03x106 - Mercedes Makeover Meltdown

[bunniefuu]

You wanted to have the car customized
and wanted an enhanced radio?

She wanted to make her sound louder.

My radio doesn't work.
He cut a wire in my car door.

-Oh, wait a minute.
-There's so much more.

-It's not my problem.
-I still have no music.

-I have that in writing.
-When you go King Kong on the door panel,

-of course it's gonna rip off.
-What, are you all crazy?

Where do you think you are?
In a pool hall?

-[announcer] This is Judy Justice.
-[theme music]

[announcer] Heather Villanueva
is suing business owner Joshua Alvarado,

for a custom car wrap,
an audio system, and ambient lighting.

-[Kevin] Court come to order. All rise.
-Have a seat, please.

Judge, case 3154,

-Villanueva versus... Alverez.
-Thank you.

Ms. Villanueva, you purchased a car

-for business purposes.
-Yes, ma'am.

[Judy]
And you wanted to have the car customized.

So you found the defendant
and you brought him the car

for the purposes of several things,
for the purpose of having a glitter wrap...

-Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] ...put on the car,

and to upgrade a stereo and mood lighting?

-Ambient lighting, yes, ma'am.
-All in the hopes

-of attracting rental business?
-Yes, ma'am.

-[Judy] What kind of car do you drive?
-A 2019 Mercedes-Benz C300.

[Judy] And the car that you purchased
for this business was a 2018?

[Heather] No, ma'am,
it is the 2019 C300 that I purchased.

[Judy] Well, how are you gonna use
it for business if it's your only car?

Well, because I wasn't able
to post it on Turo,

I never went and bought a second vehicle,

-so I don't have two payments.
-[Judy] So... just a second.

So, what you intended to do
was to purchase a second vehicle?

-Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] Okay.

In any event,
you brought the car to the defendant

and according to your complaint,
he did, in fact, put on this wrap?

-Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] But he put it on defectively,

-and he charged you $3,400?
-[Heather] Yes, ma'am, for the first set.

Did he charge you
any other money other than...

-[Heather] Yes, ma'am.
-...the $3,400? What did he charge you for?

Another 600 for another roll
of material to wrap it a second time.

Okay. So, right now, in that,
you had a $4,000 investment, correct?

-Yes, ma'am.
-And you're suing him for $7,500,

alleging that everything he did
in the car was defective?

-Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] Okay.

First, let's deal with the biggest item,
which was the wrap.

-What color was the car when you got it?
-It was called Brilliant Blue.

-[Judy] What was wrong with it?
-Nothing. It just wasn't...

It was just blue. I wanted the glitter,
and that is why I reached out

to find somebody that could put the
custom glitter wrap on it that I wanted.

There was nothing wrong with the paint.
It was absolutely immaculate.

There was only 9,400 miles
on the car when I purchased it.

-So now you wanted glitter on it?
-Yes, ma'am.

And you purchased
the glitter wrap yourself?

-[Heather] No, ma'am.
-Who did?

He purchased it.
Mr. Alvarado purchased everything.

[Judy]
Mr. Alvarado,

-did you purchase the wrap?
-Yes.

-The wrap didn't stay on the car?
-[Joshua] No.

-[Judy] But you bought the wrap?
-Yeah. I went over it with her.

-And...
-[Judy] Talk to me about...

Yeah, I went over it with her
about what wrap she wanted.

It was between a glitter wrap
or a chameleon wrap, color shift.

I gave her options
'cause I told her from the beginning

that this glitter wrap is very cheap.
I tried to give her options.

-You gave her options?
-[Joshua] Gave her options.

But one of the options
that you gave her was this glitter wrap?

-Yes.
-[Judy] Okay.

-And you purchased it?
-[Joshua] I purchased it, yes.

-[Judy] And it came off?
-It came off.

And it came off, according to her,
almost immediately?

-Yeah, about an hour.
-[Judy] And she notified you right away?

