Horizon Hobby (horizonhobby.com) has a 2.4 out of 5 rating on OK.one, based on 100 user reviews collected here. It is listed under Hobbies & Crafts and its reputation is poor. 54% of reviews are 1 star, a relatively high share; The business has replied to 95% of negative reviews; Reviews mostly discuss Product, Customer service, Quality. Last updated 2026-08-31.
What reviewers say
AI generated
Most reviewers were unhappy with their experience overall. Many buyers faced significant frustrations regarding delayed shipments, missing components inside packages, and extended backorder waiting times that stretched for months without clear updates. Additionally, consumers encountered unhelpful communication channels, unresponsive live chats, and difficulties obtaining refunds or replacements for damaged items.
Some reviewers were happy with the prompt delivery times and the broad selection of available hobby items. People also appreciated the knowledgeable staff members who provided useful guidance and assistance with various purchases. Buyers mentioned receiving friendly communication and effective support when handling product inquiries or necessary part replacements over time.
Auto-generated from all reviews of this business. For reference only.
We went to Oshkosh Airventure and got my step son an RC Truck. He charged the battery to complete fullness the first time, within 20 minutes the battery was dead. He then was driving it then the wheels stopped spinning. We went back to the Horizon tent because we had the warranty. The guy there, Zack, was HORRIBLE! He ripped the receipt from my fiancés hand and was yelling at him saying my step son was too rough with it. My step son drove it 3 times in 2 days because the battery died after 20 minutes of driving it and then (what we assume is the clutch either went out or the gears striped). They wouldn’t even look at the car to tell us what was wrong.
Reply from Horizon Hobby2026-07-29
Hi Lindsey, We could not find an account with the name on this review, but please reach out to our Product Support team via chat or email and we'll be able to help you get the truck up and running.
20 minutes is normal run-time for many RC cars before the battery needs recharging, but the "clutch or gears" issue you mention needs resolving.
We also like to learn more about your interaction. We're unaware of anyone working there named Zack, and hope to make sure you and every customer is treated with the same care and respect everytime.
Sincerely
Getting to customer service is impossible. They claim 24 hr chat, but when you try to chat no live agent is present. You send them email, and nothing comes back. There is no phone number to talk. Very frustrating. This place needs to shut down.
Reply from Horizon Hobby2026-07-29
Hi Ashish,
We have live agents available to chat 9am-6pm central time.
We see that an Agent responded to you and was able to resolve your issue.
Please note, you can always submit a request online via email or the Chat bot 24hrs a day, but an Agent will respond within the times listed above.
Thank you for your business and we hope to serve you more promptly in the future!
Best Regards,
Do not buy from them. King hauler showed in stock on 7/6/2026. Placed the order along with the parts like battery and servos. Order was for my kid’s birthday and all parts arrived within a week. The tractor suddenly said backordered. It showed next shipment in July.
Contact them second day via online chat, Michael B answered and said now it is expected to ship in August. Well why would this place put something backordered as in stock to begin with. Cancelled the order and they do not pay for return label for the parts and said it is customer’s problem. If you check on the website now, it says December 2026. What the heck am I going to keep the parts for if tractor is not here? This website is a scam. Do not order from them.
Reply from Horizon Hobby2026-08-05
Hi ZZ,
We completely understand your frustration, especially when you placed your order while the item was showing as in stock, only to have it go on back order afterward.
Unfortunately, inventory can change very quickly, particularly with highly anticipated products. While the item may have been showing as available when the order was placed, the available inventory can be committed to other orders before your order is fulfilled, which can result in the order moving to back order.
We are working to improve how inventory availability is displayed on our website to provide more accurate information and help prevent situations like this in the future.
We understand how disappointing this situation is. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
I’ve been back into flying model aircraft for 6 years using horizon hobby for most items. Never had any package problems delivered on time. Yes they can have back orders not too bad though. I ordered the new spektrum battery charger back ordered but came in 3 weeks faster than I expected it. Overall I’m very happy with product and service.
