Hin = Sucks!!!!!!!!

rednecks_r_us

Member
:
2003 Laser Blue Protege5
Arizona Mazda Club (AZMC) is not very happy with Hot Import Nights/Nightshift

As the President of AZMC I have been working on HIN for a good portion of the year. I have passed out hundreds of flyers for the Phoenix, AZ show. I have HIN on the main page of my myspace page. I have HIN as part of my friends list on myspace. I am registered on their website. I was a 2 time returning customer.

This year I negotiated with Avondale Mazda and we worked a deal with them for Sponsorship. They offered to pay for 10 registration fees into HIN.

One week before HIN, I was Put into direct contact with a marketing director for HIN about a club participation event at HIN. He wanted to showcase Arizona Car Clubs. He wanted to know how many cars were going to have entered. At the time we had 3 cars registered. He told me that the Scion Club had 40 cars and AZ350 Club had 30 cars registered. Thanh said that If I could get 15 cars registered he would reserve 15 spots for AZMC.

With only having 3 cars registered I went on our club forum and sent out over 200 Private Messages. With in 24 hours AZMC had 11 cars registered. By the end of the week we had all 15 cars.

I called Thanh back and informed him that we would have 15 cars at the event. He said he had a space reserved for us near the Mazda Stage.

HIN wants everybody to drop off their cars on Friday night and leave them over night. Since we are a state wide club we have people traveling from all over the state. I asked if AZMC could do a roll in on Saturday. He said yes that we could all roll in at 9 AM when the gates opened.

I'll let you read what our club members had to say about our day with HIN.
lazybusinessman said:
this show was a god damn disaster. thats putting it nicely. i will never attend another hot import nights again. we got royally ******. to make a long story short for right now (since im really really tired) we arrived at 9am like we were suppose to, around 2pm they told us "they ran out of room" and we were not going to be allowed to show our cars. with a lot of complaints and help from everyone we got our own "area" near the front. it turned out better than i thought but we were not actually in the "show" part. the cars were still judged and everything but we ****** big time in everything.

the "car show" was mostly filled with venders, there were not a real lot of show cars that were not part of a vender. the ones that were there (such as az350 and the scion club) were crammed so tightly together that you couldnt even walk between the cars. as jeff stated "it was like a carton of eggs" the way they made them park.

so a big **** you to the whole hot import nights comittee. it was my first hot import nights and most likley my last. thanks for ******* up everything and not having your s*** together at all.

p.s. i would like to say thank you to X and avondale mazda for helping us out. also to the AZMC crew who stuck it out through the day. that was the only enjoyable part hanging out with you guys...also all the hot sluts but thats totally different.

more details tomorrow and pictures. to those of you that couldnt go....you didnt miss anything unfortunately.

killroy said:
jason, pretty much summed it all up... bout the only thing that makes it even more screwed up is that we were basically the first ones there and they rolled in the scions and 350's, who showed up about an hour after we did, ahead of us and allowed misc other vehicles to sneak/cut in and get in ahead of us also... btw, the 350's, i think, were all parked where our "reserved" location was supposed to be...

i think if they are going to allow vendors in that they need to def make the area they are showing bigger... and possibly limit how many vendor cars are allowed in... it did suck being outside the "show" in the dark, but i think it was def better than being crammed into what spots they were giving everyone inside...

i still say there needs to be a letter written and sent to them about how bad their organization was and that we should get back most if not all of our entry fees, since we technically were not in the show... max i'd say they should charge us is parking fees...



Dabears2k said:
It is pretty sad, but that's how it was here in San Diego when they had it at Qualcomm. Funny thing about Qualcomm is that the parking lot is HUGE (from what I have been told, it is the 2nd biggest open-air parking lot in the US). It seems that HIN only cares about their VIP show ($50k+ cars) because at the San Diego show you had the same issues of not being able to even pass through the cars. I was helping to judge the cars in the show at the SD show and that was a ******* nightmare.

I would echo the sentiment that Jason has. Personally, I would never put my car in a HIN show nor would I ever attend one again. I had hoped that San Diego was a fluke, but apparently not.

ElDudo said:
Yeah, it was a gigantic **** up on HIN's part. It turned out to be a fun time despite the brtual ass raping that HIN gave us. Too bad too, they shot themselves in the foot, I think I can speak for most of us at AZMC when I say we won't be back, unless at the very least HIN buys a tent like the Scion owner's had...they owe us at least that for next year.

