Lousy service from Century Flight Systems and FedEx

Hi all,
Little rant and warning.
After talking to the Factory Rep at Sun-N-Fun I recently sent my NSD
360A HSI back to Century Flight Systems in Mineral Wells Texas for
service. The compass card would spin for no reason then be fine for a while.
I called and talked to the support folks and they told me to send it
back with a note what was wrong and a way to contact me. They were
helpful and friendly. That was the end of that behavior.
About a week after I sent the unit back, I received a call from someone
at Century Flight asking for a billing address.
About three days later I received a door tag from Fed Ex stating I had a
COD item for $160.

This starts the Fed Ex debacle. Let me at this point I do not order
things COD. This was a first in maybe 20 years.
I called Fedex and asked who I should make the check to for the COD.
They told me FedEx (this turned out to be wrong).
I hung the tag and a check in an envelope on the door where it was left.
When I got home the deliverer left me a note stating that I had written
the check to the wrong party. I hung that tag and a new check in a new
envelope on the front door again. When I arrived home I found a new (the
third tag) hung on the door over the latest check and second tag.
I called FedEx again and told them what they had done and Requested they
hold it until I returned from Vacation. They said that would be fine.
When I returned home this afternoon from running some errands They had
not shown up.
I called again and asked them where my package was. They stated they
held it for five days and returned it. Well this was news to me.
While I was on vacation I received a call from someone in Century Flight
Systems Accounts Dept. stating they saw that the package was attempted
several times and would be returned soon. It was going to cost me
another $160 to get it sent out again. I considered this a threat at
this point. Well I called them back today stating all of this in the
post and also told them how un-happy I was with their service and
regret having sent the unit back to them. Additionally they have made me
accelerate my desire to upgrade my HSI to a different Manufacturer.

We will see how this whole thing plays out at this point. I am not
willing to pay addition money for shipping I did not need to start with
If they had just called and asked for a credit card this whole situation
could have been avoided.

Michelle
--

Michelle P ATP-ASEL, CP-AMEL, and AMT-A&P

"Elisabeth" a Maule M-7-235B (no two are alike)

Volunteer Pilot, Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic

Volunteer Builder, Habitat for Humanity

So this is news? Better to go with someone else. Century couldn't
give a **** about you.

On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 00:42:16 GMT, Michelle P
wrote:

Hi all,
Little rant and warning.
After talking to the Factory Rep at Sun-N-Fun I recently sent my NSD
360A HSI back to Century Flight Systems in Mineral Wells Texas for
service. The compass card would spin for no reason then be fine for a while.
I called and talked to the support folks and they told me to send it
back with a note what was wrong and a way to contact me. They were
helpful and friendly. That was the end of that behavior.
About a week after I sent the unit back, I received a call from someone
at Century Flight asking for a billing address.
About three days later I received a door tag from Fed Ex stating I had a
COD item for $160.

This starts the Fed Ex debacle. Let me at this point I do not order
things COD. This was a first in maybe 20 years.
I called Fedex and asked who I should make the check to for the COD.
They told me FedEx (this turned out to be wrong).
I hung the tag and a check in an envelope on the door where it was left.
When I got home the deliverer left me a note stating that I had written
the check to the wrong party. I hung that tag and a new check in a new
envelope on the front door again. When I arrived home I found a new (the
third tag) hung on the door over the latest check and second tag.
I called FedEx again and told them what they had done and Requested they
hold it until I returned from Vacation. They said that would be fine.
When I returned home this afternoon from running some errands They had
not shown up.
I called again and asked them where my package was. They stated they
held it for five days and returned it. Well this was news to me.
While I was on vacation I received a call from someone in Century Flight
Systems Accounts Dept. stating they saw that the package was attempted
several times and would be returned soon. It was going to cost me
another $160 to get it sent out again. I considered this a threat at
this point. Well I called them back today stating all of this in the
post and also told them how un-happy I was with their service and
regret having sent the unit back to them. Additionally they have made me
accelerate my desire to upgrade my HSI to a different Manufacturer.

We will see how this whole thing plays out at this point. I am not
willing to pay addition money for shipping I did not need to start with
If they had just called and asked for a credit card this whole situation
could have been avoided.

Michelle

"Michelle P" wrote in message
link.net...
Hi all,
Little rant and warning.
After talking to the Factory Rep at Sun-N-Fun I recently sent my NSD
360A HSI back to Century Flight Systems in Mineral Wells Texas for
service. The compass card would spin for no reason then be fine for a
while.
I called and talked to the support folks and they told me to send it
back with a note what was wrong and a way to contact me. They were
helpful and friendly. That was the end of that behavior.
About a week after I sent the unit back, I received a call from someone
at Century Flight asking for a billing address.
About three days later I received a door tag from Fed Ex stating I had a
COD item for $160.

This starts the Fed Ex debacle. Let me at this point I do not order
[snip]

I can commiserate with you on this. We have a Century 2000 which will
intermittently climb or dive uncommanded. Several trips to Mineral Wells,
but all they will do is bench test it, pronounce it "fixed" or "no problem
found", and send us on our way. We can't convince them to loan us a
different control unit to determine whether its in the controller or our
wiring, etc-- an obvious next step toward diagnosis. The guy there can sure
blow some smoke though, with great stories of how they fixed everybody ELSES
units...

