Small Scale Military Headquarters

I have ordered and purchased hundreds and hundreds (probably thousands) of Dragon items in the past 3 years - which correlates to a few bucks spent (understatement).

Well, I received a few Dragon Warbirds 1:72nd scale P-47 Razorback 'Kansas Tornado' die-cast planes a few days ago - I proceeded to open one and as I lifted (gently) the fuselage from the packaging, the fuselage and the cockpit and the wing assembly became completely separated. I can only assume that the process for attaching the pieces or the adhesive that should have been used was either not used or ineffective.

I e-mailed Dragon customer service - because, given the amount of money that I spend with Dragon and the number of items that I order, I would not expect to have to accept/fix a broken/defective replica.

The response from Dragon - Dragon asked that I ship the item to the Dragon location in Hong Kong so that the engineers can determine what, if anything, needs to be done. And, if appropriate, the model will be repaired. (I sent a digital image of the 'broken' replica.) Maybe I should not be complaining, but should I need to assume the (substantial) expense of shipping to Hong Kong to repair a defective item. I guess I could save a few dollars and minimize shipping by sending via economy overseas/ground, but I would probably wouldn't receive the item for months (if at all).

Minimally, even if I had to assume the expense of returning the item, wouldn't a US destination (Dragon's distribution center) been more appropriate.

Just a lil' frustrated.

They really should empower their US HQ to handle customer service for North America. They make enough money here, to justify treating their customers with respect.

Can't agree more - given that shipping to the U.S. is already quite substantial, there is no way that I am gonna' pay an addiitonal $20.00
to get a defective item fixed. I should, worst case, be able to spend $6.00 or $7.00 to have the item repaired in California and then have the item promptly returned.

Hello Smh,
Unfortunately, that's part of the risk you run by purchasing from a company based abroad. Obviously, its at their discretion if they want to foot the bill for return shipping; I dare say most companies would probably make the customer pay to return the item, whether its right or wrong.

While I have no complaints with Dragon USA, I think Cyber Hobby's customer service is dubious at best. We never hear back from them when we pose a question or problem to them. For instance, they sent us an email on January 25th that they owe us 8 pieces of ltd. edition Dragon Armor from a case pack of 24. That's the last we heard of it and they charged us for the full 24 pack case several months ago.

Likewise, they like to charge credit cards well before product is ready to ship, sometimes by months. We just received our latest credit card statement and according to the charges posted, we should be expecting alot of product. Thus far, we've only received the Ritter tanks and Kansas Tornado. The credit card companies tend to take a dim view of companies that do that, especially if they're doing that to alot of customers. While I think their product is great, I'm starting to wonder about how they do business.
BTW, Dragon USA and Cyber Hobby are two separate entities, so I dont think Dragon USA will be all that keen to assume Cyber Hobby's headaches.

Lightning2000

I would agree - but, Dragon USA accepted the customer service 'ticket' that I submitted or e-mailed to Cyber-Hobby. I won't disagree with you for a second about dealing with a company abroad (Asia, in this instance) - I accept that. But, as 'lightning' indicated, a company that clearly profits as much as CyberHobby, or Dragon does, should make the minimal effort to respond to or address basic customer service issues.
If Dragon can accept responsibility for a customer service complaint issued to Cyber-Hobby - then, I fail to understand why a distribution center (or whatever Dragon has in California) cannot be established to accept product defects.

As I talk with more individuals - I begin to understand how the Cyber-Hobby / Dragon relationship functions. Cyber-Hobby appears to be a separate distributor that basically approaches Dragon for limited or special versions of the replicas (and action figures) sold by Dragon. To be able to produce a limited production item, Dragon must require a minimal order (thus the production numbers of 500, 1000 and 2000, etc.). Does Cyber-Hobby use the the dollars acquired from the pre-orders to essentially fund the development/production by Dragon ..... maybe that can explain why some of the items that do not sell-out immediately won't appear for quite awhile.

I agree - Dragon and Cyber-Hobby offer an impressive array of products - but, as I noticed on some of the action figure forums/boards, the patience of the individual collector and many retailers is decreasing.

Anyway, I don't set myself apart from the individual that purchases one (1) item or the retailer that purchases cases - but, I was quite disappointed when I read the response to the inquiry I forwarded. Like I indicated - I wouldn't even mind paying $6.00 or $7.00 to ship the item to California .... but, $20.00 (minimally) for a package to Hong Kong is unacceptable. I can buy a replacement from a retailer for $30.00.

smh_1021 wrote:As I talk with more individuals - I begin to understand how the Cyber-Hobby / Dragon relationship functions. Cyber-Hobby appears to be a separate distributor that basically approaches Dragon for limited or special versions of the replicas (and action figures) sold by Dragon.

It's hard to beleive they are a seperate entity. Especially when the domain registration information from www.dragon-models.com and www.universal-models.com is the same.

In fact, you'll find that a number of the CH exclusives will ship from one of the North American distributors (of course, you'll still pay the Hong Kong shipping rates).

I think it's pretty safe to say that Cyber-Hobby/UML is simply a retail arm of Dragon.

I can understand that reasoning - however, I have recently had two conversations with retailers and both have indicated that they are
separate companies.

I guess in the long-run, it doesn't really matter - we just have to have increased patience and work through the frustration sometimes.

Separate companies, same owners.

Ok, I'll buy they may be legally seperate companies, but they have the same fax number.

http://www.dragon-models.com/html/contact.html
http://www.universal-models.com/html/faq-uml.html

That kind of leads one to believe that the operations, while perhaps seperately legal entities, are pretty closely linked.

SMH-1021 could be right. I have a friend who has made millions and he told me that on certain products, he offers them, and then uses the pre-order money to produce the item, which he says always works. If he doesn't get enough money, he simply sends refunds informing the buyer that the item will not be produced at this time. However, his turn around time is pretty short.

Philip

One would think that a company doing as much business as Dragon/DML, they'd have you deal with their North American distributor (Stevens International???) and they'd gladly send a replacement as opposed to having their "engineers look over the piece"..as I seriously doubt anyone would give the damaged piece a second glance, but rather just look to see if in fact the item that is supposed to be in the packaging is in fact there, and simply send a replacement. CH exclusives aside, I purchase all my Dragon Diecast from several local shops and thus have the ability to swap out if in fact the piece is defective or void of certain parts, which I must say has been the case 10+ times out of the 100+ dragon items I've purchased over the past few years. Honestly though, if they're going to be a pain in the arse and require you to send the piece back to HK, I'd save the $$ and fix it yourself, shouldn't be too hard...a little epoxy and precision applicator???

Regardless...keep us informed as to any headway you make.

I agree - next trip to Lowe's or Home Depot I will pick-up some
JB Weld.