OH YEAH!!! I GOT TO DRIVE THE SPEED3 TWICE!!!!!

Easy_E1 said:
I concur with LBM,,We arrived at the designated time in the designated spot and sat there as they told us to wait. and then they let all the other cars in in front of us. While we just sat there. Finally they came out at 12:00 something and said "sorry we can't let you guy's in we're full" "But we will give you your money back (someday)".
We weren't the only people left outside the fence either,at least 40 other cars were sitting next to us.
Well after a b**** fest with the HIN reps. we got to climb the ladder of IDIOTS we sent a group of delegates out to find Thanh Phan the idiot in charge of our situaton. Well after a while our delagates came back and told us we had a spot. What a lovely spot it was. Right by the main entrance to the show. In the gravel. Behind the ticket booth.The sun was shining no more rain in our future. Things were kind of looking better. Well at least everybody who walked into the show had to walk right by us. Never to return. It wasn't so bad ,alot of people were stopping and looking and running back to their spot in line. Then it got better, the lower parking lot filled up so they had everyone park in the parking lot behind us. Wonderful, they had to drive 20 feet away from us on a gravel road, we all know what a gravel road does to the air quality. And which way was they wind blowing? If you said right at us you are correct. Getting a good picture in your head now? Well we all spent a lot of time dusting our cars off. Then if that wasn't enough fun we all had to endure the cloud of Drift car smoke (burning rubber)that blessed us every hour on the half hour. Smoke and dust ,my favorite things.
All I have to say is "I will NEVER attend one of these shows again."
Complete lack of organizational skills from the Promoter of this event.
Hot Import Nights has a new name in my book,,,
" HORRENDOUS IMPORT NIGHTS!!!!"
Other than all that I had a good time hanging with you all. Would not have missed that. Here are some pics.
 
More from our forum


brokenman said:
Tim, Jason and everyone nailed it.

