Unfortunately, I have had a bad experience with JadarHobby's customer service.

I was browsing the internet trying to find a difficult-to-locate kit from the Polish manufacterer, RPM. I found it on JadarHobby's webstore, for 20.00PLN. I was going to buy the item when I noticed shipping costs were 49.80PLN to Western Australia!

So using the 'Contact Us' form, I sent a question asking if they could possibly do a better shipping deal for the product. My response from Darek Szenfeld was a blunt:

"Please make order with more items. P&P will be cheapest."

That would've only made my purchase even more expensive, and besides, I didn't need to purchase any more items from them! So I responded saying that I couldn't afford any more items, Regards Chas.

Reply from Darek:

"Hi,
;-))).
It isn't my problem."

How outrageous is that! My reply:

Derek,

A response such as 'we are sorry about the high shipping costs, but cannot do anything about it' or a quick explanation as to why the costs are so high would probably be better accepted by your potential customers.

"It isn't my problem" is downright rude, and I am sure many of fellow Kitmaker Network users would agree when I report this example of bad customer relations.

Have a nice Christmas,

Chas

The response:

You must be very bad man.

Darek Szenfeld

I don't know if I come across a bad man here on the forums, but I think this guy is acting like a real bastard and would find it hard pressed getting a job behind any dinkum supermarket checkout let alone a customer support contact for a supposedly reputable online webstore.

To top it all off, after the exchange, my account was deleted from JadarHobby's database, I can no longer log in!

This is the worst customer service I have experienced, EVER!

Chas

(I bought this same kit about 12 months ago from a UK webstore who charged me a total of £8.25 including postage. The reason I didn't go back to them is because the kit is currently out-of-stock. This is evidence that JadarHobby may be charging a bit much for shipping costs).

That really is crappy service wow!! I can honestly say that I would not be in business long if I had an attitude like that. That is the one thing that I pride myself on the most is customer service, but then again, 10 years in the grocery/retail business, and another 3 1/2 years in the call center business as a customer service agent...."Good" customer service just comes natural to me.

BTW, I had a look, not sure which RPM kit you are looking for, but Squadron has quite a few available. I would say I could get it for you, as Squadron is a wholesaler I use, but you might be able to get it a little cheaper from them, shipping would probably be about the same from them in the US as opposed to me here in Canada.

I'm surprised at this Chas , since a lot of members do business with Jadar . I have never done business with them before so I really can't comment on the service , but he could have handle this better in terms of customer relations . To simply say you are a bad man for asking about different shipping options is outrages ! And then deleting your account our this was just wrong .

There is no reason to pay 50 bucks for shipping on a 20 dollar kit . You can find one cheaper on E-bay or even try Hyperscale and it won't cost you 70 bucks either .

Good luck in your hunt !!

I've done business with Jadar for years and have never had a problem.

Sounds to me like a problem in translation.

I just recieved a box with a few kits from Jadar and the shipping via ground to Canada was only $13US and took 8 weeks. I would order from them again but I imagine air freight would be expensive.

It is unfotunate that he wasn't more polite. If you imagine him saying "you must be very bad man" in a Polish accent it seems more funny and less insulting.

I've never had a problem with Jadar and have been ordering for years.
I did have the same reply from Squadron in the US when I wanted to buy one figure and the postage was twice the cost of the figure. When I queried it thay said "Buy more figures"

Jadar only charge postage at cost and Derek isn't out to rip anybody off. I would agree that is probably a translation problem.


Believe it or not it is cheaper for me in Ireland to buy Warriors figures from Firestorm, Australia than from The US, UK or Europe and to buy Mig products from HLJ in Japan than straight from MIG because of Postage costs.

Hi Scott, I am looking for RPM's 1:35 Taisho 3 'Woodpecker'. I found it at Squadron but my quoted shipping charge was $25.00 USD !! That's more expensive than JadarHobby's quote!

There is no way I can afford to pay a shipping cost over 3 times the price of the actual kit.

I'll be sending you a PM soon Scott!


True, but in all fairness to JadarHobby, the price is in PLN. The total cost to me would have been just over $25AUD.


Could be, but I would expect him to be better trained in communication with international customers. Their front page is currently offering discounts to international customers, so it is obvious they are trying to expand their customer base. If they are employ a customer service guy who can't communicate properly with international buyers, it's going to have an adverse effect on their strategy.

Hi Chas,

Actually the Jadars service is 'ok' until you have to ask them about anything. I got the impression that he actually is rude when I first ordered from them and had to ask about something (can't remember now what it was). I tell you, no translation problem here! On the other hand they always ship my orders with a one week delay (cant really tell if they had the items in stock from their page but I assume that 'available' meant in stock, as opposed to Luckymodel.com), so that isn't quite the best customer service either.

For the price of shipping I would blame polish postal service which is overpriced even on their services in PL, not to mention overseas shipping. For the lighter items , shipping to Poland is faster and cheaper from HongKong than from Poland

Cheers
Greg