Has anyone seen the Google Reviews of Victory Motorcars?

biosurfer1 · 11-30-2011, 10:16 AM

I was doing a little looking around and have known about the reputation that Victory has in the Porsche world but their Google reviews seem oddly swayed.

I suppose it's not surprising but I have to agree with one of the reviewers that it seems blatantly obvious that most of the 5 star reviews are fakes...I mean, how many different people just happen to use the same grammar and words like "honesty, integrity, etc" in the same reviews just days apart.

This has to be a new low.

See Reviews Here

Pazuzu · 11-30-2011, 11:51 AM

Sick.

You can sit and create an entire list of the companies that pay for that "service" based on all of the reviews that the "users" post.

"Whatever it takes" is Robert's motto...

jac1976 · 11-30-2011, 12:21 PM

Chitti chitti BAng Bang is so busy I am surprised he/she had time to review Victory Motorcars. Let's see she was living at Gramercy on the Park in Dallas on June 27 the same day she commented on the pleasant deep tissue massage she had in Houston. This massage probably necessary as one notes the avid cyclist also purchased some wheels at a bike shop in Wichita Falls on June 27. Also amazing that she was able to express her pleasure with her property manager at her condo in Houston on July 15 just a day after commenting on her plastic surgery in Austin. To think just a week later she was purchasing furniture in Odessa before her encounter with Victory Motorcars and taking up residence with her wife(?) and mother in-law in Austin. Just days later he/she had established care with a family doctor in Rowlett before buying a wedding dress in Dallas! Whew, what a life!

The only review I believe from this person pertains to ABC Bail Bonds in Houston.

McLaren-TAG · McLaren-TAG's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by jac1976

Chitti chitti BAng Bang is so busy I am surprised he/she had time to review Victory Motorcars. Let's see she was living at Gramercy on the Park in Dallas on June 27 the same day she commented on the pleasant deep tissue massage she had in Houston. This massage probably necessary as one notes the avid cyclist also purchased some wheels at a bike shop in Wichita Falls on June 27. Also amazing that she was able to express her pleasure with her property manager at her condo in Houston on July 15 just a day after commenting on her plastic surgery in Austin. To think just a week later she was purchasing furniture in Odessa before her encounter with Victory Motorcars and taking up residence with her wife(?) and mother in-law in Austin. Just days later he/she had established care with a family doctor in Rowlett before buying a wedding dress in Dallas! Whew, what a life!

The only review I believe from this person pertains to ABC Bail Bonds in Houston.

Thanks, I needed the laugh!

R505 · 11-30-2011, 12:52 PM

A lot of the "people" have "reviewed" the same places....hmmm

brads911sc · brads911sc's Garage

its always buyer beware.

most of the pelicans that live in houston have been to victory and really have no issues with Victory. its a typical used car dealer. some of their stuff is nice. some not great. all is probably overly positive. their mechanic was a very well regarded guy at another shop. all of their stuff is overpriced. Id subtract 20-25% from the list price on every car on their lot.

i wouldnt believe anything you read on the net -- positive or negative-- about ANY company. Ever read a glowing review on Amazon or Consumer Reports and then find its a POS? or a super negative one and then love the product? (read the review of the Kaloric coffee maker on Consumer Reports, and then go read its reviews on Amazon -- youd never believe it was the same product. Consumer Reports rated it 3rd overall out of 30.. so top 10%... almost every review on Amazon is poor - 75% negative) happens all the time.

Find a car you are interested in. go IN PERSON and look at it. have a PPI. and live with the minor things you missed.

Honestly, every BAD review of Victory I have EVER read came from someone who bought the car sight unseen.

No affiliation. I bought my car from a small dealer in Boston. But please folks.. alittle common sense.

robdiver · robdiver's Garage

There are services ,that you pay, to boost your reputation. Go figure,another internet based business with total anonymity.

brads911sc · brads911sc's Garage

Victory isnt an internet based business. They have a real bricks and morter showroom and full service repair shop. you can come see the car before you buy it... or buy sight unseen and then complain on here...

jac1976 · 11-30-2011, 07:19 PM

brads911sc-

While I agree with your position on "buyer beware," I do not think this is entirely an issue of "a little common sense."

