AeroLED saga

[dweyant]

Hopefully this doesn't get locked like the other thread.

I feel like I need to provide an update on my saga with the AeroLED wingtip landing lights.

We are now two plus weeks into this.

After the thread from a week ago, I was contacted by AeroLED and asked what they could do to make things right. I suggested that since they had cost me time (I had arranged to do the tips with a friend that took a lot of effort to find a weekend he was free) that it would be appropriate for them to correct the mistake and install the inserts into both tips.

The agreed to this but only if I agreed to pay the full price for the lights and install kit. In the interest of a quick solution I agreed.

They received the tips from me last Friday. I contacted them on Monday asking for a status update of when they would be returned to me. Finally late yesterday evening I receive an e-mail with a long excuse about how it is going to take them a few weeks to repair my tips.

This is not acceptable. It is my fault for not being clear up front that I needed these turned around in a timely manner, I just assumed that after the initial mistakes they would be anxious to get this resolved in a timely manner.

I received an incredibly generous offer from Whelen for a free set of landing lights for my 9A. I haven't taken them up on that because I really thought this was going to be resolved quickly. Now, unfortunately I don't have my wing tips, and am at AeroLED's mercy.

If/when I hear back from AeroLED I will post an update to this thread.

-Dan

[grubbat]

Wow Dan,
Sounds like Whelen's customer service is really incredible. I run Whelen's on my response truck and I love the reliability and performance. I hope to be able to use Whelen's products on my project at some point.
Sorry to hear about the issues with your wingtips. Hope it gets resolved soon.

cj

Originally Posted by dweyant

.....I received an incredibly generous offer from Whelen for a free set of landing lights for my 9A. I haven't taken them up on that because I really thought this was going to be resolved quickly. Now, unfortunately I don't have my wing tips, and am at AeroLED's mercy.

If/when I hear back from AeroLED I will post an update to this thread.

-Dan

[dweyant]

Just received this response from Susan at AeroLED....


Dan,

Our facility is not set up to do this kind of work as it is extremely messy with the sanding involved. Additionally we have to work this around our work schedule as we are extremely busy at this time of year.

What we can do is repair the one wing and return them back to you and you can do the other wing. This will expedite the process and you will have a base model to work off of.

Susan

[dweyant]

This is after they said it wouldn't be a problem to do both wings for me....

[Clarkie]

+1 for Whelen. Highly recommend buying from Kahuna. His customer service is second to none.

[dweyant]

Ok,

Just had a long talk on the phone with Susan.

It can be hard to read emotion and intent in e-mails, so I'm glad I called her rather than continuing to go back and forth with e-mails.

AeroLED's made some mistakes in how this was handled. But, I feel like they are really trying to make things right.

Bottom line, they aren't really setup to do the fiberglass work, and probably never should have offered to fix the tips for me.

They are going to send my tip back, and replace the damaged one. Not a perfect solution, and the loss of several weeks is painful. However, I think it is a fair solution.

As AeroLED's said this is a new process for them and they are obviously having some growing pains. While it stinks that I had to experience them first hand, Susan assured me that they are already making some changes to make things better going forward.

-Dan

[krw5927]

Thank you for posting, Dan. I'm not sure why the other thread got locked. There shouldn't be a "reviews" section of VAF if we're only allowed to give glowingly positive reviews. Fact-based, honest reviews of a company's service and products help everyone.

Thanks to your posts on this particular issue, I am confident that I can now avoid the same problems you had. To me, this justifies the annual donation to keep this community alive.

[Mike S]

Originally Posted by krw5927

Thank you for posting, Dan. I'm not sure why the other thread got locked.

Please read http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...1&postcount=92 and http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...7&postcount=93

Originally Posted by krw5927

There shouldn't be a "reviews" section of VAF if we're only allowed to give glowingly positive reviews. Fact-based, honest reviews of a company's service and products help everyone.

Totally agree, but the above mentioned thread was not in "Reviews", it was added to an old thread announcing a new product.

By the way, this current thread also was not started in "Reviews"-----

[bkthomps]

if I were in charge at AeroLED

I would have sent you a new set of wingtips, and apologized for the documentation error

I would NOT volunteer to do fit/finish for you, and I would apologize for your loss of calendar/shop time and at best offer you a future credit/discount on other lights (strobe? beacon? who knows)

Good on Whelen for trying to poach a vulnerable customer with a competing product, we need vendors to compete like this and i applaud that

This is quite interesting that they decided to offer a solution that was not in their wheelhouse

[flyingriki]

Don't forget folks, you're only getting one side to this story. I've heard a lot of rants toward Ly-Con and Catto, over the years. Since I know them both it's fun to hear the "rest of the story....." from them.