FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 17, 2002

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Genene Morris (973)504-6327

NEWARK - New Jersey is suing the principal and the manager of a Camden County used auto parts shop in connection with their alleged sales of faulty and defective used and/or rebuilt transmissions, Attorney General David Samson and Consumer Affairs Director Reni Erdos said.

Peter Venuto, Sr., owner of Greentree Auto Parts and the company's manager, Ray Effinger, are named in the State's five-count complaint alleging dozens of violations of the State's Consumer Fraud Act and regulations governing automotive repairs. The complaint, filed in Camden County Superior Court, also names Greentree Auto Parts, which does business as Greentree Transmission Warehouse, 201 Lakeland Road, Blackwood. Greentree relocated to the Blackwood address from 11 Enterprise Court, Sewell.

The complaint alleges that the defendants routinely advertised Greentree's services in telephone directories and/or the Internet indicating that it sold transmissions that were carefully assembled, rigorously tested and in fully functioning condition. However, when consumers purchased the transmissions, the complaint alleges, they discovered that the transmissions were, in fact, faulty and defective.

Consumer Affairs has received more than a dozen complaints from consumers concerning the alleged sales practices and faulty transmission repairs at Greentree.

The complaint alleges that since at least December 1998, the defendants have made false promises, used deception and misrepresentations concerning the sale and repair of transmissions to unsuspecting consumers. The complaint alleges the defendants violated State laws by, among other things:

• failing to honor consumer warranties and repeatedly charging consumers for services that were not rendered;
  
  
• leaving consumers' vehicles on Greentree's premises for almost a year while Greentree moved to another location without informing consumers;
  
  
• sending a consumer's vehicle out for repairs at another shop without the consumer's consent;
  
  
• refusing to give a consumer the directions to the location of his vehicle so that he could retrieve it;
  
  
• purporting to issue a refund to a consumer by check and subsequently requesting a stop payment on the same check, causing it to bounce;
  
  
• painting a previously sold transmission to another color to make a consumer who returned the defective transmission think he was purchasing a different transmission;
  
  
• telling a consumer his car was ready then telling him it was not only after he had paid the balance of the repair costs; and
  
  
• sending a consumer the wrong transmission two months after the promised delivery date.

"Contrary to what some may think, laws are not meant to be broken," Governor James E. McGreevey said. "Consumer protection laws are in place to keep the marketplace honest and safe from swindlers who seek to take advantage of consumers. We will vigorously enforce our laws in our ceaseless efforts to protect consumers."

"We allege that these defendants endangered the lives of consumers by selling them defective transmissions that would unpredictably cease working," Attorney General Samson said. "We allege their business practices are deceptive, unconscionable and unlawful."

"The defendants" activities will not go unpunished," Erdos said. "Our suit seeks to have the defendants immediately provide consumers with the fully-functioning transmissions that were promised to them and that they paid for or return to them their money. The suit also seeks to have the defendants pay penalties to the State and to come into compliance with the State's laws."

Deputy Attorney General Kenneth Adebonojo of the Division of Law is handling this matter for the State.