The Extortion Files – Truth About the Golf

The world of social media and review platforms has given consumers a voice, but it has also become a breeding ground for deceitful practices. Such is the case when we at Best Turbos found ourselves under attack by an individual who sought to tarnish our image after failing to extort money from us. In this blog post, we delve into the saga of Best Turbos as we battle to clear our name, unveiling the truth behind the false accusations posted online and re-establishing our standing in the automotive industry.

As it Happened

Let’s walk you through the whole incident as a timeline:

02/05/2023 – Customer made first contact over the phone, described the symptoms and mentioned that vehicle is a non runner. Our customer service team booked the vehicle in for inspection and repair

They even asked if it would be ‘a bit cheaper’ if they were to pay cash. Instigating Tax evasion is a serious crime, and we condone any such efforts to try and avoid our social responsibility.

03/05/2023 – The vehicle arrived on the back of a recovery van. After the initial investigation, the turbocharger was found damaged. The customer suspected that the Turbo was damaged, but they kept on using the vehicle anyway, resulting in damages to exhaust sensors. There was no oil pressure to the turbocharger either due to blockage on the oil pump.

04/05/2023 – Diagnostic Results were sent to the customer, along with pictures and quotes for repair. The customer agreed to our disclaimer and price and gave consent to get on with the job.

The disclaimer clearly stated that we are not responsible for any pre-existing engine conditions, which they agreed to, knowing there is an engine injector problem(please see the picture attached).

08/05/2023 – Turbocharger was removed and the replacement was installed.

09/05/2023 – Oil pressure issues eliminated, exhaust sensors repaired as well. As all three issues were now fixed, we were finally able to start the engine safely. The car started, but as the engine warmed up, it started misfiring and knocking, and there was white smoke coming out of the exhaust.

10/05/2023 – We contacted the customer, informing them about the engine issue. They admitted they had previous knowledge of the injector problem, and said they will come and collect the vehicle. Despite our advice that the car is not fit for the road, and driving in this state could burn the piston and damage the Turbocharger. The customer decided to collect the vehicle anyway.

They arrived later that day to collect the vehicle and wanted to take it for a test drive, we reinstated that the car was declared not fit for the road by our master technician due to the engine issues previously admitted by the customer. They then proceeded with the payment and drove it anyway.

And The Deception Begins

The strangest aspect of this whole incident is how different their version of events are compared to the reality. They left our premises smiling and acknowledging the fact that the engine was faulty to begin with. But since that day, they have been asking us for refund stating that we have not repaired the car. Normally in a rare event  when a customer is not happy with our work, we offer them full repair under warranty , and customers are always happy to oblige knowing they will be well looked after. But in this case, they asked for a full refund straight away, which is against our refund policy. Our customer service team spoken to them numerous times, listened to them with patience and professonalism, and we even offered to pay for the recovery if it turns out that the turbo we  repaired was faulty. But they contineously declined our offer and threatened to take legal action and tarnish our reputation by posting online, the reputation and trust that were slowly built over a decade. We now have no other option but to share the truth – backed by evidences, with full respect to british law, and their privacy.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

We will now share the public post the  customer published online and answer every allegation that was made:

First of all, the amount payable was agreed upon prior to the work and is clearly mentioned on the invoice that the customer published

As a customer-centric business, we simply can’t afford to ignore our customers. Our Customer Service team has over an hour of phone conversations, countless texts, and images we sent as part of the regular updates.

Every quote we provide is 100% guaranteed, and included VAT. The price did not change at all, there were other minor problems which had to be fixed in order for the turbo installation. We communicated with them every step of the way, and they were more than happy at that point for us to proceed.

We did not refuse them wanting to test drive the car, we simply stated the fact that the car is not safe for driving with the injector problem yet to be addressed, something they already knew prior to this.

The claim about intimidation is simply untrue. the entire interaction was pleasant, she was served by one of our reception team and one mechanic, two other mechanics later joined for approx 20 seconds – pausing their work – to describe to them what work was done, that too was outside whilst the children were in the reception area with one of the parents. The kids were playing freely in our reception area as seen in the pictures.

Our mechanic repeatedly requested them not to drive the car before the injector is fixed, which could undo his 5 days of hard work, it goes without saying that they disregarded his caution. So much for trusting the specialists!

We repaired the turbo that was removed from the vehicle, it is simply not true the turbo that was fitted was ‘wrong’.

We DO NOT CHARGE customers who are under warranty,  the warranty by definition covers both parts and labour. We did not refuse to refund her, as a business only following our refund policy, accredited by the Motor Ombudsman.

We’ve been accused of sexism, but as irony has it, they were attended by female staff during the collection. 75% of our customer service & Admin team are female, it goes without saying that these claims are baseless.

We have a long-standing reputation for going above and beyond for our customers, and our commitment is rewarded by The trust of this community, as they have crowned us the most-reviewed Turbocharger Repair Company across Great Britain. Responding to a customer in this way was the last thing we wanted to do, but our back was against the wall when we received repeated threats not only to our members of staff and premises but also to the customers and general public’s vehicle parked here. They also tried to intimidate us by saying they have friends working for the Trading Standards (Conflict of Interest has left the chat! ). We merely trying to protect ourselves and our valued customers from any unwanted situations, and will continue to do so.

The data, including any media shared in this post, are collected from public platforms, phone, and CCTV recordings, according to our privacy policy and terms of services, which can and will be used as evidence if and when required. We will continue to defend ourselves and are currently consultating with our legal team regarding this matter.