Excellent customer service, prompt shipping , accurate merchandise description, competitive pricing, pleasant and knowledgeable agents
My business always feels appreciated.
Please do not count on any product being delivered on time or even within seven days of their promised delivery date. I bought floats from my airplane with plenty of time to have them delivered before my vacation. With zero apologies or efforts to communicate, they still have not arrived, and I am already back from my vacation and still no product. Horrible communication.
Reply from Horizon Hobby2026-06-25
Hi David,
We are sorry to hear you haven't received the parts you bought for your airplane. We are not seeing any issues with shipping that would delay order to the extent you mention and would like to look into this further.
It's possible the item(s) were on backorder and have not yet arrived, but there is not enough information in this review to identify your account.
Please respond to the Request for more information we are submitting through this site and we'll be glad to get in touch with you and help figure out what's going on with your order.
Sincerely,
I can't speak to what others say however I have not had any issues with buying anything from Horizon hobby. Everything has been delivered either on time or ahead of time and in perfect condition. Everything from transmitter, planes, batteries and parts. Also got actual calls from them to see if they can do anything better? They have great customer service and products so I don't get the complaints? I will continue to do business with them.
Worst hobby shop ever! They allow their smaller retailers to talk to you like trash: they do not stand behind the products they have build. I have been lied to over the last 3 weeks saying they would make it right I still haven’t seen my parts for a junk Losi sprint out the box.
Reply from Horizon Hobby2026-05-22
Hi William.
If you're having issues with your Losi Sprint car we would definitely like to help get you up and running. We'd ask that you reach out to our Product Support Team directly for assistance.
There is not enough information in this review to find your account and we are using the 'request information' feature of this site to request your information to look further into this for you.
Regards,
Purchased a Night Timber X Eco. Flap servo was defective out of the box. A week after sending a email warranty claim with no response, I started a chat. Found out they issued an order for a replacement part. Part is back ordered with estimated delivery 4 months from now. Unacceptable for a $400 plane. I will miss most of the flying season. I plan to switch to lower cost suppliers.
Reply from Horizon Hobby2026-05-19
Hi Will,
We have an Agent reaching out to you with a solution to get you up and flying.
Please check your inbox within the next day or so, and thank you for choosing EFlite!
Genuinely The Worst Experience I've Ever Had With Any Store
I don't normally write negative reviews, but my experience with Horizon Europe has been so bad, I feel like people need to be warned.
I made an order for an SCX24 on the 3rd March and upon receiving it, the seal on the box was broken, there was fingerprints all over the model and the back left tail light was missing on the car. Which leads me to believe I was sent a return unit.
I spoke with a representitive called Sven who I raised the issue with. After sending through evidence in the form of images my request to return it and be sent out a new one was granted. Up to that point, the experience had been really good.
After tracking the return, seeing it had been sucessfully delivered back to their headquarters/ warehouse, and waiting about a week, I reached out to Sven and asked if there was an update on my return and when the new unit would be sent out. He replied stating it was awaiting evaluation which was a bit annoying but completely fair. 4 days had passed and there was still no update, so I emailed Sven once again asking if any progress had been made on processing my return unit and explained I was a bit dissatisfied with having to wait for such a long time without a difinitive update. Just note I did this in a kind and respectful manner. Sven replied once more, starting off the email with "please have more patience" and that he'd have an update soon. The absolute last thing someone who's been kept in the dark for a prolonged period of time wants to hear from a customer service representitive is to have more patience. As someone who's worked in customer service, if I said this to a customer I would have been in a significant amount of trouble, if not fired.
At this point, I was upset with the service and how I'd been treated and just wanted a refund which I requested to Sven. Long story short, my request was ignored and about a week or so later, a new unit just showed up at my door unannounced. No communication from Sven (or anyone for that matter) about it being shipped. After unboxing it, the battery was once again not installed in the truck and came in a seperate sealed plastic package. So I'm 90% sure I was just sent out the exact same unit again but they fixed the tail light and cleaned off the fingerprints. While I was eventually going to keep it as I didn't want to deal with with the hassle of exchanging emails with Sven again, it turns out the unit was faulty anyway.