We were there as asked at 9:00 with 14 cars. The other car, Danny's, was prestaged on Friday night. After about 30 minutes we were told to move to the next parking lot which was the "staging" lot for show cars. We lined up and other cars lined up next to us.
We were told even though they had said roll-in would be at 9:00, it wasn't until 10:00. The next excuse after delays was that the fire marshal was enforcing the 1/4 of gas rule even though it was an outdoor event. So as a result, those of us with more than a 1/4 tank idled our cars trying to burn gas off for 3 hours. I know Tim and I had our A/C blowing full power for 3 hours trying to burn down to a 1/4 tank.
After Xavier, Chrissie and the rest of the guys from Avondale Mazda got there with the Speed3, a Speed6 and a CX-7, he found out they were short on volunteers and that's now what was taking so long for roll-in.
HIN did have four guys doing check-ins for the cars but they basically were a couple rude, unprofessional kids playing around on a golf cart. More on that later.
The Scion club was lined up to go ahead of us because even though we had arrived first, they had approximately 40 cars showing so it kind of made sense they would enter them first. Bill and others asked for information on our club roll-in and basically the guy said we could probably roll-in after the Scions. But, other cars starting getting into the Scion line, approximately 7 cars. We then had Todd, who was in the rear of our line with his RX8, block any others from getting in behind the line and we moved our cars up one at a time.
We got up to about the main gate where cars were entering the show and the line basically stopped.
In the meantime, AZ350 club and other individual cars were entering at a very fast pace in the parking lot we had been told to exit at 9:00 AM.
Then, after security arrived, one of the aforementioned golf cart guys made the announcement via megaphone that the show was "at capacity" and no more cars would be allowed in. This immediately resulted in a lot of four-letter words from our club and those others also waiting outside. The staging parking lot was also locked so no more cars could get in, locking Sabrina's Focus and phat3g(Will and Heather)'s 6 also.
We argued with the guy making the show is full announcement about how we had been there waiting for 5+ hours in the parking lot, the money spent to get there, the members who had driven from California, Tucson and etc.
He said we could add our name to the list for a refund. We told him we wanted immediate refunds since we had paid immediately upon registering and that we had shown up immediately. They said checks would be mailed out instead.
After we informed the guy about our contacts with Thanh Phan and about how we had been told to be their at 9:00 and have spots for 15 cars. He didn't seem to believe us immediately but then he seemed interested. We told him we wanted to talk to Thanh since he was in charge of all cars at the event.
While he made minor attempts to call Thanh and those in charge, we complained about the number of cars that had entered while we were told to wait, about the number of vendor spots and vendor cars that were taking up space for enthusiasts.
The guy kept saying he couldn't get ahold of anyone or he didn't know where they were but we kept telling him to use his radio to call them. Finally, he told Bill to meet Thanh by the stage. Bill and Jeff went to "negotiate" with him. After 20 minutes or so, Bill and Jeff came back with news that we had a spot by the entrance and it was also on gravel. We moved the cars through the venue to this spot. We lost the CX-7 and the Speed6 at this point since Xavier sent them home due to the show being full. He and Chrissie stayed with us, just as angry for being to lied to.
The spot we had gotten was a dirt/gravel lot in between the ticket purchasing area on one side, the Bondurant asphalt surface on one, trailers from set up on one side and more dirt on the other. Jeff talked to one of the workers that had followed us back there and got us a smaller but better spot past the ticket purchasing area but still not in the show. Throughout this move, they offered us spots for 3 or 4 and finally 6 cars several times but the group came together and said all the cars or nothing. We had all registered as AZMC, Thanh knew we were coming, we all staged together, be damned if we weren't going to show together. They had also mentioned a refund still if we took this spot.
While we figuring out parking in the new spot, a worker had approached and ask what we doing there and we weren't supposed to be there. Jason informed him we were told to be there. Funny how there was no communication between workers even though this one also had a radio.
We squeezed our cars in by moving fences back the like. We lost several cars from the club because they were sick of the B.S. and the wasted time. I almost left myself, I was really on the fence. 5 hours in the alternating heat and rain with nothing but more B.S. and lies at the end makes it a really stressful, hard day. Xavier alos had to take down his Avondale Mazda banner, per the workers.
We got the cars parked in and got setup for the show. We were worried about dust from pedestrians since we were in between where spectators bought tickets and entered the actual show. As spectators started to arrive, the worst part of our spot was revealed, not only did all the foot traffic kick up dust and rockers, cars entering the Bondurant parking lot which was used for the show drove right past us on a uphill about 20 feet away and then continued on a path about 10 feet away. Each car kicked up clouds of dust which flowed all over cars and us but even worse the uphill path which somecars spun their tires trying to climb and of course the occasional showoff who spun their tires on the gravel to be badasses.
Once the show actually got started, the official HINcity film crew came through to take video of the cars. The guy hosting said to the effect of "Arizona Mazda Club, VIP guests of HIN" and another guy made sarcastic comment about how their idea of "VIP parking" was a gravel lot outside.
Each time our members actually went into the show, we had to be patted down and empty our pockets. This got old after about the 5th time.
Somewhere around 7-8 PM, two judges came out to look at our cars. I talked to one personally, he was a nice guy but he told us he had been selected to judge at 1 PM and he hadn't gotten his car into the venue. After talking to Jeff about his RX8, he asked Jeff which class he wanted to be in and he wasn't sure. He suggestted the "street" class because Jeff drives it everday even though the "street" class was not mentioned on any of of the rules or promotional material. The only classes listed were Mild, Wild and Elite.
Sabrina did get one of the models to come out and pose with the AZMC cars. Also Anthony from Bell Road Mazda brought one out.

Our display at the show was pretty good with the amount of cars we packed in to the little area we had to fight for. I guess we made do with what we had. But the bottom line is this, we were screwed by HIN plan and simple. We weren't in the show and we should still be entitled to a refund. Our cars were basically an extension of the parking lot and it should be noted we parked on gravel while even a majority of spectator parking was on the Bondurant track surface which was paved.

Big congrats to AZMC for working through a long, tough, dusty day and making lemonade when HIN handed us a s*** ton of rotten lemons.

On Monday I'll be calling Thanh and others at HIN to express my extreme dissatisfaction for the handling of the event and our club specifically.
His voicemail at HIN is: 949 789 7439 ext. 27
Another one we might call is John in charge of sales, his is: 949 789 7439 ext 12
I also urge you to email them at cars@visionevent.com

Now that I spent over an hour writing this... I'm tired again.

