Iceter

Time for my first oil change so I took it in to my local dealer to have it done, plus I'd been making a list of niggling little problems that had been annoying me and left that with them to see what they could do.

Only one P-car dealer in my area so I have no choice if I want Porsche to work on the car. If there is one lesson from all this it is that competition is a good thing.

Drove the 25 miles to get there just after they opened so that I could have my pick of their loaners. Got a Corolla. I can live with that, but once I had driven ten and a half miles, the low fuel light came on. I didn't even make it to work before the darned light came on and I had to put gas in the car. By the way, with two used and one new Lexus, that dealer gives you a Lexus loaner. With my wife's CPO Mercedes, that dealer doesn't guarantee a Merc loaner but they will drive across town and pick up her car and drop off the loaner and do the reverse when it's fixed. That store is next door to the Porsche store, by the way.

They changed my oil and here's what they said about the other items:

Issue: Red transmission shut down light (PDK) comes on occasionally when I start the car. Car won't move. Re-start usually clears it and then it drives normally. Has happened sporadically 10-15 times over 10k miles.

Answer: Can't duplicate, never seen that before so we can't do anything about it. We will be happy to keep it and drive it until it happens again, then we can do something about it.

Issue: Color coming off of two trim pieces (ignition bezel and seatbelt trim).

Answer: Trim pieces aren't covered under the CPO.

Issue: Terrible squeak around glove box and A-pillar.

Answer: Squeaks aren't covered by the CPO but we narrowed the location down to somewhere around the glove box or the A-pillar. We can delve into it for $129 per hour.

Issue: Convertible top squeaks when opening/closing.

Answer: We tried to lubricate it with white lithium and with silicone. It still squeaks, sorry. By the way, we charged you $13 for shop supplies for the two squirts of white lithium but we didn't charge you any labor to squirt it on the thing we didn't fix. You're welcome.

Issue: On three occasions my speakers have gone dead. No noise at all no matter what the source. Immediate re-start doesn't clear it. Audio back the next day.

Answer: Can't duplicate, never seen that before, can't fix it.

Issue: Rear quarter windows often only close halfway when raising the top.

Answer: It's the anti-pinch device, it's normal. It's keeping you safe, plus we can't fix it.

They did wash it. That evening when the sun went down the windshield was so smeared with dirty water residue and greasy fingerprints, I had to clean it. It was literally dirtier after they washed it than when I dropped it off.

The whole thing left me cold on the dealership and their competence. I had shopped there first when I started looking but they didn't have the car I wanted. I really don't see how they expect to ever sell me a car in the future.

The service advisor mentioned while I was checking out that having the car serviced there would help with getting things done outside of warranty if I ever had a problem, which is somewhat ironic considering the list of things they refused to address while I was there. And keep in mind this was my first visit to their service department--my formative experience with them.

I was good natured about it all. I made pleasant conversation and I listened attentively while the service advisor explained all of the things that they couldn't or wouldn't do, but I never got any sort of apology--even for the loaner running out of gas ten miles down the road.

Ironically, a client of mine who has driven my car called me while mine was sitting in the shop and wanted to talk about possibly buying a car from this same store. I have it in my power to completely steer him away from them and to another store in another city and frankly, I'm considering doing so. It's funny how things work out, isn't it?

Iceter

Sorry about the length. I actually slept on all this before I posted. It was just gnawing on me and I needed to vent so some people who have the same kind of car and might have the same kind of problems with it.

PCC

I have a Cab. The statement about "anti-pinch" is a joke. My rear windows go all the way up when I raise the top.

I had an issue with my dealer. Brought in the car for oil change and to fix the sport exhaust. They kept the car six days . After two days, I would call each afternoon to inquire as to when the car would be ready - "tomorrow" was always the answer. I called on the 6th day and was told "your car was ready yesterday. All work has been completed". When I arrived, I was told the exhaust was fine. We changed your oil for $179. You're welcome. Service manager and desk jockey were no where to be found.

I smiled when I received a "how did we do" survey. I responded accordingly. Long story short. I received an apology from Porsche NA and a phone call from the service manager apologizing (after avoiding me for 6 days).

2005997carrera2

If you're talking about Leith I've started driving my car down from Chapel Hill because they are so much better then my local dealership. At least they give you a loaner car, which my last did not.

sullivas

Dealers are scrambling to get cars into their repair bays. The service advisors are trained to sell you add-ons, stuff you may or may not need. Find a good indy. Your local Pcar club can steer you in the right direction.

yemenmocha

Sympathetic to all of your concerns.

I have the loaner problem here in AZ, and what's pathetic is that the owner of the row of dealers does a good job with their other car manufacturers in the same strip - the BMW people get BMW's, for example. But not Porsche, at least 90% of time in my cases.

