Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

Hello community. This is going to be a half venting, half question thread. I pulled the trigger on a new Bully 2 kit, ordered it through Tower Hobbies. Got it quick and in good shape, as always from Tower Hobbies. I opened it up and started going through the kit. Right off the bat, I noticed an M3X6 screw missing from a wheel. No biggie, it's just a screw.

Step 1 of the build, one of the 40mm long chassis brace is stripped. The first piece I grab is stripped... I immediately email RC4WD customer support about my missing/defective parts.

I figured I'd skim through the build manual and assemble what I could while I wait for a response from RC4WD. So I start on the links. As I'm working on those, I notice the rear lower links are not bent uniform. They aren't even the same lengths! Wtf? Seriously, the first 3 things I try to work on on this kit are messed up. At this point, I'm fairly annoyed. So I email RC4WD customer support a second time and tell them my lower rear links are not conducive of good geometry or easy set up.

A week goes by with no response so I do what the website says to do if I get no response and try to get contact them directly through their website. 48 hrs later and still no response. At this point, I figure I'm going to get stuck either running the off kilter links or drop $70 on an aftermarket set.

I was more than enthused to buy and receive what I assumed would be one of the better factory crawlers. At $450+, this kit should be on par with my Tekno kit in terms of quality. Or if not, at least have customer service shore up any issues with said kit. I was wrong on both points. Anybody have any suggestions? I've noticed sometimes that someone from RC4WD will answer threads here so I guess I'm hoping to get this noticed.

I was very polite in all 3 messages and sent pictures with the emails. I haven't soured on this yet but there is no way I'd recommend RC4WD to anybody after this experience. Any advice would be appreciated.

End rant.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

First off rc4wd stuff is shyte.


Second call tower, they work really hard to get issues resolved. I had the same experience with a beast kit. Tower made sure I got the replacement and missing parts.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

Sad to read that..
Also, make sure you take the axles apart and make sure the bearing are the correct size.
They are known for coming with wrong bearings that cause instant damage.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

I haven't tried contacting Tower Hobbies yet. I figured they'd tell me they just sell the kit, not warranty it. I guess that will be my next step. Thanks for the heads up on that. And yes, I knew about the bearing issue and have a Fast Eddy bearing kit here ready to go. Thanks again and I'll post how things go with Tower Hobbies. I've always had great experiences with them so I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

Sorry to hear you had such a crappy experience. I can appreciate how frustrating that can be. I bought an early release Axial Builders kit that had several pieces missing. It is a pain in the ass having to spend your time sorting that stuff out.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

Tower has customer relations specialists or something like that. I have gotten several calls from them asking how my kit was and if I need assistance.


I would be willing to be that if you told them you are getting no response they will help you make it right.


Call them up and explain your issues and see if they can help you.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

Update: I just got off the phone with Tower Hobbies... Their solution was to return the kit at no cost to me for a full refund. They said since they have no RC4WD replacement parts in stock, there was nothing they could do. So I guess I'm at an impass. I've purchased all the guts for the build plus a Fast Eddy bearing kit but do I want to support RC4WD after this? I understand mistakes happen and I've been very polite in all my emails but if they can't even bother to respond to me, let alone fix the problem, then why should I support them? I'm torn at this point.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

The missing screw and stripped chassis brace is an easy fix, I can deal with that (even though at the price of the kit, I really shouldn't have to).

The rear links is what has me irked. How easy are they to bend? Is it even possible? I have zero experience trying to bend titanium. If I can bend them a little bit to make them a little more uniform, I can probably make the lengths work. One is maybe 2-3 mm longer than the other. I can work the lengths with the rod ends but I'd like a little more uniform in the bends.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

This is the truth.

As you are experiencing, RC4WD products are really low quality. Their customer service is hit and miss. I had crap luck with it, but others will claim it's great. I'm hesitant to believe that though since I've read so many others having issues with their customer service. I personally went online (LinkedIn is a very valuable tool) to find a higher up at RC4WD so I could contact him to get my issues resolved. Sad, but true.

No, you don't want to support RC4WD if they aren't supporting you.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

I bought some parts for a Trail Finder 2...have issues, get to emailing, told they knew there was an issue with that upgrade (spring hanger relocation for the front) and refunded me. Yay.

Few months go by, they email me saying they want to send me the new version of the spring hanger kit free of charge. Great, verified my address. Though, wow that is really cool of them.

That was in October...

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

Update #2

I took my links over to a machinist friend and we got them bent pretty much uniform, very happy about that. And with that, I'm going to continue with the build.

