Dissapointed with Flight Test and thier "support"

[Shovelhead]

I am very new to the Flight Test community and purchased my first plane a couple weeks ago. The arrow has been fun and inspired me to dive in further. I spontaneously ordered a Kraken to put on shelf for a future project. I followed that by ordering several more components and planes.

The Kraken has failed to arrive. It is lost in some crazy shipping limbo and UPS/USPS have no idea where it is. I am just told to contact the shipper so they can work it out with UPS. That would be great, but Flight Test support is nowhere to be found. I have submitted multiple support requests through the web forms and made multiple calls through the direct line. No response from FT staff. Nobody but a robot answering calls.

My frustration and disappointment is not centered so much around not receiving the product I ordered. It is mostly in the idea that I had a very positive view of FT and their staff. I didn't mind paying a few bucks more for a product I could get elsewhere, because I thought I was providing an appreciated bit of support to their endeavors. Apparently, I was wrong.

I made a couple purchases from FT before realizing their customer support was MIA. I am hoping all those planes and equipment show up as intended. As for the $95 spent on the Kraken, I will contact the credit card company. I am sure their support will respond.

!!! UPDATE: It appears FT has been working hard on their end to fix this. It turns out my email provider is not receiving emails specifically from their support staff and or automated response system. Purchase confirmations and order status emails do come through, but support correspondence does not. I have checked spam and verified FT domains are in the allow list, but it looks to be a higher level issues with Hotmail.
Three primary things lead to this:
1. Email system not delivering FT support emails.
2. Carrier would only respond to inquiry from FT.
3. My impatience.

!!! :UPDATE The FT crew got me taken car of. Once we were able to get some solid communication, they got a new kit out to me. They were not super fast in resending the shipment, but I believe that had more to do with them being out winning trophies than anything else. I now have my Kraken kit and am outlining my new build.

I would like to note that through the process it was difficult to get clarification and direction on how to address the shipping issues. I understand this to be a situation that combined bad timing for the FT crew along with a technical issue within Hotmail. Though our communication was spotty, they were polite, professional and made sure the issue was resolved.

 

[TexMechsRobot]

What a frustrating story :-(

I'll say that some of the best customer service I've gotten came from Jill at Flite Test. I accidentally ordered the wrong battery (a 4s instead of the 3s that I needed) and they paid for the shipping of the 4s back to them, paid for the shipping of the 3s to me, and refunded the difference in the retail cost. And I didn't ask for any of the monetary compensation. She always responded to emails (even though the answers were really short and to the point which leads me to believe that she answers a lot of them) and was helpful beyond what was necessary.

My story doesn't help your current situation but I wanted to share a good story so you wouldn't give up on them just yet. I too support them with buying speed build kits that I could scratch build mostly because I want to support what they do and stand for.

I hope your situation gets resolved in a satisfactory manner and that you have better experiences with them in the future.

 

[Shovelhead]

What a frustrating story :-(

My story doesn't help your current situation but I wanted to share a good story so you wouldn't give up on them just yet. I too support them with buying speed build kits that I could scratch build mostly because I want to support what they do and stand for.

I hope your situation gets resolved in a satisfactory manner and that you have better experiences with them in the future.

I appreciate you sharing your positive experience. I have seen a lot of positive feedback and that was one of the reasons I jumped in so quickly. Word of mouth brought me in the door, but the experience hasn't help up to expectation. I like to think there is a reasonable explanation.

I hope I am contacted by tomorrow so a resolution can be made. Otherwise, there will be no future experiences with the FT store.

 

[kevparang]

I hope you good luck, did it work?

 

[baronbernie]

Hang in there friend, Flite Test has always been honest and fair with me. Do you think that your disappointment could be better directed at the delivery people and not at Flite Test? Flite Test did what they needed to do and now it is up to the delivery people to do theirs.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Looking at the history of this CS ticket...

You posted your questions on the 11th, at 4:06 pm.

Jim Bixler (yeah, Josh's brother) replied at 4:22 pm.

He then again tried to reply to you at 11:57 the following day.

Apparently UPS which was shipping the item, is transferring it to USPS for local delivery. He included the UPS tracking number, as well as the USPS tracking number that will be assigned to the package when USPS takes over.

Check your spam folder to see if it was accidentally filtered by your email system.

-Fred

 

[hbb3367]

Flite Test Customer service

I feel your frustration dude...waiting for your next build to arrive... I have purchased dozens of planes from FliteTest...and the few orders I had trouble with, Jim Bixler personally handled to my satisfaction. I find them to be very responsive and accommodating. I am sure they will do the same for you in time.

