REFLECTOR: Crossflow Aero Engine Debacle
Cindie Alexander-Paschal
alcon at bellsouth.net
Fri Aug 27 13:37:47 CDT 2004
Alex, we are loacted in Cartersville, Georgia (close to Rome, Ga.)
Alex Balic wrote:
> Ed,
>
> Where are you located?
>
> Alex
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org
> [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org]On Behalf Of Cindie
> Alexander-Paschal
> Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2004 2:03 PM
> To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
> Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Crossflow Aero Engine Debacle
>
> 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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