Rebel Lord
Line Up and Wait
This is a recap of what happend this past few days seriously looking to buy a plane.
We talked on the phone with the broker and arranged a meeting, so we drove 3 hours from north Houston to Dallas. It was me my dad and my brother. We got in late and got a hotel so the next day we drove to the airport and met with a mechanic I had been emailing with. We met at the restaurant at the field and talked about what we wanted and this is the first time we got a clue about the broker. The way the mechanic described the Broker (who I will name him and his company shortly) I started to have a feeling. So we left the mechanic and drove over to the FBO to meet the Broker.
The Brokers name is David Dick of metroplex aviation, little did I know he would live up to his last name. Our first meeting went ok, it was me and my dad and him. He seemed nice and we made small talk and walked over to the hanger and pulled the plane out. The plane was beautiful, I kept my poker face on and examined the plane and it did indeed look nice, we popped off a few inspection plates and everything looked good inside and out. Mr Dick went of his sales pitch saying there was no corrosion anywhere and this was the finest archer ever. He also said he would not take anything but the asking price, which was 84,500!
We flew the plane and everything looked good. We went back over to the FBO to look over the log books and talk while the mechanic we first talked to was on his way. We made small talk with Mr. Dick and we explained we were very new at this and might need some help figuring things out. He went on about how he had 3 people already looking at the airplane and it was going to be gone if we didn't get it. The mechanic took a few minutes to come over so we made some more small talk about the industry and how he knew everything about the business. and this is we're things got weird, he braggingly told us a story about how he almost got fired from being a car salesmen becuae a woman was asking him the prices of some cars and he told us he told the woman "Go check your own f**king prices" we just kind of smiled and let him keep talking. So that was our first heads up something was wrong.
The mechanic came and he went over and he checked the plane over. He said everything in general looked good but... there was corrosion all around the battery and all down the tail were all the paint had bubbled up and flaked off, and the wheels were worn out. On the engine there was a few bolts that were not the right kind and some fasteners missing and a few other things i don't remember.
So we thank and paid the mechanic and we turn around and Mr. Dick was in his car and we shook hands and he left. So we shut up the hanger and left.
Fast forward to the next day, we spend the night at my grandmas house and we were trying to do some research on the things that needed to be done on the airplane before we made our offer, the mechanic was putting together a list for us of things he noticed on the airplane that needed to be worked on.
This is were things went wrong, and I want to say we did NOTHING WRONG in this entire thing. Me and my dad want to get the ball rolling on this so we call Mr. Dick to give him our first offer. My dad did all the talking and I just listened, my dad mentioned several of the things the mechanic saw, and my dad gave our first FIRST offer. I want to stress that we are very new to this and my dad made sure to tell him that we maybe off the mark with our first offer but atleast the ball would be rolling.
My dads first offer was 75k and the words had barely left his mouth when this so called "professional" LOST HIS FREAKING MIND. It wasn't even on speaker and this guy in his late 60s was calling my dad a mother f**ker and how we "wasted 4 total hours of his f**king time"...
in all this my Dad never even raised his voice... he tried to tell him we maybe off but let's have a conversation on this, but David
just screamed over him and now my dad was fed up, in a firm tone my dad
Told him to settle down then he just hung up on us.
I could hardly believe that he talked to us this way EVEN IF WE WERE OFF ON THE PRICE. Me and my dad took off work to drive up here for 2 days and we were very serious buyers, we had cash in the bank ready to go and he cursed and yelled over a few hours of his time JUST BECAUSE OF OUR FIRST OFFER, I thought this was a negotiation! Looking back I realize that this guy was a condescending pr!ck from the start. Me and my dad work together and we have to deal with customers and we would never dream to treat even someone who was rude to us with such contempt.
My dad tried to call him back right after and left a voice mail when he would not pick up. My dad told his exactly what I just said about customer service and that all we wanted was to start talking about a price NOT GET BERATED AND CURESED OUT.
So I was really bummed out and also ****ed about this. We got on the road immediately because by this point I knew the entire trip was a bust. I sent a final email to the mechanic (who was really awesome and nice and will definitely use again) a email telling him we appreciated his help and that the deal went south because of the Mr Dicks distain for customers. To my surprise the mechanic called me minutes later wanting to know what happend, so we explained to him what did happen and here's what he said "I'm not surprised he did that" because he knew he had an attitude and he agreed that he was WAY out of line.
So that's it. That's our first ever experience working with a broker and our first serious effort to get a plane.
