Complaint Review: Joe Mullen - McKeesport Pennsylvania

Joe Mullen responded to a Craigslist ad for some auto work I needed to be done. He sounded very knowledgeable and very confident- confident enough that I felt comfortable meeting him and giving him my car to work on. We agreed on a price of $850 + parts. We met first and he took a $300 deposit. He said $150 of that would cover the tow, $150 would go toward labor. A few days later he gave me a laundry list of parts, and said I needed them all. I offered to go buy them, but he said he had access to mechanic pricing, and to let him buy them. So we met again and I gave him $320 for parts. He kept jerking me around about the tow, and his guy never came (likely didn't exist). Finally, I paid for the vehicle to be towed to him- which wasn't his address or the (bogus) address he claimed his shop was at. He said he was working on it at his buddy's house. My tow truck driver couldn't go down the steep driveway, so he dropped the car at the top of the driveway. Joe called me and said the calipers froze up before they could roll the car down, and i would need 2 calipers before they could get the car in the garage.

At this point, I began to get suspicious, so I looked up calipers and offered to buy them and deliver them. He again gave me the line about his access to dealer prices, and claimed he could get 2 calipers for $100. I said "well since I paid for the tow, how about you apply $150 from my deposit toward the calipers?" He nixed that idea and explained that he was covering the tow not as part of the craigslist agreement, but as a gesture of good faith- since he didn't have to pay for a tow, that whole $300 was towards labor- parts excluded. I told him "look, I've already forked over $620 at this point with no work being done- can you lay out the $100 for calipers and tack it on to my final bill?" His exact quote was "Well, I COULD, but... I don't like doin' that.. so I'm not gonna." He claimed I was holding up the work, so I gave him the extra $100 for the calipers. 

After he failed to deliver daily updates as he had promised, I decided to pay a visit to the garage and see for myself where my car stood. When I got there, it was locked, so I left a note with my name and cell phone for the guy whose garage it was. He called me on my drive home and said "Joe hasn't unscrewed a single bolt. He promised me $450 to do this engine with his help, and I haven't seen him since he dropped the car off. How much did he charge you?" I told the actual mechanic who was doing the work Joe and I had agreed on $850, and he got very angry and said "Joe is trying to screw us both!" I asked him about the calipers and parts that I had paid for, and the mechanic laughed and said none of them were necessary, and none of them were purchased. He invited me back to see the car. I went back, saw the progress, and basically arranged to deal directly with the mechanic.

I came home and started googling Joe- first I went to the Unified Justice System website (https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/) and saw that he has been sued a bunch for scamming people as a contractor. Then I went to his facebook page, and saw a bunch of public posts where people had commented that he swindled them out of x dollars and to please contact them. I texted Joe that I was apraised of his con, and demanded my money back. He immediately called me and tried to spin it that the mechanic was a liar and was trying to cut him out of the deal. I told him to just be a straight shooter with me and not lie or jerk me around. He assured me he wasn't and promised my car would be done on schedule (it's a week behind at this point, and that's because Joe has been playing both the mechanic and me). 

I followed up that call with a text to Joe telling him I demand the $720 I paid so far returned back to me immediately or I would take him to court. I told him I saw the facebook posts and was wise to his game. He immediately texted back that he would "work to get me the money." I reiterated I demand it by tomorrow or I file suit. He then went back into spin mode and tried to spin how he is the victim and how he did most of the work on my car and how the parts were necessary and were purchased. I told him to cut the crap and get me the money or I will file suit.

I came up to my computer and saw he had closed his facebook account (or at least made it private). That's when I found the ripoffreport- he has two complaints logged against him. Now let's make it 3. I don't expect him to pay me by tomorrow night, so I will be filing suit Tuesday morning. If by some crazy miracle Joe is touched by the morals fairy tonight and I get my money back by the deadline, I will report back... but I'm not holding my breath.