Urgent Warning to Anyone
Considering
Becoming a Xenon, KISS
or Celier Aviation Dealer
And
Urgent Warning to Anyone
Considering
Buying a Xenon or KISS
Gyroplane Kit
Raphael Celier has
cheated and/or mistreated many
of his dealers. Most of the original dealers have been cheated of
their businesses or territories and have lost or walked away from their
significant investments in Xenon. Raphael is now looking for new dealers to
take advantage of so do not become his next victim. Like the many
dealers whose stories will be told in detail on this website in the next few
weeks, you could pay tens or hundreds of
thousands of dollars to buy an aircraft and secure an exclusive territory
only to have Raphael allow others to sell in your territory or worse yet
lose customers to Raphael himself who will willingly steal your own
customers in your own territory. Your exclusive contract will mean
nothing unless you are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars
suing him.
The KISS
kits
have not been fully tested and the Xenon and KISS kit building process and support
materials are not yet developed. Neither Xenon nor KISS have received
51% approval by the FAA meaning you could build an aircraft that could never
be licensed or flown. Does your wife want a $100,000 lawn ornament?
Do not believe what you hear from Raphael Celier or his partner Artur
Trendak. They are proven serial liars. One Xenon kit was sold in the
US in approximately 2005 and crashed on one of its first flights and has not
been rebuilt. The second Xenon kit was sold in early 2008 to a Xenon
dealer who was to build it. He since sold it to another experienced
gyro pilot and builder. As of 2011 it is still unfinished and the
builder has received no help from Celier Aviation.
Raphael has created
problems with his dealers all over the world.
He cheated his original dealer in Germany, then broke the dealer's
exclusive
contract and handed the territory over to a second German
dealer. He
then cheated that second dealer by stealing a customer from
him. Both
Germans have now quit representing Xenon. In Spain the
original
dealer no longer represents Xenon after many broken promises.
The
Irish dealer quit representing Xenon after hearing too many lies
from
Raphael and having many problems with the aircraft that Raphael
would not
fix nor stand behind on warranty. The Irish dealer works
happily with ELA and Auto-Gyro and others. The New Zealand dealer
had similar
problems with both Raphael and the original aircraft. Teething
problems were to be expected with the new company and with new
aircraft but
Raphael forced his New Zealand and other dealers to pay for fixing
the
factory's problems so dealers lost thousands of dollars. The New
Zealand
dealer hoped after a few years things would get better- they got
worse, so now
he represents Auto-Gyro. In England the original person
representing Xenon does not answer emails. In America the
original
dealer had the exclusive territory he had purchased taken away from
him when
he objected to Celier's lies and dishonest business practices.
The US
representation was handed to one of the regional sub dealers who has
now
quit. Of the two other sub dealers in the US neither now owns a
Xenon
nor represents the company. That means all 4 dealers in the US
who invested huge
amounts of time and money have discontinued the venture. The
original American dealer who is a glutton for punishment, later
signed a
second exclusive contract to represent Xenon to government
agencies.
That dealer worked with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) off and
on for
four years until finally securing an order for a Xenon. Then
Raphael stepped
in and stole the customer in complete and total violation of the
exclusive
contract. The US Rotary Forum contained allegations that
Raphael
had stolen the original Xenon cabin design from someone else.
In later
Rotary Forum posts Raphael took credit for others' improvements to
the
Xenon. Further allegations were made that when Raphael
left
France to open the factory in Poland he departed France hurriedly in
the
middle of the night.
These are only some of the stories
shared among the English speaking dealers we have had contact with.
In fact there are NO dealers we have heard from that are happy working with
Raphael and his partner Artur. It is likely that even more dealers
around the world have bought and paid for exclusive territories only to have
them taken or been cheated in other manners.
Becoming a Xenon dealer is
expensive. There is the
tremendous cost of buying one or two aircraft, business startup costs,
legal fees, insurance, transporting gyros to air shows, paying for airshow
displays, hangars, paying for warranty costs on gyros when the factory
won't, plus the huge investment of time to build a business and the
liability issues that accompany aviation. Given that all the
above dealers incurred these costs you can be assured that none of them
walked away easily or lightly. Yet all walked away or had their
dealerships taken. That gives you an idea of how truly difficult and
dishonest Raphael Celier and his partner Artur Trendak are. Do NOT
think your experience will Celier aviation be any different.
