Century customer service? Not so bad afterall!

[warpspeed]

If you've seen my other thread you know I've been trying to gather parts and information on my latest bird, the Swift 550. I've been in the market for a heli that size for some time, as the 450 is too small and the lipo price for the 600 is too big. I'd have held out for the T500 but as of yet it's still vaporware, and the wife got sick of me debating the subject and surprised me with the Swift. Yes, I've read a lot about Century's questionable quality, but the majority of owners find it to be a reliable and inexpensive machine to run. So of course I've been gathering parts like a deranged squirrel 2 days before winter. All the electronics are here, all the bling is here.

Never occurred to me to make sure that all the parts in the box were there-Until a fellow Freak clued me in on items in his kit that were either missing or incorrect. Sure enough, I'm missing some of the same items and have a couple of parts that are incorrect. When I contacted Century I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from a genuine human the very next day, and was thinking getting this straightened out wouldn't be any big deal.

Boy was I wrong.

Century's first email asked for a copy of the receipt. No prob, sent the same day. The next day they asked for my shipping information. It was on the receipt, but, ok whatever, here ya go.
Their third email is where things went south, and prompted this post.
They want me to send the parts back to "verify" my claim, so that the "claim can be corrected properly, instead of sending parts back and forth for correction."

WTF? I have no problem sending parts back, except for 2 little things....How do you send back something that was NOT INCLUDED in the first place, and why the HELL would I engage in sending parts back and forth? I went to the trouble of looking up the part numbers and provided that information directly to Century-there is no question as to what parts need to be replaced.

Apparently they think I'm trying to scam them in some way, over what probably amounts to less than $15 in parts, and that's what really pisses me off. As far as I'm concerned I paid full price in exchange for a USEABLE product, but as that is not what I received, and the manufacturer prefers to treat me like a criminal, I will be packing it up and sending it back to Tower.

Sorry for the long rant-needed to vent. Hopefully my experience will prevent someone else from making the same mistake.

Guess I'll have to hold out for the T500 like everyone else.

[ArthurKnowles]

As you bought it from Tower Hobbies, I would have suggested you call Tower Hobbies for support not Century. I bought my Predator Gasser from Rick's over a year ago and just built it this year. When I found out I was missing the metal A-Arm upgrade, I contacted Rick's. Not only did they reply the next business day they called me up and told me they would take care of it and shipped out the replacement.

That's customer service! Had you of called Tower Hobbies, you might have found similar service.

[dave peers]

:lolol :lolol :lolol ho ho ! ! !
see its not just me dad,
there are lots of others out there
! comon you guys !
makes me think of an old addage
you can break a single stick easily
BUT a bundle of em is a real b*tch to break :arggg:

so speak up boys or keep your peace :glasses2:

[aramsdell]

If you've seen my other thread you know I've been trying to gather parts and information on my latest bird, the Swift 550. I've been in the market for a heli that size for some time, as the 450 is too small and the lipo price for the 600 is too big. I'd have held out for the T500 but as of yet it's still vaporware, and the wife got sick of me debating the subject and surprised me with the Swift. Yes, I've read a lot about Century's questionable quality, but the majority of owners find it to be a reliable and inexpensive machine to run. So of course I've been gathering parts like a deranged squirrel 2 days before winter. All the electronics are here, all the bling is here.

Never occurred to me to make sure that all the parts in the box were there-Until a fellow Freak clued me in on items in his kit that were either missing or incorrect. Sure enough, I'm missing some of the same items and have a couple of parts that are incorrect. When I contacted Century I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from a genuine human the very next day, and was thinking getting this straightened out wouldn't be any big deal.

Boy was I wrong.

Century's first email asked for a copy of the receipt. No prob, sent the same day. The next day they asked for my shipping information. It was on the receipt, but, ok whatever, here ya go.
Their third email is where things went south, and prompted this post.
They want me to send the parts back to "verify" my claim, so that the "claim can be corrected properly, instead of sending parts back and forth for correction."

WTF? I have no problem sending parts back, except for 2 little things....How do you send back something that was NOT INCLUDED in the first place, and why the HELL would I engage in sending parts back and forth? I went to the trouble of looking up the part numbers and provided that information directly to Century-there is no question as to what parts need to be replaced.

Apparently they think I'm trying to scam them in some way, over what probably amounts to less than $15 in parts, and that's what really pisses me off. As far as I'm concerned I paid full price in exchange for a USEABLE product, but as that is not what I received, and the manufacturer prefers to treat me like a criminal, I will be packing it up and sending it back to Tower.

Sorry for the long rant-needed to vent. Hopefully my experience will prevent someone else from making the same mistake.

