Humpty Dumpty Van Repair

UPDATE: In order to reach the $700 goal by March 3, I am commiting to one hour of community service (i.e. soup kitchen, "trash mob") for every $10 contributed between Feb. 24 and March 3!  Thank to everyone for your incredible generosity. Please know I will also try to help anyone else who was hurt by these people.

On Jan. 20, 2017 I brought Humpty Dumpty Van to Tyler's Auto Care in Willimantic for a  repair estimated to take one hour for a cost of $177.  

Fifteen days later, I am with a crew of Good Samaritans sent over by Meineke Car Care (thank you, Nate) to rescue my car, which is up on a lift, parts on the ground, locked up by the building's owner because, he tells me, he is owed thousands of dollars in rent.

During those 15 days, I was told repeatedly that the repairs were "almost done," or that they needed a part and would be done "today," only to drive to the garage and find my car on the lift with no mechanic in sight or worse, the shop was closed. On one visit, I was joined by Willimantic Police who were there regarding bad checks... and then I was told by someone familiar with the garage owner that he was in jail. 

During this time, I lost hundreds of dollars in income because I was only occasionally able to borrow a car.  (I work as a caregiver for elderly and disabled people in their homes.)

And then I am told by Meineke that so much damage was done to the car, it will cost $800 to make the car safe to drive again. 

I am trying to raise only $700 because I have been fortunate to receive a $100 donation from the Windham Area Interfaith Ministry.  I am also very grateful to Nate at Meineke for giving me 2 more weeks to raise the balance on my bill. 

Please know that any amount of help you can provide will be received with profound gratitude.  I am so lucky to have the trust of the folks at Meineke and hope to reward that trust by paying this bill as quickly as possible.   (If I understand correctly, you will need to use a debit or credit card to make a donation.)

Also, I'd like you to know that I am filing a complaint with DMV, and while I will also file a small claims suit, I am not expecting to ever be paid... my goal is simply to make sure there's a legal record, because I have since heard from other business owners in town about several people who went through similar or even worse experiences.  You can read about a couple of them in the reviews (see righthand column on linked page) on Yelp, which I wish I'd checked before entrusting my car to this garage. https://www.yelp.com/writeareview/biz/Qzaty8CGBJfnbx8qswYpRg?return_url=%2Fbiz%2FQzaty8CGBJfnbx8qswYpRg&rating=1 

You may wonder, why did I choose this garage?  I'd been there with a problem with my tire, which they repaired and didn't charge me for, and they were very friendly at the time.  I wanted to support what I thought was a new business in town. Live and learn.

Again, I am so very, very grateful for your support.