anal sphincter muscles at Sporty's just lost a customer

Anyone have a reliable source of Canadian charts for an occasionally
homesick canuk?



www.lakeandair.com

Al

Can't you simply refuse delivery?

"journeyman" wrote in message
u.com...

Just got off the phone with them and I am Not Pleased. I put in a
web order this morning for the Canadian CFS and some approach plates.
They're on a 56-day cycle, my current set expires today and I was
hoping to do trip this weekend. So, I was willing to pay extra for
next-day service.

Got a voice mail at 3:15 saying the charts were on back order. So,
I called to cancel the next-day shipping. Apparently, the IFR hood
I tacked onto the order (old one's no longer usable) was already
shipped, so they will bill me for overnight shipping for the entire
order. I'm willing to pay extra to have the charts tomorrow. They're
charging for it but failing provide what they charged for. Not enough
to be worth the time and energy to fight it, but annoying enough for
me to do no further business with them.

Anyone have a reliable source of Canadian charts for an occasionally
homesick canuk?


Morris

On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 20:51:19 -0400, Steve Foley
wrote:
Can't you simply refuse delivery?

Good idea. I'll ask the doorman downstairs about the possibility
tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion.


Morris (amazed that living in an apartment doesn't completely suck)

In a previous article, (Ben Jackson) said:
Same thing happened to me when I tried to buy a CFS from Sporties.
Canada doesn't sell them direct to the US anymore, so I'm not sure
there IS an alternate source.

My CFS, CAP-4, LO-4/5, TA-1/2 just arrived today, direct from NavCanada to
my home in the US.


--
Paul Tomblin , not speaking for anybody
"The Computer made me do it."

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 02:05:45 +0000 (UTC), Paul Tomblin
wrote:
In a previous article, (Ben Jackson) said:
Same thing happened to me when I tried to buy a CFS from Sporties.
Canada doesn't sell them direct to the US anymore, so I'm not sure
there IS an alternate source.

My CFS, CAP-4, LO-4/5, TA-1/2 just arrived today, direct from NavCanada to
my home in the US.

Yeah, I need all those, plus CAP-5.

Last time I checked the NavCanada site, they only shipped on
subscription. Until I stop renting and buy my own plane, I might only
buy one or two sets in a year. I'm hoping to do my 300-NM solo cross
country by taking a trip up to Montreal some time this summer.


Morris

In a previous article, (journeyman) said:
Last time I checked the NavCanada site, they only shipped on
subscription. Until I stop renting and buy my own plane, I might only

Well, I've got a subscription. Considering that a year's worth of charts
costs less than three times as much as one set of charts, it seemed
logical to me.

The NavCanada web site lists www.aerotraining.com as another US
distributor if you don't want to go to Sportys. I just looked, and they
only want $13.49 for the CFS.

--
Paul Tomblin , not speaking for anybody
"If you would like a transcript of this program, sit next to your radio with a
pencil and paper and write really fast." - The WRVO Playhouse.

On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 19:46:34 -0400, G.R. Patterson III
wrote:

Just got off the phone with them and I am Not Pleased.

Were I in your shoes, I would call VISA (which is what I use) and stop
payment on the order.

Which reminds me, I used my AOPA Mastercard, so I should take this up
with AOPA for whatever good that will do...

Morris (not so naive to believe it would actually do any good...)

journeyman wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 19:46:34 -0400, G.R. Patterson III
wrote:
Just got off the phone with them and I am Not Pleased.

Were I in your shoes, I would call VISA (which is what I use) and stop
payment on the order.

Which reminds me, I used my AOPA Mastercard, so I should take this up
with AOPA for whatever good that will do...
Morris (not so naive to believe it would actually do any good...)

Morris, I'm confused, are you saying that writing the Mastercard
people won't do you any good? If you feel you've been billed for
a service you didn't receive (overnight shipping of charts which
were out of stock). Draft a letter disputing the charge. Then
call Sporty's, talk to the manager, tell them you're about to send
off a letter disputing the charge, and ask if they would like to
make an adjustment now, instead. Let them know that people on the
internet are waiting to see how they respond. I was about to order
a couple of things from Sporty's actually but I can live without
them or go elsewhere.

The FBO we were fueling with didn't give us a discount they'd
promised. DH was checking the bills, and didn't notice. It
had been going on for a couple months by the time I did. They
weren't going to credit us, and were kind of snippy to DH about
it until I called and pointed out it was still within the time
frame for us to send a letter disputing the charge to our credit
card company and I had one drafted. Instant "Sea Change" to "Ok,
we'll give you the credit, just please examine your bill more
promptly and call to update fuel prices next time".

