The Track — Local services in Gaithersburg

I have been a customer since 1992 but only go there when absolutely necessary and that's maybe twice a year. Since that time nothing has changed with this place except for the redesign of the store and the new track. Items are still overpriced compared to other local shops and even shops as far away as Frederick/Washington county are cheaper. Parts that I need are never in stock and if you want to order something be prepared to wait awhile for it to show up and hope that the owner is even in the mood to order it for you. Her attitude has never yielded good customer service and she is strictly about money, if you don't plan to spend allot with her or are not a regular customer she wants nothing to do with you and talks to you like you are wasting her time. She will do the same exact thing if you call in by phone. I have seen first hand the favoritism that goes on in there between her transactions with regulars and non-regulars and it's really a shame. The regulars spend lots of many almost weekly and she loves them. Many, many times I have went in for a part and would be told, "yes I have that but I have to look for it,I don't have time right now" Who says that to a customer? I would have rather her outright said "No". The racers that run there aren't the friendliest either. Now, I do know a few of the guys there that are standup guys but the rest place themselves on a pedestal like they are R/C gods. Talk to you they way they want, treat you like an outcast, refuse to help people new to the hobby. These are the people that the owner wants as a customer ,not the average R/C enthusiast. If you are thinking about running on their track that may be a problem also when you see the fees to run on it, not to mention the fact that it's either overcrowded and you can't get on it, or you get yelled at by one of the elite guys for bumping his $1,000 vehicle. In closing, just take your business elsewhere or by online, you'll be...

I wish I could rate this company less than poor. This is by far the worst customer experience that I have ever had in my life.

I went their for the Helicopter night and had landing gear break in the frame. I asked the owner, Mimi, if I could borrow a pair of pliers. She gave them to me, and I attempted to get the part out. She asked if she could try, so I handed the helicopter to her. She grabbed the frame of the Helicopter and broke off the piece that held the landing gear in. I wasn't worried, assuming she would replace the part that she broke. However she looked up the part and asked me if I wanted to order one. I asked her since she broke it if she would replace the $10 part.

She told me that she wasn't going to do that because she felt since I let her work on it, that I was at fault. She is a hobby shop owner and assumes professional responsibility for the things she works on.

After arguing with her, she told me that she could give me a $2 credit to a new one. I asked her, "what about the 2 hours it will take for me to replace the part, which my local shop charges $35 an hour." She asked me, "What do you want from me?"

After arguing with her for about 15 minutes, we came to the agreement that I would leave and get my money back that I spent to get in the place ($10).

I told her it was a shame that it turned out like this because I was planning on buying one of the helicopters that she had in her shop. She said, "That's alright I don't want your business."

Unfortunately, the actual RC track was very nice and I planned on bringing a lot of friends with RC cars there. However, after learning how the owner of the shop treats customers, I will never...

I'll start by saying the track itself is nice, smooth, and traction is high.

TWICE a group of 6 people have driven 2 hours one-way to practice on a Sunday. Their website says "open practice on Sunday 10-4"

The first time, we showed up and they were racing. The homepage of the website showed a race that day, but we didn't even look at the home page, we looked at the schedule page. No mention of racing there. We drove 4 hours round trip and paid $20 each to drive RC cars for about an hour and a half, after their racing was finished. We were all a little frustrated, but Mimi didn't seem to care.

Today we went back. We all checked the website, the Facebook schedule, the homepage, and I even called earlier in the week and said we planned on coming down to practice. There was no mention of racing ANYWHERE, and no one let me know when I called. We drove two hours, and walked in to find they were racing again. Mimi said they wouldn't be finished until closing time, and didn't seem to care that we drove 2 hours again.

This is really discouraging to a group of people trying to get into a hobby that isn't accessible in our area. We are currently driving another hour and a half out of the way to Adrenaline RC in Winchester, VA. Seth at Adrenaline has always been helpful, he has a nice track and...