Let me start by saying these are my personal opinions based on the things i have seen and been told by other members.
I'm sure there will be divided opinions on a post like this but I think it is important to let others know whats happening.
I don't have an axe to grind or particular gripe with anyone mentioned. I have kept to myself and avoided getting overly involved.

I started attending meets with the Essex Scooby Crew a couple of years ago. I have several cars and belong to several different clubs going back many years but I have never seen a club run quite like this one.
At first glance it seems like a very well run club with lots of active members and a very active events calendar displayed on the facebook page. Upon joining you get a nice welcome message (copy and paste) from the 'boss' Cheryl and the members seem friendly. They have a monthly cruise and also a monthly social at an Essex diner which are well attended with around 50 cars sometimes. Attending these meets I found most people to be friendly and approachable. I have also attended numerous shows with the club and have found these to be well run and usually very well attended.

There is a dark side to this club though. There is a cliquey inner circle who are the eyes and ears who are always waiting for you to put a foot wrong. The members are also being fleeced by the club management and sponsors.

If you decide to join this club, know what you are getting in to. Cheryl is the self styled 'Boss' and runs the 'Famo' more like an MC than a car club. You will be pushed to use the club sponsor Mark Brown. The guy is an absolute clown who really knows nothing about scoobys and is buying the business from Cheryl. He has ruined several members cars and charges overly inflated prices even though members are promised a club discount. No less than 4 member told me that they had suffered engine failures after having work done there. When they reported this to Cheryl, excuses were made and they were forced out of the club.
You will also be expected to have your car mapped by Duncan Graham. I've lost count of the number of members who have had issues with his 10 minute flash maps. This guy may have been around for years but he has absolutely no love for his job. Literally every mapping day sees someone with a problem but they are quickly silenced. One member told me that he had sent his car to enginetuner to have it rebuilt after a Dynamite Duncan map exploded it. He was told by Alan that they see a lot of cars mapped by Duncan! If you dare to use another mapper then never mention it as this will also get you blacklisted.
Some of the inner circle may offer to service or fit parts for you at low prices. Beware as several people i spoke with said that either the job wasn't done properly or they didn't get the old parts back with the car (intercoolers, cats, exhausts, header tanks....). If you ask for the parts they will have already been deposed of only to appear on another members car later on.
You will not be able to meet or attend shows with other clubs. If you have other club stickers on your car you will be asked to remove them. You must have an ESC sticker on your car though.
You must not encourage or promote any other businesses at any time.
The club will not attend big shows. They stick to the local shows where the stand will usually be the largest there. If you want to go to the big shows, don't mention it.

If you disagree with this then you are welcome to your opinion.
If you are planning on joining up with this group, I hope this serves as a heads up of what to expect so you don't end up losing ££££s.
If you really dont give a toss, have a nice day!

 

Cool story bro

 

It is going to be difficult for anyone to honestly reply to this, I know you didn’t ask anyone to as such but it seems fitting that someone does. That said FWIW sorry to hear of your poor experience with them. I know you did clarify at the start but people will suggest they don’t know both sides of the story. Can I clearly state I’m not for a second suggesting you are being dishonest, merely being impartial.

I do remember (but I could be wrong) hearing something similar a while back. I believe it was the same crowd you mention. If that is how they operate then you don’t need them in your life anyway. Any true friends you have made via the club would normally remain friends even if you cut the club (and agro) out of your life.

Some people get power hungry & like their little pack mentality built around them, normal
people don’t feel the need to act that way. It is usually the weak that need to be held up in such a manner as it is the only status they will ever have. FB and other social media feeds them because any time they get feedback they get a little dopamine hit and the pleasure centre in their brain goes all goofy. They don’t grasp they can get the same by helping people with the same conviction.

There is always a bigger MC, normally better organised and when they appear on the scene the weak have a habit of shuffling away as they suddenly remember they “think they left the gas on”.

Not my neck of the woods so won’t impact on me, but thank you regardless for the insight. I know your not asking for advice but it sounds like your better off voting with your feet, putting them in your rear view and moving on.
(sounds like that should be a line from a fast and furious film. I really hope I’ve not subconsciously just quoted one). Good luck either way.

 

i dont refer to him as dungkhan for nothing hahahaha

 

Oh Jesus! I have no idea what is going on here! Back to the family BBQ (now it’s nice and toastie). I should stay in my lane and just do food!!!! 😂.

 

Hiya Salty, i take it you are using an alias , is that because you dont want these people thinking bad of you?, i am quite new to the forum and up to now has been ok,

 

Had a Subaru for several years now and I've seen alot in that time. These mapping days where several people have their car mapped in a day are getting dreadful maps. The engine won't necessarily be killed straight away, some take time. Most Subaru engine failures are down to unqualified (not fit for purpose) people working on them. There are alot of monkeys in the Subaru world that people love to rave about their work and their maps. Some of them could not map an A-Z

 

I was always under impression from these forums that race Dynamix was one of the best?

