Christmas is almost here! With the festive season on the horizon, the demand for gifts is through the roof, with many sellers scrambling to ship last-minute shopping sprees. Even though the NASCAR season is over, the demand for stock car racing products remains stronger than ever, with many opting for diecast models of their favorite cars for collectors and children. However, amidst the hustle and bustle of last-minute packing and shipping, mistakes are bound to happen, and that’s exactly what seems to have occurred for Circle B Diecast.

Was the mistake made by Circle B Diecast blown out of proportion? Arguably yes. However, the company’s owner Brent Powell issued a long statement on social media, sharing his side of the story amidst social media backlash.

NASCAR diecasts spark controversy ahead of Christmas

It all started in 1999. Brent Powell along with his wife Ladonna started their journey in motorsports merchandise just before the turn of the century, with their own Action Racing Collectibles Authorized Dealer retail shop. Unlike big corporations, both Plan B sales and Circle B Diecast are owned by the couple, who identify as race fans, having sponsored many cars, trucks, and drivers, including some heavyweights such as Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. amongst others. Unsurprisingly, the sponsorships have earned them quite a reputation within the NASCAR community, despite the odd mistake making headlines.

With the festive season on the horizon, Circle B Diecast shipped an order to a customer, which also contained products meant for others. The Reddit user, known as ‘Tasty-Scientist3935’ shared a picture of the ‘freebies’ on social media, claiming that the excess products were given to the charity Toys for Tots. In the statement issued by Brent Powell, the Circle B Diecast owner said, “The problem is feelings don’t always convert to words in an accurate way. I chose words like ‘crippling’. The truth is that $500 will not cripple us but calling the other 4 customers who also ordered one of the last of these items to tell them we are no longer fulfill their order does hurt.”

The owner further added that they make donations to Toys for Tots amid claims from fans that they do not care about charities “In fact, this year alone, Plan B Sales and Circle B Diecast donated over 20 pallets of diecast, related toys, water bottles and other goods to Toys for Tots, the Salvation Army and NC Hurricane relief.” They also added that they do not share such donations on their social media which is why no one has any idea about them. However, this begs to question as to why he was upset that the excess products were eventually donated to charity. Especially since, according to the Federal Trade Commission as posted by a user on X, the fan had a legal right to keep the items as a ‘free gift’.

For many smaller businesses, it’s not uncommon to not keep a large inventory. With Christmas coming up, products tend to fly off the shelves, and while the error had been made by Circle B Diecast, it’s understandable why owner Brent Powell is upset at not being informed about the mistake. To make matters worse, the situation escalated to another level as Powell was accused of berating and harassing the customer, claims that the business owner denied in his statement. The Circle B Diecast owner went on to say, “The fact the items were donated is not the issue, the issue is that morally, they were not his to donate.”

However, the company’s immediate priority must be to investigate how the issue occurred in the first place. The team at Plan B Sales and Circle B Diecast have been involved in the wholesale/retail of motorsports merchandise for a combined total of over 80 years. Yet, an avoidable mistake led to unnecessary controversy, one that has affected the reputation of Ladonna and Brent Powell’s company. The scandal certainly isn’t winning over NASCAR fans, many of whom took to social media to criticize the company for blaming the customer because of a self-inflicted mistake.

Fans unhappy with Brent Powell’s scathing response

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As expected, NASCAR fans were not happy after Brent Powell issued an angry response on Reddit, criticizing his customer for not informing the company about receiving excess products. The military veteran wrote, “Mistakes happen, but losses like this could cripple a small business”, which prompted a fan to sarcastically write on Reddit, “Love how the owner lashes out at the customer when one of HIS employees screwed up massively when shipping the order out.” Echoing that sentiment, another fan went on to say that Circle B Diecast had only themselves to blame after making such a mistake as the Reddit user wrote, “Wow, CircleB really just shot themselves in the foot today. Yikes.”

The choice of words used by Brent Powell didn’t go down well with a NASCAR fan, especially considering that the excess products were given to underprivileged children. Expressing anger at the business owner’s response, a fan said, “What an unprofessional response to what is really not a big deal at all. You just lost my business.” Another Reddit user had thoughts along the same lines and pledged to boycott the business because of their customer service by writing, “How to ruin a business 101. Should have just wrote them off as a donation. Never ordered from them never will now.”

Claiming that Powell’s response will end up as a more costly mistake for Circle B Diecast, rather than shipping excess products, a Reddit user wrote, “The loss from shipping out doubles of what the guy ordered isn’t gonna cripple circle b Diecast, but their response in this post is going to.” The motorsports merchandise company isn’t winning over hearts in the way they have handled the situation, which prompted the military veteran to issue a lengthy statement on social media. However, the damage has already been done, going by the responses from the NASCAR community.