After owning Lexus for the past 9 years... it was quite a shock to experience Porsche's idea of what good service is. I'm spending TWICE as much on a vehicle and getting service that is equivalent or worse than I've received from Chevrolet. I've seen similar complaints, and I wonder how in the hell Porsche can get away with treating customers like this. I'll tell you how they do it; we let them. Porsche needs to have some feedback in order to fix the problem, and I'm giving them some. Pissing in the wind? Tilting at windmills? Perhaps... but if I can get EXCEPTIONAL service from the Japanese... I can get it from the Germans.

Here's an example from Scottsdale Porsche in Arizona which contrasts bad service from Porsche vs good service from Lexus:

BAD SERVICE

I take my Porsche in on the first workday after I picked it up (purchased on a Saturday and brought in on a Monday) to have a few small imperfections that I found over the weekend fixed.

The steering wheel leather had a scratch in it, as did the dash and the chin spoiler had a scratch on the underside.

When I went to my service advisor, he basically (in fact, he flatly) accused me of causing the damage. I COULDN'T believe it... he actually told me that they would have to charge me for the repairs. I told him to skip the chin spoiler since it was on the underside and that I WOULD NOT pay for the leather damage and they WOULD fix it. My service advisor finally noticed that I was getting pissed, and agreed to fix the leather damage at no charge.

Next day, I called the dealership and changed service advisors from Mark to Jaime.

I've had yet to have any other problems that have required much interaction but my first experience sure left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Now... since I'm giving an example of bad service, I'll include an example of a similar situation from Lexus.

GOOD SERVICE:

I take my LX470 in about two weeks after I purchased it and I tell my service advisor that I accidentally left my radio antenna extended and hit the garage door with it on the way into the garage. I ask him if they can replace it.... so he writes it up and I hop into my loaner Lexus and off I go.

I come back in the evening and the car is fixed... I go to pick up the keys and pay for the charge and guess what? NO CHARGE.... I CAUSED the damage and they STILL didn't charge me.

Quite a difference eh?

My Porsche service advisor flatly accuses me of causing damage and wants me to pay for damage they caused (or someone did during a testdrive) and my Lexus service advisor doesn't even charge me for damage I caused.

Here's another example (Porsche... are you reading this?) of bad service vs good service.

BAD SERVICE:

When I received the bad treatment from my Porsche service advisor... I contacted Porsche via the web AND provided written feedback via their quality survey on both the web AND from their written survey that I received. I told them in very verbose terms what happened and how it made me feel.

I heard ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from Porsche... no letter, no call, nothing!


GOOD SERVICE:

I take my Lexus LX470 in because one of the rear seats won't latch properly. I pick it up... it works for a week and then I get the same problem. I take it back, they fix it... it works for two days and then I get the same problem. I take it back, they work on it a couple of days, I pick it up and it doesn't even work when we try it out at the dealership.

I write Lexus corporate a letter and tell them that I am dissappointed in the quality of the rear seat, and I give them the details of why I am not happy. I feel better that I at least I gave them some feedback.

A month later, I get a call. Mr. West... I'm so and so from Lexus USA and I understand that you're having a problem with your LX-470.
If you wouldn't mind Mr. West, we'd like you to take your 2000 Lexus LX-470 back to Scottsdale Lexus and exchange it for a brand new 2002 Lexus LX-470... and oh, by the way... there will be no charge whatsoever for the upgrade to a two year newer vehicle.

HA! Now There's GREAT customer service.

Porsche... take a lesson or two from Lexus and figure out how to do things right...

Perhaps if enough of us complain rather than accept bad service, Porsche may change... and if not; the word will certainly get out.

Oh... and by the way... I do believe that there are *some* good Porsche dealerships out there... but you really have to DIG to find them... whereas with Lexus... I never... NOT ONCE got bad service from ANY dealership.


Porsche; Our motto is pay more, expect less.


Kind Regards,

Joe West

 

Joe, so far I am in large agreement with your disappointment with Porsche. I will have a long story to tell, including legal maneuvers, but I can't talk yet. Hopefully within a week or so.

 

It's all about the particular dealership, we had a lexus in our family and had a run in w/ a horrible dealership, same can be said w/ our MBZ, once we found the right dealer though we finally expereinced this great lexus support we've heard so much about.


I've had a few acura dealers bend over backwards to help me. (My tranny blew about 10K after warranty and the first dealer I went to said the charge was gonna be around 5K). So I went to a dealer a little further away that I have had good experiences w/ in the past. They fought Acura for me and got Acura to foot the WHOLE bill!!!

 

Lexus is great, my lexus dealer's service deparment is open untill midnight every day, now that is service!