-[Joshua] Right away.
-[Judy] And so what did you do?

I told her to bring the car
back to me, like, ASAP,

so we can see what we can do to fix it.

-[Judy] And she did?
-No.

Within days?

-[Joshua] Within days.
-[Judy] And?

[Joshua] And we spoke about pricing,
and I told her that in order to fix it,

she would have to buy another roll.

I would not charge her labor and I will
give her a discount to her man's car

because I was supposed
to wrap his car too.

In any event, it was going
to cost her another roll of wrap?

Yes, $550.

-[Judy] And what happened?
-I wrapped the car.

-[Judy] Again?
-Again.

[Judy] So first, you have
to take off the other wrap.

-Yes. I removed it completely.
-[Judy] And put on the new wrap?

-[Joshua] Put on the new wrap.
-[Judy] When did you do that?

We're talking in weeks.

[Judy] Okay. So she paid you in full,
which was primarily for the wrap, $3,400,

plus she spent an additional
$550 for a second wrap?

Yes. But she didn't pay me in full.
It was first deposit,

and then the rest when the whole car,
everything was completed.

[Judy]
But she paid you the whole thing?

-But she paid me the whole thing, yeah.
-[Judy] That's what I said.

-She paid you the whole thing?
-Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

-Okay. And then what happened?
-[Joshua] Wrapped the car.

It took me three days to wrap a car.
Sixteen hour days.

I actually brought
my witness here today, my mom.

It was 3:00 in the morning. She just
came back from a trip to the airport.

She called me and she asked me
what I was doing.

I said, "I'm wrapping a car right now."

-[Judy] How... what do I care about this?
-I'm just telling, you know, because...

What does this has to do with the case?

[Joshua] Because my time
is precious in, you know, labor.

-[Judy] This is your business.
-[Joshua] It's my business, yeah.

[Judy]
Your business.

-The first one was defective, it came off.
-Yes.

-And it was material that you purchased?
-Yes.

[Judy] And it came off
within hours of driving it?

-Yes.
-So she paid you, primarily for that...

-[Joshua] Yes.
-...$3,400,

which included the cost of the material.
And then she paid an additional $550?

-Yes.
-[Judy] Okay. So I don't care what...

-3 o'clock, your mother... Who cares?
-Okay. Alright.

[Judy]
Who cares? And how did that wrap turn out?

-It turned out great.
-[Heather splutters]

-[Judy] Shh, just a second.
-[theme music]

Right now, she has a defective car

-because it's coming off.
-Yes.

[Judy] Yeah. Who should
be responsible for that? Me?

No. I take full responsibility
in the beginning.

If she didn't like the car, she wouldn't
have left the house with the car.

Okay. That's fine. She then give me the
money. She left the house with the car.

[theme music]

[announcer] Heather Villanueva claims
business owner Joshua Alvarado

owes for a custom car wrap,
an audio system, and ambient lighting.

Now, what else did you do
for the car, Mr. Alvarado?

I did speakers, audio.

-[Judy] Okay. Speakers?
-Yup.

-[Judy] Did you purchase speakers?
-Yes.

[Judy] Did she reimburse you
or did you purchase those yourself?

No. No, no. I didn't purchase speakers.

I purchased an amp,
'cause she fried the first one.

-[Judy] You purchased an amp?
-Amp, yeah.

[Judy] I don't understand that.
The car came with a radio and a stereo?

[Joshua]
Yeah. It came with a stock radio, yes.

-[Judy] And she wanted an enhanced radio?
-She wanted to make her sound louder.

And in order to do that,
tell me what you have to do.

[Joshua]
I had to replace the factory door speakers

and I had to bypass the factory amp inside
the car and go with the aftermarket amp.

-That was really pretty stupid of you.
-[Heather] Yes, ma'am.

In hindsight, it is.

[Judy] Now, even to ask
for it was pretty ridiculous.

[Heather] The music just wasn't loud.
That's why I asked.