Guess I'll have to hold out for the T500 like everyone else.

The problem is you bought it from Tower. Tower has older stock. OLDER.
I got a Swift late last year from Century. It was the newest they had. I crashed. I ordered replacement parts from Heli-world. I thought to speed things up and I ordered a new ARF from Tower(same hour as crash). I got my replacement parts before the arf arrived and it wasn't for a while until I realized the arf wasn't 'RIGHT' because I repaired the crashed bird first. It had the older everything. Tall spindly L-gear. The main frame was pre- 3rd bearing block - no holes for mounting it . That frame was thinner . That bird has become my Driven tail mod. though. I didn't feel at all bad about cutting up a perfectly good OLD frame and rearranging things.
Like anybody that buys in bulk, Tower has to sell what it bought. That includes a truckload of kits/arf's that weren't right apparently.

[RAV50]

I am sure that, if you would have contacted the seller you purchased it from, and had them deal with Century in your stead, you would have saved yourself a lot of problems.

What you did, is place them in a "third party" situation. Maybe Tower (as do a number of hobby shops) removed some parts from your kit to sell to another customer because they where out of stock at the time they received an order for the parts - intending to replace them when they received their next shipment from the manufactuerer. This is why I like dealing with my LHS - they will do that for me :D ).

On occasion, over the years, I have purchased kits (other brands) that were missing items. I dealt directly with the LHS I bought it from, and they looked after me. (If it was a case of them having removed the part - they replaced it. If they had not, they got what was missing in short order from the manufacturer and I may have not even been told which case it was).

If I had gone directly to the manufactuer, how would they be able to tell what happened? Heck how would they know I had not bought it from an individual, who had opened it and for whatever reason, had decided not to build it, and sold it to me after parts had rolled onto the floor under his workbench? ...the possibilities are endless.

But that being said...asking you to send back parts that you claimed had not even been in the kit, sounds a bit over the top to me. I would get the name of the fellow you were dealing with, and report it to the management. Sometimes, minimum wage clerk types are not all that "swift". :wink:

[warpspeed]

Sorry guys, should have made it more clear. I only contacted Century directly AFTER contacting Tower. Tower will replace parts, usually no questions asked, as long as it is manufactered by one of the companies that they have partnered with-under the guise of Hobby Services Inc. Century is NOT one of those companies, and while Tower was perfectly willing to accept the kit for either return or exchange I decided I'd take their advice and see what Century would do.
Couple of things...

Rav, I understand what you're saying about Century not knowing if I bought it privately or not. Makes sense. My point was, if they thought I was trying to scam them out of parts, why not make that clear on the first communication? Their first response made it sound like they'd help, as did their second, which was the request for a copy of the receipt. Their last response was when I realized Century thought I was trying to pull one over on them, and that was the last straw.

BTW, guess what kind of response I got when I told them to forget it? None, nada, zilch. It's quite obvious they couldn't care less. Hey, I'm just ONE customer after all, right?

Aramsdell, I'm curious why you think this was OLD stock. The heli was the Swift 550 Carbon, brand new to market and only just received by Tower. Not the standard Swift 16.

[jnngill]

warpspeed,

Stevensaero in Colorado Springs is a Century dealer. The owner is a great guy and a EP-Heli flyer. He may be able to help you out with getting the updated parts. Contact him and see what he has to say. I think you might be surprised by how helpful he is.

Thanks

[warpspeed]

Just a little update.

As it was a gift from the wifey, (IE. paid for) I returned the kit to Tower for exchange. The replacement arrived today and it looks like this one has all the correct parts-EXCEPT for the stupid bellcrank spacers everyone else seems to be missing as well. (CNE588) I decided I'd go ahead and start building, and just order the missing parts as I go, except, of course, nobody stocks the spacers. From the incredibly small and blurry pic in the manual it looks like nothing more than a brass bushing, so if I can figure out the dimensions I'll see if I can't come up with a suitable replacement elsewhere.

A few notes on the build....

If you're considering this bird, be aware the head has SERIOUS issues. The spindle is too short to fit the thrust bearings as outlined in the manual. The thrust bearings themselves do NOT fit either the grips or the spindle! The only way I could get it to work was to omit the washers inbetween the thrust bearings and the standard bearing, sand the ends of the spindle, sand the ID AND OD of the thrust bearings, and then tighten the grip bolts only JUST enough-in fact I'm hoping with the copious amounts of locktite used the whole thing will stay together. The rest of the head assembly went smoothly but the above issue is going to make crash repairs a beeeotch.

