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Don't trust Aircraft Spruce's website

FlyDave

FlyDave

Active Member
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I have placed 25+ orders on the AC Spruce website since I got my plane in December 2023.
But for the 2nd time in 6 months I placed an order on their website for one specific item and they shipped another.
I needed 2 tires and tubes for my 6A. I got to this page and it showed these tires in stock:

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/lgpages/michAviator1_06-01437.php

I thought "Wow, that was easy - great!"
I also ordered Michelin AirStop tubes and they got that right.
I received the shipment, removed the old tires, did a complete brake job, mounted and balanced the new tires and installed them. When I put the wheel pants on I found them to be rubbing on the wheels. I looked at the old tires, you know, like the ones I ordered, and compared them to the new tires and found that they had shipped these:

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/lgpages/michelinairtires_06-01434.php

I've emailed a guy that has been quite helpful in the past and am waiting for a call back from him. I hope to get this resolved quickly as we are heading into the rainy season in Northern California and flyable days will soon be far between.
Six months ago I ordered an oxygen system as it was displayed and described on the Spruce website. What they shipped was a system with a regulator for installation in a Cessna of sorts. When I contacted them about it they initially argued with me saying I got the right items. The person I was working with obviously didn't know what they were talking about. They finally said they would take the system back and told me to go find what I wanted somewhere else. To that I responded "Are you kidding me? I've been a customer of Spruce for over 25 years. And your telling me to go away?". They finally "capitulated" and got the right system to me.
The long and the short of this is: check EVERY aspect of an order, from product to quantity to warranty if applicable. And take screenshots of what you're ordering to back it up. They are an international company in 2025 but their website is something out of 2002!

Signed "Frustrated...I just want to go fly my airplane!"
 
I too have been a spruce customer for many years. Their customer service has degraded somewhat. Another disappointment has been Boeing (formerly Aviall).. excellent service from McFarlane, Air Power, Chief. For avionics I like Pacific Coast, Sarasota Avionics.
 
Oh! Those are great tires by the way. Sounds like your wheel pants are installed so that you can't use them without modification, but that is the size I use, they are bigger and feel great on dirt and grass fields.
Sorry ACS goofed and sent you the wrong ones.

By the way, here is the correct 'standard' tire for your RV....its 6-ply, not 10-ply.
www.aircraftspruce.com

Michelin Air Tire 500-5 6Ply 070-312-0 | Aircraft Spruce ®

Michelin Air Tire 500-5 6Ply 070-312-0 Michelin® AIR®: The tire for demanding pilots.
www.aircraftspruce.com www.aircraftspruce.com
 
sansoneservices said:
I too have been a spruce customer for many years. Their customer service has degraded somewhat. Another disappointment has been Boeing (formerly Aviall).. excellent service from McFarlane, Air Power, Chief. For avionics I like Pacific Coast, Sarasota Avionics.
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I continue to find ACS customer service excellent, especially the folks on the phone. They almost always fix issues promptly and correctly. I've had several packaging mistakes where the bag was labeled correctly but had the wrong item inside. Not customer service or order-filling issue, but errors by the folks that package and label their products. Anyway, they always get the right item on the way to me immediately. Only once was there an error that they billed me for the replacement. One more call got that fixed easily. Always friendly, knowledgeable.
 
scsmith said:
I continue to find ACS customer service excellent, especially the folks on the phone. They almost always fix issues promptly and correctly. I've had several packaging mistakes where the bag was labeled correctly but had the wrong item inside. Not customer service or order-filling issue, but errors by the folks that package and label their products. Anyway, they always get the right item on the way to me immediately. Only once was there an error that they billed me for the replacement. One more call got that fixed easily. Always friendly, knowledgeable.
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Good to hear
 
I agree with Steve, similar results. Call me old fashioned but I always prefer to actually talk with a human being when ordering. Not everything can be understood by a computer. I will always call ACS when ordering instead of just ordering on the internet.
 
Maybe they have a glitch in the site? I tried to order a few things yesterday and got stuck in a captcha’s endless loop. Called and they entered my order. Other than that, I’ve never had an issue with their site. Always good service.
 
Here's a good ACS story. I recently bought an Artex ETL345 from them to replace our ACK. Turns out there are two versions with different programming for serial link GPS data. I chose the wrong one. Their customer support had me ship it back. They swapped the programming quickly and returned it with fast shipping from their side at no charge. That was good CS in my opinion!
 
I hate paying the egregious shipping charges so I ordered enough to get the "free shipping". All items showed "In Stock"
Product shipped, less one item. Then had to wait on that item, even though I paid for it. Then they charged me shipping on it as well.
Called, got basically, "too bad" that's how we do it.
 
