Change of distributorship for FlightPower (FP) - Must Read!

[HotDogBun]

My 4 FP lipos & balancer are not bought from KP direct but from another guy. Hearing the reputation of KP, I was fully confident of using these lipos.

I remember once I saw someone passing back to the vendor a bloated pack, and next day the vendor returned a brand new pack, that instance made me realised how serious KP is about after sales service, best is the man dont even need to be there to keep reputation high....

LHS like SHS and few others don't even match anywhere near KP's service, this is true personal experiences I'm taking about.

Anyone who wishes to know more about those unpleasant experiences pls feel free drop by PFW on weekends and I'll let you know more details about my wonderful encounters.

[basher]

Sigh... This is the reality of life. If a person can go to FP and promise an attractive minimum quota, it is quite normal that the distributorship changes hands...

But there's one thing that cannot change hands, and that's the quality of customer service and commitment. KP has both. It will be a loss if he stops servicing our community...

[remotemadness]

Oh this is a classic of THANKS FOR BRINGING ME ACROSS THE BRIDGE BUT I DON'T NEED THE PLANK NOW

Although my experience with KP was short and brief(when i was still very new in this hobby)( still very new now ), I can still sense his commitment and devotion to this hobby and this community..

To KP,

I'm a 100% agreeing with the rest that the commitment and after sales service that you provide to this community will bring any brand up..

And this is the one thing that no one can take it away from you..

best wishes to your future endervour..

*Without prejudice*

To all my Dear Customers and Supporters,

It is with great sadness to inform everyone that Mockingbird RC (MBRC) has taken over my FP distributorship with immediate effect.

FP was unheard of in this region 1.5 years ago. My team and I had spent lots of time, money and effort building up FP brand in this region especially in Singapore. This includes setting up booths at flying events, going to numerous flying fields personally to do demos or give advise to flyers, putting advertisements & website, sponsoring FP Lipo for clubs, competitions, students etc.

After all that I have done to bring FP brand on par with other top brands of Lipo in this region, it takes just 1 email to inform me that MBRC will take over my distributorship with immediate effect. As I do not wish to have any dealings with MBRC, I have decided to cease taking FP. My retailers will also cease to take FP.

For all warranties of Flightpower and Trakpower, please refer to Mockingbird RC.

For those who still wish to purchase FP, please give your support to RC-Warbirds

I will take a break from the RC scene for a while. Thank you everyone for your support to me all these years.

[bluemoscow]

If FP can do this type of sudden action to KP , will they be capable for doing it again? I hope this business style will not be applied to the endusers.

At least there should be some sort of of phase in and our process.

This is the 2nd time FP showed their business style in a month. First against Ammo and now against KP. .

FP is not giving confidence to both their distributors and customers . This is Asia , managing relationship in business is the key for long term survival.

I hope the FP guys are listening .

[RC-Warbirds]

Hi KP,

we where shocked to hear that FP made this sudden decision.
When we started with LiPo Sales we evaluated and worked with a few brands/suppliers until ultimately sticking to FP largely because of your great service.

For sure it will be interesting to see how FP will continue in Singapore now that a major driver -the KP factor - is gone.

All the best and we hope to work with you again in the very near future !!

The RC-Warbirds team

[Frank]

I have always received great service from KP.
Never regretted buying.
Seeing that they so easily 'discard' their local distributor that so painstakingly brought this product into this region, I wonder if they will still honour warranty like before

[FlightPower]

Genlemen,

I know we are getting trashed on this thread, and many of you that have built up friendships with Teo Keng Pheng are justified in feeling angry. I would feel the same way.

Teo Keng Pheng is a gentleman and one of the nicest guys in the business. I honour that.

The problem here is at some point we have to recognise that we are trying to run a business. As businesses go we are pretty charitable. We have the best warranty and goodwill conditions in the business. Many many of you have received warranty and goodwill replacement packs from Teo Keng Pheng, a quite extraordinary number compared with our stats for the rest of the world. What you may not be aware of is that all of those were paid for by us, not by Teo Keng Pheng.

What we ask of all of our distributors is to balance warranty and goodwill with delivering expertise and customer education on how to take proper care of this technology. This was not happening in Singapore and we have had many conversations written and verbal about this for nearly a year.

If Teo Keng Pheng had to pay for the customer service he was offering instead of us, the FlightPower part of his business would not have been sustainable (just has it has proven unsustainable for us). Clearly the rest of his business without FlightPower is not sustainable either. I apologise that we did not realise this would be the case. It certainly was not our wish to close down his business, simply to switch the customer service centre for our products to someone who would operate it responsibly.

I appreciate this is hard, but I hope you will also see that instead of our killing off Teo Keng Pheng's business, I believe we helped to keep him in the business perhaps one or two years longer than would otherwise have been the case.

Sincerely,

Julian Cox

[edmond22]

Genlemen,

I know we are getting trashed on this thread, and many of you that have built up friendships with Teo Keng Pheng are justified in feeling angry. I would feel the same way.

