St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 20, 2009 – Three years after the Illinois attorney general sued to stop a TV repairman from defrauding customers in that state, the Bond County, Ill., man apparently has taken his show to the other side of the Mississippi River.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning consumers in Missouri and Illinois to be very cautious when dealing with Big Screen TV Repair and its owner, Mark Meadows, of Pocahontas, Ill.
Law enforcement authorities are looking at Meadows, who also has listed an address in St. Louis, in a series of recent cases in which Missouri consumers have accused him of charging for TV repairs he never made. In some cases, customers have told the BBB that Meadows took parts from their sets and either never returned the parts at all, or returned them broken and unusable.
“You can’t just go into somebody’s house and tear up their property and get away with it,” said a Webster Groves, Mo., man who claims Meadows destroyed his $5,000 big screen TV last month.
Michelle Corey, president and CEO of the BBB, said that Meadows and his TV repair companies have a long and troubled history with the BBB.
In July 2006, the BBB issued a consumer alert noting that Meadows and his company at that time, Big Screen Express, had received several complaints alleging poor service, failure to show up for scheduled appointments and a failure to return TV components that were removed during house calls.
“Big Screen TV Repair, like Big Screen Express before it, can be big trouble for consumers,” Corey said.
Five months after the BBB warning, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan sued Meadows, doing business as Affordable TV and Big Screen Express, for fraud. The suit said that he had collected approximately $5,015 in down payments from consumers and then failed to perform the work or return the parts. The suit asked for civil penalties of $50,000, additional penalties of $50,000 for each fraud violation and asked that he pay restitution to consumers.
The Illinois attorney general’s office said that Meadows agreed to pay $5,400 in customer restitution and was barred as part of the consent agreement from working in the TV repair business in Illinois. The office said it appears he has lived up to the terms.
Chesterfield, Mo., police said they took Meadows, also known as Steve Pappas, into custody last month and released him pending the filing of formal charges with the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney’s office. Police said he may be involved in as many as 20 recent cases in the area.
The Webster Groves customer said he phoned Big Screen TV Repair on Oct. 16 after seeing an advertisement in the Yellow Pages. He said he paid the repairman, who identified himself as Steve Pappas, a total of $125 in cash and a check on two different days with the promise that the repairman could fix his 52-inch RCA TV. He said he never saw the repairman again until he used a ruse to get him to come to an address in University City a couple of weeks ago.
At that point, the customer called police and Meadows was booked on an outstanding warrant from Chesterfield. The customer said Meadows immediately returned the parts he had taken from the set, but another TV repair company told the man the set had been irreparably damaged. The consumer and the other repair company said the damage was caused by cutting cables and wires to the TV.
A St. Louis, Mo., woman who said she had problems with the same business, said she spoke in May with a man who identified himself as Steve Pappas of Big Screen TV Repair. She said she paid him $100 as a down payment for repair work on her 56-inch Hitachi TV, but she never saw him again and has been unable to contact him at the phone number he gave her. She said she later learned from another repair shop owner that Pappas was, in fact, Mark Meadows. She said she has since had to buy a new module for her set, similar to the one that he had taken, at a cost of $325.
“It’s working now,” she said of the TV, “but no thanks to him.”
Meadows has not returned a BBB phone call made to Big Screen TV Repair.
The St. Louis BBB has logged six complaints and reports against Big Screen TV Repair in 2009. The BBB has been unable to locate a valid address for the company. Big Screen TV Repair has an F grade with the BBB.
The BBB offers the following tips for customers dealing with businesses that do electronic repair work:
- Make sure the company has a legitimate address before agreeing to do business. If possible, visit the address to make sure it is not a fake. If the repairman balks at giving you a business address, it would be best to look for another business to do the work.
- Ask for references and call those references before letting a repairman into your home. Always ask for identification.
- If at all possible, pay with a credit card. If you are being scammed, you can challenge a credit card charge much easier than you can challenge a check. Avoid paying cash.
- Always contact the BBB for a Reliability Report at www.bbb.org or at 314-645-3300.
Contacts: Michelle Corey, President & CEO, 314-645-3300, mcorey@stlouisbbb.org or Bill Smith, Trade Practice Investigator, 314-645-3300, tpc1@stlouisbbb.org
The BBB is a non-profit organization that sets and upholds high standards for fair and honest business behavior. The BBB provides objective advice, free business Reliability Reports, charity wise-giving reports, and educational information on topics affecting marketplace trust. Please visit www.bbb.org for more information.