On its website, Universal Body Shop in El Paso, TX, dubs itself “The Name You Trust for Bodywork,” but to a group of unhappy customers, the shop that closed without warning about two months ago is anything but trustworthy.

Owner Paco Rodriguez said he had to close the shop for financial reasons and wasn’t sure if customers who pre-paid for repairs would get their money back, El Paso’s KFOX-TV Channel 14 reported.

Several customers told KFOX that their vehicles were locked away in storage and that repeated attempts to contact Rodriguez to get their vehicles back were unsuccessful. Rodriguez told Channel 14 that he plans to reopen his shop at another location in a month and is keeping customers’ vehicles at an auto salvage facility in the meantime.

“He told me I’d have my car in a week. That was three weeks ago, and I haven’t been able to get a hold of him since. He won’t return my calls,” one of Rodriguez’s customers said, noting she dropped the car off at Universal at the end of July.

Another customer said Rodriguez refused her a refund after another body shop uncovered unsafe and incomplete repairs performed on her truck at Universal. The customer said she paid $4,700 out of pocket for another shop to correct Universal’s work, and a small claims court ordered Rodriguez to pay her back. She said he hasn’t yet, and she doesn’t expect to see the cash anytime soon.

KFOX noted that Universal’s website claims the shop is a member of the Better Business Bureau (BBB), but according to the BBB, the shop is not a member and has had 17 complaints filed against it in the last three years.

Courtesy of BODYSHOP BUSINESS Magazine.