Hobbyking - Six months of failure to deliver $231 order or deliver refund

[bweaver]

I had placed an order with Hobbyking in September of 2013 for the amount of $231 USD. The order was never delivered.  Hobbyking has advised that the order was returned to their warehouse and they have indicated that they have requested a paypal refund. They said it would take 7 business days for Paypal to process the refund.  It has now been a number of weeks since I have received this notice, yet to date I have still not received my refund.  (Yes, I have checked my Paypal refund status as well.)

Hobbykings customer service has been disappointing to say the least.  Hobbyking is not responding to my inquiries any further?  I feel that I have to let other people know that I believe I am being ripped off now by them.

Has anyone had a similar bad experience with Hobbyking or have any suggestions as to how I can get my refund. 

A word of advice to TEMAC members doing future business with Hobbyking;  If I were to do it all over again (which I doubt I ever will do business with them again), I would have continued to process my paypal dispute and had the matter resolved through paypal when it was first apparent that the order was never going to get to me.  Unfortunately Hobbyking had convinced me to drop the paypal dispute.  I was the stupid one.  Learn from my mistake and from my frustration with this matter.

[pmackenzie]

Did you use a credit card to do the Paypal? You should be able to get a refund from them (your CC company) if you did.

[bweaver]

Thanks for your suggestion.  Yes, I did the Hobbyking order transaction through a credit card via paypal. 

However given the circumstances of Hobbyking's useless responses to me throughout these months, I don't think it is appropriate on my part to pursue my credit card company to recover the funds, because Hobbyking has my money and they also have the contents of the order returned to them, which they have admitted to have already returned to their warehouse stock. 

Hobbyking needs to make this matter good, not a third party as suggested.

Any other suggestions would be helpful.  Thanks, Bruce

[Andy Hoffer]

Is it possible to re-initiate the dispute via PayPal, based on the correspondence you received from Hobby King?

Andy

[pmackenzie]

Go through your credit card. Not like it is a free service they provide.
Even if yours is a no fee card they take 2 or 3 percent on every transaction. Make them do some work for your money.

They will pay you, then go after PP, who will in turn go after HK.

[sihinch]

From what I know of paypal, you have to be within 40days of the original purchase.

I've also had a problem like this and couldn't open the paypal dispute because of the timing. Fortunately mine was for a far smaller sum and the parts did eventually turn up.

My advice, keep bugging HK customer service, every 2 or 3 days.

[bweaver]

Thanks Simon,

Bugging Hobbyking seems to be the only option I have.  They do not respond to my inquiries now, which frustrates me even more.

[frajolex]

Thanks Simon,

Bugging Hobbyking seems to be the only option I have.  They do not respond to my inquiries now, which frustrates me even more.

Trust me, I've had problems with Hobbyking... just contact your credit card company, and states you have never received the item... they will refund your money... 100% guaranteed

[bweaver]

I received another disappointing promise from Hobbyking yesterday.  Read it below. My Paypal account has still not been credited with the refund.  How long will it take?  Does anyone want to start a pool on when I will receive my refund?
I will keep everyone posted on the progress or the lack there of.

Bruce

[Ededge2002]

Don't get me wrong I agree that they are taking YOUR sweet time but why sweat this?  Just contact your card company and be done with it already.  Clearly this transaction isn't going to shut down HK nor will the bad press.

[frajolex]

I agree, since you don't have the product, it's super-duper easy to revert the charges directly with the credit card company   

[imran13]

Seems to me like most of their agents are BS because when they had the lipo issue, every time I asked them my order status they said it was on its way back to the warehouse, others said it was already there, and guess what it turned up at my door a few weeks later. They don't know anything just making stuff up. Hope you have some luck figuring this out.

[bweaver]

Imran, I have come to a similar conclusion.  I have just checked my Paypal account and not to my surprise, there is still no refund.

Further to some of the suggestions I have received pertaining to how I could resolve this matter to my benifit, I have concluded that I will not be pursuing my credit card to recover the outstanding funds. 

The reasons for this approach in my view are simple.
1) Corporations and people should conduct themselves in an ethical manner.  The world would be a better place.
2) People and Corporations should also be held accountable for their  bad practices or behaviours.  While some might call this bad press, this is the only forum I am currently expressing my self in at this time.
2) Pursuing the $231 USD refund through my credit card only increases everyone elses expenses in the future.  All costs associated with the credit card system are payed for by customer fees.  The credit card companies wouldn't be making a profit if it wasn't that way.
3)Hobbyking encourages the use of Paypal.  It was for this reason I switched to Paypal payments as apposed to paying Hobbyking with my credit card.
4)While I recognize that club members are still going shop at Hobbyking, (which is fine by me) I think my friends need to learn from my mistakes as to how to avoid a six month or more delay in the resolution of a simple transaction.

For example, please review Hobbyking's correspondence below.

First lesson - Never cancel a Paypal dispute as encouraged by Hobbyking.  Pursue the Paypal dispute to the end.

By the way, Hobbyking's records of my problem have changed recently. The current status of my complaint's date of origin according to Hobbyking's records is now only less than one month old.  My previous complaint history that was available to me through Hobbyking is no longer accessible to me.  (But I still have a copy of all of the correspondence.)

For those of you who are following this forum entry and you don't like it, or don't agree with it, please don't follow it any further.

If however you are interested in hearing about the outcome, stay tuned. Future lessons to come.

Happy shopping and good luck.

Learn from my mistakes.

Bruce the Gullible

[bweaver]

Unfortunately the second image didn't get attached.  It is attached below for your review.

[Andy Hoffer]

Hi Bruce:

I agree pursuing this via credit card company adds to losses by the credit card company which get passed on to customers.  However, that, and other things like credit card fraud, etc, are all part of life with these cards and the associated costs.  It's an unfortunate cost of doing business, but it's your turn to benefit.

I agree HK should be held accountable, but they have demonstrated that they could care less about you as a customer.  If the credit card route is your only course of action at this time, I would strongly recommend you pursue it.  I'm sure no one would deny you the $231 refund which is due to you, even if they incur credit card fee increases.  I also agree strongly that one should never cancel a Paypal dispute as encouraged by HobbyKing (another example of their unprofessional conduct, for their benefit at the  expense of you, the customer). 

Finally, I would pass this on to PayPal for their information.  They should be aware of complaints against their clients (though they may not care, given the volume of traffic generated for them by HK).

Good luck in bringing this to a just resolution.

Andy