Has anyone bought from Evil Genius Racing?

#1

Hello all,

I am currently building my car for spec E30 and I ordered a cage from Evil Genius Racing. Excellent communication before the sale. I exchanged multiple emails with John Pagel. Asked detailed questions and he emailed back detailed answers very quickly. I was deciding between his weld in cage kit and the Kirk weld in cage kit, they seemed to me to be very similar. In the end I decided to go with the Evil Genius Cage because Kirk told me that there was a four week back log to ship and John told me that he had prebent cages in his shop and could ship out within 2 days of receiving the paid order and I should have it within a week to ten days. So off went my $1200+ to Evil Genius, and once it was received no more communications.

All of a sudden he no longer responded promptly to emails, in fact he didn’t respond at all. After sending him multiple emails and leaving several messages on his voicemail which he did not return I finally got him to answer his phone. Then he tells me he has not returned my emails because he does not have internet connection in his shop (no explanation as to why that did not interfere with him returning emails before I sent him money), also no explanation why he didn’t return phone calls. Anyway he told me that the cage had been shipped and when he got home that night he would send me the tracking number. Which he never did.

After several more days of calling, leaving messages and emails that went unreturned, I finally caught him on the phone again. Once again he told me that it had been shipped and that he didn’t have internet access in his shop but would email me the tracking number once he got home. Once again no email.

Several more days of calling, leaving messages, and sending unreturned emails and I finally left a phone message that my lawyer (who happens to be a driver on my LeMons team and has a keen interest in helping/seeing the spec E30 car completed) would be in contact with him and would be handling this going forward. Within 15 minutes of leaving that message I received the following email:

From: Anna [mailto:anna@evilgeniusracing.com]
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 4:53 PM
To: 'Mike Taylor’
Subject: RE: E30 rollcage

Hi Mike –

I’m sorry I just got your messages today – I usually don’t come to the shop Fridays, or I’d have handled this sooner. When you called last week, I spoke with John and he said that he dropped of the cage at the shipping dock himself and is still unsure why it hasn’t reached you. I’ve spoken with him again, and I will take a look at our shipping log this evening. If we haven’t straightened out this situation by tomorrow, he has another cage ready to ship to you.

Again, I’m sorry about the lack of communication on our end. I’ll have John give you a call later this evening.

Also, just to be on the safe side, could you check the shipping info we have for you? Is the following address correct?
73 Pitt Street
Charleston, SC 29403

Thanks for sticking with us on this – you’ll like the cage when it gets to you! If you have any other questions, please let us know.

Anna

Evil Genius Racing
Anna Whitwell
2930 Duluth Suite 4
West Sacramento, CA 95691
916-374-1989
www.evilgeniusracing.com

They did not contact me “tomorrow” with and explanation, and after spending the day trying to get in touch with them my lawyer received this email:

From: "John L Pagel"
Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 18:23:37 -0700
To: 'Paul Doolittle’paul@j-dlaw.com
Subject: RE: Mike Taylor MD - Roll Cage
Paul-

Very sorry, I’ve been out of town and thought this had been handled, you will receive tracking a tracking number for the second cage kit tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

 The first cage seems to have evaporated at the dock here in West Sacramento.

-John

Evil Genius Racing
916-374-1989
www.evilgeniusracing.com

From: Paul Doolittle [mailto:paul@j-dlaw.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 3:39 PM
To: john@evilgeniusracing.com
Subject: Mike Taylor MD - Roll Cage

I have called several times and have recently left a voice mail. I would appreciate your advising me immediately as to exactly what the situation is regarding the above roll cage. I believe my client has been more than patient and of course, you have been fully paid. Please let me hear from you as soon as possible as to a firm delivery date.

Paul J. Doolittle
Attorney at Law
Jekel-Doolittle, LLC
843-654-7700 (office)
843-834-4712 (cell)
888-567-1129 (fax)
www.J-DLaw.com
P.O. Box 2579
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29465-2579

After two more days of calls and emails my lawyer received a brief note saying the cage has been shipped, it included a UPS freight number and instructions that I should be receiving an email directly from UPS with a tracking number.

As you may have guessed at this point, UPS says the freight number is invalid, I have not received any tracking number from UPS and John Pagel has not responded to anymore emails or phone calls.

