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Old 08-31-2011, 07:43 AM
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Originally Posted by Corey Bernardo
Novak Electronics has the best customer support I have ever experienced, I am sure you will get all this squared away with a phone call. They are really busy everyday doing their daily tasks, and sometimes over look their email. A phone call always works best. . . . I would call and ask for Charlie and explain to him the issue you are experiencing.

I am sure that I will have people read this post and right away think I am only talking like this because Novak gives me support, but in all honesty like I said prior Novak is the best customer service I have experienced even way back when I was a child and didnt have a novak ride I have always ran their stuff...


I don't really hear anybody disputing the fact that Novak CS is good, even the OP sounds failly please with CS other than the fact that their shipping is a little slow.

I can understand how any product line can and will have problems, it just pisses me off to spend xxx$ for a product just to have to turn around and spend an extra few bucks to send it back to manufacturer.
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Old 08-31-2011, 08:38 AM
  #17  
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Novak went from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the barrel. They never really figured out the boosted speed control technology. Their brushed stuff was always strong. Hech I remember in the early 90's drivers like Cliff Lett and Massami were running Novak speedos. Don't know of any factory drivers running for them now...
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Old 08-31-2011, 08:55 AM
  #18  
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To each their own. I have had a few issues with my Castle equipment but after it comes back from warranty work no issues while other swear up and down that castle was top notch and now garbage. I wanted to help with one issue you pointed out in the original thread. When I first got my brushless sidewinder from CC i had a range of about 30 -50 ft. It was suggested that I brade the motor wires as well as keeping ignal and power wires separated as musch a possable. The braiding alone trippled or better my signal distance.
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Old 08-31-2011, 10:47 AM
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Thats a shame you are having some much trouble with the Novak stuff. I have been lucky I guess in the stuff I have run from them, pretty much only had 1 issue.

In general I think every company has had some sort of issues that consumers were not happy with. heck I remember complaints about the Tekin RX8, Castles MMM, and Speed passions Silver Arrow V1. The main thing that had me coming back to these companies when I did was customer service.

When Shawn was still with Speed Passion, the Silver Arrow V1 burned down most of my electrical setup after 20 minutes of running, and he did what he could do to make it right and get me whole again even though official policy with them and other companies is only the speedo is covered, etc.

I think the main thing now I look out for is reliability for sure, but also how long the warranties are going for. Anything short of 1 year warranty and I now avoid the products as with all else being equal as far as customer service goes and quality, if you don't feel comfortable standing behind your product as long (or longer) as the next guy, why should I feel comfortable buying your product?
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Old 08-31-2011, 10:56 AM
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Originally Posted by Cain
Thats a shame you are having some much trouble with the Novak stuff. I have been lucky I guess in the stuff I have run from them, pretty much only had 1 issue.

In general I think every company has had some sort of issues that consumers were not happy with. heck I remember complaints about the Tekin RX8, Castles MMM, and Speed passions Silver Arrow V1. The main thing that had me coming back to these companies when I did was customer service.

When Shawn was still with Speed Passion, the Silver Arrow V1 burned down most of my electrical setup after 20 minutes of running, and he did what he could do to make it right and get me whole again even though official policy with them and other companies is only the speedo is covered, etc.

I think the main thing now I look out for is reliability for sure, but also how long the warranties are going for. Anything short of 1 year warranty and I now avoid the products as with all else being equal as far as customer service goes and quality, if you don't feel comfortable standing behind your product as long (or longer) as the next guy, why should I feel comfortable buying your product?
Who offers a 1 year warranty?
The most I can find is 180 days
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Old 08-31-2011, 11:21 AM
  #21  
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castle's warranty is 1 year from date of retail sale:

http://www.castlecreations.com/suppo...html#warranty1

I believe viper also has a 365 day warranty as well from what I am seeing on there website on one of the ESCs. I believe they also warranty there motors too for 6 months?

Thats pretty much what led me away from my last company I had products from. Especially in 1/8 usage, need that warranty.
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Old 08-31-2011, 12:30 PM
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I dont understand how some of you can go through this many spedo's from novak. i have 8 cars and 7 of them novak spedo's and never had any issues.. ever!
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Old 09-13-2011, 07:35 AM
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Originally Posted by R6cj69
the reason CS is so good at Novak is because they have lots of experience due to products that flat out suck..

