Devil's Advocate..

[Stuart]

Well it took sometime to push the buttons to get the truth not only from me but others.

And as I predicted full of £$%^&



A new service is going to be launched by RcHeliaddict that put's its members at the forefront not at the mercy of the commercial madness, but in partnership with the those we trust to provide the products we want and need.

Giving elements such classifieds and the members gallery greater exposure, plus more..

More on this will follow soon.

[Dodger]

Thanks for your help with the GV1 Pete, though I have to say it is no longer in the Synergy! Basically we have had a little trouble trying to get the 91SZH to rev high enough. For sure the motor has got power but it is not that easy to fully realise it. In my opinion the GV1 was not helping matters, and I have had better luck with the Revmax in this installation. However I would stress that the GV1 was not necessarily the limiting factor, but I can't be bothered to change it back!

Anyway, I think you're dead on with the project management comments. That aspect of our business is the most diffiicult to cope with, and we regularly get 'hung out to dry' when we have passed on information to our customers that later transpires to be incorrect. However I do now recognise that it is a specialist hobby, and it has its frustrations. Its not an excuse, and i would love to get into the under promise/over deliver band of customer delight. Right now it would really be nice to have some 611s in stock though!

Back to RR, in my opinion Ryder doesn't know who his customer genuinely is; is it the member who participates in the forum or is it the paying advertiser? The line is clearly a little grey with inevitable consequences that arise from time to time.

If one was being really deep about it, there are clear parallels about percieved free speech and democratic society. The commercial impact of the 'free market' becomes rather distorted when the media become intwined with commercial interests. Of course in the UK we have a long history of scurrilous newspaper reporters....... I think thats why the Watergate issue is so celebrated in the US, it was more about the reporters than the fact that it brought down the Nixon administration.

[Raptorite]

Hi Roger,

I'm glad you got the governing issues on the synergy sorted, in the end its the final result that counts, not how you got it!

I think you have hit the nail on the head there, this is a specialised hobby so there are always going to be frustrations, but you also illuded to one in particular which is most frustrating of all. This is the one where the distributors aren't able for some reason to maintain sensible and consistent stock levels.

In the last few years there have been all manner of problems in getting hold of products in the UK, things like OS spares, Futaba equipment, Coolpower fuel, Protech spares and Thunder Tiger spares to name but a few!

If the retailer at the front line is to maintain good customer service and satisfaction, they are entirely at the mercy of the manufacturers, and particularly in the UK to the distributors. It's little wonder the sales figures of many UK distributors have dropped significantly, especially considering you can order a load of spares or whatever online from the far east and have them delivered to your door far quicker than you would get them if you bought through normal UK retailers.

I would really like to see the distributors made accountable for their poor stock management, especially given that many of them will just send out what they have got and make no mention of whether other items ordered are on back order or not and how long it is likely to be before they are sent out. Maybe all the retailers could get together as one voice and demand extra discounts for items ordered that are out of stock for more than 10 days say, that might make them sit up and take note! I doubt very much they would go for this, but it is a nice idea!

There is one distributor in the UK that manages to get it right most of the time, it is very rare to find something out of stock at J Perkins Distribution, but if they are out of stock, invariably it isn't long before they have stock again. If they can do it, I really don't see why the others can't follow their example.

This whole RR situation is akin to many other commercial marketing based organisations, credit card companies for example are notorious for building up a nice large customer base and selling it to other commercial enterprises for marketing purposes. RR is a typical example of this, now there is a very large and ever expanding group of members, it is now being capitalised on as being the ideal place for marketing by suppliers of various products and services to this hobby.

So you are absolutely right, its direction has changed from being a pure neutral member based entity, with all its big carrots and other enticing features to attract new members, to one of huge marketing appeal and therefore revenue from commercial enterprises hoping to attract some of those members to their products and services.

At the end of the day RR and RcHeliaddict are two entirely different things, although looking similar, one is purely a commercial money making exercise for one person/organisation, and the other a totally neutral and unbiased entity with it's sole purpose to promote expansion and growth in the hobby, in order to move it forward for everyone's benefit.

I know which one gets my vote!!

Cheers,
Pete.

[Dodger]

Maintaining stocks really is a core problem through out the industry. Climb Out, Skyline's sister company for its distribution activities is responsible for Magnum Fuel, V Blades, Youngblood products, Synergy and several others. At the moment we are getting absolutely killed on supply issues with the CY stuff and V Blades. Generally we have been OK on fuel but it is still difficult when sales are expanding at the current rate.

One of the biggest problems has been the fact that the business seems to have evolved the 'wrong' way round. In general, the retailers tend to call the shots as they have the customer. This drives the distributor to compete on price, service and stock levels etc. Unfortunately this is not the case in modelling and the distributos hide behind the fact that if you want it you have to get it from them. Hence the pretty shabby situation that exists today. Sometimes the distributors do have problems with smaller suppliers and the industry is very fragmented, so its not always their fault.

The internet is also changing demand patterns with 'new' products getting established far more quickly than a few years ago. Similarly out of fashion stuff is dying pretty rapidly so I guess they try to reduce that risk by carrying less stock.

Anyway, off to fly now!!