I'm Screwed..Airplane in shop since December

[Wakeup]

Looking for advice on how to handle my dilemma. Long story short, took my M20B in for a tank reseal at a local shop that claimed to have done several reseals in December and still don't have my plane. The main reason for staying local was because I was afraid to fly my plane any distance after seeing how the inside of my tanks looked. Sad thing is it wasn't really leaking too bad compared to what I have seen. My plane is completly opened up, looks like most of the sealant is removed. When I talk to him, he acts like he is on top of it and then it becomes another week without results. I'm tired of calling him and getting the same run around. Going on 5 months without my plane.

[MyNameIsNobody]

Do you have a contract? Anything like an e-mail before work began discussing cost and timeframe? If yes let him know you are serious about getting your plane back...Since he has had it for five months and you are just "getting to the point of being concerned"...I am not sure he will believe you really want it back. You would not like my advise.

Good luck with getting your plane back, repaired properly, soon. I hope it works out.

[MyNameIsNobody]

Not sure why the emoticon is smiling...

Just say'n

[Piloto]

Hope you had prior cost agreement. 5 months is a lot of hours to bill you. Periodic visits to the shop may stimulate your mechanic to give priority to your plane.

Good Luck

José

[Wakeup]

My emoticon is smiling because I am drinking. If I didn't smile, I would be crying. I took 3 days off next week to fly to Sun N Fun and now I'm screwed. I will not pay a penny over what we agreed on, I just want it completed. How can people sleep at night when they lie and don't follow through on things, same people complain about not having money. Our society is going to hell. I am about ready to go buy that 1969 M20F then sell mine later. Troy

[Piloto]

My emoticon is smiling because I am drinking. If I didn't smile, I would be crying. I took 3 days off next week to fly to Sun N Fun and now I'm screwed. I will not pay a penny over what we agreed on, I just want it completed. How can people sleep at night when they lie and don't follow through on things, same people complain about not having money. Our society is going to hell. I am about ready to go buy that 1969 M20F then sell mine later. Troy

Check with US Congress on this. They are the experts.

 

José 

[kerry]

I noticed your emoticon has a gun to its head.  Seems appropriate to me. 

[Guest]

Is the shop on the same field ? If so bring it to your hangar?

Ask Weep no More if they do road trips? I thought they had done a trip to Europe a while ago. Perhaps they could be talked into doing yours under the circumstances. If they would do the trip, you could finish cleaning the old sealant in advance to make his time on site shorter.

Clarence

[cujet]

Or get a ferry tank installation and fly your airplane elsewhere. As a young man, I used motorcycles as my transportation and went from April thru Sept waiting on a shop to "warranty" my new bike, so I clearly understand. It's incredibly frustrating. 

 

Today, I don't believe anything anyone says. I'd take my airplane out of the shop and hire someone else.  

[ryoder]

Five months?  That is ludicrous.  I cant believe an A&P could hold a plane hostage for five months.  Mine was dropped off one Saturday and was done by the next Monday so it was just over a week.

[takair]

You may need to take your three days for Sun n Fun and park yourself at the facility and provide supervision. It may provide motivation. Once they invest some time and material they will likely complete the job so they get payed.

[Alan Fox]

Put Bladders in....Can be done by a responsible mechanic in one weekend

[MyNameIsNobody]

The bladders, ferry tank and flying someone in are all good ideas, but if you are like me the idea of paying more for something you already agreed upon makes you want to scream...and they are expensive options that you likely have not budgeted for. Camping out front and offering...no, make that insisting that the plane is done in ___days an you will be on site supervising work sounds like a good plan. Just not sure if I would want that individual in and around my plane at this point.

The emoticon is you right now and someone else NOT YOU is holding the gun to your head. Not smiling, not crying ^%$&ing enraged. Your emoticon should be the Hulk. You and your aircraft are being held hostage.

Did you agree on a time-frame to complete? I hope the answer is yes although any reasonable person would argue that this is absurd.

Good luck.

[rbridges]

Looks like the hard part is done. Wonder why such slow progress now? Did you already pay?

[atn_pilot]

I certainly wouldn't let him get away with it and pay more for someone else to do it. Have an attorney send him a demand letter. Costs about $200 and almost always results in scumbags correcting their behavior to avoid the problems of litigation.

[DrBill]

I had a sililar issue with a non-aircraft related work item.  I learned to always include a contract with a statement.. "The work will be completed by mm/dd/yy or the purchaser will be credited with a 10 percent discount immediately and 10 percent per 7 days delayed after that date"... I tell the contractor to supply the date.   When I had my roof done, the contractor said 10 working days... He chose a date 40 days out.. He made the deadline by ONE DAY.