While Victory Motorcars is not an "internet based" business, they do conduct much of their business online via eBay and other outlets. I find it difficult for any dealership with an inventory to be "internet based." Nevertheless, just as Mr. Neal has done much to promote his business online, others have used the medium to express their displeasure with his business practices. Buyers' accounts of unprofessional behavior, some supported by email correspondence, on behalf of Mr. Neal are easily found online and seemingly well substantiated. While you purport that these are merely disenchanted buyers displacing their remorse for their own lack of due diligence, many of us are inclined to believe their stories of forged titles, misrepresentation and outright denial of prior body or mechanical repairs.

On the other hand, Mr. Neal has managed to garner a great number of stellar 5-star reviews on Citysearch and Google. Kudos to him. Most of these reviewers refer to him by his first name. Interestingly, the reviewers have more in common with each other than just a first name basis with Mr. Neal. Not only do they give 5-star reviews to Victory Motorcars, they give 5-star reviews to every business they review. In fact, these folks are so close-knit, many of them seek services and goods from the same businesses even if it means traveling hundreds of miles to buy furniture at Bob Mills Furniture in Amarillo and bicycle parts at Bike Stop in Wichita Falls. Becker Animal Hospital in San Antonio must be damn good (not willing to spring for top tier care, I take my mutt to Houston's own GCVS) as many of Mr. Neal's clients use their services. Let's hear it for Lonestar Maids out of Austin, a number of Victory Motorcars customers use these guys. One client was so overjoyed with her experience she apparently bought two wedding gowns, one in Dallas and one in Houston. I bet she rode a unicorn from town to town with the other Victory Motorcars reviewers. I can just see her clad in a wedding dress doing the old Toyota "Oh, what a feeling" leap in front of a VMC 911.

Now I would hate to jump to the conclusion that these reviews are the work of spam services paid for by Victory Motorcars. I will try my best to keep my common sense in check. Wouldn't it be tragic if I were to assume the commonalities between these "reviewers" are anything more than mere coincidence?

Caveat emptor does not exempt the seller from professional behavior and conducting his business with the "honor" and "integrity" he promulgates online.

biosurfer1 · 11-30-2011, 07:24 PM

Brad, the point of this thread wasn't if they have decent cars or not, its the fact that they are obviously putting FAKE reviews online to cover up all of the negative ones.

I also looked at Yelp and they have dozens of reviews that are WORD for WORD the exact same as google reviews....coincidence? It is impossible for me to believe that many people went to both google reviews and then to Yelp to put the exact same review.

500_19B · 11-30-2011, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jac1976

...Caveat emptor does not exempt the seller from professional behavior and conducting his business with the "honor" and "integrity" he promulgates online.

Thank you! THAT summarizes it well.

Pazuzu · 11-30-2011, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brads911sc

Victory isnt an internet based business. They have a real bricks and morter showroom and full service repair shop. you can come see the car before you buy it... or buy sight unseen and then complain on here...

I agree. Everyone who has bought a car there in person has been happy with the transaction.

Everyone who has bought it online has been unhappy.

Then there's the 10-1 ratio who went in person and realized what kinda crap he's pulling and walked out. they're all happy too, because they escaped.

Yes, I'm using literary rights to make broad stroked statements.

Like you said, everyone here in town knows them, probably has met them, and has an opinion on them. I lived down the street for 3 years, and drive by there every day now. I see their "techs" driving the cars. They do not respect them. My opinion is walk in the door, test drive the car, get it tested somewhere other than the suggested shop, and after all of that, you'll probably have a decent working car. Anything else and Robert will screw you.

CarNut2010 · 03-09-2014, 10:03 AM

Watch out for Robert at Victory. I bought a vintage auto from him and on the way home it ran out of gas, but the gauge did not show empty. I called Robert to come get me as I was stil about a mile from the shop. He said. no, it was my problem. I'd just spent $55K and that what I get? So I called AAA and when they got to me an hour later, the gas cap was locked and the key he gave did not work! So I called Robert to ask for the correct key and he said he gave it to me and to stop calling me since it was sold as is. He also promised to give me the original radio worth about $600 which was out of the car for repair. I never got that either. I towed my new car to the repair shop where they got the cap off and put anew non locking cap on. The car had hesitation blues and I spend about $15K getting things fixed that were promised all worked. The wiring harness was represented to be new with the total restoration, but the interior lights and other stuff did not work. One day my son told me the garage smelled like smoke so I went and found that the wiring system was burning the new carpet. Back to the repair shop and found the old wiring system had not been replaced and had no insulation in places. Damn near burned down my garage with 3 vintage cars, 4 motorcycles and all attached to my home! I have since found that he purchased a Porsche log/owners manual on ebay under a different name and combined it soon after with a Porsche 911 that he was selling as evidence of the car's service history. This guy is a total liar and not to be trusted. Watch out for Victory Motor Cars and Robert!

