Drone Registration - It’s time for this to stop!

[flylegitllc]

Taking advantage of unsuspecting new drone owners by buying up keywords isn't a scam. Definitely. Shady business practice though.

And teaming up with DroneU to "sell" TRUST stuff isn't very up and up either. No TRUST information is supposed to be shared or even kept by the TA who gave the test. Also getting information from them prior to the lifting of the embargo could have easily backfired on Paul. And should have.

Hi Vic,

Thank you for your thoughtful reply.

Not sure what you are referring to about an embargo...that sounds like something above my pay grade. I do know that we had multiple individuals coming to us before TRUST was officially announced with their certificates (from multiple TAs) asking us to make ID cards. With that information we published a partial list of TA's but removed it upon request of the FAA. No information is passed from Drone U to us, the customer provides us with the TRUST certificate and we print it and ship it.

As I explained above, if we weren't "buying up keywords" then someone else would, and they wouldn't be as nice about it. We've done more than I can say here to fight the true scam websites and have removed some of them from paid ad positions over the years. You are welcome.

 

[Vic Moss]

Hi Vic,

Thank you for your thoughtful reply.

Not sure what you are referring to about an embargo...that sounds like something above my pay grade. I do know that we had multiple individuals coming to us before TRUST was officially announced with their certificates (from multiple TAs) asking us to make ID cards. With that information we published a partial list of TA's but removed it upon request of the FAA. No information is passed from Drone U to us, the customer provides us with the TRUST certificate and we print it and ship it.

As I explained above, if we weren't "buying up keywords" then someone else would, and they wouldn't be as nice about it. We've done more than I can say here to fight the true scam websites and have removed some of them from paid ad positions over the years. You are welcome.

Many people have complained publicly about feeling "scammed" by your sites. While it's not technically a scam, it's shady at best. We do our best to educate new drone owners that the best way to register is via FAA, and to avoid all sites that charge for something that is supposed to be free.

And the only TRUST TA that jumped the gun was AMA. You teamed up with DroneU. And that's not cool. You even shared photos between sites. You simply flipped your version. That came from DroneU. I know Paul well enough to know that if you stole that from him, he'd hit the roof.

Aslo, this industry is too small to hide. We also know for a fact that you were looking to sell to Drone U. When all of the controversy arose from the TRUST card sales, they dropped you. Probably for CYA reasons. You even reached out to another school and said this very thing, looking to sell to him instead.

This industry is way to small for companies to continue to blow smoke up everyone's skirt. Ask AirMap about that.

 

[pilotinstitute]

I get too many messages from my viewers telling me that they paid $40 or more to register their drones. It’s time to put an end to this garbage!

Spot on, Russ! We sadly have people weekly contacting us as well. Thankfully, the numbers are dwindling so the industry as a whole has been doing a great job at educating.
Remember folks, never trust a company that hides its location and the name of its owners.

 

[flylegitllc]

Many people have complained publicly about feeling "scammed" by your sites. While it's not technically a scam, it's shady at best. We do our best to educate new drone owners that the best way to register is via FAA, and to avoid all sites that charge for something that is supposed to be free.

And the only TRUST TA that jumped the gun was AMA. You teamed up with DroneU. And that's not cool. You even shared photos between sites. You simply flipped your version. That came from DroneU. I know Paul well enough to know that if you stole that from him, he'd hit the roof.

Aslo, this industry is too small to hide. We also know for a fact that you were looking to sell to Drone U. When all of the controversy arose from the TRUST card sales, they dropped you. Probably for CYA reasons. You even reached out to another school and said this very thing, looking to sell to him instead.

This industry is way to small for companies to continue to blow smoke up everyone's skirt. Ask AirMap about that.

Vic: Drone U's certificates are easiest for us to work with in the printing of the completion cards. We did accidentally purchase a stock photo from ShutterStock that was already in use by Drone U on their TRUST page. We caught the mistake, and replaced the photo the same day. This is your evidence of a massive conspiracy? Who is Paul? Sell what to Drone U? I don't speak for Drone U but we haven't been "dropped" in any manner that I know of. You sound like you have a lot of information to share with us, but it all seems just a bit off so far so you may want to fact check yourself before posting anything further.

Pilot Institute: The number of complaints you receive each week dropping is a result of us eliminating some of the true scam websites found on Google. Please refer to my original post. Also, most (99%) of our customers are quite happy. Only a tiny portion of users are unhappy and end up on a website like this reading any of this. We answer a ton of questions from users each day (some of which never end of being our customer) and are happy to help out where we can. Our share of the registrations that we process is growing, not shrinking.

