Just to put a final message to the group about my MBNA customer experience.
I picked up a message Monday from a representative from MBNA's aviation
lending group. She had been contacted by AOPA regarding my criticism
(kudos' to AOPA for the prompt follow through on my behalf) I called her
back. After hearing what I wanted to do, she basically reiterated what her
colleague had told me last week that they wouldn't finance a plane that had
been purchased more than sixty days prior.

My recommendation for anyone out there is don't waste your time with MBNA,
call Dorr and ask to speak to Brian. They are great and are anxious to meet
the aviation customer's needs.

Happy flying,

Charlie




"Dave" wrote in message
...
ANY large company goes downhill in customer service.

Off Topic, but COMCAST is a good example. Now that they have a monopoly
in our area, you can't get ANYTHING from them.

MBNA has always been a large finance company due to the fact that their
name is used by groups like Nascar, AOPA, etc. That doesn't mean they are
good.

Look for a good underwritten company thats NEW. NEW companies have GREAT
customer service.


"att news group" wrote in message
...
I wanted to relate an interesting story. I purchased a small single
engine
Piper in January of this year through my business. At the time I had
extra
cash in the business, so rather than finance it, I decided just to use
the
cash and then
perhaps put the financing in place later.

Well the later turned out to be yesterday. I decided to try MBNA based
upon
AOPA's recommendation, so I called MBNA. and inquired about the
financing.
Generally I have found AOPA's approved affiliates to be excellent, and
very
customer service orientated. This was not the case with MBNA. To my
surprise the MBNA representative told me they could not finance a plane
that
wasn't an actual purchase. I didn't really understand why, and asked him
to
explain. He said it was like doing a cash out refinance of your home. I
said it's not even the same thing. So he checked with a supervisor.
When
he came back he said they could not finance it. He compared it again to
a
cash out refinance of a home. That analogy really confused me. I said,
so if I produced an agreement of sale transferring from my corporate name
to
another entity you would finance it? That thought, I think, confused
him.
I then made a snap decision that they are definitely not customer service
orientated, and I didn't need to be creative to place my business with
MBNA.
So I thanked him for his time and we parted ways. Interestingly enough I
called several other vendors that specialize in aircraft financing, they
were delighted to have my business and finance the plane.

It is incredulous that MBNA would not finance this plane! I guess MBNA
has
more business than they need because they sure don't seem very anxious to
bring on new business, or at the very least are not really geared to
handle
aircraft financing, it is really a side line business and does not
conform
to their core business model, the credit card business. Inflexibility
up-front is not
a really good sign of customer support and service. I would not
recommend MBNA, and would urge others to look else where for their
aircraft
financing. I would also be curious if anyone else has had customer
inflexibility with MBNA?

Charles