skyfrog

skyfrog

Well Known Member
I was wondering if the lead times shown on Van's website are accurate? What are your experiences?

I've tried to ask Van's, but I've been having trouble getting an answer. I either get the answering machine and leave a message, with no response. Or I get a busy signal. My emails have all gone unaswered. Perhaps they don't like the question?

Thanks
 
skyfrog said:
I was wondering if the lead times shown on Van's website are accurate? What are your experiences?
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They should be pretty accurate, at least I would count so when ordering. Van's also updates those times often so like now the page says "Lead times verified correct as of November 20, 2007." So it's about two weeks or so, and having lead times up to 6 months, who cares about two weeks.

I don't know do they take orders if you set like 'date of delivery'... so you could order well in advance and get the stuff on the day you want.
 
Me too... very accurate for my wing and fuse kits. Maybe a week or so late for my fuse, but i wasn't in a hurry.
 
All my kits arrived on schedule. Usual lead time was about 8 weeks.

I ordered each major kit separately, and they were very accurate each time.
 
Anyone know if lead times spike at the end of the year (due to people trying to beat the price increase)?
 
Received my RV9 wings today :) ... scheduled to ship the week of Nov 18, shipped on 19th - Can't wait to start the inventory process tonight!
 
RV10Rob said:
Anyone know if lead times spike at the end of the year (due to people trying to beat the price increase)?
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When I ordered my wings on 12/29/2005, it shipped 3/17/2006 and arrived 3/25 - about 10 weeks when the leadtime stated 8 weeks.

When I ordered my fuselage on 12/26/2006, it shipped 3/1/2007 and arrived 3/12 - almost exactly 8 weeks, as the leadtime stated.
 
bullojm1 said:
When I ordered my wings on 12/29/2005, it shipped 3/17/2006 and arrived 3/25 - about 10 weeks when the leadtime stated 8 weeks.

When I ordered my fuselage on 12/26/2006, it shipped 3/1/2007 and arrived 3/12 - almost exactly 8 weeks, as the leadtime stated.
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Awesome... thanks for the reference point
 
End of year spike

My QB kit was over a month late but I did order in the last days of 2006. Could have been end of year spike or production issues on the QB. Just ordered the finish kit today so I'll know more in 8 weeks :D

Never got any type of notice of delay. Just called every week or two until they were ready for me to pick it up.
 
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Order Status

I've ordered several items from Van's so far and haven't received any order confirmations or shipping notices-stuff just arrives (including my emp. kit). Not necessarily a bad thing for the stuff I've ordered so far, but I'd appreciate some advance notice for the larger kits so I can coordinate some extra muscle!

Did Van's notify any of you in advance regarding shipment dates for the wing/fus/finish kits? email?, snailmail?

Thanks,
Mike
 
Transporter said:
Did Van's notify any of you in advance regarding shipment dates for the wing/fus/finish kits? email?, snailmail?
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For my Wing/Fuse/Finish kits I received an letter in the mail indicating an approximate ship date. I don't recall if I received any other correspondence from Van's, but I always made it a point to call them a little before the indicated ship date to get an update and tracking numbers.
 
I ordered emp, QB fuse, and QB wings all at the same time and delivery was actually a day early. I was actually out of the country, but fortunately my son was at home to take delivery (via Tony Partain). I recently ordered the finish kit and it is scheduled to be shipped about a week early (hoping to get in a lot of build time over the holidays). I'll know for sure when it arrives, but called yesterday and its still on schedule.

greg
 
They are organized about shipping

I changed my wing kit ship date twice, due to work travel surprises.

From comments made to me on the phone, I believe that they periodically (I'd bet weekly) review kit orders required for fabrication, do some shop schedule optimization, in order to make the forecast ship dates. They were ready to ship on the first date, and of course also on the two later dates.
 
Can we pick up QB kits ourselves?

Speaking of shipping...a friend and I ordered identical or nearly so QB fuse and wing kits, RV-9A. Ready maybe early March. We're near Sacramento, Calif, a long day's drive in a U-Haul from Vans factory.

Crating alone is $500 each and shipping I suppose about the same. So if we could crate and ship ourselves we could save $2000 minus one-way U-Haul and cost to get up there (drive or airline) and 1 night hotel....maybe $1500 net savings.

Would Vans let us crate the thing? Or help? Pretty tempting to take a day or two from work to save that much money.
 
save on crating fee? maybe

May we help van's do the crating?

Almost certainly not, from a corporate liability using tools in our workplace kind of way, if I understand the current legal environment, and the way I at my company would judge it.

Alas, I suspect that unless you are very experienced at crating this particular equipment (or kit :) you will be hard pressed to find folks that can do it more efficiently than Van's shipping department.

A good idea, but if allowed, I wouldn't expect much discount :-(

Since you are in the USA, perhaps you can save the crating fees and have Partain Transport move your kit? I believe that they advertise on VAF, and that the big guy himself is probably also reading this.

If I was in the USA, I think I'd be pretty tempted to use them, to baby my QB baby all the way home. As it is, for me there isn't much benefit because Partain doesn't deliver direct to our door in Canada.
 
My Lead Times

My empennage arrived on my door step from UPS ? the delivery was very close to what they said.

The wings had a lead time of 8 weeks and they took 9 weeks. Something about a problem with one of the main spars.

The fuselage was on time until I called the Friday before and asked to add something to the box. That delayed things a bit more than I expected. Planned to ship the week of 11/11, called on 11/9, package wasn?t shipped until 11/23.

I?m going to pick it up later today.

FWIW - $308 +/- to pick it up, another $71 to have it delivered. I?m gonna be cheap and drive the 45 minutes to get the box. I won?t use $71 in gas but it?ll be close.
 
rfinch said:
We're near Sacramento, Calif, a long day's drive in a U-Haul from Vans factory.
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Be careful with U-Haul, they charge by the mile which can get costly. Penske trucks are more expensive up front, but don't have a mileage charge.
 
Have Tony Partain deliver it. He delivered mine to Reno cheaper than regular freight. I went through the U-Haul exercise, and figured I could save a few hundred $ at most. With Tony delivering, you eliminate much of the crating charge, but of course you pay for his time and gas. Still cheaper than Fedex and probably more reliable in terms of lack of potential damage since Tony is also a builder.

greg
 
Dead on

Mine have always been dead on. Once you order and send the deposit, Van's will send you a letter stating the estimated ship date and when the remaining ayment is due. Mine have been dead-on every time. I use a credit card for the deposit and authorized the card for final payment upon shipment. No problems at all.
 
Customer Pickup

I'm in LA and I rented a U-haul and did it myself. If your doing it yourself to save money then don't do it. The cost of time off plus fuel plus rental will be as much or more than having a shipping company do it.
However, if you want to see the people you will rely on for the next few years and get a better handle on the company then save the crating charge and rent an enclosed trailer.
This is what I did and I would do it again. No delays, fly up and drive back when your schedule permits. If weather permits you may even get a demo flight and some good insights from the staff while your there. Just bring the supplies they request and they will even load the material for you.
 
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