The reason I was baffled at that chap leaving his maintenance logs at the MO is that it is such an obvious way to end up over a barrel (if the MO is dishonest) and losing them if/when they go bust (which happens regardless of whether they are honest or not) and ending up with a plane whose value could be demolished if certain things cannot be established.
The other thing - I am on the N-reg - is that AIUI the logs have to be up to date, so not writing them up for anything up to a year is not on. Mine are written up for every 50hr check i.e. about 3 times a year and the A&P/IA signs each check (which I do with him, largely but not necessarily within pilot maint privileges).
The £60 charge for writing up the books (presumably the airframe, engine and prop logbooks; I was on G-reg for 3 years myself) from the journey log, together with the owner's mention of doing 60hrs/year, shows what ripoff merchants there are out there. He got charged £60 for about 10 mins' work.
I bought the plane new from Air Touring who as everybody knows went bust a few years ago. I did get a wad of stuff passed to me by the liquidator. I am sure they were amused when I asked them how much there was so (if a lot) I could drive up to Biggin Hill to collect it in person. So without asking me they sent it by Royal Mail Special Delivery without any stamps or franking so I got to pay for it anyway
Anyway it was only a fraction of what AT had. Various avionics work I never got work packs for because when I asked for the work pack the chap said it is "intellectual property".
Before AT went bust, they tried to shaft me for about £1500 of "warranty work" which the factory refused to reimburse them for because it was a "non mandatory SB" and only "mandatory SBs" are covered in warranty
Along with most other similarly affected TB owners (there were quite a few, but some paid up) I didn't pay so they didn't play ball after that...
Obviously some shops are honest and some are not, but life is a case of "trust but verify", and it seems that some people don't bother to do the "verify" bit at all.
On Wigglyamp's Q, my view would be that the
owner should pay but any documentation thus produced should obviously be
his property, so he can take it with him when he moves CAMOs. Charging somebody for work and then retaining the property in the work is what professional photographers do
And (I know 1 or 2 of those are reading this
) most of the ones I know are trying to leave that particular business because the easy work has gradually disappeared.