This review is for Autowatch UK Ltd and Trackershop LTD. This will be a very lengthy and honest review, and if you're seriously thinking about purchasing a Ghost Immobiliser, I urge you to read this review in full and then make a decision.
Now it started back on the 5th March 2024 whilst watching a YouTube video from Mark McCann detailing how thieves are stealing high end vehicles with such ease. This video made me instantly purchase a Ghost Immobiliser directly from Trackershop LTD as I realised I needed to protect my pride and joy from these lowlife thieves. I obviously did some research on the Ghost Immobiliser but what really sold it for me was that when you Google "Can a Ghost Immobiliser be bypassed?" The first thing that comes up is: 'No. They work by preventing your engine from working unless an additional, unique pin number or code sequence is entered alongside your key fob.'
Fast forward to the 12th March and a guy arrived to install the Ghost II Immobiliser in my Kia Stinger. This was after me having to call Trackershop to find out where the technician was, as I hadn't had any communication on the morning (which I should have) to suggest when they would be arriving.
The guy finally arrived in a personal looking vehicle and had no signing on his vehicle. The guy took around 1 hour and was finished, although at the beginning he was adamant that it would take 3 hours (or there abouts).The technician showed me how to change the pin and so once he left, I proceeded to change the pin he set (4 digits) to a brand new pin (6 digits) that only I knew. To reiterate, nobody has access to my vehicle and nobody is told the pin.
On the 20th March 2024 I handed my vehicle over to a local body shop (Sutton Motor Bodies) for some repair work on a sil that was damaged by ATS Euromaster earlier in the month. I was taught how to place the car into "valet mode" and this is what I did (outside of the premises where nobody could see). I told the guy at the body shop that the car was in valet mode and that it'll drive a short distance for them to move it inside and outside of the body shop and that was that. 2 days later and I have the car back and I take it out of valet mode. The car hadn't been driven, not even one mile on the clock added from when I dropped it.
As the weeks went by the Ghost II Immobiliser was working fine, no issues at all, and I was feeling much better about leaving my car in the residential car park behind our house at night.
As me and my partner were settling down for bed on the 8th April 2024, we had a ring notification, and to our confusion it was our neighbour two doors down so we immediately answered it and asked her what was up. The neighbour proceeds to explain that she had just noticed 3 thugs walk past her house and moments later she heard my car wheel spinning away which in her own words, was uncharacteristic of me. The neighbour put 2 and 2 together and we were thankful that she alerted us right away.
After rushing downstairs and confirming that it was indeed my car that had been stolen and driven away, we immediately called the police who arrived within 10-15 minutes and they also provided a crime reference number once they left. The police officers were informed that the car had a Ghost as well as the keys being locked in a faraday box, and they were in disbelief that it had been stolen, especially with a Ghost Immobiliser fitted.
Once the police had left I felt that I couldn't sit around and I had to go searching for the vehicle so I used a second vehicle available to me and from around 10:30pm until approximately 2:30am I was searching every back street imaginable within a 5-10 mile radius, just in complete shock that my pride and joy had been stolen and driven away, even after spending so much money on a Ghost II Immobiliser.
After hours of searching and no luck I returned home to get very little sleep and the next morning I was back out again for hours trying to find my car.
Luckily, around 3pm the day after, we had a call from the police to say the car had been found in a multi story car park in Birmingham, along with another stolen performance car.
The police officers picked me up from my home address and took me to collect my car from the multi story car park. On the way to collect my Kia Stinger, the officers also caught one of the suspects returning to the multi story and managed to arrest the one guy. He was arrested in possession of mobile phones, balaclavas, bag of keys and a device which the police believe is how they managed to bypass the Ghost Immobiliser.
Upon arrival the car seemed fine but a few things stolen; Raybans (30th birthday present from my wife), Motorola MA1 android system, and a Samsung Super Fast Car Charger. The police also had to confiscate my number plates for finger prints which means I've also had to spend money replacing my number plates.
There was also signs of the thieves smoking in my car, and having never smoked in my life, this is possibly one of the worst things I can imagine and the smell was horrendous. There is also a small cigarette burn to the paintwork near the passenger mirror where one of the thieves were obviously smoking out of the window and the ash has dropped and damaged my paint.
