Hi all,

I recently had a "sub-optimal" experience with my local dealer as part of a windshield replacement on my 991.2 GTS. The short version is: I had to do a lot of scheduling myself between the dealer and a 3rd party glass repair place (several phone calls back and forth), interior trim was not replaced correctly and even though they agreed to fix it the "earliest" they could do it was 3 weeks from my report. It's not catastrophic, but when the automated survey email came in from PCNA I gave an honest response and indicated I wasn't really happy. The dealer called me the next day (I got a voicemail) and left a long message explaining that they were sorry for the trouble and wanted to try to make it right. OK.. well handled, but now I'm worried that this local dealer will be less "friendly" from now on. I wasn't aware that the survey results are visible to them, and now I'm wondering if others have given "candid" feedback, and if so have you seen any negative side effects in subsequent engagements? Or do you tend to just give 10/10 even if you're not *actually* happy?

 

Reply honestly. Dealer had their shot to take care of you prior to the feedback report.
There are financial impacts to the dealership and incentives for them to improve their processes and client service.

It’s good to understand the rating system is binary (they need 10s and anything less than a 10 is not ideal for them) but in no way should you give 10s if 10s were not deserved.

To add, them being less friendly and providing poor service won’t improve their feedback scores now would it?

 

Be honest. I have heard the surveys are taken very seriously.

 

OK.. but I was reading this thread: https://rennlist.com/forums/991/1100...ome-story.html where the OP writes:

"Here’s a little secret, the Porsche Service Advisor at the dealership holds all the keys. Don’t think they don’t. They make the call on who’s paying for it. Why? Because only the Porsche Service Advisor can request “goodwill” to PTECH and PCNA."

Another writes:

"I've ALWAYS been an advocate for relationships with sales and service people. Has served me well over the years with out of warranty works etc"

 

I know my local dealer does retaliate.... Things like loaner cars, warranty work and scheduling. I know a SA at another dealer that redacts emails for surveys unless she knows it was a seamless transaction

 

I say to always take it up with the service advisor or service manager first. If they do not do anything, that is what the survey is there for. It sounds like you gave them opportunities to make it right and they did not.

I am sure that some dealers do retaliate, so if you have another better dealer near you, I would use them in the future.

 

While retaliation may be a concern, you can't worry about it. If no one fills out the surveys honestly, nothing changes.

 

If anything, I would think the opposite. They know you are someone who’s willing to respond honestly to these surveys. If your issues are reasonable, and your response to their amends appropriate, most businesses will want to build on that goodwill - not create an antagonistic relationship.

 

I think these are good comments.

First - The survey should not be a surprise. The management should have known about it and the customer should have had this conversation already. Sometimes management just doesn't even do what they say.... Unfortunately I have bought 2 cars from different BMW dealerships in the past 6 months. One CPO 650 from Greenville and a Porsche from Seattle. Both had pretty big failures along the way and management was informed and I had to repeatedly follow up with management for them to finally do what they originally agreed to do....

Second - The way you communicate is a huge factor. Stick to the facts and don't whine. Bitching doesn't help and articulated the area of concern without getting personal.

 

This notion that the dealer needs all 10s on the survey is a bit ridiculous. I recently received one of these surveys after having my windshield replaced by my local dealership. They did a good job and the experience was totally satisfactory. But the survey came with the request for all 10s, signifying--in their words--a "truly exceptional" service experience.

To me, "truly exceptional" means the best experience I've had with any commercial vendor in perhaps five years. Perhaps if I had a received a massage while waiting for the car or been served Beluga caviar, the description would have been merited. But totally satisfactory and truly exceptional are hardly the same thing.

 

Millennials are running things now. If they simply show up it becomes "truly exceptional."

 

Nothing to do with millennials, it’s standard process in the auto industry unfortunately. We can debate the merit however in the end that is the criteria the dealership is measured by.

If the experience was good/great, one needs to understand their metric when providing the scoring. If there are legitimate complaints and concerns that should be expressed as well.

As posed above, service manager, general manager or other leadership should know of any service problems with customers before the survey results are known. That way they have their opportunity to make things right or do what they can to help.

In in my market, dealership retaliation is a quick way to lose business. Especially important given service and parts are still the main profit centres for them. Rating and ultimately sales also directly impacts their allocation for GT or other special cars.

 

This process is not unique to Porsche or even dealerships. The local cable guy also requires all 10's in order to hit his bonus or get whatever extra payment they give. Anything less and he loses, so basically it is 10 or nothing. Silly, I know, but that is what the service people have to deal with.

OP, if you are worried about it, just go in and speak with the SA and tell them you would love to have given them a 10 and will in the future, assuming good service but this was just not a positive situation. I am sure they'll understand and it may even help you build that relationship you are looking for.

 

Interesting post. I am curious if I will ever get the email to respond after this.

I am currently on week 4 of the local dealership having my vehicle for some work from my repair shop and while they have it I requested they also do the 4y/40k service, which I was paying for. At week two they said my portion was done, they just needed to finish the paperwork. At the beginning of week three I called daily to try and pay and service adviser, who never returned a message or called for me to pay, finally answered on that Thursday morning. Said would call with final bill and take my CC that afternoon. No call. Friday morning I flew to the city the dealership is and walked into the dealership. Nothing had been done for my service or what my repair shop had asked for. Service manager apologized profusely as well as provided every excuse he could think of why it wasn’t done and why they don’t return phone calls. Said they would work on it over the weekend. I just happened to have to fly back yesterday for work and stopped by the dealership. Nothing done on my car, service manager on vacation this week, and SA out for the afternoon. I did talk to the tech that will be working on my vehicle and said it was scheduled to all be done today (Tuesday). I guess we will see.

Unfortunately, this is the only dealership in the state and I live 360 miles away. Looking for another option now.

-TJ

 

I think this is a great discussion topic for the forum. I agree with Bxstr - let management know, and then be very honest / candid.
We had terrible service twice at our local dealer with our Macan. My wife spoke to the Service Manager both times, and he wanted to make it right after the fact ... I needed service on my 991.1 recently and thought - the poor Macan service was just fluke. I too received terrible service. Car was in the shop for 5 days, poor communication and no work done. When the PCNA survey came, I responded honestly and with facts. Of course I got a call from the service manager within hours, but why didn't he get involved proactively the three times my cars were in for service so that I would be happy? In my case I believe it is a culture issue at my local dealership - it's just how they roll. I also have 4 other options within an hour drive. I don't plan on going back - which is really a shame, I wish there was more of a standard the dealerships had to adhere to.