Ripped off and Mad as Heck in Texas

by Brittanii
(San Antonio, Texas USA)

I gave a mechanic my car and the money to fix it. It has been 8 months and he has done nothing but make up excuses as to why he can't fix my car and now has the engine out and won't put it back together and laughs at me for getting upset. What can I do? He is just taking advantage of me because I am a young woman on my own.



Steve Says,

Hi, Brittanii. Thanks for using my website and thanks for sharing your story. There are a couple of things that might help.


Can you tell me the name and location of this repair shop? I would love to make sure that nobody else gets scammed by the same shop as you.


There are several steps you need to take. First you need to write out everything that has happened. Try to remember all of the verbal agreements that were made and the approximate dates of each. Gather all of your documentation (hopefully you have an estimate from the mechanic that says what he was going to do and how much it was supposed to cost). If the shop has a manager try to work it out with them, if you can find out who the owner is you need to try to talk with them.


If they won't listen and just laugh at you again, then you need to look at your options as far as taking action against them. Some things you can try are filing a complaint with the BBB (better business bureau) in your area against them (you can do this online). Next contact the attorney general for your area. Tell them you want to file a complaint against this repair shop. You can get more information about what to do next and even file a complaint on line at the Texas Attorney General's Website.


You can file a complaint using this form.


You might want to seek advice from a lawyer. They can help you through the steps if you want to pursue legal action. The cheapest way to get advice from a lawyer is to ask it right here. Just use the form below:





These are the options you have. Like I said earlier please comment back to this post and tell me the name of the shop that you used so I can add it to this post. I don't want anyone else getting scammed by the same mechanic.


It would be great if you could also comment back and tell me more about what happened. There will be a lot of people who read this post and your experience can help them avoid being ripped off by an auto repair shop.


I hope this helps you out. I'm sorry that you have found one of the auto repair shops that is just in the business to try and make a quick buck off of scamming its customers. There are good shops out there and there are a lot of them, but it can be hard to find them sometimes.


Please update me when you know more information.