SCIPIO, Utah – Travel centers in Scipio and Beaver, Utah, will keep their designations as public rest stops, despite being fined for pushing unneeded tires and repairs on motorists, reported The Salt Lake Tribune.
The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has put the two gas stations, both Flying J franchises along Interstate 15, on what it calls a "corrective action plan," said the report. The move requires the gas stations to follow the agreement it already reached with the Utah Division of Consumer Protection.
"If they violate any of those corrective action plans, we will withdraw those rest stops from those companies," Rick Torgerson, director of UDOT's Region 4, told the newspaper.
The agreement mandates that the stations discontinue the questionable sales practices, inform customers of repair costs and provide itemized receipts.
The gas stations also will be required to install comment boxes and to send UDOT monthly summaries of those messages. UDOT already collects comments about its rest stops through its website.
In February, the Utah Division of Consumer Protection fined the company owning the gas stations and adjacent repair shops $10,000, the report said. Consumer complaints released with the settlement described motorists driving or towing recreational vehicles stopping at the gas stations and being approached by employees telling them their tires were about to separate or that they needed other repairs.
Some motorists also complained they weren't told how much the tires or repairs would cost until their vehicles already were on the lift.
Justin Wayment, an attorney representing the stations, told The Salt Lake Tribune that the violations are “technical” and said the problems have been rectified.
"However," Wayment wrote, his clients "deny that there was ever a scheme or intent by employees to defraud or otherwise unlawfully influence people to purchase unnecessary services from the business."
Click here to view the full Tribune report.
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