Wing kit shipping

Ihi gang.

I was told by Van's that my wing kit would ship the week of February 26th. All money has been paid, the kit is packed and sitting at their shop.

I called and asked, what I got was "......they think they'll ship on Wednesday." THINK! THINK ! No word from them via phone call or email to let me know it was delayed.

I am a step child but not red headed.

Is this typical "customer service"?

Same thing happened to me with my fuselage last month. It was supposed to ship mid January, and at the end of January I still didn't have a fuselage at my house. I called and talked to somebody to ask SPECIFICALLY why it hadn't shipped yet. She actually went out to the shop to find out while I waited on the line. Turns out they were waiting on the aft turtle deck skin material and were going to wait to ship it until it came in...without telling me! I told them to go ahead and ship it without, and it was here the next week. The skin came two weeks ago.

Call and ask them to go out to the floor to get an explaination. Whoever I talked to was happy to check on it for me.

-4 Wing Delayed

I'm on a two-week-past-scheduled-ship-date, too. Some issue with the spar sub-contractor. Three email inquiries got answered after I called Van's to get the message. I still love 'em, but don't they know we can't wait, sleep or eat?

Without me asking, Ann volunteered to go out to the dock and ask them. She told me the crates were there, ready, but there had been some "pre-packaged items" that had been backing things up. Not sure what that means.

I have more patience then most and I'll give them until Wednesday to ship. I was gonna order them last April but a situation at work prevented me from spending the money until December - I can wait a few more days. If I haven't heard from them by Thursday afternoon I'll call again. The big problem is the scheduling of delivery. I had the time off from work scheduled and that is not something that I can just change on a whim.

In any case - I would have liked to have been notified about the delay.

Re-reading my own post........

They may have meant that the Whelen light kit I ordered was the "pre-packaged" item causing the hold up.

I'll wait.........

You forgot to ask Feb. 26 of what year!

Robert M said:

I was told by Van's that my wing kit would ship the week of February 26th. All money has been paid, the kit is packed and sitting at their shop.

Is this typical "customer service"?

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I know I'm always excited to get my new parts as well, but the week of the 26th just ended just 3 days ago. Seems like they're still not doing too bad for a couple huge, unwieldy boxes like that being shipped half-way or farther across the country. Their shipping logistics alone pretty much amaze me.

alpinelakespilot2000 said:

I know I'm always excited to get my new parts as well, but the week of the 26th just ended just 3 days ago. Seems like they're still not doing too bad for a couple huge, unwieldy boxes like that being shipped half-way or farther across the country. Their shipping logistics alone pretty much amaze me.

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Yea, I have to say I think I actually got my wings a week or two early and my fuse 2 or 3 weeks early. Maybe the issue is that all you guys ordered at the end of the year to save a few bucks. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I would expect some delays if thats how I timed my order.

briand said:

Yea, I have to say I think I actually got my wings a week or two early and my fuse 2 or 3 weeks early. Maybe the issue is that all you guys ordered at the end of the year to save a few bucks. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I would expect some delays if thats how I timed my order.

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You betcha Brian! I've no doubt that there may be problems. As I said, I have patience and I have to give them cudos for their great eforts - BUT - not telling the customer - that's not right. They got my $7000, the least they could do is lemme know what's up with the delay.


A simple communication from them telling me via email. "Sorry Robert, there's been a delay in your shipping because of "X" ".

we ordered our 7 at oshkosh on the first day amd they told us 3 wks afterthe close of osh we got the emp 1 week after. then on the q/b fuse it came 1 mo. early. we chose to have it shipped by the guy that just does that out of Oregon cant remember the name. my case might just be an exception. Hope you have good luck

Scheduling Kit Deliveries

Robert M said:

The big problem is the scheduling of delivery. I had the time off from work scheduled and that is not something that I can just change on a whim.

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If you haven't gotten these truck deliveries before, the trucking companies usually are really good about helping out. I've had my wing/fuselage/finish kits all delivered to my house via ABF. I'm in Wichita, KS. Once the crate gets underway, the dispatcher at ABF called me to let me k now the estimated delivery date. The expectation was I'd pick a ~two hour delivery window. This initial call from ABF was several days in advance of the actual delivery and it sounded like you could delay delivery for a day or two if needed.

I didn't want to take a lot of time off work, so I gave ABF my cell phone number and told 'em to call me when they left the shipping dock on the West side of town. I collected a couple burly friends from work and we'd get to my house about the time the truck driver was pulling up to the house. 15 minutes pulling the crates off the truck and we're on our way back to work.

As you get further along in the build process, the delivery guys get really interested in the project. They're always curious why a crate that has "High Value Aircraft Parts" plastered all over it is getting delivered to a residential address.

Steve

my SB -10 wings supposed to ship out week of 26th, they shipped out today!!


phil kslc

Thanks guys!

I will sit back and wait. It's been months since I finished the tail and ordered the wings - I can wait a few more days.

Hi Steve. I wish I could drop my work for a few minutes. I work a production job on a paper machine. Can't leave the premisses without getting a relief to cover the job. I'll have to spend the day at home waiting for the delivery. I have a neighbor that works two minutes from the house. He said just call him and he'll be there in 5 mintes.

This is all gonna work out - I'm just getting anxious.

5 Weeks Late

I just got the call from ABF that my -4 wing kit can be picked up tomorrow, April 6 after being originally told by Van's that it was to ship out Feb 26. The (slow-build) spar vendor issue took over a month to settle. Anyway, all is forgiven because I'm just ecstatic to have it finally here (almost).

I'm somewhat distracted anyway because I'm also in the early stages of erecting a metal shop on my place. Land is cleared & leveled and I'm waiting on my concrete contractor to get to my job. The shop is 40 x 50 and I'm hoping that I have enough room for my woodworking shop and two RV projects in there. I'm thinking of offering building space to someone in the area if it would be helpful.

Spar issue

That was what they told me - one of the spars had to be finished or packed or something but that was the delay. I to was excited to worry about a minor little nothing. got the wings and I'm poundin' rivets - almost.