Disappointed by my Porsche experience

[CarlT]

Went shopping today for a 996 and I am absolutley astounded at the unprofessionalism, lack of interest and general crapness of a major OPC !!

I have been monitoring their website for a number of weeks and have seen that they have a couple of C4S's that meet my requirements ! My other half and I then went there today - 1 1/4 hour drive from our place.

We were greeted by a receptionist and offered coffee etc - this looks promising. Then the question "have you got an appointment ?" We of course answered no and were told the salesman (only 1 on) has got appointments allday and wont be able to help us ! WTF !!

eventually the receptionist managed to show us inside the car we were interested in (the others were "sold" (still with a price in), or not on the site at all).

We were asked if we could phone them on Monday to make an appointment for the next week end - they would try and fit us in !! Thanks !!

Anyway, we left - bitterly disapppointed - but 10 minutes later got a phone call, to say we could go back at 2.00pm today to drive the car (time was now 1.00pm).

Arrived back at the site and was promptly ignored again by the "sales" person. eventually, the receptionist said she would come for a drive with us !! We walked to the car and I had to ask for the trade plates ! I had to work the controls / buttons out for myself.

My other half and I both drove the car, the sad thing is that we loved the car !

Arrived back at the dealership after the drive at were asked what we wished to do now - "Did we want to go away and think about it ?" WTF ! No we wanted to work out figures and buy the bloody thing !!

At this point we knew nothing about the car, the mileage was 3k more than the "details" on the car that were in the screen.

A business manager spoke to us, said he couldn't value our car (only an Audi RS6), and quoted a finance package 3% above Finance House Base Rate !!!

We were told we would get a call tomorrow with a px figure. We left thoroughly disappointed and disillusioned with what should have been an enjoyable experience. If I didnt want a 911 so much - I would be tempted to walk away from Porsche forever.

Unfortunatley, we cannot buy privately as we need the funding and the px !

Rant over !








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[CarlT]

Forgot to mention, after all this we were told that they think the car we drove was already sold !!

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[Tiptop Topcat]

Given you travelled and hour and a half, I'd guess OPC Guildford where I saw several C4S coupes last week.

Have you tried the dealership at Ferndown?

Camtune and Autobahn must be worth a look. All the independents would be able to help with finance anyway so don't rule them out.

The other thing is to get What Car, get a quote for your car and then ring up Sainsbury's for a PCP quote or similar. They may not be able to deliver the car in this case but their rep. offered to finance a car from a dealer when I was checking prices for a new family bus . There are still people lining up to lend money at competive rates and What Car is a good reference point if you can't access asset finance through a business.


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[Porsche]

there are a lot of good independents who are priced to sell, offering finance and who take p/x !

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[Greg]

"If I didnt want a 911 so much - I would be tempted to walk away from Porsche forever."

And that is why they can afford to treat the customer like sh*te.

I have a Boxster on order and it has not been the buying experience that I would have hoped.

The salesman is arrogant and has to be chased for information whilst being basically unhelpful.

Their finance is cripplingly expensive but soon tumbles when shown cheaper quotes from elsewhere. Nevertheless I have gone with my mortgage co, which has beaten Porsche hands down but I have to say that even if they offered to match it, I would not accept as I do not want to give them another penny.

Not a great start to Porsche ownership, but then again,why should they care when people are queuing up to buy their cars.

My BMW buy was a great experience and still is.

postamble();


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[Maxy M]

I can understand your disappointment. Two lessons here.

One: Many OPCs are arrogant and wouldn't last in business were it not for the cars they sell...

Two: Always plan a car purchase as a major exercise, eg ring to book a test drive and research everything thoroughly so that you can negotiate strongly.

Hope you get a result from somewhere - and do consider non-OPCs.


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[Jo Brown]

Although OPC's seem prettty hard skinned, I think the more bad publlicity they receive, such as this, the more likely someone higher up in the great Porsche organisation is likely to do something about it.

The only way I can live with running a Porsche is to look upon the Porsche organisation as the Porsche organisation of old. I admire the dedicated, professional and highly respected organisation it used to be in the 50's, 60's, 70's and even 80's.

