The whole situation is ridiculous and could have been avoided with some simple communication. Shame on them for this.

Even back in 2013 with my car I was so perplexed how difficult it was to get a clear answer on where my car was at all times. You would think with their computer controlled logistics and parts tracking they could provide precise status and location of the vehicle until the keys are in your hand stateside.

 

Been following and I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. However, I believe under the circumstances that whatever freebies have been offered plus many more should still follow even with a new order. PCNA/Germany have the ability to expedite a new build. I would use the email addresses provided above to get that rolling. If it’s taking this long to fix an issue, pts or not, it’s not minor and will never be right.

Alrhough you you have to initiate all of this, I think PCNA and th dealer dropped the ball by not taking the bull by the horns and finding a way to remedy this sooner and in full.

Keep us apprised.

 

Thanks. I will send an email to the two gentlemen detailing what has happened. I will also fedex hard copies of the email/letter addressed to the CEO, president and Chief Marketing Officer. At a minimum, it will be cathartic.

 

Catharisis....

Gentlemen – Apologies in advance as I know you both are very busy and this situation is way below your respective pay grades. That said, I thought it was important for you to understand the variety of serious issues that have arisen with respect to a custom ordered 911 GTS (Case #5447911).

Please indulge me for just a moment to provide you with a little background.

- I am and always have been a car guy, which started when I was 14 or 15 years old – I got a ride in my Dad’s friend’s brand new 944 and I was hooked

- I finally had the means and opportunity to purchase a lightly used 2013 911 4S in 2014

- In 2015, I subsequently purchased a 2016 Cayenne GTS which has been a terrific car

- With two Porsches in my garage through October of 2016 (and one currently), I fancy myself a bit of an unofficial Porsche brand ambassador – in the last few months,
o I talked a friend out of a Ford Mustang 350 in favor of a used 911 Cab
o I gave a glowing review of my Cayenne to a friend who traded in his Range Rover SVR for a Cayenne Turbo

- For what it is worth, I had never bought a used car before and my 2013 911 never felt quite right – it was a PDK and I really favored a manual so I traded the car in to a local dealership for a custom ordered 2017 911

- I placed an order for a 2017 PTS 911 GTS in January of 2017 with an expected delivery date of early to late May

- It was a long winter waiting for the car but I was certainly fine with that as I was expecting a custom built car that would be one of a kind (or at least one of very few in that particular PTS color)

Here is where the story goes sideways.

- Vehicle Completion (V300) occurred on April 27th, 2017 – The Dealer indicated I would hopefully have the car by Memorial Day but it shouldn’t be later than end of May

- The Dealer asked me to come in to fill out some paperwork on May 12th to make the very imminent delivery process easier, which I gladly did

- A few weeks went by and there was no update in your delivery system and no explanation

- I started to have some level of frustration with weekly calls to my Salesperson who couldn’t provide any information

- I escalated the matter to the Sales Manager at the Dealer in early June, who also was unable to provide any information

- I further escalated the situation to your Customer Service folks (some of the email trail is below)

- I finally got to Bruce Fletcher, who is a good guy and has done his best – Bruce tried very hard to get me some information

- At this point, I assumed something truly tragic had happened to the car – how could it be sitting around completed for, at this point 6+ weeks? Doesn’t Porsche want my money? Don’t they need to turn inventory like every other business? I really wanted information as to why there was such a significant delay.

- In mid-late June, after many calls and emails, Bruce finally let me know that he had information as to the problem, which was a bumper that needed to be repainted due to the paint not matching correctly – apparently this was picked up by QC at the Port

- Bruce offered to compensate me for the delay by offering prepaid maintenance on the car and two tuitions to driving school in Alabama but more importantly committed to “have the car on a boat” within two weeks and do what he could to expedite the car in port in the US – incidentally, the end of the two week period was July 7th

- I am a rationale guy – I felt I had been compensated by the delay and was ok with the bumper repaint (things happen) so I committed to take the car

- On July 7th, Bruce confirmed the car was in fact on a boat (SEE THE EMAIL STRING BELOW) – awesome – I should have the car by end of July I thought. Note I made financial arrangements in anticipation of delivery.

- More than two weeks went by (much longer than it takes a boat to go from Germany to Rhode Island) and no update in the delivery system so I called Bruce for an update – He indicated he had multiple inquiries into Germany but could not get an answer as to the status of the car. Really? Folks in Germany are allowed to simply ignore the customer service department? How could that be?

