HOUSTON – Judy Van Etten walks around what’s left of her beautiful Cadillac XTS.
If you take a close look you will see that Van Etten’s front grill is all smashed up and the front hood is painted a completely different color and it won’t even close all the way.
This, after Van Etten, 64, was involved in a minor traffic accident months ago.
That is when a trio of “dent scammers” approached her in a parking lot, promising to make her Cadillac look brand new again for just $450.
“Well, I was parked at Walmart, in my car with the engine running and this guy approached me and told me he could fix it,” Van Etten said.
From there, Van Etten led the group, two men and one woman, to her apartment.
They entered her garage, promising to fix the dents and damage and repaint the damaged hood.
Two hours later, they told Van Etten the job was finished.
But when Van Etten looked at the car, it was completely covered in thick wax and it looked kind of strange.
“And I said, 'Well, it looks kind of whiter than my car and it’s all greasy. ‘No it will be fine’ the guy says, ‘once you buff off the wax, you are going to love it’, he said,” Van Etten said.
The next day, Van Etten said her car looked horrible, but without full coverage on her car, she couldn’t afford to have her car repaired properly.
That’s when Van Etten contacted Spencer Solves It.
Right away, we brought Van Etten’s car to the paint and body experts at River Oaks Paint and Body.
There, they specialize in making all kinds of damaged cars look brand new again.
Body shop owner Robby Bosone explains how these dent scammers operate.
“They come up to you in supermarket parking lots, at gas stations and they will offer to fix your vehicle for $200 and then they will spray it with spray paint, put some Bondo on it or something else and then they leave and they really have not done anything to fix your car," Bosone said.
Now, the highly trained, specialists at River Oaks Paint and Body will go to work on Van Etten’s ride.
They'll strip off all of the damaged parts and replace them with new.
They will sand and buff and paint the car and in the end it will look brand new.
Van Etten is ecstatic.
“I am extremely grateful and appreciative for all that you and Channel 2 have done for me, in agreeing to fix this very expensive problem for me,” Van Etten said.
We at Spencer Solves It want to thank Bosone for agreeing to take on the job. The repairs will amount to more than $5,000 and Bosone is doing the work free.
If you need help with a problem you can’t possibly solve by yourself, contact Spencer Solves It at 713-223-TIPS (8477) or email us at solvesit@click2houston.com.