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| Two days after the crash, flying using my instructor's paramotor |
The one company who put up with my repeated calls and dumb questions was Parajet, based at Mere in England. Jim showed remarkable patience and understanding, never once making me feel uncomfortable no matter how dumb or repeated my questions. On the strength of this, a lot of good reviews on the web, the fact they were UK based and had a good reputation for customer service, I made my choice and bought a Parajet paramotor.
On one of my training flights with my new paramotor on New Years eve the temperature was minus 4, much colder at 1000 feet with the chill factor, and when coming in to land my hands froze so much that I found it impossible to hit the kill switch as my thumb could barely move. The trims on the Revo 2 were also impossible to set to slow trim so my landing was hard and fast with the prop still spinning and the trim not on slow. A more experienced and more thawed out pilot would have made a much better job of it but I didn't. I ploughed into the side of the Welsh hill, only bruising myself but substantially bending my paramotor.
The initial damage looked worrying although in the fading light we thought that we might get away with a new back plate and prop (which had been smashed to pieces).
The following Monday I was on the phone to Parajet asking for the cost of a new prop and backplate. Jim was his usual helpful self and offered me both items with a discount and got everything in the post at the earliest opportunity. It arrived, the paramotor was stripped and rebuilt with the new plate but once the cage had been installed it was clear that things were not right, the new prop was almost touching one side of the cage and quite a distance form the other. This was not good.
Back on the phone to Jim and I asked if I could bring it down to the Parajet factory for an expert appraisal, they designed and built the machine so who better to give it an inspection. Of course the request was met with nothing but support and I was told to bring it down as soon as I liked.
I drove down to Mere and got there unannounced. Jim was away in the states for a few days and I was greeted by Ivan who stopped what he was doing and immediately indulged me. He wouldn't hear of it when I suggested he finish what he was doing and he brought my paramotor into the factory and started going through it. He spotted that the chassis was probably bent and that the cage was definitely twisted as well but said he would strip it all down and go through it piece by piece. He then answered a stream of dumb questions from me and proceeded to give a very informative tour of the workshop and showed me a lot of the work which is in progress. Parajet have some good projects on the go and it was all interesting stuff. The legendary sky car was parked casually in the middle of the floor which was very cool.
After the tour and a lot of very friendly banter, Ivan took me back to the paramotor and answered more dumb questions before seeing me off.
The follow up ...
My chassis was knackered. My cage was knackered. Parajet had to make some elements especially and get them powder coated to match my machine. It was a lot of work and probably quite an inconvenience for them, not that there was a hint of this in any of our phone calls.
By the end, the bill was very large. Jim knew how much I had already spent, including including having just bought the paramotor in the first place, the wing, the training, all the kit and that I had gone well over budget and was struggling. 'No problem' he said, 'I gave this some thought last night and we'll do all the work at cost price and send the motor back to you as soon as it's ready. Also, pay the bill when you can afford to, you've been through a lot with this and I just want to make sure you keep flying.'
I was speechless. How many companies put their customers so far in front of their accounts department and their work schedules? Parajet have ensured my crash didn't stop me flying for any longer than necessary and have bent over backwards to accommodate me every step of the way.
The upshot?
Parajet has me as a customer for ever. Everyone I will meet who asks me about which paramotor company to recommend will be told the story of my experience with Parajet. And I will publish this blog so that everyone else gets to know how different and holistic their approach is to customer service.
Jim, Ivan and the team at Parajet are a British company to be proud of, they offer unparallelled customer support and service and are nice guys to cap it off. If you are looking for a British company to supply your paramotor then give them a ring. www.parajet.com
To be clear, I have no direct connection with Parajet other than being a very satisfied and happy customer. This blog is published without any input or knowledge of it by Parajet.
