HobbyKingReviews 207

I have no comment. Never had such bad experience. My first order was lost and hobbyking didn't even notice. After 45 days order was resent on my request. And now shipping company wonts to charge me additional 30eur besides customs and tax that were not showing during my item purchase even I paid shipping in advance. My order value is 45eur so shipping+30eur+customs+VAT exceed that value! And hobyking states that I am trying to avoid customs and tax in my country even its not true! Closed my ticket and informed me that they will charge me expenses for returning my package!

I ordered items from the East warehouse that were in stock, it took almost a week for them to ship and then they didn't give me a tracking number. I got the run around trying to find the tracking number until today. They didn't provide the number but they told me they shipped to the wrong customer and are waiting to get the order back. I asked if they could ship me new items (since they are still in stock) and then they could keep what is shipped back. All I got was "We can't do that at this time".

Hobby King sent me another customers order in my package. None of the items I ordered were enclosed. Hobby King made me pay for return shipping of these wrong items.
They have refused to credit me for the shipping costs.
Their returns policy states that they will pay for return shipping if the item is defective.
I consider a wrong item (Hobby King Error) to be the same as a defective item when it comes to shipping. I told them that I will never order from Hobby King again and they said that they don't care.

Hobby King is alleged to be a big company that cares about customers.
They have stores in Australia and UK but these seldom have the items you see on their website. These are all held in their "Global Store", which means you have to pay big bucks for shipping.

I purchased a Turnigy radio transmitter for model aircraft/ drones. It is a simple 5 channel very basic radio, cost only us$32 - but none in Australia! So it cost us$20 to ship and this was the lowest price option for shipping.

I ordered a CC3D RC Flight Controller - it was in Australia so post was only au$6 or so.
It was defective! I have to jump through hoops to make a video to show it does not work!
Then it takes time to get a solution - meanwhile I went on eBay found the same item in an aussie seller and had it delivered in 6 days - while HK are sitting around rather than solve problems. Eventually -rather than send a replacement ( more cost and postage for them) - they offer a refund. Having already replaced this item - I agreed. Mistake!
They do not refund postage - saying its already used!
OK, I know others do this also. BUT why? They sent an item that did not work. So the sales contract is broken by them not me.

HK are OK IF you get a working item and IF you are not forced to buy from "Global store" when you are in UK or Australia and if all goes OK. You will be happy.
BUT if you have a problem... expect a big delay in getting a solution and you will lose your shipping cost.
Also they have a "no quibble" returns option. What they do not say UNTIL you are in the process - is that you only get 80% of the cost charged and paid by you and you lose the shipping cost and also have to pay return shipping and insure the package!

My advice. Check all your options and only buy if you have no other choice of supplier.

"Short story: ordered product on day 1, day 2 order status says "shipped", day 8 FedEx still says "Label created"; FedEx says they never received the package. After several "chats" where they assure me that the item has been shipped, they finally "request an investigation" which will take 2 months! They assure me that item is in stock at the US West warehouse. When I offered to reorder the item and have my brother come self collect the package (he lives in Portland, Oregon), they told me that it will take 2 weeks to process the package for self collection. Hmmm... that is about the same time it takes for a shipment to arrive from China. When I pushed them on their "processing procedures" (i. E., it took one day to process and "ship" my parcel, yet it will take 14 days to process my parcel for pickup?) the representative told me that they don't fully understand the differences in the processing procedures.

In summary, only order if you are okay with the possibility of a major delay. My first order from China (international warehouse) arrived in 5 days; I was shocked (granted, the shipping cost was extreme, but it arrived quickly). I ordered this recent product from the US for the lower cost shipping and with the hope that it would get here quicker. No. I am certain that HKs inventory status on their site is incorrect, and they are waiting for their shipment to arrive so they can send me the unit.

Super dishonest and horrific customer service. I just hope that my item is not damaged on arrival. I can't imagine trying to work with this company to get a refund or make an exchange."

I am writing on behalf of a Sixth form who are entering a robotics competition. We were recommended the company and decided to go with them due to the huge variety of products. Since it was our first time to enter this competition we were unaware of the products that we needed. In a haste we ordered products that did not work with our kit. Due to this, we sent hobbyking and email and asked for a refund. The next day we payed for the package to be sent back and waited for a refund. We constantly sent emails asking of where our refund was but didnt get a reply. We also had to pay and extra £22 pound that the company claimed was for customs. Now we are about £100 out of money. It has been over 5 MONTHS and we still havent got our money back. This is discraceful. DO NOT BUY FROM HOBBYKING IF YOU WANT GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE. They havent replied to any of our emails or requests and it is unacceptable!

As a business owner I was buying £2000 of stock a month from 'Hobbyking'- and yet whenever They made a mistake (once an entire BATCH of bad batteries) they take any excuse not to remedy the issue. Quite simply they do not care about ANYBODY- wether it's a sole consumer or their best reseller- they DON'T CARE.
They operate a UK website and warehouse through a loophole that means they operate under Hong Kong law instead of UK law. This means Trading Standards is completely powerless against them. It should be illegal.
I will now go direct to factory for my supplies- I've absolutely had enough of these scumbags.

I've been working with HobbyKing since May (now 30th Nov) to resolve a fault with my Quanum Nova. Over this time I was sent replacement parts 3-4 times and each time I had to pay import charges. We were unable to resolve this issue and I was then asked to send it to the UK warehouse to be investigated, and again this was at my expense as I had to pay postage.

They agreed that the unit was faulty and dispatched a replacement. Unfortunately this was dispatched from Hong Kong and I soon received an invoice from DHL for £49 to release the package. As this unit was faulty and sent to the UK for repair I think its a complete joke that I would have to pay the import charge for a 2nd time.

I contacted HobbyKing multiple time and they refuse to help and say it is my responsibility to pay the charge even though I sent this to the UK to be repaired/replaced.

This unit has cost me £100-£150 extra in import charges in total and is only worth £160.

I have never felt the need to review a page before, but HK have really pushed me this time.

I'm a very unhappy HK platinum member