mike cap

I can't say anything positive or negative about their driving schools, but their business practices STINK !!

I scheduled a one day school at Laguna Seca in June for July 28th. My son and I were going to attend. He was injured playing lacrosse in early July and I had to cancel - which I did in time for a 75% credit for the school, per their policy.

I was told by Skip Barber's CT office that they would issue a refund check in sixty days - I wasn't happy about the lag time, but agreed to wait. Sixty days later (and phone calls and emails in between) they have NO IDEA when a refund check will be issued ($3,255).

Now I will either have to sue them from New York or see if I can dispute (and reverse) the charge to my Capital One (Visa) credit card that was made in late July.

Buyer beware with this company !!

MarinS4

I heard they are in deep financial trouble. It's does not surprise me to hear you have not gotten your money back. Best to just reschedule the school day and at least get something for your money.

KMASS993

I would dispute ASAP. I am not sure what Capital One's practices are but Amex would cover something like that certainly.

mike cap

Capital One is very good. I'm sure they will pull the funds back - the dispute is already done.

I shouldn't have waited but knew the schedulers so bought their story. It sounded stinky at the time. Thanks guys. Spread the word.

CorrdoBrit

You have 60 days to dispute a charge with the credit card company. They will take care of things. I doubt there is a coincidence you were told you'd have to wait 60 days for a check. Very underhand business practices to say the least.

ltc

Not the first time I've heard that said.

A while back, I had a 20% discount off (from when I was out at Laguna Seca with them). It had a one year expiration or something.
I called them and explained that I can no longer drive but would like to sign up my son using that 20% credit/discount.
They said it could not be done, so I just forgot about it.

I now get one email or phone call a week saying that not only will they honor the 20% discount, but they will offer an additional discount if I sign up my son.

I've never returned a call or email.

mike cap

I spoke to Capital One and the dispute was approved. They will credit my credit card. I should not have waited.

NC TRACKRAT

One bad experience like this can negate a whole bunch of their expensive ads in car mags. Even though I'm an old Skip Barber grad, stuff like this never sits well with me. Frankly, the club schools like PCA and BMW CCA give you the best bang for the buck anyway.

Mark in Baltimore

That's a great start, Mike, but remember that the other party can dispute the chargeback and Cap One can put the charges right back on your card. It happened in the event I described above.

Mark in Baltimore

Note: meant to post this earlier today but put it in the wrong thread.

Good luck with Capital One, Mike. I hope your experience is better than mine. I had to do a chargeback with them after I got ripped off by an eBay seller in China who misrepresented some RS splitters (got Aerokit 1B splitters instead) and, despite clearly overwhelming evidence that I did not receive what was advertised, Capitol One ruled in favor of the merchant. To say that I was livid was an understatement (but I managed to handle the matter on my own terms so that there was a measure of satisfaction on my part).

MarinS4

Congrats Mike!

I hate feeling steam rolled over by vendors who think they can dictate T&C's of every component of a transaction. State law supersedes company policy every time.

mike cap

Guys,

Thanks for your comments. I checked my Cap One statement this afternoon and the credit is posted already. I use this Cap One card allot and my company also uses it for corporate purchasing - we probably put $500 k a year through their system.

If the 'pull back' is disputed by Skip Barber I'm confident I'll get a fair review. I have the entire transaction well documented.

Canyon56

fwiw, Skip Barber Racing School filed for bankruptcy a while back in 2001. First Equity Group acquired it and it became Skip Barber Racing School LLC. Not that this has any bearing on what may be going on currently but historically the financial situation apparently wasn't always that great. And with the economy today, I'm assuming it's probably not a lot better.

There are claims that this never happened, but it did: "First Equity and its principals have been customers of Skip Barber since 1990, having conducted numerous corporate as well as individual racing programs. In mid 2001, after a highly leveraged recap in 1999, a bad acquisition in 2000, and poor management decisions, First Equity became aware of the financial distress facing the company. 45 days after 9/11, First Equity signed an LOI to acquire the company from the senior secured debt holders. First Equity identified the leadership team as the biggest weakness of the company. Within 6 months, all of the senior management had been replaced with a new management team."

skywachr

I'm really glad to hear Capitol One did the right thing by you. It may very well be strongly tied to your and your company's business volume as you suggest.

With credit card charge disputes, warranty extensions, or 360 degree 90 day protection I feel AMEX has been the best way to go so for me so I try to do everything through them when possible. I've had an AMEX card for almost 40 years and the things they have done to make things right have been amazing.

My experience with the difference between AMEX and other card issuers has been that the basic assumption is that the buyer is in the right unless proven otherwise by the vendor. Other issuers tend to take the exact opposite approach to a greater or lesser degree placing the burden of proof on the cardholder with the initial weight of the assumption in favor of the vendor. Your own results may vary.

skl

I ran into Skip Barber himself at RM Auction in Scottsdale a couple years ago- had a nice chat as I'd done several school and lapping days back in the 90's with them at various tracks. He said he had sold it a while ago, so they are only using his name... I had good luck with them back then, sorry to hear it's gone downhill.