Gabriel Gonzales/"Rotary Performance Plus" screwed me (long).
10-06-04, 07:38 PM
#26
Gabriel Gonzales = Crook.
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Originally Posted by 7th Heaven
im so disgusted by this, this thread pisses me off errrr
I'm going to try my darndest to pick up the car tomorrow. I have to take a pulmonary angiogram tomorrow but I have the tow truck co. on call.
Thanks for all the replies. I wanna keep this thread up top.
Last edited by Vick; 10-06-04 at 07:59 PM.
10-06-04, 08:03 PM
#27
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Suggestion....
"Now at this point, I started considering litigation if he didn’t pull through. I remembered that I needed to get a receipt for the $2,300 I paid him to rebuild my motor. Before you think, “What kinda dumbfuck doesn’t get a receipt for that much money?” Honestly, he promised he’d give me one once the work was done and I believed him at the time (back in early 2003)."
You might want to call the police and ask them to escort you when you pick up your car. That's another reason I did, because I was going to be DAMN sure that I got everything I wanted in writing before I left. The officer made sure of it.
Not much of a consulation prize, but it could be a huge benefit (for a little bit of waiting around for the police to show up...especially once you explain the situation and your intention to sue).
Good luck & be safe!
You might want to call the police and ask them to escort you when you pick up your car. That's another reason I did, because I was going to be DAMN sure that I got everything I wanted in writing before I left. The officer made sure of it.
Not much of a consulation prize, but it could be a huge benefit (for a little bit of waiting around for the police to show up...especially once you explain the situation and your intention to sue).
Good luck & be safe!
10-06-04, 08:13 PM
#29
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Originally Posted by Vick
As for Julian, I agree 100%. I like him. I consider him to be my friend even though he does work for a crooked mechanic who screwed me out of my car for 2 years.
He always tells me that he'd rather not get involved with the people Gabriel does "work" for and that he only does mechanical work as to learn more about the rotary engine. Sooner or later he's going to have realize that the bad business Gabriel practices is going to reflect bad on him. I think he's being pretty naive, frankly.
He always tells me that he'd rather not get involved with the people Gabriel does "work" for and that he only does mechanical work as to learn more about the rotary engine. Sooner or later he's going to have realize that the bad business Gabriel practices is going to reflect bad on him. I think he's being pretty naive, frankly.
A good point was brought up to me by a "trusted" club member. Maybe we should put together all our complaints and file them with the Risk Management Dept & HR Dept at Carmax, as well as with Marco Sr (since unfortunately his kindness to GG is putting him in the middle of some ****) and putting him in a position of responsibility I'm sure he wants no part of because he is a legitimate tenured businessman.
I know of at least two others who have been wronged and voiced it to me. Like before there's nothing I can say about them or their cars, I leave that to them. But the more the stronger and merrier it all becomes.
10-06-04, 08:19 PM
#30
Gabriel Gonzales = Crook.
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Originally Posted by biomedgirl
A good point was brought up to me by a "trusted" club member. Maybe we should put together all our complaints and file them with the Risk Management Dept & HR Dept at Carmax, as well as with Marco Sr (since unfortunately his kindness to GG is putting him in the middle of some ****) and putting him in a position of responsibility I'm sure he wants no part of because he is a legitimate tenured businessman.
I know of at least two others who have been wronged and voiced it to me. Like before there's nothing I can say about them or their cars, I leave that to them. But the more the stronger and merrier it all becomes.
I know of at least two others who have been wronged and voiced it to me. Like before there's nothing I can say about them or their cars, I leave that to them. But the more the stronger and merrier it all becomes.
10-06-04, 08:31 PM
#31
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Originally Posted by Vick
EXACTLY what I was thinking from day one. I was going to talk to the Service manager at Carmax, but the risk manager is even better. I'm more than down to do something like this.
10-06-04, 09:03 PM
#32
I'm going to try my darndest to pick up the car tomorrow.
10-06-04, 10:41 PM
#33
Gabriel Gonzales = Crook.
