HobbyTron will disclose your personal information
So I was browsing the hobbytron facebook today because… I always enjoy a good laugh to start my morning off and I ran across something very bad. SOOO bad that I think everyone of you should be aware of this. Why? Because it involves your privacy! Hobbytron does not abide by its own privacy practices and will expose your personal information to the MILLIONS of users on facebook! Yes, you read it right. HOBBYTRON WILL DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION.
Want to know what I’m talking about? See the images below:
I’ve also attached hobbytron’s privacy policy which states that they will not disclose your information to any third parties. I would say that the entire world would be considered a third party.
As you can see, hobbytron provided anyone with an internet connection access to this person’s physical address. They even included the tracking number associated with the order. I would assume that any malicious stalker would be drooling over this information. If I were Johna, I would be seriously concerned that my information was released in such a manner.
This is terrible!
Hobbytron can’t get your tracking number straight, they’ll disclose your personal informaton, and ship you poor quality items as well as the possibility of flubbing up your order. So what’s next hobbytron?
HobbyTron is on FaceBook Too!
Hey, now instead of posting all of your complaints here, you can post it directly to their facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/hobbytron and you know what, if you’re lucky, they’ll remove any negative publicity too!
Actually, I just read their page. I guess people still aren’t able to contact them via phone or e-mail, so they seem to be hitting them up on FB in order to get any kind of status updates regarding their order. Oh boy! It’s so bad they even decided on putting up their NEW TOLL FREE NUMBER!!!!! YAY! They even have a special “Customer Service” area on their FB page too!
Good Luck Right?
Is Hobby Tron Making A Comeback?
From the looks of things, they may be making a comeback because I’ve been see’ing some great reviews! But then again, you can pay people to post great reviews about your business too. For example, PayPerPost, or BuyBlogReviews, etc. You can even pay people to write awesome articles about you!
And.. that being said… I was hoping that someday things would change. But it looks like it’s the same old stuff going on over there.
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/HobbyTron_Absolute_Toy_Marketing
More Experiences
I am not surprised that I am suddenly receiving much more feedback and support from others who have encountered the same problems and horrible service from Hobby Tron. To tell you the truth, I am a little disappointed… Disappointed that I was unable to reach and help other consumers like yourselves BEFORE they considered buying from this horrible online company. In any case, I hope your situation turns out better than mine.
Here’s a story I received today (1/14/2009):
So I buy a couple airsoft M16′s to use as movie props from Hobbytron. All fine and good. I receive the package and get some other completely ridiculous alien zapper looking things. I figure, no problem, how hard should it be to fix this?
Here’s what ensues
1) I go to their customer service site and see that they offer Livehelp (although it’s been offline at every point of the day I’ve checked since then)
2) I decide to shoot them an email and figure out what’s up. They have a form setup for emailing, with a COMPLETELY UNUSABLE textbox. After you fill in the personal information and hit ‘next step’ to describe your problem. The box fills in with ‘please call us at xxx phone number’ and doesnt let you add anything else.
3) I wait until the next day and call during the day. Ok, now I’ll get somewhere. I talk to the lady for 3 or 4 minutes to which she directs me to their ‘policies’ page with a curious little ‘order fullfilment policy’. It explains that they reserve the right to send items of equivelent function to fullfill the order if what I request is not available. I tell the lady does that mean they can send me a gatorade when I buy coke. She gets confused. She tells me to go through the website because she is not allowed to deal with any actual account stuff as she’s some outsourced nonsense. Atleast I get an email address out of her.
4) I send an email. They respond two days later literally with an RMA number. No information as to whats going on, what will be refunded or the obvious fact that I’m gonna have to comp the shipping charges. Furious, I instantly hit the reply button. Wait…it’s greyed out. How peculiar, they’ve managed to send me an email with no ‘from’ adress.
I think if they put as much effort into selling what they sell instead of devising clever ways to avoid their customers, they wouldn’t have customers making site’s like this.
