Just based on the way this is presented and being aware there could be details which could sway my opinion, this shop owner sounds like a weasel.
He takes a grand in cash but won’t take 200 on a card? That tends to make me think the IRS and state may not be betting what is legally due them.
And to threaten you with a 1500 dollar surcharge for having the audacity to ask for your old parts and receipts of purchases? Any reputable shop should gladly cough up the old parts although showing receipts for parts purchases might get a little touchy.
Along with the AG, maybe a message to the TX tax commission and the IRS is in order. It could be that he’s not claiming a lot of the cash he’s taking in.
If the engine is full of oil and the oil pressure lamp is on then there may be a serious engine issue related to oil pressure; or lack of.
If this leads to a small claims court suit I might add that in most cases a judge will look favorably upon the plaintiff.
However; if you do go before a judge I will offer this advice.
Keep it SIMPLE. Keep in SHORT. Keep your emotions in check; do not fly off the handle, say as little to the defendant as possible, and show a lot of respect to the judge.
Judges do NOT want to hear a long winded diatribe nor do they want to watch someone squabble and lose their temper.
Many years ago when I was a city councilman the town was embroiled in a long running lawsuit with a local water district.
We had our day in court and we were dead meat inside of 10 minutes. The water rep said something that was totally ridiculous. The town mayor went “OH! HA HA!”. That was the nail in the coffin.
The judge went red faced and when the water rep finished his sentence the judge stood up and told the town lawyer to follow him. He then proceeded to ream the lawyer to death in chambers over the mayor’s “HA HA” comment. The lawyer sweet talking the judge was the only thing that kept the mayor from going to jail instantly for contempt of court.
Personally, I wish the judge had jailed the moron.
It just kind of illustrates what a fine line has to be walked in a court of law. Oh, and the judge decided on the spot in favor of the water district. It didn’t matter what they said or how wrong they were. HA HA doomed us…
I agree OP needs legal advice. The law isn’t always what people think it is.
Due to his demanding cash in such large quantities, I suggest looking in your 1040? tax book for number to call to report tax fraud. First verify that your identity will be kept secret. Tell them the date you paid them $1000 and $200 and they will check to see if he reported that as income or not.
Leopards do not change their spots. If he demanded cash from you, he demands cash from a lot of people. This is not just a suspicion. Demanding cash in large amounts is almost a guarantee of tax fraud.
The ordinary IRS tax agent is not real smart. But, they have real smart agents in the back room, heh, heh. And, they can chase down transactions very well when someone demands cash in very large amounts.
It is not safe to be dragging around $1000 in cash. And, if he made you give cash, he makes others give cash. Which means he has extremely large amounts of cash in his possession.
Do not feel responsible if he gets taken down. They don’t just go out and toss him in the clink because you report him. They have to investigate and if he is innocent nothing happens much.
The IRS does provide a number for reporting tax fraud and the identity of the person reporting it is kept confidential. I believe there is even an online form for doing so.
I agree with irlandes’s comments about the guy.
Kind of sounds like a guy whom I knew personally and who passed away about 5 years ago. He ran a shop for a long time at his home outside of city limits and located on the highway.
He always “preferred cash” and would tell people up front that if they paid cash he would knock a few bucks off the bill. It’s not too difficult to understand why he was doing this.
Appears to me that much of the work and negotiations were agreed on verbally. I don’ think you have a chance to re-cup anything.
If you plan on pursuing legal action you need to take your car to another mechanic to determine what is wrong with it now and whether or not the shop is to blame, and get that in writing.
The next step would be to find a lawyer that will take your case. I doubt you have any chance in small claims court. Keep in mind, being a jerk is not against the law, running a shop in an unorthodox manner is also not against the law. At the most you might be able to recoup the cost for repairing what the shop screwed up (if they did).
If he takes credit cards, there should be a decal on the window where you enter the counter area. Are accepted credit cards displayed this way or any other way?
I dunno. I wouldn’t be so quick to think tax fraud I guess just because the guy wants cash. I was at the local locksmith the other day buying an item and pulled out my debit card. No he just takes cash or check no cards. The vacuum cleaner guy I got parts from would rather have a check too than a debit card. I think its because it costs them an extra 1 or 2% transaction fee. Plus, if you charge it, you can always contest the charge. That 2% can be the difference between profit and loss to a small timer. The guy that messed me over on my transmission wrote the invoice to reduce sales taxes but folks didn’t seem to be interested. I found out he was into the State of Minnesota for $500,000 in back sales tax and he was still in business. Also when you report someone, they also take a look at your own tax returns which is a hassle and who needs it?
