Name & Shame

[Sans Anoraque]

If you were a flying club just north of London, (for the purposes of argument, let's call them Flyteam Aviation at Elstree), and you received a couple of emails asking about self-fly hire - why would you ignore them completely?

Possibly, with the state of GA in the UK being so healthy at the moment and your profit margins so large, you can afford to ignore potential customers?

[cirrus01]

Just a suggestion.................why not use one of those new fangled telephone devices and speak with them direct ??? :ok:

[markflyer6580]

I think they should give you a free hour for their lack of manners!:}

[Genghis the Engineer]

I know nothing about them, but have you tried phoning? The number of perfectly legit Emails that seem to get eaten by spam filters, or even just vanish, these days is quite disturbing.

G

[Heliplane]

There have been a few comments about Flyteam in this forum and I'm not expressing any opinion on them.

However, if an organisation is going to be "named and shamed", surely it should be for something more substantial than not answering emails. There are enough organisations out there with questionable safety records or poor business practices to worry about. Perhaps their computer/server is down.

Why not call them on the phone?

Just a thought.

[Sans Anoraque]

I sent the first email because nobody answered the phone.

I will be fair on this, if Flyteam have had genuine problems with their phone/email systems, then I will post that on this thread.

However, it's hard to do that when I can't get in contact with them at all.

[tonyhalsall]

Instead of being negative and whining on a forum like this where it will achieve nothing, why not act positively and pick up the phone and get your needs serviced by a competing organisation? Firecrest at the same airfield used to offer near to identical rates - try them, it is a more positive action and it will make you feel better when you succeed !! If Flyteam want to go out of business - let them.

[IO540]

Sadly, the spammers have got a lot more clever in the last 6 months or so, and email reliability has fallen to a very low level.

A business that relies on email, and which exposes its email address on a website without taking some precautions, has to do some rather proactive measures otherwise they will get 1000 spams a day.

On top of that, most businesses rarely check their emails and, if they ever did, all it takes is for the person in charge of it to leave and they just forget about it. Aviation is a particularly backward business in this respect.

If a school doesn't take calls, that doesn't look good for general contact regarding whether a lesson you've booked is still on (weather, etc).

Avoid, IMHO. Life's too short.

[Penguina]

If you're not sure whether to persist or not, you could PM FlyingForFun about this outfit; he does have some experience of them from the inside (not positive...).

[Laundryman]

They got me through the PPL ok, get on the phone and ask for Amir (he's the boss) they aren't there Mondays. Say Brendan sent you.

[Sans Anoraque]

Now, now Tony - just because I suggested you marry a farmer on a previous thread! ;)
I did look at Firecrest, but they only offer Cessnas and I'm a low-wing type of guy. (I also resent paying landing fees at a 'home' airfield).

Penguina - I read FFFs thread after starting this one. Although I take his & others point about the school, the comments regarding self-hire were fairly positive. Still, cause for contemplation though.

While I take others points about excuses/reasons for non-contact. I also run my own business, and I'm hoping Flyteam take customer care as seriously as I have to. The Private Flying forum is a great place in which to find out.

[IO540]

SA

If you run your own business, you haven't got a hope in hell of finding another company that is as good as yours :O

(only half tongue in cheek)

[Sans Anoraque]

I0540 - over my head completely I'm afraid.

[D SQDRN 97th IOTC]

Amir is fine - a bit cranky maybe, but fine. I did over 50 hours in his arrows, and my IMC rating with him. He is generally fine with his customers (not so sure he is so friendly towards his instructiors though) but he does have a work life balance (hence having Mondays off......)

PM me if you want more detail.

:D