[Mike Perry]

Called BB yesterday to send them 2 4 shooters that I bought off of the Used Equipment section of RTF.
Bought them back in Sept/Oct from someone in La.
I knew they were a little rough but the $ was right so I bought them anyway. Got the 4 shooters and they were in better shape than represented.
Need to send them in for new batteries and a check up as it's getting into real training season.
Amy @ BB tells me that they won't service them unless I can tell her who I bought them from.
"Why?"
"Because we have a lot out there that weren't paid for and we won't service these units until we get paid."
I'm not asking for warranty. These are obviously several years old and I am very willing to pay for the service. I told her this.
Sorry, that's policy.
Being in business for myself, I understand that it's good to get paid for your product, but I don't ask my customers to go out and help me collect my bad debts.
I checked the classified section to find the ad, but it has apparently been deleted or I just can't find it. I gues I'm S.O.L.
Over the last 2 years or so, the service @ BB has gotten much better from my point of view and several others on this board, but this policy is beyond belief.
If you are the person in La. that sold these to me, please PM me so I may have the chance to get service.

 

[K G]

Somebody help me understand how they would ship product without having been paid for it first :?: :?: :?: :shock: :shock: :shock:

And how is someone who bought the product used responsible for BB's poor internal controls?

Wow....... :roll:

kg

 

[clipper]

Isn't there a serial number (I am too lazy to go check mine) on the unit that they could use to determine this?

 

[Paul Stuart]

Ken
It was probably a raffle item that was donated by BB and they are not wanting to deal with that any more. Just a guess.

 

[Matt Miller]

That is just INSANE !!!!!!

 

[lablover]

There are no serial #'s on BB's. Isn't that strange.

Mike, I would call Tom Lolar at BB. He's the President.

 

[KNorman]

Go to RadioShack and get a new rechargable battery.

All you have to do is snip the adaptor off and wire the adaptor from your existing battery into it. (I think that's what I did :?: )

 

[Patrick Johndrow]

BB are great products but they are some strange folks to be sure. I would be beating it down to my local Radio Shak for parts instead of dealing with BB customer service.

 

[stevelow]

You can fix most things yourself. The transmitter battery is simply a 9 volt D battery; they come with rechargable but a regular battery will last a long time. The receiver batteries are AAs in series; probably can buy as a battery pack at Radio Shack as suggested by Cat Squirrel. The servos occasionally go bad, and you can buy a replacement at most model or hobby shops. I've worked on these a lot. Let me know if I can help.

 

[KNorman]

It's been awhile, but I think all I did was open up the unit and remove the old battery. Brought it to RadioShack and they matched it as well as they could. I think it was 900 milliamps??? An eletrical person could chime in here

Anyway, the plug didn't quite fit so I just snipped it off and taped the other plug from the old battery on the new :wink: I made sure to double check my connections since they would be recharged.

 

[Vicky Trainor]

Somebody help me understand how they would ship product without having been paid for it first :?: :?: :?: :shock: :shock: :shock:
kg

I don't know what BB's present policy is, but, in the past, they had financing program for Pros and Reps. When I bought my BBs, I paid monthly and, when I would sell a unit, my commission was deducted from my balance.

Vicky

 

[badbullgator]

I gotta tell you that I have been BB person from day one, but I am soooo sick of the crap they are pulling that I am done with them. They make a fine product and they have always given me good (and usually free) service but the crap I hear from people on this and other forums, as well as forums some people that I have recommended the product too is just unbelievable. If you remember a few months back people were posting about the launch bases being made of plastic on the old models and the cost to replace them was greater than to buy new models. BB was willing to make no concessions to people who had unknowingly purchased their previously faulty products (the launch base has since been made of metal). They, I believe, offered people that owned the plastic models a free upgrade, but if you had purchased a used model you were SOL. That in MHO is just poor customer service. If you want to be the best you must strive to actually be the best, not just proclaim it by hiring a cheating SOB as your spokesperson.
As far as how did they get units out there that were not paid for?they had/have a finance program that is no credit check, no contract, pay as you can thing for pros. Not to put a general knock on pros, but there are a lot of ?pros? that can?t hardly keep the power on much less make payments on several thousand dollars worth of equipment, again not taking a pot shot at most if not all of the pros here, but we all know how easy it is to be a ?pro? and set up shop till the money runs out and then they are gone. More important than how they got unpaid for units out there is the fact that they are punishing people who are not responsible for it happening. BB had/has a bad policy. If I had a product on the market and they had a problem I would want ALL of them returned and/or fixed. I would not want someone showing up a club training day or any training day with a faulty product of my making. What terrible PR. It is even worse if the person is trying to pay you to make the needed repairs.

