Lying mechanics who don't return cars for years
 

What can explain this behavior?

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When I hear stories like that, I can never believe that someone could get away w that stuff. I'm surprised that no one spent another couple hundred to have some thug beat him to death.

Some people are used to abuse. Some even seek it out.

Some just tolerate it too long.

What a POS...it would not be a good outcome for him if this was my car.

When I bought my building, there were probably 15 cars left on the property . I tracked down each and every owner to try to have them come get their cars, or get permission to scrap them .
At least 5 of them were shocked that I actually had their car. and happy, and thankful to come get them. I also got to finish repairs on a few of them
There was one really nice suburban . There was no paperwork in the vehicle, so I had the local police run the plates, and help me contact the owner.
The lady was surprised that I had her car and it was still intact . She told me that she met "Jeff" at church and that he offered to fix her car . He came to pick it up, and she never saw , or heard from Jeff again . It was over a year . It needed a starter. She was a really sweet elderly lady, and was in tears, and kept hugging, and thanking me for returning her car running .
Most of the cars on the property were similar circumstances .
I got to meet Jeff a few years later. He told me things were going alright, and then he tried his first crack rock . He showed me right where he was standing in the building when he smoked it out of a broken antenna mast from a Chrysler van, and it was off to the races after that .

I wound how well that Audi A5 timing chain was fixed.

My 911 chassis is actually out of Sacramento....apparently a mechanic took the engine and transmission out of it for repair, then "lost" it, was eventually sued by the owner for return.

Car sat for 2 years in a Sacramento storage yard awaiting the outcome of the court case, I suspect the owner was paid out and the car came up for salvage. Perfect '89 911 chassis, no engine, no transmission, checked paint, sun destroyed interior...everything else in great shape. I bought it for less than $4k.

I still find it unbelievable that this all happened, but the evidence is sitting in my garage, currently a painted tub awaiting reassembly.

Dennis

There used to be several "mechanics" in the Porsche world who lost engines and transmissions, collected deposits for work that was never done, etc.. There are old threads on this forum, (911 tech forum), about a couple.

They all need to die, IMO.

Motormeister stories come to mind...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/839442-motor-meister-again.html

We have a law here called "theft by retention." So instead of it being a civil matter and getting lawyers involved, and no real repercussions, you just go around with a cop who says he will arrest him if he doesn't return the items. Quite good fun.

How about Hennessey? Yeah, that Hennessey, the guy that was originally famous for Viper upgrades, then Chevy performance upgrades, now the Venom (stretched Lotus with a huge engine), etc....
He's got a long history of shennanigans, swapping used parts from one customer car to another customer as part of an upgrade, long turn around times, etc.....
John Hennessy: Criminal Scumbag Disguised As a Car Guy
https://jalopnik.com/ex-employees-say-hennessey-is-a-bigger-mess-than-you-ev-1778134112
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/06/john-hennessey-earns-crook-badge/

Wow...had no idea about Hennessey. Not only do customers get screwed, these people make life difficult for the honest shops out there.

What exactly would you have done? And when?

What exactly would you have done?

Did he seem apologetic? What was he doing since the car thefts? How did he go out of business ?

He hit rock bottom , checked into rehab, and got himself clean . He started another auto repair business, but I don't think he lasted too long. I heard that he is working for the Chrysler dealer again .
He did not steal these cars, he took them in for service/repair, then just flaked out . I think he may have been at another location before he rented the building I am in now .People honestly did not know where their cars were . I am surprised that no one turned them in as stolen, I know I would have.
A few of the owners of the cars, commented on how nice of a guy Jeff was, then he just kind of fell off the map .

When MM had my motor , I was starting to get really worried . It went on for over a year, and they had a big chunk of my money .
Had they been within 500 miles of me , I would have been at their door 6 months before I got my stuff back and would not have been a happy camper .
I am honestly shocked that no one ever beat the **** out of Roy, or shot him . He fked a lot of people out of a lot of money . And if you were lucky enough to get your10 k worth of useless parts back, you got royally jerked around the whole time waiting for it .
I used to really enjoy the mm threads .

Use your imagination

John Hennessey is a *****, I've met him a ton of times he is an ignorant and condescending individual.

People need to document things in writing (incl. Email or texts) and/or bring a witness f2f. In some states you can record phone calls or have a friend listen in w/o telling the perp. who has your car.

You then will need to go to court to get a court order (I don't know of any criminal laws here in the US, it is a civil issue, called a tort - illegal conversion).

States with strong consumer protection laws (Calif.) may have easier procedures.

Same here. It became sport for me to sling all manner of shiit MM's way, which resulted in many threat filled PMs from the various MM shills, which only added to the fun.