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Originally Posted by 7th Heaven
...or were you stating that you have other errands to do tomorrow thus maybe not giving you time to get the car?
He lives about 45 minutes away so I usually have to make time to go over there to get stood up.
10-06-04, 11:09 PM
#34
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vick, i am so sorry this has happend to you. if you would have told me where your car was that day you gave me that rotor i would have been blunt and told you to get your car the **** OUTA THERE!
many of you know jason(formerporscheguy)..... well let me tell you an experience jason and i have had with these guys. marco was selling his FC... he(or gabriel, not sure) posted a thread on houstonrx7club.com....
http://www.houstonrx7club.com/forum/...=&threadid=548
what he wrote in that description is absolutely positively the total OPPOSITE of what the car was really like. to make a long story short(not really) jason was looking for an FC to play around with... he invited me to come along and help him out with what he was gonna maybe buy... ya know, the usual "help me out here, logan, because i'm not AS knowledgeable in FC's as you are". don't get me wrong, jason is a very smart guy when it comes to cars and especially FD's. he just wanted a second opinion and is not familliar of the "trims" of the sec. gens. well, jason was right when he asked me to come along.
more on what one of them told jason over the phone about the car...
"it's got a rebuilt jspec engine"<-this was when i told jason, it's getting to sound fishy...
"it's in good shape"
"the tranny is new"
you know, that sort of bullshit.
it was about ~1 month ago that we ventured out to view the FC. around 11:00am jason picked me up and we met gabriel and marco at an intersection, they then lead the way to their house. once we got out of jason's truck i noticed right away we were in for something else.
ladies and gentleman.... we were SHOCKED to say the least. YES, he was only selling it for $1000. but let me tell you, this POS was not even worth $100. there was NOTHING on that vehicle that was worth ANYTHING. if you wanted to buy it to part it out, you COULDN'T. that's how bad it was. nothing was worth anything.
so we went for a test drive, that didn't last very long. jason took to the driver's seat with me as wingman. we were, uh, SCARED. i will tell you why in a moment.
-jason started the car: yea, it started. barely.
-we backed out of the driveway: barely, the shifter was SLOPPY as a hobo.
-jason turned the steering wheel to turn onto the street: i don't know HOW he managed to move the BUSTED steering pump, but it whined and it was STIFF.
-finally, jason was on the road: mind you, he had no intension to go onto the 'real' roads with this thing, he only stayed in the neighborhood. because the hood latch was busted which meant that the hood would not stay DOWN. if he would have gone over 50MPH, the hood would have flown up and possibly have killed the both of us.
-the suspension was.... well you know...
-as jason and i were trying to get into a comfortable position, we tried to rest our arms on the armrest... oops, the center armrest had fallen over.(interior was shot)
-we made it back to gabriel/marco's place alive(God was with us on that day
)
-we stopped in the driveway, the car stalled. hmmmm
-end of test drive.
-got out, it was smoking(white)
anyways, i got out. i'd like to point out: when it comes to FC's i know my ****. i might not be as in DEPTH as ICEMARK, or aaron cake, reted etc. but i know what i'm looking at and will be rebuilding my motor my self when it comes time, etc. not a problem for me at all, i'm "building" my jspec as we speak(nothing internal yet) and i'm about to install an lt-8 SOON...... i open the hood(which seemed fairly easy ) and find a MESS.
-vacuum lines on the wrong nipples alot of them.
-battery tray MISSING the battery was laying on NOTHING!
-the sealant between the housings/plates were sticking out about half an inch
-the wiring harness was ON the alternator instead of UNDER it.
-there was a leak right under the pulsation dampener
-the radiator hose was about to BUST!
-this was the dagger in the heart: there were no clamps of any sort on the fuel lines. to add to that, the lines were not even fully on the fuel hardlines.
the fuel filter was dangling.
we've seen enough, or have we? it's time to look at the exterior...
-dents everywhere.
-the front bumper had a pretty bad dent on the bottom.
