An 81-year-old man says he was charged $3,500 for an appliance he never even saw.

His daughter spoke exclusively with News 12 to tell his story, with the hope of exposing the local business responsible.

It all started when Nora Kernisant's 81-year-old father decided to purchase a refrigerator filter from PEMCO Supply in September 2024.

Since then, she says it's been a year of headache for the family.

“The filter runs about $40 to $50 everywhere,” said Kernisant. “So my dad never looked at the receipts because he assumed the price was $40 to $50.”

Shortly after, his credit card bill revealed that the filter was actually $290. She says it was a bad purchase too late to take back by then.

“In January, my dad received a bill from his credit union from PEMCO supply,” said Kernisant. “They took $3,500 out. We let the credit union know that this charge is not authorized. We didn't sign anything.”

Their charge dispute was denied by Penfed Credit Union.

Kernisant said the owner of the appliance store sent a letter to the credit union, with lies.

“Stating that my dad called him to purchase a refrigerator and he picked up the refrigerator on the 16th of December with a truck,” said Kernisant. “My dad doesn't even drive. I called the owner and he hung up on me.”

She claims the owner of PEMCO Supply used the original copy of the receipt back in 2024 — to forge her father’s name and information.

Based on the hundreds of reviews News 12 found online – she is not the first and only one.

“They have a C- rating with the Better Business Bureau,” said Claire Rosenzweig, president of Better Business Bureau. “The reason for the C minus rating is that they have three unresolved complaints. Complaints can be closed in a number of different ways. If there is a complaint, we send it to the business. If the business responds to the complaint, and if in our opinion there is an answer in good faith, then the complaint can be closed.”

The $3,500 charge still weighing over their heads is far from resolved, so Kernisant and her family are headed to court.

“We're not enforcement,” said Rosenzweig. “Our role is to provide the public with our opinion. Our role is to help consumers choose wisely, choose trusted companies, reliable companies. Know what to expect beforehand, so there are no surprises. If you were to look at BBB.org on this company you would see what consumers are saying, and you would decide if you want to do business with that particular company.”