Complaint Review: Frank Spatacco

In September/October 2015, I bought a classic car owned by Michael Spatacco, of Gladwyn, Pennsylavia, that I was told was a project car of him and his son, Frank Spatacco, of North Hollywood and/or Valley Village California. I found the car on an Ebay listing. The Ebay listing explained the terrific condition of the car, and outlined all kinds of improvements that were said to have been made on the car, and included incredible photos, and even a fancy video that had special effects, shifting colors, and music. Frank Spatacco, who told me that he is some type of video producer in the Los Angeles area for the Discovery Channel, told me he used his TV skills to make the beautiful photos, and the fancy video. Frank was selling the car for him and his Dad, since Michael Spatacco was its only legal owner on the title.

I was interested in the car because I am a single dad with 4 kids, 3 under 10, and I had been searching for months for a classic car so that I could enjoy special times with them. I didn't have a lot of money, but I needed a dependable car, and this car really seemed like it from how it was advertised. I live in Florida, which I told Frank Spatacco when I first inquired about the car, so I had no way to inspect it personally, and he knew it since I told him so. So before I bought and paid for it, I discussed the car and it's condition with him at length. He told me how great the car was and how it was such a great car to get out and drive with no problems. Me and the kids would love it, I was told. A "turn key" car, in "fine working condition showing nothing wrong," and "needing absolutely nothing to be in fine driving condition," were among the several things that were ultimately represented to me in writing by one or both Spataccos.

When it came to price, they agreed to reduce the price some, and I was told in writing that I was getting such a great deal that if I took this special example of a car to a Barrett-Jackson auction (a respected classic car auction), I could easily get my money back, maybe even make money. So I didn't have to worry at all, I was told. It was explained to me that both Spataccos working together had invested tens of thousands of dollars in the car more than they were selling it to me for. When I asked why they would sell such a greatly improved car at such a discount, I was told that losing money on the car was not a really big deal for them, since when they restored the car, they both were flush with cash from working in the financial industry. Since then, it was explained to me, Frank had left the financial industry and moved to California, and him and his dad, not living near each other anymore, just no longer needed the car. I considered myself blessed and was thankful for such an opportunity. And Frank Spatacco seemed so believable. He told me that he works in the same building as Jay Leno, and that Leno had seen the car many times, and even sat in it at times, and that him and Leno would talk about the car. He told me that he talked to Leno about Leno buying it, but that Leno said he already had a car that type and year. He told me that the actors who played Dexter (Michael C. Hall) and Dexter's father, in the cable TV series Dexter, had been admiring the car one day at a golf course, and that he even went for a drive with them, and that they expressed interest in buying the car, but that it was so nice they thought they couldn't afford it. He told me that he missed a chance to sell it to them because he told them that he needed $100,000 for the car (over double what I was now "lucky" enough to be paying).

I hear all this, and I'm thinking "wow, this must be such an incredible car, man am I lucky." I agreed to buy the car, and the process proceeded. As it did, and before I handed over any deposit, and then before I handed over the real money, I asked many further questions about the condition of the car, to be sure it was as described. I was always told how great it was. I was told the paint was awesome, a "9 out of 10" condition, with just a couple of paint chips here and there, and mostly just in one place inside the hood latch. No paint chips on the panels of the car, I was assured. No rust, I was told. And again, all this is confirmed in writing. I was told that they had rewired the car to make the electrical system updated with "no pesky gremlins," per Frank Spatacco's words. I was told that they had done considerable work to the engine to give it more power and make it run better, even added exhaust headers, and I was told that a more modern transmission was installed that was completely rebuilt and shifted great, unlike the old original one. There were many other representations, I could go on an on. Many, many times I asked if there were any problems at all, because I was a single dad with no time, knowledge, money or ability to make repairs. I made that very clear. I was always told everything worked fine, no problems at all. Over and over I asked questions about everything from the interior, to the chrome, to the glass, to the engine, to the brakes, to the steering, to the suspension, to the gauges - everything. Everytime, I was told how awesome the car was. "The pictures don't do it justice", I was told. Laser straight body, I was told. Excellent condition, new Convertible top, I was told. No worries I was told. "Turn key," I was told, just hop in and enjoy it with your kids. Nothing wrong, nothing, nothing, needs nothing, I was told. It's in "fine working condition showing nothing wrong," and "needing absolutely nothing to be in fine driving condition." Awesome.

