Dealer Heads for Jail in RV Repair Dispute : Consumers: Robert Abbotts says his wife was held ‘like a hostage’ until a $1,000 service bill was paid.

It started innocently enough. In preparation for a trip to Florida, Robert and Shirley Abbotts of Canoga Park drove their motor home to a Northridge dealership to take advantage of a coupon offering a free lubrication job with the purchase of an oil change.

It ended more than eight hours later, with a $1,000 service bill and Robert Abbotts complaining that his 65-year-old, wheelchair-bound wife was held “like a hostage” inside their motor home until the bill was paid.

The Abbottses never did make it to Florida. Their 24-foot, 1979 Allegra motor home broke down in Texas. But this week, the man who ruined their vacation plans was sentenced to four months in jail on charges stemming from the overcharge.

The dealer, Duane Dwyer, 60, who was doing business as Motor Holidays Ltd., was also placed on probation for three years and ordered to pay $1,392.66 in restitution. Dwyer, who pleaded no contest to the charges, was given the option of serving three months of his jail term on a Caltrans work crew, according to City Atty. James K. Hahn.

“I’m glad I’m getting my money back, especially since I don’t think the guy ever lubed” the motor home, said Robert Abbotts, a retired electronics design engineer.

The charges--one count each of being an unregistered automotive repair dealer and failing to provide a customer with a detailed invoice of work performed--grew out of the Abbottses’ RV repair horror story on April 9.

Robert Abbotts, 66, said he had taken his motor home to Dwyer for the oil change and free lube, and also asked to have the brakes inspected. Workers lifted the vehicle on jacks, removed all six wheels, and kept it there for more than eight hours.

During that time, Dwyer twice told Abbotts that the RV needed more work. Abbotts verbally agreed to pay $289.

At the end of the day, Dwyer presented Abbotts with a bill for $1,006.20. Abbotts refused to pay. Dwyer refused to take the RV off the jacks and to give Abbotts the key. Abbotts, worried because his wife had been confined all day inside the motor home in her wheelchair, finally relented. He was concerned that the generator fueling the air conditioner would die and that Shirley Abbotts would suffer in the heat.

“She was kind of like a hostage,” Abbotts said of his wife.

After Dwyer lowered the bill to $950, a “senior citizens discount,” Abbotts said he wrote a check to pay the bill. When he got home, an angry Abbotts called his bank to stop payment on the check. He mailed Dwyer a new check for $289 plus tax and a letter explaining that he had stopped payment on the other check.

The couple then left for Florida, but made it only to Texas. They were forced to leave the motor home in the Lone Star State and fly home because of a series of mechanical problems in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas that amounted to more than $1,200 in repair bills.

When he arrived home, Abbotts learned that Dwyer had reported him to a credit bureau claiming he had knowingly written a bad check. Indignant, Abbotts filed a claim against Dwyer with the state Bureau of Automotive Repair, which had a record of consumer complaints on Dwyer dating back to 1983, according to the city attorney. Dwyer has been without a state registration certificate since it expired Jan. 31, and subsequently was revoked April 19 by the state Department of Consumer Affairs. Dwyer had obtained his initial state registration in 1980.

The Abbottses’ 24-foot motor home is back in their driveway. They had it repaired in Texas and drove it home without a hitch.