I didn't want any extra bass in the trunk.
I didn't want my windows to shake.

I just wanted more clarity
in the music, in the car. That's all.

-[Joshua] Yeah, negative.
-[Judy] Shh, just a second.

Also ridiculous.

-[Heather] That may well be, but...
-Yeah, also ridiculous.

Okay. What was wrong with the fixed music?

No music plays from my car.

I have tons of text messages where I would
send him and say, "Hey, I have no music."

And he would say, "Turn down
your master volume in your amp."

I was never able to turn up
any maximum volume.

[Judy]
Okay. May I see those emails to him...

-[Heather] Yes, ma'am.
-...with regard to the music.

Yes, ma'am. I also did want to mention,

when he said that he removed
the first wrap entirely, he did not.

The roof of my car
is still wrapped in the first wrap.

The body of my car is wrapped in a second
completely different color wrap.

-I also have photos of that.
-[Judy] I'd like to see it.

-[Heather] Yes, ma'am.
-Isn't that what you wanted?

[Heather] No, sir.
I wanted the same color wrap...

-[Judy] Shh, don't talk.
-[Heather] ...all over my entire car.

-[Judy] Don't talk to each other.
-[Joshua] No worries.

You wanna talk to each other?
I'll put you outside. You can do that.

What is this hole a picture of?

That's where my hood ornament
blew off of my car as soon as I left.

And then the wrap started blowing up

-towards the windshield.
-Got it.

-Okay. So this was the first wrap?
-[Heather] Yes, ma'am.

-[Judy] Correct?
-[Heather] Yes, ma'am.

[Judy]
Clearly defective.

-Here is a text message where he mentions,
-[Judy] Shh...

"There's warranty on the audio.
If anything happens, I can fix it."

-[Judy] May I... may I see it, please?
-[Heather] Yes. Yes, ma'am.

What are these wires here, sir?

-Can you see this from where you are?
-Yeah, that's wires, yeah.

-[Judy] I see they're wires.
-Yeah.

-From what?
-[Joshua] For the amp.

-[Heather] That's how my trunk...
-Shh!

-Yeah, that's for the amp. Yeah.
-[Judy] What does that mean?

It's for an aftermarket amp
for the speakers.

The only reason why I left it like that

is because we have talked about
putting bass in her car, you know...

-This is a mess.
-[Joshua] Yeah. Well...

it was... she was supposed to come back
in a couple days and get it fixed.

[Judy]
Can I see those, please?

Do you have a picture of the car now?

There is a current photograph
of what the car looks like right now.

It's the matte black
that's inside of there.

-It's a front on photograph.
-It was a lovely color blue, right?

[Heather] That's the car when I
purchased it. That's the day I bought it.

[Judy] And could you tell me why you
wanted it this color? Which is god ugly.

[Heather] So the color
that I had asked for, actually,

this is what I sent him,
showing him what I was looking for.

These are the chameleon options
that I said I didn't want.

I just wanted the black glitter.

And right here, he's agreeing
the black diamond will turn heads.

Is the car currently painted
in the color that you wanted?

[Heather] No, ma'am. That right now
is what my car currently looks like.

The wrap is lifting.
It is peeling. It is bubbling.

There are places where it is cracked
and completely falling apart.

Okay. Now, let me ask you
a couple of questions

-about how you found the defendant.
-[Heather] Yes, ma'am.

I had put an ad on our local... like a
Facebook word-of-mouth for our local area,

asking for recommendations

on somebody that could do wrap,
audio, and ambient lighting

so I could just go to one person,
all in one shop.

And there was several responses
telling me to reach out to the defendant

and that I did.

Just curious. Several responses
from people that you knew?

No, ma'am. It's a... like a local
word-of-mouth group

where you ask people for advice
or you ask for recommendations

on where people have taken their vehicles
or people that they've used...

[Judy] Did you check on any of these
people who sent you the defendant's name?

