Brampton Flying club funnies

[K. Ari Krupnikov]

I got a phone call today from a collection agency - for the first time
in my life. The gentleman said I owed the Brampton, Ontario flying
club CAN $16.00 and how would I like to settle that. I rented from
them several times in 2003 when I visited a cousin who lives in
Toronto. At first, I was terrified at the thought that I somehow never
paid for these flights. Then the amount sank in - sixteen dollars, not
a hundred and sixty, not sixteen hundred, and Canadian dollars at
that. Terror gave way to surprise at why the club didn't contact me
directly. I called the club and asked what was the deal. When I tried
to phonetically spell my last name, their accountant asked if I could
use "letters" because she did not understand "that pilot thing". She
said the charge was a landing fee at CYOW which I thought I'd paid for
(I also bought fuel there), but I didn't have receipts from 2 years
ago and didn't want to argue over such a ridiculous sum, so I just
paid.

This story has left me utterly bewildered. Naturally, an FBO should
not pay renter pilots' landing fees. There is no disagreement
there. But how Brampton chose to go about collecting this fee
was... erm... surprising.


Ari.

--
Elections only count as free and trials as fair if you can lose money
betting on the outcome.

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, (K. Ari Krupnikov) said:
>I got a phone call today from a collection agency - for the first time

>This story has left me utterly bewildered. Naturally, an FBO should
>not pay renter pilots' landing fees. There is no disagreement
>there. But how Brampton chose to go about collecting this fee
>was... erm... surprising.

Well, if you're not local (and I'm assuming you're not) a flying club
doesn't have the resources to go looking for you. Our flying club hasn't
turned over any outstanding debts to collections in my tenure, and instead
we've wasted HOURS of volunteer time tracking down people who've moved. I
think next time we're going to try the collection agency.


--
Paul Tomblin > http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the
best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't
last out the year." --Editor of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.

[Cockpit Colin]

There goes your credit rating for the next 7 years!

"K. Ari Krupnikov" > wrote in message
...
> I got a phone call today from a collection agency - for the first time
> in my life. The gentleman said I owed the Brampton, Ontario flying
> club CAN $16.00 and how would I like to settle that. I rented from
> them several times in 2003 when I visited a cousin who lives in
> Toronto. At first, I was terrified at the thought that I somehow never
> paid for these flights. Then the amount sank in - sixteen dollars, not
> a hundred and sixty, not sixteen hundred, and Canadian dollars at
> that. Terror gave way to surprise at why the club didn't contact me
> directly. I called the club and asked what was the deal. When I tried
> to phonetically spell my last name, their accountant asked if I could
> use "letters" because she did not understand "that pilot thing". She
> said the charge was a landing fee at CYOW which I thought I'd paid for
> (I also bought fuel there), but I didn't have receipts from 2 years
> ago and didn't want to argue over such a ridiculous sum, so I just
> paid.
>
> This story has left me utterly bewildered. Naturally, an FBO should
> not pay renter pilots' landing fees. There is no disagreement
> there. But how Brampton chose to go about collecting this fee
> was... erm... surprising.
>
>
> Ari.
>
> --
> Elections only count as free and trials as fair if you can lose money
> betting on the outcome.

[G Farris]

In article >,
says...
>

>
>Well, if you're not local (and I'm assuming you're not) a flying club
>doesn't have the resources to go looking for you. Our flying club hasn't
>turned over any outstanding debts to collections in my tenure, and instead
>we've wasted HOURS of volunteer time tracking down people who've moved. I
>think next time we're going to try the collection agency.
>

And you can be sure they'll be HIGHLY motivated by the 15% they can recover!

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, (G Farris) said:
>In article >,
>says...
>>Well, if you're not local (and I'm assuming you're not) a flying club
>>doesn't have the resources to go looking for you. Our flying club hasn't
>>turned over any outstanding debts to collections in my tenure, and instead
>>we've wasted HOURS of volunteer time tracking down people who've moved. I
>>think next time we're going to try the collection agency.
>>
>
>And you can be sure they'll be HIGHLY motivated by the 15% they can recover!

Well, in this case they obviously got the attention of somebody who only
owed $15, right? We had one guy who owed us $6,000 and we spent literally
*all* of our club officers volunteer time for 6 months tracking him down
and calling to get the money. We eventually got the money, but if we
could have gotten half of that back with one phone call to a collection
agency, we would have been far ahead.

Read "Acts Of Gord" (http://www.actsofgord.com/) to hear about people
who'd gladly default on something as stupid as a rented video game, and
then come crawling back begging to make things right when they find that
they can't get a car loan until they get the debt off their credit record.

--
Paul Tomblin > http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
QUOTE OF THE DAY:

`

[Steve Foley]

About twenty years ago, I did some work for a video store.

The owner would accrue late charges for three years ($1 per day for 1000
days). At the end of the three years, he would write off the bad debt, and
send the offender ( and he IRS ) a 1099 for the amount.

