Gulf Atlantic Airways, Inc.

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:I do not see any reason why continuing in this process will
produce any different resultMy purpose in filing a complaint with the Revdex.com was
to bring this situation to the attention of a third party for possible
resolution and to inform potential customers about my experience, not engage in
back and forth arguments about things unrelated to mistakes made with my **
claim*** *** *** has stated that they are unwilling to reimburse
any of my financial loss caused by their mistakes nor admit any mistakes on
their part that led to unsuccessful reimbursement to me from the **I am
willing to and have admitted to the flight school that my own shaky
understanding of the process and over trust in the ** and the flight school
played in role in this frustrating situationThey are unwilling to do the same
nor extend me any sign of good faithEveryone makes mistakes; it’s how they
respond and own up to them that matters
It is apparent that *** *** *** and I hold irreconcilable
differences in beliefs about how customers should be treated, even after
services are rendered and invoices paidAs a student at a flight school, I
believed it to be implied that the range of services included both the flight
training and the proper administrative supportIt is true that 100% of the
training services have been rendered to meHowever, *** *** ***
deflects away from the fact that mistakes were made administratively and proper
administrative support services were not fully rendered to me resulting in a
financial loss of about $
At this point, I ask that the Revdex.com make a judgement call on
how to close the complaint, based on the facts and circumstances presented
Either way, I strongly request that the full complaint proceedings be posted on
the Revdex.com website for potential customers to judge for themselvesIf *** *** *** truly believes that they have no fault in the matter and have done
everything they can, the company should have no problem with potential customers and veterans
reading it
Regards,
*** ***

My name
is [redacted] and I am the flight school [redacted] at [redacted].
I am writing in response to Mr. [redacted]’s claim. I worked very closely
with Mr. [redacted] in an attempt to get him a reimbursement from the **. I too am
a member of the [redacted] and I...

understand how important it is that
we take care of our veterans. However, the ** does have specific guidelines
that dictate how and when this money will be paid back.
We were
not notified that Mr. [redacted] was intending to seek ** reimbursement until
early November of 2014, when he was nearly complete with his training. He is
correct that the ** requires students to be enrolled in both the instrument and
commercial programs simultaneously. Currently, [redacted] cannot
enroll students in more than one [redacted] training course at a given time.
Beginning in November we worked diligently with the [redacted] to see if we could
enroll Mr. [redacted] in our commercial course. Our Training Course Outline (TCO),
approved by the [redacted], does not allow us to enroll a given student in multiple
courses. We were not allowed to enroll Mr. [redacted] in the commercial course.  [redacted] typically works with
veterans through [redacted], who handles all of the ** money and benefits
afforded to those students. We were not aware that our TCO would prevent a
veteran, not associated with a college or university, from being able to comply
with the requirements of the ** reimbursement program. We pointed this fact out
to Mr. [redacted] after several months of working with the ** and the [redacted] on his
behalf. If Mr. [redacted] had informed management that he intended to use **
benefits we could have handled these issues prior to his beginning training and
prior to the completion of his instrument rating.
In
December Mr. [redacted] completed his training and received his instrument rating.
Mr. [redacted] initiated his training with [redacted] prior to
informing management that he would be seeking ** reimbursement. When Mr.
[redacted] began his training there was no way for us to be able to ensure that we
had all of the ** requirements met, because we simply did not know that he
wished to use his ** benefits. We did make several changes to our flight school
website in attempt to ensure that it is not misleading. [redacted]
does currently offer flight training through the ** as long as that training is
conducted in conjunction with [redacted].
University
Air Center has done everything possible to help Mr. [redacted] with his situation.
We have contacted numerous people at the ** and the [redacted] and we have been told
each time that there is nothing that can be done. It was never our intention to
mislead or misrepresent Mr. [redacted] or any of our customers.  Finally, it must be noted that Mr. [redacted] DID in fact receive the entire $10,000 worth of training.  Most of this expense involved the operation of airplanes including fuel expenses.  I believe it is unfair of Mr. [redacted] to expect [redacted] to reimburse him for training that he did, in fact, receive, and therefore take a significant financial loss while he enjoys his new Instrument Rating.  We are sorry that we could not help him get repaid by the [redacted] but it was not for lack of trying on our part.

