Woman Leaves 1-Star Review For Nissan Dealership. Then The General Manager Fights Back

A Fort Myers, Florida upholsterer is alleging that the general manager of Nissan of Cape Coral is bullying her. He’s leaving negative reviews on Google about her small business, RT Upholstery. This, purportedly, after she and her husband were unhappy with a recent purchase.

TikToker Tiffany Maillet (@sewtiffany) and her husband Robert say they purchased a Nissan van. After getting it home, Maillet says they discovered the vehicle needed many repairs; including a new transmission. 

“I Do Not Recommend This Business”

In a video that’s gone viral with over 1.2 million views, Maillet explained what happened after she and Robert purchased the Nissan van.

“My husband and I have built our company from the ground up,” she said.

“We pour our entire lives into our business. We’re a small little place, an upholstery shop and we made the mistake of buying a vehicle from Nissan of Cape Coral,” she added. 

She says that since the day she and her husband took the vehicle home, it’s had nothing but problems and they documented all of them. And “long story short,” she said, “Nissan was not capable of taking care of them.”

So she and her husband left a one-star review for Nissan of Cape Coral, she said, along with a description of their experience that Maillet described as "factual." She continued, “I do not recommend this business.” 

Business Inundated With Negative Reviews

The couple alleges that what happened next is a kind of Mean Girls harassment campaign

“After my one review, Blake Taylor, the general manager of Nissan of Cape Coral, comes attacking my business,” Maillet said.

She further accused Taylor of sending his friends to leave negative reviews for their business. She held her phone up to the camera. You can see the name Blake Taylor visible on screen above a review. A part of the review purportedly from Taylor reads: “both husband and wife will lie to you to play victim.” 

After doing some research, Maillet said she found an image of the man she believes to be the manager of the dealership who is posting negative reviews of her upholstery business 

Currently, Nissan of Cape Coral has over 1,900 positive reviews on their site. RT Upholstery has, per Maillet, 18.

“Lemme Go Get to Work”

People who commented on Maillet’s post were united in their response. Several people alleged other negative experiences involving Nissan of Cape Coral. Many vowed to right what they see as a wrong.

“Dont’ worry dear,” wrote Nerd Burglar, “I have over 30,000 reviews on Google. And so when I post, it carries weight, I’m a platinum Google review member, and I left a little story for you.” 

While “platinum Google review member” doesn’t exist, it is possible the user may be talking about being a Google product expert, which does have a platinum level.

Another user chimed in, “I forgot, I got like 200,000 views…lemme go get to work,” said Chefpaige. 

Ky.morgann asked, “So we all going to leave bad reviews on Nissan or????” 

Maillet appreciated the support but urged people not to leave the dealership negative reviews.

“Please do not leave bad reviews on their Google listing on my behalf. What they did to us is wrong, let’s not be like them,” she wrote in the TikTok’s caption.

Nissan Of Cape Coral Responds

The public pressure seemed to work. In a Facebook post dated July 19, the dealership wrote that an employee’s response was “inappropriate” did “not reflect the values or professional standards” they expect from their team. Without naming the Maillets, they wrote that they reached out to the customer to apologize “and are taking appropriate corrective action.”

“As a family-owned business, we believe every customer deserves to be treated with honesty, kindness, and respect. We also value the small businesses that contribute so much to the strength and character of the communities we serve,” the company continued.

“We are addressing this matter seriously and remain committed to accountability, learning from this experience, and upholding the standards our customers, employees, and communities expect from us.”

Photo by: Motor1.com

In a second post on the dealership’s Facebook page, a person identified as Blake Varnadoe, the general manager of the dealership, also apologizes to unnamed customers.

“I want to sincerely apologize to Krause Auto Group, the dealership, my fellow employees and my customers for my conduct. My actions were unprofessional, reflected poor judgment and did not represent the values or standards of this organization,” the post attributed to Varnadoe says. “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, reflect on my decisions and ensure this behavior is never repeated.”

In a subsequent video that did not address Nissan of Cape Coral’s public apology, Robert Maillet posed a question. He asked: “What if my wife didn’t make a TikTok video? What if she made a TikTok video but didn’t have 150,000 followers? Blake would’ve gotten more of his employees and more of his friends to give negative reviews on my business. We would have had no support and would have had no means to defend ourselves. Where would we be?”

Motor1 reached out to Maillet and her husband via their website’s contact form, and via TikTok direct message. We reached out to Nissan of Cape Coral via their contact form. Motor1 got busy signals at multiple phone numbers listed for the dealership. We will update this if either responds.