Dallas Car Repair Deal Proves Too Good To Be True

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Duane Cook depends on his truck for his remodeling business.  "I need my truck to make a living. Period," he said.

When it died, he got a quote from Abba Transmission in Dallas to get it fixed for $650.

"I said, are there any hidden charges?'" he remembers. "He said, straight $650."

Cook paid a $300 down payment and watched his truck disappear.  "He drives off with my truck, and he calls me back about 5 hours later, and he says, 'Mr. Cook, I'm sorry, it's not going to be 650. It's gonna be $2750'… I said, 'no… just bring my truck back.'… He said, ' no, you want your truck back, you bring me another $100."

CBS 11 found at least 4 other customers who complained the same thing happened to them.  Bobby Walker says he hasn't seen his car in two months, ever since Abba suddenly quadrupled the price to repair it.  "I've been having nightmares about this, about losing my car," said Walker.

Already unemployed, Walker said, it's even harder now to find a job.  "I can't find a job, if I can't get to it," he said.

CBS 11 tried to track down the business at its address on Greengrove Lane in Southeast Dallas, but found a well fenced house with no sign of anyone there.

The Better Business Bureau didn't get a response either after trying to contact the business over three complaints it received.  "It may be really tough to get the car back without paying the fees they demand," said BBB spokeswoman, Jeannette Kopko.

The problem is the fine print in all the contracts, saying the customer owes $400 whether any work is done or not.

"We see that with transmission repair a lot, where they say, if you decide not to use us after all, you're going to have to charge you for putting it back together, you're going to have pay to tow it back to your house, if you leave it here we're going to start charging you storage fees," said Kopko.

Cook said he would pay up, but he's worried of getting taken advantage of, yet again.  He claims the business won't even show him his truck to prove they still have it.  "I'm totally lost," he said.

CBS 11 found customers who turned to the Attorney General's Office and even police to no avail.

Dallas County court records show one customer sued, but no one with the business ever showed up to court. The case was eventually dropped.  When CBS 11 called the company's main number, a man answered and quickly hung up.

Kopko suggests asking lots of questions, checking a company's history before using them, and paying with a credit card.