-No, ma'am. I didn't research...
-[Judy] Just a sec...

... any of the people
for recommendations, no.

[Judy]
Okay. Now,

you would acknowledge that your initial
work on the car was defective?

No. No, not at all.

Did she give you a picture of what
the car looked like when it left my house?

[Judy] It could've looked like that,
but hours later, the wrap came off.

And then I offered
to do it for free again.

[Judy]
Did you understand what I just said?

-Yes, I did. Alright.
-[Judy] Pay careful attention.

I said, you would acknowledge
that the initial work

-you did on the car was defective.
-Yes.

[Judy] And the initial work
you did on the car being defective,

at least cost her the cost
of a second roll of wrap of $550.

-Yes.
[Judy] Good. See how far we're getting?

Now, the plaintiff says

-that the second wrap that you did...
-[Joshua] Yes.

-[Judy] ...is also coming off.
-Yes.

Tell me when she called you
and let you know

that the second wrap you
put on the car was coming off.

[Joshua]
September 28th.

-[Judy] And when had you put it on?
-I put it on...

-July 6th.
-...July 6th.

-So, what did you tell her?
-I didn't tell her anything.

Well, you said you found out
on September 28th.

-[Joshua] Yes.
-How did you find out?

-She texted me that... saying that and...
-[Judy] Oh, okay.

-So, she communicated with you...
-Yeah.

-[Joshua] Yeah, she communicated.
-...that the second wrap was defective?

-[Joshua] Yes.
-Or coming off.

-[Joshua] Yes.
-And what did you tell her?

-I didn't tell her anything.
-[Judy] Why?

I felt like I was being... used.

[Judy] Well, Mr. Alvarado, how
could you feel as if you're being used?

She spent, so far, $4,000
to have her car customized.

-The primary thing that she was doing...
-Yes.

[Judy] ...was changing the color of the car.

-Yes.
-You did it. You did it twice,

-and twice it was defective.
-[Joshua] Yes.

[Judy] Both times.
And she paid you for your labor.

-Yes. She paid me for my labor, yes.
-[Judy] She paid you for your labor

-and she paid for the materials.
-[Joshua] Yes.

And right now, she has a defective car

-because it's coming off.
-Yes.

[Judy] Yeah. Who should be
responsible for that? Me?

-No. I hope not me either 'cause I...
-Why not? You're the one who did it.

Who should be responsible?
You think Whitney should be responsible?

-[Joshua] No, no. I...
-[Judy] How about Sarah?

-How about Sarah?
-[Joshua] I did it.

I will be responsible. I take
full responsibility in the beginning.

That's why I offered
to do the car for free.

My brother came down from North Carolina.

I had to pay him outta my own pocket
to come from North Carolina.

My brother, he's been
a wrapper for ten years.

You know, he's the one that taught me
how to wrap and do other stuff,

and I know that's nothing to do with it.

-It doesn't.
-[Joshua] So... he came

and... he got his time. We got
the car done and whatever the case is.

And then when she came
and picked up the car, I told her,

"You can give me the rest
of the money or you can't."

That's why I only asked her for deposit.

If she didn't like the car, she wouldn't
have left the house with the car.

Okay. That's fine. She then gave me the
money, she left the house with the car.

[theme music]

-[Judy] Take a deep breath.
-Yeah, I'm taking a deep breath.

The main part of this problem, sir,
is a defective job of putting on the wrap.

And if you had to bring your brother
who was an expert in wrapping,

-that is not my problem.
-[Joshua] Oh, wait a minute.

-[Joshua] No. I didn't...
-That is not...that is not my problem.

[theme music]

[announcer] Heather Villanueva has accused
business owner Joshua Alvarado

of improperly installing her custom
car wrap and audio system.

Joshua claims he fixed
the car multiple times for free.

-You haven't gotten anywhere, sir.
-[Joshua] Yeah. I...

