Rude Call from AOPA Foundation

One of the reasons I dumped AOPA as well. And have not missed it. Stopped Foundation donations too.

They have a huge war chest as in cash reserves so they don't need say cash. Plus the 200k and 300k salaries they pay, not including what the very top execs make.....no way I will fund thus any longer.

The guilt trip no longer works either. I quit paying as you take us for granted. People keep paying so the poor behavior continues.

This is a few years old but not much has changed.

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Inside_Look_At_AOPA_203782-1.html

http://aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&ID=568942B1-3B6B-4E35-9549-F23580A4E205
 
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I almost don't care what they pay in salaries if they are effective. Think of the alternative.
 
Phoenix said:
All the calls are recorded and stored, I do wonder if aopa approved the rebuttal script or the company changed it on their own. My guess is aopa approved it after being told that is how the company always does it. Underestimating their membership once again.
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LOL...you think they approved a script where the telemarketer is supposed to be rude to the person they are calling???
 
MichiPilot said:
LOL...you think they approved a script where the telemarketer is supposed to be rude to the person they are calling???
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Define rude. Rebuttals are in the scripts. Most of the people telemarketers talk to are from a lower SES/intelligence level then pilots. What a pilot thinks is rude, people that talk to telemarketers on a regular basis think is normal.:sad:
 
Phoenix said:
Define rude. Rebuttals are in the scripts. Most of the people telemarketers talk to are from a lower SES/intelligence level then pilots. What a pilot thinks is rude, people that talk to telemarketers on a regular basis think is normal.:sad:
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oh...I didn't know I had a different rudeness spectrum
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I almost don't care what they pay in salaries if they are effective. Think of the alternative.
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Same here. But I question their effectiveness.

Consider three things:

ADS-B (AOPA was initially in favor of this and helped facilitate the cluster pluck)
3rd Class Medical Reform (Seemingly stalled).
Owner Maintenance on Older Aircraft (Seemingly stalled).

What real achievements has AOPA made in the last decade? They have banked a lot of cash, and what else?
 
kyleb said:
Same here. But I question their effectiveness.

Consider three things:

ADS-B (AOPA was initially in favor of this and helped facilitate the cluster pluck)
3rd Class Medical Reform (Seemingly stalled).
Owner Maintenance on Older Aircraft (Seemingly stalled).

What real achievements has AOPA made in the last decade? They have banked a lot of cash, and what else?
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They've done alot of stuff on the state level with taxes and fees.
 
Are we still talking about this? Get over it! Non profits are going to call you for money! That's what they do.
 
Re: Mr

acrophile said:
Android phone, Do Not Disturb mode. It has a setting to reject all calls except from anyone on your contact list (or selected contacts, if you prefer).

It's easy to toggle Do Not Disturb mode on and off, so if I'm expecting a call from an unknown number, I'll turn it off temporarily. Otherwise, rejected calls go to voicemail, which gets transcribed and spam-filtered by Google Voice.
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sorry...I should've added that I'm looking for a "whitelist' solution for my landline phone.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I almost don't care what they pay in salaries if they are effective. Think of the alternative.
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It would be interesting to see a financial breakdown of salaries and how much of the money you give goes toward simply maintaining the overhead like other NPOs. I saw a nice breakdown of charitable organizations showing how much of each dollar donated goes to paying the organizational upkeep. Some (UNICEF comes to mind) are downright criminal). Be nice to see something like that for AOPA.
 
Fearless Tower said:
It would be interesting to see a financial breakdown of salaries and how much of the money you give goes toward simply maintaining the overhead like other NPOs. I saw a nice breakdown of charitable organizations showing how much of each dollar donated goes to paying the organizational upkeep. Some (UNICEF comes to mind) are downright criminal). Be nice to see something like that for AOPA.
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The income statements and form 990's are out there if you do a google search. The difficulty is that the income statement aggregates a bunch of expenses into big buckets which don't tell you much.

AOPA has been exceedingly difficult to pry detailed information from. Both ANN and Avweb have largely been told "go away and don't bother us any more" when delving into these issues.
 
netsurfr said:
So last night I got a call from AOPA Foundation asking for money. I politely told the cold caller that I was not interested and then the guy starts w/ the rude comments such as "oh I see, so you don't care about your fellow pilots then?" etc... I then told him they pretty much guaranteed themselves that I will never donate to the foundation and not renew w/ AOPA. They called my cell phone at night and my AOPA settings show my phones as "Do Not Call".

I called AOPA today and they said they've been receiving similar complaints from other members and that they would let the AOPA Foundation folks know.

Just wanted to share as I hadn't heard that type of cold calling tactics in ages. Not smart to push/pressure/insult the person you're asking for donations from!
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Jose,

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I am the person in charge of both the Foundation and Air Safety Institute. You have my word I will look into the matter and make sure the problem is remedied. I apologize if the caller was rude and for the inconvenience.

As others on the forum have pointed out that the AOPA Foundation and the Air Safety institute do a lot of good for general aviation and all of our programs including Safety Seminars and over 300 safety education products (courses, videos, webinars, quizes, safety alerts and the Nall report etc) are free to all pilots...and are all funded through tax deductible donations.

