HobbyTown — Local services in Springfield

Wow. Really poor customer experience. I arrived shortly before closing time, and had about 7 paint colors to find. When 5 o'clock arrived, the one employee seemed WAY more interested in getting me out the door than in helping me find my last item so I could actually complete my purchase and leave a happy customer.

I had asked him for help finding the last two colors, and then I spotted one myself immediately, then while we're looking for the very last item I need, he turns to me and goes, "You know the store is closed, right?"

So I'm thinking, "Ok... so is the cash register on some sort of timer so that he's not going to be able to check me out?" So I ask, "Okay... so what does that mean?"

So he gets this jerky, obnoxious tone and says, "It MEANS we lock the doors. It MEANS everybody goes home."

So at that point I decided, wow, okay, I'm outta here.

All he had to do was be a little bit helpful and assist me in finding the final paint color I needed. Instead, he decided to make it abundantly clear that HE wanted to go home, and HE wanted to go home RIGHT NOW.

Fine.

I eventually had to go back to get my last 3 colors (since it was urgent and they were the only store in all of Springfield that happened to have them) after buying everything else I could find from other merchants. The second time in, I managed to avoid the dude with the dreadlocks and deal with a different employee.

I won't go back here unless they're the only store that has what I need, AND it's both urgent and important (which was unfortunately the case here).

UPDATE: I had to go back again, and deal with the same employee. In the end, he did try to be helpful. For that reason, I'm upgrading this review from one...

Return policy is horrible. I will say I am part to blame. I came and asked for the wrong part that is on me. I did open it. I returned a hour later with the packaging and all contents. One person told me sometimes we can reseal it and give a return but i has to ask another person. That person just said no did not even look at it. I know this don't seem to matter anymore but i had just bought an expensive RC there and been back nearly everyday for more parts. To the tune over $1000.00. Plus took my friend in there two days ago the bought the same high end RC car plus battery charger and other parts. The 2 of us have spent over $2000.00 in the last couple of weeks and Its just NO. Its a 40.00 part. So as I make my last purchase there. I buy the correct $60.00 part I have rewards available cause of money spent. Thank you corporate HobbyTown for rewarding loyal customers. $5 off if i spend over $25. They would not honor that because of my in correct purchase an hour earlier. You cant use it twice in one day. Would not work with me at all. HobbyTown web site reads. "we will accept any New and Unused products for Refund or Store Credit within 30 days of purchase. We reserve the right to charge a restocking fee of 15% on returned merchandise." Independently own stores are allowed to have different policies. This one must be an independently owned store that does not share the same values as corporate. Again from hobbytown.com "We also understand that life happens. In the case where you are not within the time frame with your return please give us the opportunity to provide a solution specifically for you". Wow that makes me feel like the customer...

Every interaction I’ve had with the employees at this store has been pleasant up until recently. We bought our dad a Typhon along with a battery and battery charger for Father’s Day this year. After opening the battery and charger, which was bought separately, the battery charger would just cycle on and off repeatedly and was malfunctioning. We decided the Typhon would be too small for their grass, so we brought the battery and charger along with the unopened car back to the store to exchange it for a larger car and battery. They were rude from the start, telling us even if the device was faulty there was no way they could take a return on a battery and charger because they can get taken advantage of. This is a G2 battery, so they can plug it in and see there are 0 charge cycles on it, but Jonathan was not willing to help at all. They determined it to be a faulty charging cable. It appears we bought a battery and charger that was previously returned, since there was no sticker or anything on the box sealing it when we purchased it, but for some reason they would not let us return it. Jonathan continued to get extremely sarcastic with us and told us we had treated his employees bad, when we were very respectful from the start. We have spent a lot of money at HobbyTown, but will never spend a dime more. If you want to be treated decently I highly recommend finding another retailer to do business with. We will be contacting someone at HobbyTown Corporate about this interaction, Jonathan doesn’t have any customer service skills and wants to just use sarcasm to address actual problems they...