WOW!! Very Bad interaction with Don Maxwell

[nels]

It good to have people come to your defense, but if someone has a complaint it has every right to be heard just as a compliment does. There is no better place to make a compliment or a complaint than the community in which that business serves. Don't get me wrong, I know Don is a great mechanic. I said nothing about his mechanical skills. My comments are also not meant to drive any business from him. Just being informative. I was in shock because I too have only heard good things about him and that's why I posted my experience. it's almost like... "how dare I say anything bad about someone we like! You're only allowed to say good things"  

 

Anyways, I gotta get back to work. I guess everyone can debate and vilify me...

I don't know Don from Adam but I bet he watches how he communicates from now on. He is in business and is very vulnerable and responsible for his actions. A good lesson, I'm sure.

[aaronk25]

Skynewbie....is that you? Sorry couldn't resist

[robert7467]

Mooneybuilder, take everyone’s advice on this board, but don't let them get to you. I am sure you are a nice person and you were upset with Don, who might have been a bad day. The worst thing you can do on this board is go into defense mode. There are many people trolling this site waiting for someone to pounce on. I am sorry you had a bad personal experience with Don Maxwell and I can understand the fact that you want everyone to know about that experience as well. On a much brighter note, Don has done some work on my plane and has offered some advice which I am very grateful of and my experience with Don has been excellent. I wish you the best of luck with fellowshipping with the Mooneyspace community.

[jkhirsch]

Ok I was working up a post for this in my head:

 

S-dog, first of all why weren't you on our site years ago?

You built some of our planes! You should be an absolutely invaluable resource!

Not to mention.........you could have also thrown out of shameless self-promotion, probably garnered some business.

 

I'm not getting into to bashing this and that, you were upset, it's all good we all get upset.

 

Get your head around it and give us the objective view of what happened, lay out some details for us.

[PTK]

Shaune, you're absolutely correct in posting the experience you had with another professional.

Sharing your experience is very valuable.

Don't feel bad that some criticize you for doing so. They only want to hear praises.

You are as much a professional as Mr. Maxwell and there are others.

The problem arises when some start to think so highly of themselves that they become legends in their own minds. To the point where they don't want to be questioned. Not even by one of their peers! It is a flaw of human nature.

This is indeed a small community which is reason enough to be careful and behave professionaly.

[Marauder]

Skynewbie....is that you? Sorry couldn't resist

Where is that troll? I miss him!

[Marauder]

And why did I know Peter Garmin was going to take the opposite point of view on this? I know! I slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

[gsxrpilot]

 

 

With that said, my next annual will be with Don.    And for what it is worth, Don is 183 miles from me.  San Marcos is 48 miles.  Which reminds me.  Is anyone planning to travel between Austin and KGGG around the end of March or beginning of April.   Maybe we can share a ride.

 

I'll fly up and give you a ride back from KGGG anytime. I'll fly up there just to sit and ask a few questions of Don.

 

Here's my experience with Don... I flew up and dropped my plane off for it's annual, and a friend was flying up to pick me up and give me a ride home.  My ride got a little bit delayed. Because of TSA rules, Don couldn't let me just sit out on the curb and wait by myself. So Don waited 45 minutes past closing time with me.  All employees and Jan had left for the day.  Don sat there and told me stories of different Mooney's he'd worked on and stories about Mooney's he'd flown.  It was an enjoyable and very educational 45 minutes for me. I'm sure Don would have preferred to be home at dinner, but never let on and was just happy to sit there and talk.

 

I'm also very curious as to what it was that Don said was fine, but Shaune says is unairworthy. Or was it the other way around?

