When bad things happen to good people, KHOU viewers pay attention!
To get to work, Willie spent hours on the bus because his truck was in the shop.
The mechanic he hired to fix the old Chevy didn't do the job and wouldn't give his truck back either.
"I've lost money. Lost a truck. Lost confidence in people. So I'm pretty much dangling right now," Willie explained.
So, Willie emailed Tell Tiffany for help.
We managed to assist in getting his truck back. Unfortunately, it still wasn't fixed.
"I used to believe in the little man," Willie told us. "He's taken my faith out of the little man with these kind of practices."
All of that changed after his story aired.
A mechanic in Alvin named Kris Parker was moved by Willie's determination not to give up.
"A lot of people would just lay down and say this is just too tough I quit and he didn't quit," Kris told us. "Spending four hours a day on a bus just to go to work, just to man up and do what he needed to do to get done and that impressed me."
Kris owns The Shop on Highway 35 in Alvin.
So, he had Willie's truck towed to his shop and started fixing the brake line.
That was just for starters.
"We just decided to walk under the truck to see what it would need to be safe to drive," said Kris.
That's when Kris rolled up his sleeves and put 15 hours of labor into that old Chevy.
He gave us a list of what he fixed (or most of it):
Inner tie rods
Outer tie rods
Adjustment sleeves
Pitman arm
Idler arm
Alignment
Distributor cap
Ignition cables
Spark plugs
Ignition rotor
Air filter
Fuel filter
Front rotors
Front pads
Front wheel bearings
Rear drums
Rear shoes
Driver and passenger inner and outer door handles
Ignition switch
Car alarm.
Oh yeah. And a new brake line.
"He's gonna be excited especially considering the raw deal he got the first time," said Kris.
"Does he know now how much you've done?" asked reporter Tiffany Craig.
"Not yet," replied Kris.
On the day his truck was ready, Willie had a small window of time on his lunch break.
"Man, I've been excited for the longest," Willie said.
He was about to find out that Kris hooked him up big time! Kris started telling him about all of the repairs.
"Well what do I owe you?" Willie asked Kris.
"You owe me this right here," Kris told him while extending his arm for a handshake.
A smile lit up Willie's face as shook Kris's hand.
"Man bro," he said.
In the end, Kris did more than $4,000 dollars worth of work and asked for nothing in return.
Willie happily drove away in the repaired ride with his faith in the little man restored!
If you have a problem to Tell Tiffany, email her telltiffany@khou.com or call (713) 521-HELP.