for me, offered to just do a direct swap for a new one and they'd deal with the return. Unfortunately, they no longer bring in the 9100t's since they've been pretty much replaced by the newer JR DS8711 (same or better specs, little more torque) which are the same price and they didn't have the 9100t on hand. So instead of having to deal with a return and being out a steering servo for a bit, I'm going in today to exchange the jittery 9100t with a new 8711 at no cost and they'll deal with the paperwork!

That's frikken service right there.

At one point I did some calculations with my past 3 months of purchases to compare on-line vs going through the LHS and the LHS actually ended up being *cheaper* overall because of the savings in shipping costs.

So while some LHS are "trashy" as gnarkill said, the good ones should get your support, especially in this economy.

 

[robmob]

This LHS in Napa stinks. Doesn't have much and prices are out of sight on what they do carry. I have to really need a part NOW before I set foot in there.

Jakes Performance Hobbies in Rohnert Park is what I consider my LHS even thought they are 40 minutes away. Top notch staff in a well stocked shop. Jake the owner is also a great guy.

The Hobbytown in Petaluma also has a knowledgeable staff and is about a 25 minute trip for me.

 

[NCNitro]

The ONLY thing I will go to the lhs anymore for is fuel. The closest lhs is about half an hour or better away, they NEVER have what I need, but hey they can order it and have it in a week. Great, so now I can wait a week, have to drive back to the store, and pay 8.5% tax too, so that's two trips, parts cost more than I can buy it on line for, and 8.5% tax to boot. Screw that, I'll do my buisness on line, no trips, and have it delivered right to my door.

Then the other, even furter away shop, about an hour, they act like they are doing you a favor when you go in there, and their prices are outrageous. I will never go back to that shop.

 

[SMaxxin]

My lhs can kiss my ass! they dont know crap about any thing, but act like they do. They will tell me a price on the phone and then take it back in person wich really really pisses me off cuz its a long drive!

I think the same guys run the shop I tried to do business with! Back in the day when clods and stretching TLT's where the big thing it took a lot of odds and ends from different rc's to get things to work, when I started asking if they had certain things they would ask "what rc is it for" When I told them I was building something they would just say they couldn't help....If it didn't pertain to racing or they couldn't find it in a book they were useless!

After mentioning my clod crawler a few times the owner asked me to bring it with me the next time I went, I showed up with my JPS clod with the old Jeep body and puller tires and he looked at it and said.....You need to start racing, those crawlers will never be popular. He also told me that he would never stock anything from Tamiya because they didn't make anything worth selling.

They also have no intentions of competing with on line stores. When the Revo 3.3 first came out I wanted to buy one from him, his price $589.99 plus tax, this included break in and tuning. I told him I would break it in and tune it, I just wanted to walk out with the box. I told him I could buy it on line for $499.99 shipped from Ultimate hobbies but I would give him $450.00 out the door and he said I should order it on line...Four days later I had a new Revo from Ultimate hobbies....These are the things that are killing the store front hobby shop, IMO they do it to themselves!


BTW I had to drive an hour one way to get this great customer service.

 

[Tombomb]

Wow, what a great collection of feed back. It is good to know that there are still some real hobby shops out there, though.

It definitely does become a time saver shopping on line, if you have to "commute" to the LHS.

It is probably best, for help, to come to this forum, I feel you'll get much more (non-biased) advice here from several people of various levels of experience verses one lone person at the shop.

 

[MGT8.0owner]

my LHS is a 2minute drive fom me and they are the best...there prices are competitive and the people are all around awsome...i've never ordered parts online for the fact i don't have to...

 

[gnarkill]

My lhs can kiss my ass! they dont know crap about any thing, but act like they do. They will tell me a price on the phone and then take it back in person wich really really pisses me off cuz its a long drive! And have lied to me about a few things recently and thats more than enough for me to stay buying online.

That make's 2 of us.

 

[digger]

I was in one that was starting up here last year.
Tried to get some CA. Told me he sends everyone to Hobby Lobby for it. A $2 bottle of glue?
Have any of ya been to a Hobby Lobby? Maybe yours are different, but this one is more like some kinda home decorating crap.

I did buy a Blade helicopter from him. He's just starting, so he's just open 3 days. Real friendly and gives me his cell-phone number. Call him anytime, he just lives a mile up the road....
That didn't work out for sht, tried about 4 times, even when he was supposed to be open.

Another one is open evenings during the week. Tells me to call him if I need something. I do manage to get him on the phone and he is going to meet me there. 15min across town and a 30min wait. Maybe I'm weird, but if I tell you I'll meet you somewhere, I'm gonna be there. I will call ya back if something happens.

Now for the one that is open on a regular schedule.
Fuel was about $10 higher on the gallon than at a hobby shop an hour away. The reason...
He tells me some of the hobby stores buy old fuel. His is always fresh.
Need any parts? He can order it. WTF? Everyone can! Betcha we can get it as fast as you! Don't even bother!
And you aren't doing me a favor because I drove across town to come into your store!!


Man that was a decent little rant. I feel better now.


If you have a good LHS, support it. You are damn lucky.

 

[abadk9420]

I have four different hobby shops all with in about 20 minutes from my house, two of then while they may have a good selection IMO suck because the staff sucks, unless Ur in the little click or bought all Ur stuff from them they are less then helpful, the other 2 are a little farther away but treat you much better and are very helpful, and one of them happens to be my sponsor, so I really can't beat the prices on most things, just have to order things from him some times because he is a smaller shop and things are not always in stock, but it is usually worth the wait because of the money I save.