Trying to scam a shop out of 16k worth of work

Punisher Bass

Punisher Bass

He who drives a Buick
Joined
Feb 25, 2007
Messages
3,492
Location
St Louis, MO
Car(s)
98 Buick Park Avenue Ultra
From http://jalopnik.com/400280/cant-afford-to-pay-for-that-16k-paint-job-send-mom-to-pick-up-the-car

I have been working on Joe Dono's car for approximately 4 1/2 months.

The car was completely redone. Complete repaint including engine bay and pulling all glass and seals, smoothing out the interior panels and two toning them, building a custom sub enclosure and covering it in carbon fiber, custom amp racks and nitrous bottle brackets, carbon overlays on the roof and hatch, turbo install, e-manage install, custom fiberglass center console to mount gauges in, just a lot of work in general.

He showed up to pick his car up yesterday, Saturday August 9th, and was apparently planning on stealing his car without paying for anything.

His mother, who actually is the one financing his car, was under the impression that he had paid for materials and that he had "sponsors" that were paying us to do the labor. She wanted to know why the car was taking so long because Joe had told her it was just getting painted. He barely covered material cost and was promising to bring the very large balance in cash when the car was picked up.

I'm really not sure what was going through his head thinking he was going to get the car completely modified and knowing he has NO money to pay for it.

His girlfriend offered us $60 and wanted to know if we could set-up a payment plan. SERIOUSLY? His bill is close to $16K and he wants a payment plan.

I'm sure plenty of you have either dealt with him or heard about him. He's a detailer by trade but apparently he has no self-worth and has no problem lying and deceiving anyone and everyone.

Please feel free to chime in. His car will be for sale shortly, just need to wait on that mechanic's lien to go through
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It's funny seeing this kid be an internet bully to try and scare the shop into giving his car back.

The thread is located here. http://www.tamparacing.com/forums/general-car-chat/504615-attn-joe-dono-aka-scp_celica-scammer.html
 
Heh, a tech at work is currently driving an 2002 low mile WRX he "bought" for $800 because the customer never came back for it.
 
WOW...call the Oxford English Dictionary, they have a new definition of "epic fail".
 
I've been reading deeper into the thread, and apparently the kid came with his mommy, 16 year old girlfriend, and a cop and demanded they turn the car over. The shop owner made some calls and found out that the family would have to put up a 16k bond before any action could even be taken.

This post puts it much better than I possibly could.

http://www.tamparacing.com/forums/g...no-aka-scp_celica-scammer-29.html#post5695999

Oh My Holy GAWD. I just spent my entire lunch break reading this Thread of LEGEND. Yes, first to last post. And I will chime in with my oh-so-worthless opinion. But here it is.

No, I'm not a lawyer, but I have read me a law book or two in my day, and I must say that Joe Dono...you're SOL.

You have entered into the vague and dangerous world of what we call the "Verbal Contract". It's not written anywhere and is open to interpretation and in an open court, with even arguments, the best lawyer usual gets it, but sorry, Joe...you don't have an even argument. You have NO argument. Much less a good lawyer.

Understand the fact that you left the Celica in the care of the OP for 6 months. To the judge, this will be the deciding factor. If there were no agreement, verbal or written, then why did you do that? Furthermore, if you attempt to squeal your way out of this, the judge can subpoena your bank records, which will indicate that upon entering the verbal contract you had absolutely no means of paying for the work. If you argue that your grandfather or mother would have paid (which is a hollow argument, because if they could pay, we wouldn't be here) they will subpoena them too. If they said they would have paid, their bank records would also be brought to trial, and if they were lying (insufficient funds) they could be tried for perjury. DO NOT PUT YOUR MOTHER THROUGH THAT YOU RAT BASTARD.

Ahem. Cliff Notes, your case will not stand up in court. You have no argument. It was your own responsibility to track the progress of the car and immediately put a stop to work that you could not afford. Failure to visit is your own. Add to that a whole slew of character witnesses attesting that you are scum, and the judge will GLADY award the case to the OP.