So here I sit five weeks into my “i can ship two days after receiving payment and you should have it 5-7 business days after that” with no cage, no tracking number, no communication, no explanation wondering if I have been ripped off for more than $1200.

So back to my question in the header of this post: Has anyone had any dealings with this guy, and does anyone have any additional suggestions as to how to remedy this situation? I found him from a link on the vendor page of the spec E30 website and he apparently is a sponsor of spec E30 on the west coast, he gives all impressions of being legitimate.

I appreciate any and all suggestions,

Thanks,

Mike Taylor

#2

Sounds like someone Ranger should contact if he needs another cage :silly:

Seriously though, that sucks.

#3

TheRedBaron wrote:

[quote]Sounds like someone Ranger should contact if he needs another cage :silly:

Seriously though, that sucks.[/quote]

Ouch! lol.

My “process server” found my problem guy and served the suit papers. He’s got 3 more weeks to respond. If he fails to respond he loses. If he does responds I’ll meet him in court and then he’ll lose.

Mike, if you feel like you need to sue Evil Genius, I’ve recently learned how the process works so PM me if can help. Initiating a suit costs very little and just the serving of the suit will likely be enough to get EG to behave.

#4

Of course, suing a company, prevailing and getting judgment and COLLECTING are two different things. With EG being on the other side of the country, it may be a bit of a challenge, particularly with the small amount of $$ you are dealing with here. (Small in the sense of the value of any potential suit - $1200 is not pocket change, I get that).

Hopefully, you get your cage and all goes well. Good thing you have a lawyer/teammate who can help you out. We’re not all bad people, depsite what all the jokes suggest. :stuck_out_tongue:

#5

one year ago while i was trying to finish my car for my first DE at vir.i was in need of a cage & after playing phone tag with the supplier you are having trouble with for two weeks, i decided to do it myself.took a lot longer but what an education!!

#6

I brought John to this dance. I will drive out to his shop and personally make sure he sees a print out of this thread.

My contact information:

Walter Ford
President
Valley Motorwerks / Pointsix racing
11401 White Rock Rd
Rancho Cordova, Ca 95742
916-636-9526

if you want my personal cell # I’ll get it to you in a PM.

#7

Thank you Walter,

That is really what I was hoping for by posting to this forum, that someone would come forward with a simple and workable solution.

All that I want is the cage that I have ordered and paid for.

It is a shame that things have taken the turn that they have. And as I expressed to John in the messages that I have left for him, the only reason that a lawyer is involved is because he is one of my closest friends and races with me in the 24 hours of LeMons series. I definately do not want to get involved in any sort of legal action, and I have no illusions about the folly of a bi-coastal lawsuit, even with free legal counsel.

Thanks,

Mike Taylor

#8

Thanks Ranger,

Hopefully I won’t have to contact you for advice on this, it would be nice to come to simpler resolution (like him just shipping the cage to me).

You may not remember me by name, but we spoke for a while about routing brake cooling ducts at the last event at CMP. I look forward to seeing you at future events, and getting to know more of the spec E30 crowd, especially in the SE.

Mike Taylor

#9

Mike, I’ve dealt with John Pagel / EGR on multiple occasions, and I can tell you he is not a fraud. In fact I was at his shop 2-3 weeks ago and saw several pre-cut, pre-bent cage kits there. I think they are just very busy, but agree that communications is frustrating - especially when you have already paid. I’m 100% certain you will not need to resort to a lawsuit to get your cage or money, but am sorry to hear your experience as this really is a reputation business.

#10

What you have gone through is bad. I am sorry there are shops like what you have experienced. I feel that the racer community is the best place I have found to do business, I am sure this is an exception. If you do not resolve the matter, I offer my shop to do the work at my cost. I am sorry I can’t offer a free cage, but I will do the work at my shop’s cost. Even if he is very busy, he has you money and should deliver the product or simply refund your money. Joel@Barberraceworks.com

#11

Thank you greydog for your generous offer, that kind of thing is really what makes the racer community great. Helping each other out when it’s needed, and I really appreciate that.

