On Wednesday, June 24 I took my vehicle to Dollar Pound Auto Repairs shop located 1107 California Ln St 213, Arlington TX 76015 to get a body work on my car following an accident. I provided the owner Felix Gyeby (aka Nana, aka JB) the insurance estimate and discussed what needed to be done to the vehicle. We agreed that he would fix all the necessary work needed to be done on the car, which included realigning the bumper, replacing the rear body panel, repairing the trunk lid, replacing the name plate (if necessary), aligning the trunk, repair trunk latch (which could not be opened by key due to misalignment), and any other faults that he encountered while doing the job. He agreed to buy the parts necessary and do the work for $862.
We also had a verbal agreement that he would not need to paint the car and it was not necessary to purchase a brand new bumper, and he needed to call the insurance and notify them that my vehicle was at his shop since I was already in a rental. He told me that the work should be done no later than Friday June 26. This was all verbal, he provided me no paperwork, except for the insurance estimate that I gave to him.
On Friday June 26, I called the shop around noon to check whether my car was ready, Nana insisted that he still had some more parts to buy and fix but the car should be ready on Sat at noon, and at first he requested I come take a look at a part that he was purchasing to see if i was ok with the color match, and also he still hadn't called the insurance to notify them that the vehicle was at his shop. I called him again later that day and he said I didn't have to stop by and that he had called the insurance field officer and I should come pick my car up on Saturday.
On Saturday June 27, I called around noon to determine whether he was at the shop so I can come pick up my car, he did not answer the phone, I waited and then called again, still no reply. I finally got a hold of him around 4pm and just told him I was coming to pick my car up. I went to the shop around 5pm and the car was not at his shop. Apparently he had given the car to someone else to fix, which he did not ask my permission for, and we had no agreement that someone else will be working on the vehicle. He went and picked up the car from wherever it was and as soon as I saw the work I realized it was not done right, the bumper was hanging loose, the trunk was not repaired, the rear panel had not been replaced and now my key could not open the trunk properly.
I told Nana, "this is not what we agreed on" that he did not do the job right and he kept insisting that this was what I wanted, I hadn't wanted the car painted and he kept suggesting that he would have done the job right if he had painted but since I did not want it painted then this was what he could do. I refused to pay him the amount we agreed on since he had not done what we agreed upon, we had a long argument regarding the car, and he kept pointing other things that were wrong which he had not taken cared of, including the back light that was hanging loose. And we had agreed that he would fix any necessary problems he further encountered and here was example that was missed on the estimate but he was aware of and he did not let me know until then and he hadn't fixed it. I finally called the police because he would not give me my vehicle and once the police was involved, they claimed he had a right to keep my car and they had nothing to do with the case because it was a civil issue.
I finally left because I could not deal with him anymore, I took pictures of what he had done notified him of my plan of suing him. On Sunday, my uncle called him went over to his shop to try to reason with him, Nana kept insisting that it was $862 or no car, then he claimed that he would not charge me for fixing the car, but instead will charge me for storage, I told him he can do whatever he wanted as long as he gives me back my car, and I told him I would be willing to pay him $300 for the work he did (which is not worth even $50) and get my car back, but he refused and said he would call me on Monday to let me what he will do. No receipt of purchased items was provided, no paper-work of what was done was provided.
On Monday June 29, I picked up a small claim suit from the courts to file a suit against him, but I did not have his legal name, I called him to get his name and he refused to give it to me. I tried going through the Tarrant County clerk's office to check ownership on his shop, and he wasn't registered through tarrant county so I could not access his name. I tried getting in touch with the officer involved with the issue on Sat but no luck. I went through UTA student legal services to try to expedite getting my car back and still no luck.
It has been a week now that this guy is basically holding my car for ransom, he has been negotiating price with my uncle and has come down to $500, but I was still hesitant to give him that much money for a job that is very unsatisfactory and unworthy of that amount. My car was held ransom for week, until mechanic finally agreed that I should pay him $400 to get my car back.
My car had to be taken somewhere else to be properly serviced afterwards, and it entailed basically having to start from one and redoing everything that this individual claimed to have done (replacing the two back lights, getting a new bumper, painting, realigning the trunk lid and fixing the key latch).
I strongly believe that this individual should not have the right to be running an auto repair shop, claiming to do body work when he clearly has no expertise in this arena, and I strongly believe that this individual is seriously involved in illegal activities and should be investigated.By not providing receipts to customers highly suggest that this money is not being reported to IRS and probably no taxes are being paid.
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