NEWARK
-- New
Jersey is suing the principal and the
manager of a Camden County used auto parts
shop in connection with their alleged
sales of faulty and defective used and/or
rebuilt transmissions, Attorney General
David Samson and Consumer Affairs Director
Reni Erdos said.
Peter Venuto, Sr., owner of Greentree
Auto Parts and the company's manager,
Ray Effinger, are named in the State's
five-count complaint alleging dozens of
violations of the State's Consumer Fraud
Act and regulations governing automotive
repairs. The complaint, filed in Camden
County Superior Court, also names Greentree
Auto Parts, which does business as Greentree
Transmission Warehouse, 201 Lakeland Road,
Blackwood. Greentree relocated to the
Blackwood address from 11 Enterprise Court,
Sewell.
The complaint alleges that the defendants
routinely advertised Greentree's services
in telephone directories and/or the Internet
indicating that it sold transmissions
that were carefully assembled, rigorously
tested and in fully functioning condition.
However, when consumers purchased the
transmissions, the complaint alleges,
they discovered that the transmissions
were, in fact, faulty and defective.
Consumer Affairs has received more than
a dozen complaints from consumers concerning
the alleged sales practices and faulty
transmission repairs at Greentree.
The complaint alleges that since at least
December 1998, the defendants have made
false promises, used deception and misrepresentations
concerning the sale and repair of transmissions
to unsuspecting consumers. The complaint
alleges the defendants violated State
laws by, among other things:
- failing
to honor consumer warranties and repeatedly
charging consumers for services that
were not rendered;
- leaving
consumers' vehicles on Greentree's
premises for almost a year while Greentree
moved to another location without
informing consumers;
- sending
a consumer's vehicle out for repairs
at another shop without the consumer's
consent;
- refusing
to give a consumer the directions
to the location of his vehicle so
that he could retrieve it;
- purporting
to issue a refund to a consumer by
check and subsequently requesting
a stop payment on the same check,
causing it to bounce;
- painting
a previously sold transmission to
another color to make a consumer who
returned the defective transmission
think he was purchasing a different
transmission;
- telling
a consumer his car was ready then
telling him it was not only after
he had paid the balance of the repair
costs; and
- sending
a consumer the wrong transmission
two months after the promised delivery
date.
"Contrary to what some may think, laws
are not meant to be broken," Governor
James E. McGreevey said. "Consumer protection
laws are in place to keep the marketplace
honest and safe from swindlers who seek
to take advantage of consumers. We will
vigorously enforce our laws in our ceaseless
efforts to protect consumers."
"We allege that these defendants endangered
the lives of consumers by selling them
defective transmissions that would unpredictably
cease working," Attorney General Samson
said. "We allege their business practices
are deceptive, unconscionable and unlawful."
"The defendants' activities will not go
unpunished," Erdos said. "Our suit seeks
to have the defendants immediately provide
consumers with the fully-functioning transmissions
that were promised to them and that they
paid for or return to them their money.
The suit also seeks to have the defendants
pay penalties to the State and to come
into compliance with the State's laws."
Deputy Attorney General Kenneth Adebonojo
of the Division of Law is handling this
matter for the State.
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