Kart City - beware of crappy cars!!!

Kashkai

I went to the brother's pre stag kart session in Kart City off the old airport road last Saturday. As it was absolutely p!ssing rain, we thought it would be cancelled but no, it went ahead. Now for anyone who has ever done karting, the tyres are slick which ensure good traction on dry tracks. However, as I said, it was lashing down and so the grip was non existant with crashes into the tyre walls at every bend. Serious safety issue in my mind but thats not the gripe......

The gripe is that I paid €50 for the 5 sessions (of 5 laps each), and my kart broke down on 3 of them after 1, 3 and 1 lap respectively. Not my fault, the engine just died and couldn't be restarted. So I missed out on most of the session. It was a case of tough luck from the marshalls. Now if I had crashed the kart or got stuck in gravel, then that would have been my fault but I was going ok when the engine dies and I'm supposed to just walk away and accept it????

My brother's kart lost a wheel on one of his sessions, thats right, the entire wheel came off!!!:eek:

It seems that their karts get a lot of abuse (naturally I suppose) but they put damn all maintenance into them with very frequent breakdowns and bits falling off. On one of the sessions that I managed to finish, the steering had obviously gotten a serious knock as the steering wheel was wobbling left and right for the entire race.

I'd stay away from Kart City as once they have your money, they'll send you out in any weather, in karts that all falling to bits and will more than likely break down.

I still want another go at karting but not in that place.:mad:

dudara

Did you make a complaint, or look for any portion of your money back?

zaphod_ie

You should have made a formal complaint. I had booked them before but it was pouring down so we were allowed to postpone to another day. I would say though that a few of my friends complained about crappy cars(not all equal) and one of the lads did do very badly despite being the only one of us with any racing driving experience (nothing spectaular but has had proper training)

Oryx

+1 on the did you complain. A company can only improve if it knows its got a problem. You need to get back on to them and tell them. Go higher than just the counter staff though. Try contact a manager.

Kashkai

I said it to one of the marshalls after the session and he just shrugged his shoulders and said it was the luck of the draw. That p!ssed me off as I had been looking forward to a good nights racing but spent most of it on the sidelines watching the other lads (i.e. those who's cars didn't break down like mine). I went looking for a "manager" after the session but they had all gone home and the guy supposedly left in charge was Polish whose english was poor (intentionally?) and couldn't understand me.

I have had some racing experience in the past in Mondello so I'm not a total amateur but even Michael Schumacher would have had trouble keeping his car on the track in that weather, that is if the bloody thing managed to not break down. I'm off to phone Kart City now but I'm probably wasting my time.

Random

Maybe send them a friendly letter explaining your concerns and asking for a gesture of goodwill or a refund? Depending on what you want out of this ..