Las Vegas NowI-Team Follow: Las Vegas Auto Repair Rip-Off

I-Team Follow: Las Vegas Auto Repair Rip-Off

A Channel 8 I-Team investigation of several Purrfect Auto franchises has prompted policy changes within the company. But documents obtained by the I-Team suggest the franchiser isn't being honest about the results of our investigation.

Francare Incorporated -- the Purrfect Auto franchiser -- recently sent a memo to its repair shops. The subject was the recent Channel 8 broadcast/Attorney General's investigation. In it, the company makes suggestions on how to improve customer service and then accuses the I-Team of being unfair.

Read the memo from Francare Incorporated to all Purrfect Auto franchisees.

The four Purrfect Auto franchises are located at Rancho and Cheyenne, Eastern and St. Rose Parkway, Sunset and Eastern, and Decatur and Tropicana. A car outfitted with hidden cameras and marked parts recorded mechanics at each location failing to finish the job.

The investigation prompted the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection to file a lawsuit. Deputy Attorney General Ernest Figueroa said, "I find it very disappointing that we went to four places and we have four places allegedly not perform the work that we engaged them to do."

Faced with the less than favorable publicity, Francare Incorporated sent a memo to its franchisees. The document obtained by the I-Team concludes, quote, "The issues are a result of lack of organization, communication and supervision of the employees at the site."

And it reminds franchisees of existing policies to prevent future problems. However, the memo goes on to attack the I-Team's coverage of the attorney general's investigation. It accuses us of testing multiple Purrfect Auto locations, but choosing to show only those that failed.

That is false.

The A.G.'s investigators only targeted four Purrfect Auto locations and all four failed.

Francare's memo also claims the I-Team unfairly omitted important facts, specifically referencing a fuel injection cleaning. The document explains to franchisees the service was put on the invoice in error and the undercover customer wasn't charged for it.

That is false.

At all four locations the A.G.'s staffer paid at least $50 for that fuel injection cleaning. At least three of the four locations never performed the service and the attorney general's investigator couldn't say definitively one way or the other about the fourth.

Francare Incorporated goes on to urge its employees not to make negative comments about any of the locations involved and advises that the I-Team's hidden cameras could show up at any time. Read the memo from Francare Incorporated to all Purrfect Auto franchisees.

Email your comments to Investigative Reporter Colleen McCarty.