Reluctantly: Buyers beware! KVT and RoverSolutions.com

[drg]

I know many of you have a presence on DiscoWeb and I'm certainly one who wouldn't like to see a lot of the crap that sometimes goes on over there to migrate to LRO, so I've not really wanted to mention anything about this here. But I think I have to send out a warning to people, because a problem that seemed to be in the past is cropping up again.

Kyle Van Tassel, who operates RoverSolutions.com, making custom roof racks, bumpers, and Hi-Lift mounts, has been taking deposits on custom fabrication and then disappearing. It had appeared that he simply fell off the face of the earth, but a thread on DiscoWeb leads me to believe that he is STILL taking money from people:

http://discoweb.org/forums/showthread.php?p=161695

Please, if you intend to buy something over the Internet, even if it is someone who appears to have a community presence, don't agree to pay up front unless you use some kind of fraud-protected funds like credit card.

And more specifically, beware of Kyle and RoverSolutions, as there have been and continue to be allegations of fraud (including from me... the whole story is complicated and I won't repeat it here, but you can search the archives on DiscoWeb for 'KVT' and 'roof rack' and get the gist).

Incidentally, Kyle is one of the administrators of DiscoWeb, and apparently he's the one who physically manages its servers. I have a suspicion (though absolutely no direct knowledge) that KVT is indirectly related to why LRO exists in the first place, and for that I say thank you Serg.

[RageRover]

Wow...isn't what this guy Kyle, is doing illegal? That would piss me off if someone pulled something like that. Do you know how much this Kyle has gotten from certain people?

[roverX]

Sorry if you fell victim to that but it is actually old news. Very old news and I am surprised people are still falling for it.

[keptin]

Originally Posted by drg

Kyle Van Tassel, who operates RoverSolutions.com, making custom roof racks, bumpers, and Hi-Lift mounts, has been taking deposits on custom fabrication and then disappearing. It had appeared that he simply fell off the face of the earth, but a thread on DiscoWeb leads me to believe that he is STILL taking money from people:

This has been happening for a long time. Ive followed the several 300-post threads on him. He takes the money and then doesnt do the work....or it takes him months to finish it. There have been people that ordered and paid for something to recieve it so far down the road that they have already sold thier LR.

[RageRover]

What a load of crap! Either does the work in a few months instead a few days, or doesn't do it at all! He's pretty lousy!

[RageRover]

I hear you, I apologize, a point had to get through.

[rmuller]

Originally Posted by roverX

Sorry if you fell victim to that but it is actually old news. Very old news and I am surprised people are still falling for it.

Honestly, for the most part.. people are not still falling for it.. drg, amongst 90% of the other people complaining on Discoweb are part of a group that have placed their orders over a year ago.. back when Kyle was actually producing and delivering.. people trusted him, because way back when, he was trustworthy... I've seen the backpack racks in person, some of them made their way out.. it was just one day he decided to stop doing everything. Most of these people have no way to get their money back.. he insisted on high downpayments through Paypal, who has a limitation on their fraud protection, and that has since expired...

Kyle has always been nice to me in the past, but unlike JC, I have no quarrels with posting his personal information for people to try to collect on their lost money. This doesn't stand in the business world.

[02disco2]

I disagree, I think that if someone got ripped off by a fellow Land Rover person, then they have ever right to relay that information to other owners as a precautionary measure. I have a HUGE problem with people who are lacking in the ethics department. If it were legal to burn people at the stake, I would suggest that be the punishment for people who prey on fellow automotive fanatics, especially when or IF they run the very forums where these people reside.

*DISCLAIMER, I have no intimate knowledge of any of the people mentioned on the thread, nor am I trying to imply guilt to any one party or group. Enough of the legal mumbo jumbo already

[RageRover]

Amen to that.

[rmuller]

no hard feelings at all... I've just known (and known of) kyle for over 3 years now, and he'd have no problem bringing things to the public eye. This isn't a one off person he's ripped off.. he's ripped off at least 10 people in the land rover community... people who we all wheel with on a regular basis. A lot of us have to bite our tongues on discoweb.org for the fear of him coming online and banning us.. but I don't see any problem exposing it here.

Yeah, I know what you're saying about LRO being a happy place.. but hell, you can't have happy when members are being ripped off by someone. Some people are too reluctant/shy to take any action against someone if they are ripped off, but if the community comes together, hopefully something will be done.

I hope that everything is okay with Kyle as I feel he has been a strong asset in the LR community and is a genuinely nice guy from what I hear.. but he needs to make this right as soon as possible.

He needs to take out a home equity loan, pay back all the deposits, and then shut his business down. Amen.

[01001010]

Point taken. Changes made

[roverX]

Originally Posted by rmuller

He needs to take out a home equity loan, pay back all the deposits, and then shut his business down. Amen.

Now there is an idea!

Yeah, Kyle really is an asset. He knows a lot about rovers. He needs to go above and beyond to get his rep back.

[RageRover]

I should hope a guy with a lot of knowledge of the Land Rover would go back to the top. I would.

[Muddy Oval]

Kyle did good work- and had a stellar reputation which abruptly all came to a halt. It's sad, because I think something 'bad' happened in his life- but I think all he had to do was communicate with people and whatever the results of the situation dictates would have been workable for all involved.
I think a "real" business should operate using it's own credit card services- PayPal is a really cheesy way to operate and should serve as a warning.

[Series 3 guy]

That dude is a Bum!!!He better hope no one gets hold of him. D-Web should distance themselves from a guy like that or they might get a bed rep.