Ultimately Mr. [redacted] would like [redacted] to pay him the money he feels that he is owed from the [redacted]. However, [redacted] provided the training that Mr.
[redacted] requested and paid for and Mr. [redacted] subsequently received his
instrument rating. In addition to providing Mr. [redacted] with flight
instruction, [redacted] allowed Mr. [redacted], at no cost to himself,
to ride along and receive additional advanced flight instruction on our nightly
cargo flight on two separate occasions. This courtesy was extended to Mr.
[redacted] because he was a good customer and indicated a keen interest in
professional aviation. This additional flight instruction and operating
experience exists outside of the typical [redacted] instrument flight
training and was conducted in a complex, high performance turboprop
aircraft.  Total flight time was
approximately 14 hours at a value of approximately $7000, for which he paid
nothing.
With these facts in mind [redacted]
will not refund any money to Mr. [redacted]. He paid for and received the training
that he requested from our company. [redacted] made every attempt to
correct this situation and get Mr. [redacted] some sort of reimbursement from the
[redacted]. There is nothing else that our company can do to further
this situation.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
I have reviewed the response from the Flight School [redacted]
at [redacted] and appreciate their timely response in regards to my
complaintHowever, I must respectfully disagree with their assessment and
claims of the situation
I have documentation of correspondence with the Flight
School [redacted] regarding my ** claim via cellular text message on 9/25/and
email on 10/2/These are the earliest DOCUMENTED contacts about my claim
with the Flight School [redacted]I had mentioned it at least once verbally
before thatThese facts refute that I did not inform [redacted]
about my intentions until November 2014, as they claimI recognize that the
time difference is not substantial, but their misrepresentation of the timeline
is curious
Furthermore, I have additional documentation of informing an
[redacted] of the flight school about my intentions to use the [redacted] on
4/17/2014, before my training beganThis [redacted] was an integral part of my
Instrument Rating trainingAdditionally, I have documentation from this
[redacted] on 4/21/that he had completed his [redacted] "checkout" with the [redacted] of the flight schoolHe had to perform this checkout flight
with the [redacted] before being able to participate in my
training under the [redacted] program that [redacted] offers[redacted]
training is required for students who want to use ** fundsOne would logically
conclude that the [redacted] and Flight School [redacted] at
[redacted] would have queried this [redacted] about why he needed the
[redacted] checkoutAny reasonable person familiar with the circumstances would
conclude that the [redacted] told the [redacted] and Flight School
[redacted] that he had a student who was planning to use [redacted] funds for
Instrument training and had to conduct training under [redacted]However, this
[redacted] has since passed awayThroughout my training, he became a close
friend of mine, and I had hoped [redacted] would not put me in the
position of having to bring him into this situation
In the response to my complaint, [redacted] has expressly
stated that they were not properly approved through the [redacted] to offer **-funded
training, neither were they aware of the **'s requirement to dual enroll
students in the Instrument and Commercial programsBeing unaware of the requirements
does not excuse being deficient of the requirements, just as being unaware of a
criminal law does not excuse being in violation of that lawAlso, I have
stated and can show that my intentions to use the [redacted] were clear before
training startedIf there were any issues, [redacted] should have
stated these at this time, before my training startedIn the role of a student
at [redacted], I depended on their proper understanding of the
process to successfully secure my reimbursement from the **Instead, there was
a systemic problem with their [redacted]approved Training Course Outlines, an issue
beyond my control and outside of my knowledge, yet recently admitted by the
flight school[redacted] has stated that there was no way for them
to know that they were deficient of ** standards, yet diligent and active
research on the part of the flight school would have shown them that they were
not within standards of services offeredWhen dealing with such large sums of
customer funds as those involved in paying for flight training, this responsibility
should have been inherent in the operations of the flight school
With consideration of these points, I, and I assume any
logical person, would deduct that had I acted in the same manner at a flight
