Frustrated Waiting
 

I am a huge Castle fan but I have to tell you I am getting very frustrated with the long wait times on warranty service. I have two Rustlers I have purchased three Mamba Max systems for trying to keep them both running. The 3rd MM ESC is currently at Castle waiting to be replaced. Castle received it on 6/23/08 and I am now being told it will be another two weeks before I get it back. I have been told of the improvements made to the repair department yet every time I have had to send one back it seems to take longer. The first one took 3weeks, the second 6 weeks, and now this one appear to be going to take 8 weeks. I understand the problems with the MMM slowed things down but frankly any excuse is starting to wear thin. In my opinion Castle needs to step things up and keep their products in stock and stop blaming their suppliers. If the current suppliers are failing them then they need to find new ones. The one year warranty is great but it sure loses it's luster when it takes two months to get a replacement. {/rant}

Mgm.

Yeah, actually 8 weeks is about the same as MGM warranty service; except they're in Russia somewhere...and they rarely break. :neutral: Not to dis CC but if I knew I couldn't run my truck for 2 months I'd be looking at other options.

i dont see why they just dont send a replacement as soon as they recieve the old one, pay the 50$ and be done with it

This is still under warranty and they dont just send a replacement because they are out of stock on them. This frustrates me even more as I see them sitting on the shelf of my LHS almost every day. How is it that the LHS store has stock and Castle does not?

i thought they had over a thousand of them made up like two weeks ago? and thats bull that its under warranty, i got mine within a week when i called, they sent me a new one, then i shipped back the old in there mailer

I was talking with Patrick the other day on the phone because I had plaed an order back in june and it was canceled some how and said not to worry I would get one from the batch of 2200.When we were talking he told me they are not waiting until all of them are made and then send them out,plus don`t forget a repair may take longer if they olny need to replace something on your MMM rather than send you out a brand new one that`s just come off the line.

he is just talking the mm, not the mmm

My bad,I was thinking the same thing a while about a guy who said it was taking awhile for his to get repaired as well,I would have thought they would have focused on the MMM for the most part and still repair some MM`S at the same time.

Must be old stock on the MM. Castle hasn't been sending out much MM stuff lately, for reasons you posted. For example, I work at Hobby People which has its own warehouse. The warehouse it out of stock on MM stuff right now, and the store has like two systems left. Even the Sidewinder stuff is not in stock.

Damn.. I'd be pissed too. Its killing me just waiting for the MMMs to come back out, and I have a truck to run.

BTW.. MGM in in the Czech Republic lol. I sent my MGM for updating and a little reconditioning and should be 4-5wks turnaround, including the stupid summer holiday they take in Europe. (jealous....)

I like CC too, but I like my MGM as well. CC is lucky it really doesn't have any US competition right now. Tekin is MIA on the 1/8th scale stuff, the r1 is expensive, and Novak is still tied to their stone age HV system.

well i just sent in two MM with $100 for replacement, wondering if I have to wait that long, it would be a pain

Yeah the fact that I am having this issue with a Mamba Max is worse in my eyes. The MMM is new and I would be more understanding if it was a MMM with them getting the bugs worked out etc but the MM should be old hat to them by now and they should be able to keep them in stock and replacements flowing...or so I would have thought.

I agree with finnster the other company's need to break out some new hardware flex some muscle and raise the bar, my mgm firmware update took 6 weeks...smooth as butter now.

BTW: i got an email that they recieved my replacement and guess what... i used it on 2s in a tc3 on lipo with conservaitve (VERY) gearing... i add a fan in summer as its 45*C + ambient, and now they tell me that its not under warranty cause i mounted a fan into the heatsink like 90% of the people here do.

thats just CRAP

once i sent my mamba max for repair, got it back in 4 weeks which was after my warranty period, but they never fixed it they just replaced my motor and soldered on new wires. still not fixed! and im pretty mad about that

did you call them and tell them that?

I hope they are not focusing too much on the MMM and forgetting about all there other customers .
My MM is on the way from Australia to CC for repair , if it's taking you guys in the US 6 - 8 weeks what hope do i have :no:

Castle received my Mamba Max AND my Sidewinder along with the full replacement fees on June 10th (over 2 months ago) and I'm yet to see anything but a post card. I've since had to purchase (retail) replacements for both.

4 weeks to REPLACE A DEAD MAMBA... how hard can it be to box one off and ship it to the specified destination... obviously they have no stock and all the equipment is set up to push out the monsters, which im looking forward to too.

i sent in a MM about june 10, and got it back just over a month later...i got it july 12 or 13th, i think. i followed up alot though. when it was around the 4 week point, i called every other day to find out what dates they were working on.

that actually really impressed me.

I'm extremely anxious to get the MMM, but am going to wait till they come out with the neu combos. I actually want to get quite a few of the new systems. i'm getting tired of my twin V's...they overheat very easily, and i have to gear it super low.

I love the technology, but am tired of the wait too. I heard that tower now has oct. as the release date estimate for the MMM/neu combos...not sure if that true or not, but i share your frustration.
Hang in there dude.

I'm curious as to why there seem to be such a high failure rate on the MM. My bud had to send in a dead MM too not long ago along with a dead MMM, not sure if he got his back either. Personally I've been into R/C for 19yrs and have use just about all Mfg's out there, and CC as of late seems to be dropping the ball. I have started using Tekin stuff lately and am very pleased, goes for Novak stuff still hanging around too. I used Novak customer service only 2 times, and both times my stuff was back within 7-10 days top. I know everyone on on here knocks the HV system, but just stuck one in my E-revo and it hasnt skipped a beat even on 95 degree days.

I think it's due to the fact that a lot of us abuse them with 4S+ (:whistle:), etc., etc.

