Police involved for "Harassment" with a Google Review

[TheWokeBlob]

Hi there, a friend of mine mentioned that this forum can be good for legal sort of matters and suggested that I post here.

Well I have just received a call from a Police officer regarding a Google Review that I left after a horrendous experience with a garage and was hoping for a bit of advice.

For context I dropped a car into a so called Mini expert to diagnose a fault. Was told they'd only do two hours diag, they ended up charging me for 6, after doing maybe a generous two hours worth of actual work. Car given back in horrendous state, not a single bolt or clamp done up, owner isn't VAT registered, has 7 dissolved companies, wants paying cash into personal bank account, nightmare. To make things worse I'm actually a mechanic (albeit a very lazy one) so when I know I've been done over properly here, main dealer prices for 1 year college course work.

So I left a detailed factual google review outlying my experience, photos, as well as mentioning some perfectly factual information about the proprietor of the garage that I found out simply by googling his name, namely his 7 dissolved companies, fact he isn't VAT registered (but charges £70ph, employs a mechanic and deals cars full time ) and my favourite, that he is a convicted criminal that was found and sentenced for having a 1 of 6 stolen Ferrari in his garage... I'm genuinely not making this up.

Well I got called today by the police officer investigating claims that I am harassing the owner of the garage through my review.. Long story short the call with the officer went quite well I think, I explained how I got knowledge of the garage owner's criminal history and I pointed out that a news article about him is the first hit on google, is factual and information within the public domain, and that everything that I have written in the review is factual, within public domain and true.

He was told that I had copy and pasted the same review 3/4 times (not true) despite Google taking it down and said this could be seen as harassment. I again explained google's moderation policy regarding removed views as below:

said:

If a review you wrote has been removed, you may be able to fix it yourself. Edit your review to follow Google review policies — for example, you might remove a phone number or URL from the review.

Google uses machine learning algorithms to remove reviews that are probably policy-violating, and sometimes legitimate reviews are inadvertently removed.

The review was removed once by google, I made a slight edit which reposted it (and prompted the garage owner to call the police). Its been removed again today, so again I've made a slight edit which has reposted it again, which is something I intend to keep doing until google are happy with it.

It is abrasive absolutely, but entirely factual with freely available public knowledge. I've also literally posted the review once on google (although this has inspired me to post it onto other platforms), I'm not spamming his page with fake reviews or anything like that.

Basically the police officer agreed that it was my right as a customer to outline the service that I received from the garage and didn't ask me to take down the review or that if there was going to be any further action on their end, but as you can appreciate I am a little bit wary of things escalating and just wanted more legally adjusted heads to if possible give some thoughts.

Thanks for reading

TWB

Edited by TheWokeBlob on Sunday 26th May 17:09

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Thank fk they had time to waste on that

[Cupid-stunt]

Can you add the review here (and redact the company / owner name)?

[TheWokeBlob]

Cupid-stunt said:

Can you add the review here (and redact the company / owner name)?

Sod it, why not

REDACTED of REDACTED is a CONVICTED CRIMINAL (google his name), liar, an incompetent mechanic and all around scam artist with at least 7 dissolved companies under his belt, is not VAT registered and only accepts cash payments made to his personal bank account... If that sounds dodgy, well I assure you because it is.

I WISH I did my due diligence on this clown before giving my car to him where he’s actually left it in worse condition than I dropped it in.

5.75 hours @ £70 charged for 2x smoke tests, a code read and a play around with a mityvac. Oh and they didn’t even fit the one part they removed in those near 6 hours back properly. Mind bogglingly shocking work, See below for photos of the REDACTED experience

I was angry about being blatantly ripped off like this, but knowing that CONVICTED CRIMINAL REDACTED has gone from handling stolen Ferraris to scamming people on old Minis has actually cheered me up a tad. And the fact that CONVICTED CRIMINAL REDACTED somehow manages to charge £70 per hour, employ a mechanic AND trade cars without triggering the VAT turnover threshold has given me a mystery to ponder too

People, PLEASE, Don’t walk, RUN AWAY. BACKGROUND check your mechanics.

[JulianHJ]

GiantEnemyCrab said:

Thank fk they had time to waste on that

Damned if they do, damned if they don't. They received a complaint of a crime and had the audacity to actually deal with it, rather than ignore it; worse still, they resolved it in a timely fashion with a phone call.

They should be out catching rapists/murderers/insert cliche here etc...

[jasonrobertson86]

What are you worried about?

[TheWokeBlob]

jasonrobertson86 said:

What are you worried about?

Further criminal repercussions and if my review might blur the lines into the Malicious Communications Act or similar like the officer initially mentioned, or harassment if I keep posting/editing it so that it remains visible

I wouldn't have thought so, but then I wouldn't have thought I'd have gotten a police call about a google review before today.

[CoolHands]

TheWokeBlob said:

Cupid-stunt said:

Can you add the review here (and redact the company / owner name)?

Sod it, why not

REDACTED of REDACTED is a CONVICTED CRIMINAL (google his name), liar, an incompetent mechanic and all around scam artist with at least 7 dissolved companies under his belt, is not VAT registered and only accepts cash payments made to his personal bank account... If that sounds dodgy, well I assure you because it is.

I WISH I did my due diligence on this clown before giving my car to him where he’s actually left it in worse condition than I dropped it in.