Skipping ahead, I sent the last unit back on the 10th April, Horizon's warehouse received the return on the 29th April and it's now the 11th May and I still haven't received a refund. It's now been over 2 months since I originally ordered the truck.
It's bad enough receiving what I still believe is a return unit twice, but to deal with an unpleasant and dismissive customer service representitive on top of extremely long wait periods is what lead me to writing a review. I genuinely encourage everyone to avoid Horizon Europe at all costs and look at alternative sites or even better, support your local hobby shop.
EDIT: Regarding Horizon Hobby’s reply, they mentioned the battery on several occasions within said reply but didn’t bother to acknowledge the finger prints and missing tail light from the unit. I still don’t believe that’s a normal and acceptable experience and it still doesn’t excuse the rude customer service and terrible wait times for any request to be actioned.
Reply from Horizon Hobby2026-05-15
Hi Josh,
We're sorry to hear you had a bad experience with your purchase. The SCX24 may ship with the battery in separate packaging for a couple reasons: a sample of vehicles may be opened, inspected and repacked, or batteries may be removed to check their health. In both instances, the battery will be packaged and returned to the box, and we are confident both kits you received had been checked for quality at our premises to ensure you receive a fully functional product.
There is not enough information in this review to find your account and we are using the 'request information' feature of this site to request your information to look further into this for you.
Sincerely,
I have been utilizing Horizon Hobby for many years
I have been utilizing Horizon Hobby for parts, aircraft and cars. I have been very happy will them. Any issues that I have had with a product HH has taken care of it with a new part or a replacement of the item. I have had to send a radio in for a warranty repair and HH paid to have it sent to them. Fixed the problem at no cost to me and sent it back to me at no charge.
I own an ix14 (first version) and installed AirWare version 2.02.10. It has been nothing short of a disaster. The primary issue is that AirWare will reboot after approximately 10-40 seconds and typically three times before it stabilizes. Here is the rub.
If sent the radio in THREE times for service. The problem still persists. After the third time the radio worked fine for approximately a week. Now, the same rebooting is occurring again. Sometimes it will remain on approximately 10% of the time without the reboot. Some times the AirWare doesn’t appear at all. We all know there is no phone support. The Chat support would need significant improvement to reach a BAD level. It seems like the people on the other side of Chat know nothing about the product.
Almost every pilot I know purchase either a RadioMaster or FrSky in that order. Spectrum you better get your head in the game or you won’t be in the game much longer.
Reply from Horizon Hobby2026-05-08
Hi Morty Man,
We’re sorry to hear about the issues you experienced with your transmitter after it was returned from service. That’s not the experience we want for our customers.
We are happy to see that our team has since reached out to you to arrange for the transmitter to be sent back in for further evaluation. The unit has been received at our service center, and we hope our resolution met your satisfaction.
We thank you for your patience and the opportunity to assist.
Best Regards,
ZERO...this company is a scam I ordered a car kit that was supposed to arrive in 2BD max.
Here I am a week and a half later and I have not received what I paid for. I recently found out that they dropped of a package stuffed with paper. They never intended on sending what I paid for. They still will not return my calls so Horizon Hobby are just thieves
Reply from Horizon Hobby2026-04-24
Hi Des.
We are concerned to hear you paid for an RC Car and received a package containing something else.
We are requesting info from you via this site to investigate this with urgency.
If the order was placed with Horizon Hobby we will verify with the shipper, and if it was placed on a scam site mimicking our website we will take appropriate action (these usually promise unrealistic deals like 80%off, etc).
We hope to hear from you soon!