Personally, I am very impressed by the Mamba Max. Can't wait for my V2 MMM to come my way from RC-M.

Probably because people mostly use them above the rated limits, im sure if we ran them with a 12 tooth pinion like a Novak, instead of a bec and 4s seeing how much we can gear it till its just too hot, we would be alot better off lol I have 4 CC escs used their cs once for the MMMv1. Guess its all up to what you read on the net, I suppose people arent sitting around posting how awesome their ESC is running they are out playing with it. Ive seen 5 reports of broken Novak systems on the trx erevo forum and probably about the same amount who say they are awsome, doubt the ratio is 50/50. Castle is most likely pretty overworked right now, Im sure they will be back up to capacity soon.

mmm hmmm :yes: Mainly all of us waiting for a MMM.

^^^^
I'm doing both. I sent in a MM for repair on 7/8/08 and I called them earlier today, but she wasn't at the repair desk... I hate to say this, but i really hope CC doesn't turn into another Quark. :sleep:

i sent in a mamba 25 about 3 weeks ago, i guess i should call them, on a side note i have never killed a mm, and my hv110 is amazeing 5s on a nue 1515 2.5d and its still room temp after 5 min of running

i was just at a race at phesant runn in holly mich. two guys were running the hvmaxx in a truggy, and buggy, both of them could not make 5 min, that system is just to mild for a big use, a revo is much calmer to motor and speedo, i have a mm in my losi 8 and jammin crt truggy, both run very well, if you properly treat them and set em up, they will go for a LONG TIME, more reliable than a mmm at this point still

True, An Erevo is lighter than a buggy. Novak should make a motor in the 2000kv range for heavier R/C's, these current 3000kv motors have alot of RPM, but lack the torque and really require some small pinions to work.

I have only been in rc for about 2 years.

I have sent esc's back to Castle 4 times. I can only say I'm pleased with the service from Castle. :party:

There was a bit of a wait on the MMM v1, but we all know what was going on with that. I guess I'm more patient than most people. :neutral:

I guess it's a good thing rc is only one of my many hobbies. :mdr:

I think too is that the mambas are just cheap controllers. Granted they are very very good cheap controllers, but you can't make them for those prices and not cut a few corners.

I was okay with the first one that took 3 week, I was not happy but not really mad with the second one that took 6 weeks, but this last one that looks like at best is going to take 8 weeks is enough to make me mad and I think with good reason. When I talked to them last time I was told how much better things are now which to me was kind of like pouring salt on an open wound as it is taking longer every time I send one in. How is that "better"?

OK, you have me convinced. I'll raise the prices.

I still take the current price :mdr: I dont mind.

Let's get the current batch shipped and confirmed stable and then MAYBE you can joke like that. :whistle:

He was talking about the Mabma Max, not the Monster. The Mamba's have a great rep already ;)

I have 2 that are being pushed beyond spec (warranty voided) and they run like champs. not as smooth in low throttle as the monster though. the MMM is just buttery smooth. 7 hours clocked on my v2, still going strong :yes:

I don't want to sound like "Castle's pet" or anything, but I don't think Castle have been cutting any corners at all. If they'd been cutting corners, then their range of ESCs wouldn't be world-renowned for their reliability and performance (not including the MMM, but that's a different situation right now). IMO, a lot of people are still used to the sky-high prices of MGM, Quark and Schulze for higher-voltage controllers; yet these "high quality" controllers all have a lot of issues. Schulze controllers tend to fry for no reason, the Quark 125B often won't even run on 6S and poor case design, and the MGMs have funky software problems.

Sorry, I'm not trying to bite your head off.:wink: But, just maybe, Castle just build excellent controllers and sell them at realistic prices. That's the difference with Castle. They're in this industry FOR the hobby; to make it better. The other HV ESC companies appear to just be in it for the money.

That's my 0.2 anyhoo. That was waaay OT though; I can't wait to get my hands on a V2 and Castle Neu 1515 when they come out, and it's good to hear that yours is still going strong DickyT!

I see a few people complaning about the customer service and more in peticular the time frame. I had what I considered a funny MM. I called tech support to try and sort things out. We tried a few things and it still seemed off to me. Support told me they would send out another. I recieved in about two weeks, maybe less. This was a month or so ago, maybe a tad longer. I think maybe you should call them and talk nicely to them and try to resolve the issue. I had a great experience from them and am very happy and pleased with the product I have in my possesion now. Go luck guys, try to be nice on the phone. :)

Thanks that is exactly the response I was hoping for from a Castle employee...NOT!!!

Seriously I have been a strong Castle supporter for a long time. Anyone from the Traxxas and a few other forum knows that. That response joking or not is really pouring salt on an open wound here.

Haha, I knew my comment would invite some comments, but I stick by it. Like I said they are very good controllers, I own a few and will have a MMM as well. The programming is second to none and the MM has done probably more than any other controller to advance the car/truck BL market. But there are a few little things that cheap them out a bit. Not chinese no name ebay esc craptacular by any means, but I've used a number of other controllers as well and no one has acheived perfection.
I think comments pretaining to the esc case and the hs leaving a bit to be desired are entirely fair to name a couple that have been widely discussed. In the end its fine w/ me, there is no controller touchable at the price they cost. I'm not even trying to associate the failures listed here as a consequence of their cost, tho thsat point may have got muddled. Any controller can fail.

I do not think however that some of these other companies which offer controllers are ripoff artists or theives for what they charge. They all have different strategies and strengths with their products, and so far CC is the most successful, but *gasp* some of the other controllers are very nice as well.

Too bad to hear about the CS problems. Way back when I had to send a MM in, it was replaced within two weeks. Perhaps CC has just gotten into a bind with this whole MMM disaster and will get everything straightened out and back to normal. The polish has certainly taken a tarnish tho in the meantime.