Have to leave ATP only a week in...

[mrmilagro]

Vladi34,

As I wrote in my previous post, I was VERY worried because I had already put my deposit down with ATP.

I believe in doing the right thing. If something isn't right, I'm the first one to speak out about it. That said, I have to say that ATP did the right thing.

I emailed Greg Carman at ATP. Greg and Jim both called me and I re-explained my concerns. Jim had me go to the Riverside ATP location, meet with a CFI there, make sure that I had full range of movement on all of the controls and worked out the weight and balance equations.

I fit in the plane and my range of movement with the controls was not restricted. When we worked out the weight and balance, the CFI told me that I would not be able to complete spin training at ATP, because my weight kept us out of the utility category (which brings up a totally different question, because hardly anyone does, right???).

I got an email a few days later from Greg that said that I could attend ATP for my PPL and for the 90 day program, however I would not be able to complete my CFI rating because of the weight/balance issue. My options were to get the rating outside of ATP or to take $2,000 back in cash or get 15 additional hours of ME time. I emailed back and said that I did not like any of those options. The convenience and speed of the ATP program is what attracted me to ATP and now it wasn't possible to get all of my ratings in five months. I then received the following email:

"Mike

In consideration of your unique circumstances, we are immediately
refunding your deposit, less $500 for books until they are returned.
Once you return those to us, we will refund the remaining $500 to the same
credit card.

Please ship the books to:

ATP
1555 The Greens Way
Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
904-273-3018

We will email you a UPS label for return-shipping so that you don't have to bear that cost.

Also, Kathy from our Finance Department will be contacting you to ensure that your Wachovia loan is cancelled and that no disbursements are made to ATP.

I hope that you will consider ATP in the future for your professional pilot
certification needs. On behalf of everyone at ATP, we wish you success in
achieving your pilot career objectives.

Sincerely,

Greg Carman
Flight Training Coordinator
Airline Transport Professionals, Inc. (ATP)
800-ALL-ATPS/800-255-2877
Web: http://www.atpflightschool.com
Email: mailto:greg@allatps.com"

Since that email, I returned the box of materials to ATP and today I received a $500 refund on my Visa. ATP had credited me $1,495 on the day of Greg's email.

So, all in all, I would say that ATP definitely did the professional thing. I'm still disappointed that I cannot attend, but I need to lose a lot of weight. After getting in shape, maybe I'll have the opportunity to attend ATP. In the mean time, I will finish my PPL.

I am happy that ATP did the right thing for me. How are you bouncing back from your experience?

Mike

[DL31082]

Vladi34,

How did everything turn out? Did they give you your money back? I actually went through the FTY location earlier this year and know some of the guys that were your instructors. My impression from them was that they were surprised that they let you go. I also got to hear some of their side of the story. Anyways... let us know what happened. Good luck getting your ratings.