Help with a Canadian paint shop, they took my aircraft hostage..

I have been dealing with this Canadian paint shop up in PittMeadows, BC
for about 4 months now. They took my airplane (A Piper Tomahawk) in
February to paint and put the interior plastics and carpeting that I
provided them (worth about $1000).

Since then the delivery time gt pushed back more than four times. Last
week I paid a surprised visit to the outfit and turns out that the
aircraft was painted in all white base color only. There was no
interior work done, not a trace of the trim colors or registration.

The ailerons and flaps were taken off and painted very badly. The
collection of dust on the paint was a proof that it hasen't been worked
on for a long time.
At this point I am worried because my phone calls are not being
returned. I am worried about the fact that in May the annual is due,
and I will have to get a ferry permit to get the aircraft back to the
States side.

I have to admit that I was attracted to the cheap rates of this place
and I don't think my complaint with Better Business Bureau of British
Columbia is not going to produce anything.

At this point I am thinking about calling local RCMP office, but I am
out of all the ideas to get the aircraft back..

Any ideas what will be the best course of action to follow on this?

Thanks,

Baha Acuner
Renton, WA

Hi Baha
Forget the RCMP - they won't even speak to people who owe bad debts -
and this Pitt Meadows shop hasn't taken your plane hostage from what I
read - they are just pushing it to the back in favour of the ones that
have been squawking.

My advice -
Squawk - lots - every week - demand an update every week.
Take away the interior refurbishment contract - you can fly it with the
old interior, or if they smarten up you can give it back to them.
Demand a fly away date - let them know that if it isn't met, the balance
of the paint contract is also cancelled - you can always find an A & E
to put the ailerons and flaps back on.
Refuse the poor paint already on the ailerons & flaps - give them an
expectation to live up to.
Become the squeakiest wheel in the line and you will probably move to
the front. It is a very regular practice here with low priced shops.

HTH

Tony





In article . com,
"Baha" wrote:

I have been dealing with this Canadian paint shop up in PittMeadows, BC
for about 4 months now. They took my airplane (A Piper Tomahawk) in
February to paint and put the interior plastics and carpeting that I
provided them (worth about $1000).

Since then the delivery time gt pushed back more than four times. Last
week I paid a surprised visit to the outfit and turns out that the
aircraft was painted in all white base color only. There was no
interior work done, not a trace of the trim colors or registration.

The ailerons and flaps were taken off and painted very badly. The
collection of dust on the paint was a proof that it hasen't been worked
on for a long time.
At this point I am worried because my phone calls are not being
returned. I am worried about the fact that in May the annual is due,
and I will have to get a ferry permit to get the aircraft back to the
States side.

I have to admit that I was attracted to the cheap rates of this place
and I don't think my complaint with Better Business Bureau of British
Columbia is not going to produce anything.

At this point I am thinking about calling local RCMP office, but I am
out of all the ideas to get the aircraft back..

Any ideas what will be the best course of action to follow on this?

Thanks,

Baha Acuner
Renton, WA




--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE

You DID have some sort of a contract for this work didn't you? With
a timeline and guarantee date? I would never leave my plane somewhere
to be worked on at their convenience. Much less in a foreign country.

Without anything in writing I'd say you're just at their mercy.


"Baha" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have been dealing with this Canadian paint shop up in PittMeadows, BC
for about 4 months now. They took my airplane (A Piper Tomahawk) in
February to paint and put the interior plastics and carpeting that I
provided them (worth about $1000).

Since then the delivery time gt pushed back more than four times. Last
week I paid a surprised visit to the outfit and turns out that the
aircraft was painted in all white base color only. There was no
interior work done, not a trace of the trim colors or registration.

The ailerons and flaps were taken off and painted very badly. The
collection of dust on the paint was a proof that it hasen't been worked
on for a long time.
At this point I am worried because my phone calls are not being
returned. I am worried about the fact that in May the annual is due,
and I will have to get a ferry permit to get the aircraft back to the
States side.

I have to admit that I was attracted to the cheap rates of this place
and I don't think my complaint with Better Business Bureau of British
Columbia is not going to produce anything.