- Bruce offered to escalate the situation and I received a call yesterday from Nick Firis who I assume is Bruce’s supervisor – Nick was fairly terse and let me know that the car was in fact not on a boat, was still in Germany, had not yet been repaired, there was no timeline for repair other than “hopefully next week”, and there was no timeline for delivery. There would also be no further compensation nor would there be any recourse above Nick’s level. Sort of a “tough luck” message. He also indicated that my order was a “hot topic” within Porsche and everyone was aware of the problem and apologized for what he acknowledged was an awful experience, but that would be as far as this goes. Really, a hot topic that everyone was aware of but yet no one was able to fix? Furthermore, if I walked away from the order, there would be no compensation whatsoever.

So those are the relevant facts - At this point, I am absolutely off the charts upset with the brand, the treatment by customer service and the entirety of the process. For the record, I have no issue whatsoever with my dealer (they have been exceptionally accommodating and supportive) and no issue whatsoever with Bruce – As I indicated above, he is the only person within Porsche that has tried to help.

For what it is worth, I am in the customer experience and customer service business and have been for 20 years – this isn’t how you treat any customer, much less loyal ones. I am also in the management business, and have 150 people reporting up to me. This is not how I run my department and would not let this type of treatment of our customers (clients) stand.

Now here is the crazy part – I still desperately want the car. Despite my “cancelling the order” with the dealer yesterday, if you could figure out some way to make this right, I am happy to listen. The ordered car is a 2017 and 2018s are being delivered as are PTS cars left and right. I read the message boards and follow the Porsche social media accounts so all I see are completed Porsche Exclusives and PTS deliveries. It is hard to swallow the facts above in light of all of this.

Again, apologies for the long email and I don’t expect you to respond directly, but my hope is that you send this to someone who has the ability to try to rectify the damage.





Begin forwarded message:
From: Customer Commitment <customer.commitment@porsche.us>
Date: July 20, 2017 at 2:28:38 PM EDT
To: [_______]
Subject: Re: Case # 5447911 - Offer Letter
Mr. [_____],



I truly understand your position and I am trying to get any information I can from Germany in regards to your vehicle. I can't express enough apologies but I still have no new information.




If you have additional questions or concerns, please call us at 1-800-PORSCHE. We are available Monday through Friday 8AM to 9PM EST.

Kind Regards,

Bruce Fletcher, Porsche Contact Center
Porsche Cars North America, Inc.
One Porsche Drive
Atlanta, GA 30354

Phone: 1-800 PORSCHE (1-800-767-7243)
Fax: 1-866-334-5280
Email: customer.commitment@porsche.us



From: [_______]
To: Customer Commitment <customer.commitment@porsche.us>,
Cc: [_______]
Date: 07/20/2017 12:22 PM
Subject: Re: Case # 5447911 - Offer Letter
________________________________________


Bruce - Any update? If the car was truly on a ship no later than 7/7 (two weeks ago tomorrow), shouldn't the car be in Rhode Island by now? Or better yet at the dealership? I know the ships are slow but it doesn't take two weeks to get across the ocean. Please advise.

On Jul 12, 2017, at 3:59 PM, Customer Commitment <customer.commitment@porsche.us> wrote:

Mr. [_____],



I just sent another email to Germany requesting Vessel name and/or any additional updated information that I can provide you.



If you have additional questions or concerns, please call us at 1-800-PORSCHE. We are available Monday through Friday 8AM to 9PM EST.

Kind Regards,

Bruce Fletcher, Porsche Contact Center
Porsche Cars North America, Inc.
One Porsche Drive
Atlanta, GA 30354

Phone: 1-800 PORSCHE (1-800-767-7243)
Fax: 1-866-334-5280
Email: customer.commitment@porsche.us



From: [_______]
To: Customer Commitment <customer.commitment@porsche.us>,
Date: 07/12/2017 08:41 AM
Subject: RE: Case # 5447911 - Offer Letter
________________________________________





Bruce – I hope all is well. Just checking to see if you have a further update. I have not heard anything from the dealership.



Sent from Mail for Windows 10



From: Customer Commitment
Sent: Friday, July 7, 2017 2:42 PM
To: [_____]
Subject: Re: Case # 5447911 - Offer Letter



Mr. [_____],


I did confirm that vehicle was loaded onto a vessel. It takes a couple days for Germany's system to update with the name of the Vessel that your vehicle is on.




If you have additional questions or concerns, please call us at 1-800-PORSCHE. We are available Monday through Friday 8AM to 9PM EST.

Kind Regards,

Porsche Specialist, Porsche Contact Center
Porsche Cars North America, Inc.
One Porsche Drive
Atlanta, GA 30354

Phone: 1-800 PORSCHE (1-800-767-7243)
Fax: 1-866-334-5280
Email: customer.commitment@porsche.us



From: [_______]
To: Customer Commitment <customer.commitment@porsche.us>,
Date: 07/07/2017 12:02 PM
Subject: Re: Case # 5447911 - Offer Letter

[IMAGE]



Bruce - Just checking in. I think today was the last day the two week point. Can you confirm the car was put on a boat?

