UnPossible

UnPossible

Well Known Member
Hey - anyone else out there getting a bit frustrated waiting for their QB to ship? I ordered my 7A QB in mid-December and was quoted an early April ship date....

Well last week Vans posted a note on their website that the move to a new factory had slowed QB deliveries. Based on their note, I'm not expecting to see my kit until early June at the earliest. I have not received any sort of an update from Vans. Maybe I'm expecting too much, but when I'm spending $20k+ on this one purchase I think they could have called those waiting to give them some sort of an update. I can't imagine that it would have been all that many calls.

So has anyone spoke to Vans recently and received any additional info.

Thanks,
Jason
 
There is a pretty good back log due to the relocation of the QB factory. Here's an idea... Call Van's and have them ship the balance of the QB Wing and Fuse parts to you. They have to be shipped at some point anyway. There is a lot of work (small parts fabrication) etc... that you can be working on while they deal with this delay and you will be really ready for the QB wings and fuse when the Big stuff shows up. If you are using Partain for the QB wings and fuse, the price I would think for shipping would stay about the same. :)
 
Call Van's....

Like Reilly said - give Van's a call direct. Maybe you have already, in which case, forgive the comment - but lots of folks post on the Internet before calling the person they are trying to deal with directly. I've never had van's people lie to me, and if you think you aren't getting the straight story, ask for someone higher up.

Based on my experience with Van's, I suspect that they are telling the truth with the note on their web site. There may be issues underlying the truth, but it is to no one's advantage for them to not get kits shipped as fast as possible - they don't get paid until they ship the product!

Paul
 
Chill,

Once the kit arrives you are at least 2 years away from finishing the project.

You will experience far more delays along the way from mistakes, waiting for parts, or funds insufficiency than Van's wiill ever cause.
 
Vans definitely isn't being straight forward with their customers. About the only thing I've heard from them that was accurate is, "We don't know when we're going to ship again."

Everything leading up to that comment has been lip service after lip service.

Yeah, I know I'll rub a few people on the site with that comment. But it's the cold truth.

I brought this up a few months ago and was told I didn't know what I'm talking about and that I could trust an anonymous response by Vans.

Well it's 3-4 month later. I'm still waiting and Vans is still not talking publicly.

They've got a real mess on their hands right now, because they're holding several orders that they can't deliver.

Am I mad at Vans??? No, absolutely not.

But Vans needs to come clean with the story. They need to acknowledge that their QB factory is gone, their workers are gone, they've only got the original 3 owners who started (the now defunct) Bonanza Metalcrafters who are trying to restart a new company with cheaper workers.

Van's will also give you a line about having to lay-off and rehire the employees because of a local law. That's all a line of @#$.

They might have laid them off, but they don't want to hire them back because they're demanding more fair compensation. Not to mention (even if they wanted to re-hire their workers) those workers don't have the money to make a daily commute to a new factory location.

Now that it's been 3-4 months since I warned everyone this day was coming, all I can do is sit back, grin, and say "See!! I told you so!!!" Who looks like they were misinformed now?

My advice is don't listen to lines you're being fed. Do your own research on the subject and you'll begin to see what's really going on over there.

Phil
 
Chicken Salad

So order a slow-build and save some dough. What are the odds you could get to QB status before the QB ships? Maybe you're net a few months behind, but at least you've got a bucking bar in your hands and not the telephone. Who wants to sort out the very first "new" QB anyway?

f
 
Sorry if I wasn't clearer as to the source of my frustration in the initial post. I'm not as annoyed that there is a delay, (it gives me some time to catch up on my honey do list) but how Vans has handled it.

In mid-December I placed an order for a QB kit. A week or so later I received an acknowledgement from Vans with an estimated ship date of April 1-5.

Since then, I have heard absolutely nothing from them. I'm annoyed that they failed to let me know when they realized that they would not be able to meet their shipping estimate. I would have expected a phone call letting me know about the delay, the reasons and a new estimated ship date.... it just seems like it would be the right thing to do.

Jason
 
MNForrest said:
So order a slow-build and save some dough. What are the odds you could get to QB status before the QB ships? Maybe you're net a few months behind, but at least you've got a bucking bar in your hands and not the telephone. Who wants to sort out the very first "new" QB anyway?

f
Click to expand...


