I'm pretty new to owning aircraft, so I don't exactly know how thing usually go, but I've had my plane in the shop for almost 10 months now for an overhaul. Maybe I have unrealistic expectations, but that seems like a negligent amount of time to me. My mechanic has my engine in pieces all over his hanger, and it's been 2 weeks away from being finished for the last 6 months. Im pretty sure he has no intention of finishing the job. I'll give details of the situation, but my question is, what do I do now? Legal action? If so, what?
Here's a bit of the situation. After owning my Saratoga for a whopping 8 months, I needed an overhaul. There is a mechanic right on my home field, and he said he would be able to get it done in 2 months. As I was working on my IFR, I was hot to get it done as quick as possible. The guy does this work as a side gig to his "real" jet engine shop job, but I'm told he is very good. He is local, and seemed to have a pretty good reputation with the other pilots I know, so I went with him. He asked me to pay up front, which made me pretty wary, but as he is a local, I figured there shouldn't be a problem with that.
About a week before the expected return date, the excuses began. They were reasonable, or at least plausible at first. I don't want to rush this kind of thing, and I understand you never know what you'll find once you start digging into an engine. I'm pretty patient, but as the months rolled on, the excuses got less credible.
About a month ago I finally got the guy to tell me that he was not actually doing the work himself all this time, but a part time guy he had working for him for a while. Seems the part timer was taking pictures of the engine coming apart so he'd remember how to put it back together. As the months wore on, the part timer skipped town with the pictures as well as the money I've already paid to do the job.
Now the mechanic says that he doesn't have the money to pay someone else to do the job and can't put it back together without the pictures. He asked me to print off the 1000 page maintenance manual for him so he could try to figure it out. He obviously won't give me my money back, and while he hasn't said he won't put it back together, the only timeline I've ever gotten from him is two weeks, two weeks, two weeks.
Where do I go from here? I'm not sure I could ever get him to put this engine back together, but even if I could, should I trust it? I'm no mechanic, but it seems a bit odd to me that he would need the manual, and even more odd that he wants me to print it off for him. If I told him to give it back to me, would I just get a box of random parts no one would ever be able to puzzle back together? I haven't really confronted him yet, so I don't think he is pissed off yet, but I'm pretty sure he will be when I finally have to. Is this kind of thing anywhere close to normal? Should I just keep waiting? Should I take a legal route?
Advice???
Here's a bit of the situation. After owning my Saratoga for a whopping 8 months, I needed an overhaul. There is a mechanic right on my home field, and he said he would be able to get it done in 2 months. As I was working on my IFR, I was hot to get it done as quick as possible. The guy does this work as a side gig to his "real" jet engine shop job, but I'm told he is very good. He is local, and seemed to have a pretty good reputation with the other pilots I know, so I went with him. He asked me to pay up front, which made me pretty wary, but as he is a local, I figured there shouldn't be a problem with that.
About a week before the expected return date, the excuses began. They were reasonable, or at least plausible at first. I don't want to rush this kind of thing, and I understand you never know what you'll find once you start digging into an engine. I'm pretty patient, but as the months rolled on, the excuses got less credible.
About a month ago I finally got the guy to tell me that he was not actually doing the work himself all this time, but a part time guy he had working for him for a while. Seems the part timer was taking pictures of the engine coming apart so he'd remember how to put it back together. As the months wore on, the part timer skipped town with the pictures as well as the money I've already paid to do the job.
Now the mechanic says that he doesn't have the money to pay someone else to do the job and can't put it back together without the pictures. He asked me to print off the 1000 page maintenance manual for him so he could try to figure it out. He obviously won't give me my money back, and while he hasn't said he won't put it back together, the only timeline I've ever gotten from him is two weeks, two weeks, two weeks.
Where do I go from here? I'm not sure I could ever get him to put this engine back together, but even if I could, should I trust it? I'm no mechanic, but it seems a bit odd to me that he would need the manual, and even more odd that he wants me to print it off for him. If I told him to give it back to me, would I just get a box of random parts no one would ever be able to puzzle back together? I haven't really confronted him yet, so I don't think he is pissed off yet, but I'm pretty sure he will be when I finally have to. Is this kind of thing anywhere close to normal? Should I just keep waiting? Should I take a legal route?
Advice???
