Gents, I bought a beautiful RV-8 in Dec 2018 with a Hoffman composite CS prop and flew it uneventfully until Jul 2019. During postflight, I noticed one of the fillets on the spinner had cracked, causing the spinner to wobble and wearing grooves on the prop hub.
In August, I removed the prop and sent it to the only US Hoffman-licensed distributor, in FL. As it was enroute to FL, they told me it would take "two weeks" to fix the prop. Unfortunately, UPS damaged the prop in shipment.
UPS paid a claim (fortunately I insured the prop) after an investigation of 2-3 weeks. Since the prop was now damaged beyond the US distributor's ability to fix it, the prop now had to be sent back to Germany. At the end of August, it was shipped to Europe.
Now the buffoonery began (if it already hadn't been in operation). In November (three months later) I was told the prop was almost done and would ship in the first week in December. My prop blades finally arrived in FL at the end of February, after repeated messages back and forth, with Hoffman promising that it was "almost done" and would "ship soon".
Imagine my surprise when two weeks later when I contacted Hoffman about my spinner bulkhead (which also needed repair/replacement because it too was damaged by UPS) and they knew nothing about it. The spinner bulkhead arrived in April, missing the two spinner fillets, after being assured by two different people that they would be included with the bulkhead. Those fillets finally arrived a week and a half ago (mid-May).
The US distributor had all of the pieces for a week and a half before they finally crated them up and gave me a final invoice. So, here I sit, having paid for the repair this morning, waiting for shipment confirmation. My airplane has been down for 10 months. COVID-19 may be blamed for about a month of that, and the UPS insurance claim took 2-3 weeks, but this is beyond ridiculous.
This tale of woe I share with you to warn you against selecting a Hoffman Propeller. The propeller is a wonderful instrument when mounted on my airplane, but the company has the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I know Hoffman is a small company and many builders are not likely to choose to use their products, but if you are, be warned. Pick another prop.
In August, I removed the prop and sent it to the only US Hoffman-licensed distributor, in FL. As it was enroute to FL, they told me it would take "two weeks" to fix the prop. Unfortunately, UPS damaged the prop in shipment.
UPS paid a claim (fortunately I insured the prop) after an investigation of 2-3 weeks. Since the prop was now damaged beyond the US distributor's ability to fix it, the prop now had to be sent back to Germany. At the end of August, it was shipped to Europe.
Now the buffoonery began (if it already hadn't been in operation). In November (three months later) I was told the prop was almost done and would ship in the first week in December. My prop blades finally arrived in FL at the end of February, after repeated messages back and forth, with Hoffman promising that it was "almost done" and would "ship soon".
Imagine my surprise when two weeks later when I contacted Hoffman about my spinner bulkhead (which also needed repair/replacement because it too was damaged by UPS) and they knew nothing about it. The spinner bulkhead arrived in April, missing the two spinner fillets, after being assured by two different people that they would be included with the bulkhead. Those fillets finally arrived a week and a half ago (mid-May).
The US distributor had all of the pieces for a week and a half before they finally crated them up and gave me a final invoice. So, here I sit, having paid for the repair this morning, waiting for shipment confirmation. My airplane has been down for 10 months. COVID-19 may be blamed for about a month of that, and the UPS insurance claim took 2-3 weeks, but this is beyond ridiculous.
This tale of woe I share with you to warn you against selecting a Hoffman Propeller. The propeller is a wonderful instrument when mounted on my airplane, but the company has the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I know Hoffman is a small company and many builders are not likely to choose to use their products, but if you are, be warned. Pick another prop.
