I have had occasion to speak to Brian at the above company and found him short and rude. Has anyone else found this to be the case. Even to the point of calling me names as we spoke. Who is this guy, is he so in demand that he gets away with it?

 

Is this Brian Copans???
I have had no tranny work done (yet?), but I recall a previous thread on
996tt board where DR Tom mentioned Roger Brown @ PowerHaus
303-442-4327.
I have no affiliation to either, I just want LAT's car to get running so we can test it!!
Marty K

 

Woody,
Yes it is Mr Copans.
LAT

 

Brian Copans,good guy, the best in transmission rebuilding.,cheers.

 

It depends on the day, if you catch him in a good mood, he is a very nice guy. Yes he is in big demand, in fact arguably the best around in the US, most of the racing teams use his services, and he has his hands full for a couple of years if he stops accepting customers today. I never found him rude though, just a bit rough initially.

 

Interesting this comes up just now. I was going to send a rebuild job his way but he wouldn't quote on the work -- despite it being a very well defined job -- he just insisted on "send it and I'll let you know" which seems to me like an impossible situation -- freight a box to someone with a blank check?

And yes, I agree with this "depends on his mood" observation -- he was abrupt, bordering on offensively "prima donna" in his attitude. There are some great, expert specialists in this business and you can choose to do business with the people who make the business enjoyable.

I believe he has a solid reputation for his work and I guess he relies upon customers with a bigger budget.

 

He was polite/informative IMO. Will definitely get the job when my tranny blows up, lol.

 

He has done work on my tranny and he has giving me nothing less than exellent customer service. He knows Porsche tranny's better than anyone! He will get the job done right! Just don't waste his time or he will be rude.

 

"Don't waste his time"
I take exception with the implication. I am or would have been the customer and all I was trying to do is make an informed decision.
I have spoken to Steve at Rennsport looking to him for guidance or even a second opinion and never had the abrupt and rude response I had from Brian. I was trying to buy gears from Brian to boot.
I stand by observations and pass them on to those that may wish to learn of my experience and for no other reason.

 

Thumbing back through old threads and I see this left unanswered. I have to agree that a customer -- one sincere in their intent to engage the services of a company -- is not "wasting" time. I've been both customer and proprietor (vendor, seller, whatever) and I know it's an integral, essential and inescapable part of the business to treat each and every customer with the same high regard. There will be time-wasters, people who want to call up and talk about their dreams and talk about cars and generally pass the time of day. There will be customers that are holding their money clutched just too tightly for the pursuit of motorsport and should perhaps consider something safer and cost-conscious like, say, philately.
For the most part, customers come at a simple rate of one in ten. Ten percent. Simple as that. Talk with ten prospective customers and one of them will do business with you. Some will be just shopping for free advice, some for free ideas and some just as a pastime or testing the water to see if they even really want to do anything. Ten percent.
But look at the other side of the equation as a statistcal proposition for the customer. As a customer, I've spoken with hundreds and hundreds of vendors and find less than one in ten, perhaps as little as one in a hundred are capable of doing the work they propose to a satisfactory standard. Talking with three vendors to upgrade my Porsche is never going to be enough to find the very best shop available.
Hell, I'd be delighted to reach a ten percent chance of talking with a good shop when it comes to working on a Porsche. For that matter, I'd be happy to just be able to find one good shop sometimes. : )

 

Now THATS a piece of true wisdom,....

Lee,.....I'm surprised that you didn't ask me about gears,....this is what we do (among other things) and I would have been pleased to help you with that,..

 

lol yeah i have to deal with him on a daily basis, he's my boss