The current organisation, be it the factory in Germany, Porsche GB or the OPC's are concerned with one thing only - short term profit. They are all trading on that historical reputation and sooner or later their current business practices, model diversification, lack of works racing involvement and atrocious customer service will catch up with them.

The majority of Porsche's current 'must have' customers will soone or later move on to another marque and the great Porsche organisation will again be in financial trouble. The good thing about this is, some future buyer such as BMW, might see the potential brand marketing opportunity and aquire the Porsche marque as a specialist brand (like Ferrari, Maserati and even the Mini) within their portfollio.

So I think the more people who Document and broadcast their dissatisfaction in the treatment they receive, be it in terms of OPC customer service, warranty claims and obvious design fault problems such as rear main oil seals and engine failures, the better!

Jo


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[Maxy M]

Hear hear! But I wonder whether anyone anywhere in the Porsche organisation ever reads anything in places like this. They've all got their backs turned to anyplace customers might be...

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[tonyh]

sorry to hear about your bad dealer experience. I'd be surprised if the OPC in question is Guildford . They were spot on when i used them[admittedly a few years ago] . Klaus Anderson was in charge and a good guy.

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[Tiptop Topcat]

Wouldn't it be interesting to go on a sales training course to understand how someone is trained in their line of work.

My experience with BMW has been quite positive whilst Mercedes now leave me cold.

Funnily enough I received a call from the latter last week where they discussed the new MB experience where one can trial cars with instructors and the facilites include cafes and a creche. Can't help but feel that this all adds to the price of the car but it is an interesting twist.

The strange similarity between my local OPC and MB showroom is that the sales staff seem to have desks away from the showroom, so you always seems to have to wait and ask whether you can have the benefit of their time. Seems a strange way to sell things.

But I would like to know why one sees so many threads about the arrogance of OPC's. Is it them, or us?


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[Jonathan Rubins]

"Wouldn't it be interesting to go on a sales training course to understand how someone is trained in their line of work. "

As we have all previously agreed they are about average for the industry, the appalling thing is one expects less with a 15k golf than a 70k Porsche. I don't think it runs for every opc as I had an awful time at Hatfield and walked out whereas Colchester were a pleasure.




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[Jo Brown]

Yes, I would have to give the thumbs up regarding Colchester OPC but probably only if things involve them in making a profit, such as a sale or a service.

However Colchester are part of the Lancaster group along with Cambridge and East London OPC's. By my experience both of these other two certainly have the an attitude problem if something goes wrong. In other words something which may reduce the profit! As part of the same group this probably applies to Colchester - unless you know different!!!

Jo


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[mitch]

You should really expect to make to make an appointment , most car dealerships only run a skeleton staff on a sunday. It sounds to me like the raceptionist was only trying to help but obviously was not qualified so you can't be too harsh on her, and hey, the finance man has to make a living he's not gonna do that quoting the Bank of England base rate!

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[speedd]

Quote: Originally posted by mitch on 04 April 2005

You should really expect to make to make an appointment , most car dealerships only run a skeleton staff on a sunday. It sounds to me like the raceptionist was only trying to help but obviously was not qualified so you can't be too harsh on her, and hey, the finance man has to make a living he's not gonna do that quoting the Bank of England base rate!

Good point BUT it's all about customer service and it should not matter what you are going out to buy.


If a customer is informed of the situation then I am sure Carl would have been more than understanding. This is not just a Porsche problem but just the customer service in this country or better still the LACK of it. Just the other day the Mrs walked into a Mercedes showroom and the salesperson didn't have a clue about customer service... hence the lost sale.


Carl, If I were you then I would write a complaint letter to the dealer principle with the way you were treated.


Keep us posted of your developments





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[mitch]

I'm not 100% defending this dealership, and i know it is frustrating to have to wait to spend your hard earned when you know what you want but i get this all the time when people just turn up out of the blue and think that they are the only customer in the world. Yes, all customers are important but if the sales staff are busy with customers who have made appointments then you just have to bite your lip and wait your turn. You have to remember that a lost sale is lost commission and no salesman worth his salt is going to want to let any customer walk but you can't just drop the person you're with because someone else is showing more of an interest in another vehicle, that's not fair on anyone.


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