FAA Registration renewal

[1600vw]

I received a letter saying my Aircraft registration in ready to expire. It expires 5-31-20. I log into the FAA registration to find it has already been flagged as expired. First the FAA wanted 365 bucks to re issue this registration. By the time it was all done it cost me 65 bucks. I thought the registration did not expire until 60 days before the expiration. I guess I was wrong. I have tried to call and speak with someone, that is like pulling teeth with tweezers.

[Joda]

I received a letter saying my Aircraft registration in ready to expire. It expires 5-31-20. I log into the FAA registration to find it has already been flagged as expired. First the FAA wanted 365 bucks to re issue this registration. By the time it was all done it cost me 65 bucks. I thought the registration did not expire until 60 days before the expiration. I guess I was wrong. I have tried to call and speak with someone, that is like pulling teeth with tweezers.


Ok, someone has led you seriously astray. The FAA only needs $5 to renew the registration. Unfortunately, it sounds like you fell for one of the many scam artists that purport to be the FAA and charge huge fees to renew the registration that you could do yourself for $5. To compound the problem, it sounds like the scam artists that duped you then proceeded to renege on their duty to actually renew your registration (costing them only the $5 while they pocket the rest.) I'm sorry that happened to you. For everyone else reading this, let it be a word to the wise. Any "renewal notice" for aircraft registration that require more than $5 is a scam. Don't do it!

So, at this point you need to contact FAA aircraft registration directly at (866) 762-9434. Do not email, do not fax. Call them. You will have to wait! The wait could be long! Just stick it out and you will finally get to talk to a registration specialist at the FAA Aircraft Registration Branch. They will be able to get your registration straightened out. This is the way.

[1600vw]

Joda this was the place the FAA sent me to. This was done by them. Cost me 65 bucks.
But how could they say my registration expired when it don't expire until 5/31/2020? I am still 4 months out from this registration expiring. I tried calling that number many times today. Not once could I understand how to be put into the que. You get put into a loop recording.

https://nationalaviationcenter.us/renewal/

[Auburntsts]

Whatever you got wasn’t from the FAA. The FAA doesn’t use 3rd party venders for registration renewals. Here’s the actual FAA online renewal website: https://amsrvs.registry.faa.gov/renewregistration/

And Joe is correct, the renewal fee is only $5. https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/aircraft_certification/aircraft_registry/reregistration_faq/

[1600vw]

I have about had my fill of aviation. Just not worth it. If owning a car was like owning an airplane I would be riding a bicycle everywhere.

[Bill Greenwood]

I have received several letters in the mail over the last few years re registration of my 3 airplanes. The seem to be legit and I have gone on line and done the registration procedure in about 10 minutes, and at a cost of $5, each time. If I can do it on a computer, most anyone can do it. I don't often say something nice about the govt or any bureaucracy. but in this case I found it to be simple.
I think some scam got ahold of 1600 vw, not the FAA. There are a lot of con men out there in one form or another. A shame that human nature these days is such that you have to assume any contact by a stranger on line or by phone is bogus.
One of the biggest lies is most every business, be it rental car or hotel or airline or restaurant, asks for,. even demands your email. When I don't give it up, I hear the same phrase over and over, "oh, we are not going to contact you or send you anything". ( Reading between the lines it says, "hey, we never send any junk mail, it's all those other guys".) I just say since you are not going to send me anything, you wont need the address. Same with a cell phone number.

[rwanttaja]

A reminder, you can easily check your expiration date. Go to:

https://www.faa.gov/

...and enter your N-Number. The third row, just to the right of your aircraft type, has your expiration date.

Ron Wanttaja

[FlyingRon]

What ever you do make sure:
1. You don't lose the magic cookie they send you by snail mail for the renewal site.
2. That you've already dealt with any other changes (address, owner's names).
3. That you don't miss the "deadline" for the online request.

Do any of the above and your screwed and have to resort to their incredibly lame, slow, and picky paper system.

[Dana]

Tony, you got scammed. nationalaviationcenter.us is not the FAA. Call your credit card company, stop the charge if possible, and renew your registration with the "real" FAA for $5.00.

Scammers are everywhere, not just in aviation.

[1600vw]

Thanks for all the replies. I have been in the hospital a lot over the last few months. Others have been getting my mail. The letter that was a scam was the only letter I have seen concerning my aircraft registration. I actually forgot about this with everything going on.
I logged into the faa website and see now they send you a code by letter. My registration expires in May 31st 2020. I would say I should have recieved this letter from the faa. But I have not seen it. Trying to reach someone at the faa by phone is impossible. I don't understand how to do it. I may just be screwed here. I have other battles to deal with and may just say screw it and let this airplane go to scrap. What a shame for it is a nice airplane. Why does it have to be this hard? If it was this hard to reregister my auto I would be walking.

[1600vw]

I tried calling the FAA back and so glad I did. I got someone on the phone, someone is watching over me. Anyway this person found that code that was sent to me and gave me this code. He told me to go on-line and renew my registration. I will contact my credit card and stop the payment to that scam sight.
I never would have got this done without the help here.
Thank you Joda for that number.
Tony

[CHICAGORANDY]

Glad it's getting squared away. Scammers deserve horse-dragging down the middle of Main St. Sadly if all these various scams -phone and e-mail - were not $$ productive, they would go away, but their scams keep trapping good folks and stealing their money keeping the evil enterprises rolling on.

