Aircraft Spruce: Abused Customers and Fourteen More Angry Comments -- More to Come

Subject: Aircraft Spruce's attitude
Abuse

I went to Arlington Washington fly in, Saturday July 12, the*re I purchased
from Aircraft Spruce and specialty a handheld ICOM A-22 and *ordered an
Airmap GPS . I took the A-22 with me (and paid for it with c*heck)and was
told that they will ship the Airmap on the following Monday* the 14th and
paid for it with a credit card. On Monday the 14th my card w*as charged by
Aircraft Spruce for the purchasing price of the GPS. Two wee*ks later after
I have not received any GPS I called them to see where is my* GPS, they told
me they never had it in stock and will get it end of July? I* called Pacific
Coast Avionics witch just moved to Oregon (Aurora) and they *had the GPS for
the same price and in stock. I ordered the Airmap here local*ly and picket
it up same day and called Aircraft Spruce and cancelled my o*rder and asked
them to credit my card as promptly as they charged it. The c*ustomer service
lady told me that they will process my order on the same day* (one and half
week ago), here we are no money on my card. I called on Frid*ay to see what
is the status? I was told the president of the company must *sign every
check and he is not in town! but they will call me within th*e hour (10 AM
by now). After I realized that the hour has passed, I called* back .........
get the idea ?!
I don't have the money yet and do not know when it will come*, but this is
the first and last time I will buy any thing from this place*, specially
after one of the ladies told this is their policy for the fu*ture as well .
By the way I have been missing the belt clip of the A-22 and* was told at
the air show it does not come with one, after a long experie*nce similar to
the one above and lots of fax sending and telephone talk the*y promised to
send me a belt clip (yet to be seen).
If any body have any thing to say about this please respond.* But I will
still not buy any thing from them.



I have stopped using AS&S completely. Called them for brake* pads and rotors
for my Comanche, their
salesman ordered the wrong part the order was missing the pa*ds. When the
rotors were returned by the
shop, after much fighting to get a refund of the shipping ch*arges (their
mistake) they deducted $20
alleging the box had grease marks on it and there was a $20 *charge to rebox
the parts (the mistake
couldn't be determined without taking the parts out of the b*ox, that's when
it was discovered the
rivit holes didn't align properly.
That $20 cost them a few thousand I was spending each year w*ith them.
Rich


Other than the Christmas order the last order for
identified by your email address was in Octobe*r of 98 and no
: scale was on the order

Addressed to AS&S:
Is it your standard policy to discuss an individual's accoun*t activity on
usenet?
DH




DH wrote:
Is it your standard policy to discuss an individual's acco*unt activity on
usenet?

RA: He has done so repeatedly in the past.




I too was a customer of Alexander before it was sold. Never *cared much
for Spruce. First thing Spruce did after buying Alexander wa*s drop from
inventory the thin peel-ply I'd been using. Seems like they *don't quite
understand how to run an aircraft parts company. It's true t*he
salespeople frequently lack knowledge and even courtesy. In *addition,
orders seem to take nearly a week to be shipped, and nearly *1/4 of your
order will be out of stock.
Currently we order from Spruce only if they are the only com*pany that
has the item. Yet the process of dealing with Spruce is so p*ainful I
have on several occasions installed hardware-store parts rat*her than
order from Spruce.
How much longer can they stay in business when customers fee*l like this?




Of late most everything I've been buying fro*m Wicks has
been a little less expensive than Aircraft Spruce and, I act*ually get what
I ordered!
MH

I see nothing has changed with Spruce. I gave up on them *m*any* years ago

for precicely the same reasons. In fact, they sent me the **wrong*
wing-attatch- bolts twice, before I got an apology letter di*rectly from
Jim Irwin (after I wrote and let him know that shipping inco*rrect AN
hardware could have disasterous results, if the recipient wa*sn't an A&P,
or otherwise savvy enough to look up the head markings in hi*s/her AN
hardware reference book), asking forgiveness, and promising *to never do it
again. This was followed by sending the wrong bolts again.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It has been a while since I have had occasion to buy from* Wicks, but I
had nothing but wonderful, intelligent, responsive service f*rom them,
every time I bought anything from them, and I reccomend them* most highly!
Generally, their prices aren't signifigantly different from *Spruce,
either.

-
I have experienced nothing but ignorant staff on the sales l*ine,
inconsistent
catalogs (and they will charge the higher price of the diffe*ring catalogs
regardless of what you may have), shipped items that don't m*atch the
description, toll-free lines that will not entertain anythin*g other than
orders, non-toll-free customer service where I have been put* on hold for
at least 5 minutes (before I decided to hang-up), etc.
Clearly, Aircraft Spruce's strengths lies in marketing rathe*r than customer
service. I have no intention of paying their premium prices *to finance
their sweepstakes and promotional gimmicks and putting up wi*th bad service.


