Disappointed in Aircraft Spruce

jd21476

Line Up and Wait
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San Diego, CA
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jd21476
I am actually really upset with Aircraft Spruce and will avoid ordering from them in the future. I ordered two American Flag stickers for my airplane on Sept 9,2019. It is now October 14 and I still havent gotten them. Supposedly they were backordered then they sent me a bill for an additional $6 for shipping then they shipped on Oct 7, supposedly, and after paying $12 to ship two stickers they mailed them USPS First Class.

I feel like they totally ripped me off. $12 to find out they put a stamp on them and mailed them, thats not fair business practices. Not only that if they mailed them on Oct 7th then where are they? Are they coming from Russia?
 
I thought that this was going to be one of those "now I have to pay sales tax" rants.

<---- has to pay sales tax now if I order from Spruce.
 
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I called them twice and was on hold for over 20 min. Finally today I said I am just going to hold no matter how long it takes. Today was only 10 min and they said they actually shipped Oct 4th but they dont have a tracking number. She said they should have been here by now ‍♂️
 
So you’re saying that Aircraft Spruce uses slave labor for shipping? Illegal aliens that they don’t have to pay?
 
I thought that this was going to be one of those "now I have to pay sales tax" rants.

<---- has to pay sales tax now if I order from Spruce.

Really?

Didn’t realize they were doing that BS, who’s not scamming with sales tax for out of state orders?
 
I’ve seen first class mail take a week or more from just 1 state away, USPS still uses ponies I think. Might depend on whether package/envelope is a standard size.
Seems like a big rant over a couple of stickers?
 
I am glad you guys find spruce so wonderful. On a $2000 order they shorted me a box of spark plug gaskets. After several calls they refused to make the order good.

After ordering probably $10,000 in stuff from them over the years, couldn’t imagine they were will to **** off a customer over a trivial cost item.
 
I am glad you guys find spruce so wonderful. On a $2000 order they shorted me a box of spark plug gaskets. After several calls they refused to make the order good. After ordering probably $10,000 in stuff from them over the years, couldn’t imagine they were will to **** off a customer over a trivial cost item.
Sounds like employees aren't empowered to make decisions or don't give a flying frac. Both are a problem. OTOH, calling them about stickers on a Monday morning when there's probably AOG in desperate need of parts is an invitation to long hold times.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/terms.html#prReturnPolicy
 
I’ve seen first class mail take a week or more from just 1 state away, USPS still uses ponies I think. Might depend on whether package/envelope is a standard size.
Seems like a big rant over a couple of stickers?


Yeah its a rant but the point was they charged me $12 to ship two stickers USPS
 
I am actually really upset with Aircraft Spruce and will avoid ordering from them in the future. I ordered two American Flag stickers for my airplane on Sept 9,2019. It is now October 14 and I still havent gotten them. Supposedly they were backordered then they sent me a bill for an additional $6 for shipping then they shipped on Oct 7, supposedly, and after paying $12 to ship two stickers they mailed them USPS First Class.

I feel like they totally ripped me off. $12 to find out they put a stamp on them and mailed them, thats not fair business practices. Not only that if they mailed them on Oct 7th then where are they? Are they coming from Russia?

jd21476, I apologize for how this order was handled. You never should have been charged a penny more than you were first quoted at checkout on aircraftspruce.com. In looking into your order, we had no stock on the stickers and in order to expedite the shipment the manufacturer was instructed to ship them directly to you. They charged that additional shipping, however, it should not have been passed to you. I confirmed that the difference from your initial order has all been refunded to you, however, if you see any issues please feel free to contact me directly. We have reached out to the manufacturer again as they insist that it actually shipped on October 4th but have not provided us with tracking confirmation for you. We again apologize for the mistakes that took place with this order.

Andrew Buchanan
Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co.
(P) 951-372-9555 ext. 198
andrewbuchanan@aircraftspruce.com
 
Really?

Didn’t realize they were doing that BS, who’s not scamming with sales tax for out of state orders?

In regards to the sales tax, unfortunately, due to changes in federal and state tax regulations which became effective October 1st, we, as well as all other retailers, are now required to collect and remit sales tax on all transactions shipping to a variety of states. These laws are now regardless of whether we have a physical presence in the state, simply the product being shipped there. If you have a resale or tax exemption certificate for your state we will happily apply that to exempt your account.
 
