I am not sure how I should react to what happened today at my local dealership...here is the story. This may be a little long, but opinions would be appreciated.

(1) I call them to schedule a service appointment. They ask me what I am looking to have done and I tell them I want (i) them to work on the trunk "clunk" and a resulting loud vibration from the area; (ii) fix whatever makes my car pull slightly to the right; and (iii) fix the black ground effect in front of the rear wheel on the driver's side that somehow became unattached, honestly I am not sure if I hit something on the road or in the cold the piece warped some and popped off a little.

(2) The service appointment is made for this (Friday) morning and when I bring my car in they ask me again what I want them to look at/do. I tell them the above again.

(3) They call me about 2 hours before closing and say (i) that they did not see anything wrong with the ground effect (I explain to them again the problem and that I want it fixed); and (ii) that the car does seem to pull slightly to the right, but that is normal enough to not warrant a fix; and (iii) that they are done with the trunk "clunk." They then say they will look at the body piece again and I can come pick up my car right before closing.

(4) I get to the dealership right before closing and go to pick up my car. On the walk around I notice the piece by the rear driver's side tire, while now connected everywhere, does not fit flush with the car like how it is supposed to and how the piece on the other side does. I ask about this and they tell me they, "reattached the piece the best they could." To which I say it is not fixed. They then tell me they could order a new piece but that would cost me some $$. To which I am thinking, ok, I said I wanted it fixed, paying some $ to fix things is no problem. Don't service places typically call you and give you a quote for how much work will cost and then ask you to approve the work?

Ok, how here are my problems with how things went down. First, I told them from the outset I wanted the ground effect problem fixed. If, after looking at it, they determined ordering a new piece was an option they should have called me and given me that option before I came to pick up my car. A call saything something like, well, we can either _____ or we could order a new piece, which would cost $X....something like that. Second, the car pulls a little to the right and they said this is normal enough to not bother fixing? Is that right? Does anyone else have this problem or should I put my foot down with my dealer?

Maybe I am taking things the wrong way, but this is not how I thought my Porsche service experience would go...

Whew, rant over...

I don't think you're taking it the wrong way so much, but you're definitely making a mountain out of a molehill.

Chill out. Call the dealer, tell them what you want. What's with all the drama? It's not like they're telling you to go stuff it or anything.

I can say i have driven my car extremely fast.. and never noticed any pull. and if the car pulls the right there is no doubt going to be premature wear on the tires... are they going to pay for that? The alignment must be dead on for a car designed to go over 100mph on a daily basis....

If i were you the first thing i would do is speek w/ the supervisor. If they do not fix it, you can do something like appeal to the regional manager... then from there you can appeal to porsche of north amerca... etc. (The actual process for problems like this is outlined in that warranty info they gave you in the little booklet, should be stored right next to the owners manual, i have read it). As far as the car not being aligned.... wtf? are they kidding? (but thats just my opinion). It is definitelly not normal for the car to pull to right at all! My experience w/ everything in life has been ... keep going up the chain of command until someone says yes... I know that sounds bad, but damnit it works.

I absolutely think you should put your foot down.

Reattached the best they could? omg.... thats friken ridiculous. "I am sorry.. i sticthed you up the best i could, if it bleeds just try not to think about it?" You either fix it or you dont, there isnt a "we sort of fixed it".

Wow.... just thinking about it makes me angry. I think you have every right to be upset. Especially since they already did work on the car, and i would expect there to be paint scraping if you hit something.

Follow the procedures to escalate the issue as detailed in the manual. When I bought my car, my dealer pleaded with me to give them every opportunity to fix an issue before I worked my way up the ladder. My guess is that PCNA will not find their behavior acceptable.

It sounds to me they clearly screwed up on the body part repair. When they called you and said nothing was wrong, they had basically punted on it, and then tried a half-assed fix... when you took the car in this morning, did you actually show the service writer what was wrong with the body part? - and I mean bend down and show him where it was coming off? If so, it's his responsibility to get it fixed or call you with some alternatives, and if it was something not covered under warranty (like you hit something) then that's what they should tell you. If the service writer didn't come out of his office to look at the offending body part, then he should be seriously admonished by his supervisor, if you ask me.

On the car pulling to the right, that's a tough call without being able to see how much it is pulling, but if it's enough to notice and it bugs you, they should at least figure out what's making it do that. If it's the alignment (which is also not covered under warranty) they should inform you of your options - one of which of course is to do nothing, or get an alignment done. If it's not the alignment, then they should figure it out. The car shouldn't pull in any direction. Again, alignment is not covered in warranty - you can hit a pothole and throw the front end out of alignment... but then again, there might be something wrong with the front suspension, that is covered unser warranty. The point is, they have to figure it out rather than punt it back to you.

At this point, you have several choices - if you live in a place where there's more than one dealer, you can take it someplace else and see if they can do better. If you have to deal with the same dealer, I would call the service manager and complain. The half assed fix, there's no excuse for that - any fix should look just like the one on the other side. Again if the service writer didn't physically look at it, then the manager should know that, too. On the pulling, tell him you're just not satisfied with such a nebulous answer. Ask him just what is the allowable amount of pulling before they'll look into it, and what can't they find out what's doing it.