We've just about given up on it-- and them....

At least we don't get complacent when we are using it-- we hand fly in IMC
and/or watch that thing like a HAWK!

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 01:07:20 GMT, "John Clonts"
wrote:


"Michelle P" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Hi all,
Little rant and warning.
After talking to the Factory Rep at Sun-N-Fun I recently sent my NSD
360A HSI back to Century Flight Systems in Mineral Wells Texas for
service. The compass card would spin for no reason then be fine for a
while.
I called and talked to the support folks and they told me to send it
back with a note what was wrong and a way to contact me. They were
helpful and friendly. That was the end of that behavior.
About a week after I sent the unit back, I received a call from someone
at Century Flight asking for a billing address.
About three days later I received a door tag from Fed Ex stating I had a
COD item for $160.

This starts the Fed Ex debacle. Let me at this point I do not order
[snip]

I can commiserate with you on this. We have a Century 2000 which will
intermittently climb or dive uncommanded. Several trips to Mineral Wells,
but all they will do is bench test it, pronounce it "fixed" or "no problem
found", and send us on our way. We can't convince them to loan us a
different control unit to determine whether its in the controller or our
wiring, etc-- an obvious next step toward diagnosis. The guy there can sure
blow some smoke though, with great stories of how they fixed everybody ELSES
units...

We've just about given up on it-- and them....

At least we don't get complacent when we are using it-- we hand fly in IMC
and/or watch that thing like a HAWK!

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ

Take a run up to Tulsa and see Autopilots Central. They'll fix it
better and cheaper than the people at Mineral Wells will.

Don't ever use Fedex to bring anything over a border.
When I order from the USA (for Canada) and use US Postal Service, it
arrives within a week and I don't pay brokerage fees.
When I pay a whole lot extra to use Fedex, it doesn't arrive for 4 - 8
weeks, and I get a phone call asking who my broker is. When I say that I
don't have one they say thjat they will look after it.
Once it was an extra $50.00.
Once it was an extra $75.00.
On a $29.95 item?
They won't get me a third time.

Aircraft Spruce don't get this - they refuse to ship regular post.
So they lost me as a customer - and every member of my flying club.

Tony

--

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

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 06:57:23 GMT, tony roberts
wrote:

Don't ever use Fedex to bring anything over a border.
When I order from the USA (for Canada) and use US Postal Service, it
arrives within a week and I don't pay brokerage fees.
When I pay a whole lot extra to use Fedex, it doesn't arrive for 4 - 8
weeks, and I get a phone call asking who my broker is. When I say that I
don't have one they say thjat they will look after it.
Once it was an extra $50.00.
Once it was an extra $75.00.
On a $29.95 item?
They won't get me a third time.

Aircraft Spruce don't get this - they refuse to ship regular post.
So they lost me as a customer - and every member of my flying club.

Tony

Perhaps they're restricted to shipping only via Fedex or UPS. Instead
of missing out on some deals, why don't you befriend someone in the
states that will just remail it via USPS?

My assumption would be that if they have a great deal, paying for shipping
twice would make it not such a great deal? It just depends I guess.

Nathan


Perhaps they're restricted to shipping only via Fedex or UPS. Instead
of missing out on some deals, why don't you befriend someone in the
states that will just remail it via USPS?

Well I talked to all involved today.
Century Admits no fault. No great surprise.
I am going after Fedex for the Excess shipping charges.
So a $75 repair turns into a $300 charge to me. About $240 will be
shipping charges!!!!!

So I told the People I talked to at Century that I have lost confidence
in their company and am selling the unit and installing a EHSI from
someone else. They did not seem to be to broken up about it.

Michelle

Michelle P wrote:

Hi all,
Little rant and warning.
[snip]

Michelle


--

Michelle P ATP-ASEL, CP-AMEL, and AMT-A&P

"Elisabeth" a Maule M-7-235B (no two are alike)

Volunteer Pilot, Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic

Volunteer Builder, Habitat for Humanity

Let me repost what I first replied

So this is news? Better to go with someone else. Century couldn't
give a **** about you.

Do you believe it yet? And what part of the planet do you live on
where it costs $120 to overnight a ten pound item from the middle of
the USA?


On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 02:55:34 GMT, Michelle P
wrote:

Well I talked to all involved today.
Century Admits no fault. No great surprise.
I am going after Fedex for the Excess shipping charges.
So a $75 repair turns into a $300 charge to me. About $240 will be
shipping charges!!!!!

So I told the People I talked to at Century that I have lost confidence
in their company and am selling the unit and installing a EHSI from
someone else. They did not seem to be to broken up about it.

Michelle

Michelle P wrote:

Hi all,
Little rant and warning.
[snip]

Michelle

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 23:36:45 -0500, Stu Gotts
wrote:

And what part of the planet do you live on
where it costs $120 to overnight a ten pound item from the middle of
the USA?


I think she's in Canada.

z