My first attempts to order through HK was an epic disaster that resulted in fraud alerts shutting down two of my credit cards. It took me almost a week to PLACE the order (did not have a PayPal account). It took another week for HK to SHIP the order. Once shipped, I got my stuff 12 days later.
Posts looking for HK alternatives are numerous on this forum. If it wasn't for the KK2 (which they are sold out of today been on the mail list for 2 weeks) I would never look at HK again having found better options locally.
IMO, HK has three HUGE advantages.
1. You can find what you want on their web site. I have never seen a better hobby website. They are almost as good as Newegg at making it easy to find what you need.
2. Prices. Hard to compete with China state labor.
3. KK2. It is the simplest, least expensive way to get in the air.
Fortunately, we are starting to see some competition. Hopefully, this will get us better service from HK and lower prices domestically.
If you have to order from HK, use the local warehouse whenever possible. Always use PayPal to screen your credit card. Never order anything expensive (customer service is high comedy at HK) or politically vulnerable (like Lipo batteries) from the Hong Kong warehouse.
Search this forum for alternatives. I found 7 or 8 options just on this forum alone. Amazon may result in orders that take weeks to get here from China, but Amazon customer service is FAR better than HK if something goes wrong. If push comes to shove, Amazon.com.
I live in Colorado so I advocate for RCFoam and my very favorite
AltitudeHobbies. I personally shop both for my builds first and HK last.