t'sstalkermom said:
I am so sorry this was such a HUGH disappointment! I was sick to my stomach when Tim phoned me and told me of all the ROYAL bulls*** you were receiving. I read all the posts leading up to HIN and was so excited about all the fun you kids were going to have being center stage. I agree that a letter needs to be written to HIN for their total lack of communication in setting up this show. I also agree that all of your entry fee (less the parking fee) needs to be refunded NOW (not someday). A lot of the money they had the use of for some two months. I knew you would have a good time together, no matter what parking lot you were in. I also thing HIN needs to be put on a national "DO NOT ATTEND" list. I was thinking "I hope the guys got to see a lot of A&T for the difference between parking fees and entry fees". Then I looked at the pics! The second batch answered that thought! LOL!!!!!!!!!!

tonkabui said:
you can call thanh a dog-eating-communist-pigface gooky bastard, and tell him that's courtesy of another dog-eating gooky bastard. but at least i'm not a communist pigface. what a load of horseshit. i'm sorry to see the group got shafted. but in true azmc fashion, the group supercedes the circumstance. but i agree... a full refund is in order. HIN isn't what it used to be, that's for sure. it's gotten too big for its own good.

Boozted said:
Boy good thing I wasn't there. I would have went off on their asses. Spending all this time planing and polishing and mod'ing to let some other jackasses roll in past ya. That's about time the tow chain comes out and I start draging cars out of the spot intended for mine.

Look forward to seeing a few more pictures if there is any???

repo2142 said:
Sorry I bailed yesterday guys, but between the 4 hours of sleep, rain and waiting around for 4+ hours, my patience was completely gone. Once I saw where they were going to park us, in the dirt dust and rocks, I'd had it. A hearty **** YOU to HIN! I can't believe how furious I still am about the whole thing. What a bunch of pathetic assholes. I echo the sentiments of everyone else here. I will NEVER attend another HIN event. If that's what passes for an organized car show, I look forward to the smaller disorganized ones. So far, they've been much more enjoyable.

ebmp5 said:
that was kind of **** up what they did. i guess it boiled down to who u know at hin, funny that mazda is a mayor sponser for hin.

mastema said:
i thought we were gonna get a hook up if we got 15 + cars in the show, what happened to that? i guess that was a bunch of bull.

MazdaManiac said:
That is what made it even more frustrating.
And, to add insult to injury, Bell Rd Mazda had a booth and cars inside.
Anyone notice that they only gave out two of the three possible trophies for Mazda?
That is because they only considered the two Mazdas that were actually inside the venue...

brokenman said:
There were 3 Mazdas showing the venue, the two RX7s that won and the Sadistic silver Mazda3 with the B-2 body kit. The other two 3s that were present were vendor cars.
I did notice the same thing though Jeff, only two categories were awarded.
I'm now thinking we should get in touch with Mazda NA, maybe the regional manager, Jordan, that Xavier was in contact with last night.

MazdaManiac said:
Ahh. I missed the 3 - I thought it was a vendor car. (Vendors aren't eligible for awards under NCCA rules.)

Flashwing said:
I'll be sure to post any of my photos as I have yet to go through them. Aside from that, I wanted to say thanks to everyone for doing something many people in our position wouldn't have done...which is sticking up for each other. I know it might seem like common sense because we have a lot of really good people here, but in the short time I've been involved with the import scene I've met a lot of very selfish drivers, people who would have sold their mother to get a sponsorship for their car or even the kind of exposure HIN brings.

I think the fact that everyone was taking the "all or nothing" attitude when we had the opportunity to allow 5 or 6 of our best inside was awesome. I'm by no means pointing ANY fingers, but I was unsure how that would work when in the past members have been upset because their cars were not featured in elements like the photoshoots or anything that advertised the club. It brought a huge smile to my face when we made it clear we ALL rolled in or we all went home. That was huge for me and again, I wanted to say thanks for being good sportmen (and sports ladies) by upholding the integrity of this group.

HIN was a very big let down. It was a let down for us, for Mazda, and for Avondale Mazda of which all of us have put in a lot of time, money, effort, and energy into making something worked. We never asked for special treatment, we never asked to be by the Mazda stage. We only asked not to have to bring our cars on Friday night. Instead we were promised the world and none of it was delivered. THAT, speaks more to the integrety of HIN, Nightshift, and the people who put the event together. Sure, we can't help the fire marshall changing things around even though I'm still confused as to why this was done Saturday...what would have happened if everyone came Friday night?

The fact that it "appears" special consideration was given to other clubs for whatever reason...kickbacks, money, etc. is what makes me not want to come back. If we cannot get any kind of pull without flashing around cash or having to buck the system then I don't want any part of that. When I'm told HIN wants to showcase Arizona Car clubs but instead settles on 40 Scions and 30 some 350z's, that isn't showcasing much. It's great that these clubs have been as successful as they have, but I stand behind my product and no one is going to tell me my Mazda is worth any more or less than a Scion or Z in this circumstance.

