In my entire life, I've only written ONE complaint letter to a corporation -- it was a time when I felt the service I received was SO bad, I thought that if this was my company, I would want someone to tell me this was going on.

It's time to write my second.... To Porsche... The dealer in Salt Lake City is AWFUL!!!!!!!

I'm a new Boxster owner... Yeah, I didn't buy a brand new Porsche.. I bought a 2002.... I wanted the nicest one I could get without needing a loan. (I refuse to be in debt for a car). Found a sweet deal on an '02 Boxster S with 23k miles and it's my new baby. =)

ANYWAY... made my first appointment with the dealer. They scheduled me for a week out. Here's how it went.

1) I decided to do some research before calling the dealer. There are TWO dealers in Utah. (Salt Lake City, and another in Orem). The reviews online on Dave Strong Porsche in Salt Lake City are TERRIBLE... NOBODY likes them. I figured it must be people with expectations that are too high because.. come on.. it's a PORSCHE dealer. Audi, BMW, Acura, Mercedes.... they all bend over backwards when you walk in. Why would a Porsche dealer be any different? I made the mistake of going with them anyway.

2) They said they were a week out before they could get my car in. I said that was fine and scheduled the appointment. They estimated the total time required to take care of the things I needed done to be about 2 hours. (Things needing to be done: Oil change, recall work on seatbelt receptacle for airbag light, and installation of the child-seat airbag deactivation kit).

3) They asked if I would need a ride. I said no, but I would like a loaner car. They indicated this would be NO problem.

4) The NEXT day they called me again and said they had lost the paperwork for my request and wanted to know what day I had made it, and wanted (again) the list of things I needed done. Once again, I indicated I would be needing a loaner, and once again, they said this would be no problem.

5) The day before the appointment (yesterday) they contacted me to confirm my appointment. They again said I would be there for about 2 hours and asked if I would need a ride. I said "Uh.. I was told I would have a loaner.". They said "We don't have that written anywhere, but I'll try to find one for you. Please assume we have a loaner for you unless you hear otherwise from us.". I never heard back, and assumed I had a loaner.

6) I showed up today to get the work done exactly on time and waited FIFTEEN MINUTES for someone to help me upon arrival.

7) Jason finally came out and looked over the work request and said it would be "about 6 hours". I about fell over. He said there was NO WAY I was told it would only take 2 hours. (Was he calling me a liar?). He said "the oil change alone will take about an hour and a half."

8) I asked him about one additional item I hadn't put on the original work request.... My speedometer is way off (as much as 7mph, depending on how fast I'm going). He said he'd heard of this before, but there was absolutely nothing that could be done to fix it. In my experience, "there's nothing we can do about that." is not in the vocabulary of ANY service-oriented company... Especially when your typical customer's have very deep pockets.

9) I relented on the amount of time (the dealership is an hour away from me, and I'd had this appointment for a week... I wasn't about to try and re-schedule).

10) "Jason" said 'Would you like a ride somewhere?'... To which I responded.. "I was told I would have a loaner".... He said "I'm sorry, we don't have a loaner for you."..... Argh.. I don't have the energy to fight with people like this, so I pulled out my cell phone and made my own arrangements.

11) One of the items I was having done was the recall work on the seatbelt receptacle that made the airbag light come on. "Jason" indicated he had never heard of this and thought I must be mistaken. However, based on research I've done, this is a ridiculously common problem with the older Boxsters. He seemed bewildered and confused and said he'd never heard of it.

12) "Jason" indicated the oil change would cost $290. I have no idea if this is right or not. It does seem a bit steep for an oil change. Maybe others can chime in if this is in the ballpark. (If it is, fine.)

13) 6 hours later (now 5pm, closing time), they called me to tell me the work was still not done. They needed another 2 hours, and asked if I could wait until tomorrow.

...... So, I managed to get myself home... and I guess I'll go get my car tomorrow. (I hope?)... But this hardly feels like the kind of service a luxury dealer ought to be providing. Maybe my expectations are just too high. =)

Thoughts?

Who at Porsche would I write to in order to make sure they are aware of this?

 

I would call the generlal manager of the dealership to voice your concerns
let the GM know what your experience has been and try to come to some sort of solution that will make you both happy .
try not to over-react IMO
also let him or her know you are an active member on Porsche forums .

 

Tell him you will flip a sh*t on all the forums if you don't get what you want... ask for half price too!

 

I can promise you this is completely unhelpful. Personally I consider it blackmail. Plus 99% of the time the forums hear the bad time anyway and they know this. You will definitely not get any help, whatever that would have been, trying this approach.

