Hello! Log in or Register   |  Help  |  Donate  |  Buy Shirts See all banner ads | Advertise on TheSamba.com  
TheSamba.com
 
iamgabriel - [email protected] - Gabe / Rogue Vanagons
Forum Index -> Buyer and Seller Feedback Share: Facebook Twitter
Reply to topic
Print View
Quick sort: Show newest posts on top | Show oldest posts on top View previous topic :: View next topic  
Viewing feedback for: iamgabriel
Email: [email protected]
Last Visited: Today
View user's profile   View user's ads
Author Message
jliving591
Samba Member


Joined: April 29, 2004
Posts: 7
Location: San Jose, CA
jliving591 is offline 

PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2021 11:11 am    Post subject: iamgabriel - [email protected] - Gabe / Rogue Vanagons Reply with quote

iamgabriel Gabriel "Gabe" Chesley Rogue Vanagons feedback

As you can see, this is a lengthy feedback review. One reason for this is that I am out $25,000 from my recent transaction with Gabe [Rogue Vanagons]. More importantly, this experience has been traumatic for me. Over the past few months, it really put a dent in my love for Vanagons, which has been my hobby for the past 22 years. I have owned over ten Vanagons during this time and even a couple of Eurovans. Usually, I am driving and messing around with two at a time, sometimes more. So I am familiar with them and am not surprised if a new van has flaws. They all do to some extent.
Gabe listed his 1989 Bluestar Vanagon for $18,500, stating that it had been inspected, repaired as needed, fully serviced, and was in excellent condition. He stated that all mechanical systems were in working order. If that was mostly accurate, the price would be reasonable. Unfortunately, the Vanagon was severely neglected and needed repair or service of almost every mechanical system. It would save a lot of space if I simply listed the things that did work. But I think it is more helpful if I describe the problems.
Side note: Gabe listed this Vanagon on eBay, after I had already seen his listings for this van on TheSamba and CL. I bid on eBay but lost the auction at about $14K. He contacted me about three hours after the end of the auction and said that the supposed high bidder had backed out. So he could sell me the van off eBay. Yes, I know that should have been a red flag. But I had been looking for an 89 Bluestar or Whitestar automatic with AC for a few years.
I had just finished a five-year long restoration on a 1984 sunroof Vanagon. I had it gone through top to bottom at VanCafe [when they were still in Santa Cruz] and Peninsula Automotive. It was in the paint shop for a year. I bought two running 1990 Carats and used the parts to put a full Carat interior into the Sunroof. I had always wanted to do this and had only seen this done two times, once in Europe and once in the US. Turns out, even though I still believe this was the coolest thing ever, my wife does not like sunroofs and but does need air conditioning. Which I guess is reasonable considering we are in San Jose, CA. So I agreed I would not buy another Vanagon project and started looking for a Bluestar. Gabe and I made a deal to trade my fully restored 1984 sunroof with Carat interior for his Blue Star. I also gave him $4000 in cash and the entire van filled with the extra parts that I had accumulated over the past five years [not junk, but instrument clusters, jump seats, new panels, etc]. I knew that this deal was going to be lucrative for him. But he has a Vanagon business, and as such I was comfortable that he would make a minimum $10,000 on our trade.
I drove seven hours to the Oregon border. The Bluestar he showed up with was clearly a little rough around the edges and not as described. There were some obvious problems such as a cracked windshield. But he had driven there about two hours from Grants Pass, so it was at least running okay, not overheating, etc. I looked it over it in the parking lot of a health food store, and we made the trade.
The Bluestar drove okay back to San Jose. Okay as in, it drove down the road, didn’t overheat, shifted, and stopped. I noticed the transmission shifting hard/banging a bit by the time I got home, and the power steering started to whine. A half hour down the road I realized the odometer was broken. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that a licensed dealer would sell a vehicle with a broken odometer and not disclose it. I started to get worried but was still hopeful that the van could be sorted out. The following day, I started the van [cold], and it couldn’t idle. It would stall. Eventually I could get it to run, but the idle fluctuated wildly from 1000 to 1300 when cold. So I started to do a more thorough inspection. It didn’t take long before I realized that this van was in really bad shape. [FYI, I have pictures of virtually all of the described defects and would be happy to send them to anyone if interested]. Pieces of the engine were literally falling off. Including the oil filler tube which had become disconnected and was resting on the drive belts getting chewed in half [uh, you can’t change the oil without an oil filler tube attached to the engine. So much for being “serviced”].
The coolant was black and filled with head gasket sealer. It looked like a bizarre milkshake [I have photos of this too].
The power steering reservoir was filled to overflowing, as was the transmission.
Parts of the wiring harness appeared to have burnt. Fuel odor in the engine bay.
The muffler was hanging on with one strap [the other one was missing], with a random bolt lodged underneath the second strap.
The thermostat was stuck open with two large black pieces wedged into it. I couldn’t tell if that has intentional or not, but it’s really bad either way.
The van quit starting once the nighttime temps here dropped to 50 degrees [turns out the battery was almost seven years old].
Two seatbelts didn’t work, including one rear shoulder belt which would require disassembly of the corner AC duct to replace.
The ignition wires were random generic ones that didn’t seat properly onto the plugs.
Slow leak in power steering lines. Steering pump whined badly.
Engine tin was missing some of the main bolts and smaller bolts. It was hanging askew off the engine.
The AC was inoperable. To be fair, this is the ONLY thing that he disclosed to me, but he did so only when I pressed him multiple times to confirm that there were no known mechanical problems just a few hours before driving to meet him. He did not disclose this in his samba, craigslist, or eBay listing, which specifically stated it had AC.
The shocks were gone. I mean technically they were still present, but they had literally no resistance.
Power mirrors inoperable.
Front heater/defrost inoperable.
Missing jump seat trays and bolt covers everywhere.
Wiper arms were inoperable, they just flopped around [probably most of you have dealt with this], windshield washers inoperable, and windshield was cracked. Two of three interior lights were cracked in half. Of course, many of these broken items are not a big deal, but they are also obvious if he had done a dealer inspection of the van or driven it for a short period of time.
Etc, etc, etc. Presumably, you don’t want to hear about the minutia.
So I contacted Gabe, and we discussed possible remedies to make this work for both of us. I suggested a few things such as we split the cost of major repairs, he cover 25% of repairs, etc. I also offered to take the van back to him [14 hours+ round trip] or even ship it to him. He would keep my Sunroof Carat, which he listed on TheSamba almost immediately for $28,000 [“sorry no offers due to high demand”] and sold a few days later. Like I said, it was nice. So just taking his van back, sorting it out, and selling it at an eBay price, he would *still* make $20K profit. He agreed that I could return the van but later texted: “I don’t have a lot of liquid cash right now.” He said all his money was “wrapped up in inventory,” and that he would take care of it when he sold one or two vans.
A few weeks went by. Then a few more, then a month or two. I checked in with him by text or telephone every week or two. I left him a bunch of voicemails, very polite, but received no return calls. Eventually, he just stopped answering my calls. I don’t think he returned a single voicemail. At that point, it began to be clear what was happening. Just to be sure, I called him from one of my office numbers two times a few minutes after calling and leaving him a voicemail from my cell phone. As expected, he picked up immediately both times. He then said he would have some money when he sold some vans “in the spring.” The last time I called and tried make a more specific plan, he basically told me to stop calling him. And that was it.
Prior to this, I had never purchased a Vanagon from a dealer. Gabe told me that he looks at over 30 vans a year. So I was naïve and didn’t do as thorough an inspection as I had done in the past. I assumed that a private seller might overlook minor or major issues, but that a Vanagon specialist would have a pretty good idea of a van’s overall condition. And present it as such.
So the Bluestar has been sitting at my house for four months while I slowly get it into a reasonably good/safe condition, so I can sell it to someone else. I would never be dishonest in a sale. In the condition in which I received it, I would only have sold it to a private seller as being in “nice project condition.” After their initial inspection, Peninsula Automotive advised me that it was unsafe to drive. They did a lengthy and expensive inspection which was very detailed. Though it would have been easier for me if they just listed the systems that did not need repair or service [the headlights, taillights, one turn signal, rear heater core, not much else]. I have since spent a lot of time and thousands of dollars. I can’t register the van yet, as it won’t smog due to the ongoing idle issues. And the title he gave me is signed over to *him* from someone else. I had never seen an Oregon title; and yeah, I should have brought my glasses and looked at it more closely. So I will be listing this Bluestar soon and selling it at a loss of $20-$25K, if I’m lucky. It’s now in pretty decent shape. But my purchase experience with Gabe left me with some PTSD symptoms, so it must go. I am hoping to pick up a new Bluestar or Whitestar soon.
Finally, I have talked about this experience with a handful of Vanagon enthusiasts over the past few months. Since then, I have been contacted by roughly a half dozen others who bought vans from Gabe and were similarly “disappointed.” My honest characterization of this transaction would be “defrauded,” but I’ve otherwise tried to be as objective/factual as possible in this review. Honesty is important to me, and I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct.
BTW:
-Vanagons are awesome.
-It’s time to get on the road again!
~ jeff
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Squidfish
Samba Member


