A1 Auto Consultants ripoff Phoenix Arizona

In early April 2002 I was contacted by A-1 Auto Consultants in reference to the sale of my 99 Acura Integra GSR, AZ license # 235 FWK, VIN # JH4DC2398X500####. I had been trying to sell my Integra for over four months, they told me they could sub lease my car and get me monthly payments. Joanenice Shields-Usher, Owner of A-1Auto consultants, came down to Sierra Vista to meet with me and go over the contract on 19 APR 02 at approx. 1200 Hrs.

This contract stated that her company would lease my car to a third party who would make 59 monthly payments of $447.45 for the use of the vehicle. The contract stated that the user would have no interest in the vehicle and the registration/title would remain in my name until all monthly payments were made. The contract also stated that she would make any payments that the user failed to make and repo the vehicle if I asked to do so. After reviewing the contract SHIELDS told me that if anything went wrong with the user she would repo the vehicle and find a new user. She then took my vehicle to Phoenix to find a user.

A month later I contacted her and asked what was going on, she informed me that she was having a hard time finding a user. She told me it would only be another month or so. I then left to go to school at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO for two months. After being in school for almost a month I phoned SHIELDS to ask her what was going on, and if she had found a user. She told me she had and that I would receive my first payment on the 25th of May 02. I called my wife and told her the whole story and I just waited for the first payment. After the 25th of May 02 I called SHIELDS and asked her where the payment was, she said that they sent it to my bank instead of me. I called my bank and they didn't receive any payments. I returned home on 3 JUL 02 and called to find out why we had not received any payments. She told me that she would western union me the money and have the user do the same.

I never received any money so a week later the 9th of July my wife and I went to Phoenix to get the car back. We called SHIELDS on our way and told her what time we would be in her office, and she told me that she couldn't find the user or the car. When we got up to Phoenix, she told us that the user had moved from the residence that he told her he lived in and she couldn't find the car. I asked where this person was employed and SHIELDS told me that they worked at "The WB" in Phoenix. SHIELDS said that this was the WB television network company. I told her to get the number for me so she called information and they didn't have a listing for "The WB". She told us that she would give us a check for the past due payments and that she would find our car by Wednesday and meet us half way to give us the car. The check she gave us was for $727.00 (check # 2516), she told us that the funds would not be available until that Friday the 12th of July. We tried to cash the check after the 12th of July which the bank informed me the account had insufficient funds every time we tried to cash the check (about 10 times).

We tried to contact SHIELDS and left many messages. Sometime during the month of November we found that her phone had been disconnected. We could not find a new number to contact SHIELDS, and she never attempted to contact us.

Wayne
Hereford, Arizona
U.S.A.