Motorsports Unlimited / Micco Motors Gary DeMicco failure mo make repais as promised Hudson, Florida

From the Desk of:                                                                                                    

Friday, February 17, 2012



Richard Patton                                                                                    

1402 Findlay Ave Spring Hill, FL 34609



 



Hello,

My name is Richard Patton I live in Spring Hill, FL with my son; I am a disabled American on a fixed income. My son and I moved from Indiana to Florida in October 2010. I had a 2000 Chevrolet Blazer with the exception of high miles ran very well but thought that it was time to purchase something a little newer and more comfortable to drive. After looking around at a few car lots up and down St. Rd. 19 between our town of Spring Hill and as far south as New Port Richey, FL I looked at a 2004 Cadillac CTS that was being offered for sale at a used car dealer in Hudson, FL by the name of Micco Motors. The car was on the lot for sale and they told me that they were going to send it to a shop because of a throttle issue it was having, I asked them when it would be ready to test drive and they stated to me that it would be back on the lot ready to go within
a week. I received a call from their salesman Dennis about a week and a half later who told me the car was on its way back to the lot and wanted me to set up an appointment to test drive, I set the appointment for the next day at 10:00 am (July, 2nd 2011).

When I arrived at the lot the car was there, they assured me that all mechanical issues with the car had been addressed and that they had replaced the throttle body on the car and that it had been thoroughly serviced. I test drove the car and with the exception of a pull to the right it seemed to run good. When I returned to the lot I got out and started to look at the
exterior the salesman met me outside as I went around the car looking at minor dings and so on. I found that the 3rd brake light was busted which is located in the center of the trunk deck and did not work. I addressed this with the salesman and he stated to me that that was no problem they would be happy to order me a new one, they gave me the price minus the trade in  plus the tax and tag fees and so on and I agreed to pay a little over $12000.00 for the car. I filled out the credit
application and was approved with a $1000.00 down payment and after they put it in writing that they would fix the 3rd brake light and pay of an alignment to address the pulling to the right, I was soon on my way home with my new used car.

As I drove north on 19 from Hudson on my way back home to Spring Hill a lady pulled beside me and started honking her horn motioning for me to roll down my window, when I did she told me that something had just fallen off the back of the car, I pulled over and went back to investigate to find that the plastic cover that goes over the reverse lights was missing. I
made a U-turn on the highway and went back to see if I could find it, I did parts of it were laying in the road and in the median I picked them up and went straight back to the car lot. The salesman I had dealt with was gone so I was greeted by the finance guy named Brian and the owner of the business Gary DeMicco who told me that he would order a new one on Monday since it was Saturday and after noon that he couldnt get one that day he shook my hand laughed it off and thanked me for my business, told me not to worry Ill take care of it. I agreed and left again to go home.

I stopped at Wal-Mart in Spring Hill on the way home and purchased new tires for the car, I wanted to address the issue of the car pulling to the right and it seemed to fix the problem, over all I was happy about that. The mechanic told me that the oil in the car was a quart low I told him that I had just bought the car and the dealer told me that the car had just been serviced he told me that the oil on the stick was indeed low and dirty also that the oil filter had not been changed recently and that the air filter in the car was so dirty that it looked original. I nodded and told him to replace the filters and change the oil which they were happy to do.

On Monday July, 4th I called the dealer of course got no answer as it was a holiday, the next day I went to the lot. Brian the

fianc guy had been put in charge of ordering the parts for my car (the 3rd brake light and the plastic piece that covered the reverse lights). He informed me that he had ordered the plastic piece for the reverse lights and said that it would be in in a few days and then asked me if he could have a couple weeks to find the 3rd taillight online he said it was an expensive item from the dealer and I told him that would be fine I didnt care if it was new or used as long as it was for the car and that it worked.  I also addressed what had taken place at Wal-Mart and the fact that the car had not been recently serviced as they had told me it had been, since the alignment was no longer needed and the problem was with one of the tires we reached an agreement that they would reimburse me for the cost of one of the tires, they wrote me a check for that and never offered to pay or call any more attention to the recently serviced issue. I shook it off thinking that it was really no big deal so what I paid for the oil change and a new air filter this was my new car and I was still excited about it and after all they did pay for one of the tires maybe it was an oversight that the service didnt get done.

In two weeks I called Brian at the dealership to see if my parts were in and when we could schedule for them to be installed. He then informed me that they had sent him the wrong part for the reverse light cover and that he would have to re-order it and that he had been unsuccessful in finding a 3rd break light online, he apologized to me and said that he would get right on it and asked that I give him a little more time to get the parts. I am not an unreasonable person and I realize in business that things happen and as a consumer it seems they always happen to me so I told him that was fine, however that if he could not find the 3rd break light online for sale in a week or two he was going to have to bite the bullet and just order one from a dealer he said that he would find one or do the alternative and order one from Cadillac.

I was trying to be patient with them, however several more weeks went by I would call and get no return phone calls from them and the only time I could get any kind of response at all about what was going on was if I drove down to Hudson to the lot and went inside. Then it was just more lies, I ordered it for you Mr. Patton and just got an e-mail confirming it will be here on Monday or I ordered your parts and they are backordered and will be here when they get availability. One after the other I felt cheated I took the car to a body shop to get an estimate of what it would cost to get the repairs done replacing the 3rd taillight and ordering the replacement kit for the reverse light cover with labor and all the cheapest estimate I got was $1564.33 and that was from Autoway Cadillac in Port Richey, FL I was floored there was no way that I could afford this, I am on disability and after all I now have a car payment to make besides other monthly expenses.

