Unhappy Horizon customer

squidger

Junior Member
I have bought alot of horizon products in the past including DX6i DX7 DX8 radios. Eflight mcx msr msrx mcpx blade sr ultra micro beast ultra micro sbach ultra micro extra 300 Carbon Z Yak 54 etc etc.

Recently I bought a blade 130x. It has got to be the worse put together heli I have ever owned. The parts are really cheap. Horizon Hobbies have had a record number of returns of these helis. If you google 130x problems you will be reading reports all night. It seems Horizon have sold these expecting the public to test them whilst paying for the privilege. I emailed Horizon telling them of my problems and explaining that I didn't expect to pay £170 for a heli then have to pay another £70 for upgrades just to get it to fly like it should have out of the box. I have had to change just about every bearing due to very poor quality. The whole tail end is now aftermarket as the original was absolutely useless due to cheap and nasty parts. Bearings would collapse after one flight. Tail blades would shear off in normal flight regularly and the tail vibration was horrendous. All the drive gears had a lifespan of maybe 2 flights untill I upgraded to metal gears. I never actually had a trouble free flight till after I had upgraded it all and indeed it is now a sweet flying heli.

Horizon replied after some time with this.


I have read your email with a great deal of regret, I can assure you that Horizon Hobby takes a great deal of pride in all its products and carriers out a great deal of testing and R&D work before releasing any product onto the market.
If we have any doubt then the launch would be delayed until the issue was rectified, we would never knowingly release a product with issue’s, when the occasional product develops an issue after launch then we will and do anything necessary to solve the issue and correct the problem, our reputation for quality products and the after service back up we give is second to none in the RC industry.

We have heard of issues with the Blade 130 and received a number of service returns, some we can trace to flight induced issues such as crashes and others obviously appear to be faulty from new in which case we have repaired or replaced under warranty.

Although the numbers are higher than normal they have not been outrageously excessive so we have been dealing with them on a one to one basis to the satisfaction of the customer involved.

It is very obvious from the list of kit that you have that you have been a loyal and happy customer and user of Horizon products up until this point so it disappoints me greatly that this should have happened to you. If there is anything we can do to help you please do not hesitate to contact us.





As you can see there is no mention of a proposed solution. No mention of my expensive outlay to sort the problem etc.

I will not be buying any more Horizon products. I would rather spend my money on quality goods with good customer support. Something that I have not received from Horizon Hobbies.


Not Impressed.
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
That's really bad - they are usually known for taking good care of their customers, but this seems a lot different... Is it possible that they are taking the HobbyKing road with some products?
 

squidger

Junior Member
Don't know what the problem is but with this attitude they are going to lose custom.I have in the past spent thousands on their products if you tally up the price of everything. They won't be getting any more of my money with this sort of customer care that's for sure.
 

Ak Flyer

Fly the wings off
Mentor
Wow, this is very disappointing. I've always had such good service from them that I buy their products in large part due to the service. I've never had those sorts of problems with any of their products either. I certainly hope that this is isolated to one model and not an indicator of what's to come from them.
 

justemailme

Junior Member
I have to say that I am quite satisfied with that reply from HH. I am an owner of many of the products you listed including the 130X. They have replaced anything I've asked for within reason.
 

Ak Flyer

Fly the wings off
Mentor
Well, they admit there's a problem but don't make any offer of help, this is of course without seeing his original letter to HH. At least they replied, most of the time Hobbyking doesn't even reply when I have questions.
 

squidger

Junior Member
Justemailme you seem to be one of very few satisfied customers ref the 130x. See here https://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&out...pw.r_qf.&fp=bd66c17f7055854b&biw=1600&bih=909


Here is my original mail to them for those who would like to see it.
Dear Sir/Madam

I purchased one of your Blade 130x Helis from my local model shop after a long wait since your initial adverts were broadcast. I was really looking forward to obtaining a long awaited full 3d capable brushless cp heli in this size to hone my flying skills. First a bit of background so you are aware that I am not a first time modeler with limited flying/technical skills. I am a licenced Aircraft Engineer working for a major British airline. A modeller of some 25 years or so and amongst my collection of models I have

Blade msrx
Blade mcpx
Blade sr
Spektrum dx6i
Spektrum dx7
Spektrum dx8

19 fixed wing models of all genres including one of your Carbon Z Yaks.

I am one of our model club trainers and as such am a competent flyer in all disciplines.

It would seem that you have decided to forego the usual R and D stage with the 130x in favour of letting the public buy the heli and beta test it for you while charging them for the privilege. I have had mine for less than a month and up to now a flight without failure is a very rare occurrence. I have not crashed it as is usual with helis.These failures are due to very poor quality components. To date I have gone through several bevel gears, the main blade grips had stripped threads out of the box but due to the length of the screws I have remedied that by using lock nuts. Tail rotor blades shear off in stable flight for no reason. Tail rotor pitch sliders brake at an alarming rate for no apparent reason and if you google the 130x you will find that this is the story for most 130x owners. Indeed I don’t know how you are coping with the amount of returns you have had. I have finally got mine sorted and it is the beautiful flying full 3d capable brushless heli it should have been out of the box.

To get to this stage I have had to change just about every bearing, Replaced all bevel gears (the main one upgraded to metal). Replaced the tail rotor blades, blade holders , shaft and pitch slider for upgraded items.

The tail vibration which you say is normal and should just be accelerated through is not present on mine anymore as I no longer have 2mm of fore/aft play in the main tail drive shaft due to poor quality bearings.Also not having this play has stopped bevel gear wear.
Mine actually came back to you with a tail hold fault and your engineer returned it with new bevel gear fitted which is when I noticed the 2mm play in the tail drive shaft. He had to remove and refit this shaft to replace the bevel gear so why he didn’t notice the completely collapsed bearing is beyond me.

To say that I am a not pleased would be a gross understatement. I don’t expect to pay £170 for a micro heli and then have to fork out another £70 odd to get it to fly properly.

I think you should seriously review whatever R&D process you are currently using and assuming you want future customers stop using inferior components while charging top prices for your products.

I for one will not be ploughing any of my hard earned cash into any more of your products unless there is a marked improvement in the quality.

Yours Totally Unimpressed.

A.J.Reed.
 

Ak Flyer

Fly the wings off
Mentor
I'm getting a vibe from your letter that's giving me the impression that you are in some way displeased?
 

squidger

Junior Member
Quick update. I said in an earlier post that my local hobby shop had sold 8 of these and returned 6 with problems. I was at the flying field this morning and found out that the 2 remaining have been returned for a refund so that's 100% have gone back. At least theres an element of consistency there.
 

Aces_High

Member
It is very obvious from the list of kit that you have that you have been a loyal and happy customer and user of Horizon products up until this point so it disappoints me greatly that this should have happened to you. If there is anything we can do to help you please do not hesitate to contact us.


Am I the only one that read that sentence? Unless I'm misinterpreting what they're saying, they just asked you what you what you'd like to do to fix it. I'd ask them for a gift certificate equal to the monetary cost of parts required to replace the items that broke. That's just me though, and I'm probably reading too much into it.