Scam alert: Ballistic Autowerks / Eddie Houser Jr / Star Effects Customs

Do not do business with Eddie Houser Jr / Ballistic Autowerks / Star Effects Customs in Hagerstown, MD.  Behind the seemingly knowledgeable facade of a well-connected automotive customizer, he is little more than a small-town theif and a fraud who will say and do whatever it takes to make a buck. 

I wish I had done a bit more research before engaging, as his track record is well documented by his previous customers/victims.   His business (Star Effects Customs) maintains an F rating on BBB, and an impressive 1.0 rating on Google Reviews (lowest I've ever seen).  More recently, he operates and markets using a DBA "Ballistic Autowerks" - probably so unsuspecting customers will be unaware of his reputation. 

Lawsuits:

Ballistic Autowerks / Eddie Houser Reviews

Anonymous (BBB)
I paid star effects custom auto 881 Pennsylvania ave, Hagerstown, md July 22, 2021 for new wheels and tires for my car. Today is august 10, 2021. I still do not have the wheels and tires for my car. My car has a blow out august 3,2021 and was towed to star effects. It has been sitting there a week with no work done to it at all. I have gotten excuse after excuse regarding whereabouts of wheels and tires all of which contradict the previous excuses. Then the owner Eddie sent a text threatening to set my car on fire and have me jumped by the pagans. Who handles business this way. This has been a disaster. My car is still there and I need resolution and my money returned to me. At this point they may have damaged my car without me knowing until I drive it again.

Anonymous (BBB)
I've taken two vehicles to this location that needed to be fixed from insurance claims. After about 6 months on each the cars were not finished. I stopped over many times and was told it would be next week or next week or next week. After 6 months he had to close his shop for not requiring proper permits to operate. I had many for employees, shop manager and customers reach out letting me know the owner Eddie ********* would pocket the money and chop cars up. I had to take my two vehicles to other shops to be properly fixed to the sum.of around $5000.00. The charger was so poorly done I was told by that shop my family was in danger because safety parts were not re-installed. After months of texts and call Eddie finally responded that ehe didn't car about taking the money.

Corrinna Poet
Good work as long as it’s completed. Unresponsive to calls. Work done in November 2020 is still not complete. Unfortunately we trusted him enough to pay him in full so I guess he has no need to actually do the right thing. Extremely talented owner, so much potential. Lousy business sense so comes across as shady and dishonest.

Corey Stewart
A bunch of clowns!! I wouldn’t take a hot wheel to these jokes!! Building is trash and so is the owner!! I wouldn’t let that dude Eddie with the bleach blonde eyebrow paint my toenails let alone my car. Thanks for nothing fellas!!

Daniel Drennan
Shady. The same experience as everyone else. Don’t let this scam artist convince you. Picked my car up in worse shape than I left it. Terrible paint job. Interior wasn’t done properly. He used green golf carpet and painted it black. Hard to contact after you give a deposit and took a year to pick my car up

daymon anderson
Worst auto place i ever used in 30 years driving. Complete liars. They had my car for almost 2 years and only lied and gave constant excusses. He's an embarrassment to the whole city. I can't believe he is allowed to stay open.

Latte' Lawson
Do yourself a favor and run for the hills! This place should be on the FBI’s most wanted list! Very unprofessional and liars! They will steal your money and you probably do something to go to jail. They had my car for over - year and still didn’t finish. It’s worst now the ever!

Names / Aliases:

  • Edward Houser
  • Eddie Houser
  • Eddie Houser Jr. 
  • Eddie Houser Sr.
  • Edward Houser Jr.
  • Edward Houser Sr.

Known Accomplices:

  • Tara Houser (in our dealings, Eddie frequently blamed/used Tara as a scapegoat when I confronted him about questionable business practices/failure to deliver on commitments)

Business Aliases:

  • Star Effects Customs in Hagerstown, MD
  • Ballistic Autoworks in Hagerstown, MD
  • Ballistic Autowerks in Hagerstown, MD

Modus Operandus

  • Claims to have connections in the industry and offer the best prices. Will not hesitate to drop names "let me talk to Ben the CFO at Massive Audio, all my orders go through him" (I spent time connecting with Massive at SEMA this year... They never heard of him)
  • Claims paid work is complete or in progress
  • Claims to own brands: "we bought Accuair when they went out of business" (ended up being crappy parts off Alibaba that he paid to get his logo on)
  • Impossible to get ahold of once payment is received
  • Subpar work/products (if delivered at all)
  • Uses technical jargon to impress (confuse) customers