I also noticed that when they ripped my number plates off (held by sticky pads) they had ripped them off with such velocity that they also took some of the paint with the plate. Yes, it's hidden by the plate, but I know the damage is there!
As well as this they'd also managed to slightly curb damage two of the front wheels which were freshly refurbished only a matter of weeks prior.
The car was taken from the multi story in Birmingham to a relatives address as I didn't feel comfortable taking it back home so soon. This resulted in the car being stored for 3 or 4 days whilst I decided what to do (debating selling it). Being self employed, this has cost me a lot in terms of loss of income, as I rely heavily on my vehicle for work use.
In the midst of all this, I had been in contact with the manager at Tracker Shop and each time I spoke with the woman, she was no real help and kept asking if anybody knew the pin (to which I had replied many of times that its impossible), and that Auto Watch are not able to do anything as they are not sure how it's happened.
The last communication I had with The Tracker Shop was over 3 weeks ago (which in itself is laughable), and the last suggestion from them was to refund my money, remove the Ghost and fit a free of charge tracker for me. The guy who I last spoke with said he would come back to me shortly after speaking with his manager, when I requested that they supplied me with a Scorpion tracker and Immobiliser instead of a refund.
Now since its been a few weeks since this call, I've lost any hope at all with this company and it now resulted in an email directly to the CEO of Autowatch. Which I typed during my honeymoon in Bruges by the way!
The emotional damage in which this has caused, we have been forced to put our house on the market as we don't feel safe in our own home. We have 2 young children and we can't risk living in our current home for much longer, knowing that thieves have targeted us and may return at any point.
The stress and worry was too much even whilst we were on our honeymoon, so much so that we had arranged all via email to have the house listed on the market whilst we were meant to be enjoying our honeymoon!
Going back to Mark McCann, I messaged him directly via Facebook and I knew the odds of him replying were short, but I thought he would be interested to know my story just incase he plans of revisiting the YouTube series he made regarding the car thieves and wanted to use some of my content (to which I'd happily approve now!).
To my surprise, Mark had read my message and reached out to me. Acknowledging what I had said and also making a very BOLD comment that he has heard similar stories before regarding the Ghost!
As you can also imagine, the Kia Stinger community have been all over my story and most of them also have Ghost II Immobilisers fitted and each and every person with a Kia Stinger that has a Ghost fitted is now unsure of the brand and unsure of the reliability, knowing that the system can be bypassed.
Going back to my email to Autowatch, I emailed the CEO on the 19th April detailing my experience (in very great detail, just like this review) and I was pleasantly surprised that the managing director Malcolm Reardon responded to me within less than 24 hours wanting to arrange a home visit for two of his technicians to come and inspect it (it was however very disappointing that his response was a short paragraph and didn't touch on anything else that I had emailed about).
Within a few days there were 2 technicians from Autowatch at my door and they took the keys and started to get to work. One of the most worrying things the technician first said though was "why do errors come up when you first start the ignition?", to which I replied that the technician said this would happen and that its normal. The Autowatch technicians looked mythed and told me there should be no errors. Great start.
After approximately 2-3 hours the technicians were finished and told me it wasn't a bad install (although they commented on the error messages at the beginning?) and that they've now changed how the Immobiliser works, and got rid of the error messages.
The technicians were provided with the crime reference number and a contact email address as they wanted to research more into the device the thieves used, to hopefully stop this from happening again (their own words).
I was told a report would be created and sent to the CEO and that I would need to communicate with the CEO going forward to resolve my unsatisfactory experience.
Now I was aware that Autowatch were attending a show at the NEC that week so I allowed some time for an email. A few days went by and no email.
I sent the CEO an email just politely reminding him that I'd like a follow up email from himself and I also expressed that its fine to take a few days due to being at the NEC.
Now, a few more days went past and this is when I start to get frustrated at the lack of communication since the visit. My last email was sent a couple of days ago and guess what? No response.
