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Plane Held Hostage

One possibility is that once a mx company accumulates say 50 regulars, that covers the fixed costs (a few engineers on say 25k) and produces a reasonable income for the owner, say 100k, the incentive to dig around for more is minimal.

They probably cannot expand because they have just the one hangar.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Its an even smaller operation, basically a family business and definitely close to capacity, but that doesn’t excuse this behaviour. If someone says to me ‘listen, I’m up to my neck, I’m not willing to fit those parts but I’ll send them back and you get the dealer to issue new ones. I’ll do a few hours a week and have it back to you in October. Otherwise I’ll fit the parts and you can get a ferry permit to take it elsewhere’ I’d take that. Communication rules all.

EIMH, Ireland

Yes; this is the “builder problem”.

You have to accept all jobs because – as one cowboy builder explained to me when “working on” our extension – if you accept jobs only when you have capacity you will go bust, because all the people you decline will go elsewhere, so when you have capacity you will have no customers. Electricians etc do the same. And this is why all these people dislike long jobs: they lose the regular customers in the meantime.

So, what this guy did was he quoted starting in (say) 6 weeks’ time, and the job would take 8 weeks. At the 6wk point, no activity. After a few weeks we started harrassing him, so he parked a mini digger in our drive. Still no activity. Just the digger. This made us think “oh goody, he will be starting soon”. About 4 weeks later it was obvious this was just a con trick. So, after some more harrassment, one man turned up to start work. 1, not the 5 or 10 needed. That’s another con trick: simulate activity.

Human nature never changes

Basically a company which is well run needs to have some slack all the time, so it can quote a reasonably acceptable lead time while doing the job fast enough, while having capacity for AOG jobs for the customers who really love them and who post on all the forums how great the company is A lot of posts here about “great companies” are by exactly such customers; the other customers get a much more variable service but nobody dares to post it openly.

But a small company never really has slack because there are no spare people. It is hard for them to take urgent work on honestly. I know of a one-man engine shop, not too far from here, which is probably technically excellent but who mismanaged engine rebuilds so badly that people would go crazy and turn up with a van and boxes and collect the engine parts (the engines were always in parts, for reasons posted by quatrelle above) into the boxes and give them to another engine shop.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I had similar problems with my mechanic the last year. He had always been good to me – I’ve been with him for almost 10 years, after all. Old and slow, but not dishonest (I thought). Then a big fracas with the airport a few years back. They threw him off the airport and an employee was saying things I thought a bit far fetched. So I chose to believe my old friend, the mechanic. Eventually he got back on airport and all settled down. But progress was if possible even slower. Now, years later, I realize that employee was actually right – he was not doing the work he was supposed to and cutting corners. Even worse, he was charging for stuff he never did or even intended to do. In some cases, downright dangerous airworthy stuff. I realize now he’s been hard up for money for years, and has simply just collected payments from unsuspecting new customers, doing the bare minimum when they scream the loudest. He just stopped caring. Robbing Peter to pay Paul – that was the business model. So many stories have surfaced over the least year, I’m surprised I’d never heard before. It all came to a head this year and now I can thank that very employee for getting my plane out of there in an airworthy state. Without him it would still be sitting there, endlessly. My biggest regret is I recommended this mechanic to a new Commander owner from Mexico about a year ago, before I knew the extent of his misbehavior. That poor owner has had his plane sit since then and he’s spent thousands of dollars in deposits without any work being done to it. I feel so sorry for him, but it looks like that former employee will get his plane fixed and out of there soon.

It is the biggest hurdle and learning curve for aircraft ownership – the maintenance. Choose wisely.

Last Edited by AdamFrisch at 22 Jul 15:07

AdamFrisch wrote:

It is the biggest hurdle and learning curve for aircraft ownership – the maintenance. Choose wisely.

Really sorry to hear that Adam. As I followed your posts and adventures with these machines you have purchased I came away with the strong impression that you had the maintenance pretty well sewn up. I almost envied you.

What I also have discovered to great cost is that you very quickly become the villain. You the poor frustrated customer become the problem. Seen it so often.

You – Can I have my aeroplane back please?
Them – Pay me ten thousand bucks.
You – Why?
Them – Because that’s what’s owed.
You – You quoted me 4000.00.Can I see a detailed work sheet and cost base please?
Them – No.

And on and on……..

Last Edited by BeechBaby at 22 Jul 17:20
Fly safe. I want this thing to land l...
EGPF Glasgow

As a wise guy owner recently said to his mechanic “pull off them rocker covers and let me see these pistons youre talking about….”

You can see how these situations happen, when you’ve been on the scene a while. It’s all in the script. I’m sure the mechanics who have this Mooney are reading this thread too.

Buying, Selling, Flying
EISG, Ireland

A maintenance outfit once ‘grounded’ our plane over a paperwork issue. We just drove up there after hours, started up and flew it away. No room for it in the hangar as they were too busy, which was part of the reason we fell out with them. The flight back to home base was <10 mins, so we weren’t worried too much about the legailty.

On the other side of the equation, I recently took our plane over to Thurrock for a 50hr. They are outstanding and do them while we wait. Unfortunately we had a cracked cylinder…….. and they fitted a replacement the same day. It meant I flew back in time for tea rather than lunch, but I thought it was incredibly good of them to fit it in. We have nothing but positive words for them.

EGLM & EGTN

In disputes, retrieving the “thing” is a well established technique, often used with cars. What one needs to avoid is breaking any locks when doing it You were lucky the company left it outdoors.

Predictably, there is a raft of case law surrounding this kind of situation – at least in the UK.

Yes, Aeroservices in Thurrock is a very good company. They also did my prop a year ago.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I suppose the only way to stop customers falling for such companies is to name and shame. But of course that holds risks of legal challenges.

I must say, I am appalled at how many such cowboys appear to be out there. Apart from Adam’s Commander I recall vividly the story about the Traveller with that prop strike where the new buyer was left standing in the rain. I doubt he will ever buy again. Then the story with the botched Avionic install the other day here (a Robin, was it?) and now this? Simply not acceptable.

On the other hand, we can do the opposite: If you have a real good outfit who consistently do good work, name them. They will be happy and so will be the new customers.

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

Mooney_Driver wrote:

I suppose the only way to stop customers falling for such companies is to name and shame. But of course that holds risks of legal challenges.

I would think that in most EU countries “naming and shaming” for consumer information purposes is legal. The UK has been different, but didn’t that change with the revision of UK libel law a few years ago?

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden
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