[Judy] You haven't got...
you haven't gotten anywhere.

-I'm getting to it.
-[Judy] Your mother wants...

your mother wants to tell you something.

-She doesn't have the floor yet.
-[Joshua] Yeah.

[Judy]
And since I'm old, get to the point.

-[Joshua] Okay. Get to the point.
-So far, you're chatter, chatter,

-chatter, chatter, chatter.
-[Joshua] You're right. You're right.

-[Judy] She paid you...
-Okay. So I told her,

before I even wrapped the car, the first
time I told her to take care of the car,

"Do not leave the car under the sun.

It's a fully wrapped car.
Do not drive the car anywhere."

You know, she asked me
if she can even pressure wash the car.

I said, "No, we cannot do that.
You know, it's a... it's a material.

You shouldn't be pressure washing anything
with a material, it would come right off."

She left the car in the sun. I actually
brought some stuff here as evidence

to show you that I've, uh... you know, even...

that says that you should not
leave a car underneath the sun,

especially if it's 99 degrees outside,
'cause it is adhesive.

And sometimes I come to her house and the
car is parked outside the front lawn.

And I went to her house multiple times
to come and fix the car.

I fixed parts on her car that were broken.
I paid money outta my pocket. I... I've...

[Judy]
Well, just... let's go back there.

-So far, she brought you a car...
-[Joshua] Yes.

-...and she spent $4,000...
-[Joshua] $4,000. Yes.

...and she still has a car that is wrapped
defectively where it's peeling off.

Okay? So, I want you to tell me
what you did at her house

-in addition to any of the other work.
-[Joshua] Yes.

-[Judy] Tell me.
-I... I...

-Well, for example...
-[Judy] Just a sec.

-Take a deep breath.
-[Joshua] Yeah, I'm taking a deep breath.

-Take a deep breath.
-[Joshua] Yeah. I...

The main part of this problem, sir,
is a defective job of putting on the wrap.

-Yes.
-[Judy] That's your responsibility.

-Yes.
-Okay? And as far as I'm concerned,

you shouldn't have said to her,
"Get another roll of wrap."

You paid for it, you put it on,
it was defective.

And if you had to bring your brother
who was an expert in wrapping,

-that is not my problem.
-[Joshua] Oh, wait a minute.

-[Joshua] No. I didn't...
-That is not my problem.

I didn't ask her from the beginning.

"It's not my problem." I actually...
went to w*r with her, with the company,

and I fought with the
company for the warranty

-to come in effect.
-[Judy] Just a second.

She came in for a product.
You put on the product.

The job was defective. She paid you.

-Yes.
-[Judy] Okay.

Now, tell me about the loose wires
and the fact that she has no radio.

So, I installed aftermarket speakers in
her doors. I put a aftermarket amp.

Everything was going good.
I even played it at my house.

I'm a actually... you know,
I'm a automotive technician.

I worked for multiple mechanic shop,
multiple audio shops.

So that's my field of training and of
my profession. I love to install music.

So, when I installed music in her car,
I put a amp in her trunk.

She was turning the volume all the way up
when I told her it's not tuned yet,

because she wanted to add
a 12-inch or 10-inch sub.

And... we never got around to adding a
boombox or whatever, the... you know,

a subwoofer to her car
is because, you know,

I just... you know, they wanted
to get it free off of me.

And I told 'em I can't do that. I told
'em, "I don't keep inventory at my house

and you have to order everything in
and then I could do it for you."

So, they wanted basically everything,
the music free, the audio free.

And I didn't charge her
for none of the audio stuff.

That 4,000 is just for the wrap material.

All everything else is free,
the music, the lighting,

the Mercedes symbol upfront.
Everything is free.

The only thing you're seeing
is what she paid for is the wrap material.

-[Judy] The $4,000?
-Yes.

Great. Yes. Judgment for the plaintiff,

-$4,000.
-[Heather] Ma'am.

