- Joined
- Dec 27, 2017
- Messages
- 1,525
- Reaction score
- 664
I've got my airplane at a shop right now and it's day #18 since I dropped it off. I dropped it off on 2/24/18. I reached out to the shop about a month in advance and gave them the exact date and time that I would be showing up and dropping off the airplane. I even contacted them again several days out for a reminder that I was coming.
I arrived, on schedule. Dropped the plane off.
I will admit, the list of what they are doing is fairly extensive. The biggest piece of the total job being reskinning the rear half of the top of the left wing. So, as of right now, 18 days in, all that has been done is they've removed the two skins, they have fabricated the two new ones, and have placed one of the new ones onto the wing - but I don't know whether it's riveted or not at this point.
That's it.
They say they are slammed with with other work and are short staffed and honestly, I'm not even being very pushy at all. But, I am asking for regular updates. I just want to know what is happening with my airplane. I'm not really judging, per say. I just hate for days and days to pass with no information. Every time I reach out (phone or text), its the same basic information provided to me - "We are doing our best. Call back in a few days."
I miss my airplane, I cannot deny that, but in the grand scheme I'll leave it there for another month or more, if needed, if the end result will make me happy. I've never drawn a line in sand with them nor given any kind of ultimatum. I've simply asked for updates about every 2 or 3 business days the entire time they've had it.
I get a call from the owner today, basically saying that there is some friction with the "guys" about it and that the guy who is working on it basically wants to finish up the wing and be done with it and not do the other things we agreed would be done, probably due to some perception that I am impatient and pushy and they are probably stressed due to a lot of work on their plate right now.
So, I did my best to diffuse, even told the guy working on it that I apologized, trying to keep the peace. After all, they have my plane and its not flyable right now. I am over a barrell.
So reaching out for info/updates is apparantly inappropriate customer etiquette. Out of this situation, I have basically derived the fact that I need to shut up/suck it up and basically pretend I don't even own an airplane for as long as they deem neccesary. I guess that's my play.
I've never experienced anything like this. I'm the customer and am paying them a sizable fee for the agreed upon work, of which 18 days in now, they have done about half of one of the jobs, all the others still unstarted, per the information that I have.
Is it unreasonable of me to ask for updates? Or to ask/expect for an approximate timeline for completion of the work? Am I expected to just hand over my airplane indefinately, shut the hell up, and be silent and propitiative about it until they have the grace to reach out to me to update me?
I'm struggling to see where I went wrong here.
I arrived, on schedule. Dropped the plane off.
I will admit, the list of what they are doing is fairly extensive. The biggest piece of the total job being reskinning the rear half of the top of the left wing. So, as of right now, 18 days in, all that has been done is they've removed the two skins, they have fabricated the two new ones, and have placed one of the new ones onto the wing - but I don't know whether it's riveted or not at this point.
That's it.
They say they are slammed with with other work and are short staffed and honestly, I'm not even being very pushy at all. But, I am asking for regular updates. I just want to know what is happening with my airplane. I'm not really judging, per say. I just hate for days and days to pass with no information. Every time I reach out (phone or text), its the same basic information provided to me - "We are doing our best. Call back in a few days."
I miss my airplane, I cannot deny that, but in the grand scheme I'll leave it there for another month or more, if needed, if the end result will make me happy. I've never drawn a line in sand with them nor given any kind of ultimatum. I've simply asked for updates about every 2 or 3 business days the entire time they've had it.
I get a call from the owner today, basically saying that there is some friction with the "guys" about it and that the guy who is working on it basically wants to finish up the wing and be done with it and not do the other things we agreed would be done, probably due to some perception that I am impatient and pushy and they are probably stressed due to a lot of work on their plate right now.
So, I did my best to diffuse, even told the guy working on it that I apologized, trying to keep the peace. After all, they have my plane and its not flyable right now. I am over a barrell.
So reaching out for info/updates is apparantly inappropriate customer etiquette. Out of this situation, I have basically derived the fact that I need to shut up/suck it up and basically pretend I don't even own an airplane for as long as they deem neccesary. I guess that's my play.
I've never experienced anything like this. I'm the customer and am paying them a sizable fee for the agreed upon work, of which 18 days in now, they have done about half of one of the jobs, all the others still unstarted, per the information that I have.
Is it unreasonable of me to ask for updates? Or to ask/expect for an approximate timeline for completion of the work? Am I expected to just hand over my airplane indefinately, shut the hell up, and be silent and propitiative about it until they have the grace to reach out to me to update me?
I'm struggling to see where I went wrong here.