Teo Keng Pheng is a gentleman and one of the nicest guys in the business. I honour that.

The problem here is at some point we have to recognise that we are trying to run a business. As businesses go we are pretty charitable. We have the best warranty and goodwill conditions in the business. Many many of you have received warranty and goodwill replacement packs from Teo Keng Pheng, a quite extraordinary number compared with our stats for the rest of the world. What you may not be aware of is that all of those were paid for by us, not by Teo Keng Pheng.

What we ask of all of our distributors is to balance warranty and goodwill with delivering expertise and customer education on how to take proper care of this technology. This was not happening in Singapore and we have had many conversations written and verbal about this for nearly a year.

If Teo Keng Pheng had to pay for the customer service he was offering instead of us, the FlightPower part of his business would not have been sustainable (just has it has proven unsustainable for us). Clearly the rest of his business without FlightPower is not sustainable either. I apologise that we did not realise this would be the case. It certainly was not our wish to close down his business, simply to switch the customer service centre for our products to someone who would operate it responsibly.

I appreciate this is hard, but I hope you will also see that instead of our killing off Teo Keng Pheng's business, I believe we helped to keep him in the business perhaps one or two years longer than would otherwise have been the case.

Sincerely,

Julian Cox

Mate, if the battery bloats due to normal usage, then the battery sucks and warranty plays the part. How the hell is this to do with KP? You are freaking suggesting that KP is giving out batteries?!?!

I strongly suggest you do not post anymore nonsense here.... As a customer of 12 FP packs, 1 balancer, 1 55amp esc and advocator of FP batts in the span of less than 1 year, I think KP has done a fantastic job in promoting and servicing his customers. If you think the nos are too high, then you OUGHT to be looking at the issues, not pointing fingers at your distributor.

Seriously mate, enough BS, I am beginning to think Dave is making sense in his words about FP.

[edmond22]

I have 1 4s and a 3s 2170 bloated and changed, they never lasted more than 30 cycles drawing 25c continuous. KP honoured the warranty and did the exhange, the last thing I seriously want to hear from the manufacturer is for them to freaking suggest I am not EDUCATED enough about caring for my batts.

So Julian, FP may be the top brand now but whatever you are doing ain't going to make it last like that forever, try pissing more customers of yours...

?!?!? Are you screwed in the head or what???

Wow, guys, guess I will just have to look towards other brands then. Can't stand this manufacturer anymore, just too much BS.

Julian, before you reply, just do a search on my nick and the threads and post I make... you will find that I WAS a loyal customer of FP.... but not anymore.

[Unorthodox_Sniper]

Hi Julian,

I need to clarify that I am also absorbing the faulty FP lipo.
As the number of returns are of concern at your end I have also been absorbing some of the returns at my end which off the cuff is about 1/4 or 1/3 of all the returns. I don't have the actual figures now as they are in my other laptop in office but if you want I can retrieve them tomorrow for everyone to see, just let me know.

I do not blindly accept returns as I have also rejected customers and even blacklisted customers whom I know are taking advantage of the returns.

I'm sure you do see a trend that there are much fewer returns in the bigger packs and the new evo25 packs and as discussed between myself and your malaysia colleagues over the phone they agreed that the chemistry in these newer packs are better resulting in fewer returns.

I embrace electric flights and have been flying solely electric for more than 7 years and I walk the talk. I even took the trouble to meet customers with bloated or power loss in their FP to understand their applications, help them measure their power plants watts, test their chargers etc.

It is entirely untrue that my business without FP is not substainable because the RC biz is not my sole income and in fact is not even a fraction of my income. I do this RC Biz out of passion for this hobby and as I always said while business is about making profits it is not just only about making profits because loyalty and trust is also part of the equation. I choose to end the RC Biz because I get irked by this whole saga (one does not just cut off a loyal distributor without ample notice) and decided to take a break and definitely not because I am indebted to FP for helping to keep my biz longer and that I can't survive without FP.

Only time will tell if you believe that changing to another distributor will solve the "high" returns but perhaps the new distributor is now blessed with better lipo chemistry.

[tech@mbrc]

Warranty Issues

Gents/Ladies,

I am the tech at MBRC and I work for OAIRC (Oriental Asia Internaional Co Ltd) who are the exclusive distributors for Flightpower in Taiwan and for the past 1 1/2 weeks via MBRC (Mockingbird RC) the distributor for Singapore. I wanted to share with you something important I discovered today. We had a warranty case today where batteries were bought from the previous distributor.

I would like to share with you some tech info for the benefit of those who do not know it.

Fact 1

A lipo pack discharged at the maximum continous C rating will be empty in 3 mins. i.e. 2170 mah pack at 25 C, fully charged and subsequently discharged at 25C will be flat in 3 mins; if discharge at 12.5 C, it will be empty in 6 mins and if discharged at 5C will be empty in 15 mins.

