I purchased a product from BL4CKOUT…
I purchased a product from BL4CKOUT Plates around a year ago when I owned my BMW M340i. I had a professional installer try to install it, but he was unable to get it working and believed there was an issue with the connector. I contacted the company and went through troubleshooting with them, but ultimately the product still did not work for me. I returned it and eventually received a refund.
What bothered me much more happened afterward.
Some time later, I started noticing BL4CKOUT Plates using my actual license plate in advertisements on their Instagram. These weren’t just numbers that happened to look similar — they were my real plate numbers from my car. At different points I had both a regular plate and a custom plate, and I saw both being used in their promotional/testing content.
From what I could see in the videos, it appeared as though they had physical versions of my plates in their possession and were using them while demonstrating their products. I never gave them permission to use my plate numbers for advertising or promotional purposes.
I contacted them and specifically asked them to stop using my license plates.
Regardless of what the exact law is surrounding this, it made me extremely uncomfortable from a privacy and security standpoint. A real license plate is connected to an actual vehicle and owner, and I don’t think a customer’s plate information should be used publicly in advertisements without their knowledge or consent. Seeing my real plate displayed to potentially thousands of people was honestly disturbing.
The original product issue and refund were one thing, and I could have moved past that. But using my real license plate information afterward without asking me is what completely changed my opinion of the company.
I’m sharing this because it was my genuine experience as a customer, and I think people should be aware of it before purchasing.