Misc. Front Loader Steering
- Thread starter dude
- Start date
D.O.G.
Goblin 380 Supporter
Yeah, that's not good if the vendor is MIA.
D.O.G.
Goblin 380 Supporter
That's strange. I thought motion RC was a respectable company that backs the product they sell or at least help their customer out.
RandyDSok
Well-Known Member
No, they are a hobby shop and like other hobby shops are a reseller, they do not claim to be a manufacturer.
Since I haven't done business with Motion RC, the rest of this is mostly generalized with a few exceptions. I am not saying I agree with any of these practices but they are what they are no matter if any of us agree with them or not.
If you look at Motion RC's warranty page... You'll see they typically only replace the defective part ONCE that has been shown to be defective ( typically with a picture or similar ) and they only do this for the first 30 days after purchase. They also state that it depends on IF there are replacement parts or not as being part of that warranty. If a manufacturer has a longer warranty, then after that initial 30 days, the customer must contact the manufacturer directly to make any warranty claims.
The above summarized warranty is pretty much standard for most hobby shops. In fact, profit margins in all industries has declined to a point that many resellers have adopted very similar practices for their warranty policies. No reseller can survive with 1-10% profit margins and also provide any more warranty that the most basic.
With that out of the way. While most of the RC products we talk about here are "big boy toys"... WL Toys are what we refer to as "toy grade", not the typical quality products but something you'd find in a local 5 and dime ( which don't exist these days, think Walmart toys instead perhaps ). Companies like WL Toys seldom produce replacement parts or if they do, they are almost non-existent and not produced in large quantities. It isn't to say they don't have a place, they do, they are a way for someone to buy and check out RC products to see if it's a hobby they may be interested in getting into without the high expense of a well made, higher quality RC craft.
Motion RC states they only carry quality products... but "toy grade" products are anything but that, so that is a valid complaint here. Yet at the same time, WL Toy's are a good entry level "toy" product as long as a customer realizes that they are entry level and not a higher quality than they are. These are a value ( I'm being kind here, read cheap ) product that lets a customer see if RC is for them at a very low affordable price, if it is something they would like to get into, they can then look at higher quality products. If they find it isn't for them, then they haven't spent a lot of money checking it out.
RandyDSok
Well-Known Member
I wasn't stating my "concerns" ... I was stating my observations and trying to point out that new folks coming into the hobby need to temper their expectations based on the level products they are looking at purchasing. Doing that today is harder than it was when I was growing up shopping in a brick and mortar store where the products were often grouped in areas based on the level of expertise needed etc. Often the "toy grade" products were in an area to itself with something like the punch out gliders that are precut for you and you simply remove them from the stamped out sheet of balsa and assemble them no glue needed, then the more advanced ones that you'd have to cut them out yourself and shape and glue them together... working up to the areas that contained the higher end kits. ARF and PnP was available but in those days, most were by special order.
With online retail shops... entry level models are often mixed in with the higher end. This leaves the people purchasing needing to do their research before they start making purchase decisions and for someone new to the hobby... that is a pretty big learning curve just to know what to ask and or what to look for. Warranty on the low end and high end is often about the same with the 30 day window both of us mentioned and anything further than that being put on the manufacturer and hoping they will actually support their warranties.
I don't know how you'd properly address this issue either... and still have a marketable method that wouldn't put the potential buyers off of a purchase. If you divided it up into entry level, intermediate, advanced and expert areas of the website... would be the closest way but I don't think that is marketable. It also doesn't have a place for the "toy grade" properly either. A brick and mortar shop could address this type of problem but people don't seem willing to buy at a profit margin needed to keep most of these open. There is certainly a need to have toy grade products... I just don't know the proper solution that would work in a marketing sense and a buyer sense that doesn't turn off a buyer.