Just finished this one today...

Happy Flying,
jack

 

[Shovelhead]

Looking at the history of this CS ticket...

You posted your questions on the 11th, at 4:06 pm.

Jim Bixler (yeah, Josh's brother) replied at 4:22 pm.

He then again tried to reply to you at 11:57 the following day.

Apparently UPS which was shipping the item, is transferring it to USPS for local delivery. He included the UPS tracking number, as well as the USPS tracking number that will be assigned to the package when USPS takes over.

Check your spam folder to see if it was accidentally filtered by your email system.

-Fred

I cannot find any responses in reference to the lost order. I have some notifications for the other orders though. One specifically came in on the 11th at 10am.

Your response at least lets me know someone is alive and listening. I like to think somewhere we have a communication issue or missing information.

I have UPS and USPS tracking information from the order. The package shows going to Ft Worth, then it stops. A tracking number is provided for USPS, but USPS site shows the number as "Not Found". The shipping companies say they cannot provide the information and I have to contact FT.

I will send additional contact info in hopes that someone can get ahold of me directly.

 

[kevparang]

If you really do not like FliteTest just do not buy from them, just hopefully you get your money or the plane kit.

 

[Shovelhead]

If you really do not like FliteTest just do not buy from them, just hopefully you get your money or the plane kit.

That has never been my opinion or goal. I like FT for their concepts and community development. I would not expect to stop supporting FT unless there was no final resolution. It appears the problem has been a communication failure during the support request. I do not know if the requests are going through with bad information or if their support responses are not getting back to me. I have tried to provide alternative contact information in hopes we can bridge the gap.

I received another one of my orders today. It showed up well packed and on time. Unfortunately, it was not the Kraken I had order prior.

We were finally able to get UPS to open an investigation without the shipper submitting the request. We are waiting for UPS to determine if the package made it to USPS. UPS shows a tracking number for USPS, but there are no USPS records for the package. UPS said they would contact us and the shipper when they make a determination. This was my major hurdle as I couldn't get UPS to open the case without FT. Then I couldn't get a response from FT so they could open the case (not that it wasn't sent, just not received).

UPDATE: I just submitted a new support request using alternative contact information. Sure enough, I got an automated email response from FT support. I had not received this response previously. So, the email account I was originally using for the support requests is not accepting the emails from FT. This seems really strange as the purchase confirmations and order status updates do come through and they appear to have the same domain name. I have verified they are not going to my spam filter and I added and allow for the domain.
Now I just hope they are not sick of seeing my support submissions and respond to the new email.

 

[mjmccarron]

I'm sure they will get this resolved for you. Remember, they just finished Flitbfest 2016. Things may be a bit backed up and hectic right now. They are truly a class act and as honest as you could ever find. I'm not sure why you are experiencing a communication issue but I guess that happens now and then. To err is human, to really mess things up you must use a computer.

Best of luck,
Mike

 

[PsyBorg]

I too have had excellent relations with FT support. I think they have been the best support staff I have ever had to interact with so far.

That said I have had orders from Amazon that were sent UPS then transferred to the USPS and got delayed. Its the USPS that drops the ball and then when they finally DO update the tracking info they blame it on the shipper dropping it off to late and tack on another day or two before you get to see your package.

Be patient I am sure it will show up soon.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

I'm sure they will get this resolved for you. Remember, they just finished Flitbfest 2016. Things may be a bit backed up and hectic right now. They are truly a class act and as honest as you could ever find. I'm not sure why you are experiencing a communication issue but I guess that happens now and then. To err is human, to really mess things up you must use a computer.

Best of luck,
Mike

From what I can see, Ohio is doing everything they can, from Ohio.

The package was shipped, and as Shovelhead has pointed out, the tracking information shows it was sent, and has arrived in state. Jim, who is in charge of shipping issues is handling it, and has tried to reach Shovelhead, but for whatever reason the messages haven't reached him.

I understand the frustration. But I must say every time someone creates one of these threads because they don't feel their situation was handled the way they wanted, I get frustrated too.

If someone can create an account to call out Flite Test, they could have tried reaching them through a forum moderator. I'm one of them, and I also help with customer service. If I can't fix the issue, I can put the person in contact with the one who can.

On that note...

Two of the most involved customer support people are Jen and Jim Bixler. BIXLER! Josh has his wife, and brother as the people you are taking your concerns to. If that doesn't say volumes about how important customer service is to Flite Test, then I don't know what would.

