Customer Service and Aviation
I’ve been pursuing my IFR rating and am hovering at the brink of a checkride. I have a letter of discontinuance since the plane’s directional gyro (gyroscopic compass) failed on the checkride. We had it removed and sent back for repair. It’s on it’s way back to me now, but I’m not overly delighted with Kelly Manufacturing’s service (they make R.C. Allen gyros).
The fix is covered under warrantee, and that repair work is covered as well, but there are some issues.
- Although their form that is sent in with the gyro includes my phone number and email, I’ve not received any information from them either way. Mom and Pop online vendors do better.
- I had to send it for repair at my shipping cost. This isn’t true for various electronics repairs I’ve dealt with in the computer field, I usually get an RMA number for returns.
- When I called them the first time I found that it took as long to get the gyro from their receiving department to repair as it did to ship the device halfway across the country. I was admonished to “give them time”.
- They repair the gyro, they don’t replace it with repaired stock, then repair mine and stock it for a future warranty repair. This restocking process is routine in electronics repair.
- They didn’t give me a tracking number for the return shipment, again, most small online vendors do better.
For a gyro that costs over $900, I’d expect better service. The next time I buy a instrument for the plane, I’ll factor the customer service I got into my purchase selection. Aviation businesses complain about the lack of repeat customers and the difficulty of keeping customers, customer service might be part of the answer.