Aircraft Spruce

LesGawlik

LesGawlik

Line Up and Wait
Joined
May 6, 2006
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956
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Good Guy
I've been a customer for more than 20 years. They have always been okay for shipping, but nothing great.

With my last few orders, they've been fantastic. I place an order, and the next day I get an email about delivery. It's almost like Prime.

I have no connection with AS. I think extraordinary service should be recognized.
 
I ordered parts for a headset, recently. Both orders were shipped quickly and arrived in a day. I’m fairly close to their Southern California location. I was impressed.
 
I was talking to customer service a few weeks ago and the lady told me if I ordered what I was asking about I had 20 minutes until that day’s orders would go out UPS. I hung up, did a few minutes more research then I ordered online. Not only did they get the shipment out that day, but it arrived a day early. I’ve always had good service and quick shipping from Aircraft Spruce.
 
I live near Fort Worth.

Ordered something that I needed in a hurry and paid overnight shipping.

It came from an aircraft supply house in Fort Worth open to the public, but associating AS.

I coulda driven there, gotten the item in same time frame, and saved the overnight ship fee.
 
AggieMike88 said:
I live near Fort Worth.

Ordered something that I needed in a hurry and paid overnight shipping.

It came from an aircraft supply house in Fort Worth open to the public, but associating AS.

I coulda driven there, gotten the item in same time frame, and saved the overnight ship fee.
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But that’s on you, right? Spruce ain’t gonna tell you to hang up and drive 5 minutes down the street to buy it from someone else.
 
I picked up 5 gallons of pickling oil and 4 pints of Camguard this morning. The Alaska store is about 10 minutes from home. Very handy. Great staff. I like to order and pay on the website. Walk in, walk out in seconds. My kind of shopping.
 
I had an important and expensive order sent to the house once. UPS showed it delivered. Got home shortly afterwards and there was no package. I was convinced that it was stolen from my porch. It was after hours. Couldn’t get anyone on the phone at UPS so I called Spruce. They said that they would call me back with information. I wasn’t expecting to get any answers that late but sure enough they called me back to inform that UPS would be returning to my house to straighten this out. UPS came back after dark with the package. Apparently they had dropped it at the wrong address. Spruce said they have a direct phone line for shipping help when problems like this arise. Very impressive!
 
Jdm said:
I had an important and expensive order sent to the house once. UPS showed it delivered. Got home shortly afterwards and there was no package. I was convinced that it was stolen from my porch. It was after hours. Couldn’t get anyone on the phone at UPS so I called Spruce. They said that they would call me back with information. I wasn’t expecting to get any answers that late but sure enough they called me back to inform that UPS would be returning to my house to straighten this out. UPS came back after dark with the package. Apparently they had dropped it at the wrong address. Spruce said they have a direct phone line for shipping help when problems like this arise. Very impressive!
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I bet ACS set this up because UPS was F-ing up their rep.

UPS driver smashed a crate and delivered it to me in obviously damaged condition. No note, nothing! When I called them, all they said was that the shipper could file a claim. And that I, as the receiver, had to seek a refund or replacement from the shipper.

And to top that off, UPS customer service was rude!
 
I like ACS selection, beats the **** out of Sportys. The one thing I have never liked is that they never seem to be able to give you an exact amount for shipping. I print off my order and it has one shipping cost and when my credit card gets billed it is always a few dollars more.

That being said, if you need oil...here is a better priced website than ACS. Learned about it from a Cessna 172 forum. Airplaneoil.com
A case of their Phillips 66 XC 20/50 is $16 less than ACS. I ordered two cases and some Camguard and saved about $36 over ACS (that is 7 gallons of avgas where I live!)
 
wilkersk said:
I bet ACS set this up because UPS was F-ing up their rep.

UPS driver smashed a crate and delivered it to me in obviously damaged condition. No note, nothing! When I called them, all they said was that the shipper could file a claim. And that I, as the receiver, had to seek a refund or replacement from the shipper.

And to top that off, UPS customer service was rude!
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Until Amazon said enough is enough and started doing their own deliveries.
UPS might be getting better, I don’t use them enough to see a trend. They definitely never use to handle fragile or this end up packages correctly, I haven’t shipped or received any of these types lately to be able to judge.
 
I won’t order from them after how they shipped some 4x12 sheets of .025 aluminum to me for my Sonex a number of years back. The sheets were just sitting on top of a large pallet with a single piece of cardboard on top and held down with metal strapping. There was zero protection for the sheets. When they showed up they were so badly damaged they were unusable. AS then gave me the runaround trying to blame the shipper with the shipper pointing back at bad packaging l all while I got stuck unable to build for 3 months while they figure it out. The second shipment was packaged almost the same way with no protection and came in damaged as well. I used what I could and sent the rest back with the shipper. I have been using wicks ever since. They roll their sheets so they fit in a box, are protected, and cost a heck of a lot less in shipping fees.
 