So I handed over $47,500 for the car, plus paid about another $1850 for shipping across the United States to get the car to me. The morning it arrives, me and all my kids are all outside waiting for it to be unloaded. In fact, I let my kids go to school 20 minutes late to see it arrive, just because we were all so excited. Then, literally, as I walk up to the car for the very first time, I see the car, and I'm almost instantly sick to my stomach. From a distance even, the virtually perfect paint I was told about, has maybe a HUNDRED areas of paint chips and damage, inside and out, and several chips are even touched up with the quality and skill of a two-year old. They are on all the panels, every single panel. Some are huge and obvious from 20 feet away. You would think to get this much paint damage someone showered your car with rocks. Some chips alone or together are over the size of a quarter, or string out in lines of chips several inches or even several feet long. And even without the chips, the paint is wavy and messy in some places looking maybe like paint would if someone's brother did it with a spray can. Plus, there are dented areas, particularly on the hood where the paint is not only chipped a lot, but the metal is bent. No rust I'm told. Well, there are dozens of rust blisters bubbling up under the paint.

The convertible top is mis-fitting and dirty and improperly seated on the car. The windows do not close tightly all the way, so that rain and anything else can get in the car, and they are not aligned properly in the frames leaving more gaps. The chrome, which I was told was so perfect that I would not need to be at all concerned about it for 20 years, is missing and/or corroded in some places, and some chrome trim pieces are dented and one is to the point of being mangled at one end. The windshield glass is clouded enough so that I do not find it safe to drive at night (I can't define traffic coming good enough with oncoming headlights) and the windshield trim is installed like it was done in someone's garage and is a sloppy mess with liquid silicone slathered all over the place. The wiper blades are literally worn out and hanging off. The laser straight body has huge gaps and misalignment at the driver's door compared to what it should be. And the whole car sits tilted to the left, which my mechanic says is due to a suspension problem. And on and on. Meanwhile, there's an incredible stench of gasoline in the air, that I later in the day I am told by a mechanic is because the carburetors, that are supposedly working great and "need nothing," are worn and need repair or maybe replacement. In my garage, the smell of gasoline is so bad it makes you sick and stinks up everything in there.

I then open the driver's door, and I'm actually getting dizzy from the shock of it all. The carpet, seats, and seat belts are beyond filthy, as if someone rolled around covered in grease and dirt. I spend hours cleaning them, leaving many rags black with filth, but I still can't get out many black stains. The carpet, which looked like new in the pictures, has wear and stains. The seat structure is so worn/damaged that when I push the driver seat forward to look in the back seat, the driver's seat actually comes apart, and I can see the springs and frame on the inside of the seat, and it's all disgustingly filthy and rusted, so much that I vacuum out the filth. A part of the dashboard is shimmed with obvious scraps of paper in a 10-second "repair" job. I pull it out and find out why - without it the part rattles terribly. Other dash and trim parts are plain missing. The key cylinder is not even attached to the dashboard and falls out. The steering column is corroded, as is the case around the radio, and not all gauges work or light up properly. Standing there, the car being mine for maybe 10 minutes, my kids are in the street, and my 9 year old son is pulling at my arm saying "I'm sorry, daddy,. " And my 6 year old boy is crying softly with tears running down his cheeks, as he takes it all in.

