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Emergency (sort of) help needed

LettersFromFlyoverCountry

LettersFromFlyoverCountry

Well Known Member
My engine from Mattituck has been sitting at the Yellow Freight dock for 3 days, but they just called today to arrange deliver.

Unfortunately, it's a 400 pound crate and the truck has no lift gate.

The other problem is I leave Saturday for Denver to cover the convention.

So sometime on Thursday or early Friday morning, I need to get out to Burnsville to pick it up. Only I don't have a truck or trailer.

Do you? And can I get some volunteers to help me unload it at South St. Paul? Obviously, I'll fill up the truck/van/whatever with gas.

I'm sorry for the short notice but it's been a nightmare tracking this (*&#*(^ thing.

Please contact me as soon as possible at 651.290.1414 (the cubicle) or 651.246.5564.
 
Can help at SGS

Bob - I don't have a truck, but can certainly help unload at SGS.

The Lakeville EAA chapter used to have a trailer they would rent out. Might be worth a call.
 
Bob, I had mine set in the bed of an S10 pickup and then unloaded it with an engine hoist. I just popped the top of the box and hooked up to the hoist bracket on the engine, I picked up the box with the engine. All by myself.
 
I also did mine by myself with and engine hoist and a open flat bed trailer from U-haul. I dis-assembled the Mattituck crate while it was in the trailer and lifted the engine out.
 
The problem there is I don't have an engine hoist.... and I don't have a trailer hitch, and I drive a Chevy Cavalier, so all of those options -- which I'd thought of -- were not in play here.

But the problem has been solved.

It turns out Yellow tried to deliver it yesterday (I was out at the hangar between 10 and 1, so of course they wouldn't have shown up then! :mad: ). They never called ahead of time.

"Why not?" I said to the guy today.

"Mattituck didn't put your phone number on the shipping information."

Well, that's great. (The only way I even knew it shipped is because I saw the check got cashed.)

So can you deliver it tomorrow?

"Sure, just have a check ready for the $63 REdelivery fee."

I get sick of this sort of nickle-and-diming. I just spent $24,500 with one company... and another $280 with Yellow. I'm not asking folks to bend over backwards here ... Wouldn't someone who I've spent money with like to cut me a freakin' break?

No, but as it turns out, a company I HAVEN'T spent money with ('cept for a few bolts and nutplates) did.

I drove out to the airport a few minutes ago to talk to the folks at Wipaire.

"I'm building over on Charlie Lane and Yellow's coming tomorrow with a 400-pound crate... and..."

"And you need a forklift," Dave said.

"Yeah."

"When they get here, give us a call and we'll send a line person over with a forklift as long as we're not moving something for us."

"Great. How much will that cost?" I ask.

"You get Wip's good-guy discount. He believes in taking care of people on the field. No charge."

Guess who *I*m going to bend over backwards in the future to support?
 
Trailer with a ramp

Bob, I rented a $35 trailer with a back gate that tilted down and acted as a ramp. I then pulled the crated engine off the trailer, down the ramp and drug it across across the garage floor. I did it alone and it was not that hard. Later I borrowed a hoist and hung the engine, again alone. No big deal.
Leland
 
Home Depot and Lowes will rent a pickup at 20 bucks an hour or so FWIW. It'd be cheaper than the redelivery and then you can control the schedule as to when you deliver it and need the fork lift. If they show up and the fork lift happens to be in use the delivery guys going to be a PITA regarding waiting for the forklift to free up.

And you can borrow my truck anytime but diesel to/from So Illinois is gonna tip the benefit scale pretty hard against that idea.:D

Good luck
 
Bob Collins said:
I drove out to the airport a few minutes ago to talk to the folks at Wipaire.

"I'm building over on Charlie Lane and Yellow's coming tomorrow with a 400-pound crate... and..."

"And you need a forklift," Dave said.

"Yeah."

"When they get here, give us a call and we'll send a line person over with a forklift as long as we're not moving something for us."

"Great. How much will that cost?" I ask.

"You get Wip's good-guy discount. He believes in taking care of people on the field. No charge."

Guess who *I*m going to bend over backwards in the future to support?
Click to expand...


Bob,

Sorry, I'm not sure I can help you from Texas, but I would if I could. My company does a lot of work with Wipaire and they are always a bunch of good folks. You might see some of our big yellow airplanes around there from time to time.

Good luck with your engine. I can't wait to get to that stage!
 
