Race Roots / Brice Douai
 

A few weeks ago I placed an order with Race Roots, and have the following experience to report. I should have done more research on this guy, who I've come to learn has quite a reputation as a scammer.

• February 20th, I place an order with Race Roots for an AP dual resonated mid pipe. I receive order confirmation.
• February 25th, I receive contact from Brice at Race Roots informing me that the mid pipe is 6 week back-ordered.
• A bit frustrated that it took 5 days to notify me that the part was not in stock, I asked him if I could just use the $210 i was charged for the mid-pipe towards a set of front/rear sway bars. I let him know that I absolutely needed to receive the sway bars by the 28th (today), and if that wasn't possible I just wanted a refund. He assured me that 'he could make it happen', so I sent him the difference.
• At 8PM (in the evening) on the 26th, I received an e-mail from Brice asking me to send him another $20 for expedited shipping, as he was going to need to overnight the bars to me. Wondering why he hadn't just shipped them out that day (the 26th) to avoid needing to overnight them, I reluctantly sent over the extra money. I had asked him at this point to call my cell MULTIPLE times to ensure that we were squared away, but he never did. He gave me some story about getting food poisoning, which was why he couldn't talk on the phone...
• Here is where the real issue is: On Friday, the 28th, I received the bars as promised, but upon opening the box I immediately noticed something wasn't right. The box smelled strongly of fresh paint, and, upon closer examination, it was clear that the bars had just been painted white (note: authentic AP bars are powder coated). Other than the paint, the bars look identical to the AP/Progress Tech bars.
• I called AP and asked them if they stopped powder coating and changed to paint at any point in the production run, and they assured me they hadn't. After reviewing several pictures of the painted bars, they stated that they were definitively not their product.
• I e-mailed Brice, expressing my concern that i had received counterfeit bars. He replied: "You got the wrong box of sway bars, those are a prototype that was going to be for someone else. Not sure how they sent the wrong box out but I will get this taken care of."
• Needless to say, I am very skeptical and this really feels like a cover-up after getting caught. I find it quite curious that the bars had just been painted white to match the AP bars, which would also explain the 24 hour delay in shipping. And if he were really making prototype bars (carbon copies of the AP bars), would he really spray paint them white for testing? Probably not...

I asked him for more details on the bars - who made them, why they were painted, and who the intended recipient/'tester' was. He replied with: "I am not trying to be difficult or ignore your request. Who made those bars and who they are for of no concern of yours. The person who will be getting those are testing a few things out. That is all I have to say about that. If that's not good enough I'm sorry. As soon as you get these bars back to fedex I am having the ap ones sent to you. Just hold on to the brackets, bushings, and grease."

I asked him for detail on how my 'authentic' bars would be shipped, and when I would receive them, to which he replied: "I cannot afford to overnight them again shipping was $126". So, despite paying for expedited shipping on the first shipment, I get standard shipping on the real bars...sounds like I'm paying for his 'mistake' again.

All in all, I feel that I was sold counterfeit bars intentionally, and that he is now trying to cover that up. I don't know who bent/welded/painted these bars, but given that sway bar failure at the limit could lead to serious injury or death, I really take issue with it.

And now he's been ignoring my e-mails for over a week.

Pics in next post. Beware doing business with this guy.

Pics of the bars. They smelled strongly of spray paint out of the box, and over the next couple of days visibly dried. The paint went from easily peel-able to easily chip-able.

sounds like someone is back to his old tricks...

I should add one more bit of detail: he asked me to send him the 'prototype bars' back via UPS, which he sent me postage for. Before putting them in the mail, I wanted a bit more detail on how and when the 'real' bars would be shipped (I envisioned having to wait weeks for them, in which case I wanted my money back). He refused to give me detail on this, and then stopped responding to my e-mails. So I still have the bars, and have not heard from him in over a week. I've been sending him 1+ e-mail per day.

He burned me as well and instead of trying to resolve the situation he acted like a child and resorted to name calling. Never again.

I've only ever ordered on thing from him and it was the oil filter kit, I had to modify it with AN 90 fittings to place it where I wanted to. But thats nothing on the product just my placement. I did notice the cup is a little to big for the filter, which he said to use red RTV. I will probably just source a new cup that fits properly.

I knew about his past, hope all works out here.

Big freakin' surprise. Like I have said, a tiger never changes his stripes.

LOL making knock offs of knock offs. Ridiculous. Progress Tech bars were ripped off by AP (they are notorious for making cheap chinese/taiwanese copies of other people's products) and now RR probably had those sent overseas to have them copied as well, just like the vast majority of his other "original" parts.



Thank you for informing us.

I think the AP bars are actually manufactured on contract by Progress Tech, so not true knockoffs, but I hear you. As for the bars he sent me, I can't figure out whether they were manufactured by Progress Tech or not. The welds look good, and they are beefy, but I am hesitant to put them on my car. If I did (because he continues to ignore me), I would strip them of their spray paint (with my fingers).

Yea, there seem to be a LOT of people who have been burned by this scum bag. I don't mind losing my money, but I do mind being ripped off and blatantly ignored.

lol thats awesome .

A known scammer cheats another customer... news at eleven? What I cannot understand is how this guy hasn't gotten sued off the face of the planet yet? Also, after the years and years of complaints about him, why is he still able to operate in the RX-8 community? Are people that desperate for cheap shit?

Brice is a POS, that'll never change.
sorry to hear you're going through this and we can only hope that Brice makes it right.

I for one would not ship those bars back until you have the product you paid for or a full refund.

^ +1 But I myself just got my Agency Power Bars from Good Win Racing... Brian was very helpful.. Yes these bars are made by Progress Tech.. So I got the AP Sways with Ap end links.. very good bars...

Good Win Racing is a great company. I had a very good experience with them when I got my big brake kit and RPF1s for my RX-8.

I wouldn't hold my breath that Brice will give the OPs money back... has anything he's ever done in the past indicate that is likely?

I have no expectations that he will given how unprofessional and childish he has been, ignoring my e-mails and all.

did you / can you file a claim with your CC company?

Paid him through paypal. I did everything wrong in this one...

I thought Paypal was pretty good about getting people their money back from scammers. :dunno:

Depends on if he sent the money as a gift, or if he sent it for a product/service

Paypal will be tough because he got a product. Paying VIA Paypal can be a disadvantage sometimes, using a credit card is safer in some circumstances.

I was one of the first to get AP bars back in December 2005 from Vivid Racing after they were first released. Progress Tech, if it was even a company back then, wasn't known to supply parts for the RX8. They weren't heard of here for at least 2 years later. The only adjustable bars at the time were the AP and Whiteline.

Off topic posts deleted.

I filed a complaint, so we will see what happens.

I have had 2 dealing go bad on paypal... they both resolved in my favor. ....Make sure you give them all of the information at the beginning. Be as clear and concise as possible. Be prepared to appeal any stupidity though...they tend to make snap decisions even without all the facts