[thinwing]

mr Maycock,may I politely suggust the next time you have a personel issue with another shop ,that you either pause a while ,than make a follow up letter ( probably to apologise for any misunderstanding)rather than post about your experience on a public forum.To do so makes us casual readers doubt your motives..ie we begin to suspect your attempt as simple character assination designed to promote your own shop.I fear ( as you probably now realize)your public forum outburst will probably have the opposite result,at least among the many Mooney owners who used to be potential customers..best regards kp couch

[Mike A]

mr Maycock,may I politely suggust the next time you have a personel issue with another shop ,that you either pause a while ,than make a follow up letter ( probably to apologise for any misunderstanding)rather than post about your experience on a public forum.To do so makes us casual readers doubt your motives..ie we begin to suspect your attempt as simple character assination designed to promote your own shop.I fear ( as you probably now realize)your public forum outburst will probably have the opposite result,at least among the many Mooney owners who used to be potential customers..best regards kp couch

 

+1

 

My first thought was "is this guy a competitor trying to skim a few clients".

[BoiseMooney]

I’m new around here, and I’ve never paid any Mooney shop any money – though that’s changing next week when Joey Cole does a PPI for me.  That said, while I’ve been shopping I have spoken with Don a few times based on the extensive reading I’ve done here – I found him to be very helpful, accessible and friendly – and would have done a PPI with him had I reached a deal on a Mooney near to him.

 

I absolutely believe the point of forums like this is to share experiences, so I echo what jkhirsch said and I’m grateful to have another knowledgeable resource available.  We all started knowing nothing and we learn from our experiences and those of others.  I’m here to learn everything I can.  However, something else I’ve learned about being part of any community – just like with ATC – is listen before you speak.  This community is very open and welcoming as compared with many others I’ve participated in – us newbies to the forum (and actually, not just newbies!) should respect that by being thoughtful and thorough in our contributions or requests.  Your feedback on your experience is valuable, but probably would be better understood if you emphasized the circumstances and deemphasized the emotion/frustration.  Just my $0.03 and thanks for contributing.

[carusoam]

Nicely stated from one of the newest guys here.

-a-

[Parker_Woodruff]

Significant case of Global Whining going on here.

[Alan Fox]

Lets leave Don alone and pick on Peter Garmin for a while.....Now that's what I consider fun......

[Sabremech]

I'd like to hear the other side to this story. This isn't as valuable of information unless we get all of it.

David

[Parker_Woodruff]

I'd like to hear the other side to this story. This isn't as valuable of information unless we get all of it.

David

I don't even think you've heard the complainant's side of the story...just a rant

[fantom]

Lets leave Don alone and pick on Peter Garmin for a while.....Now that's what I consider fun......

 

Great idea....something tells me he and Shaune Maycock of Blue Skies Aviation deserve each other, and he should try getting all his free phone advise from Shaune, and well as his annuals, maintenance, and so on....

[ryoder]

I bet you did have a real problem but the way you are representing yourself doesnt do you any good. It makes you look a little nuts.

[Gone]

I try to stay out of these discussions because I do not really have anything useful to contribute, but..... in this case I have a tale to recount and a suggestion that thinwing gave and write it up in a note to Don (or whomever it happens to be).  Makes it recorded and allows the basis of a discussion.  Disagreement may still prevail, but respect is maintained.

 

Here is my story.  When I first got my Mooney (2005), it was delivered to me by Clarence (you know him here).  195 miles from his shop to my home drome.  During qualification training, the generator gave out and a shop much closer to me (no names here) was asked to replace it.  See the picture for how they handled it.

 

They bolted a refurbished generator on and it worked for two weeks.  Eventually Clarence convinced me to fly it to him. With a freshly charged battery, the last thing I did on my walkaround was cut the generator belt and remove it.  200 hundred miles without a generator.  Leave class C in Ottawa and turn off all the electrics except the nav lights.  I had a handheld radio.  Turn on the radios and transponder just before entering Class C in Waterloo and land.  Take a commercial flight home.

 

Clarence discovered that they had bolted the generator bracket to the wrong hole and twisted the orientation of the generator so that it was beating up the brushes (or whatever) until it stopped working.

