Barry White

I'm from Belgium and prices are not cheap here to (cheaper that U.K. tough) so lots of people order from overseas. Now with the strong Euro we have an even bigger advantage. European importers have complained at Tamiya Japan and theirfor we got that new rule in Belgium and probably it will be the same for other European countries. Thing is that in Germany parts are also much cheaper than the rest of Europe and they have all stock and service you can imagine. Sablon (Belgian importer) or the U.K. importer do a lot of other stuff too. Sablon does sporting goods,in-line skates, toys, ect. So they sell a lot more RTR kits TL01's Quick Drive's and so on to toy shops and these don't require a lot of spare parts. If we didn't like Tamiya we wouldn't care about it and buy other cars but we really like it but don't want to pay that much!

trf racer

hey dino.
in the uk tamiya is still branded as a toy car for noobs.and we all no this isnt true and unfortunatly this is also what the hobby company sees tamiya as.
as people have said the hobby company also brings other products in.
the main reason of complaints are that the hobby company bought 5 evo3 surikarns in sold them all to one shop and then they sold them for £500 a piece.
when you phone the hobby company they do not have a single clue what you are telling or asking them thats why they NEED part numbers.
their attidude is like oh these are only toy cars and that parts are not urgently wanted.
but they might be needed to race at the weekend.
also their customer support is crap.
i phoned the sales dept because i was thinking i doing my own buissness from home selling cars when i phoned they said they needed to send a rep areound to make sure everything with the shop is up to standard!what a cheek.maybe there reps havent been round to the importer for a while.
tamiya isnt unpopuler to beginners but at high end it is.

JohnA

In the uk you can get an evo IIIs for £389 (711US) still rediculous but less than $900.

keithander

"Rainbow ten will soon change its service policy by
special cooperation with TAMIYA in 2004!!
(Some people think we stop exporting goods, which is entirely wrong information.
we will sure continue our service as before. The change is about the range of items. Details are still under discussion but it may involve a better price or so)"

The above is now written on R10s website.

Rick Draper

Show me a shop that has them in for that much and brought them through the Hobby Company. Rick

JohnA

Maybe this shop got them as grey imports? But if the Hobby Co doesnt bring the cars in the retailer has little choice.

keithander

I've attached R10s reply to the rumours about exports..

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your E-mail.

Oh, we are just shocked by that!! We will sure continue serving UK/US customers too in the future.

New policy TAMIYA involves kind of exclusive carrying for TAMIYA chassis only. We will carry fragship chassis from other manufacturers like YOKOMO SD, HPI PRO4, ALEX R3 but not others. There will be no change for plastic model sections. The change will be seen in RC sections only.

We are now seeking the way to feed back this change to better price for TAMIYA items. Everything is still under discussion with TAMIYA.

Sorry about the confusion. We presume you have seen a kind of BBS or forum that talking abuot us? If so, could you please advise them that we are gonna serve for US/UK customers in the future too?

Best Regards,

RAINBOW TEN (Nao)

g4t2

Keith did you get my email?

Evo_Uk

it really annoys me too. The hobby co. would rather sell 100 TL01s then a few Evo3s/414s. They get no advertising, on all hobby co tamiya adverts they have crappy TL01 subaru pics ( the tl01 isnt crappy, the pic ). Prices on any high end kit Are STUPID.

Thing is even though you are really concidered a noob and laughed at its not always this way, John Davie won the TORC national championship in the UK with an Evo3/Evo3S.. no notice was taken or backing up. Im also doing very good , hopefully next year when the nationals start again i will do good to..

Hobby company needs to get their act together, we shouldnt have to import good we want all the time becasue they are taking the p*ss.

Thanks

Tarnjit

PS : there is nothing more satisfying then to come off the rostrum after winning an A final, then to tell everyone they got beat by a tamiya!

trf racer

thanks for all the replies,as is said this hole forum will be posted to tamiya hq in japan and also to the hobby company to show them that we are not happy with the way they are treating us and tamiya.
cheers

trf racer

thats just like saying you got beet by a yokomo,x-ray etc.
except tamiya is something a lot more special then them

tamiyarcracer

I can understand all your complaints, we here in the states, feel similar about a few things. But we have Tamiya America. But look at it this way, in the eyes of Tamiya. The bed and butter of Tamiya is the 1/35 scale military model market. Here in america you have 2 TRF drivers on races maybe 2 or three races a year, the other races races he feels he wants to participate in. You have many guys wanting to be a TRF Racer but Japan says who is a TRF racer and who isn't. THere are many guys here that would be much better ambassadors for Tamiya than the two guys that they call TRF drivers.
We have a importer that is Tamiya, but buys from japan, at what seems like a high price, then they have to sell to distributors, then to the local hobby shops. a part I can e-mail Japn and get for 600 yen (=$5.50 USD) will cost me near $9.00 usd, so if I buy it from japan with a few other items I get it for the same price after shipping. If I spend about $200.00 USD I save big money. And I get it quicker that my local Hobby shop can get it. Not to mention, there are many part #'s I have to got to Tamiya america directly, cause the main hobby distributors here in the US don't do special orders.
So in a nut shell I hate to burst your bubble, but I don't think that Tamiya Japan will care much about your opinion of the UK distributor, as long as they are moving product. Cause RC is not the market that really moves the company. Sorry.

trf racer

sorry but i will disagree.
i think tamiya jap will take notice.
if they dont fine,we havent lost anything.
if they do then it can only be better.
whats the harm in trying?

Evoracer

iTrader: (24)

I think Tamiya will also take notice. They may not act on it immediately but they will take notice. Tamiya is a company in transition regarding high performance kits. Ever since Mr. Surikarn was world champ, they have been held to a certain standard that needs to continue being reinforced.
That said....it has little to do with the UK problem. This is a money issue pure and simple. From the comments being made, there is a market for the more basic Tamiya cars(like the TL01 or the XB's and QD's). If this company is supporting it's biggest market, then Tamiya may have little to say about their marketing . I must ask...is the TCS program actively supported in the UK?? Are there any Tamiya sponsored drivers or hobby shop sponsored drivers using Tamiya cars??
I still say that someone over there that really wants to promote Tamiya could approach them and ask for a distributorship. A small operation that specializes in rc cars and actively promotes a racing program may have a chance. It may be to much to ask a generic hobby shop such as the Hobby Company to show special interest to a small segment of their market. For that you really can't blame them. As for their lack of knowledge......no great surprise !! Many large hobby shops don't have staff that specializes in one area. They want people that can "multi-task".

Peter, PM me about TARC....it's something you may be interested in and may help.