Sometimes it's cheaper to pay shipping
Disagreement over $15 kills a $23,000 deal
- Thread starter Salty
- Start date
OP WAS paying the shipping. Seller refused to eat the sales tax on said shipping.
You have my nomination and full support for president of the club of
Lindberg
Final Approach
Getting the feeling that you need to please the supplier, is always a red flag for me.
I'm not sure exactly what you were expecting to get out of this thread. If you had a bad interaction with the vendor and won't say who that vendor was or what the specific issues were then what are you expecting others on here to do? We can't avoid a company if we don't know who that company is, we can't tell you if we had the same experience unless we know who you are dealing with, and we have no idea if your expectations were reasonable or not since you won't say exactly what type of questions you were asking them or what type of solutions they were offering. Many on here are just going to blame you for the bad interaction because you aren't providing any details so your story doesn't add up at face value.
Thanks for the concern about my needs being met. I’m ok though.
Do you understand the concept of a cautionary tale?
Hint: it doesn’t matter who the vendor is to get value from the story.
Dan Thomas
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This outfit kept asking for more money after the original quote was given and the invoice finalized. Someone there didn't cover all the bases, and the customer is expected to fix the company's oversight by ponying up more cash until they decide they've taken enough from him. Such behavior makes one wonder whether the installation will result in "cost-plus" demands, with non-payment meaning seizure of the aircraft.
What more info does one need to decide that another vendor is in order?
2-Bit Speed
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2-Bit Speed
While there can reasons for a short period of slow or bad communication, to see no improvement or change over more than six months is a red flag. The request of further payment in conjunction with such poor communication over so long a span of time speaks to apathy or incompetence.
aterry1067
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Alpha_Delta_Tango
Agreed. I commend @Salty for the patience he had to tolerate it for as long he did. I would have been looking elsewhere after first interaction was met with “crickets for weeks.”
No vendor is the only game in town.
Without naming the vendor
Without naming the vendor, how are people supposed to be cautious? The only thing we got out of your story is that you tried to buy something from someone, they didn't answer your questions in a timely manner and they tried to charge you a legally mandated tax so you asked for a refund. We don't know what you were actually trying to buy, who you were trying to buy it from, or what type of questions they weren't able to answer. If you tell us who you were trying to buy it from at least then maybe it would let us be cautious of them if we decide to buy things f in the future. If you tell us what the specific questions were that they wouldn't or couldn't answer correctly then maybe we could be cautious if we were ever to buy those same items. Without any specifics you just sound like someone complaining over what could be nothing and being specifically vague about any details makes it sound like you are only telling part of what actually went down. Why not just come out and say what actually happened and who it was that did it?
Well, to be honest at first I didn't do it because I still had a small hope that management would notice and contact me. I did attempt a few different ways to get ahold of someone, but that did not happen.
Now, I just don't see much point of it. They returned my money, so I have no real ill will for them. If you don't mind the hassles I went through, you should do business with them. If you do, you might recognize the hassles quicker if you read about my experience and react as you see fit.
Bottom line, they did no monetary damage to me, so why should I attempt to damage them?
Probably not. Florida has an exemption for aircraft parts, as discussed above.
kep5niner
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Pete
So your time isn’t worth money???
Fair point.
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Customer service in many industries has seemed to go by the wayside. Many businesses now seem to think you should be kissing their feet in exchange for **** service.
I may have missed something in this thread, but it appears that the OP was dealing with the manufacturer's distributer of the product, directly as a retail customer. He did not know what interfaces and auxiliary products were needed to make a complete system, custom for his unique airplane.
The person he was talking with was not skilled in such, they were an order taker for avionics shops for wholesale orders, prepared by experts in the avionics manufactured by that company. The order clerk had to find an engineer with time to spare when the order taker also had time to spare, and figure out just what the OP meant by the question.
Then, when the return call about the question was made, the OP did not even remember the exact question asked, and had more questions.
He should be dealing with an avionics shop, with the added price for the time needed by an expert to put together a compatible system for his plane. Experienced employees cost money, and their time must be paid for.
Even if the OP brings in his system in a cardboard box, pre engineered by some anonymous person, the shop will have to do due diligence to assure that it is complete and compatible, as they have the liability if the OP specified parts do not play well together.
The warrantee situation if he had bought the parts, and a problem developed with a defective component, his recourse would have to be through a retail shop, factories do not have that function. The avionics technician who determined the part defective is the one who must convince the factory to make good on the part. He has modest interest in pursuing the issue, as he made no commission on the sale. He will be paid by the OP at his hourly rate for the testing and negotiations with the factory.
There is a good reason most owners go to an avionics shop to buy their new equipment.
The person he was talking with was not skilled in such, they were an order taker for avionics shops for wholesale orders, prepared by experts in the avionics manufactured by that company. The order clerk had to find an engineer with time to spare when the order taker also had time to spare, and figure out just what the OP meant by the question.
Then, when the return call about the question was made, the OP did not even remember the exact question asked, and had more questions.
He should be dealing with an avionics shop, with the added price for the time needed by an expert to put together a compatible system for his plane. Experienced employees cost money, and their time must be paid for.
