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Wentworth Aircraft - restock fee??

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Drippy

Well Known Member
Hay anyone bought any avionics from Wentworth Aircraft? I bought a GPS from them and asked about returning it and putting the money toward another model and they wanted to hit me with a $750 restocking fee. I was feeling dumb enough after buying the wrong GPS and this was only piling on:).

Is this standard in the industry or is Wentworth unique?
 
I have purchased from them. Didn't return it though (I think it was an audio panel)

Does your invoice mention the restock policy? If not you're in better shape.

Worst case: Sell it it yourself to minimize the cost of the mistake. I had to do that on an NAV I thought I wanted, but then went nav/com instead. Sold it never installed for $250 less than new.
 
I think it's fair. It's an micro market. In my business, also a micro market, it costs about $ 200 just to do the paperwork to sell an item and twice that to process a return. If I were selling iPhones (700 million sold to date) I would have a much more efficient process, but we are very few in numbers so there is no economy of scale. We are also engaged in an exceptionally regulated activity.

It doesn't seem fair that we have to pay for paperwork, but isn't that all a lawyer or banker does? How much do we pay for that?
 
Not all venders have figured out that after the sales service is the make or break element in today's experimental market. Key example is Garmin setting up it's own experimental avionics branch that mimics business practices of Dynon, Grand Rapids, Stein and others.

While I acknowledge that some nominal fee would be appropriate for this specific example, $750 is simply unreasonable.

So - I walk away with a data point on making a purchase from Wentworth.

Carl
 
surprised you were able to buy it in the first place, ive tried getting parts for my cessna from them and after talking to sales and giving a part number i never get a call back... I was able to get one part, i had to call back 4 times.
 
vendor at air shows

Have noticed this vendor at air shows for decades. Not impressed with pricing or policies....
 
About 5 years ago I bought an STec AP from Wentworth and had to return it. They said as long as it came back within 30 days of purchase the only fee was shipping. It cost me $29.00 to return it around day 25. Are you outside the 30 days returns window? Or perhaps they've changed their policy on returns?
 
It's surprising the number of companies that don't appreciate the ecosystem that their customers live in today. This policy cannot be profitable for them. Sure, they get $750 in short-term revenue and maybe losing just that customer makes this a win for them. But just think how many potential customers will avoid them like the plague after the OP posted his experience on this community. I believe that cost them more than $750 in future Margin/profit. I know that I certainly would never buy from them. I can understand a reasonable re-stocking fee, but $750 is egregious, in my opinion.

Larry
 
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