BTW I dunno if they have Canadian charts but we've had good service
from Airways (http://www.flyairways.com) plus they're considerably
cheaper than Sporty's, and if they have what you need, our local pilot
shop Outer Marker will also go the extra mile for you
(http://www.outermarker.com).

Good luck,
Sydney



Heh.
Sydney

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 04:38:27 GMT, Sydney Hoeltzli wrote:
Which reminds me, I used my AOPA Mastercard, so I should take this up
with AOPA for whatever good that will do...
Morris (not so naive to believe it would actually do any good...)

Morris, I'm confused, are you saying that writing the Mastercard
people won't do you any good? If you feel you've been billed for

I'm saying I should persue it with AOPA, since AOPA advertizes Sporty's.
And Sporty's takes AOPA membership numbers for a discount. Since my
dissatisfaction fell on deaf ears at Sporty's, maybe AOPA is another
avenue to get Sporty's attention. I just don't think it'll really
accomplish anything.

a service you didn't receive (overnight shipping of charts which
were out of stock). Draft a letter disputing the charge. Then

From my perspective, that's what happened. From their perspective,
I made a rush order that they could only partially fulfill. For me,
the rush was the charts. They rushed an IFR hood I could get anywhere,
anytime.

I think they screwed up. I've already cancelled the back-ordered
charts. When the hood arrives I will send it back to them and they
will issue a refund according to their policy. We'll probably argue
over who should be responsible for the return shipping (I say it was
their error; based on my conversation with them about the shipping,
they'll probably insist that they shipped what I asked for), but they
will issue the refund according to their policy. That will be the end
of that and I will never order from Sporty's again.

What I'm annoyed about is them sending the hood overnight and billing
me for the premium delivery. The extra $20 or so for the shipping
is a small irritation in the grand scheme of things, but I'm not
willing to pay it for something that isn't a rush. The rush was for
the charts, which they could not deliver on.

The fact that they can't deliver the charts on time, while annoying
in itself, is not something I can blame them for. It's clearly
beyond their control. Fine. In that case, it's no longer a rush,
but I want the charts anyway when they do arrive.

If they had any business sense, they'd eat the cost of the rush
shipping for the hood, and send me the back-ordered charts regular
delivery when they do arrive (assuming I didn't find the charts needed
for the weekend flight elsewhere). They'd have retained a customer
instead of a ****ed-off ex-customer. Even issuing an in-store credit
to cut their losses would've left me satisfied.

The only leverage I have in this situation is their desire for retain
the goodwill of a customer, or my bitching about it in public. They're
not interested in the former, so I'm willing to post my complaint here.

make an adjustment now, instead. Let them know that people on the
internet are waiting to see how they respond. I was about to order
a couple of things from Sporty's actually but I can live without
them or go elsewhere.

I appreciate that.

I realize this is petty in the grand scheme of things. Every once
of these really petty things sets me off way out of proportion.
Mostly it's the cumultive irritation of all the other ignored petty
irritations of life. Not to mention the major irritations that I
can do nothing about...

My spleen is sufficiently vented for the moment.


Good luck,

Thanks. I'm going to try to beg/borrow/steal a CFS for Sunday and
forego the IAPs.

Thanks to everyone for the alternate source suggestions.


Morris

journeyman wrote:

From my perspective, that's what happened. From their perspective,
I made a rush order that they could only partially fulfill. For me,
the rush was the charts. They rushed an IFR hood I could get anywhere,
anytime.

Here's my perspective. You're going to disagree with it.

You're taking a trip this weekend, so on Thursday you think to look at
your charts and find that they expire that day. You call Sporty's and
order some. "Yeah, I'm in a big hurry, so I'll pay extra for fast
shipping. Oh--throw in an IFR hood, too." Sporty's found that the
charts were on backorder and called you asap. You were not there, so
they left a voice mail. They knew you were in a hurry, so they rushed
what they could. Since only the charts were important to you, and not
the hood, you're mad that they want you to pay for overnight shipping on
the hood. You get on the newsgroup and scream about what assholes they
are at Sporty's.

Many here dislike Sporty's, so you're not alone. However, this problem
would have been avoided if you had been a little more careful managing
your chart inventory.

Tim