When my car was originally stolen I started a claim with my insurers but as it was found the next day, I cancelled the claim with my insurers and asked if this would affect my future insurance policies and if I would need to inform any future companies. I was told it would not affect anything as I technically didn't make a claim. That was fine by me.
This all happened 2 weeks before my renewal, so naturally once I had the car back in my possession I decided that I love my car too much and that I'm going to keep it and find some new insurance.
Hours spent calling around and I managed to secure insurance for another year. The next day I get a call from said insurance claiming that I've not told them about a claim? I said there is no claim? And they proceeded to tell me that there is a claim on the system which they can see. After explaining the situation to my insurers they said they'd speak with the underwriters and get back to me.
The following day the insurers got back to me and requested a letter from my previous insurance to confirm the claim was closed. I got them the proof and emailed it across and thought that was the end of it. No. It wasn't.
I had a call yesterday from the insurers telling me that the underwriters are now asking to cancel the policy due to the claim which I started (but never proceeded with). I was advised to cancel it myself sooner so it doesn't affect my insurance in the future.
So now to add to all of this, as of this Saturday, I no longer have insurance on my car and I have to shop around in hope that somebody will insure me for a similar price and hope that the claim (which was cancelled) will not affect me too much! If I can't get insured, I will be forced to sell the car. My dream car. Which I've only owned for 5 months.
As of today (Friday 3rd May) I am still waiting for some sort of communication from Autowatch or/and Trackershop.
I didn't want to make this review as I was hoping we could come to some sort of arrangement privately to compensate for everything I've had to endure, due to their failings, but sadly its not looking likely that I will get a response, and it seems as if they're just happy at ending it with their technicians inspecting and fiddling with the Immobiliser. If this is the case, it is a truly bizarre way of running a business which specialises in preventing car theft.
Financially, this whole ordeal has cost me a lot of money, I've lost many days of potential work and I'm also having to fork out a lot of money going forward with the house move. As well as replacing the stolen items and fixing the damages.
Mentally, I'm drained. My wife is drained. Sleepless nights constantly checking our cctv.
I understand this has been a very detailed review but even if I can help just one person, then it's a job well done from me.
Regards,
A very unhappy disgruntled and tired customer
Now it started back on the 5th March 2024 whilst watching a YouTube video from Mark McCann detailing how thieves are stealing high end vehicles with such ease. This video made me instantly purchase a Ghost Immobiliser directly from Trackershop LTD as I realised I needed to protect my pride and joy from these lowlife thieves. I obviously did some research on the Ghost Immobiliser but what really sold it for me was that when you Google "Can a Ghost Immobiliser be bypassed?" The first thing that comes up is: 'No. They work by preventing your engine from working unless an additional, unique pin number or code sequence is entered alongside your key fob.'
Fast forward to the 12th March and a guy arrived to install the Ghost II Immobiliser in my Kia Stinger. This was after me having to call Trackershop to find out where the technician was, as I hadn't had any communication on the morning (which I should have) to suggest when they would be arriving.
The guy finally arrived in a personal looking vehicle and had no signing on his vehicle. The guy took around 1 hour and was finished, although at the beginning he was adamant that it would take 3 hours (or there abouts).The technician showed me how to change the pin and so once he left, I proceeded to change the pin he set (4 digits) to a brand new pin (6 digits) that only I knew. To reiterate, nobody has access to my vehicle and nobody is told the pin.
On the 20th March 2024 I handed my vehicle over to a local body shop (Sutton Motor Bodies) for some repair work on a sil that was damaged by ATS Euromaster earlier in the month. I was taught how to place the car into "valet mode" and this is what I did (outside of the premises where nobody could see). I told the guy at the body shop that the car was in valet mode and that it'll drive a short distance for them to move it inside and outside of the body shop and that was that. 2 days later and I have the car back and I take it out of valet mode. The car hadn't been driven, not even one mile on the clock added from when I dropped it.
As the weeks went by the Ghost II Immobiliser was working fine, no issues at all, and I was feeling much better about leaving my car in the residential car park behind our house at night.