If you are not ordering metal from local suppliers that can get it you are simply throwing money away. No, not home depot, but the local/online metal suppliers that sell 2024/6061 etc sell the the exact same stuff as AS&S. If you want a certification, they usually charge an extra fee (like $20) for the lot you get your cut from. If they can't/won't give you the paperwork then look elsewhere. But most can/do.
 
AS has always treated me well with customer service and shipping. My only complaint lately is if the parts are in stock in the Alaska branch they ship those parts from there and ship the rest out of the other branches. So I pay more for shipping and the parts arrive at different times.
 
yeah. I’m 10 minutes from their meacham store. I go there all the time.


AggieMike88 said:
I live near Fort Worth.

Ordered something that I needed in a hurry and paid overnight shipping.

It came from an aircraft supply house in Fort Worth open to the public, but associating AS.

I coulda driven there, gotten the item in same time frame, and saved the overnight ship fee.
Click to expand...
 
I built my plane with about $15k over a number of years with AS parts. The one time I had a complaint, I get a personal email from Jim (?) the head hancho who immediately took care of the problem.
 
In their early days they did have great prices.

However; shipping practices were crazy.

Order 2 day and told on back order.

Wait a month and then sent extra charge.

Things are better now.

There can be better choices on some items but they may require

buying in larger quantities. ie. Cherry -Max rivets
 
Magman said:
...There can be better choices on some items but they may require
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I think their big advantage is the breadth of their catalogue and inventory. You can order a logbook, a new handheld GPS, a quarter pound of rivets, 6 AN bolts, 2 sparkplugs, 3 oil filters, and a partridge in a pear tree, through one website and <usually> all of it will be on your doorstep in a few days.

Much more convenient than ordering the same items from 4 different suppliers and paying 4 different shipping costs.
 
I’m not disagreeing at all with convenience.

But their is a reason the other folks exist.

ie At one time you could never beat “Linda Lou” on plugs. Only.

One caveat with ACS and others is to verify the SB status of mags etc when

ordering.

Missing out on warranty items is not nice.
 
Linda Lou was great. For years I was able to walk in and get whatever was needed. She had all the common items in stock. Good ole days.
 
scarcherpilot said:
That being said, if you need oil...here is a better priced website than ACS. Learned about it from a Cessna 172 forum. Airplaneoil.com
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Thanks for the link!

I just checked it for Aeroshell Sport 4 (recommended for ROTAX 912’s), and it is indeed cheaper there - $127 vs. $148 for a case of 12. That said, I wonder why the Sport 4 is priced so much higher than the other piston oils. Of course, it does help that oil changes only require 3 quarts, and I didn’t compare shipping costs, but still…


Edited to add: Amazon has the same thing for $177.81, but with free shipping.
 
Spruce always price matches competitors. Just add it in the comments section when ordering.
 
LesGawlik said:
I've been a customer for more than 20 years. They have always been okay for shipping, but nothing great.

With my last few orders, they've been fantastic. I place an order, and the next day I get an email about delivery. It's almost like Prime.

I have no connection with AS. I think extraordinary service should be recognized.
Click to expand...

I have only been a customer for 4 years and have to say that they have provided great delivery service to me also.
Very thankful for the "one stop" shopping" and a great website.
Thanks Aircraft Spruce.
 
Aircraft Spruce has always been good with me. Plus, if you are active or retired military they give you a discount. Anywhere from 2-5%, depending on the item...
 
MacFarlane ( never spell it right) gives or gave A &P’s a modest discount.

At times you could actually talk with the person MAKING your part.
 
LesGawlik said:
I've been a customer for more than 20 years. They have always been okay for shipping, but nothing great.

With my last few orders, they've been fantastic. I place an order, and the next day I get an email about delivery. It's almost like Prime.

I have no connection with AS. I think extraordinary service should be recognized.
Click to expand...

Same. I live in Connecticut and free ground shipping from PA usually has orders at my door the next day. Way better than Amazon because they don't throw packages out the van window as they do a drive-by.
 
I actually used their shipping model for my StrutWipe product line. Now that's a compliment!
 
ACS is an extremely well run company with probably the best website in the business, which is critical nowadays. Not always the cheapest but the service usually makes it worth it.

I do miss Dillsburg though...
 
I was going to add to this thread as a happy customer until they screwed me this morning on a warranty claim. Going to have to rethink some things.
 
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