I've been ordering parts for my Mooney from Chief for over 20 years and there has never been a glitch in service, quality or delivery. I see others complaining, ranting, and I'd say some pilots have a bad attitude, regrettably they dumped some of that on Chief. I will continue to order from Chief. Never had a complaint. read more

Order some switches and fuel drain valves. Some part had to come from Fl and from OR. Recieved partial shipment. Invoice stated 2 switches that were in the shipment. I personally went through the shipment they were not there. Invoice difficult to understand but it appeared they were back ordered./ Weeks late called on status of switches they fervently said switches were in the shipment. I my research I saw a shipment was cancelled. The whole operation was AFU trying to determine what came from what place. I use to do business with Chiefs now I told my staff DO NOT use Chief's. read more

The strobe flash tube eventually failed under warranty. I sent it to the manufacturer for repair. I was informed that there would be an additional $176 charge for replacing the lens since they could not return the unit to service unless it had the correct lens for that particular model and serial number. Thank you Chief, the screw up that keeps on screwing. read more

I ordered a tire and tube and paid for three day shipping. I was informed later that the tire was not available. The was changed to tube only. The change was lost. now I am paying nearly twice as much for shipping to get it second day. No apology was offered and no offer to make it right. Chief lost a new customer. read more

I ordered parts from them, and they sent the wrong parts. The supervisor admitted they had made the mistake and would refund me fully. I was only partially refunded. My aircraft had downtime along with the expense of a mechanic etc. When contacted their service was rude and condescending. I only wish I had read their reviews before doing business with them. read more

VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE ON AIRCRAFT (not R/C) PARTS!!! Unfortunately, I guess you really never know what kind of customer service a seller will provide until there's a problem. Back in the '80s and '90s, these folks were great... good selection, good prices, and good service. Over the years I spent a LOT of money with them, with no issues. As an airline pilot, I was out of general aviation for quite a while and got back into GA flying (Cessna 182P) last year. As in the past, when I have needed parts I always check Chief's availability and price on the item(s). I usually wind up buying from either Chief or Aircraft Spruce, depending upon whichever has the lowest total cost considering how quickly I need the particular item (I can pick up locally from AS right away if necessary, but must have it shipped to me from Chief). Again I have had no issues with Chief... until now. Chief had "Black Friday" specials over 12/04 - 12/6, including $25 off of orders over $350. On Saturday 12/05 our vacuum pump quit, so on Sunday 12/06 I checked out prices and found that, with the BF deal, Chief would wind up saving me $28 compared to AS... GREAT! However, when I tried to order the vacuum pump at Chief Online, there was a "glitch" on their website that would not allow me to pay for it except with AmazonPay, which I didn't want to use. I did everything I could, including logging in and out several times, etc., all to no avail. I decided to just give up and, since they are closed on Sunday, to call them in the morning to order the pump. When I called them, the lady I spoke with was pleasant, but said she could not authorize selling it at the discounted price. I then asked to speak with the manager, and she politely transferred me to "Dana". I again explained the situation to Dana and, despite him being able to see that the pump had been in my "Cart" on their website, he refused to honor the $25 off the price that I should have received had there not been the "glitch" on their website on Sunday. To make matters worse, he was quite indignant about it with an extremely negative attitude as well. As a business owner myself, Dana's reasoning (if there actually was any) for refusing to honor the $25 discount is incomprehensible to me. If he thought he was protecting his "bottom line", I can assure you it was an EPIC FAILURE on his part. I have literally bought many thousands of dollars worth of aircraft parts, materials, and supplies from Chief Aircraft over the years, but Dana's refusal to honor that small $25 discount on a $365 item has lost him ALL of his profit on ALL of my future purchases. read more

Lousy customer service. I placed an order online and payed $105 for overnight shipping on items they stated were "in stock" on their website. 4 days later I called to ask why my shipment hadn't arrived and they stated my order was received after hours and that both the items I'd ordered were NOT in stock. Even though they had sent me an email confirming my order. Who knows how long I would have had to wait if i hadn't taken the initiative to follow up! read more

Good service over the years. However, they are very slow in refunding for rather pricey un-opened orders. Therefore, I shall be wary of ordering from them again. read more

Ordered a radio system thru their website, after talking to one of the phone operators (at 09:50am PDT) that told me the radio was in stock and ready for shipping from Deland, Florida. Placed the order on line at 09:59:12 am (PDT), paid with my c/card and then at 12:17 pm received an email telling me that the order has been cancelled because the discounted item is no longer available. (why then was shown on the website..?) A blatant case of "False Advertising"..??...an unprofessional run operation..? Unbelievable..!! read more