RC4WD will no longer get any of my money. Any thing I purchase for either of my Bullies (I have a used Bully and this new Bully 2) will be from 3rd parties. And I'm going to steer my brother away from them as he was thinking about picking up a new kit. In this age of technology, with all the different ways to communicate, for a company to not even respond to a customer is utter garbage. I will speak out against them any chance I get.

Having said that, how are some of the other MOA axles on the market? I almost bought some Berg axles before I pulled the trigger on this Bully 2.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

Imported Chinese junk. And not the boat kind. ;-)

Hope you enjoy the finished rig. I was contemplating one of their scaler rigs (Defender D90) and then went the other way with a Bomber. I actually like running them more than the scale aspect. [shrug]

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

Minoa
I am sorry for the issues you are having. Please PM me your email address so I can check our support system to see find out what happened.

John

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

You should have done berg V1. They can be built from nothing with 100% bombproof parts.

Dluxfab.com is THE source for all things berg. More money but they're set it and forget it axles that will take a beating and come back for more.


Samu Sarka just won worlds with a bully but the dude can drive so he could have won with an exceed moa. :lol: The rig dont make the driver.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

So I thought to myself 'naw they can't be THAT bad', so I thought I would mount up my new Rally Wheels from RC4WD. I have mounted up every brand of tire and wheel, various combinations, proline, pitbull, SSD, LockedUp, chinese VP knockoffs, stock and CI foams - these have to be THE most fiddly wheels I've ever seen. Every time I would tighten the two halves down together one of the beads would pop out - stock vaterra TSL's. I thought if I couldn't get them to seat I would have to try them with a different tire.

These have scale 'lug nuts' that hold the wheel together. They supply a 2.5mm hex tool that sticks on the screws and falls off the hex wrench no matter which side is which. Beyond annoying. Spare yourself the trouble and just get a proper socket tool for these.

I finally used some 303 as a lube to get the beads to seat, and got them together, but not sure if they'll hold under use.
I cannot recommend these wheels AT ALL. Go with SSD, you get product that actually works. Even the chanquish stuff works better than these.

They LOOK great though! :mrgreen:

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

Update #3 After Rckcrwlr responded to my thread, the next day, someone from RC4WD customer support emailed me back. After many polite (15+) emails back and forth, they agreed to replace everything I had issue with, no questions asked. Obviously they offered to throw in a t-shirt for my trouble. I actually asked if I could get an extra battery tray instead of the shirt, which he had no problem doing for me. If I had known it was going to be that easy, I would have asked for knuckle weights instead! Haha

So after all the back and forth, customer support actually said they would be sending me an addition "gift" package. At first I thought it would just be Merch. But why would they send it in another package? Why not just throw a t-shirt and stickers in the same box as my replacement parts?

Could I be so lucky as to get a free kit of some sort?

Is RC4WD going to go way above and beyond in making things right with a customer?

Should I go out and buy a lottery ticket today?

Should I lay off the marijuana?

I'll update again when I get my parts and mystery gift package.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

One minor note - taken from RPP Hobbies product description of the stock Vaterra Ascender TSL Super Swamper tires:


** NOTE Beads are very thick and will be very hard to mount in various bead lock wheels. Shown mounted in a set of Gear Head EZ-Loc wheels (NOT INCLUDED). Size mounted on Gear Head 1.9 EZ-Loc Wheels is 4.55" Tall x 1.69" Wide.

That said, I have managed to mount mine (after boiling/baking them off the stock wheels) onto a set of Injora cheapo beadlocks...;-)

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

They went on but not sure they'll stay on. No problem on ssd's or alloys.
Oh well, my new Pitbull wheels aren't mounting either, with VP VTX tires.

EDIT: went to test drive my Axial Blazer and the rear axle wouldn't turn - the hub screws hang up on the axle bearing cap screws. So the hexes are too deep. I had to find a washer that would fit in between the axle hex and the wheel hex. Oh my. [shrug]
I'm not buying anymore of their parts, and sure not a scaler either. Oh well.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

Of course they did, because we publically shamed that POS company. You think they wanted this thread sitting out there without some type of oh they took care of me in the end.


It shouldn't have to be that way. The whole reason they dont have a phone line is so they can pick and choose what they answer.

Re: Unsatisfied RC4WD customer
 

I had the incorrect bearing size issue with my RTR bully. I shredded both axles within about 5 minutes on the first battery. I emailed support and they got back to me almost immediately and sent out 2 new ones. I had them installed before the next weekend.