 

I'm a member of ESC and I've never been pressured in to anything. Just do your own thing and let others do theirs. If you don't like it, then don't come.

 

Duncan road mapped my last car, took his time, did free tweaks for it when going abroad, ran fine for 40000 miles. There are very few mappers or businesses that there haven't been horror stories about, plenty of big names as anyone who has been around for a few years knows.

 

Even a broken clock is right twice a day I suppose

 

then you havnt been around long enough to see how it all began lol

 

he's been drummed off most forums now for bad advice, bad work etc, only seems toe be facebook that he still has any sort of decent rep

 

Midlands Scoobies is run like the OP mentioned, maybe no Cheryl but all the rest fits,
I used to attend a few, never got welcomed, when you post on their forum they just ban you,

 

MS isn't even a shadow of its former self became very clicky and ego's got invloved and it went down hill rapidly. It's a shame as it used to be a proper family comunity, im still friends with alot of the origional members and several even attended my wedding.

 

Fair play for highlighting your experience. Its not just down south this goes on. I used to be like a sheep and wanted into clubs to feel some sort of acceptance. As I got physically (not mentally ) older, I decided I needed this less and just want to keep contact with those I actually found to be genuine friends.

 

Generally with all car clubs is that those at the top try to direct people to use specific persons/suppliers who in turn will benefit from club discount but for those at the top they get even greater discount/freebies for doing so which is generally why they all become so clicky and want to get to the top.

even the larger nationwide clubs with their smaller regional area's clubs that all report to the larger parent committee suffer the same.

 

interesting thing is MS origionates from a group of folks who used to go up to clinic on a saturday just for a social. Original owner didnt bother getting into the polotics of who's who and things were fine. Even though there were close ties there wasn't pressure to go there. Wasn't untill other people got involved and decided to try to force other tuners in (even though they were free to join the site, offer tech advice etc etc, which should be noted even those that did join offered nothing regards info and advice) that it started to go down hill.

 

So I’m going to my first esc cruise next week,can someone send me some stickers for another scooby club a previously mentioned as I won’t take no **** off of anyone,I’d like one of them to tell me to take it off and I’ll keep them on,I have two scoobies so need two lots,

 

Most clubs are run by power hungry sad acts.
its the only chance they get to have any control in their day to day mundane lives.
I'm amazed subaru clubs are still going as the cars are old now and nobody bought them after 2006.

 

Other club stickers really aren't a problem in ESC. They do try to promote themselves and certain garages - and they have backed some stinkers in the past (anyone remember JJM???) but the OP is a little OTT in this description. I dared to voice my opinion about Duncan and his way of doing business and got shot down as he is golden boy in ESC and I too know of many members that had issues after mapping days so I won't go on them. It does get clicky at times and there are a handful of members very close to the club boss who can do no wrong but they do do a lot of organising of events, some of the bigger ones too. Like most clubs, it is what it is. Go along, meet some nice people and don't forgot there will people who don't agree with your view. Also get advice from multiple clubs when you need it and not just one. ESC will always promote 1st Start for work and Duncan for mapping. Other clubs will have their favourites so do lots of reading and don't be daft enough to go along with the one garage that a club promotes and you'll be fine.

Rock god, are you going on the Southend run?

 

I’m planning on going was hoping to go in my sti blob but having rows about wrong battery they gave me yesterday so If I go ll be in my hawk wagon so hope it roads not to busy,hope people talk as been to other car club meets and they look at yer as if I’d just landed from mars and it was a choir getting a conversation started

 

Most of the group tend to be friendly. If you're by yourself and don't know anyone just say hello to anyone you walk passed on arrival and you'll normally fit straight in. I saw your post about ECP and the battery. Bit of a pain that.

 

That was started by AF on 22B ,The worst thing is that Duncan Graham hates his customers but can map very well , he took on all the JGM maps after Simon went (sadly) Also he screwed over customer over customer in search of the buck 20 minute maps at srr , Charlie should be ashamed of him . So should Syvecs( in general) and Link g4 ect

 

I dont get why you would want to stand in a car park with other men in the rain.....

 

yep, i dont think he can map well at all tbh judgiing by how he leaves some cars.

 

Tidgy I respect you and some of your views , Duncan can map and map very well, but just choses not to, in favour of the money , Which is even worse in anyones opinion .

 

He does Get a slating on a lot of forums, the Facebook numbtys love him though.

I often wondered if he is as bad as his rep because some of it seems to be driven by scoobyclinics top bumboy.

I wonder if he ever smashed a customer car through a pothole while mapping.

 

you must be a dungkhan bumboy then lol

 

His technical knowledge is lacking, why he got called dungkhan by andy forrest when he tried to argue some tech info with andy. jist cos he can get some cars right doesn;t mean he knows what he's doing, even a broken clock is right, twice a day no less hahaha