I know that some of you will not agree with this and that is fine, but i want to post the experience i had with "Don" at the SCU booth at the SSSS.

I have been duning for 17 yrs and have had my fair share of sandcars and driven almost every other car as well, not trying to toot my horn just want you to understand i have some experience with sandcars.

So i have a friend that has had a multitude of high dollar cars including, sidewinders, predators, etc... The guy has some $$$ to spend is my point... So i approach don and tell him right up front that i have never driven one of his cars, but i have heard a ton of people swear by them and i feel like he is one of the top builders that i would recommend to my buddy looking for a new car. I asked him if he knew of any SCU used cars that were for sale in the 50 to 60k range with a 500hp and an s4... he laughed and said that he didnt know of any and then just stared at me as though i was from mars, so i then asked him, "ok, well how much could you build a car for that would fit the description of what he is looking for?" He tells me that he is going to be using one at the regatta and if my buddy wanted to, he could go for a ride in it and buy it on the spot!! I thought that was a great idea, so i ask him how much that car was? He says... well prolly 90k... i again reminded him that he was looking to spend 50 to 60k on a used car in this economy, which as we all know can get you a hell of a lot of car right now... He then laughed at me and said that, "i dont have anything even close to that price range." LOL... I then again, shook that insult off and against my better judgemnt continued to engage in conversation with this guy...
Next i asked him why he doesnt use mid board hubs on his cars. He explained to me that his cars are midboard hubs..???? Clearly the ones at the show were not so i explained to him that they looked like a stub axle to me and asked if he had any bearing failures with the small bearings in those hubs? He again laughed as though i was an idiot and said " follow me to kartek and i will show you that my bearings ARE the same size as the mid board hub bearings i was describing... well kartek did not have an example in their booth so he then walked past me on his way back to his booth as though im suppose to just follow him around like a puppy dog! but being the good sport i can be on occasion, i did... he then told me that what i was describing was a "full floater" hub and it was not called a mid board hub at all and that I NEEDED TO GET MY TERMONOLOGY STRAIGHT!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!! furthermore, he has never, AND I REPEAT NEVER, AS HE HELD HIS HAND UP MAKING A ZERO WITH HIS HAND SAID, "I HAVE NEVER HAD A REAR HUB BEARING FAILURE EVER!" At this point i was just soooo turned off by this guys customer service and communication skills that i was now laughing at this guy and beside myself at how much of a joke it is for him to even be at a show and trying to "sell" cars!! These type of people should never come out of the metal shop and need hire someone with communication, personality and sales skills to sell their cars because clearly they cannot even sell someone who was already sold on their product until i talked to him... At this point i am not even interested in driving an SCU much less recommend them to friends of mine!!! SCU

Time for someone to move this.

why would we need to move this?

Maybe he was tired of dealing with all the guys that thought 10, 20$ beers was cool?

huh?

i think that no matter who you are, customer service is ALWAYS #1.

x2!

This is the For sale section. I think?

i just wanted to give people a taste of his sales model ...

Because you posted it in the Buggies For Sale section is one reason I can think of.

Sand Rail Stuff maybe?

I agree, Don is a 100% ahole!

WOW This will get the party started

I got a Extreme Double Throw Down II in that price range $65k obo!!!

depending on what your buddy wants but i have no clue what scu charges for their car but i think a new car full body, dash, bypasses, s4 500+ hp will cost more then 60k.... but im sure being at the show don is there to sell new not used so that might have made him a little whatever feelings towards you

is it the red one? can you pm me some pics?

that extreme performance double is badass.... twin turbos, s4d..... 100k dollor car for 65k thats a screaming deal.....

Thanks for the honest "review"..
It is what it is, I don't think anyone that knows Don can say this is the first time they have heard this complaint..

It is the red one, those are the only pics I got right now! Call me if he is interested (602)309-0867. Thanks, Aaron

Not the greatest person..., your not going to fit in around here.....

huh?

Sounds like Don. He is a little gruff… He has a strong following on this board, now. He didn’t a year ago…

Anyway, I agree Don, has been confused about mid board hubs for a long time. There was even a thread about it at one time. (He is a little old school, nothing wrong with that, I guess) He continues to use the micro stub axles. And I guess he has been successful. If he ever does decide to go with mid boards, it will defiantly improve his already awesome car design.

lol

The OP is absolutely entitled to their opinion....But, as others have suggested, it is more appropriate in the "Sandrail Stuff" section, so that's where it will now call home...

Sounds like it's well known-you'd think he'd get a clue by now

Don, is one in my opinion, who is huge on first impressions and for you to start him off with I'm looking for this car for $60k used is the biggest insult n the first place. ou can call hm what you want but Im quite sure you were just the tool he was looking to eff with as he had some down time.

Bottom line there was no respectable builder there looking to sell a "NEW" car to you with what you were looking for at that price...PERIOD.

Reasonable people are treated with respect, and since you were no where near reasonable, I find it quite amusing that Don spent as much time with you as he did.

So Im just curious...

Well let me back up, I am NOT going to defend Don. He has had a history of being short with people.

But what is it you wanted?

Salesmanship aside, we all want to be stroked by our salesman..

Did you want him to sell a used car that doesn't belong to him for 60K?

