Poor experience with Nissan Cyprus (Pilakoutas Group)
This review outlines my experience of Pilakoutas Group who are the representatives of Nissan in Cyprus. Any emails I sent to Nissan Cyprus were routed directly Pilakoutas Group.
My experience with Pilakoutas Group during the Takata airbag recall was, without question, the worst customer service experience I have ever had.
To be clear, I am not blaming Pilakoutas for the worldwide shortage of replacement airbags. I understand that parts supply was ultimately a Nissan issue. My complaint is about the way Pilakoutas handled my case from start to finish.
Communication was consistently poor. Emails went unanswered for weeks at a time, despite me repeatedly asking for updates. When I did receive replies, the information was often vague, contradictory or simply overtaken by events without anyone bothering to tell me. I specifically asked many time how to make a complaint and was ghosted.
At one stage I was told that the factory had no stock and that I might have to wait until April or even longer. After receiving no response to my last two emails, I telephoned Maria in Nicosia to ask why I was being ignored. During that call she discovered that the replacement airbag had already been delivered to the Paphos branch. Nobody from Paphos had contacted me. Had I not made that phone call myself, I genuinely wonder how much longer I would have been left waiting while my car sat unnecessarily off the road.
Because of this recall my car failed its MOT, could not be taxed and was effectively unusable for months. Throughout that period I had to rely on hire cars and repeatedly chase Pilakoutas for information instead of Pilakoutas keeping me informed.
The day of the repair perfectly summed up my experience.
I delivered the car at 8:00 am and was told I would receive a phone call in the afternoon when it was ready. By 3:00 pm I had heard nothing, so I phoned Fotis myself. He told me the car was ready for collection. I immediately paid for a taxi and travelled to the dealership.
When I arrived, I was told the car was not ready after all and would be another twenty minutes. While waiting, I then watched my own car being driven into the workshop, strongly suggesting the work had only just started.
After waiting again, I challenged Fotis and asked him a very simple question: when he told me at 3:00 pm that the car was ready, was it actually ready? Instead of apologising for wasting my time and money, he claimed that he had told me on the phone that the car would be ready at 4:30 pm. That is simply not true. Had he told me 4:30 pm, I would never have taken a taxi immediately. Rather than admitting an obvious mistake, he attempted to rewrite the conversation.
Eventually the paperwork arrived from the workshop. Fotis ran across the room, grabbed it from his colleagues, ran back to his desk and threw my car keys down in front of me before stamping my recall certificate.
In my opinion, Fotis is the rudest and most incompetent person I have ever encountered in a customer service role. I personally would not employ someone who told lies and lacked integrity. That is not a statement I make lightly. It is based on months of poor communication, contradictory information, ignored correspondence, and finally the way I was treated on the day my vehicle was repaired. A simple apology at several points during this process would have gone a long way. Instead, every interaction felt defensive, dismissive and sometimes dishonest.
The recall itself has now been completed, and for that I am grateful. However, completing the repair does not excuse the way customers are treated while waiting for it. The lack of communication, ignored emails, misinformation, unnecessary taxi fares, wasted time and poor attitude turned what should have been a straightforward recall into a months-long ordeal.
I sincerely hope Pilakoutas Group reviews the way it manages customer communication during recalls, because no customer should have to fight this hard simply to find out what is happening with their own car.
In addition, Nissan may want to consider whether they want Pilakoutas Group representing their brand in Cyprus.