This was back when Massachusetts used a Social Security number for a license
number.

I changed my license number then next time I renewed.



"Paul Tomblin" > wrote in message
...
> In a previous article, (G Farris) said:
> >In article >,
> >says...
> >>Well, if you're not local (and I'm assuming you're not) a flying club
> >>doesn't have the resources to go looking for you. Our flying club
hasn't
> >>turned over any outstanding debts to collections in my tenure, and
instead
> >>we've wasted HOURS of volunteer time tracking down people who've moved.
I
> >>think next time we're going to try the collection agency.
> >>
> >
> >And you can be sure they'll be HIGHLY motivated by the 15% they can
recover!
>
> Well, in this case they obviously got the attention of somebody who only
> owed $15, right? We had one guy who owed us $6,000 and we spent literally
> *all* of our club officers volunteer time for 6 months tracking him down
> and calling to get the money. We eventually got the money, but if we
> could have gotten half of that back with one phone call to a collection
> agency, we would have been far ahead.
>
> Read "Acts Of Gord" (http://www.actsofgord.com/) to hear about people
> who'd gladly default on something as stupid as a rented video game, and
> then come crawling back begging to make things right when they find that
> they can't get a car loan until they get the debt off their credit record.
>
> --
> Paul Tomblin > http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
> QUOTE OF THE DAY:
>
> `

[K. Ari Krupnikov]

(Paul Tomblin) writes:

> In a previous article, (G Farris) said:
> >In article >,
> >says...
> >>Well, if you're not local (and I'm assuming you're not) a flying club
> >>doesn't have the resources to go looking for you.

Funny that, because the collection guy called me on the same cell
number I left with Brampton as my contact number. Wonder where he got
it from.

> >And you can be sure they'll be HIGHLY motivated by the 15% they can recover!
>
> Well, in this case they obviously got the attention of somebody who only
> owed $15, right? We had one guy who owed us $6,000 and we spent literally

That was exactly was ticked me off. I was not trying to defraud them
out of their money. I was not aware that I owed them money (I was sure
I paid the landing fee when I was buying fuel at CYOW). If they'd have
called me two years ago, I'd have happily paid them then. If they'd
have called any time during these two years, I'd have happily paid
then. They could have just charged it to the credit card I left on
file with them. Instead, they treated me like a thief.

I don't know if they got a new eager accountant or what. Maybe at the
time, they decided that the $15 charge wasn't worth the long distance
call and the credit card overhead. And then when they got a new
accountant she decided to go through their books and see what "debts"
she could collect and just shipped them all off, wholesale, to
collection.


Ari.

--
Elections only count as free and trials as fair if you can lose money
betting on the outcome.

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, (K. Ari Krupnikov) said:
>That was exactly was ticked me off. I was not trying to defraud them
>out of their money. I was not aware that I owed them money (I was sure
>I paid the landing fee when I was buying fuel at CYOW). If they'd have

Unfortunately I've never found a Canadian airport that lets the FBO
collect landing fees - instead my flying club gets a bill in the mail some
months later. It's very annoying, since everybody in the club knows I'm
Canadian and fly up there frequently, so every landing fee bill gets
billed to me until I can look up my log book and show it wasn't me.

>I don't know if they got a new eager accountant or what. Maybe at the

That seems the most likely explanation.

--
Paul Tomblin > http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"Every computer crashes, because every OS sucks"
- Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie, "Every OS Sucks" http://www.deadtroll.com/

[K. Ari Krupnikov]

(Paul Tomblin) writes:

> In a previous article, (K. Ari Krupnikov) said:
> >That was exactly was ticked me off. I was not trying to defraud them
> >out of their money. I was not aware that I owed them money (I was sure
> >I paid the landing fee when I was buying fuel at CYOW). If they'd have
>
> Unfortunately I've never found a Canadian airport that lets the FBO
> collect landing fees - instead my flying club gets a bill in the mail some
> months later
>
> >I don't know if they got a new eager accountant or what. Maybe at the
>
> That seems the most likely explanation.

I wonder how many other non-Canadian pilots were not aware of how
landing fees work in Canada and got a call from the same collection
agency. I wonder how many of them will ever rent from Brampton again.

Ari.

--
Elections only count as free and trials as fair if you can lose money
betting on the outcome.

[Brian Burger]

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005, Paul Tomblin wrote:

> In a previous article, (K. Ari Krupnikov) said:
> >That was exactly was ticked me off. I was not trying to defraud them
> >out of their money. I was not aware that I owed them money (I was sure
> >I paid the landing fee when I was buying fuel at CYOW). If they'd have
>
> Unfortunately I've never found a Canadian airport that lets the FBO
> collect landing fees

Vancouver International (CYVR), apparently. Haven't flown in there yet,
but the PRO says to pay the landing fee w/ one of the FBOs.

The other airports in the region seem to send the bill to the Club, which
has GOT to be an accounting headache for the Club...

Brian
PP-ASEL/Night