Once,I
bought a vertical card compass from them. The box they ship*ped said
vertical card on the outside, but contained a standard whisk*ey compass
inside. They accused me of switching the vertical card with* a standard
compass. Couple of weeks passed before they would finally e*xchange it.
Another time, I was replacing my mags. They had the Slick m*ags at a
higher price than another outlet. There policy was to meet *or beat other
prices. I called them to confirm they would beat the other *price, they
said they would, and ordered them. When they came, I was bu*ild at the
higher rate. I could not get them to reduce the price, and *had a hard
time sending them back. They wanted me to pay for the shipp*ing, and a
restock fee. Other people I know, have had similar experien*ces.
Look elseware.


Same experience for me. I built a T-18 with parts from Airc*raft Spruce
and had similar frustrations. I am now 1/2 way through a sc*ratch built
Pitts using Wicks as my supplier and am 100% satisfied to da*te.


I am building my 5th home built (a Velocity this time) so I *have a lot of
experience
ordering parts. Over the past 15 years Wicks has been great* and Spruce very
bad.
I had not ordered from Spruce for several years. It was a r*eal mistake
giving them
another chance. Recently I placed three orders and two of t*he three were
badly
botch. No more Spruce orders for me. I just do not have ti*me and money to
ship
stuff back on two out of three orders. Further, there may b*e a customer
service
department -- but they know nothing about customer service. * The customer
is
always wrong.
Tim


_ANYBODY_ out there happy with ACS? I find it hard
to believe they could be as terrible as all the posts
imply and still stay in business!


they are pretty much the only game in town after buying all *their
competitors.
all the stuff we ever ordered like 4130, bolts etc. has been* just what you
expect, but i have heard a lot of horror stories from our cu*stomers.
reiner

In defence of Aircraft Spruce, if we do a refund to a credit card it
comes from our account same day and it can sometimes take up to two
weeks to credit the customer..... Thats how the banks work, they keep
the money as long as they can, especially if its an international
card.... it just takes longer.

jls wrote:
Subject: Aircraft Spruce's attitude
Abuse

I went to Arlington Washington fly in, Saturday July 12, the*re I purchased
from Aircraft Spruce and specialty a handheld ICOM A-22 and *ordered an
Airmap GPS . I took the A-22 with me (and paid for it with c*heck)and was
told that they will ship the Airmap on the following Monday* the 14th and
paid for it with a credit card. On Monday the 14th my card w*as charged by
Aircraft Spruce for the purchasing price of the GPS. Two wee*ks later after
I have not received any GPS I called them to see where is my* GPS, they told
me they never had it in stock and will get it end of July? I* called Pacific
Coast Avionics witch just moved to Oregon (Aurora) and they *had the GPS for
the same price and in stock. I ordered the Airmap here local*ly and picket
it up same day and called Aircraft Spruce and cancelled my o*rder and asked
them to credit my card as promptly as they charged it. The c*ustomer service
lady told me that they will process my order on the same day* (one and half
week ago), here we are no money on my card. I called on Frid*ay to see what
is the status? I was told the president of the company must *sign every
check and he is not in town! but they will call me within th*e hour (10 AM
by now). After I realized that the hour has passed, I called* back .........
get the idea ?!
I don't have the money yet and do not know when it will come*, but this is
the first and last time I will buy any thing from this place*, specially
after one of the ladies told this is their policy for the fu*ture as well .
By the way I have been missing the belt clip of the A-22 and* was told at
the air show it does not come with one, after a long experie*nce similar to
the one above and lots of fax sending and telephone talk the*y promised to
send me a belt clip (yet to be seen).
If any body have any thing to say about this please respond.* But I will
still not buy any thing from them.



I have stopped using AS&S completely. Called them for brake* pads and rotors
for my Comanche, their
salesman ordered the wrong part the order was missing the pa*ds. When the
rotors were returned by the
shop, after much fighting to get a refund of the shipping ch*arges (their
mistake) they deducted $20
alleging the box had grease marks on it and there was a $20 *charge to rebox
the parts (the mistake
couldn't be determined without taking the parts out of the b*ox, that's when
it was discovered the
rivit holes didn't align properly.
That $20 cost them a few thousand I was spending each year w*ith them.
Rich


Other than the Christmas order the last order for
identified by your email address was in Octobe*r of 98 and no
: scale was on the order

Addressed to AS&S:
Is it your standard policy to discuss an individual's accoun*t activity on
usenet?
DH




DH wrote:

Is it your standard policy to discuss an individual's acco*unt activity on
usenet?


