Heh, the "National Aviation Center" sent me a letter

[cowman]

Apparently the registration on the airplane I sold is expiring and this official sounding agency wants to help me take care of this serious problem. Hmmmmm....

Looks like the scam is they charge you $65 to do the $5 registration for you through their website. Hard to believe pilots wouldn't know what agency their airplanes are registered through but I guess mail is cheap and there's a sucker somewhere.

 

[pmanton]

That's a ripoff. I'll do it for $55

 

[Fiveslide]

They try to get coast guard registered vessels like this, too.

 

[Salty]

I look at it as a free mail reminder to renew through the Faa website paid for by those that don't pay any attention to what's going on around them.

 

[Rgbeard]

I bet there’s more than one administrative assistant that’s processed these for their boss.

 

[SkyDog58]

Amazing. Some folks will complain about dealing with the FAA and then bash a company willing to do it for you for a small fee.

 

[Zeldman]

The other day I got a call from the ''Social Security Fraud department.

I interrupted them and asked them if they knew the number to my local SS office. No, they replied. Funny, you just called the SS office.....click.

 

[Ted]

I've gotten this from them before, too. It's a scam, but a legal one so long as they're actually doing the service provided. No thanks - I'll do it the old fashioned $5 way.

 

[frfly172]

Got a letter, can’t blame them from trying to make a buck.However did it myself.

 

[RyanB]

Hey, they’re just trying to be helpful...

 

[Warlock]

Yeah same in the last month renewed online and got my Warriors registration in about a week...five bucks and airline miles on my cc...

 

[RussR]

Looks like the scam ...

It's a scam,

I would assert that it’s not a scam, at least by the usual definition. Assuming that they are actually registering the airplane for you, they’re doing what they said they would do, for the fee they stated up front.

It may be a bad deal, but that doesn’t make it a scam. On Thursday I bought 100LL at $6+ a gallon. That’s a bad deal, but not a scam. I knew the price going in, and got what I paid for.

 

[Unit74]

I got one too this year.... Almost had me. The one I was sent looked similar, but the verbiage was more official sounding. Perhaps the FAA filed on them and they toned it down?

 

[Ted]

I would assert that it’s not a scam, at least by the usual definition. Assuming that they are actually registering the airplane for you, they’re doing what they said they would do, for the fee they stated up front.

It may be a bad deal, but that doesn’t make it a scam. On Thursday I bought 100LL at $6+ a gallon. That’s a bad deal, but not a scam. I knew the price going in, and got what I paid for.

There are multiple definitions of a scam. We tend to think of it strictly as someone who takes your money and doesn’t give you anything. However you also have places like this that send you official sounding letters from official sounding organizations. Their purpose is to confuse you into thinking they are the ones you need to register with. The number of times this organization has caused questions as to whether or not you need to use them indicates this is what they’re aiming for and they’re being semi successful at it.

It’s like a snake oil salesman. Might be selling you a legitimate product or service, but isn’t being fully truthful about the need.

$6/gallon avgas is more about supply and demand.

 

[SkyDog58]

I would assert that it’s not a scam, at least by the usual definition. Assuming that they are actually registering the airplane for you, they’re doing what they said they would do, for the fee they stated up front.

It may be a bad deal, but that doesn’t make it a scam. On Thursday I bought 100LL at $6+ a gallon. That’s a bad deal, but not a scam. I knew the price going in, and got what I paid for.

My exact thoughts.

There are multiple definitions of a scam. We tend to think of it strictly as someone who takes your money and doesn’t give you anything. However you also have places like this that send you official sounding letters from official sounding organizations. Their purpose is to confuse you into thinking they are the ones you need to register with. The number of times this organization has caused questions as to whether or not you need to use them indicates this is what they’re aiming for and they’re being semi successful at it.

It’s like a snake oil salesman. Might be selling you a legitimate product or service, but isn’t being fully truthful about the need.

$6/gallon avgas is more about supply and demand.

I would hope a pilot and aircraft owner is not so easily confused. Though it would explain some recent threads.

 

[RussR]

There are multiple definitions of a scam. We tend to think of it strictly as someone who takes your money and doesn’t give you anything. However you also have places like this that send you official sounding letters from official sounding organizations. Their purpose is to confuse you into thinking they are the ones you need to register with. The number of times this organization has caused questions as to whether or not you need to use them indicates this is what they’re aiming for and they’re being semi successful at it.

See, to me a scam is pretty much limited to essentially what's in your second sentence - they take your money but then either don't give you anything in return, or don't give you what was expected. Anything where you pay someone for a service, and they provide you with that service, is by my definition NOT a scam. That's it.

It’s like a snake oil salesman. Might be selling you a legitimate product or service, but isn’t being fully truthful about the need.

Not a great example. A "snake oil salesman", in what I believe is the commonly accepted idea of one, is someone selling a product by representing it as one thing (a cure for baldness or hives or insomnia, etc.), when in reality it does little or nothing, and certainly doesn't meet his claims. So, a scam - the seller mislead you to believe you were going to get something you really weren't.

$6/gallon avgas is more about supply and demand.

Maybe not my best example. How about payday loans? Sometimes as much as 400% interest. Lousy idea? Yes. Predatory business practices? Often yes. Should be criminal? Opinion, but maybe yes. But is a 400% loan a scam? I wouldn't say so, not in itself.

 

[ARFlyer]

I’d classify this as a ripoff.

It’s like the Home Mortgage Insurance Broker letters, I get all the freaking time, offering their services as a middle man. Which is hilarious as I don’t have a mortgage. Or the Student Loan refinance scams that’s use to flood my work phone until I reported them to security.

 

[Unit74]

I’d classify this as a ripoff.

It’s like the Home Mortgage Insurance Broker letters, I get all the freaking time, offering their services as a middle man. Which is hilarious as I don’t have a mortgage. Or the Student Loan refinance scams that’s use to flood my work phone until I reported them to security.

You see the 13 spots with uncompetitive to 14 non-supervisory in OKC yet? Pretty sure you meet the KSAs. It’s up on USAjobs

 

[Ted]

See, to me a scam is pretty much limited to essentially what's in your second sentence - they take your money but then either don't give you anything in return, or don't give you what was expected. Anything where you pay someone for a service, and they provide you with that service, is by my definition NOT a scam. That's it.

Not a great example. A "snake oil salesman", in what I believe is the commonly accepted idea of one, is someone selling a product by representing it as one thing (a cure for baldness or hives or insomnia, etc.), when in reality it does little or nothing, and certainly doesn't meet his claims. So, a scam - the seller mislead you to believe you were going to get something you really weren't.

Maybe not my best example. How about payday loans? Sometimes as much as 400% interest. Lousy idea? Yes. Predatory business practices? Often yes. Should be criminal? Opinion, but maybe yes. But is a 400% loan a scam? I wouldn't say so, not in itself.

I'm not saying that what they're doing is illegal (and in fact it's decidedly legal, which I'm not saying it be otherwise). However like I said, they're intentionally using language to make them sound like the official source. Given the number of pilots who've been confused, obviously it works to some extent, and I'm sure they get enough secretaries who don't know the difference and go with it. Obviously they make enough money at it to keep doing it.

Anyway, just depends on your view. I used to think of scams in the more black and white term of somebody taking your money and not giving you anything in return. As I've gotten older and seen more of the sorts of organizations like this "National Aviation Center" that are purposely deceptive, I've come to view them as scams too since it's trying to make money in a less-than-honest manner.