Al B.

***EDIT: Latest deceptive business practice... Dropped from 3 to 1 star only because there it no option for any less!

HK last week introduced "FREE ECONOMY SHIPPING from our International warehouse on orders over US$150."

Sounds good right?

But... They jacked up the price of everything at the Int. Warehouse! The Int. Warehouse prior to the promotion, for around the 10 to 20% less than regional stores. Check it now, everything is dearer at the Int. Warehouse. The Turnigy G46 Brushless Outrunner 550kv is AU68.00 at the AU warehouse and AU86.71 at the Int. Warehouse! One model is $90 dearer at Int. Than the AU where prior to free shipping $20 cheaper at the Int. They have whacked on $110AUD!

This sort of bollocks is store wide!

It's like the marketing team comprises a dozen or so Nigerian princes if you know what I mean, hardly oozing credibility.

END EDIT***

2.5 years ago HK was reasonably good however CS has never been good. The main problem apart from CS is what I see as deceptive business practices and I am a little perplexed as to how they get away with it particularly here in Australia as we have laws do deal with this sort of issue. Some examples; The May Day sale that HK held was a farce. They fairly heavily discounted a range of products however the products would often end up costing more in reality because they would limit postal options to the most expensive. One PNP model (EPO Flybaby) was $55AUD off and yet the only postal option saw it actually $29 more than presale! I had bought it the week before. Postal gouging. I have half a dozen support tickets requesting a refund for postal costs when I had paid for premium delivery which was then sent via the budget option. I gave up on this issue after a long, frustrating bout with CS and use the budget option now. Postage is a rort full stop. Phantom flying wing as example. From HK's AU warehouse postage is AU153.28 and yet in their EBAY store post is AU $22.17! Both sites are AU warehouse and both claiming to be delivered by AusPost eParcel Basic! The AU $22.17 is the delivery cost of most models from HK's ebay store and yet you can get no where near this price at HK's AU warehouse. Ridiculous! The HobbyKing lottery? Wow, not even sure this business practice is legal in most jurisdictions! The lottery ran on bonus points. 1 point (US$1) was required to enter. Products would be allegedly won when the timer ran out, however, if the product had not earned enough in entries the product draw was cancelled and the bonus point returned. Sounds cool. But... I saw many products clock up 200 to 300% of their store listed price and then get cancelled. Products that accumulated more than this were indeed won, sometimes reaching 400 to 500% of their listed price. Not a bad scam aye? Anyway, I could go on but 3 stars for HK is being generous. About the only thing I buy there now is SK3 motors, Plush ESC, Tunigy servos and batteries which really can't be beaten for value. I swear by them!