At this point I am thinking about calling local RCMP office, but I am
out of all the ideas to get the aircraft back..

Any ideas what will be the best course of action to follow on this?

Thanks,

Baha Acuner
Renton, WA

I admit to the fact that I haven't done any contract with them in terms
of the timeline. These people advertise pretty frequent on US aviation
magazines and I went by their references.
I am a new aircraft owner, so that is a major part of the dumbness on
my end. I have had nothing but good relations with my local mechanics
in the field without a major written contract.

At this point I am ready to put the aircraft together with a help of an
A&P that I have been working with, and fly it to the States but my
concern is with the aircraft registration not being present on the
aircraft.

But i just wanted to find out what will be an agency that i can contact
besides the BBB of BC who doesnt have any arm twisting power..

Cheers,

Baha Acuner
Renton,WA

OtisWinslow wrote:
You DID have some sort of a contract for this work didn't you? With
a timeline and guarantee date? I would never leave my plane somewhere
to be worked on at their convenience. Much less in a foreign country.

Without anything in writing I'd say you're just at their mercy.

You can put the registration numbers on with duct tape. Except you will
still have to have someone sign off on the control surface balancing and
re-installation.

I'd just pursue them in person. Hire a Canadian attorney for a couple of
hours to go with you.

Karl

"Baha" wrote in message
oups.com...
I admit to the fact that I haven't done any contract with them in terms
of the timeline. These people advertise pretty frequent on US aviation
magazines and I went by their references.
I am a new aircraft owner, so that is a major part of the dumbness on
my end. I have had nothing but good relations with my local mechanics
in the field without a major written contract.

At this point I am ready to put the aircraft together with a help of an
A&P that I have been working with, and fly it to the States but my
concern is with the aircraft registration not being present on the
aircraft.

But i just wanted to find out what will be an agency that i can contact
besides the BBB of BC who doesnt have any arm twisting power..

Cheers,

Baha Acuner
Renton,WA

OtisWinslow wrote:
You DID have some sort of a contract for this work didn't you? With
a timeline and guarantee date? I would never leave my plane somewhere
to be worked on at their convenience. Much less in a foreign country.

Without anything in writing I'd say you're just at their mercy.

Baha wrote:

At this point I am ready to put the aircraft together with a help of
an
A&P that I have been working with, and fly it to the States but my
concern is with the aircraft registration not being present on the
aircraft.


Assuming your A&P is going to check balance and install the control
surfaces, you should be ready to go. The registration does not have
to be painted on by the shop. Get something easily removable, like
shoe polish and paint your own numbers on it.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

In a previous article, "kage" said:
You can put the registration numbers on with duct tape.

I think there are tapes that come off more easily than duct tape. That's
what we used to do when we had a club airplane with 3" numbers when
somebody wanted to fly it to Bermuda.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
....the default behaviour should be *not* to **** up.
-- adb

wrote in message
oups.com...

Baha wrote:

At this point I am ready to put the aircraft together with a help of
an
A&P that I have been working with, and fly it to the States but my
concern is with the aircraft registration not being present on the
aircraft.


Assuming your A&P is going to check balance and install the control
surfaces, you should be ready to go. The registration does not have
to be painted on by the shop. Get something easily removable, like
shoe polish and paint your own numbers on it.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)


Tempra paint or electrical tape work well in this application.

KB

Kyle Boatright wrote:


Tempra paint or electrical tape work well in this application.

Isn't tempra paint extremely soluable in water? Could prove
embarassing if you had to fly through some rain before you arrived at
U.S. Customs :-) "It really says N1234, Mr. customs man. We just
used a new hallucinagenic font for the tail numbers."

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

wrote in message
oups.com...

Kyle Boatright wrote:


Tempra paint or electrical tape work well in this application.

Or a high quality masking tape, outlined in wide magic marker if necessary
to make the numbers sufficiently visible.

Speaking of tempra paint. I was a volunteer at an airshow once that
featured the Blues. They had a plane break down shortly before the show (they
never told us what the issue was). They pushed that plane aside, and washed the
number off the tail. Less than an hour later, a replacement plane showed up on
final with the proper number already displayed on the tail and the did their
show on time.

Vaughn