3DRobotics Customer Support is horrible

Posted by William Burkert on July 10, 2013 at 2:22am

I bought 24 steel screws, waited a week and received 24 nylon screws.

I bought four black prop adapters, the mailing label was printed on day two but then it was not handed off to the USPS for four weeks.  I inquired, and got the lovely 'we'll respond in three days".  Then my order arrived three days later, no notice or status update from 3DRobotics.  Then I prepare for the motor assembly, worked my way through three and the fourth adapter came with the wrong shaft.  WTF?

So I contact 3DRobotics and get the "we'll respond in three days", shoot I expect my parts in three days since the order was way overdue.  Still haven't heard from 3DRobotics yet.  I contact Chris@3DR and get told to contact the Help.

After contacting the CEO of 3DRobotics and not getting this escalated, I realize 3DR doesn't care, they get my money and why should they care about poor customer service. 

Buyer Beware

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Replies

  • Euan Ramsay July 10, 2013 at 5:34am
    Update: Turns out I was wrong. The USPS option has been removed, so the *minimum* price I pay for shipment to Switzerland is now $47.

    $47...for a $1.75 cable.
  • Euan Ramsay July 10, 2013 at 4:58am
    Lol - if I'm trolling Shannon, then you are definitely shilling. Niagra gushes less.

    For me, it is not unreasonable to expect 3DR to offer similar shipping rates to their competitors - Hobbyking and Jdrones being two I now use. I now only retail with 3DR when I *have to* - such as for a new APM. However, there are now clones on the market, and even if the price and quality is identical (it won't be, don't worry!), the shipping is FREE. That makes the clone immediately $38 cheaper. That's not small beer.

    I would like to buy originals from 3DR wherever possible - I do have some loyalty after all, But simply cant when the shipping cost - even for a higher ticket item such as a full APM kit - is 15% of the price of the goods. For a cable, the shipping is 1,000% of the value of the goods!

    This is not a petty or irrelevant concern; it is a very real barrier to my retailing with 3DR, and I suspect I am not alone. I do not have infinite financial resource to not have to worry about shipping costs being factored into the purchase price.

    And you'll note that I did actually defend them with some aspects of their service - I'm being entirely objective about this.
  • Shannon Morrisey July 10, 2013 at 4:12am

    I have had the exact opposite experience and am pretty sure you guys are just trolls with unreasonable expectations & irrelevant petty concerns for things that are bound to occur with any e-commerce enterprise to a certain extent....especially with smaller companies dealing with a large volume of skus.

    Compared to similar electronics businesses, 3DR service & support is quite impressive in my experience - if you consider the DIYDrone support element, you could say that 3DR probably has the most comprehensive and advanced customer support on the planet for any industry or product.

     I have been buying from them since late '09 and never once had a problem that was not addressed promptly and professionally.  I haven't placed an order in the last 4 or 5 mos, so unless something drastic has changed recently, I have to VEHEMENTLY disagree with you all. VEHEMENTLY!

  • Euan Ramsay July 10, 2013 at 3:22am
    I've emailed a few times re: their postage costs.

    It's a flat rate $38 (minimum price!) to send *anything* to Switzerland. A 10cm DF13 cable...an APM...it's all the same.

    When I complain, they just give a generic answer "We can't change our postage costs".

    So far I have worked out they have lost $460 worth of orders from me this year, purely down to their unwillingness to even look into their postage costs, and their inability to stock resellers quickly.

    They say they can't change them, but I can send the same cable in an A6 padded envelope for $2.58 via normal post...

    In their defence they do get back to me in the 3 day timeframe, and they were responsive (and selected the fastest postage option) when they forgot to send me an DF13 cable in an APM order.
    costs.it
  • John Ellenberger July 10, 2013 at 2:44am

    Yes a pretty common theme.  I could post a couple of stories which are even worse but unfortunately it won't change anything (and it would just bring back bad memories).  They have been dysfunctional for as long as I have been dealing with them which is at least 2.5 years.  My favorite moment was when I was going back and forth with a "support" person to figure out how many of the parts from my $500 kit were missing (there was no official parts list in the directions online, the kit itself, etc.).  The woman answering the switch said, "I don't know how to transfer you...could you just call back on his extension?  What is it?"  "I think its xxxx" and so on....

    Unfortunately they have a pretty unique product which is why things don't change.

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