Electronics Shop Charged in Repair ‘Sting’ : Inquiry: When it comes to complex equipment, most people are at the mercy of technicians, state and local officials say.

Only one thing was wrong with a video recorder taken to Gerald Mayo’s Eagle Rock repair shop last May, city officials say: A rear switch was flipped to Channel 4 instead of Channel 3.

When Mayo returned the unit, he insisted that the VCR had required complex repairs and charged the customer $100, authorities allege. But this particular customer was an undercover police officer, and the Los Angeles city attorney’s office has used his “sting” transaction--along with complaints from several other customers--as the basis for a 13-count criminal complaint filed against Mayo.

At his arraignment Monday in Los Angeles Municipal Court, Mayo, 53, of Glendale pleaded not guilty. He remains free on his own recognizance, awaiting a March 2 trial. If convicted, each of the misdemeanor counts is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Mayo, who operates Jerry’s TV Sales & Electronics on Colorado Boulevard, is charged with illegal business practices, including a failure to give a detailed description on invoices of the service work that he performed. Authorities also charged that he had illegally held a piece of equipment “hostage” until a customer agreed to pay for expensive, unauthorized repairs.

State and city officials said the Mayo case is part of an aggressive crackdown on unscrupulous repair shops.

“Due to the complex nature of most electronic equipment and the expense involved, the average person is totally at the mercy of a repair shop,” City Atty. James K. Hahn said in a prepared statement. “We want to get the message out to the repair shop con artists that they rip off their customers at great peril to themselves.”

In an interview Monday after his court appearance, Mayo denied the allegations and said the charges against him should not have been be made public before trial.

“I’m not guilty of anything. None of those charges are true,” Mayo said. “A person deserves his day in court. It’s not fair to smear a small merchant all over town in the newspaper.

“It’s not fair to print this garbage.”

The investigation of Mayo was prompted by complaints filed in 1990 with the state Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair.

Marty Keller, chief of the bureau, said the agency, which monitors about 8,500 registered repair shops in California, has received almost 100 complaints about Mayo since 1969. Keller described that figure as “above average,” but he was unable to say how many of these complaints were found to be justified.

Bureau employees resolve most consumer complaints through mediation, Keller aid. But some cases require more extensive investigation to determine whether a repair person is committing fraud. Complaining customers sometimes cannot prove in court that illegal conduct occurred, so officials try to document suspected abuses through undercover “stings,” he said.

In 1990, Keller said, a state Department of Consumer Affairs investigator took a working television set to Mayo with a single plug disconnected. The Eagle Rock businessman charged $165 to repair the set but “was very vague about what he did for $165,” he said.

The bureau contacted the city attorney’s office, which arranged for a Los Angeles Police Department fraud investigator to take in the video recorder with its switch in the wrong position. That incident became part of the criminal case, Keller said.

Keller, who was appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson in May, said he has been trying to bring wider public attention to his low-profile Sacramento-based agency. During the 1990-91 fiscal year, the bureau investigated more than 3,300 complaints about repair shops. But Keller believes that many other suspicions of misconduct went unreported because consumers did not know where to turn.

“Our problem is not that we don’t have enough people to do the job,” Keller said. “Our problem is that we don’t reach enough consumers to let them know what the remedies are.”

Like auto mechanics, electronic and appliance repair technicians must provide a written estimate of the cost of the work and must get customer approval before doing repairs that exceed the figure. The shop must offer to return all parts that were replaced.

Keller said California charges repair shops a $130 annual registration fee but has no competence test for employees. “So we can only act when we get a complaint,” he said.

During fiscal 1990-91, which ended last June, the bureau worked with local prosecutors to file 26 criminal cases statewide against repair people, primarily for fraud or failure to register with the state, Keller said. Since July, criminal charges have been filed in 15 more cases, including Mayo’s, and charges are pending in several others, he said.

During the last fiscal year, the bureau issued seven administrative citations--fines that can be levied without taking the matter to court, Keller said. In the current fiscal year, however, the bureau has already issued 24 citations.