SL-C Sold

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I've received numerous PM's wanting to know why I decided to sell my Unfinished SL'C. Rather then reinvent the wheel by responding to each of these inquires individually, I thought that I would just post an edited version of the response I sent to one of RCR's customers who expressed so much disgust with the delays in the delivery of his ordered car that he wanted to trade me his undelivered car (this is the second person that wanted to trade a UN-built car for my partially completed SL-C).
The following is my reply to this frustrated RCR customer:



Dear Mr. Xxxxxxxx,
Thanks for the compliment on the quality of my unfinished build. Sorry, I'm not interested in doing a trade and even if I were willing to do a trade; I would never consider anything that had RCR's and Fran Hall's fingerprints on it!


Your RCR saga is very similar to my experience with Mr. Hall; unfortunately, if history repeats, your nightmares are just beginning! I waited over 6 months for my promised and re-promised “16 week” prompt delivery! When I finally received the car, I had no side exhaust and no exhaust what-so-ever and no ETA of when I could expect these items.


Also I had no starter, no axles, no clutch, no flywheel, no throw out bearing, wrong shifter and cable linkage. And the saga doesn’t stop there; they installed the wrong front springs, supplied the wrong brake line fittings, and IMO, the engine mounts are a joke. When they finally did ship the shifter and linkage....guess what; it was the wrong one “AGAIN” and I had to ship it back at my own expense


Before I placed my order, I was working out a budget, I asked Fran both on the phone and publicly on the forum if the gel-coat was of a high quality that it would NOT require painting.....Fran assured me that I would NOT have to paint the car! B.S, you can see the fiber strands through the gel-coat, there are unfinished seams that need to be sanded. Additionally, I paid for body fitment and body prep; what a waste of money that was! This certainly was not the quality I was expecting.


Mr. Xxxxxxxx, based upon my experience of missing parts, I would strongly suggest that when your kit finally arrives, you very carefully go over the inventory list and cross check it against the actual parts. RCR gave me a two page parts inventory list. Absolutely every box on the reprinted factory check list was checked off as being shipped....even parts that I didn't order and even parts that didn't even pertain to the SL-C! Someone just went down the list and just marked every box without physically checking it against the corresponding part! [Note: In all fairness, since that time, Fran hired Dean as a Customer Service Rep. and I think things have improved somewhat, but the problem is as I see it; Dean has no authority and has to run everything by Fran and it appears to me that Fran absolutely refuses to delegate any authority and there just doesn't seem to be any adult supervision]


All of this understandingly upset me but I actually forgot all of that negative junk the day my car finally arrived and was I so excited to finally start my long awaited build that all of that other stuff would have been just water over the dam. All would have been good if Fran Hall would have only kept his word! However, Fran’s broken promises and what I perceive to be out and out lies continued to the point that I just couldn’t trust a word he said! This was intended to be a fun project but Mr. Hall managed to destroy that dream for me and this project turned into pure aggravation to the point that it started to effect my health. That's when I said: “it's just not worth it”!


To be perfectly honest; I'm probably more upset at myself for falling for Fran's crap! I thought that I did a good job doing my homework on RCR, because I could not find any negative comments posted on the forum. How naive of me! That in itself should have been a big red flag! I now realize the reason there are no negative comments on the forum is because Fran is the monitor of the forum and he deletes uncomplimentary posts a soon as they are posted. However, since I have gone rogue on Fran and despite the short time my negative posts stays up before he deletes them, I have received numerous private messages (PM's) from other SL-C and GT40 builders. As it turns out, I am not the one only with a negative RCR/SL-C experience! It Seems that there is actually a small army of
dissatisfied RCR customers (“anti-Fran- er's” ) that tell similar stories of having experienced delivery, quality control and unsatisfactory problem resolution issues. I have actually become friends with some of these very nice but extremely P_ _ _ _ _ Off People. The common denominator in all of our horror stories in my opinion seems be:
Mr. Fran Hall could not tell the truth if his life depended upon it”!


Mr. Xxxxxxxx, sorry for the long rant but believe me this is only a fraction of my frustration; there is much, much more and the problems go much deeper!


I finally figured out what I believe SL-C really should stand for and that is....
Super Load of Crap”!


Best of luck on your build and here's hoping that the worst is behind you,
Jim


NOTE:
In all fairness, there are some extremely talented builders on this forum that managed to turn this
Super Load of Crap” kit into a very refined machine. However, that was NOT accomplished at the commonly repeated Stacey David (Gearz TV) 2013 quote of: “build this SL-C kit car for about the cost of a new ZO6”; nor was it accomplished without much ingenious fabrication and many, many months/years of unanticipated labor! I'm pretty sure that the first thing that many of these clever people did was to throw away what I consider to be a completely useless RCR/SL-C Build Manual! Unfortunately, I don't posses the fabrication skills/tools, time or deep 6 figure pockets this kit requires to be what I would regard as a quality finished product that I could be proud to own!


