I got cheated out of $.50!!!! (Just gotta vent...)

[Neil]

Well, I went to Ray and Robins to buy some sustainer motors for my 2-staged 24MM rocket...... THeres really two parts to this story. The first I find very amusing.

So I go into the hobby shop, and ask the guy for a pack of D12-7s. He says they only have -3s, so I ask if he has any E9-8s. He looks around, and says "nope". Do you want A10s? Howbout C6s? "No thanks...". "What are those down at the bottom?" "E9-8s" Oh man.... So he asks me why I want such long delays. I tell him its for my two-stage altitude bird. He looks at me like I am an alien or something. "Do you have *ANY* idea how high that will go!?" "yeah, I do".

So by this time the guy is talking to me like I am a brainless two year old... I am also trying not to crack up at the guy

He starts explaining how altitude works... "An "A" will get you 300' on this rocket. A "B" will get you 600. A "C" will get you 1200. A "D" will get you 2500. An "E" will get you a mile." LOL!!!!! So I say "Actually, rsim says that it will go 2500' on a D12 to an E9".

So the poor guy just gives up on convincing me that I dont know what I am doing, and just rings it up. LOL! It was soooo funny... It might not sound quite as funny in this re-telling, but it was HILLARIOUS, i tell you!

He just leaned against the counter, apparantly positive that I was just another kid coming it to get the biggest motor he could get away with. I leaned up against the other counter, with just as much determanation to prove the exact opsite... You might compare it to two opposing armies digging in to prepare for a loooooooong batlle...

I won.


So then my mom and I go to home depot to get this&that. While I am waiting in the car for them to load fence parts in, I look at my reciept. It says "E9-8s----$16.49" I look at the package of motors "E9-8s-----$15.99" :kill: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

So the next time I go to ray&robins (maybe on my way to CMASS this weekend), I think I will bring it to thier attention.

Should I raise a stink, or should I let it slide? If I let it slide, and they do it again, you bet ill raise a stink!:kill:

I saved the reciept and the piece of the container that had the label, and next time I am there, I am going to bring it to thier attention (polietly, mind you. I wont go running into the store yelling insults, dont worry ). It was proabably just a mistake... But does that mistake violate any false-advertising laws?

Am I over-reacting? I proabably am... Sorry for the rant, either way. I just gotta vent when something like this happens...

 

[Mrs.Bowhunter]

Speaking of idiots .. one day we were in Hobby Lobby and one of the other patrions in the Rocket aisle decided he was going to explain rocket motors to Bowhunter... he went on and on and then said .. ohhh a C motor is powerful enough for anything youd want to fly! I almost lost it i was laughing so hard. I was standing at the other end of the aisle watching Bowhunter's face as the guy made a jerk of himself. Was a good show. Bow told him the only time i use C motors is if i use 4 at once. The guy looked at him like he had 4 heads and walked away. lol People need to learn to keep their "knowledge" or lack of to themselves one in a while.

 

[Neil]

Oh dear... That *IS* bad!

Yes, I agree... people might want to learn to stop talking about things they dont know anything about, especially to people who DO know what they are talking about... :kill:


Oh man... I just set myself up for a good one there... Either Doug or Ryan is gonna slam me...

Go ahead... I asked for it!

At least its all in fun... (or at least I think it is... )

 

[Mike]

I expect if you bring it up they'll give you $.50 or knock it off your next purchase.

I did my work experience placement in a model shop, some guy came and bought an entire R/C car set up along with a couple other things. I made a mistake and only put £1.50 on the till for the car setup. Fortunatly I saw my mistake but only after I'd told him he couldn't pay by card as he was under the minimum spend!

 

[Neil]

So I cant sue em for a million bucks for false advertising?? Aww man... I was gonna make a few easy rocket bucks... (j/k)

 

[edwardw]

I boght some PML tubing from Hobbytown - and they had two different prices on each tube. So I told them and they said one was old and one was new pricing. So I got charged two different prices. (only different by .25) Didn't bother me. BUT, when I did get my 36" ruler for fabric the price range up as 15 and on the shelf it said $11. Sam deal, new/old pricing. I got the $11 that time

Edward

 

[powderburner]

Neil, the mis-priced stuff is typical of modern retailing. Someone puts one price on a sticker and stamps it on a product, someone else puts contradictory info into the store's computer system. Just about every other time I go to the grocery store they ring up something at the wrong price (only if it happens at Kroger then you get that item free!) I really doubt that the store has in place some diabolical plan to dominate the world 50 cents at a time. Take your stuff back and show it to them and they will give you a refund. Do it nicely and calmly and they might even give you a free item?

This brings up an interesting corollary: when you are undercharged 50 cents (or any other amount) by accident, how many times do you go back to the store and offer to straighten it out? You would be surprised at the reactions you get when you do this.

