Model Stores in London???

Are there any model stores in London???

Quite amazing what you can find by using the search function...


http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=901296

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=103800

In my opinion, you're probably best off buying from Hiroboy.

In my opinion, you're probably best off buying from Hiroboy.
Does he have a store in London???

Does he have a store in London???


Nevermind, just went on Hiroboys site. AMAZING!!! He is going to be getting ALOT of business from me.

Just a quick tip. Send him an email with an inquiry before ordering anything.

Just a quick tip. Send him an email with an inquiry before ordering anything.

Why???

Because it's the polite thing to do.

Why???

To lose some of his and from your time.

To lose some of his and from your time.

I dont agree.
You will deffinatley wont lose any of his time because he will not bother answering your e-mails.:nono:

He might have an exellent shop packed with goodies but to me (only my opinion) its no good when he doesnt give any feedback on lost items when asked for. Even when e-mails and pms are sent nearly on a daily basis.
You may ask `why dont you use the phone´?
Well, I have just lost 76 pounds and I refuse to lose any more money with an international call, especially when Hirfoboy is meant to be an online store.
True I should have insured my order but still, I wont even get a proof of posting.

READ HIS F.A.Q.

Best Regards, and good luck,
Adrian Curtis

I dont agree.
You will deffinatley wont lose any of his time because he will not bother answering your e-mails.:nono:

He might have an exellent shop packed with goodies but to me (only my opinion) its no good when he doesnt give any feedback on lost items when asked for. Even when e-mails and pms are sent nearly on a daily basis.
You may ask `why dont you use the phone´?
Well, I have just lost 76 pounds and I refuse to lose any more money with an international call, especially when Hirfoboy is meant to be an online store.
True I should have insured my order but still, I wont even get a proof of posting.

READ HIS F.A.Q.

Best Regards, and good luck,
Adrian Curtis

Absolutely agree with you!
I should have made it clear that the part of losing his time was sarcastic.

I had a problem with an order from Hiroboy in July this year (paid for insured shipping cause I bought stuff for 80€, he sent it by ordinary mail), completed the request on his site, never had an answer and the request was deleted, shortly after that.

Same thing for me last Jan/Feb this year, Worth of 400 sterling pounds of paints from all types and it was lost, no answers for so long, then an answer that he is not responsible for lost shipments since he claimed that customs authority in Dubai (as long as your shipment is not a drug or porn material they are the easiest custom services in this part of the world and the post office will call in all cases: they are allowing or not allowing your shipment) don't allow paints into the country through mail parcels (although at that time I was ordering and receiving paints shipments from all over the world)......

He has really nice stuff but the integrity of his transactions, at least for me, is questionable to risky.

I usually order from the Japanese sites:
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/car/
http://www.hlj.com/

Never had ANY problems with these guys. Shipping is fast as well. The stock list is updated rather regularly. Once a set of wheels arrived that was defective, they promptly gave me the email address to the quality control person at Fujimi, and right away he sent me new ones at no shipping cost.

The two sites that I listed above have very good ethics. I live in California, on the West coast of the US, so what we pay in shipping will vary, but to me the customer care is worth it every time.

Wait, are all you guys saying do not buy from hiroboy???

Wait, are all you guys saying do not buy from hiroboy???

Not at all. It's just that you may be surprised, sometimes positively sometimes not! ;)

Wait, are all you guys saying do not buy from hiroboy???
From my personal experience, the answer is yes

I'm just saying Hiroboy is not the only person with kits. Ebay, both UK and US is a great place for kits, as well as the classifieds here in Car Modeling. I've gotten some good deals here on the site.

HB has very mixed reviews. A lot of people have lost $$$ with him, and a lot of people have had nothing but good transactions.

Do your research and don't be so hasty, it will save you grief in the long run.

I'm just saying Hiroboy is not the only person with kits. Ebay, both UK and US is a great place for kits, as well as the classifieds here in Car Modeling. I've gotten some good deals here on the site.

HB has very mixed reviews. A lot of people have lost $$$ with him, and a lot of people have had nothing but good transactions.

Do your research and don't be so hasty, it will save you grief in the long run.
The main reason I am looking at buying from him is the zero paints.

is it worth it???:confused:

I have not heard that alot of people have lost money with him.