If Mazda has been looking into our posts, I certainly hope they understand the nature of our complaints and how we were only interested in being able to display our cars, our club, and our own style to people at HIN.

Anyway, I'll put up some fun stuff soon.
 
Hot import nights sucks. End of story. Sorry for all the s*** you guys went through. Ive heard plenty of similar stories.
 
I have compiled club members comments into an email that will be sent to the propper people.


What do you think about it?


Arizona Mazda Club (AZMC) is not very happy with Hot Import Nights/Nightshift

As the President of AZMC I have been working on HIN for a good portion of the year. I have passed out hundreds of flyers for the Phoenix, AZ show. I have HIN on the main page of my myspace page. I have HIN as part of my friends list on myspace. I am registered on their website. I was a 2 time returning customer. One of our RX-8's took best Mazda last year.

This year I negotiated with Avondale Mazda and we worked a deal with them for Sponsorship. They offered to repay for 10 registration fees into HIN after the event.

One week before HIN, I was put into direct contact with a marketing director for HIN about a club participation event at HIN.

Thanh Phan

Automotive Marketing Director

PH (949) 789-7439 x27 FX (949) 789-7444

He said he wanted to showcase Arizona Car Clubs. He wanted to know how many cars were going to have entered. At the time we had 3 cars registered. He told me that the Scion Club had 40 cars and AZ350 Club had 30 cars registered. Thanh said that If I could get 15 cars registered he would reserve 15 spots for AZMC.

With only having 3 cars registered I went on our club forum and sent out over 200 Private Messages. With in 24 hours AZMC had 11 cars registered. By the end of the week we had all 15 cars. I called Thanh Phan back and informed him that we would have 15 cars at the event. He said he had a space reserved for us near the Mazda Stage.


HIN wants everybody to drop off their cars on Friday night and leave them over night. Since we are a state wide club we have people traveling from all over the state. I asked if AZMC could do a roll in on Saturday. He said yes that we could all roll in at 9 AM when the gates opened.


We were there as asked at 9:00 with 14 cars. The other car, Danny's, (white Miata track car) was pre-staged on Friday night. After about 30 minutes we were told to move to the next parking lot which was the "staging" lot for show cars. We lined up and other cars lined up next to us.
We were told even though they had said roll-in would be at 9:00, it wasn't until 10:00. The next excuse after delays was that the fire marshal was enforcing the 1/4 of gas rule even though it was an outdoor event. So as a result, those of us with more than a 1/4 tank idled our cars trying to burn gas off for 3 hours. I know Tim and Shaun had their A/C blowing full power for 3 hours trying to burn down to a 1/4 tank.


After Xavier, Chrissie and the rest of the guys from Avondale Mazda got there with the Speed3 ( shipped specifically from Mazda N.A. in Irvine, Ca), a Speed6 and a CX-7, he found out they were short on volunteers and that's now what was taking so long for roll-in. HIN did have four guys doing check-ins for the cars but they basically were a couple rude, unprofessional kids playing around on a golf cart. More on that later.


The Scion club was lined up to go ahead of us because even though we had arrived first, they had approximately 40 cars showing so it kind of made sense they would enter them first.I asked for information on our club roll-in and basically the guy said we could probably roll-in after the Scions. But, other cars starting getting into the Scion line, approximately 7 cars. I then had Todd , who was in the rear of our line with his RX8, block any others from getting in behind the line and we moved our cars up one at a time.
We got up to about the main gate where cars were entering the show and the line basically stopped. In the meantime, AZ350 club and other individual cars were entering at a very fast pace from the parking lot we had been told to exit at 9:00 AM.


Then, after security arrived, one of the aforementioned golf cart guys made the announcement via megaphone that the show was "at capacity" and no more cars would be allowed in. This immediately resulted in a lot of four-letter words from our club and those others also waiting outside. The staging parking lot was also locked so no more cars could get in, locking Sabrina's Focus and Will and Heather's 6 also.


We argued with the guy making the "show is full" announcement about how we had been there waiting for 5+ hours in the parking lot, the money spent to get there, the members who had driven from California, Tucson and etc. We weren't the only people left outside the fence either,at least 40 other cars were sitting next to us.

