Intro Plus Rant

[FlyTy]

Hi everyone! I've been a member for sometime now, but just now posting. I bought my first airplane, a 1964 M20C, at the end of August and I love it. I picked it up in Florida and flew it back to California and I'm doing my instrument training in it. The flight school wanted to inspect it since they have their instructors in it, and fortunately/unfortunately they have a mechanic that used to work at LASAR and the first thing he inspected was the flap spar, and sure enough, there were some tiny cracks there. I guess that's what I get for not getting a pre-buy done by a Mooney specific shop. However, that's not really the rant. I took advantage of the down time to get the front seats re-upholstered by someone who claims to specialize in aircraft interiors. When I dropped them off, he said it would take about two weeks, and estimated around $1500. I just wanted new foam and new covers since the old foam had no support left, and the covers had rips in them. So, fast forward 5 weeks, I send him a message on a Monday asking for an update, he said he has all the sewing done, just needs to paint one more frame(I told him I didn't want the frames repainted when I dropped them off, but since he said he already had one done, I didn't mention it), then he just needs to assemble them. So, Friday comes around, the seats aren't finished. Next Tuesday the shop calls me telling me the plane is finished, and they need a seat to do a run-up before putting the cowling back on. So I contact the upholsterer asking him to assemble the one that is ready, he says he will try. I don't hear from him at all, and one of the mechanics at the shop sends me a message telling me to call him the next morning about the seat. In my mind I'm thinking that we need to figure out what to do about getting a front seat so they can finish the job. Nope. Called the next morning to find out the upholsterer dropped off the seat and the mechanic just says, "The guy did a horrible job on this seat"(pictures below). Now I'm in a bind, he still has my other seat, I haven't paid anything yet, but I can't pay for this workmanship. Hoping maybe I can get some opinions on how to go about this, I've heard everything from not paying for it, to paying for materials but not labor, to writing a check then initiating a stop check payment, then dealing with it in court (I'm not planning on doing this btw). 

[Marauder]

Hi everyone! I've been a member for sometime now, but just now posting. I bought my first airplane, a 1964 M20C, at the end of August and I love it. I picked it up in Florida and flew it back to California and I'm doing my instrument training in it. The flight school wanted to inspect it since they have their instructors in it, and fortunately/unfortunately they have a mechanic that used to work at LASAR and the first thing he inspected was the flap spar, and sure enough, there were some tiny cracks there. I guess that's what I get for not getting a pre-buy done by a Mooney specific shop. However, that's not really the rant. I took advantage of the down time to get the front seats re-upholstered by someone who claims to specialize in aircraft interiors. When I dropped them off, he said it would take about two weeks, and estimated around $1500. I just wanted new foam and new covers since the old foam had no support left, and the covers had rips in them. So, fast forward 5 weeks, I send him a message on a Monday asking for an update, he said he has all the sewing done, just needs to paint one more frame(I told him I didn't want the frames repainted when I dropped them off, but since he said he already had one done, I didn't mention it), then he just needs to assemble them. So, Friday comes around, the seats aren't finished. Next Tuesday the shop calls me telling me the plane is finished, and they need a seat to do a run-up before putting the cowling back on. So I contact the upholsterer asking him to assemble the one that is ready, he says he will try. I don't hear from him at all, and one of the mechanics at the shop sends me a message telling me to call him the next morning about the seat. In my mind I'm thinking that we need to figure out what to do about getting a front seat so they can finish the job. Nope. Called the next morning to find out the upholsterer dropped off the seat and the mechanic just says, "The guy did a horrible job on this seat"(pictures below). Now I'm in a bind, he still has my other seat, I haven't paid anything yet, but I can't pay for this workmanship. Hoping maybe I can get some opinions on how to go about this, I've heard everything from not paying for it, to paying for materials but not labor, to writing a check then initiating a stop check payment, then dealing with it in court (I'm not planning on doing this btw). 

 

Ouch! I think the best approach is to confront him with the issues and see if he will make good on the corrections. Cancelling a payment could end up in court or worse, a lien against you. It might help if you took pictures of what they should look like. Ironically my seats were done in a similar color of leather.

I'll find and post some pictures.

 

 

[0TreeLemur]

Sorry to hear about this.  Their job is to upholstery as this is to painting restoration.

 

[DXB]

That really sucks!  What a colossal pain.  Start with calm but firm communication about the poor workmanship and poor turnaround.  Document and back up everything you say over the phone in an email.  Tell him your preference is immediate return of the other seat unfinished and only a small fractional payment for materials so you can go to another shop.  If he proposes to make it right by finishing the job properly, he is probably entitled to one chance with a clear timeline, but that would of course not be the preference.   A proactively filed suit in small claims court might incentivize him walk away from the situation if he does not cooperate initially.  

