Greed, Spartan-RC 760 and ReadyHeli

[Buzzkill]

Rant time.

I got an e-mail at 9:53 this morning from Readyheli regarding the Spartan-RC 760 gyro. I was on their site in less than two minutes. OUT OF STOCK. I called Readyheli, they had ten. One guy bought eight (8) yes 8 of them and another bought two (2).

Readyheli, don't you think it's time to limit the amount of items like this people can buy when other people have been waiting for months to get the gyro? I'd bet $100 the guy that bought 8 will have them up on sleez-bay this morning. There is a ton of people trying to get this gyro. Please in the future if you have a limited amount of a hot item, I don't know say 10 gyros for example, could you give us mere mortals a chance by setting policy that your limited to one item and the first ten (10) can get a shot?

Thanks for letting one greedy person dash the hopes of loyal customers. :thumbdown:

[Mikej]

Seems a bit harsh having a go at RH, they are a commercial organisation -you should be having a go at the bloke that bought 8 of them :soapbox

[RCHeliJim]

Hate to say this Buzzkill, but there are MANY heli guys with more than 8 choppers. It is highly possible that this guy was just lucky and got enough for his fleet in one order, OR he may have been buying them for his flying buddies as well. Either way, Readyheli didnt do anything wrong there, they sold what they had.

[psindrup]

Try to contact SpartanRC directly.

Peter

[Buzzkill]

Well I tried getting the info on the bloke that bought them but obviously they can't release that information.

If by some miracle that person is reading this and I doubt they are or would care if they were, thanks for being a jackass.

I do think Readyheli has a certain ammount of responsibility in this matter. I don't know about other countries but here in the U.S. it's not uncommon, as a matter of fact it common for a retailer to limit the ammount of a product a consumer can purchase on a given item when supply is limited. Limited supply, while supplies last and/or one per customer is usualy the verbage.

Personaly, if I had 10 people waiting in line for a product I wouldn't sell all my stock to the first 2.

Just my $1.50 for what it's worth.

[RHSHIP]

To clear this up real fast, the guy you spoke to on the phone was misinformed.
I recieved 1 Spartan from a lost package i sent to Europe over 2 months ago that was returned. I placed this 1 gyro back in stock, to be fair instead of picking a "favorite customer". We currently DO have a stock blocker, 2 gyros per person (when in stock).
The Spartans are on their way from the manufacturer currently and we shall have them within a few weeks.
Hope this clears the air.
Bryan, shipping.

[Buzzkill]

I have 6 helis. 3 of which are the Gaui 200. Many times in the past I have visited my LHS and left parts on the shelf for the next guy. I could have bought all three of the light weight canopies for example or all the belts for the tail but, I know there are other people that want/need the parts besides myself. I often ask if the other guys have had a chance to get their hands on new parts before I buy more than one. Personaly, I would hate to think of anyone not flying because I bought all the parts.

Call me stupid, mad (I certainly am dissapointed) or whatever you like, I stand on what I believe is the moral high ground and my personal obligation to the hobby and the people in the hobby that have brought me so much joy. If there's two parts and you need one but I just happen to be first in line rest asured you'll have a go at the part.

I do think all hobby shops have an obligation to serve all their customers not just the first in line.

Please add another $1.50 to my tab.

[Buzzkill]

To clear this up real fast, the guy you spoke to on the phone was misinformed.
I recieved 1 Spartan from a lost package i sent to Europe over 2 months ago that was returned. I placed this 1 gyro back in stock, to be fair instead of picking a "favorite customer". We currently DO have a stock blocker, 2 gyros per person (when in stock).
The Spartans are on their way from the manufacturer currently and we shall have them within a few weeks.
Hope this clears the air.
Bryan, shipping.


On that note, I appologize. However, how could the sales person I talked to have gotten this so wrong? I was talking to him while he was checking the computer for availibilty and orders placed.

[RHSHIP]

He is a new employee, and typed in "gyro" to our search bar. He was looking at other gyro sales for the day.
This was a goof on his behalf.

[Buzzkill]

I'll take that as an apology on their behalf.

[xrbcoronalogoflyer]

To clear this up real fast, the guy you spoke to on the phone was misinformed.
I recieved 1 Spartan from a lost package i sent to Europe over 2 months ago that was returned. I placed this 1 gyro back in stock, to be fair instead of picking a "favorite customer". We currently DO have a stock blocker, 2 gyros per person (when in stock).
The Spartans are on their way from the manufacturer currently and we shall have them within a few weeks.
Hope this clears the air.
Bryan, shipping.

'stock blocker'...good idea! i just learned another e-tailing process...maybe that explains why my gaui200 from readyheli (along with 3 hs-45 sx's for cyclic) was changed to two sx's (in bold print)...i just assumed they sold me their last two in stock...i later reordered the third sx...readyheli's priority mail must travel by rocketship...ken

[surfanarchist]

I ordered some stuff from RH last Saturday morning and it was on my door step in Virginia Monday. That is blistering fast. Having said that I have been waiting for a Spartan Gyro for over a month. I got the email that they were in stock today at 11:57 and called immediatly. Answer - sorry they are all (10) gone. I don't fault RH but I'm done with Spartan. Maybe in a year I'll look at them again if and when they get there production act together but right now they remind me of cabbage patch kids, Xbox 360, and all the other latest and greatest fads that are dribbled out at low rates to up the hype and buzz.

