Compu-Kart Indoor Go-Karting rip-off?

Holiday entertainment with little people can stretch the ingenuity a tad. I kept the Star newspaper article ‘101 fun things to do with your kids these holidays.’ A couple of the suggestions (like the Lippizaners) shouldn’t have been on the list because they were closed and only had an indecipherable message left on what sounded like a worn-out dictaphone. For such a worthy enterprise you’d expect they’d use the crystal-clear, no or low-cost Telkom voice answer service.

Also on the Star’s list was Compu-Kart go-karting, with just a mobile number. When I called the number to establish the location of the venue, I got what I found to be surprisingly brusque info. No offer to fax a map. The following day we (after a struggle) finally found the indoor Modderfontein venue. On entering after 10 in the morning on 28^th December 2007, we found a contingent of staff milling about. No greeting, no one approached us. We had to ferret out someone to ask how the process operated.

I selected from the list of 5, 10 and 15 laps, the 15-lap option at R 50, for our little guy to try out. I filled out a form with just the number of laps selected, my phone number and one or two other elements. No Indemnity Form signature was requested, which, considering some of what follows, is particularly interesting.

Our little man got kitted out with a crash helmet and a seriously old go-kart [the front wheels no longer ran true]. While the go-kart was running and with him sitting on it, a man re-fueled it. That’s something I don’t even do with my lawnmower. It’s a recipe for a serious accident.

The lights in the venue were not switched on. Perhaps just one customer doesn’t merit the electricity expenditure? Or is there just a general lack of supervision or discipline? There’s a safety aspect to that, of course.

I also couldn’t see a single extraction fan in the establishment. When there are a several little petrol engines all running at once, the carbon-monoxide build-up must be quite significant.  I also noticed [see picture] that there was no cover on the chain-driven sprocket mechanism. If a kid put his hands behind or to the side, or fell off in a collision, this has the potential to produce an amputation or serious injury.

The crash-barriers are rubber tyres [you can see 'em in the picture] – the claim that they’re 'racing tyres ' [according to website] and therefore softer, doesn’t make them a safe barrier. A 5 year-old, wearing a crash helmet and having a ninety-degree collision with such an inflexible barrier has the potential for a serious cervical spine injury. I would have thought a ‘progressive’ barrier, like foam, then something else, might have been a better choice. Perhaps department of manpower safety inspectors will have a better idea.

I took a picture or two and little man puttered away at low speed. I sat down, and, not having been told who or what would record the number of circuits, got out my notepad and marked off the laps as he made them. Intuition is a really interesting thing. I was taken-aback to see one of the workers hold out a pole with a sign reading ‘Last Lap’ on the little man’s 5^th circumnavigation. My colleague got up to check with the team, thinking they’d made a mistake and thought we’d selected a 5-lap option. They argued that he had in fact already completed 15 circuits and that the car was tagged with a microchip to record the laps. They printed out a little piece of paper off their computer to ‘prove’ their assertion.

I interrogated the meaning of ‘a lap’. Thinking maybe the circuit was a double one and that therefore he’d used up more rounds. But then the spurious report would have reflected 10 laps and not 15.

There was my list showing he was about to commence lap 6. My colleague knew he’d done only five, but technology was upheld and we were told that was it. I was ready to pop an artery.

The ‘evidence’ - see picture [I had to photocopy enhance on 'dark' to make the ancient dot-matrix printout visible] – is ludicrous. No date, no starting or end-time. Our little guy (a cautious first-timer) was truly puttering at the lowest speed (other than a teeny burst of acceleration when passing us, in a show of bravado). Yet the printout shows he was doing 14-second laps. Absurdly, lap 8 – which he never got to, shows he took 77.51 seconds and all laps thereafter came in within the 40, 50 and 60 second bracket. If you see the circuit, you’ll understand the idiocy of this. So he theoretically did the first few laps like Lewis Hamilton, and the rest (which he never got to do!) like a geriatric in a poorly-lubricated wheelchair. C’mon people!

As I stormed out of the venue, a vehicle pulled up and I asked the driver if he was in any way associated with Compu-Kart. He said ‘Yes’ and I told him our complaint. In the blink of an eye and pointing to the computer-generated scrap of nonsense in my hand, he responded, ‘There’s the evidence, in black and white.’ He made some offer about trying it again while we both counted the laps, but given the inside staff response, and his, I was having nothing more to do with them.

I told him off, saying that one would expect the customer’s view to be at least taken into consideration, that there had clearly been an error producing a seeming rip-off scenario and I would write about it. All he was interested in was ‘What newspaper will it be in?’

The spelling and typo-challenged website, http://www.compu-kart.co.za, that I subsequently discovered, lists all sorts of features that aren’t present, claiming for example that the track is 6 metres wide. I don’t think so. The lap rates are wrong too. But the killer is the fact that the website shows a map, giving a location on the opposite side of JHB!

I sent this perspective, on 29^th December, to both Mike and Vicus, who are featured on the price-list, for comment and right of reply or their explanation before publishing. I also SMSd them, alerting them to my e-mail, requesting a response. I got none.

Maybe the memory on their lap-recording system had not been cleared, or re-booted and the print-out was of previous activity for that car? I really don’t know. What I do know is that the kid did 5 laps.

It’s not about the money. It’s the spoiled experience, the sense of having been ripped-off, whether accidently or intentionally, and the attitude that technology takes precedence over the customer’s (recorded) word. A thoroughly nasty and never-to-be-repeated experience. Maybe time for Compu-Kart to revisit some facets of its business and customer-service? Complacency can be a dangerous thing.

www.imbizo.com

Comments

[anonymous]

i feel im not the only one who feels your frustration.

I have been to the go kart track that you have mentioned about 2 weeks ago, i went on a tuesday night. i took my girlfriend and myself for 20 laps, with the intention of having one or two drinks. when she saw the condition of the karts she refused to put foot near the karts, there was oil and petrol on the engine, the seat had rubber in them and the protective sponge i received for my back, was so dirty i would rather get a back injury than use that.

The helmets are also in a poor state, after struggling to find the right size helmet with no assistance and no where to fasten my helmet i proceeded with caution around the go-kart track.

i asked to do 2 sessions of 20, judging by the size of the track i knew one 40 lap race would be too much for my arms.

the rude race controller on duty who was not helpful in any way, gave me a mumbled response it was that i have to do the whole 40 laps as they were closin in about 30 min or so.

i proceeded for my 40 laps with the intention of taking my girlfriend for a drink after my 40 laps, when i got out the kart my, the whole left side of my smart shirt was soaked with petrol, which i had to take off to rinse in the toilets which were not the most pleasant smelling toilets i have ever been in.

indoor kartin at its best is their motto, im starting think thats it indoor chaos at its best that suites the indoor venue.

to date they still have no extraction fans, which i noticed and my eyes were red and had a slight burning sensation after my drawn out 40 lap session.

something has to be done, is there no way to get health and safety involved?

[Shaun Cleaver]

I have not been to Compu Kart but was in the process of organising my sons birthday party at this venue, and thanks to the comments above I will no longer be considering this as an exciting and safe option.

Thank you for making me aware of the dangers and irresponsible business nature of Compu Kart.

Regards
Shaun

[Peter]

Ditto Shaun. Am also busy researching my son's wish for a go-karting party. The claims on the website certainly sound good enough, but clearly reality paints a different picture - thnaks for saving me a bad experience Surprisingly there are no comments, good or bad, on hellopeter.

Regards
Peter