Reviews, Complaints, Reports, Scammers, whatever you want to call it
More bad reviews… when will this company ever change its ways… Heres what others had to say about hobby tron:
Worst experience ever. Bought a RC boat and it came in a resealed box with the propellers broken and the 1 foot x 2 foot sticker sheet crumpled up like a ball in the box. I bought the boat for my son for Christmas and received it December 4th. They would not return calls or emails for 6 weeks. They called yesterday, January 13, and told me that since the boat was opened they could not help me – they said to buy new stickers and propellers myself! STAY AWAY FROM HOBBYTRON
Friday, August 29, 2008: I hear you, guys! And wait until I get done with Hobbytron. They have now moved headquarters to California, so the California attorney general’s fraud division now is the party we must all contact and file complaints with. Long story short–my son ordered an Airsoft Gun, it came after five weeks missing the screws, they refused to refund money and after three weeks I am still waiting for a return authorization. I believe this delay is in retribution for my complaints on several Web sites about their very poor attitude and demeaning return authorization questionaire (which actually states “don’t lie,” as though all their customers are crooks. I looked Hobbytron up with the Better Business Bureau for the Southern California division in which they operate and they have a “D” rating and are not bureau members. Not surprising. These are the most rude, unethical people I have ever dealt with.
I Had ordered two orders. One order was of two airsoft guns but I had to continuously try to contact them in order for them to even ship the item. Left them 3 voice messages and emailed them several times. When I called them, no one picks up and all I get is an answering machine POSING as an automated system telling me that all representatives are busy and then tells me to leave message! I finally got one of my orders several weeks later but my other order they (Marina the rep that told me this) claimed was on back order and i would have to wait 5 days. It’s been over 10 so far and nothing has changed. I tried to get a hold of representatives but this time I am put on hold for the live chat (the status of the live chat was online at the moment) and then after an hour of waiting, i refresh their page and then the status changes to OFFLINE! Not even 3:30PM yet and it seems like they’re gone! It’s been close to a month now and my order STILL says it’s processing!! STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!! I am trying to get my money back but it seems from the posts on this and MANY other sites saying it will be very difficult to impossible to get that accomplished. My payment was processed RIGHT at the very next day but they REFUSE to attend to any of their responsibilities!!
This website rips you off. Do not buy from www.hobbytron.com. They still havent’ returned my phone calls from 2 weeks ago. I’ve been waiting for my order for more than 2 weeks. They charged my card right away, but won’t pick up the phone or reply to my emails or voicemails. DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR MONEY! Thanks for that link to the Utah Attorney General, I plan to use it.
Another victim of HOBBYTRON.COM ordered Christmas Gift DEC 8th. Credit Card charged DEC 9th. Last I heard from them. I had to cancel the credit card transaction to get my money back. Here’s the funny/sad part, next door neighbor ordered same product 1 week later, received it prior to Christmas and it doesn’t work out of the box. Guess what……unable to get contact customer service. Can you believe the “Holding Company” who owns HOBBYTRON made a simple apology and tried to excuse the issue by indicating they had their record SALES season and were backed up (which I can believe, but wait…..what the next door neighbor?). Many emails were left after Xmas, never a return phone call or email. NOT ONE WORD!! This review is one of many that I plan to write to hopefully prevent similar experiences. HOBBYTRON should be ashamed of their unprofessional conduct and unethical business practices.
Terrible. Horrible. Very bad. No good. Don’t waste months of your time ordering from HobbyTron. You’ll never get your product, and you’ll never get your money back. You’ll have to fight it out with your own credit card company to make them eat the loss, or go after HobbyTron themselves. Order Accuracy: Unknown. No order was ever received. Delivery Speed: Appalling. Customer Service: Huh? Overall Satisfaction: -4 on a scale from 1-10. Run, don’t walk. As fast as you can to any other site.
