Complaint Review: Charles Mutter

Im a retired female on a fixed income and very little money to spare. What can I do when I have been scammed by an automobile mechanic?  

I verbally contracted with Charles Mutter, aka Chas Mule,  on 9/22/10 to replace my car's rear bumper cover (I provided the new bumper and all the parts he should have needed to complete the task).

He was also going repair the exhaust, tune-up, oil change, replace one headlight, add freon to the a/c.  I provided the headlight & freon and gave him $500 to start, in case he needed any additional parts as I was told by a body shop that it was a 4-hr by the book, job to replace the bumper cover and figured the $500 should cover everything.

He  swindled $1350 from me in the past few weeks. He  told me I needed a valve job, head gaskets, head, brakes, tuneup, oil change, c02 sensor, headlight harness and more.  

Every few days he would call,  telling me  parts  were breaking when he tried to install other parts, or finding or making other problems, bleeding me dry of my money over the course of the past few weeks; he gave me NO receipts, except a signed receipt for the money I gave him. He told me his name is Charles Mutter, but signed the money receipt "Chas Mule".

He has promised at least four times to bring receipts and parts he purchased but didn't use. He never follows through and has one excuse after another why he doesn't bring the receipts and my personal property that was in my car.

He has shown me NO old parts (when my mechanic friend asked to see them, he said he took them to the dump), no final bill, no receipts for parts purchased.

When he knew I was finally sure that he was stealing from me, he became verbally abusive and told me to shove the car up my a** ".  He refused to work further on the car and told me he would return my parts, property and receipts, and  last Sunday,  he dropped my car off at Scottie Muffler in Dover to finish the work (it wouldnt even RUN and they had to push it into the bay) and NOW I have another $925  to pay after this man bled me dry of my entire bank account, my savings and my house payments.

I had THREE mechanics check his work, one a friend of mine, and a mechanic and the owner of Scottie muffler, who all three agree that the engine work and brake work were NOT completed.

He did very little of what he said and apparently purchased NONE of the parts he said, as he refuses to produce any receipts.  The task he actually completed (replacing my rear bumper cover), I provided the parts for, and was told that even $500 for a 4 hr job was excessive, because the going rate for a mechanic is around $16/hour and a shop would charge $40 to $90 per hour..  

He told me he was a certified mechanic but showed me NO paper confirming that.  He told me he used to work for Pep Boys but I have been unable to verify that.

I wrote a three page letter to the Attorney General's Office, but did not send it, because the attorney general fraud unit and elder financial abuse unit say it's a police matterthe police say it's a civil matter.

I am very afraid he will retaliate once I post this, as he was verbally abusive to me on at least three occasions. First, when I brought a mechanic to check and he realized he was caught, and again, when I asked him to return my parts and give me receipts and a final bill. 

All he could in the end, was give me were excuses, promises he doesn't keep and had an arrogant attitude,  telling me to "do what I have to do" when I confronted him for stealing from me. In other words, he thinks I have no options and he is free to prey on elder women at will.

I am heartbroken, angry and frustrated. This sort of scam has happened to me THREE different times with different auto mechanics in the state of Delaware in the past 6 or 7 years. Someone needs to pass legislation to protect us from these predators.  It has happened so many times, I can only assume that they all must know we consumers have no recourse.  Thanks for any help anyone out there can provide me.