school with a proper understanding of the ** requirements and proper approval
through the [redacted], the flight school would have properly enrolled me, submitted
the correct documents to the **, and successfully secured reimbursement for my
training
However, I did conduct training at [redacted],
and I would not have been able to initiate ** funding of training at this
flight school unless the flight school was already listed as a vocational
flight training provider with the **, which they were when I started and are
nowEven now, a search of the **'s database of providers shows [redacted] listed as an approved provider for vocational Commercial Pilot and Instrument
Pilot trainingThese approved programs are listed separately on the ** website,
further leading to me or any perspective student depending on [redacted] to know that dual enrollment is requiredAdditionally, there is no
mention on the [redacted] website, the ** website, nor issued to me
verbally or in writing from the flight school that enrollment at [redacted] is a requirement for ** funding, as mentioned in [redacted]'s
response to my complaintLastly, the ** database lists four "certifying
officials for programs" at [redacted]By the information provided
to me, only two of these officials (the Flight School [redacted] and the [redacted]) have personally contacted the ** at least once in regards to
my situationThe [redacted] of the company and the [redacted] of the company,
to my knowledge, have made no efforts to help meBased on [redacted]'s assurance that veterans are important to their business, why have only
50% (two out of four) of the officials at the flight school contacted the ** in
regards to my situation when the financial loss to me is so great and the
stated desire of the company is that my claim be successfully reimbursed?
Outside of the logistics of the situation, [redacted] has stated that they believe it important to take care of veterans, and,
I presume, any customer of theirs regardless of veteran statusI wholeheartedly
believe that the individual people who manage and work at [redacted]
care about veterans, as many are veterans themselvesHowever, the impact of
and response to the actions and negligence of the company as an inhuman organization
indicate otherwiseAs a customer who spent over $10,with [redacted] in 2014, I expected more active effort from a privately-owned business
with a relatively small client base in a small city to help make an unfortunate
situation right, regardless of circumstances or fault, for a customer who, by
every logical measure, expected to be reimbursed half of that amount through
benefits earned while serving in the US military in a combat zoneSo far, as a
customer of modest income, I do not find their efforts proportionate to my
financial lossAs stated by [redacted], I have paid them $10,and
received trainingYet, I am the sole stakeholder in the outcome of this
situationIf the circumstances were different and the reimbursement had come
through, [redacted] would still have their $10,In the current
circumstances where I have not received reimbursement, [redacted]
still has $10,of revenue from meThey have no vested, quantifiable
interest in helping me solve the situation to my benefitQuite the contrary, to
the company, the best outcome to their interests is that I give up, keep quiet,
and accept the current reality so that the company experiences no further inconvenience
The most expedient and convenient resolution for [redacted] is the
one where they don't have to worry about or hear from me anymore
Prior to filing a complaint with the Revdex.com,
I gave [redacted] multiple opportunities to work with the ** and [redacted]
to solve the situationI was very patient and civil with the company, never
once saying a cross word or drawing on personal attacksI even tried to solve
the situation by filing a [redacted] inquiry into the ** to get more
informationThis inquiry only further indicated that [redacted] had
not properly executed the processI tried to rectify the situation with
[redacted] directly by asking for alternative assistance in my
career pursuits, outside of financial reimbursementThe company was unwilling
to provide any kind of restitution in this form for their mistakes nor take any
responsibility for the outcomeEven still in their response to my complaint, they offer no solution, yet I am still without any reimbursement or favorable resolution to my situationYes, I received the Instrument Rating, but it does me no practical good if I do not have the funds to continue in Commercial Pilot training
If $represents a significant financial loss for [redacted], an established,
successful business with millions of dollars in assets, imagine what kind of
loss it represents for a 25-year old veteran seeking to further his career
through flight training
Regards,
[redacted]