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Great Wall Hobby G.W.H L4827 1/48 Su-27UB “Flanker C” Heavy Fighter


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4 hours ago, psimon said:

I Would get 2 but I am still waiting for a reply from GWH for the missing clear parts from my Great Wall Hobby L4822 F-15E Strike Eagle kit.  Worst customer service ever! 🙁

Best of luck but I fear you will wait forever if you try to get them from GWH directly. I've read a few threads regarding their spare service and bottom line is...there is none.

They used to take spare parts request through their Facebook page but since 2015 this page is deserted. So the best advise regarding GWH kits is to check the kit content immediately and if necessary, try to get replacements through the shop you purchased the kit from or the distributor. Otherwise, return the kit.

 

Please, this is not to bash GWH, I have a few kits from them and they are generally gorgeous. Only their spares service sucks. I will for sure get the Su-27 too, only problem is, what to do with my pile of Academy/Eduard kits now 😁?

 

Cheers

Markus

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6 hours ago, Shorty84 said:

So the best advise regarding GWH kits is to check the kit content immediately and if necessary, try to get replacements through the shop you purchased the kit from or the distributor. Otherwise, return the kit.

I agree.  The problem is many of the stores where I live have a "final sale" policy so if a kit is missing parts you are on your own to get them replaced.  Also since I can never find GWH kits locally I rely on EBay and proving a kit is missing part and you didn't just take it out because you broke or lost it yourself is difficult especially when buying brand new kits form an EBay store. THIS is why customer support from the MFG is very important and after blowing $100 on a kit that is now worthless I am wary of buying GWH again moving forward.

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If I've been following well enough, the actual nose/radome piece doesn't have any internal details, right?

 

IIRC, KH split theirs into two parts so that they can provide some ribbing detail on the internal side when it's in the open position.

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Everywhere it says that item will be sent within 30 days from receiving the payment, so the kit might not be out yet, they left themselves a margin. But I am no specialist, maybe this is typical for shipments from China on ebay.

Anyway I would not buy it from the ebay page, imagine if some parts/sprues are missing and you have to send it back to China... Nah, I'll wait till it hits local EU market and then buy from legit store. And even then will make unboxing video of the package in case somethings wrong and the kit have to be returned, just to have a proof. GWH kits require special kind of receiving.

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10 hours ago, Tapchan said:

Everywhere it says that item will be sent within 30 days from receiving the payment, so the kit might not be out yet, they left themselves a margin. But I am no specialist, maybe this is typical for shipments from China on ebay.

Anyway I would not buy it from the ebay page, imagine if some parts/sprues are missing and you have to send it back to China... Nah, I'll wait till it hits local EU market and then buy from legit store. And even then will make unboxing video of the package in case somethings wrong and the kit have to be returned, just to have a proof. GWH kits require special kind of receiving.

 

 

I ordered all my great wall hobby kits on ebay directly from China because it is cheaper and so far so good. No problems in 5 kits, Mig-29, F-15s and Su-35s.

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20 hours ago, Tapchan said:

... imagine if some parts/sprues are missing and you have to send it back to China... 

If something is damaged or missing, simply open a claim (not as described) and they will have to replace it or refund you.  They are also responsible for return shipping.  I have had cracked windscreens on 2 kits and they replaced them with no issues.  I bought a GWH 1/48 F-15 that was missing the clear tree.  I got a full refund and they decided it was too expensive for them to have it shipped back so they let me keep the kit.  Of course GWH doesn't have ANY customer support so I can't get the parts I need but at least I am not out of pocket.

EBay is probably the cheapest option for expensive kits out of China and safe since you have buyer protection (90 days with EBay and 180 days with Paypal)

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8 hours ago, psimon said:

If something is damaged or missing, simply open a claim (not as described) and they will have to replace it or refund you.  They are also responsible for return shipping.  I have had cracked windscreens on 2 kits and they replaced them with no issues.  I bought a GWH 1/48 F-15 that was missing the clear tree.  I got a full refund and they decided it was too expensive for them to have it shipped back so they let me keep the kit.  Of course GWH doesn't have ANY customer support so I can't get the parts I need but at least I am not out of pocket.

EBay is probably the cheapest option for expensive kits out of China and safe since you have buyer protection (90 days with EBay and 180 days with Paypal)

 

NEVER depend on PayPal. I just dealt with them over a fraud case (from China) and they were worthless. You can't communicate with them, they're unresponsive and I finally went through my credit card company and received a full refund. EBay on the other hand has been very responsive and is on top of their transactions. As far as the cheapest option for Chinese kits (Asian manufacturers in general) I find it hit or miss. If you're impatient, sure, buy from over there. If you want to ensure safe fast delivery here in the USA, use an American vendor.

