flightpower lipos

[ChrisB]

I wouldn't even give Flightpower the time of day reading these continuing problems with getting them,I would not order anything from them if they were the last lipo supplier on Earth.

Hopefully with service lik this they will go to the wall and well deserved IMHO.

[FlightPower]

Sutty: I have asked Liam to investigate what the issue is with your warranty and it will get solved.

Gaffuri: We have offered you a full refund with our compliments per your request, however we naturally cannot assist until and unless you provide valid payment details. We have outgrown PayPal in terms of their fee structure and business model that is geared primarily to private ebay type transactions. We are not willing to reverse a strategic decision in order to refund you the approximately £15 at the root of your public grievance with us. I do not believe any reasonable onlooker would expect us to do so either. If you cannot provide payment details within 48 hours we will resolve this by shipping your goods.

Optipower reps: Kindly restrain your comments to an Optipower thread and where possible restrain those comments to the benefits of your product and service. This thread is entitled "Flightpower lipos". Despite turbulence over the past decade FlightPower has returned to a leading position in the market on the basis of product and price. We do not believe that UK warehousing has an economic future in an increasingly price-driven market and hence we are willing to weather the storm of gaining excellence in global hub operations to reduce cost and increase the value for money received by our customers. Meanwhile we welcome the expansion of the electric flight market at home and abroad with all of its incumbents. Nevertheless I can advise from long experience in the competitive landscape that resorting to bad-mouthing the competition, whether directly or by the use of shills instead of focusing on the value offered to customers has been a very short term strategy for those would-be competitors that I have watched come and go over the past decade.

[Delarado]

Wow, I know where I'll be getting my packs!

[nigelbrogan]

So where are the lipos my fellow club mate ordered, I think that the customer service is shocking. I would not encourage anybody to buy flightpower.


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[sacko]

What's the issue Liam is investigating?

3 packs puffed. They need replacing; what takes over 3 months to investigate?

[nigelbrogan]

The guy at our club has never received his lipos and they were ordered on november 14th, he has contacted them and somebody said that they must have been lost in the post, so some more will be sent out but to still not have them is a joke. Buy local and you can't go wrong you may pay a little more but who cares if you get them.


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[Jamin_00]

I too was waiting for replacements but after a couple of months told him to stick them!

Just to think I was a big champion for them at one time

[sutty]

Sutty: I have asked Liam to investigate what the issue is with your warranty and it will get solved.

Hello Julian, Thank you for the post and the PM and promising to investigate the matter. I look forward to hearing from you in due course. I only consider it a pity that I did not receive a response to several attempts by e-mail, prior to making a post in this thread. All I ever got was that you would look into it, which to be fair is all I have received at this point too. Anyway, thanks for responding, I will await your reply.

Assuming the outcome proves favourable, I will be sure to post about that too.

Best Regards

Sutty

[del19_82]

If you go into a shop and pay by cash you wont get a refund by credit card if you return the goods, so why should he have to send you bank details when he paid by PayPal??

I too had issues when ordering with FP (waited 7 weeks for 2 3s lipo's). Now Julian sorted that out for me and I was happy with what was done but I was also told that it was an issue because off factory problems, and that it would be resolved to make sure no other customers would have the same issue (I still have all the correspondence). This doesn't seem the case to me with all the people actively looking for info on forums regarding poor service from FP.



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[J-S-Q]

Not a month goes by on this forum without someone posting a story of Flightpower misery. As for having "outgrown" Paypal? Fast Lad are probably the biggest heli supplier in Europe and they don't seem to have outgrown it. If the customer paid by Paypal then why the hell not just refund him? The replies from FLightpower on here always seem to have an arrogant/dismissive tone about them. I've never tried their products but I know that I never will as I have just read so many stories of customers being treated so badly.

[Delarado]

Not a month goes by on this forum without someone posting a story of Flightpower misery. As for having "outgrown" Paypal? Fast Lad are probably the biggest heli supplier in Europe and they don't seem to have outgrown it. If the customer paid by Paypal then why the hell not just refund him? The replies from FLightpower on here always seem to have an arrogant/dismissive tone about them. I've never tried their products but I know that I never will as I have just read so many stories of customers being treated so badly.

Agreed. The "tone" of the response was where my "wow" comment came from. Theres a little word beginnning with S that i've yet to hear; which frankly horrifies me considering this entire thread is pretty full of bad experiences. Realistically If flightpower was my company I'd be bending over backwards to send these guys out free packs as compensation, as well as writing a well constructed and apologetic response on this PUBLIC forum. What I understood from the response above was "Ill get someone else to look into the warranty, stop moaning im going to fix it, to the other chap; Im not giving you your money back by paypal so either give me other details or im sending you the packs and you can go away...oh and optipower please shut your mouth"

Rather than telling the other vendors to shut up and stay out of it you should be fixing the problems that give them the justification to say why THEY are better than YOU in a public forum and profusely apologising for all bad experiences thus far and pledging commitedly to ensuring this standard of service will not continue. It is the quality of a product and the standard of service that dictates how sucessful something is and you cant blame another business for pointing out their perceived superiorities because at the end of the day you are both trying to SELL something and the superior product and service will always win when prices are similar.

