REFLECTOR: Crossflow Aero Engine Debacle

miltonm at airmail.net miltonm at airmail.net
Thu Aug 26 12:36:22 CDT 2004


>


A series of formal complaints are in order.

REqwuerst a refund.

Write to the District Attorney in the city in which Crossflow is located.

Write to the District Attorney in the state in which Crossflow is located.

Write to Tom at EAA

Write to the magazine that carried the Crossflow ad.

Write to Duane at Velocity

Write to the Federal District Attorney because of commerce and funds
crossing state lines.

Write to the FCC about the commerce and communication crossing state lines.

Write to Crossflow advising them of the letters of complaint that are
being sent and your intention to be made whole.

Buy something else.

Milt





>
> I noticed that Crossflow Aero has been advertising in Sport Aviation with
> increasingly larger and more prominent page space, which is nice, because
> it
> means they are at least pretending to be in business. Has anyone out there
> ever
> ordered and received an engine from them, or even know anyone who has? Did
> anyone see their booth at Oshkosh? Do they even have an engine to show,
> much less
> to sell? Are there any Canadians out there, who live near Toronto, who
> know a
> way to put pressure on them? I ordered my engine in October of 2001. Has
> anyone
> else had to wait three years for an engine?
>
> As some of you may remember, I brought this up a few months ago, and have
> so
> far only received numerous promises that it will be shipped in two weeks.
> When
> nothing shows up, I call and am very calmly given another date, with no
> mention of what happened to the last one. I tried the firm approach, but
> it only
> got me shock and dismay at my rude and offensive behavior for a response.
> My
> current patient approach doesn't seem to be working either, so I need to
> try
> something else.
>
> I'd appreciate any help or advice anyone can provide in this matter. I'm
> thinking of sending portions of this letter to Sport Aviation's
> advertising
> department, in case Crossflow is in fact only in the business of taking
> money. They
> can hardly be expected to make any guarantees about their advertisers, but
> I
> think they'd like to know if something bad was happening. I suppose
> Crossflow
> could be experiencing backlogs or technical difficulties, but repeatedly
> making
> promises they can't keep is hardly the way to handle that.
>
> For those who are interested, here is a little more background: The engine
> was supposed to be delivered six months after placing the order, but there
> was
> nothing in the contract to that effect, so that's really only a starting
> point.
> They asked for the second payment in February of 2002, so at that point
> everything seemed to be on track. Around that time, my painter completely
> ruined my
> Velocity, abandoned half of it in a hangar two hundred miles away, and
> left
> town. As I had no use for an engine while I was sanding off paint, I
> didn't put
> any pressure on Crossflow when I didn't hear from them during the rest of
> 2002. Once, I called to make sure they were still in business and some
> tech told
> me that they had lost their reduction unit provider and were building
> their
> own. As that seemed reasonable, I forgave them for the delay, but not for
> the
> fact that they didn't bother to tell me. In the later part of 2003, my
> next
> painter seemed to be closing in on fixing the mess the first one had made,
> so I
> called Crossflow to check on the status of my engine. No one who knew
> anything
> was there, but Jorge called back and expressed his surprise that I had
> been
> waiting for so long without any explanation, apologized, and promised that
> my
> engine would be shipped in two weeks. A month or so later, Anna, who had
> taken my
> initial order, told me that Jorge was wrong, but that they would have my
> engine ready in two weeks. She is very pleasant, and we discussed what had
> happened up to that point, including the fact that other than not being
> told what was
> going on, I wasn't particularly upset about not having my engine, due to
> problems with painters. A couple of months later, after several more two
> week
> delivery dates came and went, I tried my firm approach, attacking their
> completely
> lack of communication with their customers and inability to live up to
> numerous promises on delivery dates, in a letter even longer than this
> one. Anna was
> shocked and dismayed, called my statements appalling, slanderous, and
> untrue,
> and said she couldn't believe I would say such things considering the
> pleasant and professional relationship we had built up over the years.
> When she
> calmed down, her only explanation was that she thought I didn't want my
> engine
> until my painter was finished and that she was waiting for me to let her
> know when
> I was ready. Seeing that I would get nowhere being firm, I told her I was
> ready, and she asked for the final payment in April of 2004. According to
> the
> contract, the final payment is to be made when the engine is ready for
> shipment.
> Once she had the payment she told me they would ship my engine in two
> weeks.
> She has said the same thing many times since April, and still no engine.
> The
> last promised shipment date was in July, but she added that they were
> getting
> ready for Oshkosh and that they were waiting for Velocity to provide them
> with
> some dimensions. I realized then that she was lying about the delivery
> date,
> and decided to come up with a new plan before calling her again.
> Obviously, I
> have made several mistakes in dealing with them, including: admitting I
> didn't
> mind the initial delay, trusting them, and sending the final payment
> without
> some kind of guarantee that they were actually going to send me an engine
> in
> return. But these are hardly mistakes that harm Crossflow, so I don't know
> what
> they could blame me for, other than causing a misunderstanding or two.
>
> To anyone who has made it this far: any suggestions?
>
> Doug Hayes
> Velocity 173FG (in limbo)
> Boulder, CO
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