 

Good email. Just catching up on this thread. Sorry to hear about the continued runaround.

Here's another fellow you might consider including in this:

http://press.porsche.com/more_about/...cna/koenig.php

His email is christian.koenig@porsche.us.

 

Mr. Schwarzenbauer's email bounced the message but it appears to have been received by Mr. Koenig and Mr. Blume.

 

Have you thought about keeping the car? You've done a lot of work and gone through a lot of hassle. You've got some concessions but I think you could get more. You're losing 4 months - one way to value a fair comp could be the equivalent rental which I think would be about $10-15k?

Yes you're getting a 2017 car late, but really only 3-4 months late and in a few years, that won't matter. And it's a gorgeous car designed to your spec.

 

I read the emails. Good luck. Did the part about Bruce’s boss get sent to them or was that for us? My own experiences with PCNA is that they are excessively stubborn with financial assistance under all circumstances. That said, they’ve been super great on warranty items and replacements even when escalated and they always make me feel important, on the surface anyway. LOL.

This is obviously a delay due to PTS. What if you reorder and it happens again? Porsche has to account for “damage” in the manufacturing and distribution channels, no? I do know Porsche has a consulting division to teach other companies how to run a lean and hugely profitable business but I do think they can afford to offer a little extra help for situations like this.

I think at a very minimum they should have offered you the Maintenence and whatever else they offered, on a replacement car. Let’s face it, $100k or 250k spent on a car that has known repairs done prior to delivery is a bit unsettling. I believe the law says a manufacturer doesn’t have to disclose this at their level, even to a dealer, but in this case, I’d want what I “believe” is a perfect car, as best they are.

With the all this time having passed, are you open to a more readily available color? An in stock car you can probably get an even better deal on, etc? Tough decision and I’m sitting here in your shoes and would have a hell of a time with this decision and next steps.

Keep us in the loop.

 

It's unreal this is still going on.

 

The entire string was sent to them, including the part about the supervisor and including the forwarded emails at the bottom, which back up the timeline of what they told me.

My email prompted a swift response - it got to the right people so many thanks for those on this forum who made that suggestion. Things appear to be moving and the boss' boss is now on the case. I will know more on Monday and will keep everyone posted.

 

Schwarzenbauer left Porsche in 2008 and is now at BMW. The President of Porsche North America is Klaus Zellmer.

 

This level of service would be unacceptable on a $20k Kia. On a $140k Porsche it's unthinkable. In your situation I wouldn't be happy with less than $10k discount for the time and energy lost....not to mention the depreciation of a model year and foregoing the updates made to the 2018 models. As much as I love 911s after that treatment I'd be checking out the AMG GTS, F type R, etc.

Cheers,
NF

 

Don’t mean to hijack the thread but what changes? I couldn’t find much if any (incoming 18 991.2 tts)

 

I suspected you might get an immediate response. Some companies executives do not stand for this type of stuff. Others could care less and their business suffers for it. I had a situation last year with Geico. 2014 Raptor was hit, had about $35k in real damage plus frame damage. Car was worth about 55k at the time and I had written quotes for trade in and from Carmax just a week prior. They insisted on fixing and not totaling. Went through 4 levels of local management and was put in a similar situation as the OP. Told decision was final and the CEO would back him. I explained that I had a written letter from th at faults insurer, State Farm, that they deemed it totaled but police thickset didn’t have enough coverage so he guaranteed Geico the entire 50k policy limit if they agreed to total. I provided exact calculations using their ridiculous salvage value of $15,000 plus the money from State Farm would cost them ZERO and maybe even have a small cushion vs fixing it and costing Geico over $10k after my deduction for diminished value. I was told company policy is to fix. When I told him his CEO might disagree after I show him the numbers he said their email addresses are not public (they are not). Based on his email I shot out an email trying multiple ways such as johndoe, John.doe@, john_doe@ etc. I’m pretty resourceful. I kid you not, exactly 41 minutes later the body shop called me to tell me some guy in a suit just left and apparently they now want to total the car. Took 2 months but got it done.

So thank you for letting me ramble on, but when something doesn’t make sense, and company policies aren’t working, there are ALWAYS exceptions that can be made by the right people.

You should be in good hands now. Anything short of many of the above recommendations, I’d be shocked at this point.

 

All I can say is I will wait and see how this is resolved before ordering another car.