pierre smith

pierre smith

Well Known Member
Do any of you guys know the secret way to contact Steinair? I've called twice and left messages yesterday but no reply. I can't order servos from their website either.

Does it take several days to get a reply? What gives?

Thanks,
 
Mondays are bad because their answering machine is full from calls left over from the weekend. I was told the best times started Tuesday afternoon; Monday and Tuesday morning are the worst.
 
pierre smith said:
Do any of you guys know the secret way to contact Steinair? I've called twice and left messages yesterday but no reply. I can't order servos from their website either.

Does it take several days to get a reply? What gives?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

Monday Stein is busy catching up on phone calls, Tuesdays he is busy loading up the Brinks Armored Trucks with the monies from the previous weeks business... :D

You go Stein!
 
Email has always worked for me withing 12 hours. I am just asking questions and getting ballpark quotes.
 
Ordered on line

I placed an order on line Friday at 2pm, and got an email that it had already been shipped that afternoon.

On-line ordering is fast as far as I'm concerned.
 
Maybe he's at a show or fly-in

Maybe he's at a fly-in exhibiting his nifty panels.

With the quality of work he does, I would imagine much of his business is generated by drool factor at fly-ins and shows. Does he have a show schedule on his website?
 
Customer service

Most of the successful businesses dealing with experimental aircraft need to stay lean to survive. We all have seen several companies come and go. Many of these companies have “burned” many of us in the community. Stein, Avery,Advanced Flight and many others do a fantastic job. What stands out for me is that Stein lost thousands of dollars with Direct 2 going out of business and he made good on HIS part of the deal. He didn’t screw his customers like Direct 2 did to him.

To deal with a company that has a good reputation and the only issue is waiting for a phone call, is quite trivial in my opinion.

I have received a complaint or two about not returning a phone call at the exact minute that the customer may want it returned. Last month I had a total of 2021 phone calls. Thats a lot time on the phone for one person.I can’t speak for Stein but the work load is overwhelming at times. But in order to stay in business we need to stay lean because the experimental business is cyclical. One month there is way more business than we can possibly handle and the next month will be mediocre.

So bottom line, patients my friend patients. It will be worth the wait.
 
Last edited:
Don't fret - we're here and busy as always!

I've said at least a dozen times in these forums...if you don't have to call on Monday, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE try to wait at least one day. We get over 150 messages each weekend, and coupled with the fact that everyone finds a need to talk to us on Monday it's hard to keep up on Mondayus. We have 4 phone lines, but it just doesn't seem to matter. If we listen to each message then try to return the calls, you can do the math. Over 100 messages times "x" minutes per call and you can see where we're at.

Anyway, again I apologize for the difficulty in getting hold of us on Mondays. I'm afraid it probably won't change anytime soon because I can't afford to hire someone just to sit here and answer phones on Mondays....otherwise prices would have to go up and nobody likes that!

Believe me, as a builder myself I know how frustrating it is trying to get hold of people the throw money at them. Now that I'm on the other side of the fence I can appreciate why many of the businesses in our market don't have excess staff.

Thanks for everyones patience - and the business. It's greatly appreciated. We're not getting rich, but darned we're still having a good time.

Cheers,
Stein

BTW - Pierre got this morning and he's taken care of.
 
Last edited:
Thanks, Stein....

.....and Paul did call and tell me that emails are the way to go.

Stein, are you gonna add "add to cart" boxes for the Tru Trak servos and other stuff that presently doesn't have that capability?

Thanks again,
 
I try to be supportive of those who advertise here and are recommended by others on this forum. I've also tried to be considerate of Stein's time by not calling on the phone... That said, I sent a letter to him on April 7th with an email follow-up on June 3rd. Still no response.
 
SteinAir said:
I've said at least a dozen times in these forums...if you don't have to call on Monday, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE try to wait at least one day. We get over 150 messages each weekend, and coupled with the fact that everyone finds a need to talk to us on Monday it's hard to keep up on Mondays.
Click to expand...

He has, indeed, posted this many times.

I'd feel a lot better if folks didn't take their complaints about companies to public bulletin boards.
 
Bob Collins said:
He has, indeed, posted this many times.

I'd feel a lot better if folks didn't take their complaints about companies to public bulletin boards.
Click to expand...

I agree with you, Bob, but isn't it curious that things seem to move forward and issues get resolved with a little nudging.
 
I'm an email over phone kind of guy so I've never had a problem.

But... all in all... deep breaths everyone. Deep breaths.

Things aren't always what you think they are.

You all probably know what a big fan I am of Stein and his folks. So, if you have problems getting ahold of him, just so that the unknowing don't reach a conclusion about these fabulous people on the basis of a subject line on a bulletin board...drop me a line.... I'll print them out and personally drive down and deliver them to them.