Even if the OP brings in his system in a cardboard box, pre engineered by some anonymous person, the shop will have to do due diligence to assure that it is complete and compatible, as they have the liability if the OP specified parts do not play well together.
The warrantee situation if he had bought the parts, and a problem developed with a defective component, his recourse would have to be through a retail shop, factories do not have that function. The avionics technician who determined the part defective is the one who must convince the factory to make good on the part. He has modest interest in pursuing the issue, as he made no commission on the sale. He will be paid by the OP at his hourly rate for the testing and negotiations with the factory.
There is a good reason most owners go to an avionics shop to buy their new equipment.
LOL No. I can absolutely see where you are coming from, but no.
The person I was dealing with was a consultant whose job it is to do exactly what I was doing with him. They actually came to me offering this service. I am the avionics shop.
I did not forget my questions, they were documented in the emails that were never answered. What I would forget is the conversation that led to my forming the question in the first place. I would have to call and ask the question again and all the context was lost for both of us, not just me.
Frankly, I would have been better off ordering what I thought I needed and adjusting as I went along. It would have probably taken 8 months to get it all right, but it would be installed by now.
To be honest, this whole cautionary tale might make you guys who are waiting for months to get avionics installed more understanding of what your avionics shop is dealing with.
I'm technically not a shop. But I do a lot of avionics installs in my spare time. I just hadn't installed this vendors equipment yet and they offered to help. I had two other installs of this equipment lined up that they might lose out on as well (one of those isn't my decision, but I bet my story will contribute to the decision). All over $15.
pfarber
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Unless and until we know who the other shop was and THEY give THEIR side (or you post the emails.... I mean give up something that's not 100% only your opinion) I doubt you changed anyone's mind here.
I've had a quite humorous discussion here about the s**t show that is Aircraft Spruce and how the CEO wouldn't even pull the CS recorded calls to listen to verify my statements after I showed the date and time of the calls FROM the CS rep. So no, I don't believe, you, and like the CEO of Aircraft Spruce people do twist things to make themselves look like they are not the problem. I'm not trying to call you out or imply anything, just my $0.02 on the matter.
Just like every other post on this entire forum, you have no obligation to believe anything I say.
Since you quoted a very specific part of my post, I will respond to that part. Since I'm doing the install, and the person that asked me to do the install trusts me, do you think perhaps he might pay at least a little attention to my opinion? lol
Lindberg
Final Approach
It seems like this would be a cautionary tale regardless of the missing details. I mean, unless someone thinks something like this couldn't happen. Which it certainly can.
If somebody asked me privately I'd probably tell them, but I'm not going to put it public searchable. I just don't think this situation deserves that. Feel free to disagree.
Not to mention, you could pretty easily narrow it down to maybe 4 companies at most I could be talking about.
Not to mention, you could pretty easily narrow it down to maybe 4 companies at most I could be talking about.
Well, from your description of their attention to customers, I’d guess Radio Shack......
GoFly
Pre-takeoff checklist
Those Radio Shack panels are awesome. The TRS-80 mounted just under my glare shield is coupled to a Humminbird GPS fish finder unit. Not only will it allow me to follow any river in the USA, but I can zero in on a 10 lb bass from 5k feet.
Well, the w&b does leave a little bit to be desired....
Pinecone
En-Route
Because that is what forums like this are for. To share experiences.
You can be clear that they gave you a full refund.
Pinecone
En-Route
But worthless without WHO.
OMG, I went to the most wonderful fly in restaurant with $1 ribeye steaks. But I won't tell you where, just to look out if you run across something like this.
Yeap, really helpful.
OMG, I went to the most wonderful fly in restaurant with $1 ribeye steaks. But I won't tell you where, just to look out if you run across something like this.
Yeap, really helpful.
2-Bit Speed
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2-Bit Speed
The lesson, 'don't allow yourself to suffer through bad communication for an extended period of time,' does not require names to be learned.
Yep. If you think only one company is acting like this, you're naive.
Without a PIREP, we are on the hook to find out for ourselves when we ignorantly try to deal with your unfavorite company.
After a few months, we also will realize we are wasting time, and start over with finding a good company to deal with.
Caveat emptor, there is a bad company out there, but it is a secret.
After a few months, we also will realize we are wasting time, and start over with finding a good company to deal with.
Caveat emptor, there is a bad company out there, but it is a secret.
Fair criticism. I've not gotten a single private request for the name of the company.Without a PIREP, we are on the hook to find out for ourselves when we ignorantly try to deal with your unfavorite company.
After a few months, we also will realize we are wasting time, and start over with finding a good company to deal with.
Caveat emptor, there is a bad company out there, but it is a secret.
I'm not going to put it public so it's searchable. Sorry if that offends.
Ventucky Red
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Not saying what was done was right.. but... was the shipping a separate item on the invoice? If the price including shipping, then yes, there is a tax on the total cost of the item...
If the invoice I paid already included the shipping then why would they have to call to ask me to pay for shipping? And Taxes.
ateamer
Pattern Altitude
For aircraft over 2,000 pounds. And there’s also a sales tax emption for the planes themselves, for airlines. Those of us who can least afford the tax on an airplane have to pay and those for whom it’s a not much more than a rounding error get a pass.