Advice for a student whose flight school shut down and they are out thousands

Princesspilot206

Princesspilot206

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Princesspilot
Hello all. Never thought I would say this, but I just discovered the owner of the flight school I was attending sold to another school but retained the financial aspect. Shortly before selling they did an internal audit and withdrew thousands from by bank account. I know this has happened to others before. What do I do? I am supposed to be focusing on my CFI checkride, but now I am stuck thinking about this. I filed a police report today.
 
Well, you could involve the police if money was stolen.

If you gave them a big fat check and let them manage an internal to the school account, you’ve got small claims court as an option.

Good luck.
 
Mason said:
wow. Did they have a black check? Does your account with them show a credit balance?
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I paid 58K up from from a loan an only completed IRA to CFI. Still have CFII, ME, MEI to go. They did a conversion shortly before selling to the other flight school from credit hours to dollars at almost half the rate I paid for it.
 
FAA doesn’t investigate financial crimes. Where is the face palm emoji? Call the state Attorney General’s office. In Louisiana it usually gets someone’s interest at that level.
 
Princesspilot206 said:
100% fraud.
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Depends.

Did your contract with the school specifically prohibit the school from changing their rates or charges? What paperwork do you have that substantiates your claim? Were you given notice this change in billing policy would occur?

You have small claims court or civil litigation to try to recoup your loss.

It’s fairly well known you never give a flight school money up front; yours is not the first time this has happened.
 
Sorry to hear this. Back when I operated a flight school I literally refused to take anyone's money up-front. I explained to them why that is dangerous for them. I had a few customers that would literally argue it with me, preferring to pay a bunch vs. pay-as-you go, I never caved. That said, there aren't many places that make decisions based on what is best for the customer.

I also had multiple aircraft owners try to convince me to do a leaseback of their airplane, I also refused. I explained that there was no way they wouldn't lose on the deal and I didn't want them to think poorly of the operation down the road.
 
I am so sorry to hear this. I had something like that happen a couple of times (not a flight school, another kind of business), but I was out only a few hundred, not thousands. It's a total burn.
 
Princesspilot206 said:
Hello all. Never thought I would say this, but I just discovered the owner of the flight school I was attending sold to another school but retained the financial aspect. Shortly before selling they did an internal audit and withdrew thousands from by bank account. I know this has happened to others before. What do I do? I am supposed to be focusing on my CFI checkride, but now I am stuck thinking about this. I filed a police report today.
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Small claims court.. no lawyer
 
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