[FlyingRon]

Aircraft registry actually responds pretty quickly to email inquiries. https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftemail/

Actually, if you have a May 31 expiry, I think the letter should be coming out in the next couple of weeks.

[Tom Charpentier]

This isn't the first time this website has come to our attention - it looks like their latest tactic is to send an official-looking mailing instructing people to google "registration renewal," or something to that effect, rather than providing a URL. They then buy an ad on Google ensuring that their site pops up at the top of the search results, above that of the actual FAA. They operate out of an address in OKC to make it appear more authentic. To be overly charitable, I will say that I don't have direct knowledge of the "service" these outfits claim to provide that justifies their "processing fees," but 1600vw is one of many people we've heard from who thought they were dealing with the FAA, not a third party.

These sorts of operations are hardly unique. I actually fell for one myself on another type of government fee not long ago. An attorney I spoke with said they are common on patents, corporation fees, and anything else where the list of fee payers and date of renewal is public information. They know exactly how to walk right up to the line of what's illegal without crossing it. We are looking into what we can do with the FAA registration branch to curb this activity, but it's often like playing whack-a-mole. We have written education pieces on aircraft registration in the past (https://www.eaa.org/eaa/news-and-publications/eaa-news-and-aviation-news/news/11-21-2018-Regard-Non-FAA-Aircraft-Registration-Renewal-Notices-With-Suspicion) and are considering stepping up the frequency in light of several recent complaints. We will also encourage the FAA to do the same, as they have already done on similar operations targeting drone registration.

Disputing the credit card charge is your best recourse if you have already paid money. There is no guarantee you'll be successful, especially if your registration was in fact renewed, but at least you'll have the satisfaction that the company spent some of your money fighting the dispute.

[dougbush]

Let us know how the credit card dispute goes. Credit card companies usually prefer for you to ask the merchant for a refund first.

[Capt Bob]

My wife almost fell for this type of scam when she looked up a number for Microsoft Windows support on the net and a scam number came up at the top of the search results. The guy tried to tell her that her computer was infected with a deadly virus and all her files would be corrupted and all her personal information would be vulnerable if she did not run down to CVS and buy two $100 gift cards and then email the numbers to him. Fortunately while she kept him talking I was able to look the scam on the web and advise her to hang up. He then proceeded to call us back for several days from different numbers! We would block one number and he would call from a new one later.

I also believe that this scam has been mentioned before on this forum.

Anyway, I hope VW is able to get the money refunded by the credit card company and does not get soured on our great hobby because of it.

[rwanttaja]

My wife almost fell for this type of scam when she looked up a number for Microsoft Windows support on the net and a scam number came up at the top of the search results. The guy tried to tell her that her computer was infected with a deadly virus and all her files would be corrupted and all her personal information would be vulnerable if she did not run down to CVS and buy two $100 gift cards and then email the numbers to him. Fortunately while she kept him talking I was able to look the scam on the web and advise her to hang up. He then proceeded to call us back for several days from different numbers! We would block one number and he would call from a new one later.
Older friend got taken this way... gave them her credit card number and remote access to her PC. But she doesn't use her PC for anything but email/web access and her writing. She's a fairly prolific Christian author, so maybe it did them a bit of good if they read her stuff.

Here's my recommendation if you get called for something like this: WASTE THEIR TIME. Cussing at them doesn't matter; complaining to some agency or the other won't make a bit of difference. But if you can hook the scammer to stay on the phone with you, that's time they won't have to call anyone else.

I got a call like my friend's not long after she was ripped off. I went into "dumb grampa" mode. Asking them to explain what the problem is in details I could understand, pleading with them to wait because my (non-existent) grandson handled all my computer stuff. I led him on for about ten minutes ("Windows key? None of the keys say 'windows' on it!"). Finally, at the point I was supposed to enter the command giving them remote access, I said a few blistering words about scammers and hung up.

And you know, I haven't gotten a call like that since. They may keep a "Don't bother with this one" list.

Ron Wanttaja

[Dana]

I kept one of those guys going for a while as he instructed me to do things to my computer that I of course didn't do. He finally got wise when I said, "What did you have me do? There's SMOKE coming out of my computer!"

[robert l]

I kept one of those guys going for a while as he instructed me to do things to my computer that I of course didn't do. He finally got wise when I said, "What did you have me do? There's SMOKE coming out of my computer!"

I like to make the telemarketers hang up on me, wasting their time and pretending I'm doing what they want me to do. I have many different voices I use just for the fun of it and sometimes I talk real soft so they have to listen real close, then I blast them with the air horne ! Ahhhhh, it's the simple things that make life so good !
Bob

[Capt Bob]

Here is a hilarious example of how to waste the scammers time and have a little fun at the same time. James Vietch relates how he gets back at the email scams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Uc-cztsJo

Bob