So I have been shopping around for quotes on the Skymaster F-15 that I want. Originally I had been planning on ordering it through Chief Aircraft in Grants Pass. However after sending them multiple emails with no response I decided to seek out quotes elsewhere, like an eager customer normally would. Today I emailed them again asking for a quote but also telling them that I have found two other quotes and I was getting frustrated with Chief's lack of response. I started looking up reviews of Chief Aircraft online and they were a mix between 5 stars and 1 star, for both RC and full scale aircraft. I then, finally, received two emails in response. The first stated that he (Dana) had been on the road and would get me a quote later; that's fine, although do they only have one person running the place? The second stated he then read the email completely (mind you, this email was 4 sentences long and I don't understand why he couldn't read it fully in the first place) and decided to pass on selling me the airplane!?! He also stated that the aircraft are shipped to their builder in Florida (BVM?) and implied that they are the only Skymaster dealers... weird. Anyways, this being my only experience with Chief I will happily take my business elsewhere. If I'm going to throw down many thousands of dollars on a toy I'd much rather deal with someone who wants my business and treats me as a customer, not as a nuisance. It seems as of they need to work on their customer service; a reoccurring issue among online reviews. read more

If you are thinking about doing business with Chief Aircraft Inc. think again! I purchased an item from them that included a $300 core charge so I had to return the removed core to get my credit back. I installed the new item removed the old and sent it back. It arrived (UPS tracking and they even confirmed it!) After over a month I never received my core credit back! They claimed there was a delay, then a problem internally. Finally another month later I called and demanded my refund and they just refused! For another month I tried to reason with these crooks, to no avail. I finally had to sue them in small claims. I won the court case, and received the judgement. They still haven't paid! The owner just refuses to call me back and is somehow not "available" after 40 days. I've had to call their local sheriff for assistance. Now it's going to cost me about $100 to file for a Writ to be served on them and their bank. Avoid at ALL COSTS!!! read more

Chief Aircraft Inc - Judgement against Chief Aircraft, still unpaid. - Hobby Shops Near Me - Grants Pass, Oregon

Do not purchase from this company! I've never left a review on Yelp, even when I've had bad experience with a company, but this was so bad that I'm taking the time to hopefully save someone else some grief. I had a very unpleasant experience on a delayed order that cost me not only lost revenue from delays, but the cost of ordering the item from another vendor. I will not use this company again and am sharing my experience with my colleagues and vendors. read more

I purchased an altimeter. After installing it in my plane as soon as the engine started it would not hold its setting. I called Chief and was given no help other than "send it to the manufacturer" at my expense. They would not take it back. I did as told. Two months later I havent heard anything so I call. They tell me there was nothing wrong with the altimeter. So they want almost $50 to "restock" it. On a $175 order. After much complaining they cut that fee in half. The customer service team was rude, short with me, and didn't seem to care about anything other than keeping as much of my money as possible after sending me a part that didn't work. So I spent $40 of shipping and restocking for nothing. Don't order from these people. read more

I sent pictures for an ADS-B quote. Hadn't heard back for over a week. Finally got an email that said, I'm so sorry, I sent the email reply to myself. I sent another email with several specific questions. Again I got a late reply saying, 'm sorry but I sent the reply to the company web site. (Same lady) She had sent me a revised quote but never answered any of my questions. They told me I needed another encoder, which I found out I didn't need. Terrible communications. I've ordered parts from them and never had this problem. THEY LOST AN AVIONICS CUSTOMER. read more

Please at least research this company BEFORE ordering anything from them - and if you do decide to take the chance, then use a payment method that will protect you from their BS business practices!! They sent me a defective ignition harness kit (new-in-box, Slick/Champion) for a Lycoming O-540 and after issuing me an RMA for return for refund, they received it and after a week I still had not heard anything from them. After more than one email stating my intention to file a dispute thru my CC co, to which they never replied, I filed a dispute and recovered my nearly-$700 payment. This company should be avoided like the plague. There are plenty of honest, hard-working sellers out there who deserve your business and trust - Chief Aircraft definitely IS NOT one of them!! read more

