Hobbyking Sydney Store

Well that blows big time.

Why can't the 'Carringbar Sydney HK Store Front' simply import the radios direct from Horizon without going through Dawn Trading or O'Reilly Model Products or whoever normally imports them, even if have import them under Trumpy'sname?

Sure sounds like the ACCC should be contacted, however from whatever I see on the Current Affairs TV shows, the ACCC always seems to a toothless tiger.

Not that bothers me that much more anyway, I'm over Spektrum garbage crashing my planes for me and now use Turnigy 9X's modified with FrSky Telemetry gear.

B!

"Spektrum World HQ" is Horizon Hobbies , who are the ones that got miffed at HK China selling their stuff too cheap and withdrew supply and seem intent on retailing their products only thru those who sell them at the approved markup of however many 100's of percent .

Its called Brand Scalability, where a product is only sold at a high price to reinforce to a customer that its value is high , and therefore must be better than others , in reality it means you pay $300 for something that could be sold for 1/10th of that , "Just 'Cos we can"

Horizon started out by not warranteeing any radio bought in a country other than where the owner resided , and when that didnt work refused to wholesale to those who would sell it for less than RRP .

From the Spektrum page

"This warranty is limited to the original Purchaser ("Purchaser") and is not transferable. REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT AS PROVIDED UNDER THIS WARRANTY IS THE EXCLUSIVE REMEDY OF THE PURCHASER. This warranty covers only those Products purchased from an authorized Horizon dealer. Third party transactions are not covered by this warranty. Proof of purchase is required for warranty claims. Further, Horizon reserves the right to change or modify this warranty without notice and disclaims all other warranties, express or implied. "

So unless its sold by one of their distributors you dont get a warranty

They were smart and sold their radios built into packages and reinforced their exclusivity in that way too , so if something malfunctioned the Average Buyer would have to return to them , or their planes/helis/whatever were useless

Good on Horizon for protecting their product !
However not so many kudos for charging like a wounded bull for something they arent .


Edited by trumpy - 03/Sep/2011 at 10:02am

The old school bullies are pushing their customers into the waiting arms of Hobby King. Let Horizon shoot it'self in the foot I say. I will not be losing any sleep about not buying overpriced products.

From another thread , but thought it needed posting here too

Originally posted by trumpy Funnily enough I had an online chat with "Someone " in the last few days . The big 4 model distributors are giving the HK franchisers a bit of a hard time regarding supplying their products to HK storefronts ( see Hobbyking Sydney thread for an example) The bloody wholesalers who whine about cheap imports are blacklisting and refusing to supply a LHS simply because it is franchised as a HK Store . Is there no end to their cheek and wanting to keep the pot all to themselves , they would rather cut off their nose than compete fairly in a hobby shop that dares to ally itself with HK Shame Shame Shame !!! edit Sydneysiders, if you can , pop into HK Caringbah , give them the support their very industry seems to want to deny them Same with HK Perth at Joondaloop Hobbies , get behind them and let them know we appreciate them breaking the stranglehold we have all unknowingly had placed on us for years by the wholesalers ( blackmailers)

On the note of transmitters, are the HK Storefronts displaying & selling the 9X and other low-cost radio kits?
I've talked to many people (in NZ, can't be too different in aus) who would love to get into the hobby but are put off by the massive cost of brand-name radio gear. I can imagine a decent full radio system for under $100 would entice a number of people into the hobby.

And I just noticed there is now a Hobbyking Auckland in the storefront list! Exciting! Glad to see there are LHS's that have some sense :)