Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens announced that the Superior Court of Cobb County has entered a judgment for over $1.3 million and a permanent injunction against both Mechanics Heating & Air Conditioning and its owner, Monty G. White, Jr.

Following an extensive investigation by the State Law Department’s Consumer Protection Unit, the state’s complaint showed that the defendants violated Georgia’s Fair Business Practices Act in at least 263 instances. These included posting fake favorable customer reviews on various websites, including Yelp.com, Kudzu.com, and Google+Local.com.

The state further established that Mechanics and White instructed their repair technicians to inflate consumers’ repair bills by charging for products and services not actually needed. When the defendants learned that certain consumers had complained about these practices to the Better Business Bureau or to regulatory agencies, they retaliated by creating “attack” websites, including one entitled “DirtyCustomer.com,” on which they posted harassing and intimidating remarks about the consumers.