Roban Model Limited

Very Poor Communication

I placed an order with Roban for some RC helicopter parts on the 24th of December and the confirmation email I received shortly after, thanked me for the order and stated I would be contacted as soon as the order shipped out. I had not heard anything by Jan 2nd so I contacted Roban by email to see if the order was shipped & if they had a tracking number; or if it hadn't, what the issue was. I was thinking they were perhaps closed over the holidays, and just failed to mention that in the order confirmation email. I received no reply so I tried a 2nd time. Again no reply. Never ordering from Roban directly before, I was worried and took the next step by opening a PayPal dispute reporting no seller communication and that my order was not received. I was contacted immediately by Roban twice that same day after I submitted the PayPal dispute. First to say I had been fully refunded for my order with no other explanation. Then a little while later the same day, receiving another email stating the parts just shipped with a tracking number. I was obviously confused by this. I've never been refunded for an order than didn't ship with no explanation, and then later the same day, it ships out. It's almost like they had two different customer service people working on two different solutions to the same problem with no internal communication between them. So I emailed them again for clarification and got some weird reason stating I had contacted PayPal to report fraud against them and they felt it best they refund me right away because they didn't want to deal with fraud. No, I never reported fraud to PayPal! I simply filled in a PayPal non-receipt form stating that I had tried to contact the seller multiple times with no response, and requested PayPal step in to see if this could be sorted out. In short, I followed standard PayPal non-receipt protocol. Two weeks past and a package arrived in the mail from Roban. I was certainly pleased and was going to email them right away both thanking them and request they send me a PayPal invoice so I could re-pay them for the order. Unfortunately upon opening the box, to my surprise saw they sent totally wrong parts from what I had ordered. They didn't even look remotely the same to what I ordered so I can only presume I have someone else's order and they have mine? There was no order form or packing list in the box to confirm this however. I emailed them right away to let them know that I was prepared to re-pay them, but that the wrong parts were shipped. I also attached a photo of the wrong parts I received along with a copy of the original order showing the parts I had ordered. That was three days ago now, and again, all is silent from Roban as they continue to ignore my email requests, or perhaps they simply don't have time to respond to their customers. Either way, it's not how any company should handle customer service. I'm a service manager myself and also own/run a small online business. If I were to treat any customer this way, I would be held accountable. Clear & timely communication is the foundation of good customer service. And no, I don't prescribe to the antiquated notion that the customer is always right nonsense. After 30+ years in the service industry, I know the exact opposite is usually the case but respectful communication is still key in this process. Regardless, I'm not out any money of course because Roban did refund the original order (still no idea why), but I also don't have the parts I ordered almost a month ago and I need them - desperately. Seems the only way Roban will communicate is when one opens a PayPal dispute given my anecdotal experience with them. I should also add, I've given Roban ample free exposure and positive feedback on my website and YouTube channel. I didn't get, nor did I expect anything from them for that positive exposure; I simply liked their products and wanted to share that with others. I even take my time to answer a fair number of technical questions on these specific helicopters of theirs I have when people with the same helicopters contact me with technical questions. I'm certainly not looking for any special treatment or compensation for any of that (I despise entitlement), but I do expect to be treated like a somewhat valued customer. John Salt Owner/Editor - RC Helicopter Fun.com

The website for parts is really bad