thinking about it more, the girl is an idiot. Even if Tom did rip her off, she didn't take any extra effort to save money. She could have switched batteries with another person to see if that fixed the problem. Even if she does not know how to work on cars, youtube and google could have shown her everything. Hell, the folks at NAPA, Advance Auto, etc could have given her everything she needed to change the parts on the spot and she could have called anyone for advice(parents, friends, neighbors, etc).
I hate to be harsh on her, but she takes the easy road and then wants to cry wolf when she doesn't have any money. Its easier to be the victim than to put the time in to figure it out.