Rookie Mistake...
;I would let the local sherriff when you are getting your car, and why
They will make sure you can take it, while it is still there
And do it soon
Lawyer will handle that.
Little update. I've been in SC hiring in at a new job the last few weeks but still home on the weekends. Filed the NCDOJ online Complaint on Christmas Day. Body Shop coward got the NC Department Of Justice Letter via email this Tuesday January 2nd while he was still out of town.(They cc'd me on it). He has 15 days to address the
complaint and financial request I made for a partial refund of my deposit. I've texted and emailed him since Tuesday to tell him I'd be at his shop yesterday, Friday the 5th. He replied back late Tuesday night that he just got back in to town and will be at the shop Wednesday to catch up on emails.
Texted/emailed him Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to verify he'd be in the shop Friday after 10:00AM. Crickets. Texted him again 8:30 Friday morning to let him know that at 10:30 I'll be there to load my small parts and a rollback is scheduled for 11:00. Crickets. I called the NCDOJ case officer to verify I am in the right to go get my car and that he still has 15 days to respond to the financial request I made. She agreed and said that it is totally my decision and that he still has to address the money issue.
We got there at 10:30. No Coward. He wasn't at work. Myself, my brother and two LEO's were hanging around outside, talking and bullshitting in plain view of his cameras for 45 minutes. I made a phone call to my attorney while we waited. Body Shop Coward never showed. I canceled the rollback. Here is where the Coward part really comes in. As soon as we all depart his body shop around 11:15, which he most likely watched from home, he replies to my text from 8:30 Friday morning. Keep in mind his business hours are listed on his Facebook page as Monday-Friday 9:00AM-6:00PM.
Millennial Hipster Coward- "I will need notice much sooner than "day of". The email states that I have 15 days to reply. Given the circumstances I am speaking with my lawyer. I understand your position and apologize for there not being as much progress done to your car."
Me- "I have been contacting you for
three days regarding Friday and let you know yesterday(Thursday) that that I'd be here this morning. You do have 15 days to respond to my complaint but you don't have the right to keep my property from me, especially since I'm certain that I don't owe you money on the work that you have done. Since you have chosen to retain counsel, I will do the same."
After that I went to my lawyers office and gave him my formal retainer and ended all contact with The Coward. On my way there:
Millennial Hipster Coward- "I'm just running things by him. I'd like this to go as smoothly as possible. I do want to give you back your car but three hours notice is not enough."
I guess this idiot thinks I don't have email and text messages going back to March of 2021 when I first asked him to look at my car up until yesterday, but I do, and now my lawyer does. I also have all the pictures of the car in his shop, with the VIN and Fender tag still attached prior to his media blasting. He's gonna get a letter from my lawyer in 10 days demanding the full $5000.00 and release of my vehicle and all parts related to it(#1 on the list are VIN, Fender tag and Mopar Rosette Rivets) or it's on.
If he showed up yesterday like an adult and gave me back my property (car and parts) I would have made an agreement with him to accept $2500.00 to $3000.00 and he could reply to the DOJ complaint with an offer of a $2500.00 refund and I'd accept it. No lawyers. No court. Just us mediating. But, he chose to blow me off for three days, no-showed yesterday, lied about how many days notice I gave him and then tried to bluff me with all the "I'm running it by my lawyer" talk.
I'm 100% confident I'm going to get my car back. I'm also pretty confident he doesn't have the $5000.00 since he doesn't know how to run a business. My attorney tried to look him up and The Coward's shop isn't registered anywhere in NC, local, county or state, that he should be if he were a legitimate business. He's using someone else's building and basically running it as a sole proprietor with a Facebook page.
So if he doesn't have the $5000.00 to give me, he'll be taken to court for illegal conversion of funds, deceptive business practices, price gouging for the $3000.00 I got charged for media blasting the top side only of a fully disassembled car etc....all the lawyer stuff.
