Went to pick up my Chevelle today at local Body shop,I has authorize certain work to be done,Owner hits me with an extra $900 that I was never told about or signed off on. i paid my bill just to get the car out of the shop,but I need to know what I can do now. I am 60 years old and I am on a fixed pension and $900 is alot of money.THANKS IN ADVANCE

Went to pick up my Chevelle today at local Body shop,I has authorize certain work to be done,Owner hits me with an extra $900 that I was never told about or signed off on. i paid my bill just to get the car out of the shop,but I need to know what I can do now. I am 60 years old and I am on a fixed pension and $900 is alot of money.THANKS IN ADVANCE


hopefully you put it on your credit card. pull the payment, and dispute the charge. i would also contact the local b.b.b. and maybe a lawyer. i always figure a little more than the estimate, but $900 is a lot of coin....

Also call the State Dept of Consumer Protection (or whatever it's called in NJ) and file a complaint

And if you really want to play hardball, I';m sure you have a local news station which investigates these things and likes to make examples of people who take advantage of consumers

Good luck!

Edit: Try here

http://www.njconsumeraffairs.gov/fstone/index.html

Would not accept credit card ,against his policy

Did you pay with a check? If so, can you put a stop payment on it at your bank?

i did pay with a check.

I would atleast stop payment on the check so it will buy you some time to dispute the extra $900 charge...Beats trying to get your money back later while you still have time now. So what if the guy at the body shop gets ticked off for stopping the check..tell him your disputing the extra $900 that was not signed or agreed as per contracted!!!!per his paper work.

Is it possible he found something in the area he was working that badly needed repair?? Of course he didn't tell you about it, but sometimes you look at something like that and say well it did need it badly..Sometimes I may let something like that go bye, BUT ONLY if was really needed. If not needed, a whole different story

Did you talk to him to find out what he did and why he did it. Maybe you two could agree on a partial refund. Most guy don't want to get a bad rep, so maybe he really felt that the car needed the work. I would go sit down with the guy asap, and have a chat. Tell him that you didn't agree to the extra work and tell him he overstepped his bounds. At least see what he will do for you, and as a last resort, walk out of his place and go over to the bank and freeze the payment on the check. He most likely will have the legal right to come after you, for stopping payment.

Fred.

Here in Florida, it is actually illegal to put a stop payment on a check for services rendered. The body shop was wrong in charging you for the extra work without notifying you first. I believe the proper way of getting your car is to file a complaint with the proper govt dept for your state, and then post a bond with them until a hearing is set. The bond legally allows you to remove the car without actually handing the money to the shop.

Did you talk to him to find out what he did and why he did it. Maybe you two could agree on a partial refund. Most guy don't want to get a bad rep, so maybe he really felt that the car needed the work. I would go sit down with the guy asap, and have a chat. Tell him that you didn't agree to the extra work and tell him he overstepped his bounds. At least see what he will do for you, and as a last resort, walk out of his place and go over to the bank and freeze the payment on the check. He most likely will have the legal right to come after you, for stopping payment.

Fred.

I agree with Fred. I would go down there ASAP. "Hey, I got to looking at the bill and it is $900 more than we agreed. Please explain why." Maybe there is a legit reason. Even though money it tight it be worth it in the long run. If not, maybe he would be willing to make an adjustment in the bill. You don't have much time to stop payment if that is your choice. Small claims court is an option also. Was this an insurance claim?

stop check, write another for the agreed upon amount, ask what the other $900.00 was for, if legit, hand him a check for agreed amount and another for $900.00, if not legit, hand him the one for agreed upon price.

if stopping the check is illegal, draw all your money out of the account and let the check bounce while you're talking to him about what the extra charge was for

I don't know about NJ, but in most states they can only exceed the estimate by 10% without getting an OK from the owner or the owners agent. I'd stop the check and get the consumer protection agency in your area in on this and also the local TV stations comsumer advocate.

I have overdraft portection on my checking account,I think the best thing is to go to the department of Consumer Coplaints here in NJ. When he hit me with the extra charge of $900 without my knowledge,he said "DO YOU THINK I WORK FOR NOTHING" .If I did not have heart disease it think I would have punch him right in the nose. With other work he did ,I supplied the 3 new piece for a trunk and he charge $800 to weld it in,is this reasonable? Take a look at my car in our feature ads.

When he hit me with the extra charge of $900 without my knowledge,he said "DO YOU THINK I WORK FOR NOTHING" .

Of course you dont expect him to work for nothing.... But you do expect him to tell you that he is spending your money FIRST, before he does anything!

Does all work need prior approval with a signature?

I'm pretty sure a verbal confirmation is fine.

