A word about western skymasters llc

Jhogan0101 · #1 06-30-19, 02:30 PM

I purchased 4949D last week from western skymasters LLC. I was dealing with the owner Ron Lillie. I spoke to Ron and told him i found his listing on skymaster.com. It was listed at $64500, when i told him i was interested in looking at the plane he said that price was a mistake and changed the price on skymaster.com to $69500. Below are links to the listing (screenshots). I flew out to SLC from philadelphia, i also flew out a ferry pilot from ohio because im not rated to fly a 337 yet. I also flew out an a&p from texas for the prebuy. Upon arriving in salt lake city i saw that some of the avionics were missing. The first item was a King KT-76C transponder, it was changed to a KT-76A unit. I asked Ron about this and he put the 76C back in. The other missing items were “True Flight 650 Touch screen EFIS with Charts and XM Weather” “I-Fly GPS 740 with ADS-B in (traffic and weather touch screen GPS)” “Skybolt ADS-B out certified wing tip mounted system 2020 compliance” and the “Garmin GMA-345 audio panel with bluetooth connectivity” was not install but instead a Garmin GMA-340 also listing says “strobes” the only strobe was the belly strobe. Upon the prebuy inspection my mechanic found a few things one of which was bad rear lord engine mounts. I asked Ron what he could do to reduce the sale price. He said the best he could do was $67500. I asked about the missing items and he said “its not my fault Bill over at skymaster.com listed it wrong” i tried to reach Bill for clarification at that time but he was not available. I really felt like i should have walked but i had a considerable amount of time and money into the prebuy which Ron was aware of, so i accepted his deal.

On the way back to philadelphia we landed in wisconsin, while we were at salt lake city, Ron reinstalled the tail position light and soldered the lead wire. During the flight the light came out and was hanging (see photo link). When back in philadelphia i messaged him the photo his response on 6/20 was “Oh Great. I’m sorry. The screws in the tail light probably need to have “lock tight” on them and that should fix that issue. The vibration is probably causing them to loosen up. “

When i got back to philadelphia i remembered that Ron sent me a text with a short video from may 16th of the plane that was taken in his hangar before i came out to SLC. Its proof that he was not being truthful with me. I messaged him and said that before i called Bill Crews about this id like to “sort” this out with him first. I requested that he send me a check for $2750, the cost of a GTX 335 transponder for ads-b out and i’d pay for the installation and we’ll call it even. He said that he sold me the plane and not Bill and that he was not going to renegotiate or compensate me for anything. In the video you can see the i-fly 740 on the yoke and the KT-76C transponder. I messaged Ron a photo with the i-fly 740 circled and his response
“That’s my iPad
Nobody sells their iPad with a plane.
(No it’s not an iPad it’s an iPad copycat)”
Also before i left his hangar in SLC, i took a photo of the i-fly 740 sitting on his shelf.

After this I called Bill Crews, Bill said “Ron told me the whole story. Ive sold 30-40 planes with Ron and never had any problems. Good luck with the plane.”

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https://i.ibb.co/nBWLHVx/4389-F647-B...19958-D086.jpg
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https://ibb.co/Xb93dLT
https://ibb.co/h2jthtM
https://youtu.be/w9hcivtTFYk

Frank Benvin · #2 07-01-19, 11:53 AM

Quote "I really felt like i should have walked but i had a considerable amount of time and money into the prebuy which Ron was aware of, so i accepted his deal"

Question- You accepted the deal - you took the plane knowing all the facts

Now you are complaining - you shouldn't have bought it if you didn't like the deal

Jhogan0101 · #3 07-01-19, 01:09 PM

Frank,
Im not complaining, im just trying to let people know how this guy does business so they dont get screwed like i did. If the gear that was supposed to be in the plane was there, i wouldnt have posted this.

Rick Erwin · #4 07-06-19, 02:11 PM

This is my experience in purchasing an airplane from Ron Lillie at Western Skymasters, LLC:

In March I bought N337K from Ron and my interaction with him could not have been better. The airplane had a few problems and Ron fixed them. It took a couple of months to get my schedule coordinated with someone to do an insurance required IPC/checkout in the airplane and Ron was gracious and accommodating during that whole period. He was nothing but kind, patient and honorable in helping get the airplane ready to fly home.

I’m sorry you had a bad experience in the purchase of your airplane, I hope you are enjoying having her though!

Rick

Jhogan0101 · #5 07-06-19, 05:07 PM

Glad to hear Rick, did he include the airworthiness certificate? Still waiting on mine. He said he would mail it because he couldnt find it when i was there. I received a text message with a photo of it the day i left SLC. Nothing in the mail yet.

https://ibb.co/ZdbKhxc

Rick Erwin · #6 07-06-19, 05:29 PM

I did have all of the required paperwork as well as manuals and logbooks at delivery.

I hope you get everything sorted out soon!