HobbyKing

Another absolute shambles from. HobbyKing. I ordered a gloster gladiator ,paid with PayPal. 10 days later after chasing up the plane was despatch from Australia warehouse. Arrived crushed , damaged and parts missing. Not lost parts , they hadn't been included. A month later , still waiting for missing parts to be despatched. Hopeless. H,K. are hopeless uncaring in dealing with their mistakes.

yep esc – hi all bought a yep esc stuck in heli mode and cell count showing 4 s with 5 s pack impossible to program from trans needs program card now both come from over sea's one from hong kong and card from USA postage for a $12 card is over $40 !! no mention of needing one when purhasing esc you would expect both to be kept in the same werehouse not… Read more

opposite sides of the world if there vital for setting up as renders esc useless un less i want to spend $60 + for a progrom card that will only be used once sent 2 messeges to feed back dept no reply they then sent a product review which i sent same concerns no reply could have got a better esc for less dollers from local model shop had i known thought re boot of hobby king would be an improvement yeet too be convinced

Do not trust this company – If I could give this negative 5 stars I would. I purchased a plane from Hobby King and it was delivered with damage to the cowling. The box it was delivered in had zero damage so the damage must have occurred in packing. I filed a claim on 12/5 that was changed to "approved" status on 12/6. I have reached out on numerous occasions only to receive… Read more

responses such as "part has been ordered", have ordered the part from the manufacturer", etc, etc. As of today, 12/31 no response to a part being shipped. Interestingly enough, I was able to order the cowling AT MY EXPENSE yet, Hobby King, even though the part has been in stock, still has not responded to my inquiry about a shipping date. This is not my first negative experience with Hobby King but you can absolutely be certain that it will be my last. Be very careful dealing with this company. Most planes are NOT in stock. MOST replacement parts are NOT in stock and the customer service is lacking at best.

Excellent Customer Service and Assistance – I recently ordered 3 batteries from HobbyKing, however when they arrived 2 of the batteries were missing and the packaging was damaged. I was initially a bit concerned as I had seen a few negative reviews on this site with many complaining about poor customer service and support. However, when I inquired about the issue, they were quick to respond… Read more

and immediately offered a resolution and were willing to send me a brand-new replacement without any charge for both of the missing batteries. This was great customer service, and I would definitely recommend and use again.

Sad to hear, but a good sign of current state of economy and two decades of world wide depression in its incubation – Being a regular customer for the last 12 years with a "Platinum" medal, LOL, I never had any cmplaints about their service, and I have found delivery excellent over the years which ever way, PO or Fastways. My only comment, the cost of items was becomming riddiculous and lack of everything I was after in recent times.

I've had great service here – I am very sorry to hear of Hobbyking's closure of the Aussie warehouse. I have been ordering here for ten years, probably at least one decent sized order a year, and have always had great service. I wonder how many other people did too. Human condition is to complain, not praise, so who knows how representative this sample of reviews is. The best… Read more

value motors and batteries available on the planet. I loved this company. Oh well, all too late now, they're pulling the pin.

Hobbyking garbage – Stay closing permanently my advice seriously been absolute nightmare every time ya order anything the drama begins no improvements what so ever shame on CEO and company management

Unsable, don't buy – Purchased batteries and received items completely different from product description. Rude customer service would only process it as normal return which means store credit and I am responsible for return shipping. Store credits are useless when I plan on never ordering from the place and they would not guarantee the next item I receive would not be defective. Things are cheap for a reason here, they are often junk. Never buy from this place.

Unable to complete my order to the restarted Australian Warehouse – On ordering a Plug and Fly model plus two batteries, I proceeded to the checkout where a message stated "there are no available shipping options for THE AUSTRALIAN WAREHOUSE". It will not allow me to pass that message and the 'Payment' icon is in shadow. Despite this, they continue to remind me I have left something behind. What is going on?

Bad review update – Further to my review of 5 months ago, nearly a year down the track and after a few messages with hobby king asking me to “wait” for my purchase, it’s obviously this group is a scam. Had a good dealing with the Australian warehouse initially, but that’s now closed and I’ve been waiting nearly a year for my plane wheels from the Asian warehouse.… Read more

Obviously they don’t make wheels anymore because they are “so hard to manufacture” and Australia is “so” far away. It was ok to take my money and give nothing in return. Please, anyone considering buying from this company, don’t. They should be shut down. Don’t help fund these group of thieves. I don’t care if it costs me double, next time I will support a local supplier. Apologies if I’ve used “aggressive” language as that’s not allowed in reviews, but rip people off? that’s totally fine. I hope I save someone from the same mistake I made.

Extremely poor quality and bad customer service – They only care about profits. Absolutely no customer service. Would give minus zero stars if I could. To say they are terrible, is being kind

Hobby King closing Au warehouse – Wanted to order 4 lipos at about $30 each. Not available in Australia warehouse any more as it's closing. HK wanted over $200 for postage from the global warehouse. Bye bye Hobby King in Australia. Will buy my lipos from chnl.