There's clearly some communication problems going on here, and you should express you dissatisfaction to the Service Manger, and give them a chance to make it right, if possible... or, take it to another dealer. Be nice, but firm. Remember, everyone has bad days at work, even you and me. It sucks when somebody's bad day at work is at your expense, but it happens.

brad

(4) I get to the dealership right before closing and go to pick up my car. On the walk around I notice the piece by the rear driver's side tire, while now connected everywhere, does not fit flush with the car like how it is supposed to and how the piece on the other side does. I ask about this and they tell me they, "reattached the piece the best they could." To which I say it is not fixed. They then tell me they could order a new piece but that would cost me some $$.
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I am not a fan of the local service I get at the dealer either. Last time my car was there, I went to pick it up after 8 business days to find the same black piece in front of the rear wheel well had become detached while the car was at the dealers. Now this officially means that the tech who took it for the final drive had driven over a high bump which bothered me, as did the fact that they completely missed it. I asked them to fix it, and they took it back and brought it back and it was not flush at all like the piece on the other side. I immediately told the tech I was not satisfied and to take it back, he brought the car back and this time the piece was much more flush and I was more satisfied, but they never bothered ordering a new piece.

A couple weeks afterwards, my C.E.L. started coming on intermittently, and the metallic chirping noise at warm up became very apparent. Scared to leave my car at the dealer so long again, I put off calling them for some time, as the problems weren't pressing; the car ran normally, good oil level and perfect temperature. But today I gave them a call, since Fall semester is pretty much over and I have more free time. I called the serice dept, no answer, left a msg. Called two times within the next four hours, voice mail again and again. Finally got a call back from a service rep while I was at work, left me a msg saying I wasn't forgotten and to call back. Upon my several call backs within the next few hours, I kept getting voice mail over and over again; I explained my problem in detail and I got a call back later in the day, telling me the problem did not seem urgent and that they would not have time for me until after the 1st. While that is understandable for a small Porsche dealership, I still feel like a Porsche dealership should be more attentive, responsive, and expedient.

Sorry for the thread hijack, but I still have the bad taste in my mouth. As far as the slight pulling to the right, dealerships often say the problem doesn't warrant any action and sometimes they even say it is because the roads are crowned in a way that they slope to the right. I just make sure the tire pressure is perfect all around, and ask them to please take a look at the alignment and suspension to make sure nothing is off. Also, have them perhaps give another try to making that piece flush, it takes some time to get the hook and the screw back in there correctly.

Good luck with the dealership.

- Suneet

Thanks for the opinions. I think I am going to read the proper appeals procedure and then follow that route.

And while I am not super pissed by any means, I was expecting more in terms of quality of work and general customer service...

Are you willing to tell us the dealers name so the rest can be on the look out
for this kind of treatment or would you rather keep it to yourself? What state?

I would allow this dealer to try a second time, but explain to them that you are not a third chance guy. If not, find another dealer and explain the issues you had at the previous one. Usually, if there is merit to your claim, they will be anxious to show you they are much better than the other guys. I've had that piece pop out as well when I ran over a piece of vinyl siding in the hwy going 80. It was easy to remove the torx screws and pop the metal clips back ito the rocker panel and re-insert the torx screws. If you have the right torx driver, it's a pretty easy operation and easier than taking it in. Of course, since you had your car in for that as well as some other stuff, it is annoying that they flubbed that up. When I first met the tech who did work on my car, I was a little skeptical since he was on the young side. After we went for a ride and I got to know him, I found him to be a car nut and very serious about his job. He has a Mitsu Evo and showed it to me and talke dabout all of the neat mechanicals on his ride. Now I feel good about taking my car in knowing that the kid (young man) works on customers cars like they were his own. This is a long way to illustrate that if you take a ride with the tech, you can get to know him/her and then there is a little more personal responsibility injected into the process. Good luck and I hope they resolve your issues to your satisfaction.

This is something that makes my blood boil. The answer from the dealership it's and insult to someone's intelligence. Please let us know how this turns out, I'm really curious; hoping that the dealership ends up getting what they deserve as well as that you vehicle gets repaired the right way.

The service writers are usually the weak link in the chain. They have limited knowledge and are dealing with a long line of customers that are all demanding action now (and they are lower on the pecking order than the techs). As a long time Porsche customer I've learned to take my time and explain verbally and in writing what I need done. I make sure that my written note goes on the repair form and I make sure the service writer goes to the car and understands (this is the hard part) what I'm explaining. So far that approach has worked fine.

In large dealerships the question to ask is "who do I need to talk to that will get this resolved?" Most service writers/techs don't want to get an issue resolved in the bosses office so they will find a way to make you happy. But using that hammer is really not required if everyone including the customer is communicating properly. I've also seen my share of customer idiots while hanging around the dealer so I do understand their frustrations as well.

This all happened at Momentum Porsche in Houston. I called and left a message for the service manager this morning. I was told before I left the message that would not be in today (Saturday), which is fine. I do expect to hear back from him on Monday or early Tuesday at the latest. Hopefully this will all be resolved soon.

It wouldn't be too big of a problem if the dealership was close by, but it is not. And it is kind of annoying after making the trip there and dropping off the car to know I likely will have to make another trip soon. If they need my car for a another full day(s) or something I just hope a get a better loaner...

Thanks for the continued input and I will be sure to let everyone know how the situation unfolds.