In any case, I just wanted to drop our perspective in my original post for those who care to read it. I get that it's fun to have someone to hate and rally against and that's cool, it's not affecting us in any way. Good luck to you all!

 

[RUFFSTUFF]

Hello fellow drone pilots! I'm the owner of the business being talked about in this thread, which operates under multiple domain names including www.TrustFAA.com and www.DroneRegistration.com.

Thank you for supporting the claims of "Russ at 51 Drones, Pilot Institute, and others" in a concise post detailing your shady practices (Vic nailed it!). You clearly recognize your business model when you said "FAADroneZone portal is the only official website to register your drone in the U.S."

Curious, if you are so legit... Why so many domain names?

 

[dirkclod]

Ok we’re not going to argue with this guy who just joined
yesterday for the sake of arguing. You all see who he is and
understand the correct way to regerster and take the Trust
test at the lowest cost.
Discuss if yawl like but be civil.
Thanks.

 

[51 Drones]

Ok we’re not going to argue with this guy who just joined
yesterday for the sake of arguing. You all see who he is and
understand the correct way to regerster and take the Trust
test at the lowest cost.
Discuss if yawl like but be civil.
Thanks.

 

[Fly Addie FLY]

When you do a Google search for "register my drone" the first listing (an ad) leads to one of these outfits that overcharges you for the service. Google could help put a stop to it by not allowing these ads. I see lots of ads on YouTube and Google for these rip off schemes. Not necessarily scams per say, but they do pray on the uninformed and lazy.

I was just taken by FlyLegit, LLC I paid $49 for the registration with stickers..I thought it was the correct website. I fully understand its my fault for not reading all the fine print. I am angry at myself for not checking properly. I do hope they register my drone though.

 

[Fly Addie FLY]

When you do a Google search for "register my drone" the first listing (an ad) leads to one of these outfits that overcharges you for the service. Google could help put a stop to it by not allowing these ads. I see lots of ads on YouTube and Google for these rip off schemes. Not necessarily scams per say, but they do pray on the uninformed and lazy.

I just registered my drone and paid $49 with lanyard and stickers. I thought this was the correct site because it seemed legit at the time. FlyLegit, LLC took my money and now I realize they are not affiliated with FAA. It is my fault and I am mad at myself for not reading the fine print. It does state they are not affiliated in small print. UGH ...I just do hope they do register my drone... Live and LEARN

 

[BigAl07]

I was just taken by FlyLegit, LLC I paid $49 for the registration with stickers..I thought it was the correct website. I fully understand its my fault for not reading all the fine print. I am angry at myself for not checking properly. I do hope they register my drone though.

WELCOME to the forum

It happens and if this is your biggest mistake you're doing VERY good

 

[Fly Addie FLY]

WELCOME to the forum

It happens and if this is your biggest mistake you're doing VERY good

Thank you, I just passed my 107 part test last month and purchased a MAVIC 2 Pro from my daughter. I hired someone to help me learn how to fly this past weekend. I still need lots of flying practice before calling myself a true drone pilot. I am a little intimidated by the drone...don't know why...I guess, I am afraid of making a terrible mistake. I live in Pensacola FL and we are surrounded by restricted air space! Thanks for the words of encouragement! Safe flying !

 

[mobilehomer]

Thank you, I just passed my 107 part test last month and purchased a MAVIC 2 Pro from my daughter. I hired someone to help me learn how to fly this past weekend. I still need lots of flying practice before calling myself a true drone pilot. I am a little intimidated by the drone...don't know why...I guess, I am afraid of making a terrible mistake. I live in Pensacola FL and we are surrounded by restricted air space! Thanks for the words of encouragement! Safe flying !

Contact them and request a refund, unless you want the swag that you paid for. If all you want id the registration, let them know!!

 

[spamgnome]

Contact them and request a refund, unless you want the swag that you paid for. If all you want id the registration, let them know!!

Or dispute the charge on your CC.

 

[flylegitllc]

Thank you, I just passed my 107 part test last month and purchased a MAVIC 2 Pro from my daughter. I hired someone to help me learn how to fly this past weekend. I still need lots of flying practice before calling myself a true drone pilot. I am a little intimidated by the drone...don't know why...I guess, I am afraid of making a terrible mistake. I live in Pensacola FL and we are surrounded by restricted air space! Thanks for the words of encouragement! Safe flying !

