Roden - my experience with their customer support...

[Thomas_M]

Gents,
I was happy to see Roden issue a 1/32 scale O-2A Skymaster and ordered one, despite some negative posts on other sites. Well, the kit is here and sparkles short-run quality. The surface of parts is on the more rough side than other kits, but ok for me.

What made me feel sich was that both fuselage parts are warped in more than one directions the same time. I don´t worry warped parts, but these cried for replacement. So, I contacted Roden on this and asked for new, unwarped fuselage halves.

I was promised to get a new pair to be send out, after repeatedly having been asked what parts I would need... Then, one day, a large white paper envelope arrived here. I wondered what this could be, for I didn´t order any decals or booklets. Upon opening, I found a card packing for women tights, with a plastic sprue looking out on one end. The sprue proved to be the "A" sprue of the O-2A kit with the fuselage halves I ordered!

Only, those didn´t survive this very special way of packaging without damage and warpage to no surprise. So I did send another, less polite reply to Roden on this. So far, no reply...

Sorry, but I simply had to rant on this.

[Stikpusher]

Sorry to hear about this Thomas. One would think that they would package such things to survive the rigors of international shipping...

[KSaarni]

Sorry to hear that!

That is indeed very annoying, as now you are back in square one... Like nothing would have happened..
Let's hope this will be solved!


- Kari

[BlackSheep214]

Wow... I hope this resolves itself soon - this time in better packaging manner. The least they should have used was bubble wrap.

[tempestjohnny]

Obviously they need to retrain the guy in shipping

[speedgraflex]

Sorry to learn you are going through this, Thomas. Please keep us informed as to what happens when it happens next. Cheers.

[Thomas_M]

Thank you, guys!
Got a reply today that they are going to send out parts in about a week. Will know more in two weeks, as I will attend the ScaleMates Meeting 2018 next week!

[KSaarni]

Had to Google (as I seem to do all the time nowadays) what and where that Scalemates meeting is... On an island called Wangerooge, in Northern Germany! What an exciting place!

And even more interesting when reading about this unlucky island and what happened in the last weeks of the 2nd world war.
Those who are interested of the fate of the island on the 25th of April 1945 read this
You can still see bomb craters criss-cross the island.


- Kari

[Thomas_M]

And due to explosives and ammo having been dumped in the sea (not always as far out as ordered...) the work to locate and get rid of this stuff still continues and will go on for years! Holger, my friend, mentioned it is not surprising to find ammo and stuff on the beach.

[Thomas_M]

Got an email from Roden, promising to send another set of parts. Now I wait and see...