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  #1  
Old September 22nd 2007, 14:47
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yetibone yetibone is offline
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An Unscrupulous Operator in NC

This is about a Burlington NC Volkswagen restoration shop called "Vintage Werks Resto" fronted by Mario Gavazzi, and evidently, his wife, Sherry, of whom I'm certain some of you have heard terrible things about before. John C. of aircooled.net has a webpage detailing his dealings with Mario. I wouldn't be posting this if these things didn't make me so angry. However, due to the kind folks in the VW community, Mario Gavazzi's latest victim may have her '74 Superbeetle restored and back in her driveway soon, thanks to an outpouring of help and support by some Samba members.

This Link is to the thread regarding Joan's troubles.

I've posted this here so as to spread the word about Mario, and his business ethics. I've never been burned by him, but I don't want to see anyone else burned. If you know him, see him, or hear his name from someone else, remember this story, and transact at your imminent risk.
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Old September 22nd 2007, 18:40
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Here's a link to the local news story. Click on the video to see how Mario handles the heat from the news crew.

This man should be railroaded out of the VW community for good.
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Old September 24th 2007, 18:06
NCbug NCbug is offline
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dang dude i see that guy comes to our club meet every thursday night! thanks for the post. What a crook! And to think he still shows his ugly face around. He has been getting away with this crap for too long

Last edited by NCbug; September 24th 2007 at 18:07.
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Old October 14th 2007, 15:52
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The car was shown at the Farmington VW Event on Sunday, 14 October in the exact condition that it was in when it left Mario Gavazzi's shop after $9000 of work.

Here's a link to pictures of what $9k will buy you at Vintage Werks Resto. Most of the rust was bondoed over, and the rust holes that were repaired with metal were badly welded, and not sealed. The paint was single stage acrylic and was full of orange peel, dry spots, and overspray. The hole in the framehead is just the coup-de-grois. Many pictures, and copies of invoices billed to the vehicle's owner were on display as well.
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Old October 14th 2007, 21:09
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Blanket party
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Old October 18th 2007, 20:23
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holy crap!! my 7 year old could do better.
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Old October 18th 2007, 22:42
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Thumbs down

:mad2: i hope something is done about this thievery
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  #8  
Old October 20th 2007, 09:10
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Really, not much can be done except to put word out to others before it happens again. There's at least three monetary court judgments against him, including John Connolly of Aircooled.net which haven't, and likely can't be paid because he has no assets to collect. He doesn't own his shop, home, or any vehicles of significant value, and keeps only a small balance in a checking account for utilities. He obviously knows how to be evasive, and how to use the system to his advantage.

There are North Carolina laws used to protect a mechanic's investment in a job he's done by allowing the mechanic to file a lien against the title of the vehicle he's worked on, so if the owner of the vehicle defaults on payment for services done, the mechanic has a stake in the ownership of the vehicle, and the title can't change hands until the lien is signed off. The lien holder can even repossess the vehicle, and sell it for the money owed after 30 days (I think). Mario did this to a young fellow who he employed to work off a debt incurred during some repairs done to his Bug. After his short employment at Vintage Werks, Mario apparently tried to file a mechanics lien on the title of the car, and sent a tow to the young man's home, got the car, and locked it behind the fence at his shop in an effort to milk the fellow for $$ by saying his term of employment wasn't congruent with the debt that was owed. The Burlington police got involved, and after some wrangling, the young man got his Bug back, but got no restitution for the problems and inconvienence Mario caused him.

One member on this forum has had a couple of bad experiences with this Mario. I'll let him decide whether he wants to share his story.

So, if Mario hasn't got a pot to p!$$ in, then you can't take that pot away, and as long as there's some naivety among ACVW owners in NC, Mario isn't going away anytime soon, which is sad, but true.
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Last edited by yetibone; October 20th 2007 at 09:15.
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  #9  
Old March 5th 2008, 19:36
mccarthy500 mccarthy500 is offline
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damn i'm glad i have a very reputable vw shop here in modesto. its called the parts house and i feel very comfortable leaving my car there and there parts are pertty cheap. to me the thing about a situation like this is that if there are 5 people that are going out of there way to complain about a service they recieved then there are probably 10 more people who have been treated the same but don't do anything about it or don't know how.
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Old March 5th 2008, 20:50
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We must have had his brother here in Charlotte NC. He sold me a 73 super for $1500 and said he would do all the body work and have it primed in a month for me to drive home. I went by every week to see how far he had gotten only to find out after 6 months the car had to much rust to be repaired for the negotiated price. He is no longer in business and I had to call our locel news man to get something done. I can feel her pain.
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