Fact 2

FlightTech Synergy ESC's have a Cutoff Low Voltage default setting of 6V which is for 2S Lipo packs or 8 cell Nicd/Nimh. If you are using a 3S or 4S Lipo pack, the cutoff voltage setting must be changed to suit the pack, else you will run the packs down below it's minimum voltage of 3.0 volts before the ESC cuts off and damaging the packs.

Fact 3

As we progress thru the take over of distributorship for Flightpower from previous distributor, we would like to request that if customers have a bloated or defective battery and if they seek to get a warranty service, it is mandatory that you bring your original receipt or copy as proof of purchase. We will only cover warranty for cells bought form any local hobby store in Singapore or from the previous distributor. The duration of warranty from Flightpower is 90 days from date of purchase. The use of a good balancer, like the Vbalancer from Flightpower is highly recommended to keep your cells happy and provide a long service life.

As we are working together with Flightpower to study and solve the recent high cases of warranty returns, our tech staff may request of you details and to fill up a questionaire to enable us to better understand the use of Lipo in RC scene in Singapore and to better understand the reason for the failures.

We will be most happy to sort out, advise and help to size the power needs for your model and recommend the appropriate battery size to use. Feel free to look us up or address us on issues at this forum.

Fact 4

Our parent group has been distributing FlightPower products since April 2006 with a less than 0.8 % in warranty cases from more than 2000 packs sold to satisfied customers. Together with the proper education on correct use and care, we have proven over time without question, FlightPower is the most reliable Lipo pack to date.

[basher]

Dear fellow Singaporean Hobbyists,

Given that both FlightPower and MBRC have stated clearly their views together with the terms and conditions of sales of their products, it is up to the individual to evaluate if these are acceptable, and to decide if he/she would like to continue to have future dealings with any of these entities.

It is the right of each business on how they would like to conduct their business practices as is our right to chose who we want to conduct business with.

However, matters of accusations/statements can be pursued if they are deemed to or implies that such accusations/statements are detrimental to an individual's or a group of individual's (collectively known as a class) reputation.

For example, a statement such as "... simply to switch the customer service centre for our products to someone who would operate it responsibly." could imply that Teo Keng Peng ("KP") did not act responsibly to protect FlightPower's interest by acting indiscriminately. Is this example, it is clearly a matter between FlightPower and KP.

In another example, statements such as,

Para 3
"... Many many of you have received warranty and goodwill replacement packs from Teo Keng Pheng, a quite extraordinary number compared with our stats for the rest of the world. ..."

and

Para 4
"... customer education on how to take proper care of this technology. This was not happening in Singapore ..."

could imply that the cohort of RC hobbyist in Singapore have little or no knowledge on the proper use and care of Lithium Polymer batteries. In this example, it is clearly a matter between FlightPower and the Class of RC Hobbyist in Singapore.

Kindly evaluate your options as individuals and collectively as a class.

[edmond22]

For all to know

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=674087&pp=50&highlight=flightpower+misinformation

A good thread for all to read on Flightpower titled "Discussion - FlightPower Disinformation" started by Dave of Aircraftworld.

[mave]

are you suggesting a class action lawsuit?

Dear fellow Singaporean Hobbyists,

Given that both FlightPower and MBRC have stated clearly their views together with the terms and conditions of sales of their products, it is up to the individual to evaluate if these are acceptable, and to decide if he/she would like to continue to have future dealings with any of these entities.

It is the right of each business on how they would like to conduct their business practices as is our right to chose who we want to conduct business with.

However, matters of accusations/statements can be pursued if they are deemed to or implies that such accusations/statements are detrimental to an individual's or a group of individual's (collectively known as a class) reputation.

For example, a statement such as "... simply to switch the customer service centre for our products to someone who would operate it responsibly." could imply that Teo Keng Peng ("KP") did not act responsibly to protect FlightPower's interest by acting indiscriminately. Is this example, it is clearly a matter between FlightPower and KP.

In another example, statements such as,

Para 3
"... Many many of you have received warranty and goodwill replacement packs from Teo Keng Pheng, a quite extraordinary number compared with our stats for the rest of the world. ..."

and

Para 4
"... customer education on how to take proper care of this technology. This was not happening in Singapore ..."

could imply that the cohort of RC hobbyist in Singapore have little or no knowledge on the proper use and care of Lithium Polymer batteries. In this example, it is clearly a matter between FlightPower and the Class of RC Hobbyist in Singapore.

Kindly evaluate your options as individuals and collectively as a class.

[tech@mbrc]

Putting disputes to bed....

Hi,

I think most of us have read this already.

This case has been resolved in the best interest of all parties:

The title reads "Ok, we are putting this dispute to bed..."

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7374322&postcount=80

So lets all leave it that way and give the RC Hobbyist, dealers, distirbutors, manufactures a fresh start a better tomorrow.