If you’ve ever had to replace the radiator on your truck, you’ve probably heard of a company called General Radiator. They’re an aftermarket radiator manufacturer and you’ve seen their ads everywhere claiming “Our Prices Are Lower Than Any Competitor PERIOD,” “Superior Quality,” and “Dependable, Realistic Warranties That Count!” It’s a big business serving big trucks, and it seems to me that they have a big reputation problem.
The Better Business Bureau, which has them listed as National Porges Radiator Corp, has received 27 complaints in the past 3 years and rates them an F, the lowest possible rating.
General Radiator’s Google page has 3 reviews, all of them negative.
And on the TruckersReport forum, 7 members have reported problems with General Radiator products and customer service.
If you read the reviews, it looks like the issue that customers are most upset about is their customer service. After all, this is the trucking industry and experienced drivers know that everything eventually breaks, usually at the worst possible time. When it does, you want the manufacturer to stand by their product and make it right. But, based on my analysis of the reviews of General Radiator’s products, it is my opinion that the majority of reviews show that General Radiator is not honoring the warranties on their products and is upsetting customers with lengthy runarounds and big repair bills.
It appears to me that General Radiator is paying attention to their customers, but not in the way that you might think. Last week I received an email from their lawyer demanding that the negative posts be removed because the “unfounded attacks” are damaging their “peerless reputation.” He went on to threaten that if I didn’t remove the reviews, the company would “have no alternative but to pursue all legal remedies available to it in order to protect its business and its reputation.”
TruckersReport was founded out of the frustration that comes from seeing companies and politicians taking advantage of truck drivers day after day. The goal has always been to give drivers a place to share information, warn each other about the bad guys, and hopefully make things better. I believe that our members have a right to talk about General Radiator, and surrendering to legal threats is a betrayal of our community principles.
This puts me in a tough spot. TruckersReport is an independent website, it isn’t owned by a corporation with a team of lawyers on standby. Paying for the legal defense of TruckersReport comes out of my own pocket. I’m not asking for your money; you have better things to spend it on and this isn’t a charity. But if you care about what this site stands for then tell another driver about what’s happening, mention it on twitter, facebook, or your mother’s knitting circle. The attention you bring to this story will make a difference.
Next Story: Company Owes $8 Million To Drivers, $5.7 Million To Bank
My boss went cheap and put one of those in my truck one time. One trip seven hours down the road, it busted a seam. They paid to have it brazed. About a month later, it busted the same seam. They told my boss to eat it. He ended up putting a real radiator in, and it would have been a real bargain to do that the first time around, because it would have saved the motel bills, the towing bills, the extra shop bills, etc. I think he ended up sinking close to $4,000 all told just to try to save $400 on a radiator.
NOT recommended!
I’m glad to see that you have remained independent. As long as the comments were not coerced, then there is no legal grounds for the company to sue you. Well, in USA frivolous lawsuits are not uncommon, but i’m sure you have plenty of supporters that will come to your defense.
I, too, am one of their unsatisfied customers ! I spent close to $800 with them,
had them ship my radiator to a repair shop to be installed. I paid for FedEx shipping.
Problem was, they didn’t bother to mention they DON’T insure my radiator in any way !
On the receiving end, the delivery guy for FedEx brought the package into Omaha
Freightliner, stood the box up against the wall — with the damage facing the wall,
of course — and Omaha Freightliner didn’t see the problem until the shop techs
came over to get it to install it.
NOBODY would compensate me, not for one dime of it.
The new radiator — with the damaged core — is STILL at Freightliner, as far
as I know. And NO, working folks don’t have money to sue — even when
they have a legitimate claim. Crooks and Scammers count on this too !
Another way to protest unscrupulous companies that takes advantage of you
is to file a complaint on RipOffReport.com. UNLIKE the BBB, which removes complaints
after a certain time period, RipOffReports.com NEVER removes the original complaint.
I filed last year on that site against Tradewinds out of Hoosier , Indiana. AND it got
results ! As a matter of fact when Tradewinds had someone contact me to settle what they owed me, the first thing he asked was ” IF we pay you will you remove your complaint on RipOffReport.com ? ” ( of course I never replied to that question ! )
And I forgot to mention, after filing my complaint on that site, I sent every Dept. at Tradewinds I had emails for a link to that RipOffReport 🙂 Didn’t want anyone to miss it !
My general radiator. Went 80 miles and had a seem leak.Th
e only Warraty they offered was in 200dollar credit on my next purchase
I am glad you are not beholden to any company with an axe to grind. Info in the following link should help you respond to their idiotic lawyer’s communication. You are welcome, & I won’t be sending you a bill!! LOL:
http://blog.internetcases.com/2010/09/09/yelp-successful-in-defamation-and-deceptive-acts-and-practices-c
The trouble with most attorneys is that they will tell you the earth is flat, & when you present factual info to the contrary, accuse you of maligning their client by disagreeing with them. Good luck!!@@
Don’t put up with the legal bullying. Just ignore it. As long as you don’t reply to them telling them you will remove it, and as long as it’s not in the sites policy, there shouldnt be a problem… it’s pretty well established that sites cannot be held responsible by user generated content.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-generated_content#Legal_problems_related_to_UGC
Everybody stop buying their radiators. They go belly up, fade to black, problem solved.