 

Just remember: If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

Edited by Mr Matt Foley
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59 minutes ago, Mr Matt Foley said:

 

NEVER depend on PayPal. I just dealt with them over a fraud case (from China) and they were worthless. You can't communicate with them, they're unresponsive and I finally went through my credit card company and received a full refund. EBay on the other hand has been very responsive and is on top of their transactions. As far as the cheapest option for Chinese kits (Asian manufacturers in general) I find it hit or miss. If you're impatient, sure, buy from over there. If you want to ensure safe fast delivery here in the USA, use an American vendor.

 

Just remember: If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

Word!

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3 hours ago, Mr Matt Foley said:

 

NEVER depend on PayPal. I just dealt with them over a fraud case (from China) and they were worthless. You can't communicate with them, they're unresponsive...

You are doing something wrong.  One of the contact options under 'Contact Us' is to 'Call Us'.  I've called PayPal many times with no issues.
Also with EBay Buyer Protection, China sales can't screw you over.  Many of the more expensive kits are less expensive through EBay China stores and include free shipping.  The only down side is you will be waiting a month to 6 weeks.

All these kits with the exception of the maybe 6 were purchased from Ebay China stores this year (I recently got hooked on Aviation kits for some reason).  I saves a small fortune compared with buying them locally.
kits.jpg  

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21 minutes ago, psimon said:

You are doing something wrong.  One of the contact options under 'Contact Us' is to 'Call Us'.  I've called PayPal many times with no issues.
Also with EBay Buyer Protection, China sales can't screw you over.  Many of the more expensive kits are less expensive through EBay China stores and include free shipping.  The only down side is you will be waiting a month to 6 weeks.

All these kits with the exception of the maybe 6 were purchased from Ebay China stores this year (I recently got hooked on Aviation kits for some reason).  I saves a small fortune compared with buying them locally.
kits.jpg  

 

Hey Friend. I followed PayPal protocol. It was a very poor experience which I will never want to go through again. Sorry, but don't get lathered up over my comments about PayPal. I never disputed EBay in my comments.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Mr Matt Foley said:

 

Hey Friend. I followed PayPal protocol. It was a very poor experience which I will never want to go through again. Sorry, but don't get lathered up over my comments about PayPal. I never disputed EBay in my comments.

 

 

I am sorry to hear you had a bad experience with PayPal.

In regards to PayPal You said "You can't communicate with them, they're unresponsive..."
I merely pointed out that this is false.  Calling them and speaking to someone in person is very easy. 

You also said in regards to EBay, "
Just remember: If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is."
I am also just pointing that most of my "too good to be true" kit purchases ended up being true.

We each had our experiences and we shared them which in the end will hopefully help the community make an informed decision on whether to use these 2 services or not moving forward.  It's all good.

Edited by psimon
Clarification while trying not to be confrontational as that is not my objective
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17 hours ago, psimon said:

I am sorry to hear you had a bad experience with PayPal.

In regards to PayPal You said "You can't communicate with them, they're unresponsive..."
I merely pointed out that this is false.  Calling them and speaking to someone in person is very easy. 

You also said in regards to EBay, "
Just remember: If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is."
I am also just pointing that most of my "too good to be true" kit purchases ended up being true.

We each had our experiences and we shared them which in the end will hopefully help the community make an informed decision on whether to use these 2 services or not moving forward.  It's all good.

 

Ended.

Edited by Mr Matt Foley
End
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I never ever had any problems resolving issues with PayPal or eBay, both being my standard way of shopping, not only for modelling.

My stash is standing to about 70-80 models and I never had a problem when for any reason I had to return and refund an item.

On the other hand I certainly support buying from your local shops (I have none) because if those close, then we will miss much more than a shop.

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16 hours ago, DIO said:

I certainly support buying from your local shops (I have none) because if those close, then we will miss much more than a shop.

Personally I haven't had a lot of luck with model kit shops near me (Oshawa ON) and found EBay China was up to 15% cheaper with free shipping and no taxes.  Fortunately a new shop opened up very close to me 'Great Hobby' just a few months ago and they do price matching all across Canada so I was able to make a few 'better than EBay' purchases.  I am retired and need to count every penny so having options is great.

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These ebay sellers are model shop owners in China so yes they probably know when they are going to receive the models so I am pretty confident when they know the date for he shipment. They put ebay listing up hence pretty confident they will deliver in a reasonable time frame. For me it never exceeded 1 month and most of the time the longest holdup is with USPS processing at the "border" which once was 3 weeks. Otherwise delivery to where I live in US takes 1-2 weeks. 

 

I just go to ebay, pick he cheapest option with more than 100 reviews and that is it :) 

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