What I am about to report may be common place to you, but it was a new event for me and I want to tell you about great customer service from Estes.
This last weekend here in northern Colorado, we had a rocket launch at the Atlas site. I was preparing to fly my fourth "E" flight in our alphabet contest. I was flying an Estes Maxi-Alpha on an Estes E9-6 motor. I had already flown this rocket on 4 "D's", and was two flights away from finishing the "E"'s. I pressed the launch button and the rocket fired, left the launch rod and then blew apart. The nozzle, motor mount and plastic fin lock fired out the bottom and the rest fired out the top and the rocket floated down from 20', gutless. Insides cleaned right out.
I recovered the parts, made sure the small fire was out, and walked back to my truck. I then proceeded to take photographs of the remains of the rocket from several different angles. I took photographs of the remains of the engine mount and plastic parts from a couple of different angles and I photographed the motor, the motor size, and the motor date code.
When I got home from the launch, I went to the Estes webpage and found customer service. I wrote them speaking of the event of the day and gave a description. I did not ask for anything, even though I was hoping they would replace the rocket. (I mean, I was going to have to pay $10 to get back into the contest (the bribe), and I was going have to fly the last two "E" flights and come up with another rocket. Gee, the expense of it all.)
Come Monday, I get an e-mail from Christine at customer service at Estes. She says they need photographs to effect the warranty claim. I sent the photographs Monday night and I forgot about it. (Gee, at least they could replace the motor which might be typical in this day and age.)
Today I received another e-mail from Estes Customer Service and Christine. It states that they have received my order and it will be shipped straight away. The order was for a new Maxi-Alpha and a package of E9-6 motors. WOW! Far beyond what I expected. I think this is great customer service and I wanted to share it with you guys.
I built the Maxi-Alpha because it was quick and simple. I could build it in a few minutes, fly it in the contest, and not take too much time away from my L-3 cert. preparations or anything else. So I was bummed a little when it blew up. It meant I was going to have to pull a bird that I am less than confident of out of retirement. Now I don't and I can go back to ground tests, practicing my tracking and working with my GPS and transmitters before the launch in three weeks.
Thanks for letting me share about my unexpected good fortune from Estes.
BEAR
This last weekend here in northern Colorado, we had a rocket launch at the Atlas site. I was preparing to fly my fourth "E" flight in our alphabet contest. I was flying an Estes Maxi-Alpha on an Estes E9-6 motor. I had already flown this rocket on 4 "D's", and was two flights away from finishing the "E"'s. I pressed the launch button and the rocket fired, left the launch rod and then blew apart. The nozzle, motor mount and plastic fin lock fired out the bottom and the rest fired out the top and the rocket floated down from 20', gutless. Insides cleaned right out.
I recovered the parts, made sure the small fire was out, and walked back to my truck. I then proceeded to take photographs of the remains of the rocket from several different angles. I took photographs of the remains of the engine mount and plastic parts from a couple of different angles and I photographed the motor, the motor size, and the motor date code.
When I got home from the launch, I went to the Estes webpage and found customer service. I wrote them speaking of the event of the day and gave a description. I did not ask for anything, even though I was hoping they would replace the rocket. (I mean, I was going to have to pay $10 to get back into the contest (the bribe), and I was going have to fly the last two "E" flights and come up with another rocket. Gee, the expense of it all.)
Come Monday, I get an e-mail from Christine at customer service at Estes. She says they need photographs to effect the warranty claim. I sent the photographs Monday night and I forgot about it. (Gee, at least they could replace the motor which might be typical in this day and age.)
Today I received another e-mail from Estes Customer Service and Christine. It states that they have received my order and it will be shipped straight away. The order was for a new Maxi-Alpha and a package of E9-6 motors. WOW! Far beyond what I expected. I think this is great customer service and I wanted to share it with you guys.
I built the Maxi-Alpha because it was quick and simple. I could build it in a few minutes, fly it in the contest, and not take too much time away from my L-3 cert. preparations or anything else. So I was bummed a little when it blew up. It meant I was going to have to pull a bird that I am less than confident of out of retirement. Now I don't and I can go back to ground tests, practicing my tracking and working with my GPS and transmitters before the launch in three weeks.
Thanks for letting me share about my unexpected good fortune from Estes.
BEAR