Alicopter
I used to run a large family owned logistics operation ( in xs of 100 vehicles) yes you are correct when stating you are investing, but when choosing which to purchase the warrany and sevice would carry a large percentage in deciding where one spent the company money. Bear in mind the vehicles in many cases were working on average 19 hours a day and driving in xs of 100k miles in a year. If wagons werent on the road we didnt have any customers and hence no money in our pockets with the possibility of 450 staff being out of work.
Now lets move forward to the aviation world, Customer service is ****e, we will repair it when we get round to doing it in our own time. We wont provide the spares ( yes Skirosky MD and Eurocopter plus others ). In this day and age the customer is king, if one doesnt look that way you dont have customers unless you are in a monoply position ( to a degree the R22).
Now money is tight and margins are cut to the bone you cant afford to have machines down or be paying for the manufacturers problems.
In my case I was happy to be the Cabri distributor,( went down to see Bruno but was beaten by Cotswold, dont have a problem with and I really hope they survive). I would love to have the machines, yes I can afford them but I am being asked to
1. Take on a very new machine where the oldest one has barely done 1000 hours; so no long term info on reliability
2. No expert maintenance company so am paying for someone else's learning curve
3. Insurance that is more than double a Schweizer ( £ 6000 extra per machine)
4. Go to composite blades , see the problems EC have with theirs
5. go to composite frame, see problems AW have had with theirs
6. Go with a small company that in the words of the owner has/had a cash flow issue
7. Go with a company that took 3 weeks to repond to a sales request, even now the UK distributor in his own words was too busy to reply for 4 days
8. The uncertainity of the economy
This all adds up to me taking an awful lot of risk in investing in a new type and blow me down just when I was going to write out the deposit cheque i am told there is no labour warranty parts only, one risk too far for me I am afraid.
Dont get me wrong most of the above can be levelled at all the manufacturers , if we as consumer dont stand up we will continue to have the pea taken.
To all those giving me a hard time on the subject, havent seen you putting your hand in your pocket !
