I know this is a nationwide business, but I also personally know several people here in the region that have used this company, so not sure where this is MOST appropriate, BUT:

*After 30+ days of being a member I have learned that many of the "sponsor prices" for the items offered are EVEN CHEAPER if I just sign on like any other Joe Blow to the sponsor's main page.
*Also, offers such as the HIN upgrade package refer to only the 2005 tour year... the year that has been wrapped for some time now.
*In addition, I have also not received my pre-cut tint film through Gila Films, for the price of $9.95 (this is a carsponsorships.com issue though, as I had to pay THEM, through paypal, FOR IT)
*I am currently working with my credit card company to dispute the $89.00 original fee, Wells Fargo has already issued my $9.95 back, and the BBB (www.bbb.org) will be receiving a full letter of complaint this evening after our 3rd Friday Meet in Alderwood.

Before anyone starts with the "I told you so's", I had heard the complaints regarding the service, but had also heard that two members of our regional chapter of Scikotics had WONDERFUL experiences with them, so I decided to give it a shot. I always trust PERSONAL references above and beyond general complaints from "strangers."

Guess if/when they decide to act like a business, it's few and far between.

In case anyone is wondering, I did send carsponsorships.com an email first, telling them I'd like to handle it like adults and giving them "One Calendar Week" (7 days) to reply. They reoplied with a generic "You must contact "Justin" our customer service manager at..." and proceeded to give me an email. I forwarded my original complaint, along with full name, phone number, etc and reset my "One Calendar Week" request to hear back from someone.

Nothing.

I called and listened to the ongoing after hours message that finally linked me to *A* Justin... (no last name given, so no idea if it's the right guy or not) and I left a lengthy voicemail where I explained how I NOW feel, as well as reading the ORIGINAL email I sent to him.

Nothing.

So I'm now going about it any way I can to get a full refund. No goods have been received, no services rendered, most of what was offered is expired or no longer valid, and regular "Street" prices are cheaper than my "special sponsored prices" in most cases. Even when they aren't, we go back to the issue of "products not received"

Can we say nightmare?

Just wanted to let you all know what's going on. I think I explained what happened in quite a bit of detail, but if anyone's going through something similar and has questions for me, I'll be more than happy to help however I can!!

ouch... that sux... sorry u had bad experience with them... have heard of a "few" good dealings with them....from people i know.. wouldnt necesarrily call them "trusted"..more along the "aquaintence" line tho....

well lesson learned...and noted...... hope it works out with your CC company... and/or carsponsorships.com starts working with you to resolve the problems

actually just filed the BBB complaint here at work, so that's underway too.

I hope so too.

Thanks!

Thanks a ton for the review. While it sucks that this happened to you, I'm glad someone in the area is finally exposing these guys. Hopefully no one else has to get burned by such a shady business. Hope all works out for you Brad.

i joined up with them too about 2 months ago. i just took the $89 hit and said screw it, because i didn't care for any of their "sponsors". they weren't brands worth putting on my car. also you were right about the pathetic pricing.

So does anyone, maybe Dustin?, know what the policy is of ScionLife in regards to this company... I mean, they're a sponsor and all...

I would go into it more, but I think what I'm saying here is pretty self explanatory

Sorry, Brad, but you'll have to contact Justin with tha...Wait! Wrong response!

Quite honestly, Brad, all I can suggest is asking Darren and/or Troy what the ScionLife policy in regards to sponsers is. They are the folks with 'The WORD' on such things.

Sorry to hear of the bad experience with carsponsorships.com. I have seen both good and bad comments about them in various posts here on ScionLife. I guess I'm lucky in that NONE of what they might offer has ANY appeal to me.

"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is." Anon.

The BBB can't and/or won't do anything.

Not to take wind out of your sails. I do hope that someone can figure out a way to get their money back or force them to be more clear about it.

If I remember correctly, it has to do with them being based out of Deleware. There are laws in Deleware that allow them to do what they do, and get away with it.

There are a handful of companies like this that opperate under the same parent umbrella...Sport Compact Pro. There is...getsponsored.net, needsponsors.net, sportcompactpro.com, and a few others. They are all the same, but might have different addresses. But they all go to the same place.

