So, up to this point my father had a kit delivered by Partain, as have friends of mine, but finally the day arrived (yesterday) that they dropped off my RV7 finish kit. Here's a rundown of how it went.
Tony Partain & Van's worked everything out...all I had to do was tell Van's he was shipping the kit and that was the last discussion we had about it. Tony then let us know when it would be shipping, then called to let us know the drivers name and when we could approximately expect him.
Next, the driver calls the day before asking us when we'd like to have the kit delivered...imagine - a shipping company giving a @#$@ about when it's convenient for you. We agreed on 9:00 am at my shop. The driver called the next morning to let me know he was on the way and to be "ready". He showed up at 9:05 am (my directions were a little off)!
Now, I've had a lot of stuff delivered by a lot of companies and I've never seen a delivery vehicle that looks brand spanking new (both truck and trailer) show up with my plane inside. The vehicle was spotless and looked great, and the driver along with his wife were very professional. We had to move an RV-10 Fuselage out of the way to get to our finish kit box, and they were so carefull with that RV-10 fuse we had to lay it on blankets on the grass so it wouldn't get so much as a scratch on it.
Anyway, below are a few pics of the rig and all the goodies crammed inside! There's going to be some mighty happy customers when those RV-10's arrive...Last thing. We tried to give the driver a small cash tip for working so hard, showing up on time and putting up with our blowing cold snowy Minnesota weather and we almost got in a fight! He refused to accept so much as a dime for a tip... Until now I've had no personal delieveries from Partain, but as I've said before I'd pay more for this kind of service. They are careful, fast, nice and best of all my plane is treated as an actual plane, not some box of toilets like other shippers. When (not if) I have more stuff delivered from Van's I'll be using Partain from now on. Just a pilot report from a fellow builder this time
CheersStein.
Tony Partain & Van's worked everything out...all I had to do was tell Van's he was shipping the kit and that was the last discussion we had about it. Tony then let us know when it would be shipping, then called to let us know the drivers name and when we could approximately expect him.
Next, the driver calls the day before asking us when we'd like to have the kit delivered...imagine - a shipping company giving a @#$@ about when it's convenient for you. We agreed on 9:00 am at my shop. The driver called the next morning to let me know he was on the way and to be "ready". He showed up at 9:05 am (my directions were a little off)!
Now, I've had a lot of stuff delivered by a lot of companies and I've never seen a delivery vehicle that looks brand spanking new (both truck and trailer) show up with my plane inside. The vehicle was spotless and looked great, and the driver along with his wife were very professional. We had to move an RV-10 Fuselage out of the way to get to our finish kit box, and they were so carefull with that RV-10 fuse we had to lay it on blankets on the grass so it wouldn't get so much as a scratch on it.
Anyway, below are a few pics of the rig and all the goodies crammed inside! There's going to be some mighty happy customers when those RV-10's arrive...Last thing. We tried to give the driver a small cash tip for working so hard, showing up on time and putting up with our blowing cold snowy Minnesota weather and we almost got in a fight! He refused to accept so much as a dime for a tip... Until now I've had no personal delieveries from Partain, but as I've said before I'd pay more for this kind of service. They are careful, fast, nice and best of all my plane is treated as an actual plane, not some box of toilets like other shippers. When (not if) I have more stuff delivered from Van's I'll be using Partain from now on. Just a pilot report from a fellow builder this time
CheersStein.