He said we could add our name to the list for a refund. We told him we wanted immediate refunds since we had paid immediately upon registering and that we had shown up immediately. They said checks would be mailed out instead.


After we informed the guy about our contacts with Thanh Phan and about how we had been told to be their at 9:00 and have spots for 15 cars. He didn't seem to believe us immediately but then he seemed interested. We told him we wanted to talk to Thanh since he was in charge of all cars at the event.
While he made minor attempts to call Thanh and those in charge, we complained about the number of cars that had entered while we were told to wait, about the number of vendor spots and vendor cars that were taking up space for enthusiasts.
The guy kept saying he couldn't get a hold of anyone or he didn't know where they were but we kept telling him to use his radio to call them. Finally, he told me to meet Thanh by the stage. Jeff (Best Mazda HIN Vegas) and Xavier ( Avondale Mazda Manager) went to "negotiate" with him.

Thanh told now told us that he couldn't reserve spots for us. He told us that the fire marshal made them move the show cars in 20 feet because of the weather. He told us that he could maybe fit one or two of our cars into the show and refund the rest. We told him we were a team/club and that it was all or nothing. I reminded him of his promises about showcasing Arizona Clubs. He ignored my comment and said he had to go make some calls.

He had a printed map of the venue and there were two spots on the map reserved for AZMC. Looking at those spots they were filled with 350 Z's and miscellaneous cars that cut in front of us.

When he got back to us after his calls, we told him the proper thing to do is ask those cars that cut in front of us to leave. They were in fact in our "reserved" spots. Thanh said he could put us in front where the public would enter. I wanted to see the spot first.

He showed us the spot in the dirt, gravel, mud with standing water. I mumbled, "I just spent 16 hours detailing my car with a $4,000.00 paint job to park in the mud?" Being positive I said it was better than nothing.

We came back with news that we had a spot by the entrance and it was also on gravel. We moved the cars through the venue to this spot. We lost the CX-7 and the Speed-6 at this point since Xavier sent them home due to the show being full. He and Chrissie stayed with us, being just as angry for being to lied to.
The spot we had gotten was a dirt/gravel lot in between the ticket purchasing area on one side, the Bondurant asphalt surface on one, trailers from set up on one side and more dirt on the other. Jeff talked to one of the workers that had followed us back there and got us a smaller but better spot past the ticket purchasing area but still not in the show. Throughout this move, they offered us spots for 3 or 4 and finally 6 cars several times but the group came together and said all the cars or nothing. We had all registered as AZMC, Thanh knew we were coming, we all staged together, be damned if we weren't going to show together. They had also mentioned a refund still if we took this spot.


While we figuring out parking in the new spot, a worker had approached and ask what we doing there and we weren't supposed to be there. Jason informed him we were told to be there. Funny how there was no communication between workers even though this one also had a radio.
We squeezed our cars in by moving fences back. We lost several cars from the club because they were sick of the B.S. and the wasted time. 5 hours in the alternating heat and rain with nothing but more B.S. and lies at the end makes it a really stressful, hard day. Xavier also had to take down his Avondale Mazda banner, per the workers.


We got the cars parked in and got setup for the show. We were worried about dust from pedestrians since we were in between where spectators bought tickets and entered the actual show. As spectators started to arrive, the worst part of our spot was revealed, not only did all the foot traffic kick up dust and rockers, cars entering the Bondurant parking lot which was used for the show, drove right past us on an uphill about 20 feet away and then continued on a path about 10 feet away. Each car kicked up clouds of dust which flowed all over cars and us but even worse was the uphill path which some cars spun their tires trying to climb and of course the occasional showoff who spun their tires on the gravel, just because.


Once the show actually got started, the official HINcity film crew came through to take video of the cars. The guy hosting said to the effect of "Arizona Mazda Club, VIP guests of HIN" and another guy made sarcastic comment about how their idea of "VIP parking" was a gravel lot outside.


Each time our members actually went into the show, we had to be patted down and empty our pockets. This got old after about the 5th time.
Somewhere around 7-8 PM, two judges came out to look at our cars. He was a nice guy but he told us he had been selected to judge at 1 PM and he hadn't gotten his car into the venue. After talking to Jeff about his RX8, he asked Jeff which class he wanted to be in and he wasn't sure. He suggested the "street" class because Jeff drives it everyday, even though the "street" class was not mentioned on any of the rules or promotional material. The only classes listed were Mild, Wild and Elite.
Sabrina did get one of the models to come out and pose with the AZMC cars. Also Anthony from Bell Road Mazda brought one out.