I then quickly discover - the same day - day one I have the car - that the engine that was supposedly improved and "upgraded" in all kinds of ways actually blows huge amounts of black oil or some black oily substance out the back tailpipes, so bad that it leaves huge oily black stains on my driveway everytime I start it and even while it's running. I'm talking actual oil or oily carbon or whatever, not just smoke. I don't know why yet. Oh it blows smoke also while you drive it, that's for sure, 100% of the time, and that's something I specifically asked about and, again, was told was not a problem, but I am talking now about how at start up it showers the ground with a black oily mess that you can't fully always rinse away. Only after we had made the deal and only after we had several conversations about how great the car was, and only after I had already paid the Spataccos money toward the car, then and only then, Frank Spatacco had suddenly decided to disclose to me that the car let out a "little" smoke at start up. This had me massively worried. Why did he not tell me something this important previously when he told me there were no problems? This is something you need to disclose to a buyer, especially when they ask you if there are any issues, and you say there are none. But he assures me the smoke at start up is normal for old cars, however, and that it's only at start up, then it goes away. It's nothing worth fixing he says. All this he says in writing.

Ok. So I don't panic. Well, truth is, it's not a little smoke at start up that goes away. It's smoke that pours out all the time, even after the engine has been running for hours, and the oily mess on the ground just keeps coming long after the car is running. . And I find out that, no, it's not normal. No, all old cars don't smoke 100% of the time, or even at start up, or spew black crap on your driveway. And for good measure, it leaks plenty of oil too I discovered, as in after about three hours, I had more oil spots on my driveway than I did in 12 years of other cars parking there. I find out why - it leaks oil from just about everywhere. Multiple engine locations, transmission, rear end. The engine leaks are many and very obvious. No one would ever be confused about that there was a leaking problem. And that transmission - that was touted as being completely rebuilt (so I think, ok, it's going to shift great) - well it sounds like it wants to give up, and throws you around the car with many of its shifts, some of which are so hard, It's like getting kicked from behind. Steering - so sloppy you feel you could lose control sometimes, with clunking and rattling suspension sounds. I also discover that the power steering cuts out at times. No idea whatsoever as to how or why. Exhaust system? My mechanic discovers that in places it is held in position with cardboard scraps (burnt, and that could have caught fire) and a piece of a metal coat hangar, and that part of the suspension actually strikes and dents the exhaust system. Nice. Needs nothing. Fine working condition showing nothing wrong.

How much worse can it get I ask myself? But then I find out! I try to drive the car at night, and I find out that the so-called electrical system upgrade that Frank Spatacco told me about has left the back-up lights only coming on in neutral, not reverse. You back up, no lights. Then even worse, I find out that the power windows blow a fuse every single time you operate them. We buy a box of fuses and use 4 or 5 sometimes just to roll up 4 windows. The mechanic finds issues with some wiring that may be the cause. So much for Frank Spatacco assuring me - in writing - that the car doesn't have any "pesky electrical gremlins," and that "everything works." I'm then looking at the car shaking my head asking myself how did I fall for all these false representations about the car? Putting aside all the non-truths I was told, why didn't I suspect any of these problems? I then go back and look at the pictures of the car on the eBay listing, and I realize that at least some of the ad photos have been altered somehow from showing the truth of what the car looks like! The several pictures of the red car interior in the ad specifically show a bright red, clean, uniformly-colored and vibrant red interior, with superbly matching and new-looking bright red floor mats. But the car looks nothing like that in real life, and most obviously, the floor mats, in real life, are worn and almost orange in color, they are faded so badly.

Then I realize that some of the pictures in the ad are altered and/or enhanced from reality. They have been "photoshopped," or overexposed, or some other way have been changed or manipulated, so that red color has been added or emphasized or somehow altered in the pictures, in order that the car interior looks a beautiful red, looking very vibrant, clean, pristine and new looking, that is just not reality! Exactly what was done or how, I don't know. I'm not a photo expert. But I know these pictures do not show the truth of what the car looks like. It's total false advertising and/or fraud in advertising to advertise photos that do not represent the real condition of the car! When you put the pictures side by side, you realize they don't even look the same color of red! It also appears that at least one picture of the outside of the car was subjected to the same "red" fiction which does not allow to be seen damage to the hood where the paint is chipped and missing. Who actually does this to someone? Who puts false photos in an ad? How can anyone do this? I ask myself these things. And, like I think anyone would, I wonder exactly who did it? I'll find out in the lawsuit I am just filing against them both.