I use it always now on major items. 

When I had my bladders installed O&N already had a similar line in their contract ! I brought it up on one Saturday and picked it up on the next. E A S Y.

 

BILL

[Bob_Belville]

Small shops almost always have "emergency" work that fills their day and gets in front of projects: a flight school's 172 that needs a 100 hour and is losing revenue, a transient with a bad mag, a regular customer needing a pre-buy...

 

It took 5 months to get my plane out of a MA shop after a slight prop strike requiring an engine tear down. The biggest problem was that I was 900 miles away and could not be the squeaky wheel. 

[Rhumbline]

I can empathize.  Getting work done on my plane has been a magnificent frustration with down times ranging from weeks to months and, often, not all the work requested was accomplished.  It has caused me to consider getting rid of the plane on more than one occasion.  It's been in annual for six weeks now with no surprises and only a few small repairs that I requested be done in concurrence with the annual.  It was all but completed last week after at least one unnecessary delay but I'm still waiting for the logbooks and the green-light.  Missed another weekend burger trip.

 

I'm afraid I cannot help but you may feel better knowing there's someone who is commiserating.

[Cruiser]

First, did you agree on a date for completion? I am sure there has been a lot of conversation between you two. Is he constantly missing dates or is something else interfering with the work? Illness, family problems etc.? 

You could take the three days off and offer to come to the shop and work on the plane yourself, at least he will get the point that you want it done. Or (tongue in cheek) you could as him for a loner airplane since yours has been down for so long.

If it were me, I would sit down and make out a progress timeline, with milestones of completion then add a penalty cost to missing dates, price reduction for the completed job. Of course to do this you will need to commit time to monitoring the work. (no short cuts.)

 

Most importantly, you must get him serious about completing the job. Maybe he knows he is loosing money on the work and is only working on it in his slack time, taking profitable work in between.

 

Just sayin' ..........

[carl]

Well , on close examination of the pictures ,they look great . 

 

But there is only one word here,...No Not Little TIMMY 

 

DOCKET          

 

 

I suggest you reach out to him.

[Shadrach]

Put Bladders in....Can be done by a responsible mechanic in one weekend

Booooo!

[Marauder]

Put Bladders in....Can be done by a responsible mechanic in one weekend

Yeahhhhhhh!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Wakeup]

Thanks for all the comments. I will address a few of them. I am guilty of being too trusting, hence no contract. My parents would be very disappointed. I have remodeled 3 houses and you would have think I would have learned a lesson or two. We did agree upon a price before we started and I paid an initial deposit with a check indicating the balance on the check to buy supplies. Two weeks later after pictures and progress I gave him some more money to get him moving faster and did the same thing on the check so there is no argument on what's left on the balance. Probelm is when I talk to him he gives great lip service. I tried to call him the last couple days with no return calls so I left him a text message basically saying we need to come up with a plan on Monday with deadlines and I may have to get a third party involved. Will keep everyone updated and sorry Allan No Bladders At this time ...Thanks again Troy

[MyNameIsNobody]

Thanks for all the comments. I will address a few of them. I am guilty of being too trusting, hence no contract. My parents would be very disappointed. I have remodeled 3 houses and you would have think I would have learned a lesson or two. We did agree upon a price before we started and I paid an initial deposit with a check indicating the balance on the check to buy supplies. Two weeks later after pictures and progress I gave him some more money to get him moving faster and did the same thing on the check so there is no argument on what's left on the balance. Probelm is when I talk to him he gives great lip service. I tried to call him the last couple days with no return calls so I left him a text message basically saying we need to come up with a plan on Monday with deadlines and I may have to get a third party involved. Will keep everyone updated and sorry Allan No Bladders At this time ...Thanks again Troy

Put yourself in his shoes:

1. He knows he is working with a "nice" guy that has already paid for work completed...

2. He probably has other work that he and shop are turning on a quick timeframe basis...

3. If you gave him no timeframe...set no expectation for completion date...all is well (in his mind)

Set a timeframe. Clearly Communicate your dissatisfaction with time to complete.

Establish consequence in writing for not "hitting the timeframe". Make it "Not shame on you"...

Hope you are up in the air soon. Properly sealed tanks are a beautiful thing.

[Bob_Belville]

I don't know your mechanic but I'd assume he didn't start out to screw you or to take months to do a simple tank reseal but that there's always other work that seems more pressing.

 

My experience is that having a hard date that the A&P can understand is helpful. "I've got to have the plane to go to MAPA May 12 and I will want to get current so I need for you to finish and sign of by 4/30." Or some similar drop dead date that is both doable and understandable. If his heart is in the right place this will help him to put you project in front of many of the kinds of jobs that have taken priority.