The Fusion Project finale: this time, a mechanic followed through

August - September 2025

If we’ve learned anything through the Restoring Trust program, it’s that no project is ever simple. Every story comes with its own twists, heartbreaks, and challenges, but also its own moments of resilience, clarity, and community. The Fusion Project was no different.

When we first met Emily, she shared how a mobile mechanic had taken her family’s $22,000 and returned two vehicles in worse condition than when he took them. The Ford Fusion, which was meant to be her oldest son’s, was undrivable: the brake pedal was broken, it wouldn’t start, and the emotional toll it had taken on her family was immeasurable.

Shortly after connecting with Emily, I reached out to Maverick Car Company, a local dealership and service center that also operates the JumpStart Program - an initiative focused on restoring used vehicles for families in need. They didn’t hesitate to help.

Maverick performed a diagnostic on the Fusion and confirmed multiple issues: a broken brake pedal, a dead battery, and need for a new brake booster and brake master cylinder. They committed to donating 100% of their labor, and BBB Foundation’s Restoring Trust Committee approved funding for 100% of the parts, ensuring that Emily’s family would not bear any additional cost.

And then, like many Restoring Trust projects, we were thrown our first curve ball.

Just as we thought we were nearing the finish line, I received an email from the team at Maverick. After completing the repairs and test driving the vehicle, the new brake pedal assembly broke - again. As the email said: "We are dumbfounded by this."

With help from the local Ford dealer, they discovered something unsettling: a critical bolt above the brake pedal assembly was missing entirely. A logical conclusion? This issue may very well have stemmed from the earlier mishandling by the previous mechanic, R & J Specialties.

It was frustrating but also clarifying. The root issue had been found, and Maverick once again rolled up their sleeves. Despite increased parts costs, BBB Foundation continued to provide full financial coverage, and Maverick pressed on to complete the repairs 100% in-kind.

Not long after, Emily and her husband returned to Maverick to pick up their Fusion - this time in full working order. Their adorable family dog came along for the ride, making the moment even more joyful.

After retrieving their vehicle, Emily said:

"It’s so sad that we trusted someone and continued to put our faith into someone that just took advantage of us and stole our money. I'm still scared moving forward with any sort of mechanical issues—but now, thanks to BBB and Maverick, I have a mechanic I can trust.

This was a program I never heard of, nor expected to come out of the dumpster fire that I was in with this mess. I have tears in my eyes even writing these words because I felt heard… finally!! Understood… finally!!!

Faith in humanity again. Good people, with good intentions. People who care and actually care about customers.”

Emily’s survey responses reflected what we’ve seen across other Restoring Trust projects. She originally reported her trust in automotive businesses as “very low.” After her experience with Restoring Trust, that rating changed to “high.” She also shared that her trust in people and her local community improved significantly.

And from Maverick’s perspective, this project was a meaningful opportunity to live out their values:

"We know our industry carries a lot of mistrust—and often for good reason. Too many companies, even well-known ones, have built practices around taking advantage of people. Our mission from the start has been to do things differently and to prove that better is possible."

"When this situation came up, we weren’t surprised. But we saw it as a chance to step in for an individual family who needed someone in their corner—and at the same time, to live out our mission."

This is the heart of Restoring Trust. It’s not just about fixing cars or homes. It’s about giving people a chance to believe again - in businesses, in community, and in each other. It’s about closing the gap between those who need help and those who are ready to give it.

We’re grateful to Emily for her trust, to Maverick Car Company for their unwavering partnership, and to every supporter who helps us continue this work.

Because when trust is broken, it takes more than repairs to rebuild it.
It takes people. It takes partnership.
It takes collaborations like this one.

Do you want to collaborate on Restoring Trust? Please reach out to me at [email protected]

Yours in trust,
Meghan Conradt, Director of BBB Foundation

Hearing Emily’s story: Two broken cars and a family pushed to the limit

June 2025

My name is Meghan Conradt and I'm the Director of Foundation for Better Business Bureau. I couldn't be more excited to share this journey with you as I've worked over the past couple years to rejuvenate and reinvent our BBB Foundation, the charitable entity of Better Business Bureau. When our Board and Executive Team decided to revive our charitable arm and asked me to lead the charge, I came to the table with a background in Marketing, six years of BBB experience, and unbridled enthusiasm for the chance to effect change in our community.

