ComplaintsforBison Aviation LLC

• Initial Complaint

  05/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I contacted the owner of Bison Aviation, in early September *********************************************************************** my aircraft. He sent me the proposal and requested a down payment of $34,000 which I promptly sent him. Since then I have gotten nothing but lie after lie and a complete run around! As of late February 2023 he finally agreed to order the equipment, which was supposedly ordered in back in September, from ***** and have it sent directly to me so as I could find someone trustworthy to install it. I contacted ***** to confirm and they sent me a list of equipment ordered. I contacted ***** last week April 27 to find out the status of my order and was informed that they have the order, but it has NOT been paid for yet!!! He will not return my phone calls or emails...I will be filing legal recourse against him and his business.

  Business response

  06/01/2023

  Complaining individual has agreed to remove this complaint.  Awaiting resolution.

• Initial Complaint

  06/10/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This business owner (*******************) in March 2022, took my money ($38,750)for deposit to acquire and install a new engine in my plane. He told me he arranged for engine to be built at Powermasters in ********, a well know engine shop. The engine as supposed to be ready in May *********************************************** June 2022 after arrival at his shop. He claimed he contracted to have engine built, sent deposit to Powermasters and received receipt of deposit from Powermasters. I inquired multiple times about progress of engine and ************* claimed to have contacted Powermasters and confirmed progress on engine. When ************* began to not return my phone calls and text, I became suspicious and contacted Powermasters. ************* never contracted for engine to be built, never sent deposit and never called back about engine progress. I requested refund of my money from ***************. He refused to give me a cashiers check for the amount but said he would wire to my checking account. He did wire ******, but continues to refuse to give me the remainder. He claims he sent the remaining money by ACH. With his history of deception, it is highly unlikely that he actually has even attempted to send remaining amount. *************** has repeatedly told what are clearly deliberate falsehoods.

  Business response

  06/10/2022

  While much of what is included in the customer's statement is factually inaccurate, he is correct in stating that he placed an order with us and submitted his deposit.  We did contact the engine vendor in question and believed that arrangements had been made; unfortunately, there was a breakdown in communication somewhere between ourselves and the engine shop and the order was not received.  Upon discovering this the customer became understandably upset.
  
  We immediately presented the customer with two options:  1.  Move forward as planned and have access to a "loaner" aircraft to use while his was in the shop or 2. receive a full refund of their deposit.  The customer initially opted for option 1, and we made arrangements with the engine shop to move forward.  However, early the following day, the customer contacted us again saying that he was uncomfortable with the situation and requested a full refund.  We agreed without any attempt to persuade the customer to do otherwise.
  
  The customer did ask if he could come and pick up a check that day.  Unfortunately we have not used checks for over three years and we do not have anyone in the local area who is an authorized signer on our accounts (we live in Kansas - customer and bank are in the *********** area) who could potentially go to the bank and get a cashier's check (note that the customer never requested a cashier's check, we voluntarily commented that we were unable to provide one).  We advised that we would be happy to wire the funds, and the customer agreed that was an acceptable solution.
  
  The customer insisted that the wire be sent before noon that day (Wednesday June 8th).  We explained that this wasn't possible but assured the customer that we would initiate the refund before the end of the day.  The customer was not happy with this information and insisted that the transfer be made before noon; however, we explained that was simply not possible
  
  Due to the amount of money involved, we had to make two transfers.  One from our operations account and one from our service center account.  
  
  The first transfer was initiated at 11:32AM on Wednesday, June 8th (the same day it was requested by the customer) and the second transfer was initiated at 2:02PM that same day.  The first transfer was sent through QuickBooks **** payment system and went out as an ACH in the amount of $18,700.  The second transfer was sent as a standard wire transfer from our bank in the amount of $20,000.
  
  At 3:54PM on Wednesday, the customer sent a text message with confirmation of receipt of the $20,000 wire (see attached) and noted that the first transfer had not been received.
  