 

[Misty Marsh]

Like the man said "he's not asking for warrantee", he just wants a service technition to take a look at them, give them a quick tune up, new battery, and a bill! "It's just our policy", what crap!, the translation is :"we are going to penalize everyone because we made poor policy in the past and did'nt get our money". I guess it's nice when your 1 of 2 games in town!

 

[badbullgator]

Like the man said "he's not asking for warrantee", he just wants a service technition to take a look at them, give them a quick tune up, new battery, and a bill! "It's just our policy", what crap!, the translation is :"we are going to penalize everyone because we made poor policy in the past and did'nt get our money". I guess it's nice when your 1 of 2 games in town!

You got that right. When they hired Hill O? Beans as spokesman there were tons of complaints. When I talked to Amy she just could not care less. They don?t seem to care what people think about them or their service. It is a shame that such a nice product has taken a downward spiral due to a poor attitude by those who run the company. It is nice when your one of the only games in town. I use to think I couldn?t live without mine, but I have not used them in three months now. Wingers are more work because you have to reload after every throw, but I think my dogs are better for it.

 

[lablover]

Every time a perspective BB buyer reads these complaints about poor customer service, they lose that buyer. At the cost of these things, you would think they would work better, with quality parts, and the customer service would be top notch.
When I was a BB rep, I continually have to go to bat for my customers because they were having trouble with BB. Sometimes I was able to help and sometimes not.
I know one woman in MN that has had consistant problems with her BB's and getting service on them, even service that she is paying for!
I advised her to contact her local BBB and the Washington State BBB and file formal complaints.
I would suggest that to all that are having problems with BB products and services. Whether or not you get your problem solved, you will have caused BB the time and effort to respond to the BBB.

 

[Bob Gutermuth]

Why not buy them thru a 3rd party(I got mine from Dogs Afield) and put them on a credit card? That way whern there is a dispute, the 3rd party assuming you get one with a good customer service policy and or the CC company can be used for leverage. BTW the Dogs Afield price is a few bucks cheaper than BB's price and the freight is FREE.

 

[Guest]

Sounds like their in big $$$ trouble!

Lawrence Jeur

 

[glenn]

Hey Mike,

Sorry to hear your having problems with BB, I've had pretty good luck with them ( probably helps that I'm a rep ). I pretty good at fixing BB's so if you need help feel free to drop me a line. Most problems are pretty easy to fix, and you can probably do them yourself. If you just want new batteries, take them to a hobby shop and they can match them up. The batteries in the reciever are the same ones they use in remote control cars. The transmitter is a NICAD 9v which is pretty easy to find.

 

[Mistyriver]

Sounds like their in big $$$ trouble!

Lawrence Jeur

Care to elaborate Lawrence or is that just speculation?? :roll:

 

[badbullgator]

Why not buy them thru a 3rd party(I got mine from Dogs Afield) and put them on a credit card? That way whern there is a dispute, the 3rd party assuming you get one with a good customer service policy and or the CC company can be used for leverage. BTW the Dogs Afield price is a few bucks cheaper than BB's price and the freight is FREE.

Bob
I think the original post states he bought them used and BB would not service them even if he paid for them unless they knew where they came from. I hear few complaints with new purchases. Good idea if you buying new but that is not the issue.
If someone is going to pay to have them serviced, who cares where they came from.