HobbyTron Offices Closed
I was about to call them and this is what it said. Directly off of their website, they have CLOSED their offices. What kind of service is this? If you are having issues with them GOOD LUCK trying to get a real person on the phone. They already DO NOT respond to e-mail requests or return calls, now they have closed their offices!
“Due to the high volume of orders our office is closed to help get orders out in time for the holidays.”
They sell: rc cars, airsoft guns, rc helicopters, fm transmitter, remote control cars, rc trucks, science kits, nitro rc cars, magic tricks, electronic kits
HobbyTron shows horrible reviews
Most of the reviews are of a “0″ Rating – out of a total of 10
“Simply avoid. This is – by a wide margin – my worst on-line shopping experience yet. Customer service is non-existent, the merchandise is shoddy, their warranty is worthless. Buy somewhere else.”
Almost every review website I visit shows an overwhelming amount of people who are absolutely ticked off by this company. I have no idea why they are still in business.
HobbyTron has a rating of “F”
The BBB in LA says that HobbyTron has a rating of “F”. Read More
Here’s what a F rating entails:
Our opinion of what this rating means:
We strongly question the company’s reliability for reasons such as that they have failed to respond to complaints, their advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance with the law’s licensing or registration requirements, their complaints contain especially serious allegations, or the company’s industry is known for its fraudulent business practices.
No. of Cmpl Type of Response
13 Making a full refund, as the consumer requested
1 Making a partial refund
6 Agreeing to perform according to their contract
0 Refusing to make an adjustment
5 Refuse to adjust, relying on terms of agreement
30 Unanswered
0 Unassigned
55 Total
Customer Review of HobbyTron on the BBB:
Horrible, would never do business with again, no customer service, nobody to talk to, their chat doesn’t work, took 2 weeks to find out my order was still in the warehouse and this was a BIRTHDAY PRESENT. I paid over 200 dollars for items and they did not notify me that the item was going to be late. The shipping said 3-5 business days… and regardless of the holiday, they got the order on the 20th of November, and had plenty of time to get it to my house by Dec. 3rd. My son’s b’day is today and the item was still in the warehouse ‘being processed’ last night. I had to cancel the order after waiting an hour on the live chat, and then order from somewhere else only to pay high shipping costs for 2nd day air to not disappoint a little boy who is already not getting a present today. Bad news! Stay away, this place has horrible customer service and is not out for the consumer, for sure.
Hobby Tron Scam
First off, this site is in no way associated with hobbytron.com – It is merely a review of my experience with them as well as other public reference materials you can use to educate yourself!
Tis the season to shop, but buyer beware!
I’d like to share with you my experience with HobbyTron.com
I am sad to say that it is/was a very unpleasant one. Here’s my story.
I wanted an airsoft gun. Plain and simple. After doing some research online, youtube videos, ratings and reviews, etc., I found out which gun I wanted. I proceeded to look for places to purchase this gun and after a quick google search, hobbytron.com came up as a sponsored search link at the top. I figured it would be good since this company actually pays for advertising.
After visiting the site I found the gun. YAY, they had it. So I thought anyway. So, like the online shopper I am, I did some price shopping to find out who had it the cheapest. Come to find out, it was hobbytron. So I said, OK, lets do this. I’ll order the gun from them.
On November 27, 2008 I placed my order. Oh how easy it was, click, add to cart put in your credit card info and WHALA! I paid $29.95 for shipping because I live in Hawaii. Oh well, I am used to it.
And here’s where the pain and frustration began…
So I waited patiently for my gun to arrive. And the day came. UPS guy, at my door with a box. I opened the box and WOW! It was the wrong item. So I immediately called them up. Nobody answered the phone so I left a message for them to call me back. I waited, and waited. After a few hours, I called again with no answer, so I left another message.