Do Not Become Raphael's
Next Victim
Do Not become a Xenon
Dealer
Owning a Xenon
The Xenon side by side aircraft had many problems at startup. A
great number of these problems were solved by the dealers at their expense,
and today it is a well flying machine and the owners are generally very
happy with their aircraft. For owners who have little or no contact
with the factory owning a Xenon is not a huge problem. Buying a
new Xenon will be a disappointment if you expect any warranty service or if
you expect even reasonable customer service. If all you need is
an occasional replacement part you should be OK. And
flying them sure is fun.
The problem with a new Xenon is that it is doubtful that the factory will
actually stand behind any warranty issues. They have rarely done so in
the past. The Rotax engine is of course the single most expensive
component of the gyro. If you have a Xenon with a 912 or 914 engine
you have a Rotax warranty so you are OK on that coverage. It is not
really clear what will happen if you have a problem with a Celier modified
Rotax RST engine. Some problems may be covered by Rotax unless Rotax
determines the problem relates to the after market turbo in which case they
will not cover it. In that case you are relying on Celier and they
have proven in the past to be very unreliable at taking care of warranty
issues.
Xenon Kits
In America today the only way to get a new
Xenon is by building a kit. At this time that would be a
BAD idea for any
potential customer. As stated above until the Xenon has a 51%
approval
letter and is on the FAA approved list you are gambling on building a
$100,000 lawn ornament. The second issue is even more
important.
You will have to be relying a lot on the factory and they have
proven
themselves time and again to be unreliable. As noted in the
paragraph
above on owning a Xenon - if you only need an occasional spare part
you might
be OK, but putting yourself in a situation where you have to
interact with
the factory on a regular basis will be your absolute worst nightmare.
Parts they guarantee have been shipped will not be shipped; you will pay
double for them. Every mistake THEY make will be one YOU will pay for.
Neither the aircraft nor the kits are proven and the kit build process will
likely not have any support no matter the promises they make to you. If
Raphael's past is any indication - once he has your money you will be on your
own.
Safety
Raphael unfortunately has a gigantic
ego and
equates any problems with the Xenon as a problem with himself.
Therefore if you say anything against the Xenon, even constructive
ideas,
he takes it as a personal attack. This has led to some
blindness on
his part with improving the aircraft and uncovering safety
issues. The
early Xenons had doors that flew off into the propeller. The
first customers that called the factory about this were each told they
were the only one that had that problem. It took months and
thousands
of dollars more damage before the factory admitted there was a
problem with
the doors. Much of the damage was not covered by the factory
and the
owners then had to pay for new propellers and paint jobs and then
buy new
improved doors all at their own expense. Later when we discovered
other
safety of flight issues the factory did not send out any notices to
owners
as they did not wish to acknowledge more problems. Today the
factory
has a good online system of service bulletins which is a huge
improvement
over the early days and is well done and to their credit.
However, if
there were a true safety issue such as mast breakage or rotor head
problems
I fear the factory would err on the side of protecting their
reputation
rather than warning their customers.
Do Not Become Raphael's
Next Victim
Do Not buy a Xenon or KISS
Kit
The goal of this
website is to prevent any more people from losing money and being taken
advantage of by Celier Aviation. Raphael
can be very charming in the early dealings with him but as four
American dealers, two German dealers, and dealers from Ireland, New Zealand
and Spain have learned; the charm quickly wears off once he has your money.
Those whose stories are told in this website hope you take to heart their
hard earned lessons and do not make the same mistake. In all honesty
we hope you have read enough and will look elsewhere for an aircraft.
Gyros are great aircraft and fine ones
are made by several companies listed on our links page-
Click Here for links to other manufacturers
For those
still thinking they are interested in Xenon pages will be added in the
coming weeks to give all the sordid
details of the dishonest dealings of Raphael Celier and Artur Trendak.
Those are harsh accusations and I would not make them without having
numerous examples of their behavior.
The courts are full of business
disagreements and most of the time they are basically honest and well
meaning people who just disagree. That is not the case with Celier.
They have shown a long ongoing pattern of lying and cheating their dealers
and openly violating contracts they have signed.
No one likes to air dirty laundry in
public. But it is a safe bet that anyone who lost money with dishonest
businessmen like Bernie Madoff, Enron, Worldcomm or similar liars and
cheaters wishes someone had blown the whistle sooner.
I am blowing the whistle on these
people.
DO NOT BECOME THEIR NEXT VICTIM
Rob Dubin
Email may be sent to
rob@xenongyroplanes.com-
replies are not guaranteed.
The goal is not just to rehash the
past --the goal is to stop more people from losing money by investing in
Xenon.
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