Treadz Auto car consignment being taken to small claims court

An Albertaman is hoping small claims court will help him get the money he claimsis owed to him byTreadz Auto.

As CBC first reported last week, the car consignment company is being accused to selling vehicles and not giving the money to the owners.

• Treadz Auto accreditation suspended by Better Business Bureau
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Romeo Orantes Gomez, who lives just outside of Airdrie, said Treadz sought him out after seeing his ad for aCamaro in Auto Trader. He says they evenoffered to waive their consignment fee.

He decided to sell the car because his wife is pregnant and they needed a family vehicle.

Orantes Gomez says he went back three months later to find out they had sold the car without telling him. They gave him cheques for the amount owed, OrantesGomez said, but they bounced and that's when he went to police.

"The police in Calgary told me that they couldn't send a vehicle to get my statement because Idon't live in Calgary," he said. "I have to contact the Mounties. Icontact the Mounties and the Mounties told me that because the fraud was in Calgarythey couldn't do anything."

Orantes Gomez said that's when he decided to take Treadz to small claims court.

He's expecting a judgment to be handed down on Sept. 12.

The telephone number forTreadzis no longer in service. The last time CBC Newsspoke with the company, it saiditslegal counsel advised them not to answer.

Sandra Crozier-Mckee with the Better Business Bureau says the Treadz situation been frustrating for many people. She advised people to use the bureau's website orothers to research companies ahead of time.