Well, looks like it actually took going here on RCU again to actually get John to respond, and I finally got some kind of email back from AMTUSA. I guess the other email and voice messages I had left were not good enough to respond to.. so I figure lets continue the communication here, as you seem to better respond if done in such a way ....
Email from AMT USA
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-----Original Message-----
From: jligons [mailto:
[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 3:47 PM
To: Wojtek Iwanczyk (CTGI)
Subject:
Wojtek,
I will repeat one more time. If you want to talk to me call me.
I will not give in to your demands no matter how much you lie, rant and rave on RCU.
I will send you your engine in good repair. That is all that is going to happen. For any
refund you will have to contact Jim Wiegle, remember the man you purchased the engine from.
John Ligons
AMT-USA
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First , let me address John's email:
John, I did call, even though I would not rather speak with someone who blatantly lies to my face over and over again. After not getting anyone several times I left VMs. I had also emailed you several times. As for the "rants. Lies and raving" .. hmmm I guess I'm making up that my at400 keeps dying on me, and that thus far AMT USA has been unable to fix it ... I have a right to be upset, and the public has the need to know of what a sham of an operation AMT USA is .. I am just sharing my personal experiences here on line for all to see. Nice to see you continuing to take care of a customer in such a wonderful way ... speaking of lies, I'll get to YOURS in a bit ... How can you claim to have the capability of sending my engine back in good repair ? you tried several times and FAILED. The last time I understand your tech "forgot" to install a part critical to the engines operation .. and you expect me to trust an engine back from you ?? the only way I would trust and engine from you is if you warranty not only the engine , but also the plane it will be going in. You have a track record, and it is one of FAILURE. As for refunds, I would have had no issue not going after you, but this no longer was the case after I was initially assured that the new AMT USA in OH would provide a smooth and seamless support transition, including handling all warranty liabilities. This was obviously not the case. You already had the engine in the possession and care of AMT US in OH several times, and have managed to continue screwing it up .. you are now liable due to your malpractice, as well as your claims.. The games being played here are ridiculous. No business sense from AMT USA's part, and more so absolutely no ethics whatsoever .. so as to make sure we are all in the clear as to what has transpired here, lets follow up with a quick chronological diary of my woes with AMT USA.
- My at400 had already had numerous seizures and physical failures while dealing with AMT back in WV. Every time it came back, it failed yet again.
- I found out that AMT USA was being sold, and would be moving to OH. I had the at400 in my possession at this time, and as usual, it was seized up sounding like a baby rattle with junk clanking around everywhere after the last flight. I was told by AMT techs that it would be best for me to hold on to the engine until they moved to OH. So I waited.
- when the sale was official, I spoke to John Ligons who at the time was excited about the changes at AMT and new revolutionary products they would be coming out with ( I guess that would mean engines that actually ran ? ) I was assured my engine would be taken care of UNDER WARRANTY, and in fact John went on to tell me how the new AMT would be extending warranties on all AMT engines out in service as they felt so confident in how solid these were .Bottom line, I was assured that all was going to be handled under WARRANTY !! I was also told that AMT Netherlands was being called upon to review and resolve the issues with the at400s (this turned out to be a total lie too ) We ended the conversation with me being told to wait a couple of months for AMT to situate itself in OH.
- few moths later, I am told I can send the engine in.
- a few more months go by and I still have no engine. After calling I am told AMT first has to catch up with other stuff and I am told to wait yet again ....
- I get a call from AMT finally that my engine is fixed. I am also told that there is a $600+ bill on the repairs !!! what happened to the PROMISSED WARRANTY and seamless support transition ?? All I get is excuses on how AMT is there to make $, and not provide free support .. one of the items AMT claims needed replacing was the combustion chamber, as the old on was rotted away .. I know that was a lie in itself right there as the engine had only been flown 20 or so times at that time, and the combustion chamber in fact had been upgraded to an BRAND NEW iconel one only a few runs back ( in between seizures ) sounds to me like someone was trying to pull more wool over my eyes here also .... I ended up agreeing to paying 1/2 of the repair cost AMT was requesting after negotiation with Tim Gerbus ( who has since I believe left any operational involvement with AMT ) This was supposed to be done under WARRANTY !! I was lied to and manipulated !!