But right now, I have my opinions, but I have to keep my opinions about a verifiable fact like this to myself until I'm sure, because while I know the pictures don't show the truth, I can't prove (yet) who made them not show the truth, or how or why they don't show the truth. It wouldn't be right (and could be defamation) to accuse anyone without being sure of WHO did what to the photos. But here's what I do know - I do know it's the Spataccos ad. I do know they posted the photos for their ad. I do know Frank Spatacco took the pictures (he admitted he took them - he didn't say he altered them). I know it's their car. I know these several photos do not show what is the real life condition of the car. And I know that Frank Spatacco knows how to change colors in a video of the car, which video he told me he made. So we will find out how and why these pictures don't show reality. I will take depositions and have the photos professionally examined as needed. And when I do, I will update this posting with the information of how these photos that don't show the truth came to be. Incredible that anyone does this. Just incredible. So before I have had the car even one day,

I start contacting the Spataccos and tell them that I feel they totally lied to and tricked and defrauded me, by not telling me the truth and by selling me this car worth nothing near and being nothing like the $47,500 car that was represented. I complain that I was tricked and deceived with fake descriptions, false ads, fictitious representations that they knew were false, and bogus pictures. And I explain that the car is worth nothing like the $47,500 car which Michael Spatacco himself confirmed in writing was turn-key, and in "fine working condition showing nothing wrong," and "needing absolutely nothing to be in fine driving condition." I tell both men then that I want to either return the car for a full refund, or I will keep it, but they need to refund me $15,000 of the tens of thousands of dollars that my bank paid via bank wire directly to Michael Spatacco's bank account in Pennsylvania. I find out that in actuality, I have overpaid by maybe as much as $25,000, but I offer to accept $15,000, because if I keep the car, I need to fix it, at least so it's safe as it should be for me and my kids, and so it won't leave us stranded, won't get exposed to the elements, and won't keep staining my garage floor and driveway. And I need money to do all that. So I really need at least $15,000 of the money that I feel was ripped off from me. If they won't pay it, I offer that if I can return the car (my preference), I will even pay to ship it back. Altogether, if I return it, I lose about $5,000 for just one day of ownership. But I offer to do it anyway, just to end this nightmare.

My kids meanwhile are devastated. My 6 year old asks me why those people would do this to us when they knew how happy we were to find the car. I tell him that some people will do things that are wrong for money, and that some people aren't always truthful or honest. It's hard to tell your sweet 6 year old child that people will say and do things for money. I try to tell him, however, that most people (I think and hope) would not do what the Spataccos did to me with the car, and that some people, like the Spataccos with me in this case, are just very good at making other people like me, who are trusting of them, think that they are telling the truth. In response to my proposal to resolve the matter, both Spataccos tell me, basically, to get lost, even when I explain all that I have explained here. I am even told in essence, "too bad, It's your car now" (words to that effect), and that too bad, I should have flown out to California to inspect the car. So to me, that's like telling me "hey, too bad, it's ok to lie to you, or trick and deceive you out of your money, if you are foolish enough to believe us." That's my interpretation.

Neither Frank or Michael Spatacco ever deny my allegations that the examples of false statements and bogus pictures I complain about show I was deceived or misled with buying their car. They never address or explain any of the exact examples of deception and falsehoods which I point out have happened. In fact, even though I send Michael Spatacco a video of the car churning out a black mess all over my driveway, as well as copies of the interior pictures from their ad (the false ones) together the real ones I took (so that he can clearly see the truth of the matter), he never says a word. Not even to deny my allegations that the ad pictures of the interior are bogus! If someone sent me pictures like this, I would be quick to defend myself .... if I really didn't do anything wrong, that is. That's what I would do. If someone accused me of lying or deceiving or tricking them, I would be real quick to argue and point out how and why that is not true, with clear defenses to each accusation. That's what I would do.

