HobbyTown — Local services in Redmond

Although these guys have a decent selection of RC parts and replacement parts, their customer service is the WORST!. I have had two back to back crappy experiences and will be shopping online from now on.

First trip: Was looking for batteries for several different RC toys. They had one very expensive battery that they told me would give me 4x the run time (it didn't). They did not have most of the batteries, but were willing to order them for me but at a very high price. When I pressed them for any alternative options, they referred me to a cool website that makes custom battery packs (for one third of the price). That was very nice of them. While there, I asked them for assistance finding a cool gift for a 40 year old guy. They told me, "go ahead and look around". When I asked what they had in the store that was popular, they again told me, "I don't know, look over there (points to left hand side of store)". No, there was no one else in the store. No, they were not busy. Yes my fiance and I giggled at how rude and unhelpful they were when we wanted to spend money. Ultimately we picked out a remote control spider for my brother.

Second Trip: The remote control spider was lame. Remote only had a range of 6 feet. The toy was ridiculously slow and dumb. My brother used it for less than 120 seconds (just enough time to change the batteries twice to see if it was the toy or the batteries). We repackaged the spider in its original packaging and went back to the store. They were very busy and we waited for about 10 minutes. While helping someone else, the guy behind the counter asked us what was wrong. I explained that it was a pretty lame toy with a nearly unusable RC range. While still helping the other customer he stated, "yeah, thats just how those toys are". We patiently waited for another 10-15 minutes for someone to help us. When it was finally our turn, we asked if we could return the item or exchange it for something that worked better. His response, "No, thats just how that toy is. We don't do any exchanges or refunds." When I asked why he hadn't told me that 15 minutes ago so I didn't stand around waiting, he went off on me with a lecture about losing money on returns, how busy they were, etc. The guy was literally yelling at my brother and I in a store full of customers. On the way out of the store as the shock wore off, we both chuckled at the ridiculous lack of customer service. We weren't sure if he was making an excuse for selling crappy toys, or for his failure to exchange us for something we would enjoy.

At the time, my comment to the salesperson; and to you if you are reading this review is this... I can buy everything he sells online through a retailer with great return policies and cheaper prices. The reason I visit his store is for the customer service aspect (I'm willing to pay more for nice customer service). In my two visits, this is completely lacking, so I recommend avoiding the place and shopping online!

BTW, I have a remote control spider for...

I have had a very mixed experience here. I'm conflicted, because this is now the closest place for me to get certain supplies, such as Mr Color paints. I have had great experiences with employees in the past, but terrible ones lately. I used to occasionally call and ask of they had a model kit in stock, and they were helpful, until my last call.

I asked of they could check if they had a model kit in stock. They did, but asked me to call in the morning if I wanted it reserved because they only do holds for the same day. Reasonable. I called the next morning, and whoever answered the phone kind of berated me because he didn't have time to look at the shelf to see if it was still there because he was helping someone, before hanging up. I'm not sure why he answered the phone in the first place of that was the case. I then decided to order the item online for in-store pick-up just to make sure it would be held for me. A few hours later, I made it over there (I don't live nearby) and found the item on the shelf, thankfully, and purchased it. It wasn't until the next day that they emailed me to say they could not complete my order. The reason was obviously because I had to grab it myself before someone else had.

On my next two visits, I waited for about twenty minutes at a time at the checkout counter while the employee tinkered around with another customer's RC car. The second time this happened, it took an irritated family who had been waiting next to me to ask to be checked out a couple times before he reluctantly walked over to quickly do so. Between becoming irritated with me for asking about a product and waiting so long, it seems like my money is an inconvenience to them.

Despite all this, I'm giving them three stars because they have a nice supply of goods and serve as hosts to some hobby meetups. I really hope they're able to improve and make the shopping experience there more pleasant. I'm not sure of there's some kind of additional stress on the staff as of late, and I can empathize with that, but I don't really have anything to...

I was in the Seattle area on business and went by the store to buy something for my son. I ended up buying the Haynes 4 Cylinder model kit. Once home back in Oklahoma me and my boy spent a couple hours assembling the kit and it did go together okay. Unfortunately the little electric engine died within literally 1/2 of a second. Completely freezed up and fried to where even the little electric timing light would no longer come on. I contacted the store and although the fellow was polite, he could offer me zero help other than to call the manufacturer, of which he wasn't sure exactly who they were. I will say this, and I say it as a retailer myself; you have got to back up your product if you are going to stay in business. Stuff you sell is going to occasionally die or have warranty issues, but if you are going to stick around, make it good, have solutions and options for your customers. At the very least be willing to contact the manufacturer for them or to facilitate contacting them. Don't take people's money and then leave them sitting there trying to get solutions on a warranty problem without help. I don't expect this store to survive if it does business this way. Nothing personal on the guy I talked too but his boss must have been a turd because he had ZERO options for me. Here's some free advice HobbyTown - HAVE SOME OPTIONS. Do the right thing and make it right. Very disappointed and I can see why these guys have 3 stars barely. The customer service is not up to par. Not that its rude, it just doesn't...