The foundation also provides funding for programs such as "Rusty Pilots" that has provided BFR ground school to over 5000 pilots since its inception and the AOPA regional Fly-In's that have been attended free of charge by nearly 30,000 pilots and spectators. And so while the methods required to fund these important programs can sometimes be an annoyance they are necessary to help keep them viable.

I agree that telemarketers can be a PITA...Esp if they are rude. As others have mentioned, telemarketing is just one of the ways we touch base to ask for support and AOPA does outsource this to a third party provider. So if they go "off script" and act in an unprofessional way I want to know about it so I can fix it. Thank you again for bringing this to my attention.

Lastly I wanted to address some of the "legacy" perceptions about AOPA. I've been with AOPA for a little over a year. I joined AOPA not for a "fat" salary (I could make much more with a Major Airline or Box Hauler)...but because I love flying and aviation safety has been my life's work. And as someone who's watched the organization go through good times and bad, I can tell you AOPA is getting better, esp. at listening. No organization is perfect and AOPA has certainly made its share of mistakes in the past. But what I can tell you that every one who works at AOPA is passionate about flying just like you and we are committed to serving our members and doing everything we can to make GA a better place for all pilots.

Happy to talk off line if you'd like...Or to anyone who feels AOPA has room for improvement. I'm happy to listen and do what I can to make things better.

Safe Flights
George Perry
AOPA
 
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Thanks George for taking the time to write a response. It confirms what I already knew, that Air Safety is a good organization with some really caring people working within it. You can count on my continued support.
 
Re: Mr

rk911 said:
sorry...I should've added that I'm looking for a "whitelist' solution for my landline phone.
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Sorry, don't know. My landline solution was to discontinue my landline.
 
netsurfr said:
So last night I got a call from AOPA Foundation asking for money. I politely told the cold caller that I was not interested and then the guy starts w/ the rude comments such as "oh I see, so you don't care about your fellow pilots then?" etc... I then told him they pretty much guaranteed themselves that I will never donate to the foundation and not renew w/ AOPA. They called my cell phone at night and my AOPA settings show my phones as "Do Not Call".

I called AOPA today and they said they've been receiving similar complaints from other members and that they would let the AOPA Foundation folks know.

Just wanted to share as I hadn't heard that type of cold calling tactics in ages. Not smart to push/pressure/insult the person you're asking for donations from!
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Jose'

As a follow up. Our provider found the call and you are right. The person who called you did act inappropriately. Additionally, this incident has been discussed with the staff that provides this service. Again I apologize for the inconvenience and hope this addresses your concern.

George Perry
AOPA
 
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GeorgePerry said:
Jose'

As a follow up. Our provider found the call and you are right. The person who called you did act inappropriately. Additionally, this incident has been discussed with the staff that provides this service. Again I apologize for the inconvenience and hope this addresses you concern.

George Perry
AOPA
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It would have been alot more comforting to hear you say you FIRED the provider.. IMHO...
 
N801BH said:
It would have been alot more comforting to hear you say you FIRED the provider.. IMHO...
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The staff has been re-educatedPush for closes you need to make quota, but don't push quite as hard as this call...:lol:
 
N801BH said:
It would have been alot more comforting to hear you say you FIRED the provider.. IMHO...
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When you are sub contracting services, and even if you are using internal people for a service, if something goes wrong you don't fire the service or person immediately – you try to work through the problem.

It's a lot cheaper and effective that way.

If A company fired a subcontractor or employee every time they did something wrong you be spending most of your money and time trying to bring on new employees or subcontractors.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
If everyone was fired for a mistake or the need for re-training... Virtually no one would have jobs.

I agree the person needs a talking to, but calling for them to be fired might be a little much.

Now if it's a repetitive problem and some extra training doesn't help, then yes, let them go.
 
fiveoboy01 said:
If everyone was fired for a mistake or the need for re-training... Virtually no one would have jobs.

I agree the person needs a talking to, but calling for them to be fired might be a little much.

Now if it's a repetitive problem and some extra training doesn't help, then yes, let them go.
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Did you read the part in the OP first post...

"I called AOPA today and they said they've been receiving similar complaints from other members and that they would let the AOPA Foundation folks know."

What part of repetitive is too much ??:dunno::dunno:......:rolleyes:
 
Yes, I read the OP...

How do you know it's the same person?

How many people is "other members"?

Was this 10 complaints about "rude" and "pushy" salespeople, or 100? 1000?

Could it possibly be that some people hate getting sales calls so much, that no matter what the salesman/lady says, it will be construed as a rude/pushy telemarketer call?

I'm just trying to be objective. Obviously in this particular case, the telemarketer was rude, as confirmed by the AOPA rep who listened to the recording. But that doesn't mean that every complaint was valid. Some people clearly have a disdain for AOPA despite being members, and will naturally exaggerate the "rude nature" of the phone call.

That said I've no doubt that some of the complaints are valid. When the telemarketing is outsourced, it can be hard to control what the person on the phone says.

