The Postal Service has lost my motors

[RTRyder]

Almost two weeks ago now I ordered a new set of motors and speed controllers for the Hoverfly quad, according to the tracking info the USPS sent them out of a facility in Ohio on Feb 1, it's now Feb 11 and the tracking hasn't updated since I and I don't have my motors. I've been in contact with the shop I bought from and they have very kindly offered a discount on the price for every day late the delivery is beyond yesterday up to being free if they arrive after 30 days. They also contacted the Postmaster who basically said it will turn up eventually and in any case are not considered lost until 30 DAYS have passed!!!

Thirty days for a 2 to 3 day Priority Mail package to travel roughly 750 miles is a bit much, don't you think?

Unfortunatyely the shop is out of stock on that item so resending the shipment is not an option as of right now, so I play the waiting game and hope the PO eventually gets their act together, finds the package, and finally gets it here.

Ken

 

[Bartman]

Ken,
I feel your pain. I've spent thousands (and thousands) yet sit here flightless due to inexpensive parts that haven't arrived yet and dumb mistakes.
I think my next thread project will be how to order a Mikrokopter ala carte and save yourself a lot of grief. At least the weather's crappy.
Bart

 

[Droider]

We dont have this problem over in the uk... we alllive so close that stuff just gets chucked over a couple of fences and in your hand!!

Sorry Ken.. its even worse when you have been looking out of the window for the postman all day.. bummer.

I was sort of thinking about the Alacarte thing, Bart I will PM you with a few thoughts.

Dave

 

[Bartman]

ja dave, shoot me a pm and we'll sort it out. when you look at Mikrokopter's greatest strength it's their flight control and integrated GPS. the props they provide are crap, the vislero battery pack they include with a kit is crap, the frame is adequate but a little behind the times at this point, and the gear gets tossed aside usually and replaced by a camera mount. the power distribution is an elegant design but it's not exactly failure proof so why buy the whole kit in the first place? it might not be a great option to order ala carte if you've never done RC before and it's your first project but I doubt I would ever buy a complete kit again. i'll definitely put the MK gear on multi's i build for AP work but at this point I'll either make my frame or buy something else.
BTW dave I may be hooking up with a local videographer to provide AV of triathlons. we'll be getting together in the coming weeks to see if i can do what he's got in mind. i thought of you on the bike going down hills and thought i'm going to need to get back into shape!
my 2 cents to start the day.
bart

 

[FlyEYE]

It's always such a pleasure when items arrive on time or even a bit faster but the long delays are so frustrating since your helpless. Hope you have them Monday.

 

[RTRyder]

There's no indication that they're going to show up anytime soon at this point. I've sent an inquiry to the USPS through their website though I don't expect much of anything useful to come of that either, government employees don't seem especially motivated to bother with things like that unless it's absolutely necessary. I'll most likely get a canned response telling me to wait 30 days and then contact them again or some equally lame response.

I'd place an order for another set except there isn't another set to be had on this planet at the moment it seems, I've been all over the net checking and no one has 4 of these motors in stock anywhere. Just for grins I checked the cost on an equivalent set of AXI motors, Holy Crap those things are EXPEN$IVE!!! Easily double the cost of the lost motors, there's no way I'd pay that unless I had no other choice and needed the set to get the bird in the air. For the time being the current set of RCTimer motors continue to work reasonably well though the bearings aren't going to last into the summer by the sound and feel.

Still the Hoverfly Quad was the star of the day out at the lake today, got a good amount of decent pictures out of the Canon SX 200 hanging under it considering the less than optimal conditions out there. The Hexa on the other hand sucked to fly, no other way to put it, I missed the setup badly on the new flight controller board and only did one flight with it, but that's a story for another post tomorrow.

Ken

 

[Droider]

Ken have you looked at these? I have these on my Gaui. They have taken some stick and still are running good.

http://www.brchobbies.co.uk/?page=shop&action=additem&item=355

Dave

 

[RTRyder]

I finally got a reply from the USPS. Their website told me I would get a reply in 2 to 3 business days after submitting my inquiry, that was last Thursday, so much for a 2 to 3 day response. Now that they did get back to me, here's what they had to say... "In order to better serve you, your recently submitted inquiry was forwarded to an office that is better suited to address your needs. It is being investigated and you can expect a reply within 2 to 4 business days"

So going by their timetable that probably means sometime in the next 7 to 14 days I'll get another email saying they can't find the package, DUH, I already know that. At this point I've pretty much given up on this shipment, it's gone and will never be seen again. Tomorrow I'll be hearing from the shop I ordered from and make a decision then on what to do, I can either take a full refund and buy another brand of motor or wait until he has more stock of what I originally ordered. I guess I'll wait and see what the expected ETA is on another set, I really did want those particular motors for several reasons and that hasn't changed.

Ken

 

[Bartman]

How does $26 for two-day air sound but UPS reserves the right to deliver as late as 7 pm? My 2nd day air delivery just arrived at 6:20 pm. What a waste of money that was.
Bart

 

[Droider]

What motors were they ken?

 

[RTRyder]

What motors were they ken?

Pulso 2212/26

 

[RTRyder]

Today is day 21 since tracking information declared the package on its way from USPS sort facility in Ohio, both myself and the shop I ordered from have declared the shipment lost and my $ has been refunded. I have yet to hear anything on the official inquiry I opened with the USPS but at this point I doubt they'll be able to figure out what happened and now that I've got my cash back it really doesn't matter to me anymore.

So rather than wait on new stock to reorder I went ahead and ordered a bunch of other goodies to build a new quad with and upgrade two others already here, I think the new build is going to be a dedicated FPV craft and I may well put the repaired MK 2.1 flight controller board on it, wont have GPS or Nav but don't really need it for FPV unless I want to have the fail safe bailout of hitting come home and letting it find its own way back from wherever it winds up. Plenty of time to make that decision before parts arrive!

Ken

 

[RTRyder]

Update, the official reply landed in my inbox earlier today 2/22/11, as expected it's basically a form letter reply that says nothing I didn't already know. Here it is in it's entire unedited text, typos and all...

"I am writing in response to Case ID 104391773. Thank you for allowing me to respond to your concerns.

The Postal Service is aware of the frustration and disappointment caused when we do not live up to our commitment of safe and reliable mail service.
Reports of delayed mail greatly concern us. Regrettably, when such instances are brought to our attention, there is no sure way of determining what may have happened.
An apology is no substitute for good service, but I want to offer one on behalf of the Postal Service. We appreciate your reporting this matter to us. It helps to know the kinds of difficulties our customers have so we can work toward improvements. The dealy of any piece of mail is as disappointing to us as it is to you."