 

[Jugsy]

You need to be a bit patient with support, a lot of people make their first purchase after watching earlier videos, and forget that the scale of the whole Flitetest "thing" has blown up from a niche Youtube community to a global RC phenomenon. Josh and Jen cutting and packing in a back room in those early videos has now grown to fully staffed warehouses serving countless orders. I might have to wait an extra 12-24 hours for support these days but I still get the friendly, generous responses I always have!

As Flying Monkey mentioned, this is a really connected community, you can get behind the scenes information and assistance through the forums, the facebook, and the IRC chat linked in my signature. A conversation is always a better response than a rant

 

[Shovelhead]

I understand the frustration. But I must say every time someone creates one of these threads because they don't feel their situation was handled the way they wanted, I get frustrated too.

If someone can create an account to call out Flite Test, they could have tried reaching them through a forum moderator. I'm one of them, and I also help with customer service. If I can't fix the issue, I can put the person in contact with the one who can.

On that note...

Two of the most involved customer support people are Jen and Jim Bixler. BIXLER! Josh has his wife, and brother as the people you are taking your concerns to. If that doesn't say volumes about how important customer service is to Flite Test, then I don't know what would.

As Flying Monkey mentioned, this is a really connected community, you can get behind the scenes information and assistance through the forums, the facebook, and the IRC chat linked in my signature. A conversation is always a better response than a rant

I understand and I appreciate what you both are saying. I have not doubt it can be frustrating. It would have been great to have had this understanding and perspective a few days ago. Being new to FT and really only familiar with the store, the alternative communication methods and contacts are not that obvious. Allow me to provide some outside perspective.

• The FT site, forums and store appear to be separate. The store and forums both require separate accounts.(I am sure the commerce portion is entirely separate and uses different accounts for security purposes)
• The FT main site links easily to the store, but doesn't seem to link back. Even the store site map fails to make this connection.
• The store provides support links to fill out a form or call. Not much more than that. No reference to any other support or contact methods
• Looking through forum topics, there is a section called Testing and Support. Under that is Site Suggestions/Complaints.

As I said, I am new to FT and really only been involved as far as purchasing speed build kits and supplies. The communication and connections may not be as obvious as it is to more seasoned members. I wasn't getting a response so I went to the forum. Nothing obvious for contacting FT or where to get more info so I lobbed one into the complaints section. If there was something more relative to the store, support or shipping, I would have been in there reading.

This is not to point fingers or assign blame. It is to provide an outside perspective and point out things that may help to prevent the same issue in the future. Of coarse my scenario stemmed from a communication failure, but you mentioned this kind of "rant" thing has happened before.

I am confident my issue is being addressed and I would like to chalk this situation up to experience. I updated my original post to note the email and carrier issues. Hopefully, it will be useful to someone else. Maybe it could be moved to the new "Store Support and Questions" section.

Thanks for following up on the support issue and helping to bridge the communication.

 

[Balu]

Pro tip from an email server administrator: Don't use Microsoft email services like Hotmail, Live, etc.

Mails just vanish over there all the time. I had students miss important deadlines (like ultimately terminating their academic studies important) because they forwarded their mails to Hotmail mailboxes. Our servers are not on any anti-spam lists, the MS servers reply with a positive status and therefore my systems log a successfull delivery. Still mail doesn't reach the recipients or can be found in some kind of spam folder. They are just gone.

And there's no way to contact anyone to check what's going on or even solve these issues.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Thanks Balu! I shared this with the Robert who does IT for FT. He's looking into it.

 

[Tumbleweed]

Not to be directed at FT

I ordered some plans form a web sight and 2 weeks went by, I called pay pal and they called provider, he said he mailed them and didn't know what happened, so he mailed second set, well I got second set on time, and a week later a completely mutilated USPS package shows up, now I have one to look at and one to cut up. HOPEFULLY you will get u our soon.

 

[Shovelhead]

The FT crew got me taken car of. Once we were able to get some solid communication, they got a new kit out to me. They were not super fast in resending the shipment, but I believe that had more to do with them being out winning trophies than anything else. I now have my Kraken kit and am outlining my new build.

I would like to note that through the process it was difficult to get clarification and direction on how to address the shipping issues. I understand this to be a situation that combined bad timing for the FT crew along with a technical issue within Hotmail. Though our communication was spotty, they were polite, professional and made sure the issue was resolved.

 

[PsyBorg]

Pro tip from an email server administrator: Don't use Microsoft email services like Hotmail, Live, etc.

Mails just vanish over there all the time.

Its that whole contract of Microsoft with the NSA for screening. They take them to read and never put them back.