I wanted to make the change from CC to Novak because i wanted to go with a sensor based set up on my ST. Right out of the box the blue LED was out and you couldn't program it. Sent it back and was shipped a replacement the next week. Installed the new unit and went to the track. After a few smooth laps i was very impressed with the Novak unit. But then once i was starting to make a few jumps the whole unit was shutting down. Turns out the switch wires going into the ESC were loose. Had to get them in a spot where they were happy and zip tied them to the battery leads. While the first unit was off for repair i bought a new unit for my SC truck. About 5 minutes of running the cap burst and catches fire. Sent it back and Novak sent me a new one. This one didn't even make 30 seconds and the same thing hapened. I contacted Charlie and he was very helpful and understood my frustration. They sent me a brand new havoc SC pro unit with a Ballestic 4.5 motor. I'm sure the new unit would have been fine but I sold that thing as fast as I could. Replaced with a Tekin and havent looked back.

I'm still running the second unit with the wire problem but as soon as it goes bad it will be replaced with a tekin also.
Anybody wanna guess what happend this weekend????? Front motor bearing went out! The bad thing is this motor and ESC ran three or four times in my T4 and I raced with it so yes it was ran. Then I moved it over to my sons SC10 and turned it down to 65% on the throttle end point so he could learn to drive it. He has ran it about 12 times or so and when he pulled it off the track Saturday I was hearing a grinding. I was really hoping it was a diff gear but after pulling the motor and bumping the throttle I found the motor was shot. I'll be sending the whole unit back for repair/replacement and when it comes back it will go up for sale and replaced with another Tekin.

Novak has just flat out sucked lately. There older stuff was much higher quality and dependability. Such a a sad story for what used to be a great company.
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Old 09-13-2011, 08:04 AM
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The BEST customer service and warranty are the ones that you NEVER have to use!

I've seen some good Novak units.......back in the brushed days. Lately, though, seems like nothing they put out has any longevity.

Like you, I went around and around and around and back and forth and back and forth. Finally, I had more money in shipping than the cost of the units! Not to mention that by the time I was done with big orange, I felt like I had personal relationships with several different folks there. Novak is the reason that I upgraded my cell phone plan to unlimited minutes, the first month alone I used up over 500 minutes on the phone with their customer service and tech support, in addition to emails! Oh, and by the time I was finished with them, they were accusing me of opening speedos and motors and swapping parts! I honestly wish that I had that many good units to actually have tried that.....maybe I would have finally gotten one of my speedos to work. In the end, I ended up downgrading through them for a remanufactured gtb (that still works), selling the motors for parts, and changing brands.

NEVER AGAIN.

Changed to Tekin, never once a bad unit, need to call, or unanswerable question from available resources online.

Good luck.
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Old 11-14-2011, 01:41 PM
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Customer service isnt the issue. Sending back to the customer refurbished units when you buy a brand new unit isnt right. Having to pay shipping both ways is also crap. They have no QA at all that I can see. With the amount of complaints it has to be no where to be found.

I will never buy from them again as well.
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Old 11-14-2011, 02:50 PM
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I only run novak and have always had good luck with there stuff. In all the years I've been racing and bashing I've only ever had 1 novak product let me down and that was a 17.5 ss motor but that was after a hard crash that messed up the sensor wire.
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Old 11-14-2011, 03:31 PM
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Originally Posted by meddman
Sending back to the customer refurbished units when you buy a brand new unit isnt right.
So did you send in a brand new unit? No, you sent in a broken but used unit and expect a brand new one returned to you? Shipping is only a few bucks, its not worth complaining about... They are at least replacing a broken unit with a working unit... They could charge you for replacing it at least!

FYI: there isn't a single "perfect" esc on the market! I know a guy who has gotten the shaft by Viper! Viper is supposedly created directly by gof himself! If you ask a Viper sponsored driver that is...
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Old 11-14-2011, 03:56 PM
  #28  
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I've seen a lot of esc have problem but not as many as novak lately. Just because it is used less than 3 batteries dose not mean you should get a refurbished unit. That just plain wrong.
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Old 11-14-2011, 04:00 PM
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Electronics will fail its part of our hobby our environment is so harsh that's why I carry spares.

I personally never bought Novak can comment these issues seem very frequent with vocal customers typing there frustrations isn't good for business.

Ive been a Tekin customer had my issues but were always resolved FAST> Thanks Randy, rarely see any Novac representatives commenting on issues it would be beneficial. The Tekin thread always has representatives on the front lines helping and sorting out all issues. I suggest you dump all Novak products if your not happy give Tekin a opportunity they manufacture one of the best speedos and motor to date SUPER smooth and HIGH perforamce
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Old 11-14-2011, 04:02 PM
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Originally Posted by slasn_48
I've seen a lot of esc have problem but not as many as novak lately. Just because it is used less than 3 batteries dose not mean you should get a refurbished unit. That just plain wrong.
I like the thoughts of another guy on here... If you break a part on your car (or truck) you don't expect to get a brand new one? Or do you? NO! They fix it and give it back to you, that is if it is still under warranty... If not you get the repair bil!

Maybe they should just fix your esc and not swap it out for a refurbished (fixed) one? That is IF it is a warranty repair...
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