I purchased a Kraton Mini that's made by Arrma/Horizon Hobby. The steering servo locked up in less than one battery pack. After looking around the Internet, there's a lot of people with the same issue. I have filed a warranty claim and they said they'll ship me a new servo, but it's backordered, and they refuse to send a better quality servo. 10 days now and there's no replacement servo shipped. Be ready to either get aftermarket parts right away for your brand new truck, be stuck with a paperweight truck for an unknown period of time, or deal with trying to setup a return if you buy this. Servo model is SX114. I have also followed up with support about the fact that this replacement part hasn't shipped and received no response.
What's even more hilarious is if you leave a 1 star review, it does not show up on the product page. I tried to leave a 1 star review 2 times in 2 days and neither review is showing up.
Reply from Horizon Hobby2026-04-23
Hi Alek
We're sorry to hear the servo went out on your RC Car, and we've confirmed there is one on order for you. We are working to expedite the next shipment of these and it will ship to you as soon as they arrive.
The Mini Kraton uses a specific steering servo and we are not aware of alternates that fit both the car and the servo saver. While the online community will often find out how to use alternate parts, and some of these may work well, we cannot endorse the use of components we have not tested to assure the torque, speed and fitment of the original-design part.
We will get your replacement part to you as soon as possible and we appreciate your patience in the mean time.
Sincerely,
Incomplete Order, No Notification, and No Accountability from Horizon Hobby
I placed an order with Horizon Hobby that included two related items, a vehicle and a motor intended to be used together. The motor shipped immediately, while the vehicle remained on backorder for several months with an expected ship date shown.
At no point was I notified of any issue with the vehicle. After waiting months, I logged in myself to check the status and discovered the item had been discontinued and would not be fulfilled.
This created a situation where the motor I purchased specifically for that vehicle was no longer usable for its intended purpose.
When I contacted customer service, they acknowledged that I should have been notified, but ultimately refused to provide any resolution. They repeatedly cited a strict 30 day return policy, even though their own delay and lack of communication prevented me from acting within that window.
Their policy does not address backorders, cancellations of open orders, or customer notification requirements in these situations. Despite that, they applied it rigidly and declined to make any exception.
The end result is that Horizon Hobby cancelled part of my order months later without notice, and then refused to stand behind the rest of the transaction, leaving me with a product I purchased in good faith but cannot reasonably use.
Customer service was dismissive and unwilling to escalate beyond scripted responses.
I would not recommend doing business with this company based on this experience.
Reply from Horizon Hobby2026-04-17
Hi Allen,
We reviewed the details of your case and we back you 100% on this. Please accept our apologies for missing the point of your Return request and we will be reaching out directly to help make this right.
Sincerely,
Great products... horrible customer service!
Purchased a new radio that failed within 1-week. Dealing with customer service is worse than pulling teeth.
I'll update this review if and when HH step-up and sort our the issue.
Reply from Horizon Hobby2026-04-24
Hi Terry,
We can't find any account that matches the name on this Review and your stated issue. We are using the 'request more information' feature on this site to get the info we need to look into this, and we hope to be able to get your issue resolved.
We look forward to the opportunity to get this squared away for you.
Best Regards,
I ordered the wrong part twice and they was there to help both times for someone just getting into this it's hard but they make things alot easier to understand thank yall
The quality & availability of products at Horizon is excellent. I order for my Grandson & they are always happy to help. I hate getting the wrong product & disappointing him. They make sure I get what is compatible. I ordered a plane as well as two batteries & within 8hrs I received an email stating my order had been shipped. I couldnt believe it.
Before I found Horizon, I ordered a plane he wanted from someone else. The plane came broken. I called & they sent one but that was also broken. They told my husband how to fix it. The plane itself was very cheaply made & design very shoddy.
Since someone at our RC club recommended Horizon we've bought everything thru them.
The CHAT is also helpful & if you need further help they will give you a live person. Their support behind the products are outstanding. I have had a few issues with orders but they take care of it immediately. They also save me money by giving 20% off batteries i buy because I am in the rewards program. They have a tiered rewards program. Since i am buying more product why not save money too?
Their shipping is free if you spend over $99. It arrives very well packaged & intact, on time or even early.
Horizon Hobby stands behind their name & product.
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