- so I mount the AT400 back on my KingCat and figure finally I can get some flying done .... 1st flight .... it seized up !! again I had a very narrow save, and glided the plane in. The engine was seized up !! it was physically stuck with me unable to freely turn the shaft. It would turn like 5 deg back and fort and was met with a clanking opposition. The shaft actually freed up after some playing with it, and the engine did turn over, but there was still clanking in the engine. There are several people that were there and can attest to this !! ( there is a reason I am bringing the witnesses up here ..... )
- I send the engine back to AMT. John claims to me on the phone they found NOTHING WRONG with the engine !!! huuuhh ?? sounds like more BS lies to me !! so now I am promised by John that AMT will COMPLETELY rebuild my entire engine from NEW PARTS .. all except the outer case, John actually said "you are actually getting a whole new engine built except for the outer case".. ok, whatever .. just get me a working engine ...
- I get the engine back ( which was supposed to have been completely rebuilt) after AMT claims they ran it for a long time on their bench without a problem. First off, the turbine compressor and turbine wheel are still the same as my original ones ... another lie from John. The engine was obviously not rebuilt as he stated ( or rather lied )
- my thought now is that no way AMT would be dumb enough to send me back a flawed engine AGAIN ... so back it goes on my KingCat ...
- I run the engine, and its not running right. It tries to quit near idle, and seems to be choking as if running down too lean, and is blowing dark puffs of smoke ... I was itching to fly really badly, so I decided to shallow out my throttle curve around idle just to be careful, and took off ... 2 min into the flight, its dead with a dark puff out the back ... I was ready for this so I glided in .. at least this time the engine was not physically seized up ..
- now AMT and their reps online start claiming that its probably the ECU or pump causing the issue, and as one claims they saw my engine run 100% fine at AMT on a test bench ( which is a LIE also, and I will get to that) ... since I had not sent my ecu/pump in last time to AMT, I figure its possible that maybe this time the engine is good, and the ECU needs to be tuned to the engine or something ... whatever ...
- at Florida jets, I drop the engine off with AMT at their booth.
- It is now months later that one of the AMT reps ( Ray Davis) claims that AMT found out that they FORGOT to install, set up properly,( whatever ) the preheat tube, and that was causing the engine to lean out going to idle .... WHAT ?? FORGOT ?? what an inept incompetent team AMT USA has !! also, this makes the claim that the engine ran on the bench 100% a LIE !!! without the preheat tube, it would have ran like crap no matter on what bench, ECU, pump , electronics, etc it was running on ... so now we have LIES from John, as well as some of the reps. ( I am not referencing Ray here, but other reps an affiliates. I truly respect Ray's efforts to do what's right here. He has tried to mediate in a very professional way, and for a while was the only communication I had between me and AMT USA. Unfortunate to Ray, he is dealing with AMT USA who is run by LIARS like John Ligons)
- I left emails and voicemail to John. Never heard back till now that I put up another post on RCU. At this point, I do not trust AMTs engines as they have proven themselves completely incompetent, and dishonest. I expect AMT to buy my engine back. Since they have refused to do this, I will get my loses back in court. I also intend to charge AMT for my lost time and all the testing and research I provided to them while being experimented on in my King Cat ... AMT should learn to test bad resigns, and even worse experience on their own planes and time ...
I do not expect any communication back from AMT USA at this juncture.
For all those looking to buy AMT USA engines, STAY AWAY !! if you have a problem with your engine, you might be referenced as " ranting raving liars" .. that’s the kind of service you get from AMT USA ...