Aluminum Victory Radiator buyers beware!

[shelby2828]

Money is awful hard to come by these days, and I have recently foolishly pissed $300 of mine away, so I wanted to warn anyone who might be looking for a radiator upgrade. I purchased a 3-row radiator on ebay from seller Radiator*1* recently, this seller also operates under several additional business names, including:
Victory Radiators
Radiator One
Engineered Cooling Products
3rowradiators.com
speedcooling.com
entropyrad.com
Here is my experience with this seller:
My first radiator lasted a couple of months, when it started leaking, I was frustrated, but having a 3 year warranty I was happy! I called and was told the quickest way to get a replacement was to purchase a second radiator, then use that packaging to return the faulty radiator, a return shipping label would be sent to me, and my refund would be processed when the radiator was returned (awesome, I was so pleased to be dealing with a state-side company that put the customer first). When I packaged the leaking radiator I was told they don't pay for return shipping afterall, I had to pay that, so I shelled out $30 for return shipping. When I called to speak to the owner about shipping, he jumped to telling me that their warranty doesn't cover galvanic corrosion (he had yet to see my radiator, but suspected this was the cause of the leak). At this point they had $400 of my money, plus an additional $30 for shipping. 10 days after my radiator had been shipped back my replacement radiator sprung a leak at the weld on the top tank.

I called 3 disconnected numbers before I got to the owner who says my original radiator "looked like an abortion" and he "always sees this problem on jeeps and corvettes" (Yet it isn't mentioned in his warranty or product description, it simply states "3 year Victory Radiator factory warranty against defects in craftsman ship or failure that causes your radiator to leak. "

After threatening to sue him in small claims court for my shipping costs, my two radiators, my two bottles of radiator leak stop (my vehicle is my only daily driver), and the 4 bottles of coolant he agreed to refund my original radiator costs because (and this is a direct quote) "because you are a douchey customer who I am sick of dealing with"

In my opinion, His warranty boils down to this, the radiator is covered until it starts to leak!

Beware, I have learned a lesson, stick to companies that sell quality products under ONE business name....when you sell quality there is no need to hide behind multiple company names.

I hope this rant helps save someone the frustration, aggravation, and financial loss I have gone through.

[ItsRandy]

Originally Posted by shelby2828

Money is awful hard to come by these days, and I have recently foolishly pissed $300 of mine away, so I wanted to warn anyone who might be looking for a radiator upgrade. I purchased a 3-row radiator on ebay from seller Radiator*1* recently, this seller also operates under several additional business names, including:
Victory Radiators
Radiator One
Engineered Cooling Products
3rowradiators.com
speedcooling.com
entropyrad.com
Here is my experience with this seller:
My first radiator lasted a couple of months, when it started leaking, I was frustrated, but having a 3 year warranty I was happy! I called and was told the quickest way to get a replacement was to purchase a second radiator, then use that packaging to return the faulty radiator, a return shipping label would be sent to me, and my refund would be processed when the radiator was returned (awesome, I was so pleased to be dealing with a state-side company that put the customer first). When I packaged the leaking radiator I was told they don't pay for return shipping afterall, I had to pay that, so I shelled out $30 for return shipping. When I called to speak to the owner about shipping, he jumped to telling me that their warranty doesn't cover galvanic corrosion (he had yet to see my radiator, but suspected this was the cause of the leak). At this point they had $400 of my money, plus an additional $30 for shipping. 10 days after my radiator had been shipped back my replacement radiator sprung a leak at the weld on the top tank.

I called 3 disconnected numbers before I got to the owner who says my original radiator "looked like an abortion" and he "always sees this problem on jeeps and corvettes" (Yet it isn't mentioned in his warranty or product description, it simply states "3 year Victory Radiator factory warranty against defects in craftsman ship or failure that causes your radiator to leak. "

After threatening to sue him in small claims court for my shipping costs, my two radiators, my two bottles of radiator leak stop (my vehicle is my only daily driver), and the 4 bottles of coolant he agreed to refund my original radiator costs because (and this is a direct quote) "because you are a douchey customer who I am sick of dealing with"

In my opinion, His warranty boils down to this, the radiator is covered until it starts to leak!

Beware, I have learned a lesson, stick to companies that sell quality products under ONE business name....when you sell quality there is no need to hide behind multiple company names.

I hope this rant helps save someone the frustration, aggravation, and financial loss I have gone through.

Kinda' scary...I bought a radiator from entropyrad.com a couple of years ago. I hope mine doesn't start leaking. How did you find out he was operating under so many different names?

[shelby2828]

The ebay listing has the 3row site listed, when I spoke to the owner, he mentioned his warranty could be found at another website, and after calling the various phone numbers on the different websites, I ended up back at the One guy who takes orders who must have screwed up and given me the entropy phone number (which led me to the same familiar owner). I was preparing for a lawsuit, so I wrote down every scrap of info. I came across, while galvanic corrosion can take out a radiator, it doesn't happen in a little over a week, and if my vehicle were that electrically unstable the computer would be fried, and the factory radiator or heater core would have leaks by now....and they don't.

[cdowns]

i dopnt have a problem like that dealing with my good old reliable local autoparts store

[truckdude239]

I bought a griffin rad from summit 267 dollars best money i ever spent

[cool68]

likely not the only seller of bad radiators, and more. lots of fake stuff out there. everyone must really check out what they are buying, especially from places that list no physical location of business.

[shelby2828]

I should have clarified in my original post, the real function of this post was to put the word out there, I tend to search for reviews for everything that I buy and this radiator was no exception, when I went to search for reviews I could not find any on the web , hopefully all of the business information will help futute would be buyers.
I should also mention that half of the holes did not line up, and holes that were suppose to accept my 1/4" bolts ended up having M10 inserts pressed into them.

[ItsRandy]

Originally Posted by shelby2828

I should have clarified in my original post, the real function of this post was to put the word out there, I tend to search for reviews for everything that I buy and this radiator was no exception, when I went to search for reviews I could not find any on the web , hopefully all of the business information will help futute would be buyers.
I should also mention that half of the holes did not line up, and holes that were suppose to accept my 1/4" bolts ended up having M10 inserts pressed into them.

What was this radiator for?