RunRyder - just wondering and maybe some ppl can clear up

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Century Hawk - Falcon - Raven - Predator > just wondering and maybe some ppl can clear up

toner123
Heliman
Location: norfolk, va

Ok i have noticed something well my budy has to be exact. Is century having issues, such as financial possibly risking going out of bussiness. Now this is not to start rumors but a source to find out before more money is invested in them. Reason I am asking this is my budy is looking to get a 90 and he would like to stick to century since we both have the hawk. Issue beeing it seems their is never parts available and they are always out of stock. so i was just wondering if anyone had any ideas of this.

05-27-2008 08:01 PM

Mutt
Key Veteran
Location: t ca usa

They are not going out of business

05-27-2008 08:02 PM

Ray Fernandez
Elite Veteran
Location: Guam (U.S.A.)

Where did this rumor start?

Ray Fernandez - GUAM

05-27-2008 08:05 PM

toner123
Heliman
Location: norfolk, va

i cleary said this isnt to start a rumor but was just wondering because it seems as if its harder and harder to get parts. LHS is starting to carry few and few parts heli-world is always having out of stock so was just a means to see if anyone has herd anything

05-27-2008 08:13 PM

Mutt
Key Veteran
Location: t ca usa

Parts are a problem sometimes for century do a searh here you will find that out. When they moved intot he new factory it was real bad for a while till they got setup again. I find if you call century and give them the part number you need most of the time they have it dont waste your time with thier website as it is not updated on a regular baises and will say in stock when out and out of stock when in. Call them for your parts its the best way to do it.

05-27-2008 08:57 PM

Ray Fernandez
Elite Veteran
Location: Guam (U.S.A.)

Quote
i cleary said this isnt to start a rumor

OK, my bad.

Ray Fernandez - GUAM

05-27-2008 09:01 PM

Eury
rrProfessor
Location: Ankeny, IA, USA.

For some reason, they are always out of stock on Predator parts. I destroyed my Gasser last week, and went to order parts for it, and sure enough, about 1/4 of them are out of stock. Some people say that you need to call, since the website isn't updated very well, but that's BS, as they were still out of stock when I called. I doubt they are going out of business, I just think they suck at keeping parts around. My Pred Gasser and Freestyle fly awesome, but once I run out of parts for them (I have a ton of spares), I'll probably get rid of them, just for the parts availability reason.

Nick Crego
Back off man, I'm a scientist.

05-27-2008 09:03 PM

toner123
Heliman
Location: norfolk, va

first of ray wanna say sry didnt mean to come off like that I understand tex is dry so as you read you take in the emotion of it as your feeling. As i reread it, it had the feeling of coming off like a di** so as i say please except my apologie. Now for the matter in hand i apprecaite you clearing this up.I love their product and they are one of the few companies that make it somewhat afordable to continue to do this and this is why i choose to stick with them, just dont want to go buy a new heli and dump alot of money again and then they vanish and now you cant get parts that was my fear but once again thanks for clearing it up. ALso big sigh of relief that all is well with them lol

05-27-2008 09:09 PM

Dilbeck
Key Veteran
Location: Springdale Arkansas

That's a damn shame, for I love flying my century helis but if you cant get parts It really doesn't matter, the heli is worthless and just sets on the shelf. Parts are more important than the kits themselves, for if you cant get parts who is going to buy a kit? I know a little about manufacturing and I also know that the guy doing the projecting could not project a slide show based on what Ive seen. If you cant support the helis that's out there now than don't bother with new kits. The old rule is its not new customers its the repeat customers!!!!!!!!!

If it doesn't fly sell it!

05-27-2008 09:19 PM

Ray Fernandez
Elite Veteran
Location: Guam (U.S.A.)

toner,

No apologies necessary. I just didn't read your post clearly. Like I said, my bad.

As far as the parts availablity, I guess I am on the fence on this one (in regards to century), for I have been pretty lucky in getting parts for my Century products. However, I do agree somewhat in that a company is only as good as it's product and service. This includes the availability of parts. I guess that is why some companies like Miniature Aircraft and Hirobo have succeeded in this industry for such a long time.