I do know that Steve has a glacial response time for customer service questions/issues- but that is the only complaint I've ever heard leveled at him. The vast majority of people who deal with him (myself included) have quick, problem free transactions. But people who run into complications can have their complications persist for months.

I would not hesitate to order Zero Paints. However, i would advise that you keep your transations as simple as possible. If you desire/demand interaction with Steve, you may very well end up disappointed. But if you just want stuff delivered quickly to your doorstep (and you have no issues like customs f*xups and backorders or the like), than you will likely end up a repeat customer of his- as many people here are.

Hiroboy.com is not a perfect service. There are things he's very good at. Just try to avoid situations in which you would need to reach him.

:rolleyes: Business transactions shouldn't be like that. You shouldn't have to wonder if the person that you are handing over hard earned money to is going to get back to you or not.

If a business owner cannot handle the volume of inquiries they receive in regards to transactions, then they should hire an assistant. The assistant can read and organize the emails so that they people who need help with a transactions get answers.

I appreciate Steve's ability to have a business in this field, but he needs to address this issue, because sooner or later it will drive his business into the ground.

Zero paints huh? Maybe I will start a website to fill the void that HB has created.

if you survey everyone on this site, chances are, more people would have had good experiences with Hiroboy's store/service than bad

Make of that what you will.

I have not heard that alot of people have lost money with him.

I do know that Steve has a glacial response time for customer service questions/issues- but that is the only complaint I've ever heard leveled at him. The vast majority of people who deal with him (myself included) have quick, problem free transactions. But people who run into complications can have their complications persist for months.

I would not hesitate to order Zero Paints. However, i would advise that you keep your transations as simple as possible. If you desire/demand interaction with Steve, you may very well end up disappointed. But if you just want stuff delivered quickly to your doorstep (and you have no issues like customs f*xups and backorders or the like), than you will likely end up a repeat customer of his- as many people here are.

Hiroboy.com is not a perfect service. There are things he's very good at. Just try to avoid situations in which you would need to reach him.
What he said :1:

if you survey everyone on this site, chances are, more people would have had good experiences with Hiroboy's store/service than bad
What he said :1:

It's worth remembering that dissatisfied customers will tell 9-10 people of their experience for every 1 person that a satisfied customers tells - that is why customer service is so important.

I have had 99% good experience with hiroboy.com.
The 1% bad experience (lost shipment) was NOT his fault and will not stop me buying from him again. In my opinion he is without the slightest doubt a 100% honest vendor.

So yes, IMHO you can buy from him with at least the normal confidence you would have in purchasing from an on-line store. Read the FAQs on his site first and accept the fact that (hopefully only for the time being) email response is a weakness of their service.

I am not going to say do not buy from Hiroboy but I 100% assure you that I will never ever order from Hiroboy ever again.
Hiroboy is good if you do get your order through but it is a gamble buing from this place as there are many people with bad experiences from Hiroboy, ask around, but if something goes wrong, and it does (I have just lost 76 pounds with Hiroboy) you will be left in the dark with no goods, no feedback and no money just like me.

So my answer to 'Wait, are all you guys saying do not buy from hiroboy???' is.
Do if you wish, but I wouldnt.

Hiroboy.com is not a perfect service. There are things he's very good at. Just try to avoid situations in which you would need to reach him.

I'm afraid sometimes this is out of our control, especially when things go wrong.

It's worth remembering that dissatisfied customers will tell 9-10 people of their experience for every 1 person that a satisfied customers tells - that is why customer service is so important.

That may be the case but remember that one day you could be the dissatisfied customer and you may have lost a fair amount of money and be left in the dark.

Like someone else said ' there are many other model shops ' and are not one man bands and will give customer support.

lol...I hope all this discussion about Hiroboy wasn't just because I said he's best off buying from him! :biggrin:

In all seriousness, I truly sympathise with anyone who has had an unsucessful order, with any shop, online or not. From my own experience, I guess I'm just lucky that as of yet, I haven't had any major error from using his service. The only thing that had gone wrong was he sent me a wrong scale decal set once, which after calling him about it, he promptly sent me the correct set. I'm lucky I'm in the same country as him that I have the easy option to call him.

