Isn't it a great feeling when you don't get ripped off...

[bullojm1]

So I needed to order a bunch of sheet aluminum from Aircraft Spruce for some various modifications to my project. I called the local shop that sells 2024T3, but their prices were WAY high - plus I would need to figure in mileage and tax. ACS was significantly cheaper, but I was worried how much they would charge me to ship five(5) 2' x 4' sheets. I know the last time I ordered up some 6' sections of hinge material, shipping was in the $20-$40 range. Anyways, I placed the order at 1pm today and by 5pm they had it shipped and charged me under $20 to ship it! Part of me was expecting somewhere in the neighborhood of twice that amount. Way to go Spruce!

[weezbad]

ya know, alot of people beat up on spruce but they have really been a great company to deal with.

[tmbg]

I've dealt with spruce a LOT, and always in person, and by and large i've had great results with them.

I had one issue the last few months; I bought a kelly e-drive starter from them, and put it on my cherokee, and the damn thing self-destructed on the first start. I brought it back to spruce, and they gave me credit toward a different starter.

Several months later, they charged my credit card $456 without letting me know. I called down there to find out that the RMA had been denied from Kelly because I didn't fill out paperwork indicating date in/out and hours in service. I had to jump through a bunch of hoops, and they had my money for a month, but I eventually got it back, but only as a credit to my spruce account so I can buy more stuff. Overall, that's a bit shady. It works out ok for me, because I will spend the money there eventually anyway, but it would have been a BIG problem if that had overdrawn my account!

[svanarts]

The key to dealing with AS is to keep going up the ladder, ask to speak to managers. That happened when I was building my RV-4. I bought an exhaust system from them that obviously would not fit my installation. It was more than 30 days since I purchased it so they were going to charge me a restock fee which was exorbitant. I told them that was fine but I wanted to talk to a manager so I could explain why they lost a customer. Since they sent me the wrong part I didn't see why I had to pay any fee at all. I got a call back the same day from a manager and I explained the situation to that person. They were sympathetic but still couldn't help. The NEXT day I got an email from Jim Irwin. The email was apologetic and assured me my money would be refunded in full and that they would investigate the part problem because they were told that the exhaust would fit my engine.

I've been a reasonably loyal customer since.