I realize that everyone has a different aggravation tolerance level; personally, I could not tolerate doing business with someone I could not trust!


If history repeats, I suspect that this post will not last long before Mr. Fran Hall deletes it. If in fact that occurs, I'll just have to turn to the social media were Mr. Hall cannot control the delete button! If this information were available to me when I was considering doing business with RCR, I could have avoided a lot of aggravation and wasted money!
 

Fran Hall RCR

GT40s Sponsor
I have seen and read this post and it will stay up for others to comment on

If it becomes inappropriate it will be closed but left as a read only post

I glad you sold you kit Jim sincerely I am.

We all put our big boy pants on the same way
 
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Fran has always come through for me. Way above and beyond, as I have a very early SL-C and Fran has provided me with many free upgrades to keep it current. And more too! He has always been true to his word. Period!
 

Hyder

Supporter
Jim. Been following your saga from the very first "Ya Hooo"!
Seems to me that Mr Hall has been VERY civil in his handling of an unhappy customer. You need to MOVE on.....you car has.
I would like to know of any other RCR like manufacturer who delivers a better or comparable product or service.
Sorry for your experience. Hope you find a better company out there that will be more to your expectations.
 
I was glad to hear you finally sold the car. I hope you can move on and find whatever you need elsewhere.

The nature of building kit cars is that there will be occasional delays in stuff, especially the very low-volume parts we sometimes need. If you can't tolerate that, and see any delay as somehow a breach of trust, it may be better that you choose a different hobby.

Personally, I have always seen the factory bend over backwards for customers, even the ones that didn't deserve it.
 
I had my RCR SL Razor built by an outside party. When I received the car it had many small issues, none of which were from Fran's behalf. Even buying the lowest end vehicle at that time from Fran, I was treated with the upmost respect I could ever ask for. Fran went out and found businesses that could help me figure out a majority of the issues for my car. And at the end, he helped me find a buyer for the car too.

I WILL be a returning customer because I dont think there's any other company out there that builds a product as good as his, AND also supports the customers after the transaction is over.
 
All sponsored forums I am on are moderated to remove negative posts. Forums generally have a designated section to crab but it is not one's place to do so in the section payed for by a supporting vendor. Fran is doing nothing out of the ordinary. I personally think it's a good policy. Based on my other forum experiences, the fact that you haven't been banned yet says something about Fran too...

I don't know the full story behind your saga but I get the gist of it. I have a personal policy to never be the guinea pig for a product. No matter what, there will always be bugs and the bugs aren't necessarily anyone's fault. I, personally, would not have been among the first to try the Graz.

I thinks it's time to move on.
 
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You were told it would be four months and it ended up being six. Did you pay 100% of the cost up front, or only half, with the other half due on delivery?

Some parts necessary for completion were delayed, but nothing that would preclude you from doing the other 95% of the build in the meantime. So Fran is a liar that you would never do business with again. You must be new to the arena of custom vehicles...

In 1999 I arranged for the Kimballs to build a turnkey Pitts 12 for me. They said it would take 18 months. They took 23 months. Two weeks after I picked it up, the fuel boost pump failed. They overnighted me another. Then the gas strut for the canopy failed. They overnighted me another. Then two grommets fell out and they overnighted me a box of them. I had to glue them in myself. Then the plane won Champion Plans Built at Oshkosh. I took out a color ad with my own money in Sport Aviation of me standing with it and a big grin on my face saying "Thanks, Jim and Kevin!" Maybe I should have used the space to complain about their "lying" about the completion date and using obviously faulty parts.

I don't have the clutch, flywheel, starter, engine controller, or door bars for my SLC yet, and I've had the car for 9 months. I'll start bitching when no more work on the car can be done without these pieces.

Fran, if you're reading this, when can I come up and look at my Apex and check out the mid-engine truck? The Razor's almost done, Alan's got my SLC covered this fall, gun classes and sales are still up, and I always liked Steve McQueen, even if he was a bit hard on his women...

JR
 
Joe Friday - "Just the facts ma'am" :

My car was easily built for under six figures.

My car was delivered in about 17-18 weeks.