Through this role as a nonprofit leader, I've been privileged to sit at the helm of developing a new program that allows us to provide tangible help to consumers who come to us for assistance. Here's how it started: because I've also led the BBB Torch and Spark Awards programs for years, I knew there's a wealth of Accredited Businesses in our community that are dedicated to giving back and helping people around them. On the other hand, I also knew BBB receives lots of reports from consumers who are targeted by scams or have poor experiences with businesses - sometimes resulting in money loss or even worse (keep reading). I had a lightbulb moment one day: what if we could find a way to connect these two groups and work to solve some of the issues we're seeing with fraud in our community? Why not help consumers who need to recover find resources and solutions in our Accredited Businesses who are already engaging in outreach work? Thus, the BBB Foundation Restoring Trust program was born with a purpose to help people recover from fraud by connecting them with businesses that want to give back.

Through this program, we’ve helped families recover from shady contractors, scammy car sales, and more. And now, I want to introduce you to our next project — one that deeply moved me from the beginning.

Emily is a mother of three and a small business owner who submitted a troubling complaint to BBB in April 2025. She detailed how in March of 2024, she and her husband hired a mobile mechanic referred from a neighborhood app to work on two of their vehicles — her Ford Fusion and her husband’s Ford F-350 work truck. The mechanic's name is Justin Ford, and he operated under the business name R & J Specialties.

Emily and her husband paid him more than $22,000 for supposed labor and parts over the course of a year, trusting that he’d complete the repairs as promised. Instead, after texts and calls that went on for months from Justin full of false promises and statements that he was “almost done” repairing their cars, both vehicles were returned a year later in even worse condition. The Fusion had body damage, wouldn’t start and still had a broken brake pedal, while the truck was leaking fluids and missing the key, preventing Emily and her husband from even opening it. Justin refused to give her his new shop address, stopped replying to texts, and eventually blocked both Emily and her husband. No repairs. No refunds. Just two broken vehicles, tens of thousands of dollars gone, and a family left scrambling.

When Emily and I spoke on the phone, she told me how difficult it is for her to talk about this and how she feels sick to her stomach every time she rehashes it. She and her husband had just bought a new house before all this happened, and the $22,000 they paid was all of their available savings. Her husband began using his personal truck for their fencing business and they had to buy another car so they could get their kids to school, therapy and medical appointments — two of Emily’s sons are autistic and need transportation to many places on a consistent basis. The Ford Fusion was originally meant to be her oldest son’s when he turned 16 and he hasn’t been able to take a job without transportation.

But despite everything, Emily is focused on moving forward. She told me she doesn’t want pity — she just wants to be heard, and she wants to stop this mechanic from doing this to someone else.

After reviewing her application and proposal, our Restoring Trust Committee voted to move her project forward to see if we can help. And not long after that, I got in touch with Maverick Car Company, a local dealership and service center.

They didn’t hesitate. In fact, they said “We can’t not want to help. What does teaming up with BBB look like?”

Maverick is home to the JumpStart Program — a powerful initiative that takes trade-in vehicles destined for auction, restores them to safe condition, and provides them on a free lease to struggling families who lack transportation. But it doesn’t stop there. JumpStart also includes financial education, mentorship, and support that empowers participants to gain self-reliance and take back control of their lives. The Restoring Trust program shares similar values and although we achieve our nonprofit missions in different ways, we knew there was synergy between our two programs. 

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be working alongside Maverick to see how we can help ease Emily’s family’s financial burden and help them reclaim the sense of security they lost. And we’ll be sharing every step of the journey with you right here on the blog.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of fraud or a bad business experience, and it’s left you stranded — financially or otherwise — we may be able to help. Visit our Restoring Trust webpage to learn more or apply.

This program is powered by the belief that our marketplace can be better and that good businesses really can help right the wrongs caused by bad ones.

Yours in trust,
Meghan Conradt, Director of BBB Foundation