Peter wrote:
Another widely operated principle is to not start on the job until almost too late
Another line that I was told by a friend who worked for a classic car restoration company … the staff were instructed to dismantle the car as fast as possible to prevent it being moved so that the customer was stuck there
That will work only if they have an instruction to dismantle the car. Otherwise it leaves them vulnerable to somebody with a lot of anger and deep pockets.
The common pattern in these “my plane is held hostage” cases, of which I have heard so many I can’t remember them, is that, due to unauthorised work having been done, its owner might be really angry but – regardless of the depth of his pockets – doesn’t want to throw good money after bad. But with the internet he can do a lot of damage!
This morning my business has been scammed of £1900 by a chinese manufacturer whose email account has been hacked and the hacker emailed us fake bank details for the payment, and ran off with the money. Of course the chinese company is washing its hands of any responsibility. How much will I be willing to spend on pursuing it?
Peter wrote:
scammed of £1900
The email intercept with changed bank details is common out of China. We had a similar thing about ten years ago for approx $50,000. The factory was sympathetic but washed their hands (they won’t do anything for free). Our bank, Natwest, was worse than useless: bank manager wasn’t interested, and we eventually tracked down someone’s PA who had more authority but couldn’t help. The receiving bank was Citibank, and we managed to find their UK fraud office who froze the funds (luckily not withdrawn) and after a lot of sleepless nights returned them. A very stressful time, and an eye-opener on the lack of support from our bank.
I’d recommend contacting the receiving bank because that was the only thing that worked for us. I believe international debt collection is easier than it was, but have no recent experience. Scarily, with a new supplier or existing one changing bank details it could easily happen again.
Back to aviation, I know of a Greek metal-wing Robin essentially abandoned at Beaune LFGF with the owner on a payment plan and hangar rent indefinitely. Apart from sympathy I can’t offer much. There are cowboys in every market, but unfortunately with aviation the sums are bigger, the customers emotionally involved and regulatory environment stricter.
I have been quite lucky having dealt with four different maintenance operations over the years – you do need to invest in building a harmonious relationship, even friendship, with your shop so that you can have a transparent open discussion of what is likely to be needed over time. Have not had any unpleasant surprises and that included feeding a piston twin for a while.
A lot mixed advice so far. Nobody mentioned going to buy a packet of biscuits and talking them over a cup of tea.
RobertL18C wrote:
I have been quite lucky having dealt with four different maintenance operations over the years – you do need to invest in building a harmonious relationship, even friendship, with your shop so that you can have a transparent open discussion of what is likely to be needed over time.
You should do a UK road show detailing how that is done. You would sell many tickets. You could even have a themed ending of a plane, like in the Pink Floyd Pulse video coming over the audience to celebrate getting an Airworthiness Certificate. Could go global…….
WilliamF wrote:
Nobody mentioned going to buy a packet of biscuits and talking them over a cup of tea.
We leave that to the engineers charging by the minute as they drape over your wing looking at it, and pondering?
By all means make sure first that there isn’t a misunderstanding. Sometimes it is that, or you are dealing with a muppet while the boss is out of the office.
Having checked that, the problem with these situations is that to resolve it amicably somebody has to climb down, and that is difficult to do for anybody who has the slightest amount of personal integrity and pride, once it becomes clear that there isn’t just a misunderstanding and that they have actually been conned.
It is a situation I have been in many times, in business. Normally the first step in resolving it is to decide how much you are prepared to throw away to get the plane back. And that is why retaining the plane is the usual step in focusing the customer’s mind 
If the bits have to be sent back to the US and re-issued with the paperwork then I’d grudgingly accept. I’d rather we could do it by taking advantage of the favourable legislation, but let’s get on with it one way or other. I’m open to having to re-claim the import VAT and maybe losing some money on a re-stocking fee. There’s no stand-off here, there’s just…nothing.
zuutroy wrote:
There’s no stand-off here, there’s just…nothing.
As I pointed out earlier. That is THE problem. He will know you are sitting waiting. As Peter has said you really need to understand where you are. If a misunderstanding, well and good. Get on with it. If not, then you must attempt to resolve and understand what is going on. One of the biggest tricks in business is just to ignore someone. Totally ignore someone. Works especially well when you hold something they want. There are people out there who would just do it for badness. Perhaps they took some slight at something you said.
You opened here by asking what you could do. You really must understand where you sit. Turn up unannounced and sit and wait for him. Invoice him for your plane sitting on the ground whilst he ignores you. But do something or it will sit for months possibly in bits, rotting away.
I just don’t understand to what end a business would ignore a new customer that stands to pay them a few thousand a year. Fix the plane, take your money, see you in 50 hours, business in perpetuity secured….simple! I spoke to a few other people who have experienced the exact same thing today.
