Nissan Dealer Apologizes after Attacking Back Bad Consumer Reviews

JAKARTA - A Nissan dealer in Florida, United States, has come under fire after allegedly retaliating against negative reviews from customers by attacking the customer's business. The incident that went viral on social media finally forced the dealer and Nissan to apologize publicly.

Launching from Carscoops, Monday, July 27, married couple Tiffany and Robert Maillet admitted to having an unpleasant experience after buying a van at Nissan of Cape Coral. According to them, the vehicle almost immediately experienced serious problems, including alleged damage to the transmission system.

Because he felt that he did not receive satisfactory treatment from the dealer, Tiffany then wrote a negative review on Google describing his experience. However, the problem did not stop there.

Tiffany revealed that the response from the dealer actually affected her family's livelihood. In a TikTok video that was watched about 1.4 million times before it was finally deleted, he accused Nissan of Cape Coral General Manager Blake Varnadoe of responding by giving a negative review of his family's car upholstery business, even inviting others to do the same.

"He's not only attacking my business, he's sending his friends to attack my business. They're targeting our livelihoods," Tiffany said in the video.

The controversy triggered a wave of criticism from the public. Following widespread criticism, Nissan's parent company of Cape Coral, Krause Auto Group, released an official statement acknowledging inappropriate online responses by dealer management members to customer reviews.

The company stated that it had contacted customers directly to apologize. In addition, Krause Auto Group also admitted that it was taking the right corrective action, and would strengthen training on professional behavior for all its ranks.

In the statement, the company confirmed that the response did not reflect our values or the professional standards we expect from our team. However, Krause Auto Group did not reveal in detail the form of sanctions imposed on Blake Varnadoe.

Until now, he is said to still work at the company and it is not known whether he has received formal disciplinary action. Krause Auto Group also confirmed its commitment to improving the situation.

The company said it remained committed to accountability, learning from this experience, and upholding the standards our customers, employees, and communities expect from us. Meanwhile, Varnadoe also apologized through the dealer's official Facebook page.

"I accept responsibility for the embarrassment and disruption caused by my actions. I will use my time outside the dealership to complete professional behavior training, reflect on my decision, and ensure this behavior never happens again," he wrote.

Ironically, after Tiffany's video went viral, Nissan of Cape Coral experienced something similar to what the Maillet family had previously experienced. The Google, Yelp, and social media pages of the dealer were flooded with negative reviews and comments from netizens. However, the Maillet family still appealed to the public not to vent their anger on other dealer employees who were not involved in the incident.