kurt2022

My Feedback: (18)

I just wasted a half an hour on hold at horizon hobby, twenty minutes waiting to talk to tech support and ten minutes waiting for someone to take my number and name down so they could call me back, I finally hung up!!! Why do you not answer your phone even to take my phone number down, do you think your time is more important then mine or do just not give a shinola? This is the kind of customer service that loses customers! I have several evolution gas engines and other than carburator issues due to the ethanol in our gas, "thanks government", the ONLY other issue I have had is blown out cylinder gaskets on my 58, 80 and 116! I have dealt with the gasket issue on my 58 and 116 and have been instructed to cross hatch the surfaces before replacing the blown out gasket and have had some what good success! I bought a new 80cc evolution engine a couple of years ago and since it was a new engine I thought evolution would have resolved this foot gasket issue but two weeks ago I had a dead stick on my ultimate and damaged the plane! When I pulled the cowl off I found the cylinder gasket in the back of the engine blown out!!! Why has this long standing issue not been resolved??? Why would I recommend an evolution engine to anyone with this issue not resolved, and like an achoholic you have to admit you have a problem and then do whatever you have to do to remedy it, NOT SWEEP IT UNDER THE RUG!!! I see that this gasket is back ordered with no due date on this new engine and want to ask why but I can't even get horizon to answer their phone, how PATHETIC!!! Since their are no gaskets in stock this must not be an isolated issue and many more people must also have this happening but would horizon ever admit to that, hell, they can't EVEN be bothered to ANSWER THEIR PHONE, so I'm sure they are not!! HORIZON DO YOU CARE????

captinjohn

They brobably want you to make a new gasket...so they won,tloose a few bucks. Get ahold of Pe R. some where in this forum. He can probably come up with a way yo fix your engine faster and most likely a better fix. Got some photos...there is a lot of guys on these forums that can help. Horizon may call you back...may be some time I bet ! Capt,n

Sport_Pilot

I am not sure I would blame the government. The small engine industry seems to be stubborn about changing material that would tolerate ethanol. When the aircraft industry switched to 100 LL from higher leaded fuels and 80 octane, they did AD's which replaced the carb floats from plastic to metal because of the additives in the fuel that replaced the lead. I don't understand why they still make lawnmowers, weed wackers, chain saws, and model engines with floats and diaphrams that will deteriorate when exposed to ethanol when almost every pump has fuel that has at least 5% ethanol.

karolh

To the best of my knowledge Walbro has for a few years now switched to using materials in their carbs that are ethanol compatable.

Karol

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

10-4 on the talking with Horizon customer service.

For a part of a company that is supposed to enhance public relations and represent an arm of their social responsibility - it does more to destroy public relations.

Are we missing some way to properly work out support problems with Horizon?

<u>My experience:</u>

Been there and done that.

If you do eventually get in touch with a human being, it is often a snip answer from a know nothing that refuses to check on anything for you. - No friendly smile

The toll free customer support number is next to worthless. (800- 338-4639) - and this is the only number on their web site other than the sales number.

<u>What I've seen on the Internet:</u>

If you ever smart them off - they will never call you back or answer your Emails! I've seen this come up on here before from disgruntled persons who are at their wits end.

For the working man, there is no way to talk with them - period - for they want to call you back 8-5 CST two or three days later.

Pete says - Call me. How do you do this when the only number listed is the customer support number?

Their main phone number is <span itemprop="telephone" class="business-phone">(217) 352-1913 listed by the BBB
</span>

pe reivers

Failing foot gaskets have been addressed by MVVS using a larger feed to plane the cylinder foot.
That takes care of the designer side of the problem. On the user side there is overheating the cylinder. This still can cause the gasket to creep out slowly due to the repeated different expansion rates of cylinder and crankcase.
because MVVS has a very high power, the engine also must get rid of a lot of heat. This afternoon I measured 210&deg; C on my 58. If this happens frequently, I better check my gaskets at regular intervals. The engine BTW showed no sign of distress whatsoever and happily blasted away at full bore.

PS
I do have gaskets in stock.

K-Bob

My Feedback: (1)

That's odd. The few times I have dealt with them they were courteous and prompt. The last time I called them about an issue with the canopy/hatch on my 3.1m Sukhoi. They sent a new one out that day and didn't want the old one back. I spent less than 5 minutes on the phone.

Go figure.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

The one time I called, I must have connected with ole sour puss?

yellerchamp

My Feedback: (42)

This does not excuse the bad attitude by in industry everytime someone retires or dies they are not replaced and the work load increase's then cuts in pay and benefits make for unhappy staff, its the trend in this economy do more with less is all we hear. been in the service industry for 36 years never thought it could get this bad [:-]

yellerchamp

My Feedback: (42)

w8ye nice avatar, curious is that a ham call, here is ka9blh ....dan

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

I think we've talked before? Our avatars are probably the same plane?

Mine is from the Internet. But I soloed a 7AC painted like that in the early 60's and got my flight instructor's rating in a 7EC the same colors.

vmgo22

My Feedback: (31)

Hello: Anybody could tell me how good is the evolution 10CC Gas engine? I´m planning to use it for replacing my current .46 glow two stroke engine.

earlwb

As far as I can tell, everyone is really enjoying the 10cc Evo gas engines. It looks like a winner for sure. The power output is really good too. Some guys are flying the engines on the front of a lightweight .60 size plane with good success too. They work well on the .45 to .50 size planes. I have one of the engines, but I haven't done anything with it yet. There is a long thread about the engine here in this forum too.

captinjohn

I have had better service from Horizon than from any other distributor. Tower was the worst, the service was good the first 20 + years. I bought a Futaba 2.4 Fasst from them & the receiver battery was bad. Sent it back and they wanted over twenty $dollars to just check it and send it back. I said no way...send my battery back...its mine. Even though they said the battery was good...it was not. It will not hold a charge for a week. So I had to buy a new battery to use my new radio system. Tower can keep that club rip off too. Capt,n

MTK

Mine has been similar to Cap'n....Horizon has always been courteous and prompt. I've sent in JR servos before....I usually get them replaced (or serviced if its only pots) for minimal cost. They have replaced engines in the past, no questions asked and NC. I appreciate the fact that there's no middle man in their service loop....

I also think that Tower's service is not as good as it used to be since they went to the middle man system, (Hobby Services), but don't agree that Tower's club is a rip off...I've used it well over the last couple years saving at least 70$ on single purchases of over 400$. That's pretty good percentage and easily pays for the membership. It's only good if it's used of course, which means you have to be in the market for something they sell

STUKA BARRY

All the distributors are too big for their briches and they forget who puts food on their table. Anyway, I think Horizon has a *9 call back system so you dont have to be on hold forever, I wish Time Warner had something like that, but thats another story for another time.