Aircraft Spruce - FAILURE in customer service

k9medic

k9medic

Line Up and Wait
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Sep 27, 2018
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N Central FL and GTC Bahamas when off work
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ATP-H, CMEL, CSEL, CFI/CFII Airplanes and Helicopters
So here I am, 6 days into needing a 4' piece of 2.5" SCEET tubing to finish up the annual on a working aircraft when I call Spruce to see why I only received half of my ordered products yesterday. The CSR says that they don't have the SCEET tubing in stock and that is why it did not ship.

The website showed it in stock when I ordered it so I fully expected to be finishing up today with the parts yet I receive no message, call, text smoke signal or anything to let me know "hey, we don't have your parts." They certainly charged me for the parts though when I ordered!

This is an absolute customer service failure!
 
Yeah, we never bill until we ship our products.
 
I thought they only charge when they ship, unless it’s a special order.

In general, companies suck at communicating, whether it’s small mom & pop shops or big retailers. In this day and age, there’s no excuse.
 
They obviously lied to you about the tubing being in stock. There's no way other customers could have purchased the material between the time you ordered it and when your order shipped.

Right?
 
k9medic said:
So here I am, 6 days into needing a 4' piece of 2.5" SCEET tubing to finish up the annual on a working aircraft when I call Spruce to see why I only received half of my ordered products yesterday. The CSR says that they don't have the SCEET tubing in stock and that is why it did not ship.

The website showed it in stock when I ordered it so I fully expected to be finishing up today with the parts yet I receive no message, call, text smoke signal or anything to let me know "hey, we don't have your parts." They certainly charged me for the parts though when I ordered!

This is an absolute customer service failure!
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As items ship, Spruce always sends a tracking email listing the items that shipped. What does that email indicate? I’m bet it clearly states what shipped, what didn’t ship, and why.
 
3393RP said:
They obviously lied to you about the tubing being in stock. There's no way other customers could have purchased the material between the time you ordered it and when your order shipped.

Right?
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I didn't say that they lied to me. I said they didn't even bother to tell me it wasn't in stock or that they couldn't ship it when ordered (despite the website showing stock and them charging me for it.)

This is the failure. I now have at least another week of this aircraft stuck on the ground.
 
k9medic said:
I didn't say that they lied to me. I said they didn't even bother to tell me it wasn't in stock or that they couldn't ship it when ordered (despite the website showing stock and them charging me for it.)

This is the failure. I now have at least another week of this aircraft stuck on the ground.
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What does your tracking email say?
 
Nobody local has some that they’ll sell you so the project can be finished?
 
After the warranty debacle with my alternator almost 2 years ago, all of my business with Spruce has gone elsewhere. Unless they are the only supplier of something, they get none of my money.
 
k9medic said:
Didn't get an initial tracking email.
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You’ve checked your spam filters and are sure they have a correct email address?

Automated shipment notifications are pretty reliable.
 
Did you call and talk to them? I've always had great customer service from them dating back to 2006. That said, anyone can have a bad day and mistakes do happen, I don't care what company you're dealing with. Before putting them on full blast, I'd at least give them a shot to figure out what's going on and see if it can be rectified one way or the other.
 
I had an issue with my car so I ordered a part on amazon SPECIFICALLY because it said next day delivery. next day I get an email saying shipping is delayed a coupl'a days. so I feel your pain, HOWEVER....you seem to be blaming customer service and it really doesn't sound like a "customer service" issue in the traditional sense.....like when you call up CS and they're jackwagons or something. this is just a company issue, maybe where their inventory is wrong, or the fact that they bill you before something ships....know what I'm saying? company issue vs customer service issue. either way, doesn't make your part get there any quicker....
 
kyleb said:
As items ship, Spruce always sends a tracking email listing the items that shipped. What does that email indicate? I’m bet it clearly states what shipped, what didn’t ship, and why.
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I found the email in my junk files. Looks like I didn't even open it. Just saw "Aircraft Spruce Order 15958682 Has Shipped" and figured it was a complete order.

It does in fact say that the tubing was not shipped but gives no reason why it was not shipped.
 
tsts4 said:
Did you call and talk to them? I've always had great customer service from them dating back to 2006. That said, anyone can have a bad day and mistakes do happen, I don't care what company you're dealing with. Before putting them on full blast, I'd at least give them a shot to figure out what's going on and see if it can be rectified one way or the other.
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Yep. I called and talked to a representative. Been a business operator for many years with them. I explained my frustration and told her I was not upset with her and knew she was not the reason for the shipment failure. She said that the website was wrong and they expect more tubing in August.

The website has since updated with "no stock."

Far from full blast - still a customer service failure. Especially to charge my account.
 
I can relate. I applied a $200 gift card to an order which they did not credit. WHen I queried/called the next day (prior to order shipping) the representative said it was too late and I could only apply it to a future order even though I entered everything correctly and their system failed to credit it for some reason. The representative was not the most pleasant person to deal with. I'll forgive but not forget.
 
I am amazed that Spruce is able to provide real time inventory on so many items in multiple locations. They have built an incredible machine that is 99.9% accurate. Bummer that you were the 0.1%, but sh** happens.
 
