savyboy

Folks know from my posting history here, and from knowing me personally I am not given to lies or misrepresentation. But the same cannot be said for Skip Barber.

I signed up for a Skip Barber course at Laguna Seca and upon taking it, found the open wheel cars to be in my opinion less than safe. The harnesses came loose while driving and the shoulder belt buckles got under my helmet and prevented me from not only looking down but from turning my head! There were other equipment issues that concerned me as well.

I communicated this to Manager- Retail Sales at Skip Barber and asked him to refund what he had also pulled from my AmEx to pay for a lapping session and first weekend of a race series in addition to the course I took. Everything was well within the limits they ask in order to obtain a full refund.

That was November 19th. As of today Skip Barber STILL has not refunded my money! After committing to do so. They said they were sending a check weeks ago. Tried to call the admin office number, no answer, ever. The sales rep gives me the runaround.

I submitted a chargeback through AmEx last week.

Bottom line- Skip Barber is not a company you can trust to do business with. Buyer beware!

mobonic

Sucks!!!!!!!

Damit and I have a SB gift certificate on my desk waiting to be used.. damit!

cfjan

When you found out about the safety equipment issues (when you are taking the class), they couldn't resolve the issue on the spot? (i.e., get you in a car that has proper / functional safety equipments, etc.)

Good luck w/ your refund process!

savyboy

It does suck, my friend. The instructors at LS were awesome but their sales and corporate (or lack therof) are splattering them with sh*t.

The shoulder buckles are attached to the frame, it was not possible to adjust the location. Also, the belts were very well used and the teeth apparantly could not keep a grip on the belt and they loosened while driving. As we know, it is critical that belts start tight and remain tight under all conditions! By my visual look around, all cars belts appeared well worn, but it was never suggested I move to a different car.

But the bottom line is regardless of why I wanted a refund, it should have happened a long time ago. I own a business and I issue credit card refunds the day I agree to do so. There is no excuse to not refund a customer money when you tell him you will do so!

mikymu

Man ... that doe not sound good Pete. Hope Amex can help get your money back. Does Skip Barber have refund policy such as "100% refund if you fly out of the car under braking or just don't have any fun"?

savyboy

Haha... Mike, I know you are harassing me in good nature and with that said, in spite of being very concerned about the restraint system and my ability to move my head, my instructors were great and I learned a LOT about the track.

My primary beef is "don't hold my money when it is supposed to be refunded!" I was told my other course payments (that I immediately canceled) would be refunded. It never happened. Don't lie to me!

aussie jimmy

imagine the corkscrew with no belts...
these corporates get messy the bigger they get.

911SLOW

Pete sorry to hear this mate, and the 3 months you gave them is more than enough, prior to openly call them out with a "Caveat emptor" thread.

What really sucks is the belt-safety issue you mentioned, that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen and maybe you should do something about that as well.

savyboy

I hope this thread does not get moved to the off topic forum as it just did on 6Speed? Don't do it Mods, it is wrong. People deserve to be made aware of this.

savyboy

You got it!

aussie jimmy

don't worry, pretty soon everybody will get cup fever off miky and you guys can have your own funky little race school with mooty presiding.

Carrera GT

So there's two aspects to your complaints: they have a safety and maintenance process that's about as good as a traveling fairground or Spiderman on Broadway; and the administration don't follow up on their word.

I had similar safety concerns there years ago (when it was a Dodge operation before Mazda bought the name rights) so it's not fair to generalize, but when I tried it, their instructors were laughably unskilled and the event itself was little more than an expensive "experience" and of no use as an education for track driving.

They don't seem to care that they're not getting good customer feedback, endorsements and referral business.

But it sounds like the individuals working as instructors were competent. You've driven Laguna pretty frequently in 2010 -- what did you learn? What kind of lap times and speeds during the day?

savyboy

Lol... Mooty Academy....

Learned more about the line and how a neutral balanced car responds to control inputs and especially trail braking. Hard to get those cars rear out under power but easy to rotate on corner entry. Much more sensitive than a GT3 in regards to rotation ability.

Lap times were nothing to talk about, primarily because I could not turn my head at times. And was not comfortable, sliding around the cockpit until an instructor loaned me his personal foam insert. And then I could move my head even less. As I recall the cars are doing 110 mph just before braking at T2?

24Chromium

Pete, so sorry to hear this - sucks!

Last month when I was at an event at LS I spent some time wandering the Skippy area, especially taking time to look, in detail, at the single seaters. What I noticed was that those cars were beat well past their useful lives. Your story only confirms that. Very sad that this brand has jumped the shark.

996FLT6

Is Jim Russell at sp worth going? Mike