In regards to the sales tax, unfortunately, due to changes in federal and state tax regulations which became effective October 1st, we, as well as all other retailers, are now required to collect and remit sales tax on all transactions shipping to a variety of states. These laws are now regardless of whether we have a physical presence in the state, simply the product being shipped there. If you have a resale or tax exemption certificate for your state we will happily apply that to exempt your account.

Thanks for the info, didn’t know that.

Gotta love big gov :cheerswine:


*edit, always had good experiences with spruce
 
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I’ve had outstanding service from ACS, although I do think the shipping is irritating. That said, the system shows me what the shipping price is BEFORE I complete the purchase, so it’s the customers choice whether they want to complete the order or not. I try to order enough stuff to get the free shipping.
 
Glad they responded in a positive manner.

Having built a Vans kit using ACS for everything not in the kit, I found them well stocked, fast, and reliable. Knowing that an order of practically any size will ship same day is a big deal during a build. I found the USPS particularly fast with small envelope sized orders with reliable 1st Class 2 day delivery from Atlanta to Durham.

I’ve had deliveries go to a neighbor a couple of times and found that ACS is not Amazon - they won’t immediately credit the order and ship another. But the problem wasn’t theirs, it was UPS’s.

And I’d order flag stickers from someone else, but that’s just me. MS and AN stuff I get from ACS.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
FWIW: I don't think there is a single aircraft parts house that didn't have a hiccup or two when supplying parts. From my mx perspective, Aircraft Spruce and Univair are the top 2 for general aviation. Now if you want to experience real parts issues, buy yourself a French helicopter with a Turbomeca engine. It's the only time I ever saw a 28 month procurement date on a spare part from the factory.;)
 
FWIW: I don't think there is a single aircraft parts house that didn't have a hiccup or two when supplying parts. From my mx perspective, Aircraft Spruce and Univair are the top 2 for general aviation. Now if you want to experience real parts issues, buy yourself a French helicopter with a Turbomeca engine. It's the only time I ever saw a 28 month procurement date on a spare part from the factory.;)
Have you tried to procure a ruddervator for a newer V-Tail lately?
 
Spruce has always been great for me. For 20 years, the guy who ran the will call desk knew me by name. He even recognized my voice over the phone. With two homebuilts, one >partial< Aeronca restoration, and several other projects that have all required a bunch of stuff from them, they are my go-to vendor.
 
Have you tried to procure a ruddervator for a newer V-Tail lately?
For specific airframe parts I'd go the salvage yard or Ebay route with moderate success. In most cases "new" was not an option. Got a part number handy?
 
The OP post is either a hoax or an error at Spruce. Aircraft Spruce just rocks. Who else would pay an employee $10 to pack $1.00 of AN washers for you. Nearly everyone else in the biz has package minimums.

Like others, I've bought $1000's from these guys. I've NEVER been charged for either a partial back order shipping later or if they had to source from one of their other warehouses. Can't remember how many times I ordered parts from their Cali warehouse and a small part of that order was out of stock and had to come from their East coast warehouse at no extra charge to me.

Annoying when someone recklessly attacks a company with such an impeccable record. On 2 occasions, I had issues with orders. 100's of orders stuff happens. 1 phone call and they couldn't fix it fast enough.

Call them before you trash them.
 
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I have been updating an experimental aircraft while also building another. So, I’ve ordered a lot of stuff from Aircraft Spruce over the past couple years. One particular order was a full set of forged wheels, tires, brakes and master cylinders that I bought on July 2nd. And in this case, I paid them using Paypal so money was immediately transferred — note, I will not do this in the future. With lead times, I was expecting 4 weeks per the vendor. Well, it is now mid-October and I have been emailing and calling Spruce to get an update since the second week after I ordered. No, I don’t need the wheels now. But, I would have welcomed at least an estimated ETA. The ACS person I have been in touch with (now over email) cannot get any information about my order. And, when pressed, she will email me and tell me that she has asked the Aircraft Spruce Buyer to get in touch with the vendor. Then no follow up. I email again the following week or two — I wasn’t in a huge rush back then — and she would tell me she will reach out again to find in subsequent emails that she received no info and will talk to the ACS buyer again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I’ve called the vendor and tried to skip ACS but the problem is they have an internal PO number so no direct way to look up my order. Anyway, I finally reached the end of my rope last week, mostly because I am fitting my main landing gear into the wings and now really do need the wheels and tires. So I asked to speak to her manager or someone who can do some actual investigative work. She did give me his email address while also re-confirming that she has not received any further information about my order. I was intending to type up the full summary of my situation this week to send to the manager, only to be surprised today. I received a UPS email and my wheels and brakes arrive tomorrow! I called up the vendor and confirmed that this was indeed my stuff. From the tracking number, they were able to find the internal PO with ACS. The vendor claims they have been giving ACS info about my order, but it has not been making it to me. Who knows if this is a fabrication or the truth. In the end, this experience really was not that great. I suppose it is acceptable if I was ordering a $20 thingamajig, but for a sizeable purchase like this, I feel like they should have at least tried to call the company up for me or at least follow up with me promptly ... and proactively.