As me and my partner were settling down for bed on the 8th April 2024, we had a ring notification, and to our confusion it was our neighbour two doors down so we immediately answered it and asked her what was up. The neighbour proceeds to explain that she had just noticed 3 thugs walk past her house and moments later she heard my car wheel spinning away which in her own words, was uncharacteristic of me. The neighbour put 2 and 2 together and we were thankful that she alerted us right away.
After rushing downstairs and confirming that it was indeed my car that had been stolen and driven away, we immediately called the police who arrived within 10-15 minutes and they also provided a crime reference number once they left. The police officers were informed that the car had a Ghost as well as the keys being locked in a faraday box, and they were in disbelief that it had been stolen, especially with a Ghost Immobiliser fitted.
Once the police had left I felt that I couldn't sit around and I had to go searching for the vehicle so I used a second vehicle available to me and from around 10:30pm until approximately 2:30am I was searching every back street imaginable within a 5-10 mile radius, just in complete shock that my pride and joy had been stolen and driven away, even after spending so much money on a Ghost II Immobiliser.
After hours of searching and no luck I returned home to get very little sleep and the next morning I was back out again for hours trying to find my car.
Luckily, around 3pm the day after, we had a call from the police to say the car had been found in a multi story car park in Birmingham, along with another stolen performance car.
The police officers picked me up from my home address and took me to collect my car from the multi story car park. On the way to collect my Kia Stinger, the officers also caught one of the suspects returning to the multi story and managed to arrest the one guy. He was arrested in possession of mobile phones, balaclavas, bag of keys and a device which the police believe is how they managed to bypass the Ghost Immobiliser.
Upon arrival the car seemed fine but a few things stolen; Raybans (30th birthday present from my wife), Motorola MA1 android system, and a Samsung Super Fast Car Charger. The police also had to confiscate my number plates for finger prints which means I've also had to spend money replacing my number plates.
There was also signs of the thieves smoking in my car, and having never smoked in my life, this is possibly one of the worst things I can imagine and the smell was horrendous. There is also a small cigarette burn to the paintwork near the passenger mirror where one of the thieves were obviously smoking out of the window and the ash has dropped and damaged my paint.
I also noticed that when they ripped my number plates off (held by sticky pads) they had ripped them off with such velocity that they also took some of the paint with the plate. Yes, it's hidden by the plate, but I know the damage is there!
As well as this they'd also managed to slightly curb damage two of the front wheels which were freshly refurbished only a matter of weeks prior.
The car was taken from the multi story in Birmingham to a relatives address as I didn't feel comfortable taking it back home so soon. This resulted in the car being stored for 3 or 4 days whilst I decided what to do (debating selling it). Being self employed, this has cost me a lot in terms of loss of income, as I rely heavily on my vehicle for work use.
In the midst of all this, I had been in contact with the manager at Tracker Shop and each time I spoke with the woman, she was no real help and kept asking if anybody knew the pin (to which I had replied many of times that its impossible), and that Auto Watch are not able to do anything as they are not sure how it's happened.
The last communication I had with The Tracker Shop was over 3 weeks ago (which in itself is laughable), and the last suggestion from them was to refund my money, remove the Ghost and fit a free of charge tracker for me. The guy who I last spoke with said he would come back to me shortly after speaking with his manager, when I requested that they supplied me with a Scorpion tracker and Immobiliser instead of a refund.
Now since its been a few weeks since this call, I've lost any hope at all with this company and it now resulted in an email directly to the CEO of Autowatch. Which I typed during my honeymoon in Bruges by the way!
The emotional damage in which this has caused, we have been forced to put our house on the market as we don't feel safe in our own home. We have 2 young children and we can't risk living in our current home for much longer, knowing that thieves have targeted us and may return at any point.
The stress and worry was too much even whilst we were on our honeymoon, so much so that we had arranged all via email to have the house listed on the market whilst we were meant to be enjoying our honeymoon!
Going back to Mark McCann, I messaged him directly via Facebook and I knew the odds of him replying were short, but I thought he would be interested to know my story just incase he plans of revisiting the YouTube series he made regarding the car thieves and wanted to use some of my content (to which I'd happily approve now!).
