What's going on at thebarnfloor?

[biffstark]

I received an email today from thebarnfloor canceling my pre-order of the mcpx. Here is the email:

Me: My order for the new mCP x was cancelled. Order Number: xxxxx. Is there no way to pre-order this item so it ships out to me as soon as it comes in stock?

Their reply:

Hi,
I am sorry but we are no longer carrying that brand. So we will not be able to supply it for you upon release. Again my apologies.

Thank you.

Kind Regards,
Chris
The Barn Floor
Dirt Cheap RC
http://dirtcheaprc.com

[subgradient]

Strange, I didn't get an email like that so far, however the thing is removed from their helicopter page, and also when you log in, it is listed as "available for preorder" but not possible to actually pre-order...

Maybe they got burned for selling the thing for cheap I dont know?

[antmeeks]

Looks like they got too much attention on the boards...

[BigAirHarper]

I'm assuming we are all fixing to get that who preordered? This sucks....

[DALE313]

No way HH haven't done the same to barn floor have they thats harsh

[Mojappa]

Originally Posted by antmeeks

Looks like they got too much attention on the boards...

My thoughts exactly. At least the one time I told someone how to get the lower price I came back and edited that out of my post an hour afterwards to keep the cat in the bag. I guess that's the risk you take when you start breaching contracts like that though.

[gmiller0]

Its true unfortunately... I called them yesterday about a regular order I had with them for their in stock items and they said it would ship but they will no longer be carrying eflite as they had a falling out over the weekend:'( although my order has not shipped and I placed it last week I trust I will get it as they they probably have a lot on their plate right now. The man I spoke with a few times on the phone was very nice and I was hoping to do more business with them in the future, but unfortunately they will not be allowed to sell eflite products:-(

[VaderSS]

From an earlier post;

Originally Posted by SYMAWD

Horizon's policy is MAP (minimum ADVERTISED pricing). Dealers can sell it for what ever they please. It would be illegal in some states for Horizon Hobby to set the selling price. If the dealer wanted to, they CAN sue Horizon Hobby (based on state laws) if Horizon set a minimum SELLING price.

***I just read that RCG post about Diversion Hobby. Their Horizon Hobby contract was not terminated due to price. It was terminated because they had customers picking product up at there warehouse (a contract violation). There is no record that I know of, that Horizon Hobby has terminated a contract due to price. Heck, I could start an online store and sell their product for a $1 if I really wanted to. Horizon cannot stop me from doing that. I just cannot advertise that I am doing it.

And from a HH exec on RCGroups;

Originally Posted by dribbe

Hi WNC,

You are talking about parts and MAP... truth is that the vast majority of HH parts are NOT MAPped, and retailers are free to advertise and sell at ANY price they chose....
MAP means Minimum Advertised Price (not what you say), and has NO bearing on what they can sell for... high or low... it only is a minimum price they can advertise (outside).

The item is NOT already priced... he can put it higher or lower in his store freely. The rate is NOT set at all, period... he can sell higher or lower in his store on MAPped and nonMAPped items.
Hope you find this information helpful!

(Many heli's and planes do have a MAP price.)

Have Fun,
David

Something beyond just price going on here...

[Mojappa]

Good to know.

[WBFAir]

Damm it.

I frigged told you guys about this but everyone gave me flack and some still had to keep doing it.

Now we all lost because people just couldn't keep their friggen mouths shut.

Has anyone every herd of the word "Personal Message System"????

This board has it you know.

Sorry to be harsh here but I kept saying over and over that this would happen if people kept taking about that place and now just as I said, they did exactly what I said they would do and now we all lost a great place to get anything and everything from Horizon at a nice low price. So as this has directly affected me and a lot of others and in a very direct and costly way, I think I have a right to give the people who doubted me and caused this some crap.

Plus that place was really close to my house and I would basically get stuff over night.

So to all the smart people who just thought I was begin quote "paranoid", and who thought because Horizon Hobby was only made up of the most wonderful people in the world they would never do something like this, I guess everyone of you are now going to forward me and every one else the difference for all the extra costs for everything we all now have to pay more for now?

No? Not willing to do that?

But you sure were all plenty fast and at the ready to spread the word around about the Barn Floor though weren't you.

And don't give me any of this, this really isn't Horizon being scum, and quote or split hairs of any of the fine print of their policies to try to say there must be more to this that actually makes this the vendors fault as quite frankly I really don't care.

