"Warning of RC-Timer" or "Why you shouldn't buy from far east cloners"

As many others, I have bought some "clone products" from RC-timer in the past, simply because some stuff is pretty cheap there. Now, I got the bill for that and learned that paying less often means paying double.

Earlier this year, I bought two MinimOSD clones from RC-Timer. One went to my copter and the other for the moment into storage for another project. Several weeks later, I took the second OSD out of storage to use in my new project and I found that it was not working. The Arduino IDE kept reporting connection errors and I even couldn't flash a new bootloader with an original Atmel AVR USBISP Mk II and the original Atmel IDE.

I emailed RC-Timer on 22JUL13, and their "Jane" emailed me back on 23JUL13, saying that I should send the OSD back to them and providing a return address.

I sent the item back after returning from a trip on 09AUG13 via registered airmail ($17 from Finland to China) and informed RC-Timer via email. "Jane" was answering that they will get back to me as soon as it arrived.

According to the tracking system (see here), the shipment arrived on 18AUG13. When I didn't hear from RC-Timer until 07SEP13, I sent another email to them, requesting status information. To that email, I never received any reply.

On 20SEP13, I again sent an email to RC-Timer, demanding a status information. Again, I did not receive any reply.

In my opinion, this behavior constitutes fraud. I will, for sure, never order at RC-Timer again and I write this blog post as an intense warning to the community about RC-Timer and to think twice before ordering from far east "cloners".

Opposite to this case, I once had the problem with the serial multiplex chip being fried by a dying ESC on my (original 3DR) APM 2.5. After posting about the problem in the DIYD forum, I was contacted by Rogelio of the 3DR support team and he sent me a new automux chip for my APM for free. No product costs, no shipping costs!

Now you decide... Do you want to save a few dollars when buying the stuff and be left totally alone or pay return shipping for nothing if something goes wrong? Or is it wiser in the long run to pay a few dollars more for your stuff and receive great support?

My choice for the future is pretty clear!

Hi,

I have bought all of my flight controller stuff to date from DIYDrones but everything else comes from HobbyKing. I have to look for best value for money when I can. My next APM2.5 is likely to be from HobbyKing since, in over $8000 of orders, I have only had two or three minor issues that I can put down to the "Chinese Effect". Providing you stick to mainstream, quality control from Chinese manufacturers has improved over the last couple of years as has the customer support.

We benefit from lower prices with Chinese goods because labour costs are so much lower and entrepreneurial companies such as HobbyKing have recognised this market opportunity.

On the other hand, when I buy from a USA supplier it is possible I will receive a better product at a higher price but not necessarily, even 3DR propose to outsource their manufacturing to countries with lower labour costs such as Mexico. Also living in Europe, I still get stuffed by the massive postage charges from USPS or get forced to use delivery by Fedex, which although quick is not cheap.

Finally, I would hazard a guess that most of the PC/Laptops/Mobiles we are writing these posts on are made in China.

Don't even get me started on Apple or Microsoft products.

Alan

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AlanGP October 13, 2013 at 7:14am

Hi,

I have bought all of my flight controller stuff to date from DIYDrones but everything else comes from HobbyKing. I have to look for best value for money when I can. My next APM2.5 is likely to be from HobbyKing since, in over $8000 of orders, I have only had two or three minor issues that I can put down to the "Chinese Effect". Providing you stick to mainstream, quality control from Chinese manufacturers has improved over the last couple of years as has the customer support.

We benefit from lower prices with Chinese goods because labour costs are so much lower and entrepreneurial companies such as HobbyKing have recognised this market opportunity.

On the other hand, when I buy from a USA supplier it is possible I will receive a better product at a higher price but not necessarily, even 3DR propose to outsource their manufacturing to countries with lower labour costs such as Mexico. Also living in Europe, I still get stuffed by the massive postage charges from USPS or get forced to use delivery by Fedex, which although quick is not cheap.

Finally, I would hazard a guess that most of the PC/Laptops/Mobiles we are writing these posts on are made in China.

Don't even get me started on Apple or Microsoft products.

Alan
Stefan Gofferje October 13, 2013 at 5:12am

@Jason:

Are there? On RC Groups there is a pretty long thread and a few shorter ones on RC Timer too... Especially regarding similar issues where their support suddenly stopped answering when people ACTUALLY sent stuff back to them after being requested to do so.
Jason Wise October 13, 2013 at 5:07am

Ive had zero issues with RCtimer....in with them over $2k, spent $12k with Hobbyking had 1 power supply fault had to send it back for a refund, spent $300 odd with 3dr robotics....had some wrong size screws supplied in which was promptly fixed

Moral of the story is? doesn't matter what you spend, people are still people, money is still money, just because you spend more doesn't mean you get better service...there are many 'post's out there with people spending big on brands and still getting a raw deal on service

If your post is for the purpose of scaring people off from RCtimer....your dreaming, there are more satisfied buyers out there then there are dissatisfied

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