RC India

Have you ever purchased anything from Tower Hobbies?

If yes, please share your experience:
- What did you order
- How did you pay (PayPal or Credit Card)
- How quickly did you receive your parcel
- Did you face any issues with customs in India

-Of course RC Stuffs, Receivers, Engines and accessories  :)
-Pay Pal.
-Fortnight Plus.
-Paid Customs always.

If yes, please share your experience:
- What did you order
   Radio Tx , Rx, Nitro Stuff, building tools, OEM servos etc
- How did you pay (PayPal or Credit Card)
   Direct Credit Card
- How quickly did you receive your parcel
  Around 2 weeks
- Did you face any issues with customs in India
  Except the Radio, none.  Infact never charged customs even when Towers puts a 100% invoice (was lucky)

Which radio did you order and how much did you have to pay customs?

Only customs duty or under the table also?

How much time did you have to wait for the transmitter to receive?

my experience -
be careful while ordering from towerhobbies when your shipment is large and has to be put in 2 diffrnt boxes with the same 2 copies of invoice .. the stupid customs of india will double charge u customs .. basically per box .. evn tho its the same invoice of 2 copies .. that happens only when u use the cheap shipping as parcels sometimes arrive in different dates.. happened to me on a huge order .. ran from office to office for 2 months ..
 


ordered mostly cars and spares and other items. no radio and no planes.. etc
credit card
ups shipping recieved in 4 or 5 days and usps shipping 15days to a month 
customs not a problem worth ups shipping and u have to pay .. and with usps shipping method its all luck

Thanks for the information Pravesh.

I also am in the exact same position you are in.

I have placed an huge order and those buggers sent it in two pieces and now my parcel is with the customs since last 2 months.

Worst thing is, though the status now shows as customs cleared on 4/Feb/2012, I have still not received the parcel.

I had used USPS as I was unaware of this and this was my first ever order with tower and that too a huge one.

Thanks for the information, will remember and use UPS next time.

 :thumbsup:

Go to the customs DC .. and then just one day it will take . Explain it to him .
And resend both the parcels for re-evaluation

I have no problem with usps when the box is small and one peice ..

Hmmm....

i got mine cleared dat way

Any one else have an experience to share about Tower Hobbies?

I wanna get a radio from tower please tell if its worth the effort online or its better if you buy it from some one in india only ... if i have a cousin flying in from the US can they carry it without doing through any problems at the airport??

Well, I would not recommend ordering the Radio online because its just too much hassle and the Tx is 100% going to be detained by the customs.

You can get it released by bribing + about 40% duty and with a minimum wait period of 2-3 months and consanguineous follow-up by phones, sending all the requested documents, permissions, etc.

I had ordered not one but multiple Futaba Tx from Tower in December which I received just today.

I had a agent do the work for me in Mumbai as I stay in Hyderabad.

I had to pay the agent + heavy bribe + customs duty.

If some one is coming from the USA, he also would have to face a bit of heat from customs as when they scan the baggage, they will 100% get the baggage opened and then ask all questions and at the end pay the duty and possibly bribe also.

Its better you purchase it from a LHS.

Please DONT order Radio through post. unless someone carrying it for you on plane, there are *Very high* chances of paying huge amount of customs, if not confisticated.
Futaba, Jr, Sanwa, Hitec, Tunigy - almost all Radios are available with LHS these days. If you calcualte the total cost + Risk, its better going LHS...

 :thumbsup:

People, please share your experience about Tower so that others (specially new comers) can learn from what we all have gone through.

This will not only help them decide from where to purchase but also promote LHS as many might not want to take the pain of customs clearance with the long waiting periods for shipping and might rather be better off by paying bit extra and purchase from LHS.

bump

March 13 - Bump!

How much time does 'International Air' methd takes..?
Its relatively cheaper than USPS,so i was thinking of getting a small car (non 2.4G) from towers.
can anyone throw some light(atleast some..pls) on how much time would it take and expected customs on a USD300 car of box size 18inch X 12 X 6

25 days ... approx customs - 4000-5000 Rs.

Himank .. international air is usps in usa .. and ups is the expensive shipping option and cheaper one is int air/usps ..
It will take 22 to 30 days for it to be in your hands since the date of order .. customs is 40% of total value .. if ordering from tower do use the discount codes given to international customers

What are the chances of parcel being stuck.
I have given the dimensions and contents in above post

international air I have used before .. there are many methods under usps .. but tower has only two .. expensiv ups and int air

parcel will go through customs and they will call u asking for the invoice and etc .. give it to them and in a weeks time it should be in your hands .. american parcels don't face that much trouble as the famous hong kong ones .. but you can never say anything about the great government officials of our country

Thanks you,i needed a 1/8th scale nitro under 22k all inclusive (i have the starter kit) so ws thinking for the hyper 7 bug

do contact kapil of dogboneracing  .. u can contact him in Facebook(kapil jolly) .. he can get a hyper7 for u for cheaper then 22k .. in almost the same time as tower takes to ship via international air to you ..

ps- he also deals in many other brands like traxxas, losi etc if u are interested

hes stopped dealing ofna for now,i called him recently,and i only need a 1/8 which for this price range is unviable in trxx,or infact any brand i suppose.

ohoki .. then u can get it from tower ... for a buggy of cost 299 and den add a small anything of few dollars value . make it cross 300 and if u have registered in tower already u should be getting the discount codes in your email .. use the code and ul get 75$discount for 300$ value excluding shipping .. ul save some money that way ..

EMS is good, but nobody will clear it for us from customs in case parcel gets detained. Couriers, on the other hand, do the customs clearing on our behalf. But the only courier they offer is UPS, which is awesome, but very expensive.

Now, there is a courier called Aramex who offer a service called ShopnShip.
I have used it once and found it pretty good. It took them 7 days to deliver from US to India.

Charges are slightly higher than EMS. $10 for 500g, $8 for every 500g thereafter + 10.3 service tax

try contacting joy rising hobby from chennai .. he deals in hongnor/jammin brand .. he should have a 8th scale buggy called x1x for about 22-25 or maybe more

This is what we have been using for all the shopping from the US (to Qatar), not just RC stuff.  Works great with Amazon, or even getting Apple products.

Sorry to bump this thread, but... I've also placed an order with TowerHobbies (w/out tracking) on 6th March. I'm expecting the parcel by April first week. Can you all share your experience with Tower (cheapest shipping option)? Please do reply. :p