Were there missing parts - Yes. Were they delivered after follow-up - Yes. Were the parts delivered as fast as I would have wanted (I'm at the age where I have no time for patience), could have been quicker but they were always delivered free of charge. Since RCR hired a new dedicated parts man - no delays

The build manual is good - because I have seen other kit car manuals that were atrocious.

Do you need decent tools and a knowledge (hands on experience) of car basic operating systems - Yes.

Have I owned other "kit cars" to compare: Yes, factory five, Brunton Stalker and three Superformances. Have I gotten frustrated with these manuf. - yes, all of them on occasion. I could go on about SPF's mysterious windshield breakages etc., and they are noted as the premier manuf. of completed rollers.

Jim, we all followed your build and could read between the lines your frustration, you've made your point numerous times by piggy-backing on other threads - as others have mentioned it's time to move on.
 
Jack-Will and any other loyal vested interest RCR supporters,


The service you guys described is exactly the type of service I expected and never received. I know that most if all that posted to this point have placed/received your orders well before I did and possibly times were different before all of the other distractions that seem to be cluttering Fran's plate these days. I understand and can even relate to/accept (to a degree) corporate growing pains of a small business. But I can not accept non-apologetic continuous broken promises with feeble excuses blaming suppliers without ever accepting responsibility. The buck stops with the owner of the small business.... besides, if in fact there is a supplier problem....then I have a question: who decided to do business with that supplier in the first place and who's responsibility is it to straighten it out? Here's a clue: the, answers has four letters and begins with an “F”! I find it unbelievable that the best defense for Fran's business practices is: “the whole custom vehicle industry lies”!


I'm sincerely happy and extremely jealous that some of you folk's were so fortunate to have had such a positive experience in dealing with Mr. Fran Hall; unfortunately I cannot with a clear conscience join the “vested interest choir” and sing those praise. Understanding the politics involved, I fully respect why some feel that they have to sing that praise and why other dissatisfied customers are reluctant to publicly share their negative experiences!


Maybe (hopefully) some constructive changes will come out this discussion which will ultimately improve both the product and business practices at RCR.


Best of luck to all of the RCR builder's!


Sincerely,


Jim
 
Jim- could you give it a rest? By now everyone understands that you consider a delay that is outside of someones control and causes a missed date a lie. Can I suggest that you look up the definition of the word, and then leave the rest of us alone?

I am pretty fed up with the moaning and whining. Even if there was a reason for it- which there really isn't- the mature way to handle it would have been to deal with the factory directly. Being a whiner in public doesn't serve anyone, least of all the whiner himself.
 
This post will end as long as he doesn't feel he has to defend his points . No more replies means no more comments. Also your not allowed to bump threads right so this will end soon.
 
Do you have pictures of the body in the condition it was when it showed up? I'm curious about the Body Fitment and Body Prep" options you paid for but weren't happy about.
 
You have to sand and buff the mold lines. Then it will look good from ten feet. If you want it to look good from 40 feet, you don't have to do anything. If you want a show car finish and are going to worry about every rock chip while tracking/hooning the car, buy a new factory Corvette/Viper/Ferrari/Lambo/McLaren/Porsche etc.

Some people would complain if you hung them with a brand new rope...

JR
 
I've been following several kit car forums for a while trying to make a decision on which car I would like to build. That being said, of all the manufacturers that I have been following RCR is "BY FAR" at the top of this industry. If Fran was to change suppliers because of delays with outside manufacturers the cost would sky rocket and eventually he would not be able to find anyone to do business with him because he would become known as too unstable a businessman to do business with. A large part of the cost of making a part comes from design AND setting up the equipment to make a run of the part. If Fran were to demand shipment of small quantities of parts then the cost would have to reflect that. For anyone who thinks that this complaint is founded then you need to spend some time reading other forms about the other manufacturers. Once my life settles down enough I fully intend on ordering a SLC. I want a show car finish, therefore I know that I will have to have it painted. From "all" that I've read Fran is running an outstanding business.
 
I was behind a guy in the checkout line today. The store was going to close in 5 minutes. He wanted a price check. Cashier wasn't moving fast enough for him. While she was looking the price up on the computer he started arguing. She let it slip that she had other customers. The argument extended to me when he asked if I would mind waiting if this were happening at walmart. I made the mistake of telling him the walmart was open 24 hours, where we only had 5 minutes. The argument escalated further. He wanted to make sure he got the advertised 20 percent off. He wanted to involve the cashier and me in some ridiculous argument that actually cost us all time. If he would have stopped arguing, he would have realized the cashier was actually checking the price just as he asked. After he checked out and was walking out the door he was trying to turn it into a racial thing.

Some people just want to be miserable.
 
