Custom Aircraft Trimmers aka Jason Cooper

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Antoine
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Custom Aircraft Trimmers aka Jason Cooper

Post by Antoine »

Several forum members have asked me to publish the story behind my (successful) lawsuit against this company. Here a summary:
This Mr Cooper is a very arrogant person who thinks he makes the best interiors in the world.
Reality is: he uses some very fine but thick and heavy leather from Scottish suppliers.
He also has good equipment which means nice stitches - potentially.
I say potentially because workmanship is unpredictable. From very good to very poor.
But don't you dare even ask questions about workmanship. You will get insulted, screamed at and -yes- blackmailed.
To Cooper's credit: he is passionate about his work. But he is not reliable, not trustworthy and a very dangerous person to deal with. I have a huge file compiled about his wrongdoing and suffice to say I won a court case against his company. He did not even bother to open any of the mail which I and the court sent him.
As we speak I am working on the enforcement of the judgement - the collection company found two more similar court judgements against Custom Aircraft Trimmers in 2017 on official record.
He has just recently removed his girlfriend from the registers of the company and one can wonder why...

He lied to me on a number of major things, in particular he told me that he was shipping all remaining interior parts back to my shop in Germany and that I should please make the final payment. I did so (we had a very good relationship until that point despite his manners).
When this "final" shipment arrived and my maintenance shop started sending me pics of poor workmanship, transport related damage due to poor packaging etc... I cautiously asked questions.
Was not "cautious" enough. Part of the reaction was a "F**K THE LOT OF YOU" yelled at me on the phone... He went absolutely ballistic and refused to discuss ANY issues with his deliverables. His work was perfect, period.
Then he said he wanted an additional sum (about 20%) versus the agreed upon fixed price which included all shipping from and to Germany.
I said "no". That's when he disclosed that... he had withheld two of my seats and the fire test certificates.
Believe it or not he even threatened to report us to EASA and FAA if we installed the interior parts we had without the fire certificates he had withheld. I ended up coughing up the amount he wanted. he then deliberately dragged his feet for shipping, while my whole project schedule was blowing up due to the delay snowballing.
He really made me hurt in every way he could.

The interior of my aircraft now looks OK (not great) because we've spent massive effort ungluing and fixing some parts that were not usable as they came, touching up stuff and even upholstering from scratch certain parts that looked horrible. While the general impression is nice (materials, colour choices, stitching patterns), it is a far cry from his claim to be "on par with Aston Martin and Bentley".

Summary: Jason Cooper is a liar and a very badly mannered individual. With the backing of a court ruling I dare write that he is a crook. Stay well clear of him and his Custom Aircraft Trimmers, even more so if you're in based in the US... don't even dream of warranty claims...
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LTek1
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Re: Custom Aircraft Trimmers aka Jason Cooper

Post by LTek1 »

Anyone heard from Doug, eHotAir, forum member who was repping these guys in the states? That's too bad - the brochures I got from them made my mouth water.
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Re: Custom Aircraft Trimmers aka Jason Cooper

Post by nolen95 »

Bought Doug’s DA-40...owned it for a year. The interior was ‘okay’...here are my issues.

The leather wasn’t up to par in my book. The dye comes off when you condition and/or clean the leather, which colors the stitching as well (yes, I know how to properly clean and condition leather, in case Jason Cooper is trolling on here). The leather dash was bubbling and coming unglued, as well as a rear panel. Carpet comes apart pretty quick...like a shedding dog when you’re vacuuming it. Pretty sure an interior should last longer than a year. Though on the surface it looks amazing, it’s shoddy.
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LTek1
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Re: Custom Aircraft Trimmers aka Jason Cooper

Post by LTek1 »

Well good. You guys have saved me a few tens of thousands dollars mistake.
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nolen95
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Re: Custom Aircraft Trimmers aka Jason Cooper

Post by nolen95 »

For the right COST, it’s amazing stuff. But for what Doug Robertson paid, it’s not durable enough. I’d have it done if it costs HALF of what he’s asking to redo your interior.
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LTek1
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Re: Custom Aircraft Trimmers aka Jason Cooper

Post by LTek1 »

