John..

It has finally struck me. I have finally realized how many truly stupid people do actually walk the earth and attempt to sell goods and services.

Does anybody else see it?

I guess I just have little tolerance for lack of common sense.

Few people return phone calls when they claim to, nor do they do what is actually asked of them. It drives me nuts. What ever happeded to putting the customer first?

Sometimes I think I should start a company which has an ultimate goal to shut down companies run by stupid people.

Drewster67

I remember back in the day when I was working in the Hospitality/Rsort market. Corp. offered customer care classes in how to treat and service customers. Some of those aspects I still carry with me in everyday life.

You are so right about the lack of cutomer service in MANY companies. If these people only realized that if they go the extra step, it will only come back as a positive.

Randy V

Anyone in particular?

ErnestSw

John,
As my wife says, by definition, half the population has an IQ of less than 100.

Cobey

One of my favorite quotes:

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half the people you meet are dumber than that." -- George Carlin

John.

Let's just say this:

I really did my homework on something I am working on for the Bastard. I sent in some parts to be calibrated. All of the necessary information was provided.

My parts did not go to the person they were addressed to

The two page letter I wrote (which explained in GREAT detail what to do and how things were to work) was obviously ignored.

The stuff was returned with a hand written sheet of paper stating that they could not work with this setup, since it was old style.

There is nothing worse than spending tons of time and covering all the bases to have it screwed up by one or two people who won't take the time to make a phone call or read a letter.

The sad part is I work with people just like this and probably will for the rest of my life. And we wonder why our comapnies don't make profits...

V-Fib

Case in point, local front end shop said, "yes we can align your 928". Even after explanation of suspension procedures, "yes we can do that". They get the car on the rack and immediately want to lift the car. I objected and the owner of the shop was summoned. The owner who has a recently aquired 993, did listen and lifted the front by the suspension, saying it would work out. They showed me my steering rack bushings were worn out and so, no alignment. My front tires were worn to the core on the inside due to the last poorly performed alignment. So they installed the new Yokohama's I brought with me. They immediately used the pneumatic impact on my soft lug nuts. I objected loudly. Upset, I went into the waiting area to await them finishing the job. Did they listen, NO! They used the impact to put the wheels back on again! Upset to the point of losing my cool, I quickly paid and left. When I got home, my Porsche valve stem caps had been replaced with a gray plastic one on the drivers side and a black plastic one on the passenger side! The owner said he knows of Rennlist. I'll bet he doesn't let his employees work on his Porsche.

Anthony Tate
79/928 Silver Metallic
(looking for another alignment shop)

John..

I'm going to start my own company and simply call it:

"We do it right, no matter what it is"

I'm convinced 90% of the people out there could not even shovel **** straight and correctly. Tire places are the worst.

Shane

Anthony,

Same thing happened to me last summer after my left front blew. Pulled into a tire place (Les Snobs), picked out a set of Proxies, and waited till they pulled my car up. First they were going to use their Hydraulic Lift to raise the car, I said no way use regular floor jacks at THESE points only. Next came the air impact, I yelled NO, use this soft socket I have here and a regular wrench. After that I decided to give some more specific instructions that when the new tires were on to put the wheel weights on the inside of the tire. They didn't listen and got to redo it. They bring the tires out and grab the impact again and again I say NO use a torque wrench set at 90 ft/lbs. They don't listen to the customer much do they? They set the car down and I walk around it and yes my Porsche valve stem caps are gone and replaced with black plastic ones. I told the manager of this and ten minutes later I get my Porsche caps back.

ajd0002

I took my OB into a local guy who supposedly "worked on 'em all the time" Before I let him do anything of any significance, I asked what the annoying "click,click" was on the passenger side, speed realted, the faster I go, the faster it gets. He tells me it's probably the speedometer cable. Thanks I say and get off his lot as fast as possible. A 5 minute search on Rennlist tells me it's the O2 sensor counter. And this guy apparently owns a 928!! Scary.

Randy V

I've found that the easiest way to cull the poser 928 mechanics from the real thing is to simply ask them "Does the timing belt ever need to be retensioned on these cars?".

Some will swear up and down that it is 'self-adjusting' - as I'm walking away...

ViribusUnits

I just got a set of tires today.

Well, what can you expect from the guys? This is the only 928 they see in a year or so... Possibly only one of the 5 Porsche's they see in a year.

They concider each and every car the same. Why not, they don't know any better.

It's simply a matter of showing them what to do, and how to do it. Heck, the guy that worked on my car tryed to pull off, with the shop's floor mounted jack still partaly supporting the car. He would have done it too, had I not stoped him.

I then watched him like a hawk. He did exacly what I told him to, and preformed a good job. I double checked everything, of course, but it went well.

If they try to stuff me off in the waiting room, I collect my keys, my money, and walk out the frount door.

John..

My problem is I know too much about this stuff...usually more than the mechanics and shops themselves. I end up coming across like a know it all jerk to these guys.

I can't fault them for not knowing the stuff, but I can fault them for taking a bull**** attitude, especially after I do the investigative work myself and try yo make it easier for them to do their job.

Maybe it is just Porsche owners in general, you know, the "thorn" on the inside.

deni durrell

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">I've found that the easiest way to cull the poser 928 mechanics from the real thing is to simply ask them "Does the timing belt ever need to be retensioned on these cars?".</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">that's a good one! i think i will "borrow" that one when i need to use a mechanic to do stuff....

patience for those dead beat mechanics, unless they are porsche mechanics - then they get no break because there's no excuse!

Brian Bowman

Hey Al D. -
Just out of curiousity... where was the shop you speak of located? (generally speaking)?

-Brian

1980 928S 5sp Euro
Silbermetallic/Blau