It'll give me an excuse to get out of my cubicle. ;)
 
alcladrv said:
I agree with you, Bob, but isn't it curious that things seem to move forward and issues get resolved with a little nudging.
Click to expand...

Hi "anonymous",

You couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, public complaints about things are likely to result in just the opposite from me...

In this case, I hadn't even heard nor read about this thread until AFTER Pierre was taken care of. You don't have to believe me but please don't make false assumptions without knowing ANY facts. I just don't have time to monitor these forums like I used to, especially on Mondays. Most of my time reading is VERY late at night after I get home about now (look at most of my post times) or on weekends.

It's easy to be brave and make antagonistic comments behind a keyboard......especially when you don't bother to leave your name. I thought Doug Reeves had some sort of policy about leaving your name, but then again I guess it's easier for some of us to remain anonymous! Sorry to be brash, bit you're assuming something you know little to nothing about. We try our best, and given the fact that we are a small company without a huge staff, we do pretty good I think. We too have personal issues from time to time, and things aren't always run as perfectly as they probably should be...but we're constantly working on getting better! I'm not a Harvard MBA, I'm an airplane mechanic, homebuilder and engineer....who's doing the best I can with what I've got to work with. Had we not lost hundreds of thousands of $$'s last year that would have made things much easier as far as having $$'s to hire people, phone lines, etc... But then again, I don't want to bore you with any side issues or excuses. If you were one of the people who went through the D2A/Chelton debacle, perhaps you'd understand a little bit more about the extraordinary pain that cost. At least we're still in business! Part of the reason we're still in business is by not having an over abundance of staff, phones, etc.. sometimes to the detriment of customers I know. But it's that or we spend lots of money on stuff, then go the way of of the dodo as other businesses have!

Oh, and for Pierre. I am building an entirely new web store that should be YEARS ahead of the one we have now. I realize it's outdated and not so easy to use. The problem is that my webmaster is a bit slow (it's me) so like everything it's taking longer than I'd like. The new site should be REALLY slick when done. If I had the $$'s and the time it'd be done by now, but like everything it just takes time when you're chief cook, bottle washer, etc...

In the end all I can say is we're doing the best we can right now. It's not because we're in bad shape, it's because we're darned busy trying to keep as many people happy as we can. I truly understand people's frustrations, but really appreciate everyone's patience, persistance, and "reminders"!

Cheers,
Stein (and yes - that's my name)! :)

PS, Bill - I don't recall your emails, but I'll do some digging tomorrow and see. I get about 850 emails per week, so I honestly may have missed them....I depend a lot on subject lines to prioritize. I do check my private messages here at least once a week (or more if I can) so that's another option.
 
Last edited:
Bob Collins said:
...I'd feel a lot better if folks didn't take their complaints about companies to public bulletin boards.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I think that legitimate complaints (and praise) certainly belong on public bulletin boards. What other mechanism is there to judge good vendors from bad?

In SteinAir's case, for every negative remark I've read, I've seen many more positive comments, so I've put him on my "ok to buy from" list.

Blue skies,
John
 
What other way? Plenty of other ways. Write to your most trusted RV building buddy and ask. Check your local EAA chapter Use old fashioned methods of communications

The problem with people taking their complaints public is -- as I've already posted -- you don't KNOW whether the complaint is legitimate.

And sure IF you took the time to read the entire thread and IF you had some way of knowing who to believe and who not to believe, then maybe -- MAYBE -- the conclusion you drew would be the correct one.

That's a lot of luck involved when someone's reputation is on the line.

Plus, I don't know how you read the forums but I hit NEW POSTS and scan the headers and I usually read about 3% of the threads. So anyone who browses through and reads "Steinair difficult to contact" who doesn't read the thread, well, what's the takeaway.

It's really poor way to treat someone and more often than not it's the route taken by people who haven't exhausted (and in many cases barely even started) the avenues of communication.

You know how RVers regularly whine about the news media not checking facts before writing stories about aviation and hurting aviation by doing so? You know how everyone chimes in and says "yeah, how can THAT happen?"

THIS is is how that happens.
 
Good Business practices

I run a small business and know how hard it is to deal with everything the day brings. Things get missed or forgotten or delayed. I have both positive and negative dealings with Stein...mostly positive! I would do business with him again in an instant and I understand why I sometimes don't get the service I was hoping for. That being said, the best businesses make each customer feel like they are the only person dealing with that company and that the company is just there to serve them. This is a difficult goal to achieve. I know I am not there by a long shot. When you are the one on the waiting end of the phone line you can't help thinking that there must be something wrong when your call or email is not returned in a timely manner.

Stein, you run a good business. I hope you do get rich. There is nothing wrong with making a profit for delivering goods or services that people need in a timely manner with good service and fair prices. You might be surprised at how affordable a phone answering person is when they help to generate increased sales and revenues through satisfied customers. Your business will grow. Many companies have gone under because they could not deal with the volume of sales generated by their own success. My motto is that I would rather loose money on a job than loose a referral from that job. I bet you will find that many people would pay a bit more to deal with a company that they had total confidence in than a fly-by-night operation at bargain basement prices.

