Yes, another thread about a horrible experience with ordering from 3DRobotics. I placed an order on the 28th of March, the website indicated that everything ordered was in stock. After numerous emails to customer service I am being given the same run-around that I have seen in threads on this subject spread all over various forums for the last year or so. "Having problems with our order fulfilment system" "Oh it will be shipped no later than Wednesday, the 8th" and then the pure gold one the last one I received "We do not have an ETA for when your order will ship."
So you may be asking yourself, hey Steve if there is so many threads about this why must you post another one and waste our time reading the same crap someone else is ranting about?? Well let me tell you why - in every case of someone posting a thread or tweeting about having problems, they are instantly getting help from someone at 3DR. So I will be tweeting, posting on facebook, and wherever else I think of because as sad as it is that is the only way I am going to get good customer service from 3DR.
So how about it, 3DR, is Vu Tran available to help me as he has clearly helped others in this situation with some REAL information on what is going on? Please contact me!
:)
Cheers.
Replies
Guys,
I am happy to say that this problem has been rectified as of today, thanks to Mr. Vu Tran on acknowledging the problem and immediately doing something about it the moment he became aware. I regret that it had to come down to making this post, and I have faith that 3DR will have these hiccups sorted out shortly.
After being in contact with Mr. Tran I can say I will definitely do business with 3DR again. It is as simple as admitting mistakes were made and doing something about it, and he came through on that 100%.
Thanks again to all who read this, and as for the others who have placed orders, if you have not been contacted by Mr. Tran already, you may consider sending him a message.
Steve
Hi Steve,
I'm really sorry it had to come to this. I'm sorry for putting you in a situation where you had to explain yourself and your situation. That is not the support that 3DR usually runs. We implemented a new inventory, accounting, and order fulfillment system in April and all has not gone smoothly. Please know that what you're experiencing is absolutely not the norm. Please send me an email, Vu@3dr.com, with your order number and I will give you a full update. Again, I apologize for the delay and for putting you in this situation.
I have placed several order through the website with no issue. Each order shipped within the 5 day window of being placed.
That includes an IRIS+ and several parts and kits like an FPV.
I placed my last order the last week in February for delivery on March 3 and the product showed up on March 4th.
I fear they are in full blown SOLO mode franticly building them to fill the sales channels as this is not a build to order mode.
I have to say that I have ordered copters and parts from 3DR several times, and have never had any of the problems that you describe.
I think that we see a disproportional number of complaints.
Most folks who get their orders in a normal amount of time do not post about the experience, while those who are not happy are very quick to tell the world of their misery.
Please do not be so quick to conclude that 3DR is not trying to fill orders as fast as possible.
I suggest that you try ordering over the phone rather than the web if you are having problems, so that you can get instant feedback and help from a live human being.
I have no doubt that they really want to help.
In fact I have tried to call them, many, many times. I have not one single time talked to anyone. As I just stated in the post that you replied to I end up on hold for around a minute at which point a recording comes on and informs me that the best way to contact them is by email, or call back during opening hours (which I was most certainly calling during) and then I am hung up on. Good luck to anyone trying to call them on the phone.
And the reason I think that this is a bit ridiculous is because of the range of excuses and reasons I have been given. First I was told that there was a backorder and my order would ship on the 8th of April. I was then told that FedEx had been given my shipment information, and to wait for FedEx email for tracking. After that I was told they actually had no ETA for international shipments to start. Sounds to me like they should maybe not be accepting orders until they rectify these problems.
I don't have any doubt either that they really do want to ship me my order, but holding my money hostage basically for over a month with nothing but false promises and excuses, and a difficult to reach support department really makes me feel like they don't care as much as you figure they do.
I have contacted support about my order 7 or 8 times now by email, and I have tried calling for days and days on end without an answer. While I appreciate your optimism, Jon, I was optimistic for the first month, and now I am just plain fed up and to be honest I think I might just cancel my order and never look back.
Thanks for the reply :)
Hi Steve,
I'd like to resolve your issue. Please email me, vu@3dr.com, and I will get your situation sorted out. I'm ashamed that it's taken over a month thus far and you still have no idea about your order nor have any confidence in us.
Hey guys, sorry to hear that there are more of you out there having similar problems. If I log in to the 3DR website, and go to my account page, my order shows as ready to ship but waiting for payment, they have my credit card number. I still have had no correspondence with them since I was told they had no ETA for shipments to resume. This was after I was already told by two other people that my shipment was already submitted to FedEx and I should "just wait for the fedex email".
I have all but given up on trying to call them on the phone, after being on hold for 60 seconds or so waiting for someone to pick up the line and help out, the call is simply ended after being told the opening hours of the business and that the best way to contact them is by email.
So to answer your question I have no idea what the best way to cancel is, I guess the only way we really have right now is to send an email and wait 4-5 days for a reply.
Utterly hopeless.
I am considering just ordering a clone that is APM compatible at this point and just saying forget about dealing with 3DR, as in ever.
To recap, my order was placed on March 28th, it is now May 3rd as of this post, and I have been given every excuse in the book within the minimal amount of contact I was able to establish with the company.
It doesn't really matter to me what the company's track record is in the past, all I know is that I would be completely ashamed of the state that this place is in if I were Mr. Anderson. Clearly money talks, and my $373 or so just doesn't qualify me to even be acknowledged, let alone be provided any real support whatsoever. Guess you have to buy an Iris or pre-order a Solo and fork over thousands of dollars to get the time of day from these clowns.
Steve
I am in the same boat as well. Their newly launched website and support is much less than desired. After placing my order and everything ready to go...backordered.
Hi UAV_Enthusiast,
I'm sorry about that. We're having issues with our inventory system at the moment. There's a high probability that your items are in stock and is reflected incorrectly on your account. Please send me an email, Vu@3dr.com, and let me find out the specifics about your order.
Hi Steve,
After reading your post, I partly blame myself for not googling around before making my Pixhawk order with 3DR and am dreading that now after reading your post. I only placed my order a few days ago and am already having negative thoughts after reading all these negative support issues people are having with 3DR.
I am in the same boat as you as I needed the parts that I ordered in a certain time frame so double checked that all the items were in stock as mentioned on the 3DR store and proceeded to purchase them. Guess what I saw after completing my purchase? A lovely Backorder status on my order.
I have emailed support to ask which exact item(s) is on backorder and when I can expect my items to ship out since I payed for express shipping to Australia but I'm now worried I will never hear back from them since even calling them seems to be fruitless.
Frustrating first order and really hope I hear back from someone in the next few days. Really starting to question their "world class support" they mention on their support page.
Good luck with your order and hope there is a positive outcome from all of this for the both of us and for anyone else that's having a hard time getting their orders sorted. Do let me know if you get any updates :)
Cheers