Good luck dude, seriously. I hope you can figure out a way to get them.

I can't speak for Darren, but a close friend of mine owns and runs another website that I frequent, and he has them on there for a vertical doors sponsorship. This is all part of the same group. He gets paid by them to have their stuff on the site. It's a business venture for him. I would guess it's the same for Darren.

I'm not going to go way into it either, because I could type forever about them. But you aren't the first one to feel this way about them.

Yeah, the mailing address is in Florida, but if you say they're based in DE, I wouldn't be stunned...

Regardless of what they classify as, etc... Money paid for goods and/or services not received IS a crime.

For instance, although I'm not a business, if you pay me $15000 for my tC, I take and spend your money but do not deliver a tC, I have committed a crime.

I understand what you're saying, and I'm not arguing, but there are very clear laws and guidelines re: fraudulent behaviors such as these.

I had them on my site while it was up because for each filled out application that pays, its 5.00 bucks back to the site. I made a bit of money but in retrospect, it was shady making money off of someone elses misfortune....

^^
Exactly, and although it may be different in a referral aspect, if you were ripping people off and I knew about it and said nothing, I would be an "accomplice" So therefor, ScionLife knowing that multiple members have been screwed, yet continuing to let them advertise on the site while simultaneously NOT making members aware of the problems/risks involved with doing business with them...
Like I said, it may be different in a business relationship/referral atmosphere, but... I sure as hell would want to distance myself...

Seems like there's enough sponsors on this site, that losing one wouldn't make or break the future of ScionLife.com :)

wonder if a blurb in "shop expierences" would technically be the right catagory....

anyways.. thats neither here nor there...... still is a shaddy sounding deal at minimum....

like tomas mentioned in his post...
"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is." Anon.

I had a thread on this a while back in "Website discussion". The response I got from the man was whoever pays the fees gets to advertise.

The only way I can see them going down is if you catch them in a technicality. For instance, when they say all the money is being donated to a charity. We all know this is a lie. But if there is a way to catch them in that. Like Dustin said, he got a cut out of every application that was filled out. I like Dustin as much as the next guy, but he doesn't count as a charity in my book. :P

Anyway, I hope you can figure out a way to get your money back. It's way past me being able to get mine back. Unless there is some class-action lawsuit or something hahaha.

I am going to try to look for the info that I had on them. There is something in the Deleware State law that is different from any other state, and I can't remember what it is. They actually are following the law, but it is so vague and different that it seems like a scam to everyone except the law.

If anyone else has been "suckered" and wants to contact the BBB, the reply I just got via email acknowledging the receipt of my complaint says the following office is handling it:
The bureau that will handle your complaint is:
BBB of West Florida
PO Box 7950
Clearwater,FL 33758 -7950
Email: complaints@bbbwestflorida.org
URL: www.clearwater.bbb.org
Phone: (727)535-5522
Fax: (727)539-6301

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=67355&highlight=carsponsorships+com

Reply to BCS-
I know though, that WA State is an EXTREMELY consumer-friendly and consumer oriented state. Many laws can/do protect against shafty and/or vague laws other states put forward.

As far as getting your $ back, how long has it been? Unless we're talking a LOOOONG time ago, I doubt the statute of limitations has already passed...

I had a thread on this a while back in "Website discussion". The response I got from the man was whoever pays the fees gets to advertise.

About to read your posted link, but that is VERY unfortunate. I'd go more into my opinions, but really don't have a desire to get booted by Darren himself...

Again though, it's extremely unfortunate that a little bit of money takes precidence over THOUSANDS of members...

Reply to BCS-
I know though, that WA State is an EXTREMELY consumer-friendly and consumer oriented state. Many laws can/do protect against shafty and/or vague laws other states put forward.

As far as getting your $ back, how long has it been? Unless we're talking a LOOOONG time ago, I doubt the statute of limitations has already passed...

It's been a couple years now i think.