All I do know is that nothing is 100% certain, so you will always 'gamble' (as ANXIETY nicely put it) more so with buying something online. It's one of the things that helps define the reliability of a company. I've yet to try 1999 or hlj purely as it's so much more convenient for me to use Hiroboy and I have more peace of mind ordering from within my own country than halfway around the world.

Zero Paints are a great product and come very highly recommended. They open up so many more possibilities to play with :smile:. The only reason I suggested Hiroboy was because London doesn't have that great an offering of model shops (that I know of) and so keeping it 'local', I find Hiro the best option.

I hope we can keep the initial question in mind and not just argue for or against Hiroboy.com. Oh and 400 quids worth of paint! What are you painting man! :eek7:

Oh and 400 quids worth of paint! What are you painting man! :eek7:
Lol:grinyes:

The main reason I am looking at buying from him is the zero paints.

is it worth it???:confused:

I hope we can keep the initial question in mind and not just argue for or against Hiroboy.com.

I believe an opinion has been asked for and on my behalf I have answered based on my experience. This is no argument only our views.
I am not saying 'dont buy from hiroboy' but this is what has happened to me, know the risks and then it would be up to the individual, or AustinMartin in this case, if you want to buy from hiroboy or not.

All right, we get it.

Enough about Hiroboy.com now. Everything that needs to be said on that topic has more than been said.

If anyone has anything more to day on hobbyshops in/around London, please feel free to add.

Same thing for me last Jan/Feb this year, Worth of 400 sterling pounds of paints from all types and it was lost, no answers for so long, then an answer that he is not responsible for lost shipments since he claimed that customs authority in Dubai (as long as your shipment is not a drug or porn material they are the easiest custom services in this part of the world and the post office will call in all cases: they are allowing or not allowing your shipment) don't allow paints into the country through mail parcels (although at that time I was ordering and receiving paints shipments from all over the world)......

He has really nice stuff but the integrity of his transactions, at least for me, is questionable to risky.
What bullshit......:screwy:

What bullshit......:screwy:
Not a very constructive answer. Not at all. :shakehead

Hi Steve, since you are here now could you please answer my e-mail reference Order #13148.
Thanks

I've been tring to post this since the last one, but the browser was locked up

OK, yes I don't have time to answer 100's of emails each day,
But a quick phone call to +44 (0)7977 125967 sorts out most things.
You can also use Skype (hiroboy-store) for FREE yet no one bothers,

Most answers are answered in the FAQ but no one reads that. emails with questions that can be found in the FAQ do not get answered due to time constrants.

Getting 50+ orders send out each day is the priority.

ANXIETY we got your (1st) email on Friday and we are investigating the problem/Solution.
Regards Steve

Glad to see you're still here Steve.

For the record, I have ordered multiple times from Hiroboy.com and ALWAYS received excellent service.

My advice is: Keep it simple, stupid! Stop trying to complicate orders, just let the guy do what he does best - run a great on-line store.

Oh yeh, and re Hobby Shops in London:

There's very little. Hannants in Colindale is good but mainly for aircraft, Modelzone in Holborn is ok - mainstream and expensive but a lot of stock.

Nowhere I else I've found, even Hamleys are cutting right back on plastic kit stuff. I think the problem is that shop rent prices in London are so STUPIDLY expensive that all the smaller retailers have been forced out. Shame.

I think the problem is that shop rent prices in London are so STUPIDLY expensive that all the smaller retailers have been forced out. Shame.


Tourism is the reason for that I would imagine.
The same thing happens here in San Diego, all the mom&pop shops get forced out of the main city and replaced by touristy crap.

Ok, I have a question. Will Hiroboy ship Zero Paints to the US???

Ok, I have a question. Will Hiroboy ship Zero Paints to the US??? Yes, I ship to 100% of the world but some countries customs will send them back or remove them, Brazil is the main one and some Arabic nations.
I ship to USA./Canada about 3-6 parcels each day with Zero paints and supplies. Please have a look at the FAQ for detailed advise on the subject. http://www.hiroboy.com/catalog/shipping.php

Yes, I ship to 100% of the world but some countries customs will send them back or remove them, Brazil is the main one and some Arabic nations.
I ship to USA./Canada about 3-6 parcels each day with Zero paints and supplies. Please have a look at the FAQ for detailed advise on the subject. http://www.hiroboy.com/catalog/shipping.php
Thanks so much Steve!