Hey everyone. I wanted to respond directly to this post accusing Veygo of possibly using bots or alternate accounts on this subreddit.
Veygo does not use bots, fake accounts, paid replies, or alternate accounts to promote ourselves on r/Purdue. We have never paid, instructed, or asked anyone to post positive Reddit comments, defend us, or pretend to be an unaffiliated customer.
The only Reddit account used by Veygo is u/ARC_Rentals.
I understand why people are skeptical when a company gets discussed on Reddit, especially when the company itself has posted here before. But the evidence being used here does not show a connection between those accounts and Veygo. Generic usernames can look suspicious, but they are also common on Reddit.
If this were a coordinated bot or alt-account campaign, you would expect to see the same accounts repeatedly showing up across Veygo-related posts. That is not what happened. The accounts being accused are not a recurring group that appears every time Veygo is mentioned, and they are not connected to me, my team, or Veygo in any way.
I do not know any of the accused accounts in that post, and they are not employees, investors, friends, or ambassadors acting on our behalf.
In the post accusing Veygo of botting, the accusation relies mainly on a few positive comments made in response to a post asking whether Veygo is legit.
In the past three years, Veygo has completed over 2,000 rentals. When a post asks whether Veygo is legitimate, it is not surprising that some people who have rented from us may choose to answer. That does not mean we asked them to.
There are also other positive comments about us in past posts about Veygo. The fact that people on r/Purdue try to help each other is part of what makes this subreddit great.
The other part of the accusation was that this post was also suspicious:
That post openly questioned whether Veygo was legitimate and made our pricing look suspicious. It is the first Reddit post that shows up when people search for Veygo on Google. If that post were secretly made by me or by someone on my team, it would make no sense as a marketing strategy. It makes Veygo look questionable, which is the opposite of what I would want.
One other point I saw mentioned was that several people bring up the fact that you do not have to be 21 to rent from Veygo. That is not a script or talking point we gave anyone. I believe it comes up often because so many people assume you have to be at least 21 to rent a car. It's one of the main things people ask us.
I also want to clarify something else: we are not VC-backed. We are a small Purdue startup that has done over 2000 rentals in the past three years with a perfect 5 star rating on google. That does not prove who made any specific Reddit comment, but it does show our dedication to what we do and why students might say good things about us in comment sections.
I care a lot about Veygo’s reputation because this is not some faceless company to me. We built Veygo because the traditional rental car industry was not built for students. Veygo is our attempt to prove that a student-first rental car company can exist. We do not see students as a reason to add another fee. That is why we do not charge young-age fees, why we rent to students starting at 18, why we deliver cars for free, and why we put so much effort into support.
This model is hard. Insurance, vehicle costs, maintenance, delivery, and logistics are all extremely challenging. But that is exactly why we care about it. We are trying to build something that gives Purdue students access to transportation in a way that traditional rental companies have not.
People are completely free to criticize us, question us, or dislike our marketing. But the claim that we are using bots or fake accounts is false.
My team is pretty busy with rentals today but happy to answer any good-faith questions once I can get to them.
Also, if the mods have concerns or want to ask me anything directly, I am happy to cooperate.
TLDR: Veygo has never used bots, fake accounts, or paid replies, and has no history of doing so. The evidence given is all from a single recent post where a couple accounts replied quickly. We are a small startup trying to make rental cars accessible to Purdue students, and real customers sometimes defend us because they have actually had good experiences.