To my surprise, Mark had read my message and reached out to me. Acknowledging what I had said and also making a very BOLD comment that he has heard similar stories before regarding the Ghost!
As you can also imagine, the Kia Stinger community have been all over my story and most of them also have Ghost II Immobilisers fitted and each and every person with a Kia Stinger that has a Ghost fitted is now unsure of the brand and unsure of the reliability, knowing that the system can be bypassed.
Going back to my email to Autowatch, I emailed the CEO on the 19th April detailing my experience (in very great detail, just like this review) and I was pleasantly surprised that the managing director Malcolm Reardon responded to me within less than 24 hours wanting to arrange a home visit for two of his technicians to come and inspect it (it was however very disappointing that his response was a short paragraph and didn't touch on anything else that I had emailed about).
Within a few days there were 2 technicians from Autowatch at my door and they took the keys and started to get to work. One of the most worrying things the technician first said though was "why do errors come up when you first start the ignition?", to which I replied that the technician said this would happen and that its normal. The Autowatch technicians looked mythed and told me there should be no errors. Great start.
After approximately 2-3 hours the technicians were finished and told me it wasn't a bad install (although they commented on the error messages at the beginning?) and that they've now changed how the Immobiliser works, and got rid of the error messages.
The technicians were provided with the crime reference number and a contact email address as they wanted to research more into the device the thieves used, to hopefully stop this from happening again (their own words).
I was told a report would be created and sent to the CEO and that I would need to communicate with the CEO going forward to resolve my unsatisfactory experience.
Now I was aware that Autowatch were attending a show at the NEC that week so I allowed some time for an email. A few days went by and no email.
I sent the CEO an email just politely reminding him that I'd like a follow up email from himself and I also expressed that its fine to take a few days due to being at the NEC.
Now, a few more days went past and this is when I start to get frustrated at the lack of communication since the visit. My last email was sent a couple of days ago and guess what? No response.
When my car was originally stolen I started a claim with my insurers but as it was found the next day, I cancelled the claim with my insurers and asked if this would affect my future insurance policies and if I would need to inform any future companies. I was told it would not affect anything as I technically didn't make a claim. That was fine by me.
This all happened 2 weeks before my renewal, so naturally once I had the car back in my possession I decided that I love my car too much and that I'm going to keep it and find some new insurance.
Hours spent calling around and I managed to secure insurance for another year. The next day I get a call from said insurance claiming that I've not told them about a claim? I said there is no claim? And they proceeded to tell me that there is a claim on the system which they can see. After explaining the situation to my insurers they said they'd speak with the underwriters and get back to me.
The following day the insurers got back to me and requested a letter from my previous insurance to confirm the claim was closed. I got them the proof and emailed it across and thought that was the end of it. No. It wasn't.
I had a call yesterday from the insurers telling me that the underwriters are now asking to cancel the policy due to the claim which I started (but never proceeded with). I was advised to cancel it myself sooner so it doesn't affect my insurance in the future.
So now to add to all of this, as of this Saturday, I no longer have insurance on my car and I have to shop around in hope that somebody will insure me for a similar price and hope that the claim (which was cancelled) will not affect me too much! If I can't get insured, I will be forced to sell the car. My dream car. Which I've only owned for 5 months.
As of today (Friday 3rd May) I am still waiting for some sort of communication from Autowatch or/and Trackershop.
I didn't want to make this review as I was hoping we could come to some sort of arrangement privately to compensate for everything I've had to endure, due to their failings, but sadly its not looking likely that I will get a response, and it seems as if they're just happy at ending it with their technicians inspecting and fiddling with the Immobiliser. If this is the case, it is a truly bizarre way of running a business which specialises in preventing car theft.
Financially, this whole ordeal has cost me a lot of money, I've lost many days of potential work and I'm also having to fork out a lot of money going forward with the house move. As well as replacing the stolen items and fixing the damages.
Mentally, I'm drained. My wife is drained. Sleepless nights constantly checking our cctv.
I understand this has been a very detailed review but even if I can help just one person, then it's a job well done from me.
Regards,
A very unhappy disgruntled and tired customer