It was now the last week of August 2011 the car was still not fixed and as I am sure of now the parts for it were never ordered 7 weeks had went by since I bought the car and the Service Engine Soon light came on I took the car to a local parts store here in Spring Hill, FL and they hooked it up to a computer to see if they could pull any codes that it may be throwing as to why the Service Engine Soon light was on and it came up with 5 different codes all of them pertaining to the throttle on the car one of them saying throttle not learned the car started dying in the middle of intersections, or would in park repeatedly race the engine like someone was pumping the gas pedal I had had it I drove it back to Micco Motors in Hudson went in almost ready to beat the crap out of the first person I saw that worked there. They assured me that they would take care of the problem Gary DeMicco the self-introduced owner of the business told me that he had spent a lot of money on the car for the same issue and wanted me to drive it down the road to Richards Tire and Auto also located in Hudson, FL on St. Rd. 19 and that he would call them and let them know that I was coming. I did just that thinking of course that they would honor what they said was fixed on the car before I bought it.

Richard the owner of Richards Tire and Auto informed me that he was very busy and that I needed to leave the car with them so they could find out what was happening with it. They called Enterprise Rent a Car who picked me up at Richards on August 26th 2011 11 days later on September 6th 2011 Richards called me Richard the owner expressed to me that he had been really busy and had not worked on the car however that one of his mechanics had re-set the computer by clearing the codes and now could not get the car to duplicate the problem. He asked that I pick up the car this was on September 6th 2011 and if I had any further problems with it then to bring it back. After picking up the car I returned to rental car to Enterprise Car Rental the same day for a total of $355.67 I paid this and yet nothing besides clearing the codes had been done to my car. To clear the codes takes about 5 minutes this was 11 days later.

The car did seem to run ok for a few days and then it started happening again, dying, motor racing, and one day with my son in the passenger seat it started to accelerate as we were in a 40mph zone after we reached 60 I turned off the ignition we were able to make it home and I parked it. I had no money at the time to do anything else. My dad has his motorhome at
my house even though they live in Indiana in the event they may want to come and visit it gets about 7mpg but thats what I used to go to the store, doctor, and so on. I could not afford to take it back to the garage Micco Motors sent me to, renting another car for God knows how long with no guarantee that they were even going to work on it or at least within a reasonable amount of time. I called Micco Motors and spoke once again with Brian the same person who had been lying to me over the parts they had promised to get to fix what they had agreed to do when I bought it and he informed me that Richards was the shop that had done the throttle repair to begin with and that they were responsible for it. Finally after a couple months I took the car to Autoway Cadillac in Port Richey, FL they informed me that the wire harness to the throttle body had been cut and spliced back together and that this was more than likely done by whoever changed the throttle body and that this would not work, this is why it was losing its memory in the computer on how to idle, run or how much fuel to
send to the engine. I asked them how much it would be to fix the car replacing this wire harness so on October 13th 2011 I paid them $749.25 to do the repair. As of to date I have had no further issue with the throttle on the car.

On October 21 2011 I had surgery at Oakhill Hospital in Brooksville, Fl. It was a colon resection the plan was to remove part of my lower bowl hook everything back up and be out of the hospital within 7-10 days 8 days after my initial surgery on October 29th 2011 I went back for exploratory surgery I had developed an abscess and was now septic I awoke from my second surgery with an ileostomy and was told that a reversal could happen in 3 months I spent almost 2 months in the hospital due to complications and infection I spent several weeks in the ICU (intensive care unit). Following when I did get home it was daily visits from home health care nurses, several trips back to the hospital in an ambulance for 3 to 4 day stays due to my blood pressure dropping, dehydration and so on. Recently on Feb 6th 2012 I had reversal surgery and was never so glad to get something over with in my life it was a nightmare. I still have nurses coming changing my surgery dressings and monitoring my overall health but I am feeling better now.    

On February 15th 2012 I returned to Micco Motors to find Brian setting behind the desk he asked if he could help me as if I were a stranger I told him that I wanted my car fixed he stated to me that they were no longer Micco Motors they are now Motorsports Unlimited and that they were no longer responsible for any promises made or my repairs. I wanted to kick his
desk over his head he said that Gary DeMicco was not the owner of Micco Motors just a manager and that the real owner Jim left the business. The truth is that Jim and Gary were partners in the business and to hear Jim, Gary busted the business and Jim left now Gary has a new financial backer and is back in business under another name well at least the majority of the idiots there are the same ol crooks as before. I am out a total of $749.25 to Autoway Cadillac, $355.67 to Enterprise Rent a car, and the estimate to fix the 3rd brake light and the replacement kit for the reverse light cover is $1564.33 from Autoway Cadillac with a grand total of $2.669.25  and they dont feel like they owe me a dime.

They are back in business under a new name and somehow that makes them un-responsible.

My question is if I did something bad to a person and then changed my name am I still responsible? 

I need help to recover my losses and to pay for the repais they promised.


Richard Patton