-one of them pointed out that he had just bought new tires for it. NO. i'm a tire tech and i would say just by looking at it, it had at MOST 4/32's of tread left... i would say more like 3/32's.
gabriel was sitting in his chair the whole time watching me point these things out. i pointed out to him that the reason why it might be stalling sometimes is because there is no clamp to hold down the intake elbow!!! it was loose. which caused the car to shut down because the AFM wasn't gettin' any readings! marco then said "wow, i didn't know that.."
marco seemed like a cool guy. i feel that i taught him a few things that day. he really wants to get involved with these sort of things, but it seems no one is willing to teach him.
ofcourse i wasn't rude about them wasting our time. neither was jason. then after we inspected the car we got to talkin about gabriels "shop" and what not... we got to talkin about rotarys and cars and standalones and what he's building. he's told me about his FD project and his T series turbo... but then he pointed out that he was going to stay with his stock intercooler setup for now WITH the T series turbo!!!!! i could tell immediately jason was dumbfounded by that. and so was i. if you don't know, a T series turbo, i.e. T66, T72, is huge.. then i asked him if he knew anyone who tunes a microtech around the houston area... he told me that HE could tune it for me....
yeah bud, i'm gonna let you do that to my car.
no.
needless to say jason didn't buy that piece of scrap. we went home feeling very weird. you know, like a feeling of emptiness and awkwardness...
gabriel is no businessman. he is a thief, a liar, and not very knowledgeable about how a vehicle works. sue him and make him go out of business for ever. he deserves no second chance.
http://www.houstonrx7club.com/forum/...&searchid=4008
many of you know jason(formerporscheguy)..... well let me tell you an experience jason and i have had with these guys. marco was selling his FC... he(or gabriel, not sure) posted a thread on houstonrx7club.com....
http://www.houstonrx7club.com/forum/...=&threadid=548
what he wrote in that description is absolutely positively the total OPPOSITE of what the car was really like. to make a long story short(not really) jason was looking for an FC to play around with... he invited me to come along and help him out with what he was gonna maybe buy... ya know, the usual "help me out here, logan, because i'm not AS knowledgeable in FC's as you are". don't get me wrong, jason is a very smart guy when it comes to cars and especially FD's. he just wanted a second opinion and is not familliar of the "trims" of the sec. gens. well, jason was right when he asked me to come along.
more on what one of them told jason over the phone about the car...
"it's got a rebuilt jspec engine"<-this was when i told jason, it's getting to sound fishy...
"it's in good shape"
"the tranny is new"
you know, that sort of bullshit.
it was about ~1 month ago that we ventured out to view the FC. around 11:00am jason picked me up and we met gabriel and marco at an intersection, they then lead the way to their house. once we got out of jason's truck i noticed right away we were in for something else.
ladies and gentleman.... we were SHOCKED to say the least. YES, he was only selling it for $1000. but let me tell you, this POS was not even worth $100. there was NOTHING on that vehicle that was worth ANYTHING. if you wanted to buy it to part it out, you COULDN'T. that's how bad it was. nothing was worth anything.
so we went for a test drive, that didn't last very long. jason took to the driver's seat with me as wingman. we were, uh, SCARED. i will tell you why in a moment.
-jason started the car: yea, it started. barely.
-we backed out of the driveway: barely, the shifter was SLOPPY as a hobo.
-jason turned the steering wheel to turn onto the street: i don't know HOW he managed to move the BUSTED steering pump, but it whined and it was STIFF.
-finally, jason was on the road: mind you, he had no intension to go onto the 'real' roads with this thing, he only stayed in the neighborhood. because the hood latch was busted which meant that the hood would not stay DOWN. if he would have gone over 50MPH, the hood would have flown up and possibly have killed the both of us.
-the suspension was.... well you know...
-as jason and i were trying to get into a comfortable position, we tried to rest our arms on the armrest... oops, the center armrest had fallen over.(interior was shot)
-we made it back to gabriel/marco's place alive(God was with us on that day
)-we stopped in the driveway, the car stalled. hmmmm
-end of test drive.