The next day came and I still did not receive any call back from them so I decided to hit the website and initiate an online chat session. It’s a good thing I sit at a desk all day because after waiting in the chat queue for about an hour, I finally got someone. So after some simple chatting, I was told to hit the RMA site and submit the RMA so I could get this fixed.
So I visit the site, and review their policies and the claim to pay for return shipping costs if:
(12/10/2008)We are not responsible for shipping charges or return shipping charges on defective or returned items unless you receive the wrong item or are missing an item from your order.
Ok, so I submit the RMA and proceed to specify that they shipped me the wrong item. I request a prepaid return label since they shipped me the wrong item. After waiting about a day for my RMA to be processed, I receive the RMA instructions to send it back. I notice that there is no prepaid label to print to send this back. I figured they would pay me back so I sent it back to them anyways via USPS.
After a few days of not hearing any word from them I decide to call them to find out what’s up. Did they receive my box? When will I get reimbursed for my return shipping costs, etc. So again, I call, no answer I leave a message. This time I call twice to make sure they get it.
Two days pass and I still haven’t received a call back. I decide on calling them every hour until they answer the phone. Yeah you guessed it, I call every hour for 4 hours with no answer. On my 5th call I finally get someone. I explained to the woman that I had recently sent back my RMA and wanted to know the status of it. With a very bad attitude, she asked for my tracking number. I told her I didn’t have one. She explained to me that I needed a tracking number for her to help me. I asked her why they can’t track it with the RMA number. She then began to skirt the issue and told me that it takes 1-2 Weeks for the RMA to be processed. Now I’m thinking, 1-2 Weeks? What is up with that? How can it take 1-2 Weeks for this thing to be processed and shipped out. So I explain my disappointment and proceed to ask about being refunded for my return shipping costs. She then tells me that they don’t pay for return shipping costs. blah blah blah. It’s on their website, how can that be? So we go back and forth on this subject. She eventually tells me “There’s nothing I can do for you sir” – Now… In what customer service field is that phrase ever used? I have NEVER heard ANYONE tell me that until now. At this point, I am furious and I ask to speak to her legal department for more information. She then puts me on hold. After waiting on hold for 5 minutes, I hear a faint lifting of the phone and a “Click”
Wow! Did that just happen? Did I just get hung up on? YES! They hung up on me.
So I go on the website and submit a support request. I even paste the portion where it says they will pay for the return shipping fees if the item isn’t what you ordered. And here’s what I got back:
It generally takes us 1-2 weeks to process a return after it is received.
Please call our customer support number if you have any further questions: (818 675-9000
Do Not Reply to this Email.
Thanks,
HobbyTron.com
I did this twice and I keep getting the same response. It seems as though they don’t really read those messages and put it through an automated responder.
I am still waiting to see what becomes of all of this and will keep you posted.
Oh, BTW, did I mention that I can’t contact them right now? They are not accepting calls or support requests because of the xmas season rush. ** What kind of half-ass operation is this? **
***UPDATE 1/2/09 *** They’re open, so I called them again:
Hobbytron has lost my item. The first time I call, the person who answered the phone said their name was Chris. I ask the status of my item and they say it wasn’t received and to call USPS to track it. I tell him I don’t have a tracking number, he still says to call USPS. So Ok, I call USPS, they say it can’t be tracked since I didn’t pay for tracking. The person explains that if it wasn’t delivered it would have been returned to me. Blah blah. So I call hobbytron back Again, and I get the same guy. He now says his name is Tim, and he is the manager. Now he’s telling me that since I can’t track it, they cannot verify that they even received it. But he will do ME the favor and look through the warehouse, but that will take a few weeks. a FEW weeks I say? So, it could take until the end of this month? So we go on, and on… he keeps talking really fast as I can barely get a word in. He says be glad to send me another item at cost, blah blah.(I think to myself, now why would I want to go through this HELL again?) When i finally get a word in, he interrupts me and says that he has many more people to help and to e-mail him at tim@hobbytron.com – I try and verify his mailing address and he hangs up on me. This is turning out to be such a great experience for me. I have sent all my documents to my lawyers and will find out what happens next.