 

He wrote a letter to the shop that I had used and sent them pictures.  He got a nasty e-mail in return, but that was the last time that shop touched my Mooney.  

 

My lessons here were simple.  I make the maintenance decisions on my aircraft - not my maintainer.  I trust the advice of competent maintainers and I tend to only work with people who are more concerned with doing the right thing than talking about doing the right thing.  

 

Personally, as a professional in my field, I too have encountered others whose opinion I respected but came out completely opposite to what would normally be expected of someone with their reputation.  I have never found it useful to find a forum to expose their actions.  The amount of emotion such an act generates completely obliterates any lessons to be learned or understanding of the issues at hand.  Besides writing them a letter or note to seek written clarification, a better way is to try and figure out why they might have such an apparently contrary view.  Another is to ask a group such as ours for some advice by laying out the facts.  No names - no pack drill (army saying). Keeping the names out of it enhances the possibility of respect from all readers (including the person who caused us our grief) and it may eventually shed light the solution of the actual problem.

 

Just my opinion.

[Becca]

This particular post aside - this thread is an example of why there is not good airplane mechanic review site. Just no way to do it. Which is unfortunate, because I think it's something our community could use.

Personally I have had both positive and negative experiences with various so-called "upstanding" members of the mooney community. Takes all kinds.

[PaulB]

We all have shitty days when something doesn't work the way we wanted it to but it sounds like Don was provoked by this guy and that's what elicited this response.  Not really fair to call this a "review" of Don.

[BorealOne]

Maybe a new thread "little Timmy wants to know why no one likes A&Ps anymore..."

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tommy]

Why not tell us what exactly you were debating Don with?

 

To me, it is irrelevant as to how Don reacted to your argument. What matters is the argument itself!

 

I am sure a topic that was debated by two highly experienced A&Ps would be highly educational!

 

One's temper should hardly be a judgement of his/her knowledge and competency in the field of aircraft engineering... (you should've seen over the years the neurosurgeons that I had to work with but they sure know how to handle a scapel...)

[fantom]

I am sure a topic that was debated by two highly experienced A&Ps would be highly educational!

...)

I think some are giving this guy far to much credit without knowing squat about him. Does anyone here have their plane serviced by him? It is public knowledge that he has had run ins with the law because of his hot temper.

He shows up, out of nowhere, and slams a family many of us have been dealing with for decades, and in a most public and vitriolic way. Neither professional nor honest IMO.

He challenged Don on a PPI that Don did on a plane he was both brokering and had maintained, and it wasn't even a poor PPI, from what I hear. And no, he wasn't paying for the PPI, the buyer hasn't backed off the deal but some of this guys poor work was highlighted.

I'd like to see his vetted resume. He was probably a janitor at Mooney.

BTW, we never heard anything more from that other 'one trick pony', DUCK after he received something in the mail from Aero Comfort. What's a joke is taking either of these jerks seriously.

[scottfromiowa]

I think some are giving this guy far to much credit without knowing squat about him. Does anyone here have their plane serviced by him? It is public knowledge that he has had run ins with the law because of his hot temper.

He shows up, out of nowhere, and slams a family many of us have been dealing with for decades, and in a most public and vitriolic way. Neither professional nor honest IMO.

He challenged Don on a PPI that Don did on a plane he was both brokering and had maintained, and it wasn't even a poor PPI, from what I hear. And no, he wasn't paying for the PPI, the buyer hasn't backed off the deal but some of this guys poor work was highlighted.

I'd like to see his vetted resume. He was probably a janitor at Mooney.

BTW, we never heard anything more from that other 'one trick pony', DUCK after he received something in the mail from Aero Comfort. What's a joke is taking either of these jerks seriously.

Tell me what DUCK was lacking for you? He did post that he received the headrests and they were perfect. What else were you looking for? I appreciate that you don't agree with this guy, but calling them jerks, janitor's...what is gained from this? I am often accused of being emotional in my threads...Is your response any less poor than the original posters? I think not.