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Kitlinx

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Kitlinx
This shop is out of business.

Info

Name:
Kitlinx
Town:
FR
Type:
Scale Modeling Shop (Retail)
About:
BUYER BEWARE I cannot recommend KitIinx in good conscience. Let’s start with the owner, Loïc Anthian. I’ve had the dubious pleasure of meeting Loïc in person, thrice. Twice in SLC, once in Vegas. I’ve never had an overly great impression from him since he is naturally standoffish, but that’s no reason to not recommend purchasing from Kitlinx, right? I thought he was just a cold French man who likes to dress up in various military fatigues. Well, he ended up giving me several more reasons not to purchase from Kitlinx… First, he is rude to his employees at his shop. He treats his younger employees like dirt, frequently giving way to shouting via gruff demands. Maybe this is how they do it in his homeland of France? I doubt it… Second, his website is a mess. They have a larger selection than any other web store I know of, but it’s a mirage (no pun intended). They ship to order most of their items. Judging by the many honest reviews here, they more than often can’t conjure up what they advertise on their website! I think their business model needs reexamined. Which is what leads us to the grist of this review… The third (and main) reason I am writing this review is because of a completely botched order due to his business model. I ordered a 1/48 GWH Su-35S for our team. I ordered this on 12/29/2023. On 1/24/2024, almost a month later, the package arrived at my doorstep. Funny it took that long since I live in Utah (Kitlinx is also out of Utah). Just goes to show their drop shipping model is questionable at best. What do you think was in the shipment when I opened it? It was a 1/48 P-61 Black Widow! Shame on me for thinking it was a Su-35. How could I have been so daft to think they would send what I ordered? I immediately emailed support@kitlinx.com and loic@kitlinx.com. Loïc saw the email first and barked for his employee, whom I will not name, to look into this ASAP. That was it. Almost a week went by. I sent a polite follow-up message. His employee sent me the following: “This was a supplier mistake with the coding… I am contact with the Loïc now to see what we can do to correct this mistake.” So how does Loïc correct this? He asks me to return the kit that he had sent, which is very inconvenient for me since I am frequently away from home as a crew member. Putting such an onus on customers shows a lack of business acumen and savvy. But fine… He then informs me that the 1/48 Su-35 that I requested is no longer available (again, another black eye on his drop shipping inventory on his website). How many more things on his website are unavailable and long out of production? Nobody knows, not even Kitlinx! Anyway, Loïc suggested to me the following: “there are FOUR OTHER Sukhoi Su-27 available from Great Wall Hobby Please look on the website and let us know if you want any of the 4. Most of them are more expensive” At the end of the email, he also barked “If you are not interested in any of the available kits, please… return the kit (the P-61) for a full refund.” I was a little annoyed by this reply, but okay, at least we were making headway after a period of silence. Our team needed a Su-35, so a Su-27 wasn’t an option (even though they are very similar aircraft). I found another boxing of the same Su-35 kit on his website however, and said I would be willing to take the release that they had on hand. I was incredulous as I read the following reply from Loïc: “The problem is that you paid $85 for a $110 kit. I can give it to you for $20 more?” This got ugly really quickly for someone who is usually away working (me). The options were to pay more for what I ordered in the first place, and go through the hassle of returning a kit that I didn’t order and didn’t want. It is a hassle too when you’re rarely home, and when a refund is being held at ransom. If that wasn’t enough, he ended his email again with: “I need to get the kit you received back.” I warned Loïc that I didn’t want any more hassle with this, and that he was on his way to having this review posted (I don’t like writing reviews like this, and even warn ahead of time before I do). I asked him to just fulfill the order (I would accept the substitution), and told him I just wanted what I ordered for the price I ordered. I’m genuinely disappointed though because I feel like he is genuinely dishonest, or at least will trip over a dollar to pick up a dime. Just when I thought we were getting somewhere, I got this rather nasty message from Loïc: “I'll send you the Su-35 for free when Kitlinx gets the kit back. But you pay the shipping back to Kitlinx.” I called him out for the hassle this was causing, and told him to just send what I originally ordered without taking me hostage. He replied: “This is not the way it works. If you don't trust Kitlinx, just send the kit back for a full refund and the matter is closed…. You're getting a good deal here…” Yeah Loïc, wonderful deal isn’t it? Sheesh! I don’t have time to deal with such a petty crook for whenever I get home. So, what is the solution? I’ve written a long review, but fortunately, I have a solution to this. I recommend you order from Sprue Brothers or Squadron. They are both out of the United States, have much better websites, far superior customer service, and they don’t use this strange drop shipping model with mixed results. I have a feeling they probably don’t treat their employees like slaves either. I guarantee that if this same mistake had happened at Squadron or Sprue Brothers (which is extremely unlikely), they would have just seen past the hassle of the wrong kit (they would have said ‘just keep it’), and they would have sent the correct Su-35 kit (or substitute) hassle free. That easy. I tried to make it that easy for Loïc Anthian, but he decided to take the long, meandering, parsimonious road to a now estranged repeat customer. Again, tripping over a dollar to pick up a dime… Order here instead: https://squadron.com https://spruebrothers.com

Color ranges

The available color ranges in this shop are not yet known

Product ranges

You can find products from following scale modeling companies in the shop:

The product range of this shop is not known

Visitors

11 mates were shopping regularly at Kitlinx in .

Rick Ellis RickE
US
Alec K Pardubak
US
Mark Gentry Country87
US
Jeremy Wiltcher SHADOFLASH
US
d hadley utahmanamI
US
Shawn Dahlke Kilroy.
US
Sip Siff ShouldntPaintSoFast
US
Sean KILRCUDA
US
Tom Stuart Strangiato
US
 
This shop is out of business.