To cap things off, a couple weeks ago, I ordered a part from ACS for for an engine that goes into another aircraft I am building. This was two (2) weeks ago. To be fair, the order does state a 2 week lead time. Just today, I received an email from an ACS rep saying that the order is not returnable if I proceed with the order and that there is a 2 to 4 week lead time once I confirm that I am willing to continue. I have already waited 2 weeks — and now with this email, I have another 2-4 weeks lead time... again. Why don't they send this email immediately after I order the part? Why wait 2 weeks to ask?

After all of this, I conclude the following. ACS is great for all of the thingamajigs that they have in stock and ready to ship. HOWEVER, their systems / processes / communications do not generally extend to things that require coordination with a 3rd party vendor — these are generally bigger ticket items or are less frequently purchased goods that ACS will not take inventory risk on. If you need to buy any of this stuff, call the vendor directly and ask them what retailer has inventory in stock or has preferred access to it and also what to expect with lead times. In the end, it saves everyone time and you (the customer) stay better informed. If you do end up buying from ACS (and the part is critical or important to you), get on the phone the next day or two with them and tie the two ends together — the vendor and ACS — so that an ordering process is being triggered.
 
So too be fair, the President of Aircraft Spruce read my post and did look up my order. He personally sent me an email apologizing for the delay. I feel that was a nice gesture and I do want to give credit where credit is due because they (Aircraft Spruce) did not have to do that.
 
I have been updating an experimental aircraft while also building another. So, I’ve ordered a lot of stuff from Aircraft Spruce over the past couple years. One particular order was a full set of forged wheels, tires, brakes and master cylinders that I bought on July 2nd. And in this case, I paid them using Paypal so money was immediately transferred — note, I will not do this in the future. With lead times, I was expecting 4 weeks per the vendor. Well, it is now mid-October and I have been emailing and calling Spruce to get an update since the second week after I ordered. No, I don’t need the wheels now. But, I would have welcomed at least an estimated ETA. The ACS person I have been in touch with (now over email) cannot get any information about my order. And, when pressed, she will email me and tell me that she has asked the Aircraft Spruce Buyer to get in touch with the vendor. Then no follow up. I email again the following week or two — I wasn’t in a huge rush back then — and she would tell me she will reach out again to find in subsequent emails that she received no info and will talk to the ACS buyer again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I’ve called the vendor and tried to skip ACS but the problem is they have an internal PO number so no direct way to look up my order. Anyway, I finally reached the end of my rope last week, mostly because I am fitting my main landing gear into the wings and now really do need the wheels and tires. So I asked to speak to her manager or someone who can do some actual investigative work. She did give me his email address while also re-confirming that she has not received any further information about my order. I was intending to type up the full summary of my situation this week to send to the manager, only to be surprised today. I received a UPS email and my wheels and brakes arrive tomorrow! I called up the vendor and confirmed that this was indeed my stuff. From the tracking number, they were able to find the internal PO with ACS. The vendor claims they have been giving ACS info about my order, but it has not been making it to me. Who knows if this is a fabrication or the truth. In the end, this experience really was not that great. I suppose it is acceptable if I was ordering a $20 thingamajig, but for a sizeable purchase like this, I feel like they should have at least tried to call the company up for me or at least follow up with me promptly ... and proactively.