You may want to look or at least call a lawyer that gives free advice over the phone... I think in most cases statute of limitations is 3 5 or 7 years

^^
Exactly, and although it may be different in a referral aspect, if you were ripping people off and I knew about it and said nothing, I would be an "accomplice" So therefor, ScionLife knowing that multiple members have been screwed, yet continuing to let them advertise on the site while simultaneously NOT making members aware of the problems/risks involved with doing business with them...
Like I said, it may be different in a business relationship/referral atmosphere, but... I sure as hell would want to distance myself...

Seems like there's enough sponsors on this site, that losing one wouldn't make or break the future of ScionLife.com :)

Thing is though, just like you said, there are some folks who have a very good experience with these folks. Hard to tell whats really up. Maybe they just like being mysterious. I highly doubt Darren of any website owner for that matter would put these guys in a site knowing they were just going to screw the gen pop for 89.00 bux and then take off.

sigh, oh well, not a big deal i guess. If I could have learned half the lessons in my life for a mere 89.00 I would have gladly done it. LOL

See, and if I put myself in Darren's shoes... it would take more than one person getting screwed for me to drop it, but...

After enough comments/complaints I'd just be like "Hey guys... it's really not worth it. Stop paying me. I'm gonna take your links down... Just too many complaints and I'm concerned about the image I send of MYSELF, to my members"

That's just me though.

I think that generally the people who have had a good experience with this company are the people who don't have connections with shops or other companies. The people who are just starting out tuning their cars. While most people know that it really isn't a full sponsorship (as they put it) if you have to pay for it, you are still sponsored. And if you are just starting out and don't really know what is going on, then you can say that you are sponsored when you send off proposals to other companies.

The problem that comes is that most people who actually apply for this have already been in the tuner scene for a while. They are looking for "higher-end" parts or something specific to their taste in cars. This company doesn't get those kinds of parts. It is mis-leading to most people.

But i'll tell you this, good or bad experience with them, it helps in the long-run. I wouldn't say that I am more cautious about what I buy, but I do more research before I buy it.

I think it's suppose to be a stepping stone for modifying your car. But for most people, it puts you 4 steps backwards.

I wonder what the ratio is to people who have had good experiences to people who have had bad experiences. There could be a reason behind that as to why they may not have done anything about it. I would sure hope that if there is a major problem with this, they would take some kind of corrective action so as to not let the people who make this site what it is to be taken advantage of.

i got it, and i got my vinyl from decalkits.com... i feel like it was worth it...

Aaron-

CLEARLY the all powerful American dollar means more to some of the "higher ups" on this board than the thousands of customers that swear by this board...

It's truly a sad, and some might even say pathetic way to go about business...

^^

And if I'm out of line with the above remark, please TELL ME *HOW* I'm wrong, and I will remove MY OWN statement rather than make a mod feel it's necessary to edit and/or remove it

I'm temporarily locking this thread until those 'higher ups' can respond, if they wish to.

Thank you for your patience.

Brad, if you want to know how you're wrong, please let me help you:

First of all, we don't knowingly put on fraudulent companies that run off with our members money. Your complaint of Carsponsorships is the first I've heard of this. There have been members who have been unhappy with their vinyl, but others who have been happy. From what I can see, they don't promise more than vinyl anyway, but feel free to research on ScionLife if you're concerned about the deal.

The beauty of a forum site is the ability to provide feedback to the community. An advertiser purchases an advertising plan, we host their banners, and then we allow our broad user base to evaluate their worthiness.

In some cases, we've booted sponsors who accept payment and give NOTHING in return. I will investigate this case. The quote from Darren below...

"any company that pays the advertising fee is allowed to post their advertising.... it is up to you to decide whether you should buy their product or not."

...does not apply to fraudulent sponsors. But before I consider Carsponsorships fraudulent, I will contact them as well.

Until a minute ago, I was unaware of your predicament. There are a lot of tasks in running this site, and staying up to date in all the forums is not possible. Because you're complaining about a sponsor does not mean we (Troy and Darren) are aware of it. Tom just brought this to my attention.

Finally, this belongs in the Retail Experiences forum. How are other users on ScionLife going to be warned. How are we, the admins, supposed to know if this is a widespread problem?

LOCKED! Feel free to share your experience with others in the Retail Experiences forum:
http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=67355
Meanwhile I will be contacting you, Brad.