Just my $0.02

Jim

 

read your statement on number 1. It's like I'm going to have sex with a girl that I know has herpes and then complain after I get herpes...
For recalls and TSB's find info online, print it and bring it to the dealer. $290 for an oil change at the stealership sounds about right. Learn how to do your own, is not that difficult... I hope it works out for you...
joel

 

Write a calm, rational message/email (like your post) that documents the facts and send it to Service Manager, GM and cc PCNA. Leave emotion out of it and be respectful. Not sure I'd add anything regarding 'forums' as that would be borderline 'threat'.

It will then be up to dealer to respond or lose your business.

 

i agree w/ wjohnson36.... and, sorry to say JoelPirela... you knew the deal before hand.

 

Def contact the GM and voice your concerns. If he gives you the cold shoulder let him know your a active forum member and will be documenting and posting your experience for the world to know. Its not blackmail its life.

 

Do this or I'll do that is coercion at best, blackmail at the worst. At least that's my rule in life. When people do that at my business, my cooperation level drops to "must do", not "want to do" levels and we delete user accounts and block IPs. That is the practice in a lot of this industry. Do what you want. But when that's the opening gambit with companies, you will find the atmosphere distinctly chilly. But do what works for you.

I am sure lots of people will find this to be amazingly harsh. But I have my rules of conduct and I live by them. I would NEVER do this to anyone else. If I don't like a service or a product, I put it in a box, send it back to them and if I don't get a refund in 30 days or less I do a chargeback.

Jim

 

Sometimes you have to chalk it up to bad experience and learn there was a reason for the bad reviews. From experience I don;t think you will get anywhere with the dealership. If you bought a brand new 911 GTS "maybe" they would accommodate you more but not a pre-owned Boxster which I'm not knocking because that's what I have and love it.
As for the cost of the service, run don't walk and find yourself a good independent mechanic. $290 for an oil change is about the highest I've ever heard as I pay my independent $120 for filter and Motul oil which is top of the class synthetic.

 

I can assure you there are at least one guy from each Porsche stealer is a member here that's lurking around. I'd say blast it here on the forum if you have a bad experience with them and soon more will step up and voice their experience too. At least, IMO, other dealers will step up to the plate and deliver better service than the stealership down the street.

 

Jim,
I understand where your coming from,mostly. That said if the GM of a dealership shows no concern for his own employees faults and does nothing to correct the situation wouldn't you like to know these facts before you brought your car in for service at that dealership ? I am not saying the OP should threaten the GM with a thread filled with slander just simple facts and dates of events. This should be used as a LAST resort and not a opening gambit. GL

 

I'm torn over the whole thing.

The OP absolutely HAD THE INFORMATION FROM THE GET GO. He did his research and still pulled the trigger. Ummmm????

Now on to the contacting the dealer thing.....

The dealership is probably aware of the situation. If they aren't, there are bigger issues than you will fix with a letter or call. Its my experience in life and at my own businesses (I own 3) that the fish rots from the head as the old saying goes. This doesn't mean the dealer actually wants to have a bad service operation. Its possible that he doesn't have the skill set to make it right. Its also possible the bad actors in the operation are family and he can't fix it without some major family politics.

Personally I handle these things through the person most motivated to solve my problem. The car salesman. He wants you back again and even the most disinterested of them have some customer skills and can drive the service department.

Finally, my problem with threats has nothing at all to do with the dealer. They are going to do what they are going to do. My problem with them is the changes it makes in the person using the threats. People that do this are going to change and its not pretty. Take my word for it.

But really, the OP KNEW this was a crap dealer and still went ahead. There's enough to shake your head at here on all sides. If you want to make the dealer take notice of his problems, take your business elsewhere. Profit focus' the mind of a business person like nothing else.

Jim

 

Speak with your pocketbook, and find an independent shop. I find that rates, service, wait times, and overall experience to be much better in most cases.

A 2002 Porsche should be out of warranty and CPO, so I don't really see any advantage to a dealership doing the work (with the exception of the recall service.)

 

Any business owner who isn't interested in hearing and solving my complaints is also not very interested in my $$$. Chiding the OP after he already admits he made a mistake by going to Dave Strong Porsche is not helpful ... why not try to be part of the solution instead?

My local Porsche dealer treats me right and in return I have purchased both my last two new Porsches from them. Oil and filter service is $160 and always includes a free loaner. I hope anyone who pays a Porsche dealer $290 for this service is getting kissed too ...

Congrats on your 'new to you' Boxster. Hope you have better luck in the future!