But the Spataccos did no such thing. Rather, they simply refused to discuss, recognize or even deny any of the many acts of deception I pointed out. And by denying all my demands to be made whole or compensated, it has become abundantly clear that they have no intent to do anything to resolve my complaints. They don't express any care when I say that I will sue them, which I promise to do (I am just filing the lawsuit against them in Duval County, Florida). When I tell Michael Spatacco that I'm going to make this post on RipOffReport, he tells me to do it right away. Wish granted, Mike. So at this point, I do some research, and I find out that the Spataccos have been advertising this car for sale for many months in different places, at various different prices. And, with varying different descriptions of what great stuff they have done to it and how great it is. Apparently, with me, they just represented whatever worked in order to sell me the car, regardless of the truth, and I was suckered into thinking that the car was something it is not. And me - thinking that they were both in the financial industry, past and present, and that if they handled other people's money, they had to be trustworthy and wouldn't have any reason to deceive me - I fell for the misrepresentations.

I really did trust them, because of what I was told about them by Frank Spatacco. I think to myself, these are guys with a history of working with other people's money, they gotta be trustworthy. These can't be guys who would deceive me, mislead me, or trick me. They are successful men who are respected. That's really what I thought about them in my own mind, or else I would have flown out to California to inspect the car before I paid them anything. Now I pay the price for taking their word, and believing their pictures. So I'm saddled with a car I can't drive like I should, that I have to make repairs to immediately (paid over $700 just today, with thousands and thousands to go), and that's worth nothing like what I paid for it. It has been blowing all kinds of fuses trying to use the windows. Oil crap and smoke is always being blown out the back. It stalls at times. Always smells of fuel. It needs essentially a total re-paint to ever make it have the paint I was told it had, and to fix the damage and rust I was told didn't exist. It needs a windshield. It needs electrical work. It needs suspension work. It needs engine or related work. It has some power steering issue. It needs lots of interior work. Heater doesn't work. Parts of the exhaust system are supported with cardboard scraps and a coat hangar. It's not done as promised. It surely isn't a car that doesn't need anything, as was promised. It's anything but turn-key, as promised. It's not in "fine working condition showing nothing wrong," and its fiction that it needs "absolutely nothing to be in fine driving condition."

In addition to what I listed already, so far to date, we have discovered so many problems. The engine that's in fine driving condition, it only has 6 of 8 cylinders working. Not sure why yet. So much also for Frank Spatacco telling me he had his mechanic check it out right before he shipped it to me. I even thanked him for doing that lovely extra service. King pins in the front suspension need replacing and the front tires are ruined as a result (at least one, maybe both). A rear coil spring is installed wrong on one side and therefore it failed. The transmission cooler is installed in the wrong place. The emergency brake is not working. The heater system was intentionally disconnected and is incapable of working. There is rust underneath the car all the way through the floor, which was covered over with undercoating. The hood latch system is broken. Frank Spatacco said in writing the rear end was a Camaro rear end - it's not, plus the rear end leaks everywhere (I paid to fix it today). One rear wheel bearing was so completely destroyed the wheel could have failed - another bill today. The engine leaks oil from multiple places, and every spark plug was soaked in oil, and they hadn't been changed in God knows how long. Distributor cap bad. Water pump is bad. I could go on and on. There really is much more, but why bother? You get the point about what has been done to me. And so that's why I am suing both Frank and Michael Spatacco for fraud and other things. Before posting this or pursuing any lawsuit, I tried everything I could to get the Spataccos to do right by me. I didn't want to sue.

I didn't want this post. I had numerous emails with Mike Spatacco to try and reach some fair resolution, still thinking myself (foolishly, now I see), in my opinion, that as a respected financial advisor, or whatever his financial position is, he would be the kind of person to want to be sure I was not deceived or misled into paying him. I figured that even though it's his car, and maybe even though he appointed Frank Spatacco (in writing) as his agent to sell it, maybe somehow he doesn't know everything about how I was misled. I figure the truth will make him do right by me, if he's truly ignorant of any of the truth, and he's a fair person. That was my thought process. Michael Spatacco had me send him various written communications between me and his son, Frank Spatacco, and he told me how honest a person he was. So I'm thinking, ok, he's going to step up and prove it, and make right by me. But even after I sent him proof of several of the false things I was told, and after I sent him all kinds of pictures proving that I was, in fact, clearly misled and not told the truth, he still said and did nothing in reply. I pointed out to him even the altered, false interior photos from the ad and showed him instead real pictures of the interior. He said and did nothing. In fact, he didn't even bother to contact me back at all. No counteroffer or anything. No saying "We made a mistake. It shouldn't have happened. You were not told the truth.

