Location: New Jersey
Hi, Chris mobile auto shop lodi in NJ charged me 600$ to perform a paint job on my truck, it was poorly done. Ive visited multiple shops and they told me the job done looks like 10$ paint spray. The scratch was size of a thumbnail… I called him and he stated he does not do no refunds, he offered to redo the paint.
However, issue is that the technician who did the work did not know the 600$ price, Chris ( owner ) came up with the price himself, so the tech is not able to do the 600$ job because its in the street… There is no paint preparation etc. My question is, is it legal for this business to reject refunds? I had the job done literally 9 hours ago, I called him couple of hours after and he said he does not do refunds.
The transaction was done thru Zelle, Its still pending, there are text messages about meeting, and so on, i have pictures too of before and after, and have truck with me.
What can I do in this situation? To prevent them from scamming other people?
Thanks.
Comments
You can despite the charges if you desire…they can fight it. If for some reason zelle can’t reverse the charge, you can sue…. It might ultimately end up in small claims court where a judge will determine if the paint job was considered “good enough”.
Not a lawyer and not an American so please take this with a grain of salt. When you deal with “mobile” repair technicians and pay with something like Zelle/Cashapp/Venmo, you’re taking a huge risk. Most of these apps are for sending money between friends and have no consumer protections like credit cards.
You could hire a lawyer but that’s easily over $600. Give this guy a bad review and move on. Tough lesson to learn at $600 but personally I never trust “mobile” technicians and refuse to pay with something like Zelle.
There’s no law in the US that requires vendors / businesses to offer a refund.