To cap things off, a couple weeks ago, I ordered a part from ACS for for an engine that goes into another aircraft I am building. This was two (2) weeks ago. To be fair, the order does state a 2 week lead time. Just today, I received an email from an ACS rep saying that the order is not returnable if I proceed with the order and that there is a 2 to 4 week lead time once I confirm that I am willing to continue. I have already waited 2 weeks — and now with this email, I have another 2-4 weeks lead time... again. Why don't they send this email immediately after I order the part? Why wait 2 weeks to ask?

After all of this, I conclude the following. ACS is great for all of the thingamajigs that they have in stock and ready to ship. HOWEVER, their systems / processes / communications do not generally extend to things that require coordination with a 3rd party vendor — these are generally bigger ticket items or are less frequently purchased goods that ACS will not take inventory risk on. If you need to buy any of this stuff, call the vendor directly and ask them what retailer has inventory in stock or has preferred access to it and also what to expect with lead times. In the end, it saves everyone time and you (the customer) stay better informed. If you do end up buying from ACS (and the part is critical or important to you), get on the phone the next day or two with them and tie the two ends together — the vendor and ACS — so that an ordering process is being triggered.

We reviewed the posting from our customer regarding the long delay in delivery of the special order wheel and brake set. Aircraft Spruce ordered this product from the manufacturer when he placed the order with us in July and asked for it to be drop shipped. Over the next three months, we were unable to get firm ship dates from the manufacturer while they first lost the order, then had production issues overseas, etc. They finally shipped it to our customer in October. We regret this long delay and have informed the manufacturer that this level of service is unacceptable.

The same customer has experienced a two-week delay on a Lycoming part that should have been expedited by our purchasing department but was not. The part is on order with the factory now and will be shipped to the customer the same day we receive it, but we clearly dropped the ball in not getting it ordered sooner.

Aircraft Spruce strives to ship all in-stock orders the same day they are placed, and we are also able to quickly drop ship special order items direct from the manufacturer to our customers. Delivery time depends on lead time on each product, but most special orders ship within 7-10 days. The long delay on the wheel and brake set caused by the manufacturer and was very unusual. We are sorry for the inconvenience this delay caused our customer.

Aircraft Spruce
Customer Service Dept.
 
With ACS, I've never had a glitch in more than four years of ordering everything from transponders to ADS-B to cotter pins. And that includes custom-length coax cables and a nicely made intercom harness for my GTR-200.

No problem with CA sales tax...just makes it easier to total up all the other major out-of-state parts when I had to cut a big check to the board of equalization.

Just another data point from an extremely happy customer. :)
 
The one time i complained to aircraft spruce i was personally contacted by president Jim Irwin who made sure things were made right - and it was after hours when he contacted me.

Shocked the heck out of me that he would take the time, especially since this wasnt a overly expensive item. Made me a customer for life.
 
Their shipping is unruly on small stuff...
 
All this over bumper stickers

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Their shipping is unruly on small stuff...

Think about how much it costs to pull one AN-3 bolt, package it, and label it. Then add in shipping. The transactional costs are surprisingly high.
 
Their shipping is unruly on small stuff...

Don't blame them. For me to ship anything UPS or FedEx it costs at least $8.00 for ground service now - that's for 1lb. It goes up from there. We aren't big enough (and spruce might not be either) to get the discount where everything is $5 to ship.
 
To be honest, I freaking love ACS... Even though I actually live inside the People's Republic of Kalifornia and have to pay the sales tax...
 
Think about how much it costs to pull one AN-3 bolt, package it, and label it. Then add in shipping. The transactional costs are surprisingly high.
Try USPS on the really small stuff. Cheaper and faster for me though not trackable.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
If all you want is a couple of stickers and you see a six dollar charge to have them shipped try suppressing the urge to click that mouse and try shopping around or at least just have them included in a more significant order. . My only complaint with Spruce is they (used to) fill every box with that Styrofoam popcorn stuff but I think they've stopped doing that. I'm glad to see this got worked out though it was an awful lot of energy spent over a couple of stickers and twelve bucks.
 
I have great experiences with Aircraft Spruce. I had parts shipped several times when I first bought my plane and they always had it right and on time. I think some thought has to be given that we are not a large enough market to do everything cheap. The example of paying someone to find your custom washers and ship them is legit.

Now I live so close (20 minutes from their Georgia location) that I just drive over and get my stuff which is even better.
 
For just stickers or a shirt why not just use amazon?

Or rather smile.amazon and make them donate to a 2A foundation ;)
 
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