I'm a man of ethics. I am an honest person. I'm not going to keep all your money when it's clear you were deceived. But I don't agree $15,000 is fair, how about $12,500, let's just make it right?" No, nothing like this hypothetical example. He just says nothing at all and ignores me. He surely didn't then decide to dispute any of my very specific contentions and examples laid out to him showing that I was misled, deceived, or duped, that's for sure. And even with all these facts in front of him, given the opportunity, he wouldn't do anything for me, wouldn't refund me anything. Tens of thousands of dollars of my money was wired directly to Michael Spatacco to buy his car, and he has nothing to say to me when confronted with the facts of what was said and represented to sell it to me. He's just keeping all the money. So my thoughts that maybe somehow he didn't know I was deceived to get me to buy the car ... well ... I surely don't have those thoughts anymore. Then incredibly, Frank Spatacco sends me an overnight letter demanding that I stop "harassing" and "stalking" him by sending him emails and texts and making phone calls (I never called him after I got the car, total lie) asking for my money back. Says my statements - which are all only me ultimately demanding to be compensated and threatening legal and justified consequences if I am not - have become "unbearable" for him. He amazingly says he's going to sue me for defamation unless I send him back some absurd contract he enclosed where I'm supposed to agree that I will leave him alone. Incredible. I'm upsetting him because I won't lay down and be victimized and accept losing all this money? The truth is an absolute defense to a claim of defamation, and I challenge anyone to make a list of everything in this post that isn't true - there won't be any list. I can prove every false statement, untrue photograph, misrepresentation and falsehood made and given to me, which I have explained in this post. If Frank Spatacco thinks I am not telling the truth, that's his right I suppose . . . but it will be a jury which decides who is telling the truth here.

And so I am forced to file a lawsuit to be made whole. And as for posting this, the truth is that while I told the Spataccos I was going to post it hoping to motivate them to do right by me, I really wasn't sure I would. I thought maybe I would just leave it to the courts and that's that. Who knows, maybe later they decide to settle with me, and if I'm made whole, maybe I don't need this post out there, forever. That was my initial thought. I believe people mostly should have a chance to not have the past haunt them, if they really resolve things properly, and make the past right. But after Michael Spatacco literally added insult to injury by telling me to hurry up and post on this site in response to my demands for compensation and my warnings that I wasn't going to take this all laying down, I thought differently. This is a really significant financial situation for me that was inflicted upon my by the misrepresentations of him and his son. It's not a game. My concerns shouldn't be casually dismissed. So if Michael Spatacco cares so little that I post this, then who am I to care more about it.

So the bottom-line then to my whole story is that before you have any dealings with Jay Leno's acquaintance and Discovery Channel video guy Frank Spatacco of Valley Village and/or North Hollywood California, or financial advisor/person Michael Spatacco of Gladwyn, Pennsylvania, which involve you giving them or trusting them with any of your hard-earned money, I suggest, in my opinion, that you give whatever consideration you think is appropriate before doing that, in light of what was represented to me to convince me to hand them over my money. You may want to recall how and why, as I explained here, that my trust in them was totally misplaced, and you may wish to think about what if anything it means that, even when the truth of what went on was exposed, neither Frank Spatacco or Michael Spatacco offered to give me back even one single penny of my money. Money that I would never had paid them, had they told me the truth. Both of these men that I trusted, even when they were shown all the facts by me, and even when they were shown all the pictures by me, still had no problem whatsoever in keeping all my money, and making me sue them to recover money I paid for a car that I never would have purchased, if I was just told the real truth and shown accurate photos. For me, that's all important. For me, all of this speaks volumes. And for me, I will always remember all of this before I would ever even think to trust them with any of my money again . . . for anything at all.