RA: He has done so repeatedly in the past.




I too was a customer of Alexander before it was sold. Never *cared much
for Spruce. First thing Spruce did after buying Alexander wa*s drop from
inventory the thin peel-ply I'd been using. Seems like they *don't quite
understand how to run an aircraft parts company. It's true t*he
salespeople frequently lack knowledge and even courtesy. In *addition,
orders seem to take nearly a week to be shipped, and nearly *1/4 of your
order will be out of stock.
Currently we order from Spruce only if they are the only com*pany that
has the item. Yet the process of dealing with Spruce is so p*ainful I
have on several occasions installed hardware-store parts rat*her than
order from Spruce.
How much longer can they stay in business when customers fee*l like this?




Of late most everything I've been buying fro*m Wicks has
been a little less expensive than Aircraft Spruce and, I act*ually get what
I ordered!
MH

I see nothing has changed with Spruce. I gave up on them *m*any* years ago

for precicely the same reasons. In fact, they sent me the **wrong*
wing-attatch- bolts twice, before I got an apology letter di*rectly from
Jim Irwin (after I wrote and let him know that shipping inco*rrect AN
hardware could have disasterous results, if the recipient wa*sn't an A&P,
or otherwise savvy enough to look up the head markings in hi*s/her AN
hardware reference book), asking forgiveness, and promising *to never do it
again. This was followed by sending the wrong bolts again.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It has been a while since I have had occasion to buy from* Wicks, but I
had nothing but wonderful, intelligent, responsive service f*rom them,
every time I bought anything from them, and I reccomend them* most highly!
Generally, their prices aren't signifigantly different from *Spruce,
either.

-
I have experienced nothing but ignorant staff on the sales l*ine,
inconsistent
catalogs (and they will charge the higher price of the diffe*ring catalogs
regardless of what you may have), shipped items that don't m*atch the
description, toll-free lines that will not entertain anythin*g other than
orders, non-toll-free customer service where I have been put* on hold for
at least 5 minutes (before I decided to hang-up), etc.
Clearly, Aircraft Spruce's strengths lies in marketing rathe*r than customer
service. I have no intention of paying their premium prices *to finance
their sweepstakes and promotional gimmicks and putting up wi*th bad service.


Once,I
bought a vertical card compass from them. The box they ship*ped said
vertical card on the outside, but contained a standard whisk*ey compass
inside. They accused me of switching the vertical card with* a standard
compass. Couple of weeks passed before they would finally e*xchange it.
Another time, I was replacing my mags. They had the Slick m*ags at a
higher price than another outlet. There policy was to meet *or beat other
prices. I called them to confirm they would beat the other *price, they
said they would, and ordered them. When they came, I was bu*ild at the
higher rate. I could not get them to reduce the price, and *had a hard
time sending them back. They wanted me to pay for the shipp*ing, and a
restock fee. Other people I know, have had similar experien*ces.
Look elseware.


Same experience for me. I built a T-18 with parts from Airc*raft Spruce
and had similar frustrations. I am now 1/2 way through a sc*ratch built
Pitts using Wicks as my supplier and am 100% satisfied to da*te.


I am building my 5th home built (a Velocity this time) so I *have a lot of
experience
ordering parts. Over the past 15 years Wicks has been great* and Spruce very
bad.
I had not ordered from Spruce for several years. It was a r*eal mistake
giving them
another chance. Recently I placed three orders and two of t*he three were
badly
botch. No more Spruce orders for me. I just do not have ti*me and money to
ship
stuff back on two out of three orders. Further, there may b*e a customer
service
department -- but they know nothing about customer service. * The customer
is
always wrong.
Tim


_ANYBODY_ out there happy with ACS? I find it hard
to believe they could be as terrible as all the posts
imply and still stay in business!


they are pretty much the only game in town after buying all *their
competitors.
all the stuff we ever ordered like 4130, bolts etc. has been* just what you
expect, but i have heard a lot of horror stories from our cu*stomers.
reiner

" jls" wrote in message
...

Subject: Aircraft Spruce's attitude
Abuse

[RANT DELETED]

_ANYBODY_ out there happy with ACS? I find it hard
to believe they could be as terrible as all the posts
imply and still stay in business!


Yes, I am happy with them. I've had my issues with AS&S as well, but they
have always been handled in a professional manner and the materials I
received have always been good quality.

What's your point in making this newsgroup a Google mirror for every single
bit of dissatisfaction you can find? Some kind of personal vendetta?!? In
that case, go see a shrink or start posting at their doorstep, but stay away
from computers..

Rob