I have not seen this particular banner add recently, which may mean it has been removed. None the less, If nobody has mentioned it, I will. If it has been, I apologise for the repeat.

There comes a time when we must acknowledge a particular company has failed to perform honestly and consistantly as good member of the tuner industry. I submit to you Carsponsorship.com can be counted as one of the poor performers, and thus should be removed from what many of us would consider an important and influential community.

Their standing as 'unsatisfactory' with their local Better Business Bureau alone should call question to their business practices, and the many negative stories told here on Scionlife would certainly reflect their overall lack of performance.

A few months ago I went upon the endevor to personally test this company and see if they were getting a bum rap from a few unfortunate mishaps, or if they truely deserved their reputation and thus compared to tctunerz.com and other notorious "businesses".

For myself, the out-of-pocket money was an experiment. I never intended to se a dime of it back. I hoped to test their metal, and come out with a clear idea of they way they work, what they provide, and to report my findings.

What I have found is incredible lack in communication. Or, at best, being bounced from one person or one email address to another with nye a clear answer nor material product. They have, In this consumer's experiment, failed to provide even the most basic of services and left me wondering just how they have managed to keep drawing in new business despite their now obviously true reputation.

I surmise this can only be from the few 'success' stories of a few fortunate and happy customers, which seem vastly outnumbered by those who have had nightmare stories with this company.

It is my deepest hope that if removing Carsponsorships.com from the banner ads here on Scionlife, or any advertising on this site for that matter, has not occured, that it do so promptly for the safety and integrity of this community. Their business practices are sub par at best. Customer service is non-existant. I unfortunately never received any product to rate as far as quality is concerned.

-A concerned Scionlifer.

 

That is a very serious problem that we take seriously. We have two opposing motives that clash... on one hand we want to promote healthy companies that benefit our members, but at the same time we need income to pay the bills (we're running THREE servers now, and still slow!)

The income generated by carsponsorships.com almost pays for one of our servers, so I have to think carefully about how to proceed.

I was going to apply for a sponsorship to see how their system operates, but I decided not to when I got to the end of the application page. They ask for my credit card without ANY promise of the type of sponsorship that might be obtained. This is a HUGE red flag for me.

It seems to me that they may be combining legitimate sponsorships with their own "scam-type" sponsorships. They are using real brand names to promote their site, which leads me to believe that each of those companies have made an agreement with the site... but the sheer number of under-rated cars submitted must be overwhelming. So... everyone gets a sponsorship of some type... it could be stickers.

Lastly, since it is charged to your credit card you can make one simple phone call to your bank if they don't deliver on their promise and the charges will be reversed.

I think that anyone with a car worth sponsoring wouldn't need this site, and anyone that signs up for their program will get exactly what is promised... some type of unknown sponsorship. If you want to part with $89 before you know what you are getting then you must be prepared for the worst, right?

 

I say let thier business speak for itself, if they are poor, people will not use them, and they will go out of buisiness. Untill then let'em pay for our wonderful free site.

 

While this is true, one needs to be aware that there is often a time limit on reversing charges (60 days from the date of the charge at my bank), and some companies are very well practiced at keeping the customer involved and still waiting until it is impossible to do a chargeback...

So long as a customer is aware of this limitation and acts before the window closes, they are OK, but many, many folks aren't aware of the time limit imposed by their individual banks.

 

And Sport Compact Pro is another that has scam wrote all over it to. Like the Car Sponsorship they asked for $88 and dumb me fell for it. Two days later i called the number and they said they never heard of me so i hung upand called the next day and canceled the deal and ended up talking to the guy that called me and asked him about getting my $88 back he said that it was a donation to the street racing fund that i could'nt get it back. I called Nopi to asked them about SCP and they did'nt know about them but SCP was promoting them selfs using Nopi's name and logo without permission. Hope folks see this and stay away from these two scams and dont make the same bone head move i did.

 

I signed up for CS.com to check it out as well, knowing I could blow 80 or so bucks, and ended up essentially on a mailing list for "Discounted" parts, which were called "Partial Sponsorships", for my 80 or so dollars...

EVERYONE to my knowledge gets a "Pimp my Ride" sponsorship for the money and gets those discounted parts....

Definately a misleading concept AT BEST...

 

You guys might get mad at me for saying it... but entering your credit card number without having a clear idea of what you are getting just seems like a horrible idea.

"A fool and his money are easily parted."

 

Being a total nOOb here, I'm sure I carry little weight, but in my many years in the online world, this has become the kind of place I strive to find to keep myself out of trouble when getting into something new.
This place has been great, and if I see a sponsor's ad here, I expect that it's not just SL collecting money. I understand the fine line between paying bills and offending a good supporter, but you guys owe it to the community to filter out any dogs that will destroy your rep and lose good supporters money.
I am going to hang a little longer before I decide to sign up for the Premium membership - and something like this is a good test for SL.
If someone has a bad rap at the BBB, I think that automatically, they should be banned here - no matter how many servers they pay for.

