On 03/17/09, we called Frank Franke of Colorado Springs Service Center (AKA AFF Electronics, AKA JDS Electronics -- all in just the last few years) to repair our $2700 big screen Mitsubishi TV because we had checked his listing at DEX online and he was rated highly. My first mistake was in not checking the comments there. I later found out the raves were all most certainly written by Franke and his wife. There were three derogatories I wish I had seen before parting with our TV.

At first, he and his "assistant" worked on the TV in our house for a few hours. Then he said he just needed to order some parts. We gave him a $125 check for those. He called back a day later stating that he had to have the TV in his "shop" to troubleshoot further. He came to pick up the TV and we haven't seen it since.

From 03/18 to 03/28, there were days when there was no call back on our inquiries, then a few days with returned calls filled with excuses. He had been in emergency because his "assistant" attacked him. He had been out of town on a medical emergency. A family member died. He was in a leg brace. Ten days passed before he finally admitted he had not repaired our TV.

On that day, I did what I should have done in the first place: Research Frank Franke and his company online. What I found at that time shocked me. He has changed his company name three times in the past few years alone. He has changed addresses at least four times. His phone numbers, the same. There are 10 complaints against him at the BBB currently, and I found four Internet fraud alert sites with Franke and his business practices listed. He has no "shop". He operates out of his house.

His modus operandi seems to be pretending to repair TVs, bilking customers for what he can get monetarily, and often stealing the TVs themselves.

On 03/28, after telling us that "I couldn't fix the TV, but I'll drop it off for the balance you owe me in cash at 9 o'clock. . ." -- then 9:30, then 10:30, then he suddenly didn't have his truck. . .we called the police. Then the DA. We were told that they could do nothing. We had "contracted" for services from this thief, and it would be his word against ours. He would say we refused to pay him, we would say he had stolen our TV and not delivered on his promise to repair it. All we could do is go to court and let a judge sort it out.

If you wish to avoid having your money and property stolen, please consider our experience and the experiences of numerous others in dealing with this person. Do the research. He is a liar and a thief. He knows how to get around the law the way a career con-man does.