Hi there,
In today’s post I tell you how justice was finally done and Rocha Automóveis gave us back the 1000 euros they had stolen from us.
Here is the first part of this story:
As I had already told you, I filed complaints with all the competent agencies, and we were waiting for a call from the Centro de Arbitragem do Automobel to go to trial.
Then this agency closed, and our complaint was transferred to CICAP.
I continued to file complaints in Portal Queixa and when before they had 34 out of 100, now they have 8 out of 100.
While in Google Maps they reported the reviews for Google to remove them, in Portal Queixa they had no way to hide the reality.
On 6/13/2024 we attended the hearing at CICAP.
In the answer they gave to the Centro de Arbitragem de Automobel, the only argument is that “we had high expectations” for a used car. In addition, they had Helder Rocha and Alexandre Ferreira as witnesses.
The afternoon before going to the hearing, we were sent a document in which the Jurist rejected the request of Rocha Automóveis to change the hearing. The lawyer communicated that the same day at 10AM they had a trial in the civil court and that perhaps it would be extended until the afternoon. As there was no evidence of this, the lawyer refused.
We arrived at CICAP and there was no one from the company and that gave us peace of mind because that way we avoided the psychological wear and tear of having to be fighting for hours.
When they called Diego, the lawyer from Rocha Automóveis also arrived and shook hands with everyone, including Diego.
I was surprised because after seeing how subnormal João Valente’s lawyer is, and coming from a mafia company, I did not expect such a normal and polite lawyer.
As Diego was the complainant he went first and while I was waiting to pass as a witness, the lawyer of Rocha Automóveis came out 2 times. I imagined that they would return the money.
After a while Diego came out and told me how the hearing had gone.
From the beginning the jurist had insisted on reaching an agreement and he had a giant folder with the documentation we had provided.
We had documents, photos, videos, evidence of 7 other complaints we had made, screenshots of the website, emails, WhatsApp conversations, samples of the complaints from Portal Queixa, etc.
Rocha Automóveis only had the argument that we had high expectations for a used car.
The lawyer of Rocha Automóveis offered to return 500 euros.
We were asking for the return of the 1.000 euros they stole from us, plus 27,26 euros of the travel expenses to go there and back.
Diego refused since, if they had stolen 1.000 euros from us, it made no sense for them to only return 500. We were not in a market haggling over the price of a product.
When the lawyer went out to talk to his client for the first time, he came back and offered 700 euros because “his client had spent 300 euros on some supposed repairs”.
Diego again refused because if they really did the alleged repairs, it was so they could sell the car, which they sold within days of putting it back on sale.
The jurist said that it seemed logical to him that the 1.000 euros should be returned.
Diego even said that on his part he was not asking for the amount he paid in travel expenses, but that the 1.000 should be returned in full.
The lawyer went out for the second time and when he came back, he said that the client agreed to refund the full amount.
The jurist drafted the sentence and gave the company 1 month to return the money.
It would have been so easy to return the 1.000 euros at the time and avoid paying lawyers.
We preferred to accept the return of the 1.000 euros, although if we had taken the case to court, they would probably have had to pay compensation.
For the sake of our mental health, we decided to close the case.
Besides, I was very happy to know that this company was having a lot of problems and would have many more in the future.
But the matter was not going to be so easy, we reached July 15 and Rocha Automóveis had not paid the 1.000 euros. We contacted CICAP and they told us that our lawyer should start the “execution process”.
We wrote to the Rocha Automóveis lawyer and they told us that they had the payment pending and that “we would receive it”.
On August 12 my lawyer sent an email to Rocha Automóveis’ lawyer giving them 2 days to pay.
The money finally arrived on August 19, more than a month later.
In addition, we lost the 13.50 euros we had to pay to have the certification of the judgment issued.
The enforcement process would have entailed further expenses for fees and my lawyer’s fees, which, although they would be charged to the company, were initially payable by us.
And so, one year later, we put an end to the Rocha Automóveis nightmare.