Ray Fernandez - GUAM

05-27-2008 10:26 PM

toner123
Heliman
Location: norfolk, va

yes and i couldnt agree more. now as for century customer service i must say nothing but plus their they always seemed very polite and spent the time to talk to you and not trying to rush you off the phone. But like I said I think they need to start steping it up on parts available or alot of ppl might switch to other helos as they upgrade which i was about to do and my friend but to find out what everyone is saying that they have no financial issue then i might just move on to the swift. All i can say is if someone from century reads these forms, Please step it up a notch with parts on hand.

05-28-2008 12:25 AM

jester4
Veteran
Location: Brampton, Ontario (Flyin' outta Mississauga)

I love my Century heli's, but you will have a hard time finding them at your LHS. It seems that not many retailers are willing to give up Align wall space for Century.

Luckily there are a couple of good online Century retailers out west here in Canada that seem to have a good handle on parts inventory, so I've never really had any issues as of yet. I've even ordered directly form Heli-World and never had issues either.

Bottom line, Century is not going anywhere and they seem to have a couple of new things lined up as well. They are a little slow on keeping pace with trends, but their products are usually already ahead in a lot of areas. Case in point; people are raving about the aurora and the way the mainshaft attaches to the gear.....guess what? Century had this for a while already. That's one example, a lot more experienced guys here can expand.....

NO SOUP FOR YOU!!

05-28-2008 03:28 PM

SuperSixTwo
Senior Heliman
Location: Lockwood, NV

Not to hijack the thread, but i have never had much trouble with parts. With most hawk parts fitting other birds, falcon, raven, helimax etc, it was easy enough to upgrade or swap parts. None of the LHS have any Century stuff, so i always drive to sacramento or mail order it.
now if they just had a Helimax gasser......

05-28-2008 05:30 PM

haggy38
Senior Heliman
Location: Bogotá - Colombia

Sales department sell the first heli, After Sales sells the all of them!!

Service is the most important support in every business.

Regards,
Gustavo

05-28-2008 09:28 PM

oldfart
Elite Veteran
Location: Vancouver, Canada

IMHO, it is unfortunate that Century has had parts supply issues with ONE model - the BIG Predator. There hardly ever is parts supply problems for their Swift 16, Swift 550, Swift 620, Hawk Pro, or Raven 50's, which are probably responsible for 95% of their sales. But they still seems to have some problems with their BIG helis - the Predator.

Of note, is that this is also the case with a number of other manufacturers when it comes to their big 90 and gasser models.

And this seems to make many people think that they have a BIG parts problem and stay away from all their other models. Just check this thread - anyone talking parts supply problems are guys with PREDATORS, yet some in this thread immediately assumed it may be with the whole line. That is not so.

Of course, it seems, many who are anti-Century, blow it all out of proportion by making the same assumptions.

I understand that the Predator is the last of their models that is not totally "in house". It still use parts that they have sub-contracted to other facilities.

I understand that they are now gearing for it also to become all in-house now. So I trust the parts supply for it too, will start to be as plentiful as they are for all their other models.

05-29-2008 11:48 AM

Century Heli
Senior Heliman
Location: CA. USA

Thanks oldfart for explaining the issues. There is a certain amount of inventory that is put aside for our dealers/distributors that were not updated for the retail sector. We have just offset some of this inventory for retail sales. There are however some items that are our still out of stock. We're working with our supplier on these parts in trying to get air shipments in. In the very near future we will be moving production of all Predator parts to our new factory which should allow us to provide a continuous source of parts. If you really need a part, it doesn't hurt to call us as sometimes inventory set aside for dealers/distributors can easily be offset for retail.

05-29-2008 07:22 PM

toner123
Heliman
Location: norfolk, va

well first I am far from anti century like i said I have the Hawk pro and I upgraded the living heck out of it all metel head and all. Also I love that machine does everything I am capable of doing now with ease, But like i said I just wasn't sure what was going on with the parts issuse since i want to upgrade to a bigger heli, so instead of assuming that their was problems I came to the place where i can find all the info I will ever need. But would like to add thats awsome century posted was extremly glad to see that they are reading these forms to see what customers are thinking or saying thats a A++++++++ imo so ty century for that

06-02-2008 07:41 PM

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Century Hawk - Falcon - Raven - Predator > just wondering and maybe some ppl can clear up

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