WOW is this ever familiar.When I took my Chevelle in I got 2 quotes.One was $1200-$1500 to finish the car (it was in primer and needed to be blocked and painted...with the paint I supplied)but he could not do any financing and the other was for $1300-$1500 and he would accept $1000 down I could pick up the car and make a couple monthly payments to him.So that is what I did...When I went to pick up the car it was now $2600 and I don't get the car until I payed him in full.Needless to say I contacted a lawyer.When the body shop found out I was intending to sue them, they took it out on the car.Broken windshield,chipped back window,missing chrome,missing rear bezle,tampered stereo,additional parts were THROWN in the car,and to top it off sources (people who worked there at the time) tell me that he (the owner) tried to blow my motor by over-revving it in neutral,which was enough to throw the belt,not to mention that the paint-job left a little to be desired just by itself.And to boot he threatened me when I picked up the car that If I try to sue him or he lost any money on this deal that he would send his Big Biker Buddy after me...So after 14 months in court and a couple thousand for a lawyer,I won my case which was not even enough to pay for the lawyer nevermind the over charge.But you know what...It was worth every G#D D#M penny just to make him pay for what he did.

...Getting to the point...Go after him anyway you can.Either sue him or make a formal complaint,or investigative reporting,or even just a letter to the editor in the local paper,but what ever you do DON'T let them get away with it!!

not to rain on the parade but it is illegal to write a check for more funds than you have in your account, even if you withdrew those funds after writing the check. If you have your ducks in a row, that is a written agreement on the amount of the work then the best bet would have been to dispute it at the time you went after the car. Having paid for it and taken the car compounds the problem. It would now be your word against his as to the agreement or the extra charge since you wrote a check and took delivery of the car.

I have overdraft portection on my checking account,I think the best thing is to go to the department of Consumer Coplaints here in NJ. When he hit me with the extra charge of $900 without my knowledge,he said "DO YOU THINK I WORK FOR NOTHING" .If I did not have heart disease it think I would have punch him right in the nose. With other work he did ,I supplied the 3 new piece for a trunk and he charge $800 to weld it in,is this reasonable? Take a look at my car in our feature ads.
In the world of body shops 800 is actually considered quite cheap. I was once quoted 1200 just to spot weld it in without grinding finishing or painting. Next day I learned everything I could and now do every single thing myself. I would pay a person for their years of expertise if the end result was worth the coin I was paying, depending on how your trunk now looks, I would say you got a very fair price to install it. JN

Whatever you decide to do, DO NOT stop payment on your check. If you were to go to court, you will lose! You got your car back, you got work performed, so you cannot legally stop payment on your check just because you are disputing the charges. As someone else has posted, any disputes should have been taken up at the time you went to pick up your car. I know, you don't think you need a lawyer to draw up a contract just to get your car painted or some body work done. But in your case and in many others, a written contract could (and I say could) have solved the problem before it came to this. JMHO.

WOW is this ever familiar.When I took my Chevelle in I got 2 quotes.One was $1200-$1500 to finish the car (it was in primer and needed to be blocked and painted...with the paint I supplied)but he could not do any financing and the other was for $1300-$1500 and he would accept $1000 down I could pick up the car and make a couple monthly payments to him.So that is what I did...When I went to pick up the car it was now $2600 and I don't get the car until I payed him in full.Needless to say I contacted a lawyer.When the body shop found out I was intending to sue them, they took it out on the car.Broken windshield,chipped back window,missing chrome,missing rear bezle,tampered stereo,additional parts were THROWN in the car,and to top it off sources (people who worked there at the time) tell me that he (the owner) tried to blow my motor by over-revving it in neutral,which was enough to throw the belt,not to mention that the paint-job left a little to be desired just by itself.And to boot he threatened me when I picked up the car that If I try to sue him or he lost any money on this deal that he would send his Big Biker Buddy after me...So after 14 months in court and a couple thousand for a lawyer,I won my case which was not even enough to pay for the lawyer nevermind the over charge.But you know what...It was worth every G#D D#M penny just to make him pay for what he did.

...Getting to the point...Go after him anyway you can.Either sue him or make a formal complaint,or investigative reporting,or even just a letter to the editor in the local paper,but what ever you do DON'T let them get away with it!!

sure would be a tragedy if his shop burned to the ground

Did you pay with a check? If so, can you put a stop payment on it at your bank?

WHOA THERE! In some states, it's illegal to put a stop-pay on a check for automotive repairs, regardless of the reason. Better check local laws.

Whatever you decide to do, DO NOT stop payment on your check. If you were to go to court, you will lose! You got your car back, you got work performed, so you cannot legally stop payment on your check just because you are disputing the charges. As someone else has posted, any disputes should have been taken up at the time you went to pick up your car. I know, you don't think you need a lawyer to draw up a contract just to get your car painted or some body work done. But in your case and in many others, a written contract could (and I say could) have solved the problem before it came to this. JMHO.

This makes a ton of sense, and it's something that I always do. If I have a legal contract (or a quote in my hand), I can always argue the point. If after reading the fine points on the paper, if I don't like what I read, I have the manager or owner change it. For example: at the dealers they can take the care for a test ride. I always have them block this out and hand write a note about it "No test ride". For body damage, I also stated "If the repair exceeds the quote, I must be contacted before the repair work is done". Same with mechanical repairs, this way I always can keep the price in check. I went through he!! back in 1975 and never again, even if they consider me a hard @ss.

Fred.