That's enough rambling for now!
 
Not that he needs it, but I want to add my plug for Stein. He and I have been through a tough situation with a vendor for almost a year now. The vendor in my opinion did not step up to the plate as he should and left Stein holding the ball so to speak. To his credit Stein hung in there and kept after the problem until I think we have it under control.

One of the things that I look for in a vendor is integrety and Stein has it in spades. He is not going to take advantage of you or cheat you. He will admit when he screwed up and work to fix it. That is all you can ask of any person or vendor.

I know it may seem counter productive to make him even busier, but give him your business so he can get even further behind. You will be glad you did.

Gary Specketer
40274 Flying
 
Again, another unneeded plug. If Stein has a problem, it's that he is too honest. He tells it like it is and tells people what they need to hear, not necessarily what they want to hear. And I for one don't want to see that change. If Stein tells you something, take it to the bank.

Standard disclaimer; just a satisfied customer and I would like to think a friend.

Bob Kelly
 
andrew phillips said:
You might be surprised at how affordable a phone answering person is when they help to generate increased sales and revenues through satisfied customers.
Click to expand...

Sometimes it best, to NOT grow. I'm in the heating and air conditioning business. With the big slow down in the housing market, many large companies have had to lay off a large number of employees. Since starting in the HVAC business, I've been through three of these major housing recessions.

On the other hand, there are many business's who keep "employees on the shelf" so to speak; so that they can offer "when you call, we'll be there service". However, the cost to the customer is usually THREE to FIVE times the going rate! Would you like paying $940 for a gas valve replacement, where the valve is less than $100?
Or how about $420 for an igniter that is around 20 bucks? Don't be surprised, as it happens all the time! Having all those trucks and office personnel, cost's money!

Not only that; since I have nearly 40 years of personal HVAC experience, I actually know a lot more than so many less experienced installers with larger companies. You wouldn't believe the faulty installations and pure "junk" that I see.

After nearly 25 years in my own business, I have NO complaints listed with the State, and some very positive referrals on several consumer web sites, plus many, many referrals. Many "big" companies just can't say this.

I'm "picky" and have a problem delegating. Unfortunately, I can't help everybody that calls out of the blue. But I always keep commitments to anyone I've made actual arrangements with.
Thanks to my long time experience, warranty work is extremely low, and nearly non existant. But I'll go out of my way to respond quickly, should there be a problem.

I'm well aware, that we are a "call now, want now" society. If we are just an over the counter sales type business, that's one thing. But when we sell a service that has to be manufactured, or installed; it's going to be a case of customers paying more money with the chance of getting less qualified installations.......................or just dealing with a smaller company where you know that what you get, is the best possible.

L.Adamson

edit: Changed c-r-a-p to junk, so that it shows up, hopefully...
 
Last edited:
RVNineA said:
I disagree. I think that legitimate complaints (and praise) certainly belong on public bulletin boards. What other mechanism is there to judge good vendors from bad?

In SteinAir's case, for every negative remark I've read, I've seen many more positive comments, so I've put him on my "ok to buy from" list.

Blue skies,
John
Click to expand...


+1000000 and I'm brand new to this stuff!
 
I have known Stein and Jed for Years, and as well most of the other staff at the company.

I also know well what weekends look like at Steinair. You will often see half the benches occupied by techs putting the panels together, the office filled with both Stein and Jed working to catch up on invoices, emails, ordering, stocking, and so on. Our resident genius is often there two days each weekend preparing the final drawings for customers.

I can also tell you that Stein is not trying to get rich. I think everyone who knows him hopes that he will one day pay himself more than his techs, but for now virtually every cent goes back into the business. Part of this is Stein, and part of this is the Chelton mess.

When D2A left with many hundreds of thousands of dollars of customer money, a handful of panel integrators were left with customers that had no money to return and no systems. Steinair is the only company who went to each customer with a committment to cover the problem. It is not an exageration to say that the decision cost more than my house and Steins combined. Stein made that decision because it was the right decision to make, because it was fair, and because he and the rest of the folks at Steinair are fair.

I know that sometimes they can be hard to get ahold of. But I have also seen them spend hours on the phone to help out a customer, even when the problem was a unit the customer bought elsewhere to save a few bucks. Stein and Jed and Paul and Mike and Mike, and the two Dougs, and Christer, and Jenny are all aircraft builders and enthusiasts. They all work there because they enjoy it, and love helping others to complete their projects.

I guess I am writing this because I know how hard these people work, I know that they are not cutting corners, and I hope that we will support a business like that. A slight delay in picking up the phone now is worth it when you know a year down the road they will hunt down and fix your support issue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.