Complaint Review: Uncle Joe's Consignment Shop - Phoenix Arizona

Hello. My name is Fred Short. I am 18 years old. I recently bought a 2004 Hyundai Sonata from Uncle Joe’s Consignment shop at 2520 E Bell Rd on 8/27/14. We found the shop from a Craigslist ad stating that a certain car was able to be bought, we then went to the shop and the car was already sold within less than and hour. So we decided to look at other cars. Frank helped me find the car, and Chris sold me the car. Upon picking out the car, my mother and I told both Chris and Frank that we did not have enough money to pay the full 3000 for the car. They kept encouraging us to pay with cash and it would be harder to get the car with a debit or credit card. Both Frank and Chris said they could wait 60-90 days to pay whatever we would have left to pay and it wouldn’t be an issue. My mother and I was informed that the car was in “pristine” condition. Before buying the car, we were also told that the only thing that needed to be fixed on the car was the a/c and they said they would be able to fix it quickly. Then Chris had me sign a stack of contracts and barley let me look at the contracts, let alone explain them to me like we asked. Once they fixed they a/c, we took one last look at the car before we left the lot. The a/c worked fine and no other issues were apparent. Upon leaving the lot, the gas tank was empty so I went to fill it up at 17002 N Cave Creek Rd, a chevron gas station which is barley a block away. Once I put gas in the tank, I realized the a/c was not working. I immediately went back to the shop and informed Chris that my a/c was not working. He then said they could have it fixed in about 5-10 minutes but his Mechanic was at lunch at the moment, but feel free to come back later. A few hours later, I called the shop and asked if the mechanic was back. They said they would call me when the mechanic comes back. I waited close to 3 hours and did not receive a call. I then came back with the car at 7:00 that night. Chris then told me that they “didn’t have time” to look at it. He then told me to leave it over night, even though he told me to bring it back and that it would only take a few minutes to even look at it. I said i could not leave it over night since I didn’t have anyone to pick me up from the shop. Chris told me to just bring it back the next day.

The next day, on 8/28/14 I realized a few more things wrong with the car other than the a/c not working: the back passenger door was not locking with the remote and the driver door sensor would go off even though the door was closed while I was driving. These problems were there even though both Chris and Frank told me that the only problem was the a/c. We called the shop to make sure we could bring it in, so we asked to speak to Chris. The secretary put my mother on hold for about 3 minutes and told us Chris was off the whole day. My mother then asked to speak to Frank and the secretary said he was with a customer. I took the car in after I got done with school at noon. Upon arriving at the shop, Chris was obviously there and Frank was no where to be seen. So we decided to blow that off and get my a/c fixed. Chris had me fill out a sheet of what the mechanics needed to look at. On the sheet, it stated that if they found anything wrong I agreed to pay 50/50 with them for the labor and parts. Before signing, I questioned this because the a/c was suppose to be fixed before I even bought the car so there was no reason why I would have to pay for whatever was wrong with it. Chris then avoided this by saying that nothing was probably even wrong. I said I would not pay for the a/c and he said that’s fine I didn’t have to. I then signed the paper so they could look at my car because obviously they wouldn’t unless I signed the paper. Then we were on our way.

On 8/29/14, we called the shop about 2 o’clock to check on the car. I was put on the phone with, who I believe was the mechanic. He informed me that they looked over the car and I would need to pay my half of $500 ($250) to get the things fixed. I said that there is no way that I could pay that right now and Chris originally said I wouldn’t need to pay for it. He kept saying the I signed the paper and that the 50/50 required me to pay for half of the parts and labor. I kept telling him that I understood that. I asked him to just have Chris call me back when he got a chance. He didn’t call me back within the next hour so we decided to go down to the shop again. When we went in, we sat down with Chris in his office. I stated the i would not pay for the a/c since it was promised to be fixed when I bought the car. He stated that I signed the paper with the knowledge that I would have to pay the 50/50. I then told him that he said that I wouldn’t need to pay for the a/c at the least. He said that’s only around 120 dollars to have that fixed like the money was the issue. He also refused to give me an itemized list of what I would be paying to be fixed. Chris also stated that some of the problems that I had with car were not apparent such as the door signal randomly going off. He then said that we didn’t have to pay for it because he was being stubborn and wanted us to leave. So, we decided to leave with the car. When Chris handed me the keys he was very rude. When coming home, I decided to look at the contract again since I would be sure something else was fishy. When looking at the contract, on the page entitled: “Retail Installment Contract and Security Agreement,” it stated that the 800 dollars left for the car needed to be paid by 09/03/14. Chris and Frank originally said we would not need to pay for it till at least 60 days. And once again, Chris rushed me through the contract and supposedly explained everything to us. I noticed this so, I called Frank since I had not spoke to him yet that day. Frank was rude to me on the phone, I assume because Chris has talked to him about the a/c situation. He told me to talk to ‘Junior’ who was the main manger who was  at the shop that day. I called the front office and asked the secretary to transfer me to Junior. She immediately told me that Junior was not in. I told her that Frank said he was and she then put me on hold. Almost 5 minutes later, a man named Bryan picked up the phone. I asked what he did for the company and refused to tell me. I said I needed to talk to junior and he said he was Bryan. He continued to refuse to tell me what he did for the shop. I then explained about the contract and he said that I signed it so it’s my fault. I told him about the whole situation and continued to treat me like a child and saying that I should’ve read it, inferring that they did something wrong. I asked if I could at least get an extension to pay off the remaining 800 dollars. He stated that I would need to add an additional 1200 dollars to the 800 dollars to get an minimum extension. I told him I couldn’t do that and he told me nothing could happen.