"RC guys Brandon and Manny are helpful, but they are very condescending and pushy to make a large sale. Spent over 2K at the store. I called up and told the store manager Mike who’s been there 17 years and he really doesn’t care either customer service is not a priority when they are the big dogs on the block **** off punching in jerks. Also if you’re looking to buy RC parts go browse around at HobbyTown find what you want and then buy it on the Internet for half the price. I purchased a Traxxas RC battery for $64 plus tax the same exact battery is on Amazon for $32 dollars total with free shipping. I will go back to look, but I will not give them my money anymore. They’re real jerks over there.
Unhappy customer #1000’s"

"I went to my local hobby shop and they did not do very well helping me and for now I will just order parts."

"I have been sold the wrong part a couple times. They don’t no what they are talking about. They don’t have any idea on how to fix things"

"Don't purchase from there website...if its a hard part to find and its on their website, chances are its not...you'll pay, few days later they'll email saying refunded as a store credit...they prolly do this with allot of consumers..."STORE CREDIT" really??? they scamming lots of people."

"My family and I were refused entry to the Kennesaw GA hobby town. We were told that face mask were required and if we didn’t have one we would have to leave. We left and all went to Hobby Lobby. The difference was obvious. Hobby Town was like a ghost town. Hobby lobby was completely packed and about 60% of the people were not wearing a mask. Looks like Hobby Town will be one of the businesses closing it’s doors due and employees losing their jobs to the virus. While hobby town thrives. I wonder how businesses could prevent loss sales and keep people coming in?"

"Hobby town may have a policy about wearing face covers but what I find interesting at this particular store, they pick and choice when it will be a policy and discriminate against those that have medical conditions that prevent them from wearing them. I visited this store several times in the past month not once did they ask me to cover my face until this visit. When I stated I’m sorry but I can’t per medical reasons. The staff then try to force it so I left as the female behind the desk yells back You can’t prove that. For one I should not have to show my medical diagnosis to a random stranger and secondly I choose to make the choice of not wearing it to keep myself healthier so I don’t die. That may sound funny because there’s a virus but I’ll take my chances it’s my personal choice that I know works for me. No one should tell another it’s best for them when they don’t know their body. Not to mention I’m sure countless others have been traumatized at this store... think about all the abuse and **** victims they may have forced this on. So very very unprofessional. They have lost my business for life. Amazon for the win way better prices and I don’t have to deal with asshats who can’t understand. "

"Hello, Hello,

I have a 6-year-old son, and we just got into the RC hobby; in the past 4 months, I've spent over 3k at the Northbrook, IL, location. I got a TRX-4, Kraton S6, Bandit XL-5, and many accessories, replacement parts, and 1 repair. During my shopping experiences, their customer service has been substandard at best. I got a TRX-4 repaired, and it took them about 2 months to get it fixed; it’s not so much that it took them such a long time to repair it; what makes this frustrating is their inability to do a simple follow-up.

Six weeks ago, I purchased a Kraton S6, and after the second week and 10 uses, it stopped working. I called the store and talked to the salesperson who sold it to me; I explained that the pinion was out of line and grinding the spur. The salesperson told me that he knew what I was talking about and that this was a manufacturer defect.


• On the first phone call, I was told that I should reach out to Arrma; no luck; they are based out of England.
• On the second phone call to the store, I was told that they could look at it but could not fix it until Horizon Hobby would approve the repair.
• On the third phone call, I reached out to Horizon Hobby, and they told me to take it to Hobby Town and that they could repair it and that this was a normal procedure.
• On the fourth phone call on December 13th, I called Hobby Town and told them that per Horizon Hobby, I could bring it in for repair, and this was a normal repair process. They told me that this was correct and to bring it in.
• On the 14th of December, I brought it to the store; the salesperson who took it from me was vague about the process but told me that they would wait for Horizon Hobby to approve the repair and that I would get a phone call on the 14th of December.
• On December 21st, no one had followed up with me, so I went to the store to see if they had done anything with it.
• During my visit, the person that sold it to me was dismissive and gave me this song and dance about the RC not being in the store because it was sent for repairing and walked away.
• By now, I’m just irritated that I’ve made so many phone calls and two visits to get this RC repaired.
• I left, and a few minutes later, I just decided that this was enough of having to deal with this and went back to the store and took the RC back. When I demanded to have it, it suddenly became available.
• I have now reached out to Horizon Hobby, and they will repair it. I’m almost sure that they will not take 2 months to repair it.
My position on this is straightforward, Hobby Town takes my money with 0 issues but does as little as possible to provide any basic support. As I mentioned above, I have spent over 3k in the past few months. Hobby Town knowingly selling a product with a manufacturer defect is, by FTC guidelines, a deceptive business practice. Personally, as someone who analyzes industries in the stock markets around the world, the writing is on the wall; retail is in a steep decline that, unfortunately, is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The example above plays out repeatedly, and it drives customers to third-party platforms like Amazon, e-Bay, etc.; analyzing the future of retail is incredibly simple; you can see the behavior and evaluation of market caps, and it is clear that retailers are literally forcing customers to purchase the product elsewhere.