If general radiator thinks they have the best product. Then they should honour there warrenty. If there smart enough, they should see that the longer they go about doing what there doing. They will have there reputation ruined by word of mouth
You’re on solid legal ground. But they want you to think you’ll go broke defending yourself. It’s sad that these techniques for bullying web sites have become so common, but they are effective because so many give in. You might contact the Electronic Freedom Foundation for advice. Thanks for taking a stand.
Give ’em hell! I know there are several First Amendment groups that will help fight if needed. This lawyer tactic is called S.L.A.P.Ps- Suits Leavied Against Public Protests. I’ll share this with my facebook family.
Sam,
They don’t have a leg to stand on, and as far as I know you now have a legal avenue to pursue against the representative lawyers for using questionable tactics against you. I’d dig up some form of legal representation (EFF, or Electronic Freedom Foundation, comes to mind) and threaten to countersue. Bet that shuts them up real fast!
Let them get away with this, and every mother-luvin bottom feeder carrier will be on your doorstep with their teams of lawyers the next day. It would spell the end of the website, and certainly the associated forum. If need be, I’m sure that most of the forum members (myself definitely included) would be more than happy to contribute to a legal defense fund. Just let us know what is needed, and thank you for the time and dedication you and the mods put into the website for us.
Don’t let them intimidate you. In fact, you ought provide the lawyer’s email address so all of us (the public) can let him know (by flooding and jamming his email inbox) what we think about his attempted coercion.
The members of this site have saved me thousands of dollars, literally; about tips, shortcuts, companies (good and bad) and other useful information. Please don’t give in. I am willing to commit some of what I’ve saved to your defense if needed.
I unfortunately bought a radiator from them as well. A week after installing it, it developed a leak. When I called customer service, their answer was to send me a packet of stop leak! (Which I refused to put in.) After buying a good radiator, I took this one to my repair shop and was told by them it was not a very well made radiator and that I was not the first person to bring one in to them from the same manufacturer. I would avoid them at all costs.
Lot’s of rip off repairs in trucking. I went into a shop once and paid $150 to tell me nothing is wrong. Even though I had a warning light on. The problem is that when you are on the road with a break down. You are at the mercy of the shop. I think its unfair to just blame a cheaply made parts supplier and not also blame a shop that uses such bad parts. When I am unfamiliar with a part maker I ask the shop to give me options. OE vs after market. Tell me what the warranties are and the prices and let me decide with good information. A lot of these parts are pushed onto shops by owners looking to get a little better profit from those parts. But still offering a low price.
But then exsactly where will the quality come from if the shop is making more money and you are paying less? Ask yourself if saving a few bucks is worth it?
I would say let them sue. Then get their records in discovery and publish. Then when these people want to settle make them pay for your lawyers and punitive damages.
Facts are facts. That is your duty as this is what the site is for. They only have a case if you are not telling the truth. I believe in checking things out myself and not referring to hear-say. Thing is the BBB is not just an agency that takes complaints. They have to verify them.
http://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/radiators-automotive/national-porges-radiator-in-chicago-il-70000400
Same exact problem as so many people! We didn’t have our new radiator in for about a week when it started to leak right on the seam. It was a bad weld. We emailed, called, they refused to call us back. It took calling the truck paper to complain that they are advertising for crooks. It wasn’t long after that the owner called my husband and of course put all the blame on us. They are underhanded. They DO NOT have a warranty they stand by. We went right to freightliner and got a new one from them, absolutely NO problems. They claim that their radiators will help to cool the engine, but instead it was overheating, extremely overheating. Changed back to the factory radiator, no problems. We have all the photos and documentation. Honestly, they need to have a class action suit against them for these poor business practices.
Unfortunately, My internet was down and i couldn’t check there reviews. I was billed more than they quoted me.have asked twice for a detailed bill which i still have not received. The Radiator does not fit the truck period,by the way the slip with the radiator says guaranteed to fit ,cool and not leak. I can read a tape measure and the inlet and outlet tubes are in different location than original.After a day and a half on the phone with there b.s. was told by jim the owner to just cut hole in framing to get it to fit. I said not on a 100,000.00 dollar truck i will just return for the right radiator or a refund,to which he said i will not do that period,i said your paperwork says guaranteed to fit,he said flat out no,I sure would like to get my money back. Thanks
I bought a charge Air Cooler and Radiator from General and both have had to be replaced. The 2nd radiator lasted less the 30 days and had to be replaced with an OEM from Freightliner. So far the 2nd CAC is holding but not holding my breath on it. Still waitting for my refund on the return cores. And of course Jim does not return phone calls now.
Hi, didnt find out about their reputation until i had problems , 2 of the tubes leaking from day one, seams splitting on day 2,3,4, keep soldiering till i get my freightliner radiator, told jim he said he would send his majic fairy dust to pour in and the leaks would stop, told him to keep it, process server has a little something for him. thanks for reading
I purchased A radiator from General radiators last week. if I would have Read about this company before I purchased this radiator, I would not be in the predicament I’m In right now. Went to my truck this evening and to my surprise the new radiator is leaking from the bottom seam. I will be calling Jim at general radiator tomorrow morning. I will keep all posted of this out come on a daily basis.