HOWEVER, the OP is right in saying that in order to combat a mechanic's lien you have to put forth a bond equal in value to the amount of money in dispute. That means your mother would have to get a loan for $16,000 in order to even take the case to court. If you win, car and money are yours, if you lose (you'll lose, read above) the $16,000 will go to the OP and you'll get your car back good as new. The only problem is that you'll now have put your mother in debt $16,000, and she'll have to continue making payments on the Celica. Your mom could also say that you didn't have permission to touch her car, and then you could be tried for grand theft.
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It looks like the kid has a long history of scamming people and getting away with it, I gues he figured he would get away with this one as well.
 
2757471173_a19f0d4183_o.jpg
 
Carbage yes, but that is a lot of work. Hope the guy ends up in jail with a guy named Paco. He seems to ahve scammed hundreds of people.
 
Wow, that asshole is pretty much completely screwed. Hopefully he just sucks it up and tries not to drag to many people along with him.

CraigB said:
I think it needs to go in the Carbage thread... :lol:
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Quite possibly; it is a turbocharged, nitrous'd automatic Celica. Like TBoneUs noted though, the body and interior work is pretty clean.
 
This guy is a world-class douchebag. He deserves to get nailed to the wall.

Also: how is that he has a girlfriend? Is there a some sort of bizarre attraction some girls have to complete anus-orifices?

Heh, a tech at work is currently driving an 2002 low mile WRX he "bought" for $800 because the customer never came back for it.
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Dang! I ought to become a mechanic!
 
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tigger said:
Wow, that asshole is pretty much completely screwed. Hopefully he just sucks it up and tries not to drag to many people along with him.
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Reading the thread, it's not likely to happen. He's been arrested before and went right back to scamming. I just hope the asshat goes to prison and gets a big special friend.
 
http://www.tamparacing.com/forums/toyota-sale/502691-wtb-celica-00-05-a.html :lmao:

SCP_Celica said:
Any shape, just needs to be able to be on the road, miles don't matter. Color, etc.


This is for my girl so post what you have FS.
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*scroll down a few posts*

importguy1208 said:
Hey I have a nice white and black two-tone celica all done up with carbon fiber and a turbo kit that is going to be for sale soon. Let me know if you are interested! HA!
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Kamikaze said:
^ Pwned!
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Pwned, indeed :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
and this douchebag from the original threadf is an example why some kids shouldn't be allowed to have nice things. his mother is an idiot as well.
 
edkwon said:
and this douchebag from the original threadf is an example why some kids shouldn't be allowed to have nice things. his mother is an idiot as well.
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His mother is a sucker who doesn't want to see the truth about her little boy.

The thing about scammers like this Joe Dono character is that they always think they're smarter than everybody else. Problem is, they're only smarter than some people, and rarely smarter than most detectives.

I bet he scammed or otherwise stole all the parts he supplied.
 
jayhawk said:
Heh, a tech at work is currently driving an 2002 low mile WRX he "bought" for $800 because the customer never came back for it.
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Haha, reminds me of this guy at the 24 Hours of Lemons:

The story was that the car was abandoned at the Orange County BMW dealership at which Poly Orchid Racing team members were employed, and was thus free.
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And naturally, it was crushed. :D
 
internet douchebags, will they never learn?
 
Not a very nice person - has he got a negative report on his credit rating for this I wonder? One day he will try this with someone who takes debt collecting seriously and end up in hospital, if not the mortuary.
 
Thats why you pay for half of the cost up front...and the celica doesnt even look that good anyways...but I respect the work that went into it.


The kid=pwn3d and was nailed by the truth of the real world of finances

edit

for those of you who want to see the argument, it starts at page 6. the dumb kid is swp celica or something like that

edit2

pictures
http://flickr.com/photos/19467570@N00/
 
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