I don’t know what I’d do except what I did which is to get your car out of there and get it to someone else to get it fixed. Then you either write the loss off to one of life’s lessons, or go to small claims court to try and recover some of your losses. But you have to remember that judges don’t know much about cars either so a slippery mechanic can make it sound perfectly logical the steps they took and how unreasonable a customer can be. Sometimes they just split it down the middle as a compromise.
As always, prevention is the best cure. Once stuck in the mud, there are no good choices.
I was at a kite store a couple of weeks ago, any purchase less than $20, cash only, we have a gas station that has cash price lower than card price, the guy who did my gutters offered a discount for cash or check, If the business has to pay a percentage for card purchases, why not pass the savings on to the customer.
Demanding cash makes one wonder.
Strictly voluntarily. There is no law that says one MUST display decals, although it makes sense if one wants to advertise that convenience. Also, as a merchant I do not have to take credit cards,or I can stop temporarily taking them. It’s all up to the merchant. I am not saying it makes sense…just saying
Because most merchants already have a surcharge added into their sales price. Small merchants pay between 1.5 to 2.5% of the card charge to a merchant processing center or their bank. Each time a card is rejected for any reason the merchant still has to pay a fee that ranges between $.50 and $1.50. If your store is in a “lousy” neighborhood with many rejects, that can add to a substantial sum each month.
Hi I recently had head gasket work done on my acura tl but since I have gotten my car back it’s been worse issues I never had upon trying to repair.
For instance now I have an oil light that’s on my dash that was never there but the mechanic states he got my car in this condition due to over heating the car. I’ve never seen that light on my dash and my car never really over heated.
Also when I drive it shuts off on me in traffic or if I try to do a sharp turn while backing in reverse etc. Have to accelerate on the gas for the engine to turn over. There is no pressure in my car from what the owners manual says. I did not know what the oil pressure light meant prior to reading the owners manual. I’m afraid I may have seized my engine.
Would this be the mechanic duty to fix this issue being that he returned my car to me in this state.
A red light on the dash can’t be any good, right? You continuing to drive the car with the warning light on relieves the repair shop from any liabilities, regardless of what they screwed up, if anything.
Based on your experience described in your other post, do you really want to take the car back to them?
I live next door to a small private shop that’s just 2 guys that only do Engine Rebuilds (I’ve seen some real beauties sitting in his bay ) for private work and from local shops. He doesn’t accept credit cards. Cash or check only due to the fees and percentage take off from credit card machines (as mentioned a few times above). Fortunately, he’s always happy to give me a hand when I need help (like when one of the geniuses at the tire place cross-threaded one of my lug nuts, then refused to do anything about it when I took it back to have them remove it) since I don’t have a compressor at home. Always happy to give him a few bucks and a batch of home made brownies
Maybe that’s why I like cash so much and tend to carry excessive amounts. I dunno. I have had both debit cards declined at Walmart due to their computer issues before so I always like to be prepared with cash for the sake of the people behind me. Some years ago, in less flush times, I had car problems in a small town 200 miles away. I picked it up again a week later and went to pay the $400 bill with a credit card. “No we only take cash or check.” Borrowed from my wife.
Yes, NOW it is a separate sentence. Originally–and when I quoted it–it was not a separate sentence.
The appearance of the amber-colored pencil and the numeral “one” in the upper right area of his post tells you that it was edited once–in this case after I good-naturedly pointed out what I was sure was merely a careless error.
So, you just learned how to determine when a post has been edited, and how many times it has been edited!
If you are really observant in the future, you will likely note that I often edit my posts after I catch an error on my part, and bravesfan did the same.
) for private work and from local shops. He doesn’t accept credit cards. Cash or check only due to the fees and percentage take off from credit card machines (as mentioned a few times above). Fortunately, he’s always happy to give me a hand when I need help (like when one of the geniuses at the tire place cross-threaded one of my lug nuts, then refused to do anything about it when I took it back to have them remove it) since I don’t have a compressor at home. Always happy to give him a few bucks and a batch of home made brownies