You're right. I wish I would have done that. But at this point, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place... I'm not completely convinced I could get a SB built to QB status in the time I have left in the queue.

If I had ordered a SB from the begining, it would be a no brainer.

Catch 22. :)
 
Granted my wings dragged on for a while on an SB kit, I did do a SB fuse over about 9 months of what I'd consider a pretty moderate pace (kit receipt up to the QB stage). For those considering SB, in the time spent waiting on someone else to build your fuse, you could probably knock it your yourself. Probably too late for this discussion, but for those pondering the question for the future....
 
Time, Patience, and perseverance will over come all obstacles

4 months is about right for the QB delivery, I received a call two weeks prior to my kit arriving and 3 days before Fed ex Fright showed up> Good luck and you once you receive your QB and realized the amount of work that those wonderful filipinos have saved you. You will wish you had done this years ago. THE QB is the only way to go for me! Those guys do excellent work.


Good luck and Congratulations!
 
It's too bad I couldn't quickly organize a bunch of the guys/gals in Wichita who are layed off from Cessna, Leer, Beech, etc to put together SB kits to the QB stage for you all. They have the skills...and are probably looking for work. Anyone got a large fortune sitting around they'd like to make a small one? That last part is just a joke. <g> Of course, the price of US made QB's would probably be a bit more...although if there's a demand and no supply... Okay, rambling over. Thanks for reading. -Jim
 
It seems conceivable to me that US made QB kits could be economically produced.

I didn't keep very good track of my hours, but it seems like it took me about 400 hours to get my fuse to QB stage, probably about the same for the wings. I probably spent half of my time looking at the plans and thinking about how to put the thing together.

If I had a shop dedicated to pumping them out, with all the right tools, and an experienced assembly gang who knew all the tricks - then what... 200 man hours?

Could you keep them at $20/hr, $30/hr w/overhead?

$30x200 = $6000

I could be way off. Maybe labor laws, or EPA regs would make it impossible. *shrug*
 
I know I am going to get skewered for saying this, but welcome to the global economy. Those of you who got your kits over the past few years, got them at a great price as the workers were being paid peanuts! So, the workers now are demanding a better rate of compensation for their increased skill levels, and the factory owner retaliated by laying them off, closing the factory and moving it to another locale where they can start over with cheaper and less skilled labor. I really pity the guys who get these first kits! I would be williing to bet that if the factory owners had negotiated a fair wage structure, the cost increase of the kit would have been totally acceptable to the end users....You guys that are now stuck waiting for this skirmish to work itself out.
I think another question that I would be asking of Van's (if I had 20K+ out) is; what are they doing to ensure that these new employees of the factory are turning out quality products? Has Vans sent anyone to the Philippines to check the process?
The bigger issue here is our government has made it impossible for companies to assemble their products here in the US, without costing the factory owners a mint to comply with all the bureaucratic policies (OSHA for example). I could certainly go on, but the lid of Pandora's box would just keep opening farther than I care to go. I am reminded about a movement that our union was pushing a few years ago. They wanted to compel the company to buy suits for us to wear during preflight, as Jet A, turbine oil,and Skydrol are considered hazmat! Needless to say, I showed the nice lady in safety, back to her office and sent her off to another windmill to tilt.
If I was retired, it seems that there could be a good business in buying S/B kits and assembling to Q/B status.
OBTW, I work on the labor side of the fence.
 
QB Labor

QB Labor,

I think you are paying for a 1000 hours of labor buying a QB 2 place. I am sure the people that have been doing this in the Philippines have it under that but they had a production line.

Sure hope it gets sorted out soon.
 
That sounds high...

Jaypratt said:
QB Labor,

I think you are paying for a 1000 hours of labor buying a QB 2 place. I am sure the people that have been doing this in the Philippines have it under that but they had a production line.

Sure hope it gets sorted out soon.
Click to expand...

There have been a few RV-6x built by experienced "hired guns" in 90 days.

That's from kit delivery to a completed, flying aircraft.

They did work 10-12 hrs days with no weekends off, but that still comes out to around a 1000 hrs.

An single, experienced worker, with some jigs and fixtures, building subassemblies, and then integrating them, should easily do it for way less than 1000 hrs - taking a kit from delivery to QB stage.

The 90 day efforts were also on the pre-historic, not pre-punched kits...:)
 
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