What does everyone think... Can a good automotive or marine upholstery shop handle an airplane, or is there some special aviation mojo (or... AN rated leather) they need to have?
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Antoine
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Re: Custom Aircraft Trimmers aka Jason Cooper

Post by Antoine »

nolen95 wrote:For the right COST, it’s amazing stuff. But for what Doug Robertson paid, it’s not durable enough. I’d have it done if it costs HALF of what he’s asking to redo your interior.
Dax - this company and their work are really not worthy of your money at any price. His work quality can be very good, but it can be terrible and then you are on your own - he won't accept any claims. His favorite error is to overstretch materials to reduce labor time. We received parts that were already bulging and coming apart BEFORE installation and had to rework them at great effort. I can post photos if you want.

Here an excerpt of the documentation I filed with the court - the beginning of my letter before action to him, summarizing how he acted after I sent him a (courteous) email asking for explanations and reassurance that things will be fixed:

Mr Cooper,

On March 21st 2016, your company and myself have entered into the above mentioned agreement.

On May 30th 2016, I have reported to you issues with the quality of the goods you delivered to the engineering company that is in charge of rebuilding my aircraft in Germany.
You have reacted aggressively, dismissed the issues and made – in your own written words - a declaration of war.

You have been aggressive both verbally:
« F**k the lot of you »
and in writing. These are two of the text messages you sent me.
« Get over to Germany and don't call me until you have, how dare you send me a message like that without seeing things yourself
Trust lol, that's after you and your engineering screwed me out off £2000 in shipping, there's nothing wrong with that interior, you've had a bloody bargain you fool »
This is a text message you sent me on May 31st.
Best you call because I'm on a war path with your engineering as of now
You then apologised in a text message dated June 2nd 2016 :
« I'm sorry I shouted at you and in my part how I've dealt with things, I'm disappointed in myself, but your email had comments relating to trust and that hurt me,
Will email you tomorrow, please sleep in this email and let's start talking again and resolve our issues like grown men »

As you can see, the guy has a serious personality problem and doing business with him is asking for trouble. In any case the cumulative amount of the 3 court rulings so far is probably enough to take him out of business - mine alone is in excess of 10'000 pounds.

There are enough serious upholsterers out there. I would never again give business to Custom Aircraft Trimmers - the only thing that's good about them is the first impression and I have fallen for that. Never again.

Yes an auto upholsterer can do a nice job, here some thoughts:
- do check if they have a good sewing machine. The machines that make the nice (BMW style) stitches are very expensive.
- be aware of material weights - some leathers and carpets are much lighter than others. Same for foam
- You'll need to obtain proper fire tests for the FAA (no big deal, a few companies do that for reasonable money). It is better to either buy materials that were previously fire-tested or do the fire test BEFORE placing the order to be sure that the stuff is OK.
-You'll need your A&P/IA to reassemble and sign off. I believe it is a minor modification but don't have the docs here.
- A trick for keeping weight in check. There is a type of paint which gives the look/surface feel of ultrasuede/alcantara. Use this instead of cloth on panels. Looks great, weighs less and is more durable.
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Colin
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Re: Custom Aircraft Trimmers aka Jason Cooper

Post by Colin »

The shop that does the interiors for the factory in London is an automotive shop. As Antoine pointed out, there are no issues. I bet a really high end custom car shop could do an amazing job.
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gordsh
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Re: Custom Aircraft Trimmers aka Jason Cooper

Post by gordsh »

Oh gosh, thanks for posting. I did save "Custom Aircraft Trimmers" in my interior shop favorites for possible future work but will eliminate them from my list. I think you may have saved a lot of us some huge pain and frustration.
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nolen95
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Re: Custom Aircraft Trimmers aka Jason Cooper

Post by nolen95 »

Antoine-

You are correct about it not being worth the headaches. I have to remember the audience, those that are looking to upgrade their interiors and not buying someone else’s tail that has already been completed. You have a compelling case...a business owner who withholds burn certificates and parts as retribution. Unbelievable. I hope you win the case...keep us informed.

I was a hangar neighbor of “Arloe Interiors” in Little Rock, AR. He had a quite robust business, put out quality work and had contracts with many main line airlines. He and his staff were always friendly. Though it’s been many years since I was there, it may be worth investigating for those that are looking for solid quality.
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