A Florida couple says their new van developed serious issues almost immediately after purchase. They claim the dealership's general manager retaliated after they left a one-star Google review.
Tiffany and Robert Maillet purchased a van from Nissan of Cape Coral. They say it had a faulty transmission and they struggled to get help from the dealership.
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Tiffany posted a negative review on Google detailing their experience.
Instead of resolving the issue, she says General Manager Blake Varnadoe retaliated by posting negative reviews of the couple's upholstery business and encouraging others to do the same.
In a TikTok video viewed about 1.4 million times, Tiffany said, "Not only does he come attacking my business, he's sending his friends to attack my business as well.
They're coming after our livelihood."
Apologies Issued
Following the backlash, Nissan of Cape Coral's parent company, Krause Auto Group, issued a formal statement.
It acknowledged "an inappropriate online response by a member of dealership management to a customer's review."
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The company said it had personally contacted the customer to apologize, was taking "appropriate corrective action," and would reinforce professional-conduct training across the organization.
It did not specify disciplinary action against Varnadoe.
Varnadoe also apologized on the dealer's Facebook page, saying, "I accept responsibility for the embarrassment and disruption my actions caused.
I will use my time away from the dealership to complete professional conduct training."
The dealership's Google listing, Yelp rating, and social media pages were flooded with negative comments after the video went viral.
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The Maillets urged viewers not to retaliate against other employees.