[RANT_OFF/]
We talked on the phone with the broker and arranged a meeting, so we drove 3 hours from north Houston to Dallas. It was me my dad and my brother. We got in late and got a hotel so the next day we drove to the airport and met with a mechanic I had been emailing with. We met at the restaurant at the field and talked about what we wanted and this is the first time we got a clue about the broker. The way the mechanic described the Broker (who I will name him and his company shortly) I started to have a feeling. So we left the mechanic and drove over to the FBO to meet the Broker.
The Brokers name is David Dick of metroplex aviation, little did I know he would live up to his last name. Our first meeting went ok, it was me and my dad and him. He seemed nice and we made small talk and walked over to the hanger and pulled the plane out. The plane was beautiful, I kept my poker face on and examined the plane and it did indeed look nice, we popped off a few inspection plates and everything looked good inside and out. Mr Dick went of his sales pitch saying there was no corrosion anywhere and this was the finest archer ever. He also said he would not take anything but the asking price, which was 84,500!
We flew the plane and everything looked good. We went back over to the FBO to look over the log books and talk while the mechanic we first talked to was on his way. We made small talk with Mr. Dick and we explained we were very new at this and might need some help figuring things out. He went on about how he had 3 people already looking at the airplane and it was going to be gone if we didn't get it. The mechanic took a few minutes to come over so we made some more small talk about the industry and how he knew everything about the business. and this is we're things got weird, he braggingly told us a story about how he almost got fired from being a car salesmen becuae a woman was asking him the prices of some cars and he told us he told the woman "Go check your own f**king prices" we just kind of smiled and let him keep talking. So that was our first heads up something was wrong.
The mechanic came and he went over and he checked the plane over. He said everything in general looked good but... there was corrosion all around the battery and all down the tail were all the paint had bubbled up and flaked off, and the wheels were worn out. On the engine there was a few bolts that were not the right kind and some fasteners missing and a few other things i don't remember.
So we thank and paid the mechanic and we turn around and Mr. Dick was in his car and we shook hands and he left. So we shut up the hanger and left.
Fast forward to the next day, we spend the night at my grandmas house and we were trying to do some research on the things that needed to be done on the airplane before we made our offer, the mechanic was putting together a list for us of things he noticed on the airplane that needed to be worked on.
This is were things went wrong, and I want to say we did NOTHING WRONG in this entire thing. Me and my dad want to get the ball rolling on this so we call Mr. Dick to give him our first offer. My dad did all the talking and I just listened, my dad mentioned several of the things the mechanic saw, and my dad gave our first FIRST offer. I want to stress that we are very new to this and my dad made sure to tell him that we maybe off the mark with our first offer but atleast the ball would be rolling.
My dads first offer was 75k and the words had barely left his mouth when this so called "professional" LOST HIS FREAKING MIND. It wasn't even on speaker and this guy in his late 60s was calling my dad a mother f**ker and how we "wasted 4 total hours of his f**king time"...
in all this my Dad never even raised his voice... he tried to tell him we maybe off but let's have a conversation on this, but David
just screamed over him and now my dad was fed up, in a firm tone my dad
Told him to settle down then he just hung up on us.
I could hardly believe that he talked to us this way EVEN IF WE WERE OFF ON THE PRICE. Me and my dad took off work to drive up here for 2 days and we were very serious buyers, we had cash in the bank ready to go and he cursed and yelled over a few hours of his time JUST BECAUSE OF OUR FIRST OFFER, I thought this was a negotiation! Looking back I realize that this guy was a condescending pr!ck from the start. Me and my dad work together and we have to deal with customers and we would never dream to treat even someone who was rude to us with such contempt.
My dad tried to call him back right after and left a voice mail when he would not pick up. My dad told his exactly what I just said about customer service and that all we wanted was to start talking about a price NOT GET BERATED AND CURESED OUT.
So I was really bummed out and also ****ed about this. We got on the road immediately because by this point I knew the entire trip was a bust. I sent a final email to the mechanic (who was really awesome and nice and will definitely use again) a email telling him we appreciated his help and that the deal went south because of the Mr Dicks distain for customers. To my surprise the mechanic called me minutes later wanting to know what happend, so we explained to him what did happen and here's what he said "I'm not surprised he did that" because he knew he had an attitude and he agreed that he was WAY out of line.
So that's it. That's our first ever experience working with a broker and our first serious effort to get a plane.
[RANT_OFF/]
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