Joined: November 24, 2004
Posts: 336
Location: 95519
Squidfish is offline 

PostPosted: Mon May 24, 2021 9:43 am    Post subject: Re: iamgabriel - [email protected] - Gabe / Rogue Vanagons Reply with quote

Gabriel is a very dishonest seller IMO.

I sold him a 1984 CHC T3 Vanagon back in November and within the week, he was then reselling it for a MASSIVE profit margin. Great for him, bad on me right? Except he stated in this new ad that it had been stored indoors, an amazing CA only van and was in great, driving condition -- grossly incorrect and un-true. The van had been sitting for five years. I told him of several cracks in the CHC roof and the generally unsafe condition of it at the time of sale. It also needed internal engine work, window seal rust, brake work, and basically all systems gone through IMO, hence why I sold it with a bill of sale and not going through CA smog paperwork. He towed it back to OR.

He seems to have put new wheels/tires on it, a battery, a grill, some go-westy stickers and then relisted it, concealing all the TRUE problem information IMO and hiding the rust/top problems in his pictures taken. Unless he did an amazing amount of mechanical and body work within a weeks time, I just don't believe any of it. He even admitted to me he doesn't do body work or much mechanical work, mentioning shops in Eugene/Medford he worked with.

I would have walked away and just never recommended him to anyone, my bad... -- but when I ran across a CL add in his local Oregon area exclaiming how he had sold them the van and was not in said condition of sale, he threatened them with litigation. I just want to state my experience here on theSamba as a warning to others to avoid this OR licensed dealer and Samba classifieds regular.

Also, noticed he is listing out of date tires on rim combos for sale, not safe at all. --John
_________________
1985.5 - Vanagon Westfalia Weekender Wolfsburg Edition - LH8U - "Penny"
- 2.6i 5-Cylinder 10v (2004)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Forum Index -> Buyer and Seller Feedback All times are Mountain Standard Time/Pacific Daylight Savings Time
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

About | Help! | Advertise | Donate | Premium Membership | Privacy/Terms of Use | Contact Us | Site Map
Copyright © 1996-2023, Everett Barnes. All Rights Reserved.
Not affiliated with or sponsored by Volkswagen of America | Forum powered by phpBB
Links to eBay or other vendor sites may be affiliate links where the site receives compensation.