1/28/2009: Update:
OK, So after my lawyers sent my letters out, I finally receive a response from jenny@hobbytron.com saying:
“We have refunded your account $-30.25. Please allow up to 2-3 business days for the transaction to reflect on your account. ”
So I respond back and ask where the money is being sent to, my paypal or is this a “Store Credit”? – I get no response back.
In any case why would I want store credit? It’s as good as monopoly money right?
I also get a message that my ‘new’ order was on back order, even though the website says that the item is in stock. My expectations of this company is pretty much non-existent, so who knows WHEN I will receive my gun right?
UPDATE 2/27/2009:
It’s been one month since the replacement gun has been on backorder. I am still waiting for my shipment. I check every once in a while, maybe once a week. But really. At this point I am really just fed up with this company and I have already kissed my $100+ down the drain. I’ll have my lawyers draft up another letter soon, but it won’t be so nice this time.
So, here’s a recap. I put my order in on November 27th. It has now been 3 months! My birthday gift turned into a xmas gift, turned into an invisible gift, turned into hobby tron stealing my money. If you’re thinking about ordering, please don’t. It’s a roll of the dice if you’ll get your product or not, and it’s not worth it. trust me.
UPDATE: 3/20/2009:
I still have NOT received my gun!
UPDATE: 4/27/2009:
I still have NOT received my gun! Yep, I got an e-mail from Nicole (nicolehobbytron@gmail.com) – she said the manufacturer does not have it in stock and it will ship out once they get the item in stock. I find it hard to believe that it could take THIS LONG! I also checked the website, and they are STILL SELLING THE GUN!
Who knows?
~~~~~~~~~~
In the meantime, I did some digging on this company. The internet is such a powerful place if you know how to search. I realize that I am not the only one who has had problems with these people. This has to stop. Here’s what I have found so far.
Clips I found from the ePinions.com review (1.5 or 5 stars):
“I have been trying repeatedly since December 14, 2006, to resolve an issue with Hobbytron and have yet to reach a human being or to receive a response to my telephone calls, postal service letters or e-mails.”
“Hobbytron–STAY AWAY!! Unethical–One Of My Worst Shopping Experiences EVER!!!”
“Look Elsewhere – These People are Disgraceful, Deceitful, and Avoid Responsibility to Customers”
“AVOID THIS TRAP AT ALL COSTS”
(95 Reviews Total)
—-
+hobbytron +scam google search returns 1520 results!
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“BUYER BEWARE – DO NOT BUY HERE!”
“Do not buy from this company!”
“”HOBBYTRON? More like HOBBY WRONG”
—-
“Is hobbytron.com a fraud?”
—-
“Hobbytron.com Withdrawing money from my account and not sending the merchandise San Fernando California”
“Ordered mid-November. Was on backorder . A week before Christmas recieved replacemnt item that was definitely a broken returned item. You cannot contact them- emailed 10 times, 1 fax and 1 letter. Left 2 phone messages to be called back and never received a call from them nor can you get past the constant busy signal.Finally called Credit card company to issue a dispute.
They still advertise the model I wanted on their web site- don’t know why they couldn’t send that to me. Very very disappointed with this merchant.”
As you can see, I should have done more research on this company before I bought anything. Now that I am doing it, here’s what I found just by reviewing their Policies:
HobbyTron.com guarantees that you will get a new working product(s) or you can return the product(s) for repair or replacement. Color, frequency, and packaging may vary. Occasionally items run out or are discontinued from a specific manufacturer. We reserve the right to send items of equivalent function in order to fill your order in a timely manner.
WOW, if they don’t have the item, they ship you something else! Isn’t that great. So in theory, if you order a $200 airplane from them, they could replace that with a folded paper airplane instead because it has the equivalent function? They both fly right?