-We're done.
-[Heather] Ma'am, ma'am.

Ma'am, there's so much more.
My radio doesn't work.

He cut a wire in my car door.

Pay careful attention to me.
You paid him...

-Are you kidding me?
-[Judy] ...$4,000.

Did you pay him more... answer my question.

-Did you pay him more than $4,000?
-No, ma'am.

-[Judy] Then no.
-I did not.

I have to pay to have all of those
aluminum wires taken out of my car.

I still have no music.
He clipped the wire to my back window.

Mercedes wants $812 to fix it.
He said, "Don't pay them. I'll fix it."

[Joshua] When you go King Kong on the
door panel, of course it's gonna rip off.

-[Judy] Listen to me.
-I mean, obviously.

-[Heather] The wire's sliced, ma'am.
-What are you, all crazy?

What are you, all crazy?

Where do you think you are?
In a pool hall?

Judgment for the plaintiff for the amount
of exactly what she paid him,

which includes his labor,
'cause it was defective, $4,000.

-This case is over.
-This court is adjourned.

[theme music]

[no audible dialogue]

I'm an... honest man and I like to
help people as much as I can.

I take full responsibility of what I did
and... you know, I'm very sorry,

but, you know... so much I can do.
I'm only human, so.

The moment that I got the first critical
battery message on my phone,

and when he called my partner and told him

that "this might be a bit more
than I can handle."

You know, I... it gets to a point where
when you're being used so much

that you're just like, "I gotta let it go
and move on," you know, so.

And everywhere we've taken the car,
we have been notified like,

"Oh, I know this car because this guy was
running around begging people for help.

No, I can't make everybody happy.
That's all it is, man.

I don't know what my paint
looks like under it,

but I do know that my car was gorgeous
when I brought it to him.

And now... it would look better in the
bottom of a lake, as far as I'm concerned.

[Sarah] I'm not so sure I agree
with your ruling on that one.

-Okay.
-The wrap, 100% defective.

He did it once, he did it twice.
Still defective. We saw photos.

He claims it's defective,
she claims it's defective.

No issue. However,
you only granted her the $4,000

-that she had paid...
-[Judy] Paid him.

...him in the beginning to do
what she thought was an all-in project.

He says it was just for the wrap,
whatever the case may be.

He admitted to replacing
the stereo system and the audio.

We saw the photos of the wires

that looked like a complete
mess in the trunk of the car.

We saw the cut wires of how
he had to replace the stereo system.

So, I don't understand how you can grant
her the 4,000 for his defective work,

but only for a portion of the work.

I understand she never paid more
than the 4,000 to him

for any of the other work,
but he still did it.

I would've liked to, at least, see an
estimate of what it would cost

to fix all of those problems
beyond the $4,000 that she paid

because she's now out-of-pocket
because of his defective behavior

that you ruled in favor
of his defective behavior.

-Reasonable argument.
-[Sarah] Yeah. So I just think that...

-Reasonable.
-...she shouldn't be left holding the bag

for something that he
clearly admitted to doing.

I understand that, you know,
the wrap is one thing,

the other things maybe she didn't pay for,

maybe it was, in his mind,
included in the 4,000, whatever it may be,

-she wouldn't have had those problems.
-[Judy] She told him... she told him

what she wanted with regards
to the music system.

-[Sarah] Yes.
-That she wanted it up

-because it should play...
-Whatever the... whatever the case may be.

-[Judy] Whatever.
-She's now out-of-pocket

to fix all of these issues
that she would not have had

-had he...
-You mean the stereo issue?

-[Sarah] Exactly. Had he not...
-[Judy] The stereo issue.

-... been defective in his installation.
-[Judy] In his... yeah.

-So, I would've considered that.
-You would've considered the...

[Sarah]
The additional cost that she has now.

-Because of his defective work.
-[Judy] You may be right.

-Yeah. Just a thought.
Hmm.

[announcer] Have you been cheated?


[theme music]