Dismal – My partner ordered and paid for several Orange RX recievers off the Australia website. Items showed as on back order and expected in stock at end of month (aprox 2-3weeks time from order date) items were paid for and order processed, after several weeks on checking status the new expected delivery time was unknown. We waited 3 months and after… Read more

contacting HK chasing the order they explained that stock would soon be available and asked we simply wait a little longer. After waiting HK were contacted yet again and responded that there was no eta on said stock and offered us to either wait longer or refund. We requested HK replace the order with similar stock on hand, which was reasonable. The response came back that this was not possible. A refund was granted and we were told this would take a week to show in our account. A week later no refund and on contacting HK they said to simply wait a little longer and the refund would soon show in our account. That night confirmation was given that HK had processed the refund and it would show in our account in a week - what a joke! Nothing but delays and taking customers money without providing any goods. Can’t even refund promptly. Constant delay tactics. Serious amount of cash spent with them but not anymore. Will avoid from now on and purchase goods elsewhere.

Back and just as bad – First they shut their UK sites, and require UK residents to buy from HK not from Europe with all the ridiculous time abd postage that costs, now they are shutting their Australian site as well. Their fine of over $2 million in the states could have been avoided if they actually abided by US regs. Those of use requiring spares etc now have to deal… Read more

with HK. I for one will be abandoning HB before the go completely into liquidation.

2025 so they are back in Australia in theory. Still no spares stock or popular planes.

Used to be pretty good but now...? – Well, HobbyKing AU is closing down. I just found out yesterday. It's a shame but it's really their own fault; just read some of the other reviews posted here to see why. I've been dealing with them for at least 12 years and they used to be great...lots of interesting planes and really good deals. Of course the Aussie buck was very strong back then… Read more

which kept prices low and in all 12 years the only product that didn't work out of the box was a HobbyKing brand 60 amp ESC. But now there is very little that interests me. They still offer those stupid flying fish models that they haven't been able to sell for the last 10 years but the variety of years gone by is long past. I still use them for motors, ESCs, servos, etc. because I've gone back to scratch building planes with plans downloaded from Outerzone.co.uk. With regards to shipping, don't specify Fastways as they're a joke. It took them a month to deliver an order to Perth. Australia Post is four times quicker and about the same price. Anyway, that's a moot point now with them closing shop. So if you still want something you'd better act fast...and good luck getting it in good shape because there won't be any returns or refunds for sure anymore.

Don’t use Aramex shipping option – Ordered from AU warehouse to Perth WA, estimated shipping time 3-10days. It’s been 34days now and I still don’t have it. Support say Aramex are having delays and it’s out their hands. Aramex support say they don’t know when it will be delivered due to staff shortage. Ordered a different part via Aus post and it arrived in 4 days no problem. Hobbyking Aramex option still say 3-10days on the website. Poor form.

What happened to the service – HobbyKing used to be so good but now have dropped the ball, poor stocks and very slow to ship from the Australian warehouse, 5 days just to ship, looks like I won't be using them again ☹️

ORDER Placed Sept. 2021 and STILL not delivered **%$%%^$*^ – I placed various order's on 1st & 2nd Sept. 2021 over US$2,000 and my orders arrived in New Zealand and got stuck. I tried to contact the freighter SEKO Logistics and they would not talk to me and said you need to go through HK. Well for over 3 months I have tried to do this but to no avail nobody really wants to deal with this ........ wow this… Read more

is a worldwide company that really only wants your money with once it leaves the warehouse that's it!!!!! I have been with HK for over 6 years and no problems, well little ones and they were sorted but these ...... well what can I say :( :(

Best Plane Yet – HobbyKing Support, Your Avois Albatross 1620mm is a most attractive model seaplane. It arrived on time and in good order. Easy to assemble and did a perfect takeoff on the maiden flight. Handling is excellent, and landings are too easy with the full flaps extended. Installed dummy radial engines and replaced the 30A ESC's with YEP 80A… Read more

ones to avoid overheating, removed the waster rudder & servo as I have differential thrust, and installed two 17g elevator servos for redundancy. Currently enjoying flying from our turf runway and looking forward to first flights from water.

Your new version 2 with Coast Guard color scheme is even more stunning!

Robert Loganholme Aeromodellers

Hopeless – Placed my first and last order and paid via PayPal which I do a dozen times a month with on-line orders. Somehow my email address ended up as the delivery address so now they want a second delivery fee to re-address. ZERO Chance of that so they can just refund and never get another order. Customer service was horrible and they just don't care. Buy anywhere but here regardless of price

Help yourself and stay away from them – I hate to write negative reviews, BUT this one deserve it. I purchased a sequencer for landing gear. After very long time waiting, it arrived faulty. I ask them for replacement, after several emails, videos and photos, they decided to replace. And another very long waiting , nothing came. They said the item out of stock once I asked PayPal for help. Please help yourself and stay away from them. Hope this review help someone.

Courier only picks up orders ONCE A WEEK!!!?? – Hobby King in Australia has Fastaway couriers as a freight option but doesn't mention the small fact that they only pick up items ONCE A WEEK (ON THURSDAYS!!?). Would be nice to know this so you can choose an alternative......Annoyed to find this out after waiting for my orders for more than a week!!!