As far as people running off at the mouth on things they don't know about, I hear that all the time too. It takes all the will-power I have not to correct someone at an airshow who mis-identifies the aircraft to his family. In the big picture, it just isn't important, and there is no point in humiliating someone in front of his kids----and he probably won't learn anyway. Some things are just best left alone. You can trust that the stupid people will either learn, or slowly get pushed aside. But you don't have to be the one doing all the 'pushing' because you will end up exhausted. At most, offer one gentle suggested correction, then drop it.

 

[Neil]

I still want my $.50 back...

OK, I guess it isnt important enough to make a special trip to the hobby store just to point it out, but if I am ever over there again, ill bring it.

So I cant sue for $100000?

 

[Justy]

Be friendly. Make some printouts of your Rocksim data. Better yet if you've got a laptop, show him the "2D Flight Profile" playback, people get a big kick out of that. Show this guy that you've done your homework. He'll be impressed. With any luck he'll do his best to encourage such effort... meaning, he'll keep bringing cool rocket stuff into his store.

If my local hobby shop stocked E9's, I'd ignore the extra $0.50. Then I'd go down to the liquor store and buy him a $5.00 imported beer. Then I'd offer to wash his storefront windows, just to thank him for supporting rocketry.

E9's are tough to import into Canada, so this isn't likely to happen. But I'd still buy him a beer if he just reliably stocked the A-through-D stuff.

As it stands, he sells a fairly random selection of E2X kits and a handful of motors. Despite efforts to encourage him to stock more... like special ordering D12-0's and expressing interest over the three weeks it took to get them... it just hasn't worked. So now, when I want rocket stuff, I drive across town, where they've got what I need the first time, and for about $0.50 less per pack. Of course, it costs me a 1/50 Mercury Redstone worth of gasoline to get there and back.

 

[Neil]

LOL! I think they might frown on me buying beer...

Nice&friendly sounds like a better way to go... But printing out rsim data just to prove I am not an idiot to a toatal stranger is a little over the top if you ask me.

 

[sandman]

I was in an OOOOOOOld hobby shop in Marlette, Michigan looking through the engines on the racks (bending and reaching over boxes and boxes of R/C cars and other "stuff" scattered all over the place).

I was taking the longest time...selecting engine packs...rejecting some...all on the same hooks.

After I made my selections of all of these old dusty packs of Estes engines the guy writes up the sale...takes my money...then he asks me," Why were you looking so hard at all the motors and taking some and rejecting others? They are all the same."

I said, " Yes, but, some appear to be old stock, I wanted the oldest ones."

"Why, are the older ones better or something?" he asks.

Since we already completed the transaction and I was on my way out the door, I answered, " Well, sorta, the newer engines in the front were priced at $6.99 a pack for C6 motor, The older packs were priced at $2.49 a pack. Cheaper is better!"

Then I left!

sandman

 

[KermieD]

Originally posted by Neil


So I cant sue for $100000?

Nope. In fact, they're not even obligated to give you your $0.50 back. A price tag is *legally* only an offer to beging sales negotiations at. Since you closed a transaction at $16.49, that's what the legal contract is binding at.

That being said, it's just common sense and good cutomer service to give you your $0.50 back, and many places will double it. Don't spend it all in one place though!

 

[Missileman]

All I can say is be subtle about it.
I built a repoire with my local hobby shop.
I bring in my high power stuff and show the owner along with flight pictures.
This hobby shop only has Estes kits and motors right now.
I stopped by yesterday with my Flizkits Stingray and a catalog.
I talked to him awhile and he asked if he could keep the catalog. He said he would contact Jim Fliz through his website and see about stocking his kits "YAY"
I'm Just saying unless you have an alternative try to stay in good standings with the locals. You never know what the future will bring.
Did that sound kind of "wishy washy"

 

[Neil]

Oh well... Go figure. I dont think ill try to understand all these laws just to get two quarters...

 

[Donaldsrockets]

Yeah Neil, I know what it's like to be stiffed. Well, you want to talk about being stiffed, my older sister stiffed me out $200 a few years ago :kill:

 

[Gus]

Hey Neil,

Don't be too tough on the hobby store guy. When I was a kid (late triassic) I could ride my bike to 4 or 5 hobby stores, and they all had rockets. Now, living in a city 10 times the size of the one I grew up in, there are only 3 hobby stores that stock rockets within 30 minutes DRIVING time of my house. There's no hobby store within bicycling distance that my kids could go to.

The way things are going, you're pretty lucky to have a hobby store close enough to go to.

And, oh yeah, I think if you're nice about it the hobby store guy will give you the 50 cents you got overcharged. Put on your best "Hey-I'm-just-a-kid-and-50-cents-is-still-real-money-to-me" face and act pathetic. I haven't met too many mean or grumpy guys running hobby stores.

Let us know what happens.

 

[Neil]

LOL! Should I wimper?

Yeah, hobby shops are hard to come by... Ray&robins is a good 45 minutes from our house... The next closest that I know of is DHC, and thats upstate NY!

I guess I wont be mad at em. Though it was a little annoying how the guy was talking to me like I didnt know what a rocket motor was (I think we have all realized that by now... )...

