Timea T.
Held hostage over a hidden charge
Held Hostage Over a Hidden Charge: Our Shocking Experience at Promotive What happened to us at Promotive wasn’t just bad service — it was unethical, intimidating, and completely unacceptable. Here’s the honest review based on everything we went through. We took our car to Promotive to have our tyres changed, with a clear, agreed‑upon price. Everything seemed straightforward until we realised we’d left the wheel nut at home. We told them we’d rather return later — but the staff insisted “no problem, we’ll remove it.” At no point did anyone mention that this would cost £89.95 + VAT. No warning. No quote. No authorisation. Nothing. Instead of asking for approval, they rushed ahead with the extra work as they were nearing closing time. When we questioned the unexpected charge, the manager refused to release our car — effectively holding it hostage until we paid for something we never agreed to. When we raised our voices out of sheer frustration and fear, (this was after a 30min argument) we were told “there’s no need to shout.” But who wouldn’t shout when their own car is being kept from them? To make matters worse, the sales assistant was rude, smirking, and openly mocking us, treating us like scammers when we were the ones being scammed. The manager only represented himself to tell us that we must pay then he proceeded to drive our car back into the garage. We were forced into paying an unauthorised charge just to get our own vehicle back. This behaviour is not only unprofessional — it’s disgusting and deeply unethical. We will be taking this further, because no customer should ever be treated this way. We made an official complaint and the reply was that basically everything was our fault. I complained a lot about other garages in the area but to be fair noone of them ever carried out works and charged us for something i didnt authorize. Our first and last time at this disgusting garage.