-got out, it was smoking(white)
anyways, i got out. i'd like to point out: when it comes to FC's i know my ****. i might not be as in DEPTH as ICEMARK, or aaron cake, reted etc. but i know what i'm looking at and will be rebuilding my motor my self when it comes time, etc. not a problem for me at all, i'm "building" my jspec as we speak(nothing internal yet) and i'm about to install an lt-8 SOON...... i open the hood(which seemed fairly easy
) and find a MESS.-vacuum lines on the wrong nipples alot of them.
-battery tray MISSING the battery was laying on NOTHING!
-the sealant between the housings/plates were sticking out about half an inch
-the wiring harness was ON the alternator instead of UNDER it.
-there was a leak right under the pulsation dampener
-the radiator hose was about to BUST!
-this was the dagger in the heart: there were no clamps of any sort on the fuel lines. to add to that, the lines were not even fully on the fuel hardlines.
the fuel filter was dangling.we've seen enough, or have we? it's time to look at the exterior...
-dents everywhere.
-the front bumper had a pretty bad dent on the bottom.
-one of them pointed out that he had just bought new tires for it. NO. i'm a tire tech and i would say just by looking at it, it had at MOST 4/32's of tread left... i would say more like 3/32's.
gabriel was sitting in his chair the whole time watching me point these things out. i pointed out to him that the reason why it might be stalling sometimes is because there is no clamp to hold down the intake elbow!!! it was loose. which caused the car to shut down because the AFM wasn't gettin' any readings! marco then said "wow, i didn't know that.."
marco seemed like a cool guy. i feel that i taught him a few things that day. he really wants to get involved with these sort of things, but it seems no one is willing to teach him.
ofcourse i wasn't rude about them wasting our time. neither was jason. then after we inspected the car we got to talkin about gabriels "shop" and what not... we got to talkin about rotarys and cars and standalones and what he's building. he's told me about his FD project and his T series turbo... but then he pointed out that he was going to stay with his stock intercooler setup for now WITH the T series turbo!!!!! i could tell immediately jason was dumbfounded by that. and so was i. if you don't know, a T series turbo, i.e. T66, T72, is huge.. then i asked him if he knew anyone who tunes a microtech around the houston area... he told me that HE could tune it for me....
yeah bud, i'm gonna let you do that to my car.
no.
needless to say jason didn't buy that piece of scrap. we went home feeling very weird. you know, like a feeling of emptiness and awkwardness...
gabriel is no businessman. he is a thief, a liar, and not very knowledgeable about how a vehicle works. sue him and make him go out of business for ever. he deserves no second chance.
http://www.houstonrx7club.com/forum/...&searchid=4008
10-06-04, 11:49 PM
#35
Kutabare
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Damn. I can't believe that stuff happened in my own backyard. It's hard enough to find quality rotary engine tuners around here, especially on the northwest side of Houston, and your story certainly doesn't help.
I think T04Needy mentioned to me about seeing RPP some time ago. Good thing I actually didn't go there, especially in my RX-8.
I think T04Needy mentioned to me about seeing RPP some time ago. Good thing I actually didn't go there, especially in my RX-8.
10-06-04, 11:53 PM
#36
Gabriel Gonzales = Crook.
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Logan- Thanks for adding your $.02. That really adds on to the type of person he is. I've heard a LOT of **** about the shady side deals he has going on. I'm sure you're not the first he tried to take for a ride (just look at my dumbass).
BTW was the FC black?
BTW was the FC black?
10-06-04, 11:58 PM
#38
Gabriel Gonzales = Crook.
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10-07-04, 12:19 AM
#39
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Right? I don't know what'd I'd do in that position. The rational side would want me to sort things out legally, but the irrational wants me to kick homeboy in the throat, and spit in his face.
10-07-04, 01:08 PM
#43
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Vick
Get a Lawyer and take legal action against everyone involved (Marco jr and sr, Gabriel, and his shops) . The link on the Houston local forum has Marco's cell listed on it. Sorry to hear about this Vick. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Jason
Get a Lawyer and take legal action against everyone involved (Marco jr and sr, Gabriel, and his shops) . The link on the Houston local forum has Marco's cell listed on it. Sorry to hear about this Vick. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Jason
10-07-04, 02:28 PM
#44
Gabriel Gonzales = Crook.