As far as the cracked rear spar is concerned, that is a common phenomenon on these planes. My C and many others already have a doubler in place there - at least it's very fixable. Welcome to the trials and tribulations of ownership.  

[FlyTy]

3 hours ago, 0TreeLemur said:

Sorry to hear about this.  Their job is to upholstery as this is to painting restoration.

 

[FlyTy]

1 hour ago, DXB said:

That really sucks!  What a colossal pain.  Start with calm but firm communication about the poor workmanship and poor turnaround.  Document and back up everything you say over the phone in an email.  Tell him your preference is immediate return of the other seat unfinished and only a small fractional payment for materials so you can go to another shop.  If he proposes to make it right by finishing the job properly, he is probably entitled to one chance with a clear timeline, but that would of course not be the preference.   A proactively filed suit in small claims court might incentivize him walk away from the situation if he does not cooperate initially.  

As far as the cracked rear spar is concerned, that is a common phenomenon on these planes. My C and many others already have a doubler in place there - at least it's very fixable. Welcome to the trials and tribulations of ownership.  

That's what I was thinking; to tell him to stop all work on the second seat. I don't want to give him a chance to make it right for two reasons: the airplane has been down for such a long time already and I don't want it grounded any longer because I'm getting my instrument rating in it, second is that I just don't trust his work anymore. Thanks for your advice and the welcoming! 

And Marauder, thanks for those images, they will be nice to use as a properly re-upholstered seat!

[carusoam]

Welcome aboard Ty,

Congrats on your first post.

why did you wait so long to make a first post?

We have plenty of threads on interior refurb... sending out seats... expensive shops, and low cost shops...

we also have threads that cover proper discussions and negotiations after botched jobs...

 

Maintain open communication with the guy doing your work... something isn’t right... I’m sure he wants to make it right...

try not to light the fire...

That won’t get anything done the way you want...

And we have threads around here on PPIs, and spar repairs with pics...

What else do you have in mind...?

Need any pics of what nice leather seats look like from the shop in TX? They have a web site...

Best regards,

-a-

[FlyTy]

Carusoam, looks like I need to make better use of that search tool! I'll be talking to him first thing tomorrow and see where that goes. Not sure why I took so long to post. Probably because of the timing of getting the airplane, then it being down for such a long time for the repair, then with the school semester starting and not being so active on here. 

And thanks for the welcoming! 

[Yetti]

Mine was a little better.  And it only cost $700 for the chairs, the side panels and new carpet. but hey it was the first time doing seats.

Oh and hopefully he did not drill new holes where those screws are.   In the original they are plastic holders.   Maybe buy him a pair of glasses.

 

[67 m20F chump]

Those seats look like hammered crap.  Get your other seat back.  It would be one thing if you did this job yourself but to pay for bad workmanship is not good.  
 

how about some spar photos.  I’m not familiar with this issue.

[Yetti]

35 minutes ago, 67 m20F chump said:

 

how about some spar photos.  I’m not familiar with this issue.

 

[Pete M]

Took my front and back seats to local auto upholstery shop. Refoamed, covered, new carpets, 800 bucks. 

[Oldguy]

8 hours ago, FlyTy said:

Carusoam, looks like I need to make better use of that search tool! I'll be talking to him first thing tomorrow and see where that goes. Not sure why I took so long to post. Probably because of the timing of getting the airplane, then it being down for such a long time for the repair, then with the school semester starting and not being so active on here. 

And thanks for the welcoming! 

When it is hard to find something using the MS search tool, you can always go out to Google and search "mooneyspace.com: search string".

And welcome aboard!

[Browncbr1]

pay for what you get... upholstery isn't easy and some people think they can just jump into the business without experience..  This looks like someone who has never done it before. Anyone who has worked a machine before knows not to even try to simulate double needle with a single needle machine...    No way in heck I would have quoted $1500 taking on a project of the scale. 

A complete mooney interior redesigned makeover is 120-140 hours, plus about $1500 in materials if it's done right.

Edited December 17, 2019 by Browncbr1

[tmo]

4 hours ago, Oldguy said:

When it is hard to find something using the MS search tool, you can always go out to Google and search "mooneyspace.com: search string".

Actually, it works better to google for: whatever and ever site:mooneyspace.com

The "site:mooneyspace.com" limits the results to those from mooneyspace.com - simples.

[flyer338]

Many years ago, with help from one of my flying buddies, I redid the interior in my C model using a kit from Airtex. They are still around. Their product was good quality and reasonably priced.

https://www.airtexinteriors.com/catalogue/seat_assemblies.php