I would strongly caution anyone against buying RC vehicles from HobbyTown in Lubbock.
I was genuinely excited when HobbyTown opened in Lubbock. I have been coming here for years, spent plenty of money here, and never had a serious issue until this experience.
Yesterday, I bought a $189.99 RC car. As soon as I opened the box, a plastic trim piece fell off. That alone should have told me something was wrong, but I tried to give the product the benefit of the doubt and figured I could glue it back on.
I got the car set up, ran it for about five minutes, and immediately realized it was nowhere near the quality I expected for almost $200. It felt cheap, disappointing, and honestly not worth anywhere close to what they are charging for it. I have seen RC cars online for a fraction of the price that seem better built than this one.
The next day, less than 24 hours after buying it, I brought it back and explained what happened. I was told by the RC manager that they do not accept returns on opened packages. He said they might be able to buy it back as a used car, which at least made me think they were going to try to work with me.
Then he offered me $50.
That tells me everything I need to know. HobbyTown is comfortable selling this RC car for $189.99, but after five minutes of use, they apparently think it is only worth $50. The wheels had very light scuffing from being used briefly, and the only real issue was the plastic piece that fell off immediately after opening it. This was not something I abused, crashed, or used for days. I bought it, opened it, had a piece fall off, tried it briefly, and brought it back the very next day.
The customer service made the situation even worse. I left the store feeling like my concern was brushed off and that the staff had no interest in making the situation right. I later called and asked to speak with the general manager. Instead of simply transferring me or taking a message, I was questioned about why I needed to speak with them. When I said I wanted to explain it directly to the manager, I was told they had been having issues with phone calls and needed to know what it was about first.
When I finally spoke with someone, she did not give me her name, did not offer a real solution, and came across as completely uninterested in helping. At no point did I feel like anyone cared that a longtime customer had just spent nearly $200 on a product that had an issue right out of the box.
I understand return policies exist. What I do not understand is hiding behind a policy when a customer brings back an expensive item the very next day after a part fell off immediately. That is not good customer service. That is not how you build trust. And that is definitely not how you keep people coming back.
This experience completely changed how I view this store. I went from being excited to support HobbyTown in Lubbock to feeling like I wasted almost $200 and was treated like a problem for bringing up a legitimate issue.
Be extremely careful buying anything expensive here, especially RC products. Once you open the box, it seems like you are on your own read more