In stock but won't ship the item – Found the item I wanted, but it's only available from the Hong Kong warehouse. Having gone through registration rignarole they tell me there's no way to ship it to Australia.

expensive shipping, poor product, bad customer service – expensive shipping,poor product quality. price is expensive and shipping price is rocket high. Product return process is a pain and no guarantee. I bought 10 drones of which 2 are broken, got the credit refunded, used credit to buy a powerbank and were sent a second hand clearly used powerbank with parts missing. Terrible and will never buy form them again.

Expensive postage and international parcel get lost – I have tried to be a supporter of local hobby store although experience can be a mixed bag - depending on who serves you and whether you need to do anything out of the norm. Best to stick to process 100%. So of late I have tried to make use of online hobby shops like HobbyKing. What I discovered is that a good deal of items such as tools, plugs,… Read more

etc are not available onshore. Instead of charging one shipment, this automatically means two purchases hence two shipping fees. For simplicity, the local and international shipping fees are the same which is somewhat ridiculous. Anyway, perhaps it is expedited local shipping service and lower grade international shipping service being used.

What was really sad though is the international shipment never arrived. Well, perhaps it will eventually, it has been exactly 70 days so far. Therefore, I dare not buy anything not available onshore. Thanks to HobbyKing, I have good reasons to continue to support local hobby stores.

One star off for expensive (or double) postage fee, another star off for losing international parcel. Pretty lenient, right?!

The worst in the world – This is the worst company in the hobbie, you guys are disgraceful, I bought a $79 dollar 4s turnigy battery, it worked for 3 months, and cell 1 dies, and they refused to offer any exchange, or credit or anything. Hobbie King does not adhere to any consumer law, and does not look after their consumers. Hobbie King does not care on our global hobbie that is over 100 years old.

Careless – Been using HK well over 10 years and must say it has been good in the beginning but slowly got worse....now avoid like hell.....rip off, poor quality, no service, expencive postage and poor stocklevels.

Best online hobby shop out there – I am a long term customer of Hobby King - I have been shopping with them for around 8 years and have made more than 40 orders. Everything has always arrived as promised. I have not had to return anything, and if a small part breaks I would write it off anyway because the prices are so cheap. I have purchased around 10 planes (mostly durafly) and I… Read more

love them. I had a faulty servo in one Durafly model but I just replaced it easily myself. I have tried a few of their RC cars and the quality was disappointing, but the planes, helis and quads are great.

Hobby King has made this hobby affordable once again. It wasn't that long ago that servos cost $30 each (Futaba 3001 - bottom of the range) and receivers were $100. At Hobby King you can get comparable servos for around $7 and receivers (compatible with the big brand transmitters) are less than $30. I really hope they don't go out of business.

Bad service – Bad service. I recently bought a Turnigy TGY remote control, web page was priced in Aus$ when i proceeded through to pay for this item, Hobby King changed the price to US$ then converted back to Aus$ and the price went up by $4. I know this is not a large amount but when done to every transaction there is a large RIP OFF to all customers, Postage… Read more

has been so slow 12 days up to now across Australia!!!! i have purchased large items {motorbike exhaust} from USA and they were delivered in 9 days. Take notice of the other post regarding this company do not buy from Hobby King pay a little more for customer service.

Should be closed down. Their refund policies are criminal – I bought a hobbyking skysword off this site because their youtube videos were captivating and pretty much sold me. I must admit I was regretfully hasty. I've been in the hobby industry for 8 years now and really know my stuff so take it from me when you read this. NEVER BUY OFF HOBBYKING!! I received my skysword along with 2 6s lipo batteries. I… Read more

was really excited to get it up in the air. I assembled it. Assigned the channels on my sanwa sd10g transmitter and powered it up. Immediately 3 servos failed. 1 of the elevator servos was stripped indicating that it was a plastic gear servo. Now who would make a high performance 6s jet using plastic gear servos let alone poor quality servos??!!. I also noticed that the servos were warped indicating that they were of very poor quality. I went to put in a claim through hobbyking and it required photos to proceed with the claim. Problem is the pics had to be under 2mb. Wth?!! A pic that takes 2mb of data is around 2 megapixels. I have nothing that is that poor in image quality so I escalate a claim through paypal. Hobbyking agreed to give give a refund if I sent the plane and lipos to their head office in Hong Kong within 5 days of this email!!! For starters it is illegal to send lipos via airmail and the box was over 105cm so it would cost me a fortune in ocean shipping which would never make it to Hong Kong in 5 days!! On top of that. It's illegal to send lipos overseas!! Now the warehouse it was sent from is 28 Shelley Rd Moruya NSW. Obviously these bloody crooks do their best to make it very hard for you to exercise your rights as a consumer. I must admit. I shouldn't of headed the warnings people gave me about these dodgy fools. NEVER EVER AGAIN. NEVER EVER EVER BUY FROM THESE GRONKS!!! God knows i never will again. Btw. The owner is Australian.