The frame went together well with just a few nits-the edges of the CF frames are so poorly finished that handling them leaves black marks all over your hands and workspace. Sanding helps, but they really need to be sealed with CA. Fortunately everything aligned and fit together ok but if you do build one of these be prepared to do A LOT of sanding-not just the frame edges, but also the holes for the elevator a-arm bearings and the slots for the gyro and electronics trays.

That's as far as I've gotten with the exception of putting together the aluminum tail. If anyone's interested I'll let you know how the rest of it goes as the build progresses.

As I'm sure you've guessed by now I'm not entirely enamoured with Century so don't expect any glowing reviews-just the facts as I see 'em. :smokin:

[warpspeed]

Another little update, but first, I'd like to publicly thank Century, specifically a certain manager there who could not have been more helpful. THANK YOU very much, not only for the goodies but also for your willingness to listen to suggestions. Not only have they made things right but they also sent me a bunch of upgraded parts at absolutely no cost. It turns out that Century is aware of the issues with the Swift 550, and at the time when I contacted support, procedures weren't in place to handle the issues with the new bird.
Just so you know, I did NOT contact Century again after my original emails-I was simply going to order the missing parts and deal with it-but the manager I'm referring to saw my post and rather than just dismissing it contacted me directly and within a couple of days the correct parts (and bling!) arrived at my door.
He could have easily ignored it, but instead took action-and in my book that means this is a company that is serious about earning your business.

They've certainly earned mine, and I can tell you I would not hesitate to purchase another helicopter from Century.

Teething problems are always going to be an issue with any new product but how those issues are resolved is what differentiates a "good" company from a "great" one. Rather than denying there are any problems Century has acknowleged them and are quickly working to rectify them-I've already seen posts on that "other" board of people receiving kits with an addendum and the elusive spacers included.

Now like most of you I work, so I still haven't finished the build, but most of the airframe and tail have been built up with no issues, and I'm getting really excited again about this helicopter. The sheer adaptablility of the Swift is why it has always appealed to me-what other heli can run from 4s to as many as you can stuff in it, and be used as a mad 3d machine or sedate scale ship? There is no lack of space for electronics either-my particular setup has more electronics than a Radio Shack and there's STILL empty spaces on the frame!

[ozace]

Nice read,
In the past i had major issues with Century service , that is until i found someone willing to help. Once i had the right contact at Century they were terrific. If i need assistance in future i will make sure i get the right person to start with.(if he is still there )

[Jafa]

Yeah, the field reps are really good, but the email sales staff are shockers.

I need a swash - emailed them an order for three parts,
they processed the order, turns up on my door step with only two parts,
no swash and the postage to Australia was more than the cost of the parts!
Emailed them asking when will swash be in stock,
they replied saying the part number for the swash is ...
So I replied asking again, WHEN will they have stock...

It's bloody frustrating for sure...

[aramsdell]

Sorry guys, should have made it more clear. I only contacted Century directly AFTER contacting Tower. Tower will replace parts, usually no questions asked, as long as it is manufactered by one of the companies that they have partnered with-under the guise of Hobby Services Inc. Century is NOT one of those companies, and while Tower was perfectly willing to accept the kit for either return or exchange I decided I'd take their advice and see what Century would do.
Couple of things...

Rav, I understand what you're saying about Century not knowing if I bought it privately or not. Makes sense. My point was, if they thought I was trying to scam them out of parts, why not make that clear on the first communication? Their first response made it sound like they'd help, as did their second, which was the request for a copy of the receipt. Their last response was when I realized Century thought I was trying to pull one over on them, and that was the last straw.

BTW, guess what kind of response I got when I told them to forget it? None, nada, zilch. It's quite obvious they couldn't care less. Hey, I'm just ONE customer after all, right?

Aramsdell, I'm curious why you think this was OLD stock. The heli was the Swift 550 Carbon, brand new to market and only just received by Tower. Not the standard Swift 16.

:!: When I discovered that my ARF Swift 16 was a very old version of the Swift I contacted Tower. They basically told me they had an agreement with the MFG to have the MFG handle any complaints. I don't believe that they did anything towards updating their stock. I think that Tower probably has a bunch of Carbon 550's that didn't get a good dose of Quality control. Maybe they can rectify that.

I think in my case they had a heli that was and is a Swift 16 ARF. To rebuild them would be prohibitive. Tower could give out new frames and head and Landing gear with those ARF's though.
I don't mean to bash Tower as their service has otherwise been incredible. To Century's credit they did make good on some of the replacement parts.

[dave peers]

:WOW aint that the truth jafa
coolice n the uk wot a great guy cannot prase im enough m8
:glasses2:
but the rest :dontknow