Aspen MAX turn around time

[Cruiser]

On 2/10/2020 at 11:18 AM, twitmer said:

Cessna pilot here...but waited most of the year for avionics shop to give me the "green light" for my Aspen MAX upgrade. I have two panels, the 1000PFD and the 500MFC. Flew the plane over to the shop on Dec 8, 2019.  Was told it would be a few weeks. Today is Feb 10th, still don't have it back. Nor have the units shipped back from Aspen yet.

Have reached out to Aspen and they replied they are experiencing delays with 3rd party vendors keeping up with demand for circuit boards. They were to overnight last week, but no bueno.

Soon, I'll be out of currency. I reached out to AOPA to see if they could investigate and they replied that after reaching out to Aspen and agreeing they are working through a backlog, they denied having any units as long as they've had mine.

If I'd have known I'd be over 2 months without wings, I'd definitely reconsider. Or would have planned to take advantage of this extended downtime to perform other upgrades while over at the shop. 

Disappointing for sure, but hopefully in the end it will be worth it. Learning a lot about patience, that's for sure.

 

Travis

what is your purpose to come here and make this your first post. ?

 

Perhaps you can introduce yourself, tell us a little about your flying and why you are on the Mooney forum if you have a Cessna. 

thanks,

[Andy95W]

3 hours ago, Cruiser said:

 and why you are on the Mooney forum if you have a Cessna. 

 

He's here because we have a decent group of folks.  His other option is probably pilotsofamerica.com where a lot of them are d-bags.

[Baker Avionics]

On 8/14/2019 at 6:47 AM, Bob_Belville said:

I just talked  to my avionics shop about bringing them my plane to pull the Aspen and send it in for MAX upgrade. It seems they've sent in 4 units so far but have not got any back - at least a couple of those have been longer than the 10 day turn around that's been discussed.

Anyone here have insight? Got yours back?

We have sent 13 back there and have had them all back within 5-7 business days easily!  At one point, we sent 9 of those at one time and had them back in that time frame.  Don't be fooled!!!!

[Bob_Belville]

21 hours ago, Baker Avionics said:

We have sent 13 back there and have had them all back within 5-7 business days easily!  At one point, we sent 9 of those at one time and had them back in that time frame.  Don't be fooled!!!!

Great to hear that they've caught up. I'm a long time, happy Aspen owner. 

You're commenting on my post from 6 months ago... it was presented as anecdotal and it was a question... I don't know where your crack about fooling anyone comes from... (!!!!?)

[MIm20c]

5 hours ago, Bob_Belville said:

Great to hear that they've caught up. I'm a long time, happy Aspen owner. 

You're commenting on my post from 6 months ago... it was presented as anecdotal and it was a question... I don't know where your crack about fooling anyone comes from... (!!!!?)

I think his suggestion is shops might be using parts availability excuse to put current customers in the holding pattern (with deposits already cashed) while they sneak in a few more/new customers. Currently dealing with that and I’m about to shake the tree...or grab a chainsaw. 

[Baker Avionics]

On 2/16/2020 at 6:03 AM, Bob_Belville said:

Great to hear that they've caught up. I'm a long time, happy Aspen owner. 

You're commenting on my post from 6 months ago... it was presented as anecdotal and it was a question... I don't know where your crack about fooling anyone comes from... (!!!!?)

Thank you for the kind words!  Some folks will say that it has taken months to get done I know better is all I was trying to get across

[ziggysanchez]

My Aspen upgrade was supposed to happen in November. It got pushed to end of December. Then to January. Now it's mid February and still nothing. I don't think they've caught up at all unless they are just neglecting me.

[Marauder]

My Aspen upgrade was supposed to happen in November. It got pushed to end of December. Then to January. Now it's mid February and still nothing. I don't think they've caught up at all unless they are just neglecting me.

If you are working with an avionics shop, you may want to check with them directly. Mine was scheduled for November, just before Thanksgiving. It was done in about 10 business days.


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[ziggysanchez]

12 minutes ago, Marauder said:

 

If you are working with an avionics shop, you may want to check with them directly. Mine was scheduled for November, just before Thanksgiving. It was done in about 10 business days.


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This is what Aspen is telling my avionics shop. My guy calls or texts the rep every time I inquire about the status of the upgrade (about every 3 weeks). He and I both got the email from Aspen saying they were caught up and to call them for scheduling. This has been my result. I'm not sure what's going on and neither does my avionics guy.

 

[Marauder]

This is what Aspen is telling my avionics shop. My guy calls or texts the rep every time I inquire about the status of the upgrade (about every 3 weeks). He and I both got the email from Aspen saying they were caught up and to call them for scheduling. This has been my result. I'm not sure what's going on and neither does my avionics guy.
 

That’s why I suggested you call Aspen directly. I suspect some of the busier shops aren’t providing accurate information due to their scheduling issues... take it for what its worth.


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[LANCECASPER]

9 minutes ago, Marauder said:

That’s why I suggested you call Aspen directly. I suspect some of the busier shops aren’t providing accurate information due to their scheduling issues... take it for what its worth.


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Exaaactly. I signed up for the MAX upgrade in February 2019. When I was in Oshkosh in late July 2019 I checked at the Aspen tent to see approximately when I should expect the upgrade. I was told that they e-mailed my shop two weeks before and told them to send mine in. I never heard from the shop and since I flew commercially to Oshkosh they could have been sent off while I was gone. I was a little disappointed but I understand there's only so much space at the shop and so many hands to work on the airplanes. Now, since there has been so much written about delays it's very easy for the shop to blame Aspen for any delays. I've found their employees very good to work with, on the phone and in person.

[ziggysanchez]

I'm doing the swap so I'm actually just waiting for the replacements to arrive. I'm going to go ahead and reach out to Aspen today. I appreciate the advice.

[BaldEagle]

2 hours ago, ziggysanchez said:

I'm doing the swap so I'm actually just waiting for the replacements to arrive. I'm going to go ahead and reach out to Aspen today. I appreciate the advice.

That’s what I did.  I had to move my slot as I was getting the windshield replaced at another airport so I was coordinating with both Aspen directly and the avionics shop.  Aspen told me 15 business days so I reached out to them after 3 weeks and they responded very promptly with a FedEx tracking number.  The plane is getting the upgraded Aspen installed as I type this.  I’ve only heard positive things about Aspen’s customer service, and that’s been my experience (I had an EA100 go bad and replaced under warranty, which could not have gone smoother).