My 2¢ as a nOOb who cares and benefits from this great place...

Scott

 

Do not always trust the BBB, they are not like they used to be.

John

 

Yeah, I completely understand your point of view, and we HAVE removed sponsors before... but this isn't a case of a sponsor promising the workd and ripping off the customer... it is a case of a sponsor that is offering an opportunity for a far-fetched plan.

It's like the 'YOU'VE JUST WON' letter you get in the mail, you call to claim your prize... one of five things. Four are great, one is a cheap piece of crap. Which one do you think you are getting? They aren't ripping anyone off, but some people fall for it.

I am assuming that carsponsorships.com occasionally delivers actual benefits, but without a firm grasp on the percentage of members that get REAL benefits vs those who feel gyped I can't really justify yanking their ads.

 

Totally understand.
But, if you get enough complaints here by members, it would obviously change things.
If you guys look like you're covering for someone (can be anyone here) then you'll lose visitors/hits/members and on the 'net - that's death.

I'm sure you guys know what you're doing and will handle it all appropriately.

As for the BBB - do you have anything I can read that supports your statement - not meant to be doubting you, just interested...

Scott

 

If we started getting enough complaints I would definitely do something about it.

 

Here is my solution to the problem. Everyone who doesnt like carsponserships.com can put a warning about them in their signature like people have done with tctuners. We then keep carsponserships as a sponser, because the bottom line is that they are paying FOR 1 WHOLE SERVER, and thats huge!!!

I think if we warn the community about them, but keep them on as a sponser simply for their money everything should be fine. Now is not the time to be cutting sponsors especially since in the near future we are going to need 3 or 4 noew servers with the growing community of scionlife.com and the addition of lexuslife and toyota life. As soon as those site start to boom, were looking at 3 to 5 servers per site and well need all the money we can manage to scavange up.

 

I know this is at least the third thread I have seen started specifically about cs.com. I started one myself a while back.

I have seen the so called "benefits" of cs.com and scpc.om first hand and they are essentially crap. You can get the same "deals" they "give" you on eBay without having to pay the $89.

Did I use too many quotations?

 

Well, I understand the needs, but that reasoning is poor.
Anyone can justify taking money in exchange for something when they need it - it's when your principles override that urge that integrity is shown.

Here's my suggestion: I think your all-or-nothing approach to membership is wrong. I think you should add other levels for lesser prices. Most places have ~3 for this purpose. Some folks can swing $100, some $50, some $20. And the monthly setup sux.
I would look into expanding that aspect to get some more money too.

my 2¢

Scott

 

THIS is why i dont "buy" sponserships from online. hell onlytime ill ever take one is if an actual rep came up to me in person at liek a car show or some thing and asked if i wanted to rep their company for full or even partial sponsership. the internet these days is so scamming and fraudulent. be careful...its better to be safe than sorry. if you dont feel comfortable with giving money to a company for sponserships, chances are, they are fraud.

 

just wondering, why does the monthy setup suck? Secondly if we had three levels of membership, what advantages would you suggest each level have over another that would lure people into buying a higher membership.

 

Simple: price. Monthly makes is more expensive.
"Benefits" are subjective.
You give out swag.
Dole it out relative to price.
More special posting priv's.
Special avatars.

Helping to sponsor a site isn't all about getting something tangible back.
Think about this - what if there's 100 people that could afford $50, but not $100. You're losing money.
Another 100 peeps @ $20.
Losing money.

 

Other places I have frequented have:
Platinum Sponsor
Gold Sponsor
Silver Sponser
Other losers - JK.
You get the idea...people donate to museums etc. because they like to see their names on the wall, not because they get Picasso t-shirts.

 

Scott, if you visit the BBB and search for the business 'carsponsorships.com' it will bring up their information. (Note, they are not members of their local, nor any BBB)

Well, I'm glade this is getting some debate. Its unfortunate that we depend so much on their support of almost an entire server, and while I don't myself like that justifying their sponsorship, I know that when it com,es to the end of the day, bills need paying.

The idea about posting in the sig about warnings for CS.com and SCP.com is a great idea.

As for paying for sponsorships, i agree. don't. However, this was simply an experiment to see what they were Really about. Call it a mission of discovery. They do offer the same 'sponsorship' offers to a bulk of their people. Verticle Doors. StreetFX, Blakput(sp?), H.I.N application package, GILA films, and the short list goes on. It sould be noted a member here, BrEaK_AwAy seems quite pleased with them, and I am sure in some aspect they provide good service. It is just my opinion in my research here, other scion/honda forums, my own personal experiance as well as the report listed by the Better Business Bureau (bbb.org) that all leads me to believe they are deserving of their unsatisfactory classification.

ANYhoo, experiment over, thats what I found out. Take it for what its worth if you decide to do business with them.