Sense I'm still not ready to order a kit yet I decided to do an Internet search for dissatisfied RCR customers. What an enlightening search, seems that it is the same couple of people saying the same junk over and over. Does not appear that they can find anyone else to support their story or side with them. I'm not saying that there was not a problem, but it appears that maybe they are a lot more of the problem than anyone can possibly make them see. From the dates that I have seen it appears that they are not capable of letting anything go or learning from what others have to say.
 
Utter respect for going public and I'm sure this thread will be "moderated" as indeed my post will be deleted.

SNIP

Why not do a blog like I did...
Race Car Replicas SLC

I read your blog and was very interested to learn that RCR's suspension geometry is all wrong.

Fran, how many seconds per lap do you think Ryan will drop when you fix this issue?

Or maybe the problem is only evident on tracks/roads in the UK? I've heard something about how they drive on the opposite side of the road over there--maybe Craig needed to put the right A-arms on the left side of the car, and vice versa?

JR
 

Keith

Moderator
John, I think you nailed it. We just have the wrong kind of camber here - it's metric and so you have to multiply it by six and a half and take away the number your granny muttered at 0830 last Thursday (at breakfast) to have a hope of setting ANY car up, let alone a thoroughbred like the SLC...

:laugh:
 

Howard Jones

Supporter
OK when I got my car I went with the original wildwood 6pot and aftermarket one piece disks as a place holder. Well I finally got to ordering some pads and low and behold I had 4 rear .81 wide calipers. I need two 1.25's for the front.

Mistake, sure two years ago! Mine and RCR. I should have checked and so should have they.

Called Fran and Dave. One email to send them exact information as to my needs and 7 days later I had the two replacement calipers in hand last Thursday.

True story. Everyone makes mistakes. Fast fix and complete trust that I will send back the two I don't need. (Already on the way to RCR via UPS)

What more do you expect? I have always been able to work out issues with Fran. Of course there are things that come up. I'm building a one off track car and that's to be expected. BUT once Fran and I had a fix agreed to, he did what he said he would do and in a timely manner. I have not been held up because of RCR issues and that's the bottom line isn't it.

I would buy another RCR product and that's what I have to say.
 

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
Jim- could you give it a rest? By now everyone understands that you consider a delay that is outside of someones control and causes a missed date a lie. Can I suggest that you look up the definition of the word, and then leave the rest of us alone?

I am pretty fed up with the moaning and whining. Even if there was a reason for it- which there really isn't- the mature way to handle it would have been to deal with the factory directly. Being a whiner in public doesn't serve anyone, least of all the whiner himself.

Why do you post? Ignorant
 

Dave Lindemann

Lifetime Supporter
Expectations……that is what much of this comes down to I think. I understand Jim’s frustrations. I’ve been there and I too sold my SLC in part because I was extremely frustrated. I think it’s unfortunate that some feel the need to give Jim a hard time and call him names for expressing the way he feels about his experience. If you’ve had a wonderful experience that’s great – but don’t be so naïve to think that everyone has had the same experience – their expectations may have been different than yours. I would think one of the advantages of a forum such as this is for people to express their experiences – positive and negative - regarding the various manufacturers. I understand this is the internet and folks often type things they may not say to someone face-to-face – that’s unfortunate IMHO. I also understand that this section of the forum is paid for by RCR and I give Fran credit for allowing this thread to exist.

My frustration started the day the car was delivered. I had an “expectation” that when I made the final payment I would have all of the parts – I didn’t. I expected a packing list – there wasn’t one. One was faxed to me, it was incomplete and wrong. I literally waited years for some options I had paid for and when it appeared they would never be shipped I requested a refund – to RCR’s credit my money was refunded. Some will say my “expectations” were unreasonable – “it’s a small business relying on vendors who don’t deliver parts when expected”. I guess when I pay more than $40,000 for a kit I have some basic “expectations” that all parts will be delivered when the money is paid – call me unreasonable.

I’m not posting to bash RCR or Fran. Not all of my experiences with Fran and RCR were frustrating. Fran replaced the original wiring harness with an ISIS system at no cost; he exchanged the original RCR pedal assembly with a Tilton unit for a small fee; he returned my money for optional parts not delivered, etc. I wasn’t the right buyer for the SLC. The “kit” involved more work than I expected and was prepared for. That added to the frustrations soured me on the entire project so I sold it to the right buyer who completed the car in what must be record time. It should be noted he’s an experienced builder/fabricator of race and custom cars – I’m not.

Sorry to be so long winded. Jim – I’ve moved on and I hope you can do the same.

Regards,
Dave L
 
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