Customer service at "The other guys"

[Bill Gaylord]

I don't know all the details, but with what Penn Valley charges, I would first expect them to deal with the issue for me. It's just my opinion, but I believe that part of paying a top dollar distributor, is to not be told that I have to deal with the manufacturer for all CS issues. Dave Niedzelski or EB models is about as much of a dedicated free flighter with the Flying Aces as they come, and well liked. I'm sure that's why they took care of your issue. I believe Penn Valley is selling kits that the owner has collected from various places, over the years, as well as direct from the manufacturers. That is different that a distributor that acquires them only, and directly from the manufacturers. Manufacturers simply can't support missing items in second hand sales. While I have no idea if it is the case, it appears that EB models did send the plans, albeit that it took a few days. That is different from stories I have heard about Dumas, where they would just flat out blow you off, in missing/defective item reports.

[SteveM]

Thanks for posting you experiences David. Some may claim it's not typical or you should have dealt with PVHC, but in my experience you're always dealing with the manufacturer regardless where you buy and it is the sum of individual experiences that determine if they have good support or not. Having you provide photos for an item you say is missing is pointless unless it is for a part that is frequently mistakenly reported as missing, but if that were the case EB should be proactive and have their own photo to send to the customer of what is in the kit, put a note in the box, or have a website of parts and pictures like Guillow's has. Still, there is no excuse for saying you'll do something on a certain date then not doing it till several days later, if you're busy just say so and the customer will understand.

In the past I've called Guillow's to request a replacement canopy and had it arrive in a timely fashion. I've also e-mailed Dumas with a photo of a defective engine cowl on a Thursday and had the new cowl in hand on the following Monday. I've not had cause to deal with EB customer support yet, mostly because I don't like their kits and the way the models look, once you sacrifice too much detail and accuracy in the name of flight the models all start to look the same to me.

[Xanadu]

Not rolled.............aaargggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...........

[mustangman]

Interesting story on your delema about the plans. This should be a interesting build!I have often wondered why guillows never released a kit of this Plane! Are you going to post pics on here or because its a guillows site no? Mark

[granpa]

Please post them

[sawingman]

I love to watch your builds and always learn something useful that I can use for building Guillow kits. My vote is to please post.