You have to be very careful of what you say and how you say it on public forums, especially when your screen name is the name of the company you are representing. People read what you say and that is what forms the opinion of your company. I havent seen anything customer focussed here, which is what its all about (Your company is made of your customers) and that small chunk of text with the tones of the replies and complete lack of any apology (regardless of where the fault lies) will ensure I will never purchase a pack from flightpower.

[Delarado]

On the flip side of the coin; had you have been pledging the earth in response for lost orders and warranty issues then it can actually reflect positively on your company. If people know they can order from you, potentially not get the packs and have to wait 3 months to receive anything they probably wont order.

If people know they can order from you, potentially not get the packs, have to wait 3 months to receive anything but they will get a free pack or two when they do then they might actually order from you hoping youll miss the order! People arent annoyed things go missing as they know things often go wrong. People are annoyed they are being made to wait months on end for packs to be delivered and not even being apologised to for the inconvenience.

[jamiem]

Optipower reps: Kindly restrain your comments to an Optipower thread and where possible restrain those comments to the benefits of your product and service. This thread is entitled "Flightpower lipos". Despite turbulence over the past decade FlightPower has returned to a leading position in the market on the basis of product and price. We do not believe that UK warehousing has an economic future in an increasingly price-driven market and hence we are willing to weather the storm of gaining excellence in global hub operations to reduce cost and increase the value for money received by our customers. Meanwhile we welcome the expansion of the electric flight market at home and abroad with all of its incumbents. Nevertheless I can advise from long experience in the competitive landscape that resorting to bad-mouthing the competition, whether directly or by the use of shills instead of focusing on the value offered to customers has been a very short term strategy for those would-be competitors that I have watched come and go over the past decade.

While I could go in to a rant about the above comment, I won't. I'll simply point out that from a quick skim of this thread, I'm the only Optipower sponsored pilot to have replied, and as such your comment must have been aimed squarely at me. I'll just defend by pointing out that I simply stated why certain packs are supplied as a "split pack", there was no product or brand slagging, so kindly restrain your own comments and deal with the matter(s) in hand.

Your products and service stand and speak for themselves, there is no need for any "rival" sponsored pilot to do any slagging what-so-ever.

[PeteStewardson]

Thanks Gaz, Funny that, I nearly sent him a PM, as during my search for people in a similar position, I found an old post where he was selling four brand new 6S 5000 50C FlightPower packs. Reason for sale, replaced under warranty. Which made me wonder how he'd actually achieved that. I hope he looks in, as I decided not to PM him as I thought it a little cheeky.

Cheers

Sutty

Not cheeky at all. I'm only too happy to help people where I can

Basically my story goes.

I was offered a deal on FP lipos at the 'sponsored pilot' prices. I was just putting a 600esp together so ordered some 6s 5000mah ones. I'd ordered Turnigy Nanos from hobby king and sold those thinking the FP's would be a better deal. Went with the 30c as thought these would be the best for the application. Took ages to get to me, with loads of emails asking for updates. When I got a reply it was normally that they were shipping in the next day. Then eventually I got told I was having them upgraded to the 50c ones and DHL shipping. Happy bunny again.

They turned up and I got a big bill from DHL for tax and duty. This was refunded by Julian. No complaints there, but I had waited for probably 8 weeks.

After about 9 flights three of them started to puff. 76% max out of any pack on a flight so not over discharged. Two looked like American footballs. After contacting Julian he put the blame on me using a PL8 charger. I was told I would get replacements under warranty as long as I didn't use the PL8 again. I got my replacements but in the mean time I was offered a pair of Opti packs to try to prove it wasn't the PL8. Suffice to say those Opti packs have been perfect since I got them, and so have the Hyperions that I also charge on the PL8.

When I got the FP warranty packs I got stung for duty and vat again which was again refunded. I just sold them all though. If I couldn't use my PL8 they were no use to me ( and I didn't think it was the PL8 anyway ) but I'd lost confidence. One of the contributing factors was realising that the special deal I'd been offered was pretty crap as even the 50c ones were now being sold for less than I'd paid after the move to flightpower Global. Plus I'd decided to get a 700e and wanted lighter packs.

These days I wouldn't touch FP with a barge pole. I can now buy good packs and get them next day at reasonable cost for all my helis. I'll only use either Hyperion or Opti now. I don't see FP as high quality packs, and although I have no problems with the refunds on duty, upgrades, or the warranty being stood by. I do have issues with the slow service and quite aggressive defence of the product. I even offered to send a couple of packs to Opti as the PL8 importer in the UK and was told their opinion would not be welcomed.

Would I use them again? Nope. All my flightpower packs are now replaced by Opti ones, other than the 2 LiFe packs I still have. If they puff I wont be replacing them with FP that's for sure.

[raptorheli2]

pete, what was the reasoning behind the PL8 causing the packs to puff?

i'm about to order some packs shortly and i'm going to use a PL8-if using it instantly puts my warranty at question then i'll need to buy another brand.

cheers