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Thanks, Jason. You bring up a good point. Maybe it will take litigition against Marcos for them to finally realize Gabriel is a serious liability.
Here's an interesting link. He's trying to find more people to scam. I guess business is slow...
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?p=3575699
Here's an interesting link. He's trying to find more people to scam. I guess business is slow...
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?p=3575699
Last edited by Vick; 10-07-04 at 02:51 PM.
10-07-04, 03:30 PM
#45
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Originally Posted by Vick
Thanks, Jason. You bring up a good point. Maybe it will take litigition against Marcos for them to finally realize Gabriel is a serious liability.
Here's an interesting link. He's trying to find more people to scam. I guess business is slow...
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?p=3575699
Here's an interesting link. He's trying to find more people to scam. I guess business is slow...
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?p=3575699
At the August Houston RX-7 Club meeting Gabriel's "promoters/employees?" asked to meet with the Board because they wanted to present an opportunity to the club and it's members directly. Ok, it's America everyone should have a chance to voice their opinions and desires. So they did their little presentation and asked to advertise this "engine closing" on the local forum and to the club directly at one of the next meetings. The Board was fully aware of GG's involvement and agreed that it would be ok, as long as he or his business wasn't mentioned.
Trying my best not to let another negative spin come to the club, I did my best to make them fully aware of what kind of people we were dealing with (maybe not J & A directly) but I'm sorry if you run with trash and support it, you carry the burden of it. However, I got the impression that people felt "I" was the only who had ever voiced problems, it was "MY" problem, perception and "I" was being unfair.
Hopefully now that others have brought similar experiences to light, the Houston RX-7 Club board will revisit their decision about allowing GG or his affiliates around their cars or offering their assistance to club members via the club and/or local forum.
There is so much more involvement in the club today than there was 3 years ago and I honestly feel it's because the club has strived to be more positive, active, dedicated and community/family orientated (of course the RX8 market helped emensely too). But it's taken a lot of work by a "few" individuals to keep it going and strive to make it a "safe" environment. Although I wasn't around during the times of Brian Weiner, I've heard numerous stories from various members about the situation and how bad moral was. I know there isn't a single person who wants that back around the club, but it sure seems to me if GG and/or his affliates are around we're heading back down that road
10-08-04, 12:13 AM
#46
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Im glad vic finally posted this. i was the one that took the pictures for him, and can vouch for the condition of the car... total ****. I couldnt believe how the car was just left there to rot. that big *** dent in the car, how dirty it was, the condition of the motor and parts, it looked as if the car was stolen, taken for a joy ride, then stripped. like i said.. i have seen the car in person and can tell you, from the pix i took, that the pictures dont do justice to the actual condition of the car.. its much worse in person.i hope everything works out for you homie..
10-08-04, 12:20 AM
#47
Gabriel Gonzales = Crook.
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rx7racerx93xx- Thanks for all your help and advice.
Yeah, the pictures really don't show how bad the condition of the car is. It looks MUCH worse in person.
Yeah, the pictures really don't show how bad the condition of the car is. It looks MUCH worse in person.
10-08-04, 12:28 AM
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i also forgot to mention.. this "shop" is hardly that.. its a peice of **** wooden garage that fits one car. the place looks more like a junk yard than a shop, there are rx7s scattered all over the place, and im willing to bet they are probably customer cars too.. all beat up and taken apart. All of this is behind a legit looking shop, making you THINK the place actually works on cars.... yeah.. sure.
10-08-04, 12:38 AM
#50
Gabriel Gonzales = Crook.
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Originally Posted by rx7racerx93xx
i also forgot to mention.. this "shop" is hardly that.. its a peice of **** wooden garage that fits one car. the place looks more like a junk yard than a shop, there are rx7s scattered all over the place, and im willing to bet they are probably customer cars too.. all beat up and taken apart. All of this is behind a legit looking shop, making you THINK the place actually works on cars.... yeah.. sure.
Last edited by Vick; 10-08-04 at 12:52 AM.