If I had purchased any of these RCs on Amazon, I could’ve easily gotten a replacement with 0 hassles within 2 days or less. The only reason why I purchased products in a retail store near me was that I wanted product support at the local level. Unfortunately, Hobby Town is unable to do the basics, and it goes out of its way not to provide any support. The equation for profitability is straightforward. When a customer purchases one RC, the wear and tear on these toys creates a long term need for accessories and replacement parts. When I purchased the Kraton S6, I also purchased 4 batteries, 1 charger, and accessories. The RC was $546.00; the batteries were $450.00. accessories were $150.00, and I was planning to get them installed; I’m guessing that manual labor would be around $150.00; my $546.00 RC has generated an additional $750.00 / 138% in revenue. In addition to that, I was planning to purchase an Arrma, Outcast 8S with 4 batteries. The total cost would be $1496.00; that said, this would have brought the total revenue to about $4500.00 in a 5-month time span. However, after my retail experience, I will purchase everything from Amazon.




"

"On Saturday 12/14/19 I went to the HOBBY TOWN here in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I purchased an Arrma Typhon Mega 550. Mind it rained here all day, so my son wasn’t able to go outside and play with it. So on Sunday morning I take him outside in the parking lot. Everything was going smooth until the 3rd run back and forth in the parking lot, that’s when I noticed the car smoking. So I run over to the car and remove the body off the and disconnected the battery. After letting the smoke clear I examined the car and the esc and motor had burnt out. So I called the store and they said bring it back in. So Monday 12/16/19 morning at 10:00 a.m. I brung the car in like instructed, the district manager over looked the car and realized it was burnt out. She changed out the esc and not the motor, so I requested a refund and was told they don’t do refund. So I said well exchange it for something else and the district manager stated” we can’t exchange the product and you must take that up with the manufacturer. So I left and called HORIZON HOBBY Customers Service and was instructed to go back to the store and have the district manager call them, so I went right back up and told the district manager what HORIZON HOBBY said and she simply said” it’s not her job to call them, it’s up to the customers. So I said to her” why can’t I get store credit or if I need to pay more for something else, then I’m willing to do so. I wasn’t given any option but to just leave with that car... Wow but hey I filed a complaint with the BBB and hopefully they can get me some help....."

"I visited HobbyTown on Oct 9th, in which my husband had went the day before and was helped by the owners daughter, whom he said didn't care if she got your business or not, he purchased a car for my daughter anyway. We visited the store on the 9th to buy an additional battery. My daughter and I went in after my husband so he was already at the register speaking with the owners daughter again. My daughter and I walked in and went to the first aisle of the store and was looking at a cardboard castle. We were in the store less than a minute if that and my daughter grabs me and is trying to get in front of me, in which I looked and a dog was standing there licking her face. I grabbed up my 3 year old nephew and took my daughter in which I moved her away, not knowing at the time when I went to grab my nephew the dog had jumped on her. Needless to say this dog was well over a 100 pounds. I hollered across the store and said whose dog is this in which the owners daughter looked at me like I was stupid and said my dads dog. I hollered again and said please get this dog away from us. The owner walked up and said oo I'm sorry that's my dog, he loves people and children, he's fine!!! At this point, I went on to find the battery we had went inside for because I was upset. The dog continued to follow us around in the store and kept bumping into us. I asked at least three times for the owner to get his dog in which HE DID NOT AND KEPT GRINNING OF HOW KIND AND ADORABLE HIS DOG WAS!! My daughter said mom please lets go, and she's 7, the dog scratched me when we walked in the store. She had two scratches down the side of her face and four scratches down her chest. My husband found the owner again and showed him what happened, the owner Gregory Steiner, at the point decided he would take the dog and put the dog up to let us at this point shop but I told him there was nothing at his store I needed and we proceeded to leave. I walked outside and called 911 and informed them of the incident. I was informed that an officer was on the way and that if they tried to leave with the dog that I needed to call 911 and inform them of what vehicle the dog was being taken away in. Of course not even two minutes later, the daughter and another part time worker came out of the store with the dog and loaded the dog up. I called 911 to let them know that they were leaving with the dog and the part time worker jumped out of the Ford Explorer and started after me in the parking lot, the daughter then jumped out and informed me of how ignorant and stupid I was that I would even be upset that my daughter was scratched. She informed me that if I didn't want my daughter or anyone bothered by their dog, I shouldn't have visited their store. The owner at that point came out of the store and informed them to leave immediately with the dog because he did not want his dog investigated by the police or animal control. After this, the officers came up and I informed them of what happened, the owner lied to the cops and told them that the dog jumped on my daughter because my daughter was playing with the dog. I then said please show your tapes, because no one played with your dog. We were not even aware that the dog was in the store until he was in my child's face. He said Oo I will pay for doctors bills but then once again blamed it on my seven year old child. Animal control came out and said oo well your daughter wasn't bitten and isn't bleeding but yet never once even looked at my daughter to see. I have no idea if this dog is current on its vaccinations, if the dog is registered to be in Fayetteville, NC, there are no signs on the doors or windows saying that he has a dog inside of the store or beware of dogs. He told the officers that it wasn't a service dog. I called the corporate office of HobbyTown and was told that they do indeed own five stores. They can have this dog in any of their stores and their is no punishment for you or your child being harassed or jumped on by their animals. The owners have their family working there and I asked for the cameras to be pulled so they could see where the daughter was screaming in the parking lot and the gentlemen coming out of the Explorer hollering at me and coming toward me until he seen my husband and at that point decided to walk back into the store. They do not have to show their tapes either. Please be aware of the dangers you are in when you visit the stores owned by Gregory and Sharon Steiner and their locations. Please also know that at this point, I still have no information on the details of this dog. My daughter went to school for three days after this accident with scratches down her face and her chest, in which it is the 13th and one scratch is still showing down her chest. Beware visiting these stores and if you do, please if possible hold your children and ask before going in if they have animals and yes this is a military veteran he speaks so highly of being."

