Placed an order in June. Arrived defective. Sent it back with WRITTEN instructions for a replacement. Received an email saying to contact them by phone. Here's where the scam starts: Anytime you contact the company you will get an answering machine; calls are never returned. Emails sent from the company originate from fictitious email addresses, such as "[email protected]". Chat seesions, available on their website, usually end by the representative simply not replying. Emails, when you finally figure out the valid address, are not replied to. This is a scam because instead of offering a refund, the company offers exchanges with in-store credit, which sounds great, until you realize that there is no possible way to communicate with them to complete the transaction, and they wind up keeping your money, and you get nothing.
The owner of the company is listed as Kevork "Kev" Kouyoumjian, and he also owns World Trading 23 (http://www.worldtrading23.com/Company-Category/company.html), apparently a wholesale distributor of the same products he retails at Hobbytron. A phone call to that company (818-504-9907) gets you a live person who insists on transferring you to Hobbytron. That apparently IS a working number for Mr. Kouyoumjian.
What's really horrifying is a search on Google using the terms "Hobbytron complaint" get a LOT of hits. This practice of Hobbytron's is apparently nothing new, and one user named "Sue" in Idaho went as far as contacting the Attorney General there; apparently Hobbytron used to be in Idaho and moved to San Fernando.
This is a clever type of fraud, because on the surface it looks as if the product is delivered, and the multi-step approach used by Mr. Kouyoumjian is clever enough to not appear as fraud... But ultimately, it is. I've filed a complaint with the FTC and contacted Visa, Mastercharge, and AMerican Express urging them to investigate and to consider pulling Mr. Kouyoumjian merchant accounts. I've also contacted the LAPD (818-756-8861) and urged them to investigate; they've agreed to look into this matter.
If you've gotten ripped off, call your credit card company, the LAPD, file a complaint with the FTC, and post everywhere you can. If you haven't bought from Hobbytron... Don't.
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