9d3, I only spoke with John in detail once and we had a great conversation about a variety of topics related to racing and he seemed like a really good guy. That is what was more frustrating about this whole situation. I can certainly understand if there are delays because someone is very busy, in fact if that is the case then I say good for him. The way things are right now it is great for small businesses to have more work than they can keep up with. I am very patient, but what I cannot tolerate is the failure to communicate. If there are going to be delays just take a minute, answer the email or return the call and let me know what is going on, keep me updated. All this kind of reputation damaging activity can be completely avoided by simply staying in touch.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. Posting this here has illustrated both the good and bad of forums. I really appreciate all of the supportive comments and advice that everyone has posted here.

On the negative side, publicly airing these problems can damage someones good reputation, but on the other hand, they can also spur the offender to action.

It looks like the latter is what has happened here, since posting here last night I have not heard directly from John, but my lawyer, Paul, just forwarded an email to me that he received from John this afternoon with a tracking number that appears to be valid. The frustrating thing about it is that it indicates a shipping date of May 21 and an anticipated delivery date of May 28. If he had just sent that same two line email earlier in response to any of Paul or my numerous emails all of this could have been avoided.

Thanks to all,

Mike

#12

“Reputation damaging activity” nails it! I am in the market for a cage and I can assure you that I certainly will not be purchasing one from EG after reading this post. Being really busy does not cut it for me. You cannot convince me that he could not find 2 minutes at least to reply to someone he had already received payment from. I feel that same about communication, or the lack of it in a business deal. Unfortunately for EG, they won’t be getting any of my business and maybe should be reconsidered as a ‘Spec E30 vendor’. IMHO

Good luck! I hope you get a satisfactory resolution to this matter promptly.

#13

I had a very similar experience with John at EGR this winter. We had great communication before the purchase. Luckily for me John had a guy near me in NC who had a couple cages in stock. I met his supplier and everything seemed to have worked out.

Well it didn’t, during the install we realized we were missing a crucial bar. I Called John and he told me he would overnight it to me, well the next day came and no bar. His supplier who spoke with John assured me it would be there the next day. I had to go through the supplier because he would not answer any of my calls or emails. Next day came no bar which was Friday.

I had to go out of town the next week. Mon - Wed John didn’t return any phone calls. I finally called my local metal shop and ordered the bar, which I would have done initially but they have to order it, and John said he would overnight it.

When I sent John the receipt for the bar he did send me immediate payment but did not even apologize.

Being busy is no excuse for terrible customer service and complete disregard for your paying customers. How hard is it to return a phone call or email.

Can we get this guy removed from the vendors list? I would not recommend my worst enemy do business with John.

#14

based on reading this thread i would never consider doing business with them.

#15

Mike,
I sent an email to John he responded with an email and follow up call on Memorial day. he stopped by teh shop on tuesday and we had a chat. he swears teh second cage is on the way. Hopefully he has already contacted you with all the informaiton you need. Honestly he’s a little scattered sometimes but he is definately not a fraud.

#16

Evil Genius is not a fraud. I do not know what happened in your case. I ordered a cage and picked it up the following week with no problems.

#17

I received my cage. It was delivered tuesday. Only took about 6 weeks to get it, which would not have been a problem except it was billed as ready to ship within 2 days of ordering and delivered 5-7 business days after that. That also would not have been a big problem if he had just been reachable. The abysmal communication is what killed this transaction.

On the plus side, it looks like a pretty nice setup, but since it has not been installed yet I do not yet know if I will have the same problems 87isMan had, let’s hope not. anyway on to the myriad other problems getting my car straight entails…

#18

I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about this, that he’d take a while, but i would get my cages, at least he’d answer the phone or e-mails, but I ordered 2 complete cages from him, to be shipped to me in TX. That was at the end of August/beginning of September. He cashed my check 7 weeks ago, and I can’t get a hold of him. Can anyone please check in on the crew at EGR?I just want my cages already. :unsure:

#19

Call me at 916-636-9526 I have info about John Pagel

#20

I got my cages, long after I was told they would show up. All the parts were there, but it took re-bending a few bars to make it fit at all, this fitment wan’t as good as it looked in pictures on the site. I don’t feel it was worth the money or time I personally had to spend just to get a pile of bars. Next time I’m doing it 100% local or not at all.

Valley Motorwerks helped me get a hold of John and get my kits. I’m glad he helped me out.