Thank you Tom Green!
I wanted to post this note of gratitude for the way Tom Green at Vans handled a situation that I encountered recently. It has to do with a mismatch of parts that I ended up with from Vans for mounting the Alternator on my engine. This posting is long in the details that follow, so skip the details if you wish, but just know that Vans has regained the respect of one RV6 builder for the way Tom Green handled a very frustrating situation.
I purchased a Firewall Forward kit from Vans a couple of years ago which included an Alternator kit with a Boss mount; but I ended up with an engine that requires a Case mount. At first it seemed like no big deal because Vans also sells a case mount bracket. I ordered that bracket from Vans, mounted it to my engine and hung the alternator. After mounting the bracket and alternator I discovered that the alternator was too far forward by 5/16 of an inch. I called Vans builder support to explain the problem I was having. I thought that maybe I was missing something. I just couldn?t believe that if I bought the alternator and the bracket(s) from Vans that I would have a mismatch like this. I didn?t see any way to get the alternator into alignment without milling down the backside of the front ear on the alternator by 5/16 on an inch. I didn?t want to do this (even though there would have been enough ?meat? to work with) because I didn?t want to end up with a morphodite. When I spoke with an employee of Vans builder support (I won?t mention his name) to see if he had any suggestions. He basically insulted me by saying that Vans doesn?t know what engine, alternator, brackets, etc? that the builder will end up with, and ?you have to remember that you are the manufacturer?. I told him that I am aware of this, but I thought that since I bought the alternator and the brackets from Vans, I didn?t think I would end up with a hodgepodge / mismatch. The conversation was going down hill and instead of getting any constructive suggestions, I got much more frustrated and I ended the conversation. I don?t want this to sound like a slam on Vans Aircraft but after I hung up the phone and reflected on the conversation, my whole opinion of Vans Aircraft changed.
I continued thinking (stewing) about the conversation for a few days. I decided to call back and talk to Tom Green just to let him know that Vans is selling parts (specifically the case mount bracket and alternator) that don?t work together. After discussing any and all of the possible reasons that I may be encountering this problem, Tom suggested that I call Plane Power at (877) 934-5700 and tell them what my application and engine are and get a part number from them for their kit. Tom said that Vans is now selling the Plane Power alternator kit as a ?Deluxe Alternator Kit? and it even has over voltage protection built in, but they don?t carry the one with the case mount. He said that he wants me to send back the Vans alternator kit and the bracket along with the part number for the Plane Power kit. He will then order that kit, have it drop shipped to me and just charge me the difference between the two kits. I was amazed at the way he dealt with this situation and the solution he came up with. I only called because I wanted to hear what his response would be to what had happened. I was hopping for a positive response because I didn?t want and I didn?t think it would be fair to let my opinion of Vans change because of one bad experience with the employee in the builder support. After speaking to Tom I called Plane Power and spoke to a nice lady named Linda. She said that they have exactly what I need and gave me the part number for their kit for my application. I sent my original parts back to Vans including a letter to Tom with the part number (that I got from Linda) and thanked him for his generous offer and solution to my problem. A week later I received the kit from Plane Power and I hadn?t even arranged to pay the difference yet. I now have the Plane Power Alternator with their bracket mounted to my engine and it lines up perfectly.
Kudos Tom! Thanks again.
Joe Radford
Peoria, Arizona
I wanted to post this note of gratitude for the way Tom Green at Vans handled a situation that I encountered recently. It has to do with a mismatch of parts that I ended up with from Vans for mounting the Alternator on my engine. This posting is long in the details that follow, so skip the details if you wish, but just know that Vans has regained the respect of one RV6 builder for the way Tom Green handled a very frustrating situation.
I purchased a Firewall Forward kit from Vans a couple of years ago which included an Alternator kit with a Boss mount; but I ended up with an engine that requires a Case mount. At first it seemed like no big deal because Vans also sells a case mount bracket. I ordered that bracket from Vans, mounted it to my engine and hung the alternator. After mounting the bracket and alternator I discovered that the alternator was too far forward by 5/16 of an inch. I called Vans builder support to explain the problem I was having. I thought that maybe I was missing something. I just couldn?t believe that if I bought the alternator and the bracket(s) from Vans that I would have a mismatch like this. I didn?t see any way to get the alternator into alignment without milling down the backside of the front ear on the alternator by 5/16 on an inch. I didn?t want to do this (even though there would have been enough ?meat? to work with) because I didn?t want to end up with a morphodite. When I spoke with an employee of Vans builder support (I won?t mention his name) to see if he had any suggestions. He basically insulted me by saying that Vans doesn?t know what engine, alternator, brackets, etc? that the builder will end up with, and ?you have to remember that you are the manufacturer?. I told him that I am aware of this, but I thought that since I bought the alternator and the brackets from Vans, I didn?t think I would end up with a hodgepodge / mismatch. The conversation was going down hill and instead of getting any constructive suggestions, I got much more frustrated and I ended the conversation. I don?t want this to sound like a slam on Vans Aircraft but after I hung up the phone and reflected on the conversation, my whole opinion of Vans Aircraft changed.
I continued thinking (stewing) about the conversation for a few days. I decided to call back and talk to Tom Green just to let him know that Vans is selling parts (specifically the case mount bracket and alternator) that don?t work together. After discussing any and all of the possible reasons that I may be encountering this problem, Tom suggested that I call Plane Power at (877) 934-5700 and tell them what my application and engine are and get a part number from them for their kit. Tom said that Vans is now selling the Plane Power alternator kit as a ?Deluxe Alternator Kit? and it even has over voltage protection built in, but they don?t carry the one with the case mount. He said that he wants me to send back the Vans alternator kit and the bracket along with the part number for the Plane Power kit. He will then order that kit, have it drop shipped to me and just charge me the difference between the two kits. I was amazed at the way he dealt with this situation and the solution he came up with. I only called because I wanted to hear what his response would be to what had happened. I was hopping for a positive response because I didn?t want and I didn?t think it would be fair to let my opinion of Vans change because of one bad experience with the employee in the builder support. After speaking to Tom I called Plane Power and spoke to a nice lady named Linda. She said that they have exactly what I need and gave me the part number for their kit for my application. I sent my original parts back to Vans including a letter to Tom with the part number (that I got from Linda) and thanked him for his generous offer and solution to my problem. A week later I received the kit from Plane Power and I hadn?t even arranged to pay the difference yet. I now have the Plane Power Alternator with their bracket mounted to my engine and it lines up perfectly.
Kudos Tom! Thanks again.
Joe Radford
Peoria, Arizona