5.75 hours @ £70 charged for 2x smoke tests, a code read and a play around with a mityvac. Oh and they didn’t even fit the one part they removed in those near 6 hours back properly. Mind bogglingly shocking work, See below for photos of the REDACTED experience

I was angry about being blatantly ripped off like this, but knowing that CONVICTED CRIMINAL REDACTED has gone from handling stolen Ferraris to scamming people on old Minis has actually cheered me up a tad. And the fact that CONVICTED CRIMINAL REDACTED somehow manages to charge £70 per hour, employ a mechanic AND trade cars without triggering the VAT turnover threshold has given me a mystery to ponder too

People, PLEASE, Don’t walk, RUN AWAY. BACKGROUND check your mechanics.

lol luckily you have time to waste.

By the way the Ferrari mention makes me think of that long running thread about the place near / southall I wonder if it’s the same bloke

[jasonrobertson86]

TheWokeBlob said:

Further criminal repercussions and if my review might blur the lines into the Malicious Communications Act or similar like the officer initially mentioned, or harassment if I keep posting/editing it so that it remains visible

I wouldn't have thought so, but then I wouldn't have thought I'd have gotten a police call about a google review before today.

Absolutely no chance. Police don't know their arse from their elbow.

[Doofus]

Why is his VAT status significant?

[stinkyspanner]

How does one make a cash payment into a personal bank account?

[jasonrobertson86]

stinkyspanner said:

How does one make a cash payment into a personal bank account?

I think he means direct to his personal account from another rather than physical cash.

[miniman]

I guess you change the review to say “My review of this business has been removed at the request of the Police. Read into this what you will.”

[Nickp82]

Is there some sort of clown register with which you were able to confirm he is a clown in order to make that bit factual?

[TheWokeBlob]

Doofus said:

Why is his VAT status significant?

Because he purposely keeps up review pages with "Company name LTD" as a misdirection for people googling the company. He was dissolved the LTD company but still continues to trade under the name to give an aire of respectably.

I asked him if he was a proper vat registered company when I dropped the car to his unit, he said that he was, come him fleecing me for £400 nah bank transfer only to my personal account. Total con man.

He's also very clearly taking the mick with the threshold and I want him to know its so clear you can see it from space. No time for fly by night motor traders and mechanics, make life much more difficult for those who don't skirt the rules or pay the taxes.

Edited by TheWokeBlob on Sunday 26th May 18:39

[TheWokeBlob]

CoolHands said:

ol luckily you have time to waste.

By the way the Ferrari mention makes me think of that long running thread about the place near / southall I wonder if it’s the same bloke

Hey dude was skinned for £400 AND I still have to fix the car myself, gotta get my value somewhere

[Doofus]

TheWokeBlob said:

Doofus said:

Why is his VAT status significant?

Because he purposely keeps up review pages with "Company name LTD" as a misdirection for people googling the company. He was dissolved the LTD company but still continues to trade under the name to give an aire of respectably.

I asked him if he was a proper vat registered company when I dropped the car to his unit, he said that he was, come him fleecing me for £400 nah bank transfer only to my personal account. Total con man.

He's also very clearly taking the mick with the threshold and I want him to know its so clear you can see it from space. No time for fly by night motor traders and mechanics, make life much more difficult for those who don't skirt the rules or pay the taxes.

Edited by TheWokeBlob on Sunday 26th May 18:39

Limited and VAT registered aren't the same thing.

[119]

Doofus said:

TheWokeBlob said:

Doofus said:

Why is his VAT status significant?

Because he purposely keeps up review pages with "Company name LTD" as a misdirection for people googling the company. He was dissolved the LTD company but still continues to trade under the name to give an aire of respectably.

I asked him if he was a proper vat registered company when I dropped the car to his unit, he said that he was, come him fleecing me for £400 nah bank transfer only to my personal account. Total con man.

He's also very clearly taking the mick with the threshold and I want him to know its so clear you can see it from space. No time for fly by night motor traders and mechanics, make life much more difficult for those who don't skirt the rules or pay the taxes.

Edited by TheWokeBlob on Sunday 26th May 18:39

Limited and VAT registered aren't the same thing.

Or how an invoice is paid.

[Ken_Code]

CoolHands said:

ol luckily you have time to waste.

By the way the Ferrari mention makes me think of that long running thread about the place near / southall I wonder if it’s the same bloke

Warning others about dodgy services isn’t really wasting time.

[Scarletpimpofnel]

CoolHands said:

TheWokeBlob said:

Cupid-stunt said:

Can you add the review here (and redact the company / owner name)?

Sod it, why not

REDACTED of REDACTED is a CONVICTED CRIMINAL (google his name), liar, an incompetent mechanic and all around scam artist with at least 7 dissolved companies under his belt, is not VAT registered and only accepts cash payments made to his personal bank account... If that sounds dodgy, well I assure you because it is.

I WISH I did my due diligence on this clown before giving my car to him where he’s actually left it in worse condition than I dropped it in.

5.75 hours @ £70 charged for 2x smoke tests, a code read and a play around with a mityvac. Oh and they didn’t even fit the one part they removed in those near 6 hours back properly. Mind bogglingly shocking work, See below for photos of the REDACTED experience

I was angry about being blatantly ripped off like this, but knowing that CONVICTED CRIMINAL REDACTED has gone from handling stolen Ferraris to scamming people on old Minis has actually cheered me up a tad. And the fact that CONVICTED CRIMINAL REDACTED somehow manages to charge £70 per hour, employ a mechanic AND trade cars without triggering the VAT turnover threshold has given me a mystery to ponder too

People, PLEASE, Don’t walk, RUN AWAY. BACKGROUND check your mechanics.

lol luckily you have time to waste.

By the way the Ferrari mention makes me think of that long running thread about the place near / southall I wonder if it’s the same bloke

Why "lol" and "time to waste"? If it saves someone else dealing with this company and losing money then that is a good thing right?