"Stay Away from" companies.

[thislonelyplanet]

Not intending to be negative, but reecent repeated bad luck instances have pushed me to seek an online "bad business, terrible products" resource to know what aftermarket companies to steer clear of and to see if my experience with current companies in that group are isolated or a common enough thing.
Is there a NON Facebook community that provides this option.

 

[urumomo]

https://www.scalemodeladdict.com/threads/internet-hobbies-llc.13872/

 

[Jim62]

Here is a couple of tips, if they don't have a phone number to contact them but only email, don't use them. Also check the BBB and see if they have any complaints before using any company you aren't familiar with. No guarantee there will be a rating but if they have a bad track record, chances are good they will. Other than that find a couple of places you can trust and stick with them. I don't do aftermarket so I can't recommend based on that but I do internet business with Spruebrothers and Hobbylinc and have no complaints about those two. Hobbylinc is a bit slower to ship, but I never order anything I need immediately. As Urumomo posted, Internet Hobbies is a no no and from what I've read they operate under several names.

 

[urumomo]

I don't think a phone number is good litmus .
Are you going to share which vendors you've had issues with , @thislonelyplanet ?

I highly recommend https://www.scalehobbyist.com/index.php
And they give no phone contact info
The few times I've emailed them . they answered almost instantly and that was late Friday night and a Saturday evening with 2 of those instances .

 

[the Baron]

I don't think a phone number is good litmus ...

Case in point-Internet Hobbies has a phone number. Call it to complain, and you're liable to get cussed out, as many of the posts around the web can attest. Physical location is also no guarantee-again, Internet Hobbies has a physical location.

Besides seeing lists posted here or on other forums, I strongly recommend doing a web search on any vendor, before you place your orders. A good search will turn up info across various forums, but also, and especially in the case of disreputable vendors, links to posts at consumer protection websites, like the Better Business Bureau, and posts to the various state law enforcement agencies, like state attorney general offices, etc.

 

[plastickjunkie]

Not intending to be negative, but reecent repeated bad luck instances have pushed me to seek an online "bad business, terrible products" resource to know what aftermarket companies to steer clear of and to see if my experience with current companies in that group are isolated or a common enough thing.
Is there a NON Facebook community that provides this option.

Simple way is to Google the company for reviews and complaints. The BBB ratings are also very helpful. Like buying on EBay you research the seller feedback to avoid an issue.

 

[the Baron]

An update on Internet Hobbies...
Our current governor, Josh Shapiro, was our attorney general before he ran for governor in 2020. During his last term as AG, he filed a suit against IH's owners, for fraud. I'm not sure where the suit is at this point, but it shut down the business, in all its various aliases.