I-Team's Call For Action Helps Dog Groomer Get Refund Worth Thousands From RMV

BOSTON (CBS) - Colleen Finnegan owns The Ride and Groom mobile dog spa. Recently she decided to buy a new van for her business. "They make them out of state," she told the I-Team. "The buying process is a little more complicated."

In the past, the Michigan dealership where Finnegan buys her vans would register it for her in Massachusetts. This year with COVID-19, they asked her to do it.

"I met with clerk .. don't need this. You know you have to pay taxes. Which I thought was the percentage difference between the two states. That's fine."

But the clerk said Finnegan owed more than $5,000 in sales tax on the van. Thinking she owed the money, she paid the tax and contacted the dealership for reimbursement. But the dealership said it paid the tax and registry owes her a refund. She says she spent months trying to get someone from the Registry of Motor Vehicles on the phone but that went nowhere.

At one point, Finnegan said a manager at the RMV gave her sticky notes about why she owed the money. "It was crazy," she told the I-Team.

After the I-Team contacted the RMV, it said after researching, the case "determined that a reimbursement is warranted."

Finnegan said, "within 24 hours of you getting back to us the RMV called me and said we overcharged you - we were completely wrong and we are getting a check out to you and yesterday I got my check."

The registry also apologized for the inconvenience.