Hi Ben,
We’ve attempted to reach out to you by phone to discuss your concerns directly, but unfortunately, you have not answered or returned our calls. We’d much rather resolve this matter with you personally than have it play out online.
That said, we do want to clarify a few important points for the public:
First, REAL Automotive & Performance holds one of the highest Google ratings in Colorado Springs because our team is built on honesty, professionalism, and transparency. We take great pride in our reputation and in the trust we’ve earned from thousands of satisfied customers.
Regarding your claim of missing AirPods, no technician here uses Apple products, and no one has any interest in personal, used earbuds that have been in someone else’s ears. When this accusation was presented to the technician who worked on your vehicle, he was understandably offended by the suggestion of theft.
For security and privacy reasons, we do unplug dash cameras inside the shop. This is standard practice to prevent public access to footage of our facility, staff, and the high-value diagnostic and performance equipment we have on site. This policy is clearly communicated and is in place for the safety of both our customers and our team.
As for the wiper system concern, you were quoted only for a wiper motor, not a washer pump. Our inspection confirmed that your wiper motor is dragging, a common early sign of failure, and we provided our professional opinion at no charge. You requested the quote, and we gave our honest assessment to help you plan for a future repair if needed.
It’s unfortunate that you’ve chosen to make false public accusations against a local, reputable business instead of communicating directly so we could resolve this. Since you’ve declined to respond to our outreach and have chosen to take this approach, we must respectfully inform you that you are no longer welcome as a customer at REAL Automotive & Performance.
We stand by our professionalism, integrity, and the quality of our work and we’ll continue to serve our Colorado Springs community with the same honesty and transparency that have built our reputation.
— The REAL Automotive & Performance Team
In Ben’s case, he initially reached out stating that he believed his wiper motor may be failing and specifically asked us for a quote. We took the time to inspect the vehicle at no charge and provided him with exactly what he requested—an estimate based on his concern. At no point was he charged for the inspection, and the recommendations made were directly related to the issue he brought to us. To suggest that we were trying to sell him repairs he didn’t need overlooks the fact that the entire interaction was initiated by his request for a quote on that exact concern. He also mentions a “washer pump” in his review which there is no verbiage about a pump on his repair order
Ben also raised a concern regarding his dash cam, which we take very seriously. This was thoroughly investigated internally by reviewing our in-shop security camera footage, as any tampering would be a significant issue that would immediately be addressed with the technician. After reviewing the footage, we found no evidence of the technician interacting with or deleting anything from the dash cam.
As for the dash cam being unplugged, that is a standard practice in our shop. We do this to protect the privacy of other customers’ vehicles and to prevent visibility into our facility, which contains a large amount of valuable tools and equipment. This policy is in place for security and privacy reasons only, not to conceal any wrongdoing.
Ben also spoke to missing AirPods, stating their last known location showed at our shop. We take claims like this very seriously and made multiple attempts to reach out to him so we could review the information together, including the last known location details, but we were unable to get back in contact with him. While we never found any evidence that the AirPods were taken in our facility, we reviewed camera footage and talked with our technician (who is honestly one of the kindest humans on earth and was pretty bothered that Ben thought he stole from him) we were still willing to replace them as a gesture of good faith, not as an admission of fault, but simply because Ben was clearly concerned and we were trying to go above and beyond to make the situation right. If the last location was in the shop, we wanted to see this on the map and also wanted to help Ben search his vehicle to try and find them as we assumed they died in his vehicle and that’s the last location Apple pinged them, or they never went to our shop in the first place.
In summary, Ben came to us requesting a quote for a suspected wiper motor issue, which we inspected free of charge and provided exactly as asked. Claims regarding deleted dash cam footage and stolen AirPods were thoroughly addressed—no evidence supported either concern, and we even offered to replace the AirPods as a goodwill gesture despite no proof of fault. Ben also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, which we fully cooperated with by providing our call attempts, our Google response, and even offering to share our in-shop security footage, though they advised it was not necessary at that time.
Unfortunately, rather than continuing to work toward a resolution, Ben chose to sit outside our shop during business hours with signs on his vehicle accusing us of theft and encouraging others to seek a second opinion. While many of our customers who saw this found it humorous and somewhat comical, we took the situation seriously and made every effort to handle it professionally and respectfully.
We want to be clear that our goal is never to argue or place blame on anyone. Our priority has always been honesty, transparency, and doing what’s right for our customers. When situations like this arise, we believe it’s important to share our side of the story so the public can see the full context. By providing documentation, photos, and clear explanations, we aim to give our community an accurate and complete understanding of what actually took place.