[Buzzkill]

Imagine that. At 11:57 am? I got the same story just before 10. A guy from Readyheli posted in this thread that it was a mistake by a new employee. Funny you got the samew story an hour later. The last e-mail I got a couple of weeks ago saying the spartan was in stock had the same mystery single unit in stock.

I'll get one some day elsewhere. I got a lead in the UK.

[surfanarchist]

To clear this up real fast, the guy you spoke to on the phone was misinformed.
I recieved 1 Spartan from a lost package i sent to Europe over 2 months ago that was returned. I placed this 1 gyro back in stock, to be fair instead of picking a "favorite customer". We currently DO have a stock blocker, 2 gyros per person (when in stock).
The Spartans are on their way from the manufacturer currently and we shall have them within a few weeks.
Hope this clears the air.
Bryan, shipping.

Anyway, the guy at RH told me it "would be a month" before any more Spartans were in stock. I needed a gyro so I ordered a GY401. Again the time it takes RH to get stock is not their fault. I'm sure they wish they had as many as they could sell in stock right now. I'm just not going to wait on the vagaries of a company struggling to meet demand.

[t-driver]

what's so great about the Spartan gyro anyway, that any other good gyro can't do?

eg. 2100T, gy-401.....

[ChasHeliCop]

Well I wasn't going to do this, but I have to put my two cents in. RH has my total respect in the way they do business. People do make mistakes. When the Trex 500 came out, they only put one heli in stock at a time because the demand was so great and they wanted to let ALL their customers have a fair chance at getting one. I have never had a single incident with RH, and I think they deserve a little more respect than what they are being given. They do everything they can to help each and every customer. :soapbox

[fireup]

what's so great about the Spartan gyro anyway, that any other good gyro can't do?

eg. 2100T, gy-401.....

Because it's as good as or better than the GY611 without the weight and extra unit (so I've heard). I'm waiting for one myself.:bawl

[Mikej]

I've got 8 for sale if anyone wants to buy one .........












Not really, it's a joke honest :D

[Buzzkill]

:lolol

[Buzzkill]

My last post on this subject.


Based on the information I got from the "new employee" I believe my reaction was warranted. I'm not the only person to get the incorrect information. My rant was at both Readyheli and the seemingly fictitious customer. Now that it's come to light that the new guy didn't know what he was talking about its a mute point.

I have purchased many many products from Readyheli in the past without any problems and will continue to do so in the future.

[Angelos]

We will start shipping next week. We have a huge number of order and may take a while to get them all out. But the goods news... this batch is 4 times larger than the last and I hope there will be enough gyros for everyone.

-Angelos

[billbill242000]

To clear this up real fast, the guy you spoke to on the phone was misinformed.
I recieved 1 Spartan from a lost package i sent to Europe over 2 months ago that was returned. I placed this 1 gyro back in stock, to be fair instead of picking a "favorite customer". We currently DO have a stock blocker, 2 gyros per person (when in stock).
The Spartans are on their way from the manufacturer currently and we shall have them within a few weeks.
Hope this clears the air.
Bryan, shipping.
I actually sent an e-mail to readyheli and they replied to me that the e-mail notification was a mistake!!! Having heard that I went ahead and ordered a 770 JR Combo (with the new digital servo) I am wondering who to belive the girl that sent the reply to my e-mail or the guy who posted this answer about the "new guy":mad:

[Gr4yb3ard]

Easch, what a mess!

But is'nt it totally cool that we have created such a demand in such an off the wall market?

I'm incredibly interested in how all this works, We get involved and somebody, China right now, gets the clue and hires a bunch of engineers, and fires up a production line.

Yeah, I've got LOTS of stuff on backorder, but I'm still sorta amazed that I can order it at all... Who is it that got an award for just hovering inverted in '87??? Crimeny, I can remember when the idea of an r/c helicopter was like proposing a Mars mission.

...But, then don't advertise stuff you don't got, as stated previously, I've got more blades and servo's on order than I paid for my first heli. Go figure....

Gr4yb3ard
"Time to base, please? ...Awright cap, it's three cigarettes, two flak alleys, and about a thousand pounds of fuel that we just don't got right now..."

[Buzzkill]

I actually sent an e-mail to readyheli and they replied to me that the e-mail notification was a mistake!!! Having heard that I went ahead and ordered a 770 JR Combo (with the new digital servo) I am wondering who to belive the girl that sent the reply to my e-mail or the guy who posted this answer about the "new guy":mad:

I'd like to know that myself.

I bet you got the "RMS ...one in stock e-mail didn't you?

[readyheli]

As Bryan our shipping manager mentioned, we received (1) Spartan Gyro back to our store from a returned package.

Typically when this happens and there is a LONG waiting list for an item, we will enter it in the system differently as to not spool out email alerts to everyone on the entire alert list. As you can see, this causes confusion as to whether the actual shipment came in and sold out already or not. The misinformed employee on the phone did not help the situation either and he has now been trained on how to properly use our stock reporting utility.

So to clear the air:
1. Did the Spartans come in? No, we had a return from a few months ago.

2. Was the email a mistake? Yes, we did not intend for everyone on the alert list to get an email for one single item.

In the past month we have added several new people. Many of which are not fully versed (admittedly) in picking, packing, and lastly phone support. We appreciate our customer's patience when these issues arise. We are human and we will always make whatever mistakes we made right...right away.

I hope this answers your questions.
Jennifer