trader220 · 02:37 PM

Robert was exposed on this forum and Rennlist for posting as a “satisfied” customer. He has been exposed for buying under one eBay name and selling under another. He has been exposed for purchasing service records and books and then placing them in cars he offered for sale as evidence of a documented service history. He has been accused of, with very compelling evidence, being in bed with some very local shops whose names he recommends for PPI’s. He has threatened legal action on people who have made negative comments on web forums. He sent phony cease and desist orders through this forum, Rennlist and other forums posing as an attorney. His website is well stocked with cars long ago sold.

Those are just some of the things I recall off the top of my head. Do you really want to do business with this guy? My answer is NO. Would I do business with this guy? If he had a particular car which matched what I was looking for spot on, then I would consider it. It would have to be a pretty hard to find car / color / model etc etc. I would also make sure I flew there and saw the car, went over it myself head to toe and found a truly independent shop for a PPI. In reality the odds I would do business with someone like that is pretty slim.

The latest round of what appear to be phony google reviews shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s seen or read about how this guy operates. These forums are littered with pretty bad stories. Yes, I understand they are places to vent and they may not represent the majority or even a substantial number of clients. Is it really worth taking a shot? Its not like the wares he’s selling are easily found elsewhere.

No offense Ruby1983-911SC but its interesting that you chose to break into the Pelican forums with a first post that is positive about a company whose reputation will never be clean. Interesting that you also chose to resurect a thread that had been dormant for 9 months in order to make your first post.

onlycafe · 12-15-2014, 02:53 PM

maybe it's roy from mm.

Tobra · Tobra's Garage

Whoever it is, they are almost without a doubt, a liar.

That, and somebody did their periodic maintenance on an account

speeder · speeder's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by trader220

Robert was exposed on this forum and Rennlist for posting as a “satisfied” customer. He has been exposed for buying under one eBay name and selling under another. He has been exposed for purchasing service records and books and then placing them in cars he offered for sale as evidence of a documented service history. He has been accused of, with very compelling evidence, being in bed with some very local shops whose names he recommends for PPI’s. He has threatened legal action on people who have made negative comments on web forums. He sent phony cease and desist orders through this forum, Rennlist and other forums posing as an attorney. His website is well stocked with cars long ago sold.

Those are just some of the things I recall off the top of my head. Do you really want to do business with this guy? My answer is NO. Would I do business with this guy? If he had a particular car which matched what I was looking for spot on, then I would consider it. It would have to be a pretty hard to find car / color / model etc etc. I would also make sure I flew there and saw the car, went over it myself head to toe and found a truly independent shop for a PPI. In reality the odds I would do business with someone like that is pretty slim.

The latest round of what appear to be phony google reviews shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s seen or read about how this guy operates. These forums are littered with pretty bad stories. Yes, I understand they are places to vent and they may not represent the majority or even a substantial number of clients. Is it really worth taking a shot? Its not like the wares he’s selling are easily found elsewhere.

No offense Ruby1983-911SC but its interesting that you chose to break into the Pelican forums with a first post that is positive about a company whose reputation will never be clean. Interesting that you also chose to resurect a thread that had been dormant for 9 months in order to make your first post.

Trader, thank you for this post. Scumbags need to be brought out into the light, guys like him have gotten rich off the internet so it's only fitting that they get exposed on the Internet.

You contribute valuable content and I appreciate it.

onewhippedpuppy · 12-15-2014, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speeder

Trader, thank you for this post. Scumbags need to be brought out into the light, guys like him have gotten rich off the internet so it's only fitting that they get exposed on the Internet.

You contribute valuable content and I appreciate it.

Amen brother. Where there's smoke, there's fire. Outing liars and scumbags is one of the best things about the internet.

mistertate · mistertate's Garage

Even the name reeks arrogance. Why couldn't they be called something like "2 podiums and a DNS", something real people like us could relate to.

trader220 · 12-16-2014, 06:06 AM

Thanks .... and thats just the stuff I remember off the top of my head. This guy is as sleazy as they come. They'd have to have a pretty special car for me to consider doing business with them and even then I doubt I would want to give them my money.

The phony cease and desist orders took the cake. I am not an attorney but there are plenty of lawyers on this forum who chimed in right away and pointed out how phony those order were. That took some big balls IMO to send those out.