Mechanic’s Heating and Air Conditioning (MHAC) in Marietta, Georgia has recently been ordered to cease operations as a result of many years of posting fake online reviews, in addition to its campaign of hosting smear websites targeting customers who have been critical of the business.
MHAC’s owner, Monty White, was accused of overcharging customers and inventing “problems” to fix. He collected the details of his critical customers and created custom websites for them, with their private information listed alongside his incoherent rants.
The company was covered in a 2012 report by Fox 5 news, which revealed that White had gone so far as to post family photos of his customers on sites like DirtyCustomer.com. White was brazen with his online bullying, even directing these customers to visit the sites on which he posted their information.
The history of abuse dates back to at least 2008, when a previous report by the same news station detailed the company’s poor work practices. Even with the two news reports and a history of offenses, it took three more years for MHAC to be shuttered.
Since then, White’s business has been given an “F” rating by the Better Business Bureau prior to a Cobb County court’s order to, “permanently cease and desist from doing business in the heating and air conditioning industry within the State of Georgia, and surrender all business and trade licenses.”
Fines totaling $1.3 million were also imposed on White and he was ordered by the court to remove the content in question from 61 websites for being in violation of Georgia’s Fair Business Practices Act in at least 293 instances.
While searching online for the best local car repair shop or restaurant, we’ve all witnessed the unusual instance of that singular five-star review among a company’s overwhelmingly negative respondents, but MHAC took it too far.
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