Our display at the show was pretty good with the amount of cars we packed in to the little area we had to fight for. I guess we made do with what we had. But the bottom line is this, we were screwed by HIN plain and simple. We weren't in the show and we should still be entitled to a refund. Our cars were basically an extension of the parking lot and it should be noted we parked on gravel while even a majority of spectator parking was on the Bondurant track surface which was paved.

HIN was a very big let down. It was a let down for us, for Mazda, and for Avondale Mazda of which all of us have put in a lot of time, money, effort, and energy into making something work. We never asked for special treatment, we never asked to be by the Mazda stage. We only asked not to have to bring our cars on Friday night. Instead we were promised the world and none of it was delivered. THAT, speaks more to the integrity of HIN, Nightshift, and the people who put the event together. Sure, we can't help the fire Marshall changing things around even though I'm still confused as to why this was done Saturday...what would have happened if everyone came Friday night?

The fact that it "appears" special consideration was given to other clubs for whatever reason...kickbacks, money, etc. is what makes me not want to come back. If we cannot get any kind of pull without flashing around cash or having to buck the system then I don't want any part of that. When I'm told HIN wants to showcase Arizona Car clubs but instead settles on 40 Scions and 30 some 350z's, that isn't showcasing much. It's great that these clubs have been as successful as they have, but I stand behind my product and no one is going to tell me my Mazda is worth any more or less than a Scion or Z in this circumstance.


To add insult to injury, Bell Rd Mazda had a booth and cars inside.We did notice that they only gave out two of the three possible trophies for Mazda?
Is that because they only considered the two Mazda's that were actually inside the venue?

Big congrats to AZMC for working through a long, tough, dusty day and making lemonade when HIN handed us a ton of rotten lemons.

I'd like to see HIN refund all 15 registrations for AZMC, give us a discount and a guaranteed spot in next year's event with a tent.



Respectfully,

Bill Russell

Arizona Mazda Club- President

www.azmazdaclub.com
 
i went to the hin early with some of my friends and saw ya'll like right befor the gate with i think like a miata, a few 6s, 8s, and proteges. i honestly think the event was small and very unevenful plus the crappy rappers didn't make it any better. either way to have gone through all that and having to pay 25 dollars. someone got paid big time and i thin they shouldn't have made ya'll pay any since anyone could just walk up and see your cars.
 
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Killer 8 said:
i went to the hin early with some of my friends and saw ya'll like right befor the gate with i think like a miata, a few 6s, 8s, and proteges. i honestly think the event was small and very unevenful plus the crappy rappers didn't make it any better. either way to have gone through all that and having to pay 25 dollars. someone got paid big time and i thin they shouldn't have made ya'll pay any since anyone could just walk up and see your cars.


We paid $57.50 each to park in the dirt next to HIN.
 
I didnt read all of what you posted, but HIN Charlotte sucked arse as well.

Long story short: I had my car in the official Mazda booth, they put me on the back side (which was fine by me because I thought they were bringing new mazdas for the front of the booth), turns out the only other mazda at the booth was an over modified MSP and none of the other mazdas showed up at all... What's worse, is HIN Charlotte was a Mazda sponsored event.
 
Rickman said:
I didnt read all of what you posted, but HIN Charlotte sucked arse as well.

Long story short: I had my car in the official Mazda booth, they put me on the back side (which was fine by me because I thought they were bringing new mazdas for the front of the booth), turns out the only other mazda at the booth was an over modified MSP and none of the other mazdas showed up at all... What's worse, is HIN Charlotte was a Mazda sponsored event.

HIN Phoenix was also a Mazda sponsored event which made it that much more ridiculous. I was really turned off by HIN and doubt I will show again at their shows. 57 bucks to sit out in the dirt in the dark away from the show and have to get patted down by security every time I wanted to look around or use the bathroom is not my idea of fun.
 
I've been to 2 of these events. Both sucked ass and I would not have attended if I didn't get in for free. Actually even getting in for free I feel that I was ripped off.
 
That sux man....GL getting that refund. They should refund all of you and give you free registrations to the next event.
 
rednecks_r_us said:
I have compiled club members comments into an email that will be sent to the propper people.

That email has been BCC to the AZMC members that were there.

