Matt Miller contracted to put a timing belt and new head on my daughters 1996 Ford Contour.
I paid him $55 dollars to tow the vehicle to his house on Dec. 22. Where he stated he could fix the car. He contacted me a few days later to tell me that the breaking of the timing belt caused the head to crack.
That I needed a new head. He then told me he found one in Texas and that he needed to order it. We agreed that he would charge me $800 dollars to do the complete job.
He told me that I needed to pay him up front $450 dollars to order the head, and the remainder to be paid when the job was finished.
According to Matt it took about a week to get the head. He then
said it would be a couple of days and the car would be ready. Every week up until February 26th
he would continually lie to me telling me the car would be ready in a couple of days, with excuses
like I've been busy, or I've been sick, etc. Etc. He would never return phone calls, or answer his
phone. He does not have an answering machine but does have caller ID. I would have to use
someone else's phone to reach him. He would then tell me he was sorry and kept apologizing over
and over again for the delay but kept reassuring me that he would finish the job. I asked him on
several occasions that if he could not fix the car to let me know and I would take it to someone
who could. He kept reassuring me that was not the case and he could do it.
On Feb. 12th I had to go to Matt's house to ask him about the car because again I
could not reach him by phone to ask him about the car. I brought along a friend to witness the
conversation between myself and Matt. I again asked Matt why he hadn't worked on the car and
it was the same excuses. So I then asked him if he would please tow it to my house so that I
could get someone else to work on it. He agreed that he would tow it to my house the following day.
At around 1:30 I called his house and spoke with his wife. She stated that Matt was not home
but that he told her he was bringing the car to me at my house. I told her that he had not arrived
as of yet. She then said she would page him for me and she would call me right back. After a
short while she did call and said that he had gotten tied up and that he would be at my house
within an hour. After waiting 2 hours I called again. Again he was not home and I spoke with his
wife. She seemed very surprised that he had not been by my house. She again said she'd page
him and then gave me his pager number to also try. I paged him approx. 5 times when he returned
my call. At this point it was approximately 5:30pm. He told me he would be at my house within
the next 2 hours with the car. At 8:30 I again called his house and again I spoke with his wife.
She seemed very annoyed and surprised that he had not been by here. She told me he was not
home but that he had been home and had left to go to town to buy Valentines stuff. She again
said she would page him and she would call me right back. Within 15 minutes she did call me
back and she asked me to tell her exactly what had been going on with my car. She explained
that she didn't know anything about what was going on. So I told her the whole story about how
I felt like I had been taken advantage of because I was a woman and that if I had been a man none of
this would be happening. I told her about all the lies that her husband had told me and how every
time I'd try to call he would not answer the phone and that I'd have to use someone else's phone
not 2 seconds after I'd tried from my phone and he would then answer. About how he'd assured me
after our last talk that he would bring me the car that day. She seemed very sympathetic and
told me she would call me back when her husband got home. After about an hour she called me
back and asked me that if I would give her husband one more chance to fix the car would I do it.
That she would guaranteed he would fix it and have it to me by the following Saturday. She stated
that she told him he owed me that much and that he should fix my car and have it back to me as
agreed at no extra charge. I reluctantly agreed, because again I trusted where I shouldn't have.
I waited all day that Saturday after Valentines day and kept calling but had no luck.
I then spoke with my father and he then made several phone calls to the Sheriffs office to see what
our options were. He spoke with a Detective Louis who told him that it was a civil matter and that
we needed to take that route. Mr. Louis was very nice and he called me and asked me to explain
to him what had been happening. I did that and he said that he would out of courtesy call Matt
Miller and talk with him himself. He did and then Mr. Louis called me back and told me that Matt
agreed to answer his phone if I called him right then.
I spoke with Matt again on the Thursday following that Saturday it was supposed to be ready. After
he spoke with Mr. Louis he agreed to have my car ready for me by the following Monday which was
Feb. 25th. I waited until after noon to start calling and kept getting no answer. I made one trip
by his house and saw no one home. At around 8:30 PM I sent my daughter to the store for me
and she took it upon herself to go by there to see if anyone was home. Mrs. Miller answered the
door and informed my daughter that Matt was in the bed asleep and sick. She asked her to wake
him up. She shut the door and called her father in law and he came over and spoke with my
daughter. He assured her that he would have the car at my house the following morning. I again
tried to call and this time Mrs. Miller answered the phone. I asked her to speak with Matt and
she told me he was in the bed asleep and sick. I asked her to wake him up and she refused. I
told her I wanted my daughters car back and I wanted to know why she had lied to me. She then
got hostile over the phone and started yelling at me to quote "get in your car and bring your ass
over here and I'll kick your ass myself" unquote. I asked her where this was coming from and
about that time Matt took the phone. He again apologized over and over again but kept giving me excuse after excuse. But he assured me that he would have my daughters car and all the parts
as well as the new head and parts that he ordered along with the receipts where he had paid for them and money he told me he owed me that was left over to my house in the morning.
The following morning he arrived with a Mr. Jones who he got to tow the car for him. The whole motor was tore out of the car and most of it was in the trunk. He did not have the new head or any of the new parts nor did he have any receipts. He told me he was going back to his house to get them and bring them to me.
I have yet to see him. As a result of this we now have to put a new engine in the car.
Tracie
Vicksburg Mississippi
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