"Purchased rc car. Stopped turning after 2 days. Had to purchase a new servo after 45 min play time. I believe that it should be covered or reduced, sold a crappy product. Manager was rude, blamed us. We should learn how to drive it, etc. not professional. Go somewhere else!"

"Awful customer service. I wouldn't waste your money at this store at all. Prices are awful, owner/clerks are horrible people to deal with. They lie, cheat, and steal. Not someone I want to support anymore. Buyer beware!!!"

"I simply went in to ask if they had a few things for my rc car and got smart **** comments and selfish opinions from the guy in the back then the guy at the register was a smartass but worse . i went to the register n the guy said -wrong side check outs over here where it normally is and shook his head like I'm supposed to know ...what an ****. Then doesn't offer me a bag for my things thank me and tossed my money at me n went back to sitting down to his computer playing games. I'll never be back here again
"

"I recently spent $500 dollars here. The "manager" Paul helped me. I paid for a servo which he obviously overcharged me for. He also added product I did not need or want, that I thought he was giving me free cause of how much I was spending, that he was chrging me for. I went back in to show him he overcharged me for the servo. I gave me back the difference but when I left the store I had a bunch of other stuff in my hands, I totally forgot about it and left it there. I went back in the next day to get it and he wasnt there. A tall dark skinned kid called him for me and Paul told this kid that I took it with me which I obviously didnt. I told this kid that when Paul grabbed it off the shelf for me he mentioned that it was the last one they had in stock. This kid literally started yelling at me trying to cover for his boss. So I looked over and the same single servo they had in the same exact place was hanging on the shelf, so paul obviously just put the servo I paid for back into stock after I left and lied over $40 dollars and told me I took it with me. I just can fathom an person in this guys position stealing and lying to customers. I've always heard rumors about this guy but I thought I would give him a chance and decide for myself and boy did he blow it. This guy is a piece of garbage and I will all but be boycotting his business from now on."

"Customer service is horrible!! I bought kings offroad Ltd edition gold shocks. I prepaid for another set to be ordered was told it would take a week for them to come in. Now 22 days later, still no shocks! I called hobbytown a week ago and was told they had not even been ordered yet, they told me they would put a note on the owners desk to order them and was told again they would be here in a week. Now 7 days later I call hobbytown to find out where my shocks are and find out they STILL had not ordered them and was told again they would put a note on the owners desk to order them. When I explained the situation, I was told to call on Monday to yell at the owner instead!!! How's that for customer service??? I highly recommend going to Remote control Hobbies in Covington for all your RC and hobby needs. They are very friendly and family orientated. They go above and beyond for their customers! They also have a RC track for people to run their trucks on..."

"This is pretty much the same as most hobby stores. My receipt is clear about returns. The staff is a little aloof but always seems to be busy. If you ask questions they manage time to help you out. But then I look like a hippie biker and not an avid hobby modeler. They warm up and look past that easily.

I order a lot of stuff through my local store and they always strive to discount prices substantially for my repeat business. As with any very low paid employees, I have my favorite non-grumpy one.

I get far worse service at fast food places and keep going back there. I would bet they are paid the same as well!

Do your homework. Talk and ask questions. Then walk away and check things out then go back and ask more questions. That is only being smart. But buy locally if they can make a good deal. Just communicate but verify. Nothing wrong with that process. Your phone, a barcode scanner ap, and the Internet will prepare you to ask the major questions. Don't be afraid to call them out if they are wrong or misleading. I do. "