Do not even think of having them install anything for you. I have been buying from Chief since 1997. In Dec 2018 I purchased a Garmin GTX 335 with a GDL 50R from them . I bought it before the end of the year to take advantage of the $500 rebate from Garmin. I contacted them, mostly by email and a few phone calls as I was in Europe for work until July 2019. I began asking about installing the units in Jan 2019. They said ok but it took months (I have every email saved) getting a run around to pin down a date. I had to call the owner. They kept changing the date for one reason or another and I made it clear that I had a limited time window to get it done during my vacation time, live 2.5 flight hours away, and wanted to get the FAA $500 rebate. The rebate slipped and I forgot to get an extension due to the constant changes in dates. The day before the flight to Chief, I stripped the interior so they had nothing to take out and put back. I saved them 5 hours of work. The night before the install, I flew in and next morning at 08:20 I went to the office and was told they would pull my plane into the hanger in a few hours. I left saying I would be back in 2 days as my wife and I went along the Oregon coast sightseeing. When I returned 37 hrs later the plane was still on the apron in the same place I left it and no work was done. After speaking to the owner, they pulled it in and said they would work on it in the morning and be done by the end of the day. The next day I arrived at 11am and was told the GDL 50R is not compatible with the GTX 335. They did not check before? The mechanic's assistant left so I became the assistant (lucky I know what I am doing). I finally flew home in the late afternoon. A few days later, I found they shortened and re-routed the rod antenna cable but now it is 1mm from the left rudder cable. It was routed in a longer way to avoid this situation. They did not remove the old encoder tray or a cut antenna cable and two interior plastic pieces were broken. I wrote to the owner explaining what happened but no reply. I saw a $60,000 plus avionics upgrade in the hanger so if that is what you need, they may suit you but if you need a small job like mine, STAY AWAY from them. If you want more specific details, contact me. read more

I recently came back to r/c after a 25 year absence from the hobby. The hobby has changed a lot since I quit flying. One of the main things is the service.Back in the day, I could call any number of hobby dealers and get the info I needed to make my buying easy. Not so nowadays. I was beginning to get very frustrated because Its all gas and electric. in my day it was glow, so I needed to get up to speed but nobody was interested in helping me. I finally got a hold of Steve at CHIEF AIRCRAFT. Steve was very helpful in getting me educated to the point where I felt comfortable enough to spend my money. I have bought several airplanes from Steve, both electric and gas. I am building up my air force with the high quality products available from CHIEF AIRCRAFT. I have bought airplanes as well as building supplies from CHIEF AIRCRAFT, and everything is top quality. As far as I can tell they have everything you need whether your just starting out or a long time RCER. Give Steve a call before you buy from some other hobby dealer. I garantee you the level of service is the best. And its not just Steve, the people in customer service are very quick to answer your questions with courteous and sincere efforts. read more

I've been a customer for 23 years. My purchases have always gone smoothly and I have always received exactly what I ordered. I have purchased from them: primary radio, intercom, batteries (several ELT and several main power), sectionals, headsets, etc. read more

I too have been ordering from Chief for years and have never, NEVER had any issues. I will continue to use them for my aircraft needs.

Called Terry about a radio interface I was trying to do and we talked for about a half hour discussing what I wanted to do. All of a sudden out of the blue he said he didn't like being called an idiot and said he had been in the f***ing business for 35 years. I never in anyway implied or said he was an idiot and when I tried to reply he said he didn't want to talk to me anymore and hung up. I was totally blow away about what had just happened. If you should ever talk to him on the phone beware he apparently has a short fuse. read more

Chief Aircraft read my post and called me to apologize and they did issue the credit as promised just a little later then initially promised. Better late then never and before my post here. The refund just hadn't gone through the merchant services (credit card machine company). I'm satisfied and happy to see that they cared to follow up with a call. read more

I continually find myself coming back to Chief Aircraft for my RC gear. Especially because they cater to those of us who fly giant scale. I can always find what I need and the pricing, customer service, and delivery is always above par. Thanks to all who work there for being so nice and considerate. read more

I recently had a disagreement with a customer service rep and chose to email the owner of the company about it. Instead of giving a sincere apology like any business owner should, he chose to email me a nasty email saying my complaint was the most ridiculous complaint he had ever heard. I was floored by his response and will never do business with them again. read more

This company has the worst customer service. The people who work there are rude and unhelpful.

2016 I did business with Chiefaircraft over thousends of $ concrning RC equipment. But it is a really bad Customer Service concerning delivery on time. As it was once more their problem to deliver delayed, they did not give a refund. Last time it was 10 days too late and there were missing some small points and the wings of the aircraft were damaged. The only idea of Dana from Chiefaircraft to propose to return the whole aircraft on their costs. After I would get a 100% credit. What's happen? I want to have this nice aircraft and not a credit. But the delivery of the aircraft lasted more than 4 months, and this was not written in the ad! I had some email correspondence with Dana, but the best comment of her was "...it is just a Hobby for you...". She has forgotten, that it is a serious business for Chiefaircraft. Now I realized, that my login is blocked. Really bad behavior and absolutely no Customer Service quality. Do not do business with Chiefaircraft! read more