It shouldn't happen after corrective action is taken. Fire their butt after that.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I almost don't care what they pay in salaries if they are effective. Think of the alternative.
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That's the thing, they are ineffective, look what happened to PBOR2 and the Pt. 23 Experimental-Non Commercial. One s garbage and the other non existent. The alternative to having AOPA is having what we have now, so why bother?:dunno:
 
Henning said:
That's the thing, they are ineffective, look what happened to PBOR2 and the Pt. 23 Experimental-Non Commercial. One s garbage and the other non existent. The alternative to having AOPA is having what we have now, so why bother?:dunno:
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That fact that all it took was the ALPA to complain and get the PBOR2 watered down makes me wonder about their(AOPA's) effectiveness....

Doesn't the AOPA membership vastly outnumber that of ALPA?
 
Henning said:
That's the thing, they are ineffective, look what happened to PBOR2 and the Pt. 23 Experimental-Non Commercial. One s garbage and the other non existent. The alternative to having AOPA is having what we have now, so why bother?:dunno:
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Didn't PBOR2 just get worked / amended in Committee last week?

Seems like progress.

This Congress is dysfunctional, so any progress is impressive.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Just to follow and hopefully close things up. As you all read AOPA followed up on my call and found the tape of the call and agreed that it was out of line so they addressed the issue. I have no beef w/ AOPA as I'm a paying member so I posted here because I was in a way surprised & not happy about how the guy on the other end of the phone treated me and I know the difference between persistence & crossing the line and it was the latter in this case. I'm sure AOPA would not want their third party calling company to know the difference & not cross it as that will do a lot more harm than good.

I'm happy I called them to complaint/let them know and happy that they took the time to reach out to me and track the issue and address it so that goes a long way. Glad to hear it wasn't them making the calls. I feel they responded as they should have so all good on my side.
 
What I want to know...and what I'd bet George won't answer...is what percentage of the donations that this third party solicitor collects are actually put into the ASF coffers?
 
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Henning said:
...Pt. 23 Experimental-Non Commercial...
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This is the one that I want to see go through. For what most of us use our planes for, the ability to install "experimental" technology would improve the quality of flight and likely the safety of flight. At the very least it wouldn't cost a fortune to update the panel to modern times.
 
LevelWing said:
This is the one that I want to see go through. For what most of us use our planes for, the ability to install "experimental" technology would improve the quality of flight and likely the safety of flight. At the very least it wouldn't cost a fortune to update the panel to modern times.
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Amen...
 
N801BH said:
Did you read the part in the OP first post...

"I called AOPA today and they said they've been receiving similar complaints from other members and that they would let the AOPA Foundation folks know."

What part of repetitive is too much ??:dunno::dunno:......:rolleyes:
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I think the point is, they need to give the vendor the feedback, give the vendor an opportunity to correct the problem, then re-evaluate. Churning vendors isn't a recipe for success. A recipe for success includes training them on your expectations.
 
kyleb said:
I think the point is, they need to give the vendor the feedback, give the vendor an opportunity to correct the problem, then re-evaluate. Churning vendors isn't a recipe for success. A recipe for success includes training them on your expectations.
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I don't know what kind of businessman you are.. But,,, In my world, I explain to my vendors right up front my expectations and goals. They take the project I pay them to do and perform their tasks...

If I find out they belittle, talk down or insult my customers, then they are FIRED on the spot.. PERIOD......


Your concept of working with outside vendors is like people who give out trophies to the losers of a little league baseball game so no ones feeling are hurt....:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
Instead of AOPA harassing existing members why don't they use that effort to find NEW members? I always loved Airplanes but I didn't know AOPA existed until I became a member on this site!
 
JoseCuervo said:
Didn't PBOR2 just get worked / amended in Committee last week?

Seems like progress.

This Congress is dysfunctional, so any progress is impressive.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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It got turned into garbage. The third class medical exemption only helps old men,mand AOPA had nothing to do with instituting it, that was a Senator.
 
LevelWing said:
This is the one that I want to see go through. For what most of us use our planes for, the ability to install "experimental" technology would improve the quality of flight and likely the safety of flight. At the very least it wouldn't cost a fortune to update the panel to modern times.
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This is the single most helpful thing that GA can get, especially with the Next Gen initiative.
 
N801BH said:
I don't know what kind of businessman you are.. But,,, In my world, I explain to my vendors right up front my expectations and goals. They take the project I pay them to do and perform their tasks...

If I find out they belittle, talk down or insult my customers, then they are FIRED on the spot.. PERIOD......


Your concept of working with outside vendors is like people who give out trophies to the losers of a little league baseball game so no ones feeling are hurt....:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
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You don't end up with long term relationships and you find the vendors willing to work with you charge you for the "pleasantries" of the relationship.
 
Henning said:
It got turned into garbage. The third class medical exemption only helps old men,mand AOPA had nothing to do with instituting it, that was a Senator.
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Who did you want it to help if not old men?

GA is all about old men. Look around any airport in Podunk, America.
 
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