REFLECTOR: Crossflow Aero Engine Debacle

[Cindie Alexander-Paschal]

Doug, We believe that we e-mailed you about our Crossflow engine, maybe 
not. Well anyway. We ordered ours in 2003 after Oshkosh. with a deliver 
date of January?? We did have some troubles with the dates that kept 
changing but finally received our engine in April 2004. Now we just hung 
the engine so as far as any problems we can not attest to that. We do 
have to speak up for Crossflow as enough though the engine was not 
exactly on time we have it on our Velocity. Jorge did tell us that as 
soon as we where ready he personally would come down and do whatever it 
is that we need help with. We had a bad experience with another engine 
company and we were very leery of ordering again. Again our engine sure 
looks good (hope that it runs as good). We will update you as to the 
performance as we move ahead. Also the radiator has to have a 
modification to fit in our cowling, Jorge is working on this.  Hope you 
have better news next e-mail   Ed Paschal

DOHAYES at aol.com wrote:

> Dear Reflectorites -
>  
> 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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