Best way to repair this?

[LANCECASPER]

There’s no way of knowing this going into it, so definitely not your fault. I had a similar situation almost 20 years ago thinking I was going to save a few dollars and have an annual done on my then-home field rather than taking it elsewhere to a Mooney specialist, hopefully saving both time and money. Six months later . . . It turned out to be a completely unreasonable IA who was an independent contractor for the local shop and I didn’t realize that I had caught them in the middle of an ongoing battle, where my airplane was caught in the middle and basically held hostage. Mine was the last annual he did for that shop.

All education carries with it tuition. My tuition that year was a hassle and very expensive in time and money. But the lesson I took away from that is that any airplane I own will forever be serviced by someone who specializes in that airplane and carries a reputation of getting things done in a timely manner. My Mooney IA is approaching retirement, he may have done the last annual that he will do on my airplane. But I already have a couple places in mind as a contingency where I have had them do routine maintenance due to schedules not lining up with my IA, and they have done good work, on time.

[smwash02]

2 hours ago, TravelVeteran said:

i've offered to bring in another mechanic to finish the work, he wont even hear it.

Ask what you owe, pay it, and take it out of his hangar. He can refuse to sign it off, but if you pay for the work he can't prevent you from taking it back.

From there someone else can button it up, write up a ferry permit, and you can take it where it needs to go.

Somewhere in the middle you'll need to speak to the airport management to make sure you have continued permission to be there while you obtain your ferry permit. Hopefully he doesn't own the airport.

[EricJ]

4 hours ago, TravelVeteran said:

i've offered to bring in another mechanic to finish the work, he wont even hear it.  no one is allowed in his hangar.  hes a dude in his 60's (looks like 80s) and has a lot of personal issues such as going through a divorce etc.  i offered to buy new tubing, buy the flare tool kit, etc. he wont do anything except his way.  my airplane is stuck there at a private airport in pahrump nevada 1 hour from where i live in las vegas.  he came highly recommended by someone and i just blindly trusted and dropped my airplane there after a couple phone calls with the guy.  ive had to drive there and back 25+ times now to do all of the work otherwise nothing gets done whatsoever.  and now, he really hates my guts and makes everything super hard on me, this is just one example.  

It may not help, but don't feel alone.   Many of us have similar stories of personal experience.   It is, unfortunately, not that unusual.

An acquaintance that had an engine failure away from home left his airplane with the local mechanic.   A year later he resorted to having the sherif extract his airplane, in many pieces with a completely disassembled engine, and take all of it to somebody else who put it all back together.   

[Shadrach]

2 hours ago, smwash02 said:

Ask what you owe, pay it, and take it out of his hangar. He can refuse to sign it off, but if you pay for the work he can't prevent you from taking it back.

From there someone else can button it up, write up a ferry permit, and you can take it where it needs to go.

Somewhere in the middle you'll need to speak to the airport management to make sure you have continued permission to be there while you obtain your ferry permit. Hopefully he doesn't own the airport.

^^^^^^This....

Run away.  The lines in the pics of your first post should take hours to replace not weeks or months.  Why did he open up a brake system that was not leaking?  This mechanic is having personal problems and from what you've shared, things are not improving.  I had a similar experience years ago. the plane was at least on my field.  I got a list of discrepancies. most were legitimate, however some of the solutions were not (new DOM insisted on a complete strip and reseal of my left tank before even opening it).  I requested the plane back.  I went to retrieve it on a Friday after work.  The lower cowl was not with the plane. The oil cooler was safety wired to baffling. Some dipshit wiped my cowl down with MEK which damage the trim stripes and decals. the Logs were thrown in the baggage compartment like someone had emptied a bin into the plane. When we finally got all the parts back and reassembled. The first run revealed that the right mag was mistimed so badly that we saw a 500rpm drop between mags. I tell you all this so that you know that we have all had bad mx experiences and also to stress that if at all possible, you should make sure that you or your new mechanic are present for the reassembly of your plane.  

[TravelVeteran]

yea its a situation where he is extremely hard headed and not willing to even let me have my logs back.  if i walk into his office i get yelled at.  hes an old grumpy dude and has no business being an A&P.  he lost his IA a few years ago apparently. 

he claimed to be a mooney expert but has clearly shown he knows very little about them.  he already got my $ ($9000 in 3 payments) and all i want is my plane back and a sign off.   but at this point ill gladly wheel it out of there but he wont let me do anything.  its on jacks still and locked in his hangar.   if i dont get it back after this brake thing, i'm gonna prob talk to a lawyer about my options.  

[ArtVandelay]

yea its a situation where he is extremely hard headed and not willing to even let me have my logs back.  if i walk into his office i get yelled at.  hes an old grumpy dude and has no business being an A&P.  he lost his IA a few years ago apparently. 
he claimed to be a mooney expert but has clearly shown he knows very little about them.  he already got my $ ($9000 in 3 payments) and all i want is my plane back and a sign off.   but at this point ill gladly wheel it out of there but he wont let me do anything.  its on jacks still and locked in his hangar.   if i dont get it back after this brake thing, i'm gonna prob talk to a lawyer about my options.  

I’d call the police, having proof of registration and the fact you paid $9000 in my hands tell police he has your property. Of course he’ll file a mechanic’s lean and then you’ll might need a lawyer, but the airplane will be in your possession.

[smwash02]

1 hour ago, TravelVeteran said:

hes an old grumpy dude and has no business being an A&P.  he lost his IA a few years ago apparently. 

all i want is my plane back and a sign off.  

Interesting turn of events. Without an active IA license he's not legally able to provide you with an annual sign-off.

Do you know the IA he intends on using? Perhaps he's underwater with them?

[N201MKTurbo]

On 10/6/2021 at 3:47 PM, Shadrach said:

It’s true. I’m concerned that in ten years time most of the folks around me that can do actual maintenance and fabrication work will retire. Most A&Ps in my area under the age of about 50 are parts exchangers.

Just go find the EAA guys, they know how to do all this stuff, and they have the tools to do it.