Kyleag04 said:
Bob,

Sorry, I'm not sure I can help you from Texas, but I would if I could. My company does a lot of work with Wipaire and they are always a bunch of good folks. You might see some of our big yellow airplanes around there from time to time.

Good luck with your engine. I can't wait to get to that stage!
Click to expand...

There are some GORGEOUS planes around Wipaire. I've seen a few yellow ones in the hangar from time to time, being worked on. Yours?

Someone told me a lot of their business is from the Middle East now. ARe there more lakes than I thought there?
 
Bob Collins said:
There are some GORGEOUS planes around Wipaire. I've seen a few yellow ones in the hangar from time to time, being worked on. Yours?

Someone told me a lot of their business is from the Middle East now. ARe there more lakes than I thought there?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm an engineer at Air Tractor. Wipaire puts floats on some of our firefighting AT-802s (www.firebossllc.com). I don't know about the Middle East, but a large portion of our floatplanes are going to Spain and Canada.

I sure wish I could talk those guys into building me a set of amphib floats for the RV-7. Probably way out of my budget though!!
 
Bob,

Good to hear you are making some real progress!

The engine really isn't that heavy. A buddy and I lifted mine off the back of my truck and carried it into my basement where it was mounted it on a furniture dolly.
 
Kyleag04 said:
Yeah, I'm an engineer at Air Tractor. Wipaire puts floats on some of our firefighting AT-802s (www.firebossllc.com). I don't know about the Middle East, but a large portion of our floatplanes are going to Spain and Canada.
Click to expand...

I'm sitting here looking at a yellow air tractor now, with blue accents. I wonder if that's one of yours.

Apparently they can live without the RV business. They're open, I think 7 days a week and they're always busy.

They may be the best kept secret in Minnesota. and a great example of how a small airport can really bring in the local money. They just closed up the last stockyard in St. Paul. But this airport is going gangbusters; BRS just built a huge new facility here.
 
So the engine arrived today. Yellow didn't bother making the phone call to me they promised to make. Typical. I wrote about them on the blog.

engine_in_crate.jpg
 
RE:Let the fun begin

Bob

It is almost a year ago to the day that my engine arrived. Seeing yours (a thing of beauty) reminds of all the fun you have a head........:D

Frank @ 1L8 ...RV7A... paint/stuff
 
Thanks Bob

Thanks, Bob, for documenting your experience with Mattituck and Yellow Freight Co. (I haven't learned yet how to make a URL link to a certain spot on a page so I hope you keep your blog active for awhile.)

I am at least two years away from ordering an engine. (My builder number is 71580, so does that soothe your psyche any, Bob? :) ) Right now, if I were to order a Mattituck engine, I would surely say, "Do you remember Bob Collins?" I know Mahlon doesn't have anything to do with the shipping department, but it's good for us to learn from your experience.

It's great to see you now have an engine. You really are an inspiration to us RV-builders who are not as fast as some...

All the best, Bob,
Don
 
rv7boy said:
I would surely say, "Do you remember Bob Collins?" I know Mahlon doesn't have anything to do with the shipping department, but it's good for us to learn from your experience.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't do that. It's not really about Mattituck. They did exactly what I paid them to do. Mahlon was really good. They certainly have a great reputation. I'm certainly not going to dissuade anyone from buying the most important piece of equipment from them because when all is said and done,the most important thing is a quality product that you can bet your life on.

My problem is really my problem.... I have a thing for personal service and attention to detail.

After I said "thank you" to the forklift operator today... and although I'd already said "thank you" to Dave at Wipaire over the phone when I called to tell him the truck was here, and after I opened the crate, I drove back over to Wipaire to see Dave personally to again tell him in person how much I appreciated his thoughtfulness.

These little things that American business has forgotten how to do -- the little things that they really don't have to do (whether it's a phone call to tell you it's on its way, or a followup to make sure you got it and are happy with it, or even a scrawled piece of paper that says "thanks for your order,signed -- Clem" thrown in the crate )-- are the ways in which they say to the customer, "we really appreciate your faith in us and we really thank you for that." I just don't think they recognize how good that makes a customer feel.

And at a time when the American economy is stumbling and looking for an answer, THAT's an answer! And you know what's ironic: it doesn't cost anything and it's the one defense against the "I can get it cheaper somewhere else" that has proven to be a winner.

And to prove it, just scan VAF over the years when someone asks about a product or a company, they ALWAYS end up talking about the quality of the customer experience.
 
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