Well, I've had it with On line ordering of Model goods. I've been waiting since 2 January for one model kit from WnW and since November for another from Revell Germany. In November my daughter ordered the new RoG 1/32 ME 262B1a from Hobbylinc USA on a "pre-order" deal as anXmas present. On January 2, as soon as they came up for "pre-order" my wife ordered the new WnW Sopwith Camel from Weta Workshop. It's now April, and both kits have come and gone from other retailers-- in the WnW case, several times. What's really irked me though is that Weta has not replied to several inquiries, even though they charged my credit card an $11 "shipping fee". Richard Alexander of WnW and I have corresponded a couple of times, but Weta has only sent one email back in February stating "we're awaiting shipment". But what's really pushed me over the edge is Hobbylinc, who has answered all my inquiries, however, they stated the shipment came and went to fulfill "pre-orders" (not mine evidently) even while they had the kit advertised for sale on thier website (albeit for only a couple of days). Now thier pre-order price has increased by $4 plus shipping. You can say what you want about LHS being worse value than the Internet, but I've never had a LHS owner order an item, sell it to someone else, then raise the price to order it again, or charge an item to my CC that they never had in stock in the first place. Is this a case of "buyer beware" of the "pre-order" scam, or just bad business models? I'll be buying from my LHS from now on.
VR,
Russ

Sounds like bad business practices to me that's why I never never ever order from any one off shore. And I don't want my credit or debit info going off shore. why don't you try some of the on line stores in this country, there are some really good ones. ACESES5

Mark,
These companies are both US based businesses operations. The Weta Workshop warehouse is 26 miles from where I live, and Hobbylinc USA is based in Atlanta Georgia. This is part of my frustration right now. I would have been better off ordering off shore at this point-- I've ordered stuff from a company in Holland with my products arriving within two weeks. When WnW was shipping direct from NZ, I used to order from them direct, with products arriving within 10 days to two weeks. I used Sprue Brothers a few years ago (Missouri) and they seemed Ok, but they seem to get small shipments which also go in and out of stock. When I worked in a LHS, we used Squadron a lot, they were exceptional at customer service, but they often don't carry what I want.
VR, Bucy

Ok my mistake I though Hobbylinc was based in Japan the other place I have never heard of. If my post upset you I didn't mean to. ACESES5

You're thinking of HobbyLink Japan. Hobbylinc and HobbyLink Japan are two completely different companies. I also thought they were the same company for a time.

Mark-- I'm certainly not upset with you or anyone here on Kitmaker-- I am upset with these two companies business models. I was reading just today in my AARP newsletter about how businesses have lured customers in with promises of an item, then don't live up to what was promised-- it borders on fraud, and two of the larger companies listed in the article were Dell Computers and Costco believe it or not. Dell was fined and required to pay $4 million in a lawsuit for not making a product available they had advertised, and Costco was sued and lost a lawsuit for promising an item and then not having it on hand. This sounds awfully familiar with what I'm experiencing with Weta and Hobbylinc. I just hope this is not what's going on here with these two hobby item distributors. But I've learned a valuable lesson here-- a "pre-order" is really just a way to lure in a customer-- there's really no guarantee you'll get the product in the end-- in the case of Weta though, they've taken money without delivering a product-- and the responsibility is mine I guess to get my money back--- it shouldn't be that way with a great model product like WnW. I know it wasn't that way when WnW controlled thier own distribution.
VR, Russ

Here's an update on this one-- "Paul" at Weta workshop has finally responded to an email and said they are receiving their shipment now, and will be shipping the Camel kits within 48 hours. That would be good-- but we'll see. No info on the Hobbylinc kit yet-- other than Revell Germany didn't ship enough kits to Hobbylinc they say. But because they advertised the kit for sale and even sent me an "in stock email" even though I'd pre-ordered one, then raised the price on pre-orders, I've decided to cancel this order and go with another distributor--or just wait for my LHS to get it. But I will never "pre-order" from anyone ever again. Buyer beware I guess.
VR, Russ