 

It really depends on the dealership. I personally think that Lexus Service is the best by far. I have a 99GS400, 02LX470, 04SC430 and have received the best service you can imagine on all vehicles.

On another note I don't think that it's fair to say that Porsche Service in general is bad. It really depends on the dealership itself. That's at least the situation in my case. I feel for you situation and hope that they make up for your terrible experience.

 

i beleive that it more of a dealer to dealer thing,over allof pcna, when i had probelms with mckenna porsche in downey, ca porsche of northa america, helped me out dearly. mckenna was trying ot sell me aporsche that ti did not order, and tried to passit out as if it was the car that i ordered. I ordered a lapis blue 996 and they told me that someone made a mistake at the factory and painted my car black.. but all the options i ordered were still the same. But after closer inspetcion the car had different options than the one i ordered.. Porsche of NA was very helpful.. with my situation....

I take my car now to Pacific Porsche in torrance, ca .. what a great delaership, they will fix anything in my car under waranty of course, they have the best customer service so far.... nothing beats them they are tops in my book..


when my brother bought his 03 996 the car caem with a bad transmission. after porsche of north america replaced the new transmission for free. they even paid my brother first payment for car too service has been great for us..

what i have noticed is that there are good number of unscroupolous dealerships out there.. just try diff. dealerships out.. nad i do hope u get one u like and one that treat you right.

 

Joe....if this ticks you off, DON'T BUY A BMW. Their service, by and large, is even worse! Honestly, if I have one more BMW service advisor talk to me like he is doing me a favor servicing my cars, that'll do it for my BMW ownership. Between the slipshod 745LI that BMW is in the process of buying back from me, to my 850Ci which no local CT dealer has even seen, let alone serviced .....I have had it.

Conversely, I have always been pleased with the servicing for my P-Cars. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that I call my salesman to schedule any appointments, and he picks up the car himself whenever something needs to be done......thus eliminating the generally incompetent and inarticulate service advisor from the equation.

At the end of the day, the poor service we experience has to do with the manufacturer's inability to control their agents, i.e. dealerships. Until these German auto manufacturers develop a solid system of controls for gathering customer satisfaction information, the situation will perpetuate. Dealers know their way around the current systems all too well. On occasions when I have a particularly bad experience, apparently no info about the job is sent to the MFG as I never received follow-up call or letter....they only seem to come when the experience is average or 'just a little bit bad.' This has happened to me with multiple dealerships and brands.....

 

Bummer on the crappy Porsche service. So far I have had good experience with Brumos Porsche in Jacksonville. I had some major paint oxidation on my tail on delivery. I took it back in three months after delivery and they re-painted the rear tail, front spoiler, and buffed out some minor blemishes on the roof at no charge.

The only bad part was when I asked them to remove the "Carrera" insiginia off the rear lid and replace it with a "911" the scratched the hell our of the paint removing the old. So they said, keep the Cayanne S loaner you've been driving and we will get it taken care of. The next day I arrived and everything was fine.

So we will see what happens with my Rear Main Seal warranty work I will be getting the first of the year.

 

man i wish they had a cayene loaner at my delaer they give out boxsters for rental, i really want to drive one for a few days to see how a cayenne drives, me and the wife want to buy the cayenne 6 cyliner when it comes out..

 

barebones...you guys actually get some kind of loaner??? I don't get anything...enterprise rent-a-car for a 100k car.

 

So far Brumos Porsche has been really great!

 

if we blame Porsche for poor service ... can't we blame Lexus/MBZ/Chevy/etc for making cars with no personality and road feel? ... we trade Lexus-type service for having awesome driving cars ... seems to be a fair trade to me.

 

Porsche service at the dealer we use is great, Mercedes Benz is a whole other story, they are clueless.

 

Ruiner... Are you refering to Dealer #1??? I actually bought my car from the dealership I service it at...and I still get Enterprise Rent-a-Car... But I must say, one complaint to the sales department usually gets me into something better...

 

I agree to a certain extent...I think there are some super-Porsche service departments, and PCNA should model their NOT so customer friendly departments after them...I mean, come on...if Lexus can do it, are you saying a Porsche can't!!! They have great mechanical exchange policies when things fail...but hey, you guys are now making good money with the Cayenne...lot of Porsche owners are buying those to help Porsche out (complaining "we aren't making enough money...)...If I'm going to buy one, I expect better service for the tiny problems that my service advisor claims isn't covered (cosmetic defects and rattles)...Don't give me that "this is a true sports car" bull****!

Sorry for the rant...but sometimes this issue really bothers me when problems with my car arise and I don't get the service I deserve.