Did you want him to say he had bearing failures?

CAN ALL SCU OWNERS PLEASE REPORT on your bearing failures? (Ive never heard of one)

Sounds like your upset that he didn't have the answers you wanted, not that answers were wrong, just not what you expected or wanted.

Look, we all have personality issues. We cant change our personalities to be someone we aren't just to satisfy a potential customer. Nor should we. I don't want a "salesman" I want a guy who builds a great car. Hell, a guy from Bakersfield was a great salesman. There are MANY great builders on this site, the absolute best in the world. But NONE of them are liked by everyone. I GUARANTEE that.

Like him or not, it's up to you. But you are cheating yourself out of arguably the best car in the industry. But that is certainly your choice and you are entitled to it. You will find a salesman to say what ever it is you want, and he will sell you a great car. I the end, everyone will be happy.

Bummer you had to have a bad experience. Hope your future car shopping goes well.

I say 6 or 7 pages.

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at least...

i suppose if you were at the show he did have 3 cars that were used in the booth and one with a "for sale" sign on it???? that would lead a person to believe he was interested in selling a "used" car.... hmmm maybe know your facts before you comment our your azz

is it just me or when you are trying to sell a product it is NEVER ok to treat people like dog crap that are in the market for the product that you sell??? i love how people will try to defend a guy that treats people like azz... not to mention the PMs i have recieved from people just today that are in FULL agreement of my opinion with examples of their own!

If I'm buying a buggy, all I care about is the quality. It's cool if you have nice people to deal with but it is certainly not a deal breaker. my .02

I have a motor from Don. I asked him for it. He built it. We picked it up. It was turn key. He kept track of some threads here as I was having some problems with the temp readings. He told me to call him. I did. Problem was solved in less than 10 minutes.

Motor still runs flawlessly after 3 seasons.

This sounds like a personality issue.

Take it or leave it. I am going to assume that the people who have taken it have very few complaints.

great customer service should always be delivered regardless of how good the product is.....

x2

Look through the forest and you will see the trees.....

Were any of the three cars he was selling what you were asking for?? No?? So you were simply a waste of his time, and since you wasted his time he amused himself and wasted yours. haha. But you wont see it that way it thats clearly your M.O. here.

you are the reason these guys are still in bizz and continue to treat people that way

you are just clueless when it comes to life apparently... move on to another thread.. you dont make any sense

You know that mechanics and fabers are artist and many of them do not relate to people. They see things and respond to things in a black and white way. (I know this from being married to one) I am the social one and he does what he does...there have been many times I have told him "honey you just sounded like an arse hole...but have him change his personality and talent because people get their feelings hurt would be asking him to change his creativeness, NO WAY!!!

Don was great to me, but a lot of the people at the show weren't friendly IMO. I had a pocket full of cash ready to spend it on a toy and every time i would want detailed answers and break down about a toy i was given the "here's our card".... umm.. ok. maybe you make a quality product but you aren't making a sale.

i AGREE, like i said hire someone to sell and keep the fabber in the shop. dont put the, bad with customers, fabber in the sales chair and make excuses because he is an azz

good point!

great customer service isn't stroking someone asking dumb questions.. great customer service is giving you a great product, at a good price, doing it when you said you will, and doing it like you ask to have it done..

and after 3 hard seasons I have not had a bearing failure either.. and come to think of it, I don't remember ever seeing any of my friends with SCU's ever have a bearing failure either..

You will probably get lots of emials from people who agree, but you posted here so expect to see people defend him as well.
You saw the car he had in his booth that was within your price range, it had a turbo Honda and was 3 yrs old..with a 2D I believe. Seeing that, why would you expect to also see a 500hp car with an s4s for the same price?

Look none of us can make a determination on how the conversation went, we weren't there, we can only make our judgment based on our own dealings with Don. Personally, I would never buy a car from anyone else. I am treated like royalty when ever I see Don or his wife. But at the same time, if I ask a stupid question, I expect a bonk on the forehead. I don't expect caviar when I go to his shop and when I shake his hand, I know it will be dirty.

Don may not be everyone's friend, Ok...

But remember, there are builders who are vary popular and have a very loyal following, Yet there is a history of unfortunate and tragic results in their cars in crashes.

There are also popular builders who are great salesman with loyal followers who build cars of questionable quality.

Don builds a very safe car and a very dependable car, you need to decide where your priorities are...and it sounds like you have.

I know about keeping in the shop.....but they do like to go for car rides and put their head out the car window from time to time

Don is not good in the PR department.

I talked to him a few months ago and I would say he should spend the money to hire someone to sell his cars, as good as most who have owned them say they are, I bet he could sell twice as many if he didn't turn so many people off.

Keep in mind though he sold OB a car and dealt with him without killing him so he must at least have some patience.

Wow, just read this and had to laugh. First off our cars were not all used in our booth. Wow, i'm so sorry Don took the time out from our booth to take you down Kartek, I guess that's BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!! Don spends about 20 minutes with somone with a smile and cheerful attitude you take it as being rude. I guess you're an expert on building rails and really know your stuff. Who are you anyway? Well I guess you can't please everybody, but we sure try. I guess we've done something right if we've been in business 20 years.

Kathy and Don

who did he copy the design from??