I guess I am more angry about that than the $.50. Though I admit it was highly amusing...

I bet they have had kids trying to buy big motors without knowing anything about rockets before, but still...

He tried every concievable trick to get me to buy an A10 instead of an E9... "you know, at that altitude youll run into wind!" "have you ever flown a rocket motor that big!?" "We have C6-7s!" "And A10s!" "Do you know how high that will go!?" On and on and on and on... I prefer the other guy who cant identify an AT rocket motor, but at least trusts me to know what I am doing! Actually, that guy must have been new, or at least not there often. I have been buying Es, Fs and Gs there since I started MPR. I got my first Fs and Gs there, too! So I think the other guy who has been there longer recognizes me and doesent drill me about how rockets work

Well, if I bought the motors from some online place, I would be paying a lot more in shipping... So really it isnt that bad. I guess ill just let it go.

 

[powderburner]

Neil, maybe you can get a little satisfaction after all. Ask the store owner if he would like to display a few of your rockets for maybe three or four months, hanging from the ceiling, to try to stimulate a little interest and business for him. If he says yes, then you pick out a few old birds that you won't miss for a while, plus one of the biggest ones you have-----preferably with a really big hole in the back end (the unspoken statement being: I have flown bigger stuff than YOU have ever SEEN, Mr. Dim-Bulb assistant salesman!) If it turns out that this actually does help boost the rocket business in this hobby shop, maybe you could offer to exchange some new stuff periodically for display.

Make sure you make all statements in terms of 'my Dad and I' so that someone doesn't call the BATFE in on you.

 

[cls]

Neil I had to laugh this AM. two threads, started by you - one complaining about missing $0.50, one saying you earned $150! what gives, eh?

keep your hobby shop in business so they will be there when you really need something. and be glad you don't live in CA or NJ 'cos "chronologically unendowed" persons such as yourself can't buy anything over C motors!!

 

[Neil]

LOL!!!!!!!! I just coulend stop laughing about your "big hole" post! They already have some rockets hangin from the ceiling, and the rest of the ceiling is taken up by RC airplanes. No room for my stuff... Besides, I still fly anything with a "big hole" in it If I ever have a blow-thru, I might stick a wicked mailing tube in the back of it and follow your suggestion, but I dont have anything at the moment that I could spare...



Im a big whiner, huh? yeah... I guess so... But I was angry and wanted to whine about it

 

[grimlock3000]

He starts explaining how altitude works... "An "A" will get you 300' on this rocket. A "B" will get you 600. A "C" will get you 1200. A "D" will get you 2500. An "E" will get you a mile." LOL!!!!! So I say "Actually, rsim says that it will go 2500' on a D12 to an E9".

So the poor guy just gives up on convincing me that I dont know what I am doing, and just rings it up. LOL! It was soooo funny... It might not sound quite as funny in this re-telling, but it was HILLARIOUS, i tell you!

Was this the younng skinny kid that is behind the counter a lot? I go to Ray and Ron's for my hobby stuff, they try to be helpful there, but I always keep the questions to a minimum

I sent you a private message neil

 

[Neil]

Well... I dunno... Tallish, semi-short dark hair... His name starts with an "S" im pretty sure... "seth" or "sean" or something... I heard something like that when they were calling him down from the upper story to ring up my order.... He wasnt all that young...

Questions to a minumum... Good idea... If the guy who is an RC airplane genius is behind the counter, he will most likely not know (unless the question is about glue... He seems to know a lot about glue... And phenolic micro ballons... And RC airplanes...), if the other guy is behind the counter, you will be arguing for a really long time....

Did you come in recently enough to see the big jet in the back of the shop near the big black Mean Machine?? That big red one... He says it goes over 200MPH . He also told us where his field is... Evil grin... Im gonna have to go take a look at it sometime, contact the land owner, and maybe start a mid-maine rocket club! "CMESS" "Central MainE Spacemodeling Society" No, I wouldent call it that... Any ideas

 

[jetra2]

How about A-MESS? America-Maine Spacemodeling Society?



Jason

 

[Bowhunter]

Im starting a club here in Illinois. I was thinking Illinois Rocketry Socitey. The I.R.S.

 

[Neil]

LOL! I think theres an FBI, CIA and several others...

 

[Ryan S.]

I like A mess

 

[Lee Reep]

Originally posted by Neil
I still want my $.50 back...

OK, I guess it isnt important enough to make a special trip to the hobby store just to point it out, but if I am ever over there again, ill bring it.

So I cant sue for $100000?

When you get to be my age, you just take your receipt in and say "You overcharged me." Say no more, let them make the offer. If they do not apologize, and gladly refund the 50 cents, PLUS tax, you inform them that they are unworthy of your business.

And let them know that you will order from the internet!

My kids think I'm crazy, but I say customer service in this country is pretty scarce, and store owners are to blame for not treating customers with respect. They also need to instill this belief in their employees.