As I tried to tell everyone, I went through a very long thing about this years ago and the bottom line Horizon "is" 100% price fixing their stuff and this is one of the ways they do it and thus "are" 100% the reason for this as this is what they do to to keep things this way. But because so many support this because they just can't accept that truth that Horizon isn't bad in anyway then this is the way it is.

So don't give me any of this, oh the vendor must some how in some way be the one who really is at fault for this not Horizon as it simply is not true.

Bottom line is, this the second time I have seen them do the exact same thing, I mean friggen exact. And for the exact same reasons so again, quite frankly I really don't care how much you want to split the fine print or want to defend them as you just can't except them for who they really are. The fact still remains that we all are screwed now.

Friggen ay man.

[lazor 22]

Intresting, I just checked my email and have not got one about my order being cancelled.

[thetable]

Funny, they still havent changed their front page...

Available for Pre-Order:
LOSB0127 - TEN-SCTE 4WD Short Course Rolling Chassis
BLH3500 - Blade mCP X - RTF 2.4Ghz Ultra Micro Helicopter
BLH3580 - Blade mCP X - BNF 2.4Ghz Ultra Micro Helicopter

Of course, when you get to the product page, there is no order/preorder button. Glad mine is coming from my LHS.

[mediclavina]

Originally Posted by antmeeks

Looks like they got too much attention on the boards...

Yup. It's probably this thread: https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=278712
Probably another online store cried foul?

[WBFAir]

Originally Posted by thetable

Funny, they still havent changed their front page...


Of course, when you get to the product page, there is no order/preorder button. Glad mine is coming from my LHS.

Well its gone now from the regular helo list and BLH3580 doesn't even come up in their search.

[Mojappa]

Keep reading the first page, it's nothing to do with pricing.

[WBFAir]

Originally Posted by Mojappa

Keep reading the first page, it's nothing to do with pricing.

MoJo you are a good guy and so I don't mean to be offensive to you, but I went through all that back then and I spoke to Diversion in e-mails directly and the story goes like this, (and I'll be brief as I have to go).

They started out as a store front, but when they wanted to sell Horizon products and online and applied for a account. So as Horizon asks about that in the app and requires a pic of the store, they saw they were like this and at first said no because of pricing and shipping compared to other non online but local store fronts for reasons of pricing competition and so they kind of split the diff and kept the online stuff at a separate warehouse that things were shipped from that was not open to the public.

But then under a few circumstances as it just worked out for the customer because they were local enough and because they would have had to wait longer because of weekend shipping and stuff, they met a few people at that location and let them pick things up they had ordered, but they did still charge them the same costs including shipping as if they had waited for a delivery so they didn't see this as a issue.

But when Horizon found out about this and that it happened like 3 times over the course of several months, they still said, you're still acting like a store front and you can't do that.

So they stopped doing that and hadn't done that for many many months before they got canned and Horizon knew they had stopped and as such Diversion had not herd anything more about it since then. But then when they really weren't given any reason for what happened and they kept after them for why, finally they were give that excuse.

Bottom line, it wasn't until they got really popular and were providing a lot of preorders for a really popular product that they got canned.

So that excuse was just a cop out so the Horizon could get away with not looking like the bad guys.

[lazor 22]

I wish they would send me my money back soon so I could pre order it somewhere else.....

[WBFAir]

Originally Posted by lazor 22

I wish they would send me my money back soon so I could pre order it somewhere else.....

Just to mention it Laz, when this happened to Diversion, it was devastating for them and like I said, they closed as they just lost so much product.

So all in all, with so many preorders and the work of processing of so many returns amidst all that, it took about a month till we all got reimbursed, but as far as I know, everyone eventually was.

[lazor 22]

It's unfortunate, their price was not that much under retail and from what it looked like on here, not that many people bought from there. Barnfloor was a great shop, wonder if it's all of Horizon or just E-Flite.

[dmckaerf]

Originally Posted by lazor 22

I wish they would send me my money back soon so I could pre order it somewhere else.....

Did you not pay via credit card? I just checked and it doesn't look like they have charged me for my pre-order a couple of weeks ago -- I figured they were going to run the charge through right before they shipped.

And for the record (or any Horizon Hobby reps that may read this), this totally stinks. It definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth towards HH. BarnFloor is a good shop -- I've ordered from them before. And HH can say what they want about how this isn't "about price" but I'm not buying that. It really sucks for small vendors (like BF) when there is only a single source for a large percentage of what they sell. I've run businesses in a similar situation, and the lopsided power position really lets the bigger player get away with some sleazy behavior like what we are probably seeing here. Shame on HH...