In some cases, such as during the rush before Christmas, we reserve the right to upgrade your order to an item(s) that is completely different but that is lots of fun – hand picked by our experts to get you a fun gift in a timely manner. If you are unhappy with the exchanged or upgraded item, you can return it unopened per the usual policies.
OH OH, completely different but lots of fun? WTH does that mean? What do they consider upgrading? I ordered a $80 gun, they shipped me a $30 equivalent.
Isn’t this a complete joke?
Want to see even more interesting things?
Hobbytron.Com Sued for Distributing Dangerous Knock-Offs
Excerpt:
7, 2007–Hong Kong-based Silverlit Toys Manufactory Ltd., an acknowledged leader in the development and manufacturing of safe, high-quality electronic toys, and Spin Master Ltd, Silverlit’s North American distribution partner and owner of the well known Air Hogs(TM) brand of flying toys, have jointly sued Absolute Toy Marketing, Inc., a Utah corporation d.b.a.
Hobbytron.com for importing and distributing counterfeit PicooZ(TM) remote control (RC) helicopters.
Apparently they were sued for selling counterfeit parts! Wow, they may be the next replica rolex watch creator!
Counterfeiters Take a Shot at the Replica Gun Market
Excerpt:
Minneapolis, MN, July 9, 2007: The owner of the internet retail shop Hobbytron was arrested Monday, June 27th. Mr. Tim Gibson was arrested in Orem, Utah and arraigned in Jasper, Indiana on three counts of Forgery IC 35-43-5-2 and three counts of Theft IC 35-43-4-2(a).
Apparently they were selling counterfeit merchandise.
If you have anything else to add, please post a comment or let me know.
I just LOVE a good comment
OK, so its been a while since I’ve posted, and for good reason too. The main reason being that I really don’t want to waste any more of my time telling you how bad the hobbytron service is and why their product quality sucks. I think there are many more reviews on other websites that will tell you the exact same thing.
On a lighter note though, I did get some very nice comments from the people at hobbytron.com
These comments were added by some “anonymous” person posting bogus information, but they really put in some nice reviews. I wonder if this will help my SEO any? Anyways, on to the nice comments:
First Comment:
Submitted on 2010/03/18 at 10:44am
By: Norma N.B.221@yahoo.com (obviously fake)
IP: 63.110.148.26
“I LOVE HOBBYTRON.COM!!!!!!!”
Second Comment:
Submitted on 2010/03/18 at 10:37am
By: Mikey mike3214@yahoo.com (obviously fake too)
IP: 63.110.148.26
“I always was able to speak to someone one at hobbytron.com. Even live chat! I fully trust this company! ive been a customer for 3 years now!!!”
Third Comment:
Submitted on 2010/03/18 at 9:00am
By: RYAN RYAN21@yahoo.com (still fake)
IP: 63.110.148.26
“I LOVE HOBBYTRON!!!!!!!!!!! THEY ROCK!!! STOP LIEING!!”
Ok, so I would just like to point out a few things:
1. The IP address, 63.110.148.26 – Could you be any more obvious? Seriously, we all know toyriffic is the same thing as hobbytron. Who are you trying to fool? Use an anonymous proxy next time!
2. The Comments… Now I’m not an english major, nor am I someone who is able to use a lot of colorful words in my daily life, but i DO know that “LIEING” is not a correct word. Shouldn’t it be LYING?
3. I think it’s pathetic that you need to come on my site and post such things. Instead of wasting your time posting bogus comments on my site, how about you do everyone a favor and start paying more attention to your customers. The time you spent posting these three posts could have been better used towards building better relationships with your customers as well providing everyone with the excellent customer service we deserve. Start by taking a better look at your internal policies and processes and find out why so many people are still searching “is hobbytron a scam” and pulling up my website. Your company still has a rating of “F” on the LA BBB and it seems as though you are still selling everyone low quality items and providing horrible customer service.
Start making a change today!