  Unfortunately, I was unable to contact our bank on Thursday regarding the second transfer due to a medical issue with my Father which kept me at the hospital past closing time.  The customer was not happy with this delay and became increasingly more demanding and accusatory in their comments.
  
  I was able to contact our bank first thing Friday morning and the bank confirmed withdrawal of the $18,700 ACH had occurred overnight Wednesday night.  ******** stated that we would have to contact QuickBooks for further information, which we subsequently did.  QuickBooks online support chat advised that the payment would take three to four days to post to the customer's account since this was our first transaction which involved a payment to their account.  They advised that the customer should expect to see the payment post overnight on Friday or Monday.  According to them it is still on schedule.
  
  Unfortunately, I was unaware of the delay associated with using QuickBooks payment service; however, there is nothing that can be done to expediate that payment at this point.
  
  I regret that this transaction has devolved into the situation we now find ourselves in and, while I understand our customer's frustration, I believe that our actions since we became aware of the situation paint a far different picture than the one of intentional deception and fraud which our customer paints in his initial complaint.
  
  While I wish there was more that I could offer, I believe at this point we have to wait until the $18,700 transfer posts to the customer's account either today or Monday, at which point I trust that they will be satisfied the we are not attempting to steal from them or otherwise defraud them in any way.  I accept full responsibility for dropping the ball with the engine shop and not ensuring the order was placed as I thought it had been and expressed my apologies to the customer during multiple conversations on the subject.  At no point did we attempt to convince the customer to keep their business with us, we dropped the ball, we accept that, and have done everything in our power to make the customer happy in what is an overall regretful situation.

  Customer response

  06/15/2022

  Complaint: 17409564
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  
  

  *******************, the business owner of Bison Aviation continues to be grossly dishonest about his dealings with me. He is eloquent and even charismatic in his responses as he is on the phone. I think these traits make him even more dangerous to others. His response to this BBB complaint has multiple false statements in it. He weaves truth into his fiction to make it sound believable. I am concerned that he will attempt to deceive others and I wish to make others aware of ************** repeated dishonesty when dealing with me so that they will not make the same mistake.  

  
  

  These repeated falsehoods from ************** include (1) repeatedly telling me that he arranged for my new engine build to be done at an engine shop,  (2) after he insisted that I pay him a $37,000 deposit for engine build, he stated that he paid the deposit to the engine shop, (3) when I inquired about the progress of the engine rebuild, he repeatedly made false statements that he contacted the engine shop and things were progressing (4) when queried about the delay in shipping the engine, he fabricated a story that the completed engine had been placed on the dynamometer at the contracted engine shop and had not performed as expected and engine was being torn down again. None of this was true. When after several weeks of **************** not returning my phone calls, text and emails, I called the engine shop that *************** had claimed was building my engine to inquire about the status of my engine. The engine shop is a relatively small business and the owner takes the phone calls himself. I talked to him at great length. Initially, he was at a total loss. He had no recent communication with **************.  In fact, after getting an initial quote on the engine build in early March of this year, ************** had not even once contacted this engine shop for 3 months, never contracted for the work, never sent a deposit, never inquired about progress on an engine and there was never a engine built for me or placed on a dynamometer at this shop.  **************** claim that this was all somehow just a "miscommunication" seems ridiculously disingenuous. 

  
  

  These are all facts that I have absolute proof of.  I would not want others to be treated this way. He has most certainly done me harm by wasting a tremendous amount of my time and has caused me to not have access to my plane for several months that I would have otherwise had. Dealing with **************** has caused a great deal of unnecessary frustration.  I am a pilot and need my plane for my business. I travel great distances for work and have had to spend much more time and energy on travel directly due to *************** dishonesty. 

  
  

  I am grateful that after I made this complaint to the BBB and ************* became aware that he would be subjected to scrutiny, he did finally refund all of my money. I am grateful to BBB for this assistance. I hope others are spared this grief.  

  
  

  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