I had the first 10K service done this week at the dealer where I purchased my car. AFAIK it's basically a glorified oil change, inspecting a few things and refilling/adjusting as needed. They also looked into my sunroof rattle (haven't opened it yet to see if it did any good) and performed one open campaign.
The good news was the overall experience was pretty painless. I called on Monday, brought the car in Tuesday evening after work and took home a loaner car (a not so exciting Avalon from Enterprise Leasing), and picked it up Wednesday evening.
Now for the not so good parts. The cost was $371 which I found to be awfully high for what was done. I didn't ask, but I think their price for an oil change alone is at least $100 less, so some of the extra cost was for inspection labor and "shop supplies" whatever that is. Thankfully, services are few and far between, but I still think dealer's prices are the reasons that independents exist.
The other thing that really sticks in my craw was that when I got home, I checked the oil level with the graphic and the level markers were yellow, with a message "nearing minimum." I drove to a restaurant a mile away for dinner and by the time I got home a warning light was on and the level now said "minimum reached."
I didn't smell anything or see any signs of leakage, so I added a half quart of oil I had in my garage, and that brought the graphic gauge back into the green range so it really was working properly. I read up in the owner's manual and it says the range between top of green, and yellow minimum is around 1.8 quarts.
I called the service writer first thing the next morning. He seemed kind of nonchalant about it, told me it was no big deal and I could just add another half quart or "swing by if I wanted to." Well, I did go back out and told them they needed to make sure there wasn't anything else wrong. They hooked it back up to the computer for a scan and added enough oil to top it off. Their excuse was that the oil is metered from a bulk source and probably just wasn't exactly right. I am still apalled that no one, either the tech or the SA who brings the car back up front to you bothered to use the car's own diagnostics to verify their work. What if it had been much lower and my engine seized up on the way home? My salesman saw me in there and kind of interceded, but my general impression was they didn't really think it was a big deal.
I was polite the whole time, as were they, but it's making me think at least during warranty period, I may seek out one of the other two dealers in town's service departments.

 

sloppy work, should not be tolerated at premium prices

 

This sucks and pure negligence on their part. I'd be pissed too. Are there other dealers in your area? I would tell them that you're not happy and may not use their services again. Well, good thing is that it's all well now. Have you noticed any performance difference post oil change?

 

There are two other dealers in town, both a little further away but not insurmountable. I'm guessing they'd be glad to have my business.
I got the email survey today and have decided I'm going to wait a few days before answering. We've all been told before that anything less than perfect is a fail, and I don't want to make any enemies there...but on the other hand if no one ever tells the truth, nothing changes.
As far as performance, no better or worse than before. I honestly feel like my engine continues to gain power and flexibility as it ages, very happy with the car itself. I also got to drive one of their just arrived base Caymans with PDK on Wednesday. Nice car but it just reinforces my happiness with my 7MT, just not ready to give it up yet.

 

Call the GM or Service Manager. Explain why your hand has the yips while trying to complete the survey and ask if your experience was an aberration.

 

Great advice.

 

Be sure to get a partial refund for the missing oil!

Take that oil money and buy a drink. Moonshine perhaps?

 

The graphic meter is not functional after you change the oil, so the tech has no way of checking. After i drained the oil, i measured the amount so i know how much to put back. After you drive it for 10 miles or so then the meter would be functional again. They probably emptied your oil in a huge buckect that they use for all oil changes so they don't know how much of it was yours alone, and can only estimate how much to put back in. Obviously, their estimate is a little off.

 

surely a Porsche tech knows how much oil goes into an engine once it has been drained without knowing how much oil came out ...

 

Oil measurement has become the single most aggravating operation since the introduction of direct injection engines. The internal baffling now used prohibits the use of a simple dipstick or float anymore, so instead the engine management must use readings from various sonar sources and calculate oil level accordingly. Once the hood or engine lid has been opened the measuring system is disabled, so we must drive the car from 15-30 miles to get accurate readings - you think there's time for a 30 mile test drive w/ every oil change service (in Houston traffic)? And how many 'look how many miles my dealer put on my car' threads would we have if there were?

There is a procedure to measure oil via PIWIS II but it's almost as time-consuming as the 30 mile road test, and at $20k a pop most dealers only have one tester for every three or four techs, so... instead we figure that if we drain the engine it should take, say 8.5 qts (or whatever the capacity of the particular engine is), right? So we add 8.5 and send you on your way, except the next day instead of reporting that your car is 1 qt low (but still has ~2 GALLONS of oil in it), you're screaming that you have a 'check oil level' warning - meaning it's overfilled (because due to said internal baffling not all the oil drains when we perform a service). So now instead of adding .5-1 qt and sending you on your merry way, we're now pulling your car into the shop for an hour to drain off excess oil and refill to where we think it should be, and hoping for the best.

Oh yeah, costs vis a vis independents? What kind of loaner did they provide w/ your last oil change? And did they update onboard firmware, reset service calculator, check for workshop campaigns or updates? Of course they did, the techs they send (paid) through 20-30 training events (online and classroom) PER YEAR did it with their own $20k PIWIS testers, right?

.02

 

Common sense, right? I'm with yah. They do know. No excuses.

 

Wait a second... Are you saying that one needs a $20k PIWIS tester for a simple oil change? Or basically saying that you're too lazy to make sure that the oil change that the customer paid a premium for to have done at a dealer is actually done correctly? Are you seriously saying that techs with such advance training can't even do an oil change correctly and put in the required amount of oil that's stated in the manual?

I know it saves the tech a bit of time if they don't make sure they drain all the oil, then add back the manufacturer-specified amount, but making the customer come back just for 0.5-1qt of oil? That wastes even more time on everyone's part (SA, tech, customer). If you're going to under-fill when doing an oil change, at least send the customer home with a quart of oil and tell them that it's what you did. I'd be cool with that personally.

It's even a once a year thing now (not every 3000 miles like they used to with dino). I'm with holminator here - no excuses.

 

No kidding. It's not much more trouble to do the job properly than to elaborate at that length regarding why you didn't.

For the record, you will never get consistent results from this procedure unless you first make sure the engine is thoroughly warmed up. If the oil is cold, it will take longer to drain -- potentially much longer. Anyone who has changed their own oil more than twice will know to allow for that. So yes, if the customer brings in a car with a cold engine, someone at the dealership should take the time to drive it for several miles to warm it up first.

Of course, if Porsche has built an engine whose oil simply cannot be changed properly, that's a whole 'nother issue.

It does sound like a good idea to emphasize to the customer the need to bring the car in with a hot engine. You can explain that the job is no longer as straightforward as it once was, and that it may not always be as precise an operation as anyone would like. But ultimately, at the prices dealerships charge, there simply are no excuses that I, as the customer, am willing to tolerate. Find a way to do it right, every time.

 

I had a dealer underfill the oil, overfill the tires and leave the OBDii door open. I complained the comped my next oil change.

 

... By the way... I changed the oil at 2000 miles and given that the system has 10 quarts and drains less than that, i used a tried and true method to determine how much oil to replace: I measured the amount drained and replaced it with fresh oil.