If you are annoyed that the website said "in stock", I assume you've never used that indication at a Lowes/Home Depot/Walmart/etc. because the online inventory label means absolutely nothing about what is physically on-hand, lol.
 
k9medic said:
Yep. I called and talked to a representative. Been a business operator for many years with them. I explained my frustration and told her I was not upset with her and knew she was not the reason for the shipment failure. She said that the website was wrong and they expect more tubing in August.

The website has since updated with "no stock."

Far from full blast - still a customer service failure. Especially to charge my account.
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You’re obviously upset, but I don’t think Spruce ‘failed’ you.

This is sadly the new normal in aircraft parts availability since COVID started.

Tons of seemingly simple and often common parts are virtually unobtainium.

We have several airplanes in the shop at my home field languishing for the want of a single part.

The situation just sucks right now.

The sad thing is my two airplanes are 82 and 63 years old. In the last two years, I have had an easier time finding parts than the common Cessna/Piper Beech stuff built in the last 40 years.
 
Fearless Tower said:
You’re obviously upset, but I don’t think Spruce ‘failed’ you.

This is sadly the new normal in aircraft parts availability since COVID started.

Tons of seemingly simple and often common parts are virtually unobtainium.

We have several airplanes in the shop at my home field languishing for the want of a single part.

The situation just sucks right now.

The sad thing is my two airplanes are 82 and 63 years old. In the last two years, I have had an easier time finding parts than the common Cessna/Piper Beech stuff built in the last 40 years.
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You said that much nicer than I was about to -- thanks for saving me making an ass of myself. :)
 
I don't want to pile on but I have to say AS is one of the most reliable supplies I order from. Like said there email communication I think is one of the best.
 
Wicks lists it as in stock and their system has been pretty reliable for me, but then again so has Spruce's.

ETA Pricey stuff.

Nauga,
a regular at the organ factory
 
k9medic said:
No. I need SCEET. There is a ton of SCAT out there but not what the application calls for.
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I know what you wrote but if you live in an area with plenty of airports/shops I’d be surprised if someone doesn’t have what you need.
 
I gave up on spruce a long time ago and give my money to wicks and other suppliers instead. The last straw was years ago when I ordered all the sheetmetal for my sonex. They shipped the 4x12 sheets of .025 and .032 not once but twice strapped down with metal strapping to a pallet with no protection whatsoever. The metal was torn where the metal straps went over it and was beaten and bent in multiple other places from shipping across the country with not even a piece of plywood or cardboard to protect it. There was no apology at all even when I called after the second time they did this and they tried to play the game of getting me to try and file a claim through FedEx to pay for the damage. It cost me almost 6 months of build time and I ultimately ended up with only a few good sheets in 2 orders and had to buy the rest from wicks. Never done business with them since.
 
Ed Haywood said:
I am amazed that Spruce is able to provide real time inventory on so many items in multiple locations. They have built an incredible machine that is 99.9% accurate. Bummer that you were the 0.1%, but sh** happens.
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I've made probably 100+ orders to them over the course of my Velocity build. Never had an issue. Most other websites that sell airplane stuff have ZERO up-to-date "in stock" or "out of stock" indications when you order.
 
Ed Haywood said:
I am amazed that Spruce is able to provide real time inventory on so many items in multiple locations. They have built an incredible machine that is 99.9% accurate. Bummer that you were the 0.1%, but sh** happens.
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Yeah, Spruce is a well run business. The "I quit using them" stories are the horror stories all retailers fear where 99 transactions go perfectly and they lose a customer because one transaction went sideways. Perfection is a lot to expect.
 
kyleb said:
Yeah, Spruce is a well run business. The "I quit using them" stories are the horror stories all retailers fear where 99 transactions go perfectly and they lose a customer because one transaction went sideways. Perfection is a lot to expect.
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They had every opportunity to fix my sideways transaction being AOG with an alternator that lasted a whole 20 hours. They decided to screw me. Fine. No money for you. Cost me $2k in the end when they could've fixed it for $300. Screw them.
 
Ed Haywood said:
I am amazed that Spruce is able to provide real time inventory on so many items in multiple locations. They have built an incredible machine that is 99.9% accurate. Bummer that you were the 0.1%, but sh** happens.
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As long as the inventory is correct, (the right parts are shipped/received in) keeping real time inventory is not a big deal at all. It's just a front facing website tied to a database.
 
Everybody screws up occasionally, but in my experience although they're not the cheapest, Spruce's website and customer service is generally the best in the business.
 
They did a similar thing to me recently. They held up my entire order over a couple tubes of Aeroshell grease for over a month, but they took payment the day the order was placed. In the past, I received my order in 2 days and the backordered items were sent when available.
 
Doug Reid said:
They did a similar thing to me recently. They held up my entire order over a couple tubes of Aeroshell grease for over a month, but they took payment the day the order was placed. In the past, I received my order in 2 days and the backordered items were sent when available.
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Which tells me they aren't a publicly traded company, as the accountants would be having a conniption over billing prior to shipment/delivery of the products. Creates revenue-recognition problems that Sarbanes Oxley is designed to avoid.
 
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