FuturPilot said:
I hate paying the egregious shipping charges so I ordered enough to get the "free shipping". All items showed "In Stock"
Product shipped, less one item. Then had to wait on that item, even though I paid for it. Then they charged me shipping on it as well.
Called, got basically, "too bad" that's how we do it.
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This^^ is why I stated their customer service degraded slightly. If the website claims "in stock" and free shipping, then you get charged for shipping due to a website error, I call foul. Especially if you call and they don't compromise. I still order from ACS but I'm more careful now and check other sources
 
Happy hybrid customer here: I order everything online, pick up in person.

For the last 3 yrs I drive past Corona every week. Talking with ACS customers, gawking at the cutaway Kitfox, and connecting with the ACS team is a win: they QC my order with me before ringing it up.

SoCal not-so-secret tip:
land at Corona, call, and ACS will pick you up in a courtesy van. And it "saves" on shipping;)
 
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esco said:
Happy hybrid customer here: I order everything online, pick up in person.

For the last 3 yrs I drive past Corona every week. Talking with ACS customers, gawking at the cutaway Kitfox, and connecting with the ACS team is a win: they QC my order with me before ringing it up.

SoCal not-so-secret tip:
land at Corona, call, and ACS will pick you up in a courtesy van. And it "saves" on shipping.)
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There should be an emoji for "serious envy"
 
esco said:
Happy hybrid customer here: I order everything online, pick up in person.

For the last 3 yrs I drive past Corona every week. Talking with ACS customers, gawking at the cutaway Kitfox, and connecting with the ACS team is a win: they QC my order with me bef ringing it up.

SoCal not-so-secret tip:
land at Corona, call, and ACS will pick you up in a courtesy van. And it "saves" on shipping;)
Click to expand...
Lucky bas***d 😆
 
esco said:
Happy hybrid customer here: I order everything online, pick up in person.

For the last 3 yrs I drive past Corona every week. Talking with ACS customers, gawking at the cutaway Kitfox, and connecting with the ACS team is a win: they QC my order with me before ringing it up.

SoCal not-so-secret tip:
land at Corona, call, and ACS will pick you up in a courtesy van. And it "saves" on shipping;)
Click to expand...
100% agree. I think of a trip to Spruce as a trip to Disneyland. Their customer service has been fantastic. They carry tens of thousands of products and can’t be expected to be an expert at everything. But they have been exceptional to me.

Plus, it never hurts to take them cookies at Christmas.
 
When I purchased my 6A it had a flat spot on one of the mains. Took it off and ordered the same from Spruce. Michelin Condor 5.00-5 6ply fit perfect and is $100 less than the Michelin Air. The Leakguard tube was only about $25 less than the tire! I have about 100 hours on it and so far so good.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/lgpages/condor_06-08010.php

When I purchased an EDM-350 with all sensors, they shipped me the wrong oil sensor. I called up and the woman I talked with said I had filled out the form wrong. She went away and came back a few minutes later and apologized they made the mistake. They then sent the correct one overnight and didn't want the wrong one back.

There was as moment where she wasn't being friendly and I was getting agitated. She could have handled the first part of the discussion better by not assuming that I had made the mistake and not them. Basic customer service 101.
 
esco said:
Happy hybrid customer here: I order everything online, pick up in person.

For the last 3 yrs I drive past Corona every week. Talking with ACS customers, gawking at the cutaway Kitfox, and connecting with the ACS team is a win: they QC my order with me before ringing it up.

SoCal not-so-secret tip:
land at Corona, call, and ACS will pick you up in a courtesy van. And it "saves" on shipping;)
Click to expand...
And you get to fly too............
 
I've spent a lot of money with Spruce and have always found them to be the most professional outfit in the homebuilding world, and that's including the kit manufacturers
 
I dont trust anonymous bickerings online.

Screenshots would have been real. easy evidence.

The modern world is about logistics and Spruce has those down as well as anyone.
 
Back in December 25 I purchased an overhauled Carb with a core charge of +$600. Sent the core back and received a notice I would be credited. I completely forgot about it and just this morning and looked and no refund in our accounts. Pulled up my Spruce account and it said core received and refunded?! I called them up and they said it needed to be refunded to our PayPal account as that is how it was purchased. She asked if our PayPal account was active and of course it is and always has been. She said she would push through the refund to our PayPal account. A few minutes late received a notice it was refunded to PayPal. I gave them no new information, all accounts were fully functional, they just hadn’t refunded the money to PayPal but the invoice said refunded.

This is near 4 months after sending the core back. If I hadn’t called to figure it out, I would have never received the refund and that rebuilt carb would have cost me another $600+tax. Check your core refunds! This experience wasn’t great.
 
They do make mistakes. But I've found them to be pretty easy to work with in getting mistakes corrected.

Once, I ordered a new crankshaft from them. The website said it was in stock and quoted a price that looked to be around the going rate. About a week later I got a call from them saying the website had been incorrect, that it was not in stock, it would be about a 6 month wait, and the price was now considerably higher. I wasn't all that surprised, given what was going on at the time. But it made me wonder if their real time inventory is ever accurately reflected on their website.

From then on, I will usually call them to order more expensive items.
 
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