CC to my self and Xavier The Manager of Avondale Mazda ( X said he would send my email-letter to Mazda)

Main to box contained:

Email sent to

Myron at visionnet . com

"Letter to the editer" of Urban racer . com

Exhibitor / Sponsorship Information
John Russell, VP of Sales
russellj@visionevent.com


NCCA

Regional Managers Region6 Joe Privitier
joe@nationalcustomcarassociation.com
Randy Ly
randy@nationalcustomcarassociation.com

NCCA

President - Andy Goodman
andy@nationalcustomcarassociation.com

Director of Operations - Rae Anciado rae@nationalcustomcarassociation.com



Ethics Committee
National Custom Car Association
P.O. Box 7462 / Hicksville, New York 11802-7462
516-818-4029
 
ha ha, i think the hin in chicago had a very weak turn out this year from what i hear. basically it was a stage, with some 20 cars surrounding it. heard it sucked total balls and my co-worker regretted having wasted his time there instead of making money. yep, i stopped going to hin a whiles back. for good reason too. sucks that you guys got the serious shafting.
 
Well I don't know how far my email will go, but I do know that Mazda North America ( Major sponsor of HIN) and NCCA (Major HIN Sponsor) knows about what happened in Phoenix, Arizona on October 14, 2006.
 
Good news,

NCCA

President - Andy Goodman has responded to me and I do feel that he is actually looking into our HIN experience. We'll see how it goes.
 
Have a good Photog friend....showed up to work HIN Santa Clara with some friends...at the gate, they told him only he could get in...WTF?

Ban HIN!
 
Just got this email

Hello again Bill'
We meet on the golf cart that you quoted unprofessional. Anyways I'd like
to remind you that the tank rule was not an excuse it's a safety
measure. Secondly the rude and unprofessional kids didn't have temper
tantrums when they get bad news. For a bunch of grown men there sure was a
lot of unprofessional when I seen water bottles getting thrown.

I also did believe you when you told me your contact with Thanh and did
what was necessary to contact Thanh. Also I can't see how you didn't want
any special treatment when all your guys kept saying were VIP in check in
and you guys got sick of being patted down for security. Security needs to
do their jobs and check everyone it's not like you guys entered the show
on good terms.

Have you ever ran a show and had to meet regulations on site? Oh and if
you guys did show up Friday you would be getting a reply back today. And
what fact "appears" with what kickbacks? Just cause the winners have
major funds in their vehicles doesn't mean they win. In fact when they do
win its not even 5% of the funds put in their vehicles. And yes there were
actually 24 awards eligible for your cars and 2 Mazda manufacturer awards.

To be honest with you Mr. Russell you're not the first or the last group
that will feel this way. But you concerns are wit H.I.N your sending your
concerns to NCCA we have no jurisdiction on any H.I.N decision.


Rae Jan Anciado
Operations Director
RAE@NATIONALCUSTOMCARASSOCIATION.COM
www.4NCCA.COM
 
Another from NCCA President


----- Original Message -----
From: "Andy Goodman"
To: "Bill Russell"
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 8:14 PM
Subject: Re: HIN Phoenix 2006


> Sir,
>
> I am here too if you want to talk, believe me when I say it is the teams
> clubs and individuals who all make this scene so great. It us importnat to
> me that a resolution to your experience is found and will be but please
> give the HIN staff a few days to get in contact with you as the staff has
> been out of the office since Thursday of last week.
>
> Andy
 
I think HIN needs to change thier name to Hot Ricerburner nights. I took my E30 M3 (I bought it from a guy who brought it over from germany.) to a HIN show and the guy told me that they only alow "Imports". well no ******* s*** retard! Why do you think all the stickers and lables are written in german. and why do you think the spedo only has km/h. BTW my car was in better condition than any of the cars I saw enter.
 
slayer4u said:
I think HIN needs to change thier name to Hot Ricerburner nights. I took my E30 M3 (I bought it from a guy who brought it over from germany.) to a HIN show and the guy told me that they only alow "Imports". well no ******* s*** retard! Why do you think all the stickers and lables are written in german. and why do you think the spedo only has km/h. BTW my car was in better condition than any of the cars I saw enter.

That sucks, but...

Technically, in the automotive industry, the term "Import" is Asian manufacturers only...

Yeah your car was imported from Germany, but its not an "import".

Thus the classes you have are:
Import
European
Domestic

I'm not sure what HIN calls Euro and Domestic in the shows...
sorry for threadjack
 
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