BAD EXPERIENCE AT THE HARDROCK IN OCALA, FL....

[PolarisPredator50]

I have been to the hard rock cycle park a couple times so far to take my seven year old son to practice on his quad at the pee wee track. Today was the 3rd time I have been there. I must say this was the most disapointing day I have a had in a long time!! I arrived with my son at the hard rock and immediatley the guy at the front office had a poor attittude, like he just didnt want to be there. So I pay him $25 to let my son ride around for a while. My son takes his first ride around the track and starts to pull off and go back to the truck. He did not like riding the track and I dont blame him, the track was in VERY poor condition at that time. I went to ride with him around the track a couple times to try to find a smoother line but there was none. The track was rough and had a bunch of big rocks that were hitting the bottom of his quad. By the time I got around the track once with him, the guy came out and threw his arms up and told me to get off the track. ( We were the only ones on the track and I was going slow with him )  So I told my son to try it again and he did, but he stopped and shook his head no, that he didnt like it and didnt want to ride. So I went and told the guy that the track was too tore up, that my son didnt want to ride and I wanted to get our money back. He immediatley snapped at me and told me I that im not getting a refund and completley blew everything out of portion with a bad attitude. It didnt matter to him that the track was terrible, it didnt matter to him that the track was bad for a 7 year old rider, it didnt matter to him that I was only riding with him a couple times to see if we could find something smooth to ride, he just didnt care! When I told him that was a bunch of BS he starting mouthing off with a few choice words at me, so needless to say it went down hil from there. Lucky for him it didnt go further than just words!
I feel that this was uncalled for and a sad way to run a buisness... just a " I got your money and dont care about anything else" way!  Im not sure what his problem was today, I have never seen him there before, the first two times I went, there was a very nice lady at the front office and the track was in good conition and fun for him to ride around. I mean, Its not like we are broke and needed our money back , but we should get what we pay for and we did not this time. Which is our last time at this track!!

From my experience today, I would recommend going somewhere else for your young rider/s. Especially if your planning on driving a ways to get there like us, because there is no telling what kinda condition the track is in and what kind of attitude that guy will have for the day!!

[Bigscrb15]

First of all.. Welcome to the forums. Secondly, your first 2 posts here are about a negative experience at a track that has a fairly good reputation. Have you contacted the track owners or managers? You don't need to post this twice, it will be found if you just post it once. I agree with you, that is no way to run a business. Start posting on the forums more and join up with some other riders that have kids. You and your kid will have a blast!!

[PolarisPredator50]

Im sorry it was negative, I just found this site... It wasnt totally negative though, I stated the first two times we went it was good and this was what happened today. 

Really, im just saying the guy working there could have just been a little more understanding when dealing with a very young rider. He could have just given us a refund and we would have been there next weekend and many more weekends to come. But he was to worried about a measly 25 bucks today and throwing around his authority at the buisness...

My son doesnt want to go back there now, he is upset and it hurt his feelings because he was standing right there when the guy was saying a few choice words at me! It also upset him when I lost my cool as well, I dont let anyone talk to me the way he did...

Thanks for the advice on looking for people with other little riders, I will do some searching. We are moving further down south in a few months so I am looking forward to having fun at the dirty foot. . .

 

 

[greenmachine]

Here is another issue from a couple years ago...
http://www.atvflorida.com/forum/index.php/topic,39643.0.html

Like was stated earlier watch for the guys who have mini riders. I can guarantee you & your son will love DirtyFoot. If you want to ride a track take him to Bartow MX. It is ultra friendly there and they make time for the little riders. Keep in mind, if you are getting him into racing you might show up at a race and be a late moto and the track sucks but it sucks for everyone in his class as well. At nationals you will see the 50's race after the pros sometimes, by then the track is rutted badly. I understand it was for practice though. Next time look at the track before unloading and your outcome may be different. Once your tires hit the track you wont get your money back. Just sayin.....

[AintSkeered]

The only thing that might be wrong with this topic might be that it might belong in the Tales From The Trails section or something. It's poor, desperate, greedy business practice when you have to steal from your customers!

[Andy9933]

That's normal, im sure you were talking to glen the owner......here is another bad day...
http://www.tampabayridindirty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2068&highlight=hardrock

[speedman8903]

thats ridiculous of them to do that, first of all if my son got into a fight with a customer id be taking the customers side till i find out what is really going on. customer is always right even when you know there wrong. that guy should know how the track conditions are and tell people before they ride, miami mx wasnt open for long dont even know if its still open or not but person will always tell me n a buddy if it sucked to not ride. and if it was good sometimes let us in free. he was cool. but to be rude in front of your bot he shouldnt have done he wouldnt like you doing that in front of his kid, id he has one. i goto thundercross never had a bad experience at all. but i ride 4x4 now so dont go to none of these places, and you will love dirtyfoot very nice people i have them on fb and there very nice owners.

[trx#9]

Hardrock sucks, Boycott them...... 

[RTN]

Par for the course at Hardrock. If you would have met his son you would've thought he (the old man) was the nicest guy in the world.

[T2]

I have to agree, the son is a Total  ass, I will never give that place another dollar again. And My incident happend back in 2007.

[xchief1320]

I've had issues with the dad in the past as well, Never seen the son. But I won't be back either. They shut down the Rollercoaster to atvs/bikes. To me that was the best part of the place. Not a track rider.

[quad-14]

wow, that sucks... We used to go out there at least one weekend a month all the way up until like 2009 all the tracks went to $h!t and we quit goin, bad business... they have always favored bikes over quads and eventually its gonna come back to bite them bad.

"every mad customer tells 10 people about there bad experience, every happy customer tells 3"

by now hardrock must have a ton of people that have heard bad things about them...

[derek330]

I been there a few times. The tracks are usualy in crappy condition. One time it rained alot and he put wood mulch to cover up the water holes which was too funny, as if that as gnna help.
The main track had huge rain ruts in it so i asked if he had groomed it lately, he told m 5 days ago. That tells me right there that his idea of a "groomed track" is maybe kicking some of the huge rocks off it.    I usually dont care if the owners are nice, i didnt come for them. Just came to ride. Last time i was there the tracks were sooo bad it was no fun even on my dirtbike! Havent been back in 2 years and not planing on it. Now, i will say that if you are going to go, The best time is when they are having a race.