I just paid $700 for a tire change

TCABM said:
Ain’t what you make, it’s what you spend that does that.

$50k/yr for 20 years is a million; six figures is a mil/decade at the worst. What one does with those earnings on the other hand…..
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It's not that easy.
I have a brokerage account that is down over 40% in the past year or so and I haven't withdrawn a dime from it.
 
From my view, you got the service you needed in an acceptable time and now know to go somewhere else. Small business has always been difficult but, that doesn't excuse bad service. By bad service, I mean not evaluating the tire for re-use. The others that mentioned that small operations like this do normally count on the service charge for parts in their pricing models are spot on. I have knowingly paid more for convenience in the past and can guarantee that i will pay more for convenience in the future. Then their are some businesses (probably the minority but seem like majority because their the ones we create threads about) that take advantage of people. We have all been taken advantage of before and will again. The tough ones for me are when you don't know you got screwed until some time later.

Side note, I had a contractor tell me the other day that my invoice was lower than quoted because he always quotes the "difficult customer price" and then adjusts down for the "good customer". I laughed and said my wife runs a small business and he responded with "I can tell". We talked a little and he mentioned how much repeat business het gets from both types of customers. We laughed about how the difficult customers rarely know they are difficult and that they don't realize it costs them money and time. btw, not suggesting this is the case with this particular instance, not nearly enough information provided to determine.
 
“possibly even stick around to supervise”

That seems to be the watch word and any job you have done. Especially landscaping and jobs around the house. Workers aren’t what they used to be.
 
So, did the tire change come with a happy ending?
 
EdFred said:
On a comanche thats about 0.2. Not 1.5
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12 minutes to drag the jacks over plus the tail anchor, jack it up, do the retract test and then lower and remove the jacks? It would take a crew on a nascar pit crew level to accomplish that.
 
Timbeck2 said:
12 minutes to drag the jacks over plus the tail anchor, jack it up, do the retract test and then lower and remove the jacks? It would take a crew on a nascar pit crew level to accomplish that.
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I've seen the mechanic do it that quick. Only had to move the jacks 10 - 20 feet, and has the tie-down block on wheels.
 
EdFred said:
I've seen the mechanic do it that quick. Only had to move the jacks 10 - 20 feet, and has the tie-down block on wheels.
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You've seen ONE guy position the jacks and tail hold down, jack up a Comanche, get in the plane, retract the gear, get out of the plane, inspect the gear wells, then get back in the plane and lower the gear, get out of the plane, lower the jacks evenly to put it back on the ground and finally remove the jacks and tail hold down in 12 minutes?

Did you notice a phone booth with a change of clothes inside the hangar?
 
And there should be someone watching WHILE the gear goes up and down to check for any issues.
 
Timbeck2 said:
You've seen ONE guy position the jacks and tail hold down, jack up a Comanche, get in the plane, retract the gear, get out of the plane, inspect the gear wells, then get back in the plane and lower the gear, get out of the plane, lower the jacks evenly to put it back on the ground and finally remove the jacks and tail hold down in 12 minutes?
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Yup. Small shop. Had everything in position when the plane was rolled in. Some people plan ahead and don't try and rip off cutomers by dilly dallying. Granted, I did the gear switch, so I guess that's where the saving of 1.3 hours was. :rolleyes:
 
Pinecone said:
The time to get things ready before the plane is rolled in also counts as time to the do the job.
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The jacks and tail block always sit in the same area every time I'm in the shop. So theres no dragging stuff all over the place to get it ready. Put the plane where the jacks and blocks already are. But you've been in that shop and know that. Oh, wait, no, you don't have a clue of what you're talking about.

Guess we need to count the time it took to build the hangar too, or to taxi the plane across the field, or travel time to the airport. I bet you're absolutely gobsmacked when you see a bay with a lift for an automobile at a service garage too. What? They didn't build the lift around the car?!?!
 
Ed....you do know the OP's plane was left in "his" hangar with a flat tire? The maintenance folks had to retrieve it ....to their hangar. :confused:
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
Ed....you do know the OP's plane was left in "his" hangar with a flat tire? The maintenance folks had to retrieve it ....to their hangar. :confused:
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That wasn't the spur off the thread though. I was responding to what I've seen personally at our field. And no, my mx guys don't charge to time to travel to my hangar across the field or retrieval. But also, why is a full gear swing and inspection in order for a tire change? Last flat I had was in my hangar and no full swing was done afterwards. (yes the AP did the change, I don't have all the tools.)
 
I needed a new nose tire a few years ago. I bought one from Dresser & brought it to the shop.
 
a couple years ago I bought new Michlens for the mains.....no tubes. They are still going strong. No leaks.
 
Where is it written a tire change requires a gear swing check in order to return to service?
 
Some day, probably sooner than later, we will reminisce the good ol' days of paying only $700 for a tire change....
 
MIFlyer said:
I think you were the bigger person in this. People have "days like that" and I think offering to make him whole (repeatedly) sounds like a very fair offer.
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I agree but being the bigger person doesn’t require one to allow someone to yell and be an ass. I walk away from that behavior.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
I agree but being the bigger person doesn’t require one to allow someone to yell and be an ***. I walk away from that behavior.
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Normally I would too. However, in this case, the plane was ~3hrs (drive) from home and this shop was the only one on the field. There are far greater battles to be fought, this wasn't one of them.
 
Does anyone here buy retreads for their aircraft? I think I've used them on the C206 in the past, on the theory that they don't build up heat the way car or truck tires do.
 
1000RR said:
Normally I would too. However, in this case, the plane was ~3hrs (drive) from home and this shop was the only one on the field. There are far greater battles to be fought, this wasn't one of them.
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I didn’t mean walk away in a business sense. I meant no one yells at me. That gets you hung up on. We all have limits to what we will accept in others behavior. I am not criticizing yours at all. Just adding to the conversation that your grumpy mechanic would be yelling to himself on that phone if I was in your shoes. I would still work with the guy but he would not be yelling.
 
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