Hello

I represent FlyLegit, LLC and I've pulled your order from our queue to keep it from processing automatically this evening. I've reached out to you at your email address so we can address your concerns. It isn't our intention to have you feel "taken" and we're happy to adjust your order as needed. Please shoot us a reply at your convenience otherwise we'll cancel and refund the order in full tomorrow morning--no additional action needed on your part.

Thank you!
FlyLegit, LLC

 

[Fly Addie FLY]

Hello ,

I represent FlyLegit, LLC and I've pulled your order from our queue to keep it from processing automatically this evening. I've reached out to you at your email address so we can address your concerns. It isn't our intention to have you feel "taken" and we're happy to adjust your order as needed. Please shoot us a reply at your convenience otherwise we'll cancel and refund the order in full tomorrow morning--no additional action needed on your part.

Thank you!
FlyLegit, LLC

Good Evening and thank you for responding to my post. As you know, it is impossible to cancel an order with FLYLegit unless a death occurred and/or the product arrives defective. If you have not registered my drone then please cancel the order and refund my credit card for the full amount of $49.00. However, if you have registered my drone with the FAA, then proceed with the entire order. I do not wish to cause confusion at the FAA if you have already registered my drone. I wish to avoid any delays that may ground my drone due to misunderstandings. Please call me if you have questions regarding the situation.

 

[Vic Moss]

I was just taken by FlyLegit, LLC I paid $49 for the registration with stickers..I thought it was the correct website. I fully understand its my fault for not reading all the fine print. I am angry at myself for not checking properly. I do hope they register my drone though.

Welcome to the forum. I'm sorry you were ripped off by FlyLegit. They aren't technically a scam for sure, but they sure do have very suspect business practices as you've found out.

They will register your drone though. If they didn't, they would have been brought up on Mail Fraud charges years ago. They just take advantage of people new to the industry, then pretend to feel bad when someone feels "taken advantage of".

If they truly did feel bad, they'd close up shop.

 

[flylegitllc]

Good Evening and thank you for responding to my post. As you know, it is impossible to cancel an order with FLYLegit unless a death occurred and/or the product arrives defective. If you have not registered my drone then please cancel the order and refund my credit card for the full amount of $49.00. However, if you have registered my drone with the FAA, then proceed with the entire order. I do not wish to cause confusion at the FAA if you have already registered my drone. I wish to avoid any delays that may ground my drone due to misunderstandings. Please call me if you have questions regarding the situation.

Hi ,

We've responded to your email but to close up any loose ends in this thread we wanted to post to let you know that your order has been cancelled and refunded in full. We evaluate refund requests for more than just the reasons you listed. We hope we can help you with something in the future. Good luck with your business!

Best,
FlyLegit, LLC

 

[Fly Addie FLY]

Hi ,

We've responded to your email but to close up any loose ends in this thread we wanted to post to let you know that your order has been cancelled and refunded in full. We evaluate refund requests for more than just the reasons you listed. We hope we can help you with something in the future. Good luck with your business!

Best,
FlyLegit, LLC

Thank you!

 

[Fly Addie FLY]

Welcome to the forum. I'm sorry you were ripped off by FlyLegit. They aren't technically a scam for sure, but they sure do have very suspect business practices as you've found out.

They will register your drone though. If they didn't, they would have been brought up on Mail Fraud charges years ago. They just take advantage of people new to the industry, then pretend to feel bad when someone feels "taken advantage of".

If they truly did feel bad, they'd close up shop.

I agree with your statements! I should have been wiser though...at the end of the day, I need to make sure to read the fine print and look thoroughly through a website before punching in my CC #... With all the advertising schemes it's almost impossible to just access information on google now a days. Best to you!

 

[AZDave]

I get too many messages from my viewers telling me that they paid $40 or more to register their drones. It’s time to put an end to this garbage!

This practice isn't unique to drone registration. Ham radio, for example, has equivalent "services" that charge money for something that could easily and quickly be done for free. I'm sure there are other examples.

But lots of people go this route anyway, even though they know they could do it themselves without cost. Some probably find anything to do with the government to be intimidating. Others probably rely on the service to sort out any complications. Who know what motivates people to do things that don't make sense to the rest of us. I can come up with dozens of examples of examples where people stubbornly stick to inane practices in spite of extensive evidence that they are ... well, inane.