My rear window does that a few times a year but it's not sufficiently frequent for me to pay them to try and fix it.

I have had the a$$hole response about not being able to duplicate obvious things that I can easily duplicate. Next time I'm going to not be so nice about it and demand their mechanic go for a little drive with me to duplicate it.

Spiffyjiff

that's what i always say but i guess he is somewhat limited due to his CPO. in any case hopefully you can DIY the routine stuff and other little non-CPO items.

desmotesta

If you are talking about the Leith group then i am not surprised at all.

We have been going to Leith Audi since 2002 and things have gotten worse at a steady pace to the point that now I would rather choose a new Indy shop then give them any business.

I had similar (frustrating) issues with them (Leith Audi) as far as the CPO coverage goes but amazingly ALL problems/warranty denials disappeared as soon as I purchased a 3rd part warranty from their Finance manager.

And yes, their car wash person/persons always leave swirl marks on freshly washed/polished paint. I now have a pre-printed note "Do NOT Wash" in the glove box. I leave that in front of the instrument cluster everytime the car was in for service.

I just sold my E39 M5 and would like to (one day, in the near future) buy a 997 C2S and I hope there is a good Porsche Indy in the area.

daberlin

What a sad first impression and frustrating experience. I think the comment about competition is exactly right; it results in improved customer service regardless of brand. I am very fortunate that I live within (roughly) 20 miles of 5 Porsche dealers. I have brought my car to Auto Gallery for issues ranging from niggling little ones as you've described to major - HPFP recall. In all but one case, my request was resolved to 100% satisfaction and I was not presented with a single bill as they were all addressed under CPO. In the one case (ugly fading inside sport steering wheel), the steering wheel was bought from suncoast by the first owner, and as a result, only carried a one year warranty. I don't blame AG for that.

Another key plug for a great service dept- twice AG has offered to inspect my car for free and have a 30 minute tech talk with mechanics. A money making scam for service repairs, right? Nope. In both cases they gave me a detailed report of my caliper width, pad width, fluids color, any issues, etc. In both cases that was it. No requested service or upsell. 'Everything looks great, here is a report, have a nice day'. Can't say enough nice things about them. My advice to you if no dealers are around. Find an Indy. Lack of trust if you can't work on the car yourself is #1.

ufischer

Iceter, I feel bad for you. I have several P dealers within driving distance and so far have had very good experiences.

Regarding the red PDK light, I would not sit on it. I had a similar experience with my 2009 997.2 and after a while the transmission went into limp mode while driving. Took it to the dealer (Champion Porsche, I highly recommend them) and they ended up giving me a brand new transmission. So, if I was you I would definitely get that looked at while you are under warranty. 10 times in 10K miles sounds like a lot. Also, regarding their being unable to duplicate, even if that was the case there ought to be fault codes stored in the ECU that should give them a hint of what is wrong and confirm that you are not imagining things.

rotesAuto

wow, that's quite a story! and a hell of a first visit! I have been there too and was not impressed in the least with the service department or the salesmen that sell the cars! I brought my Targa there to have some air horns put in.....turns out they put them in wrong, frying a control board
as a result.......but they did fix it on their dime so I was pleased with that...
I reallydon't know why dealerships treat people with such little amounts of respect and common decency.....
I have gotten two Porsche's from the Chapel Hill store, and do enjoy going there for things, however, I'm not sure if they have an actual Porsche guy there yet......they probably do by now but several months ago they did not...
good luck!
true! Phil told me they have Panny's as loaners too

Yet anothercrisis

I thought at first you might be talking about my dealer in Greensboro as even though I bought my car new from them, it took three tries and finally a three week stay in their garage to get them to repair a bad module that was causing the battery to discharge intermittantly. Even though they could get a code, they eventually had to email Germany and receive email instructions back as to which module might be bad and causing the problem.
I laughed once when I left there as I drove in to the shop in a Porsche and left in a Kia...however the Kia would start when needed!

Don't bother driving the miles from your location to Greensboro. I might try Hendrick in Fayetteville or Charlotte, but every dealer is a 60-80 mile trip for me making it a PITA to deal with any of them.

My previous Corvette was serviced locally which was a breeze and it never needed anything other than oil changes at $29.99. I do however now ride in for service in a Porsche!

The P car dealers near us need competition.

Good luck.

Iceter

I talked to the service writer about that. He said if it threw a code, it would probably clear itself after I drove it awhile, which I thought sounded odd--why would it bother throwing a code if it wasn't going to be stored for some length of time? When I asked how long it stored a code like that, he didn't know.

I even showed him the icon in the owner's manual and the message it gave on the message center but he said they could do nothing unless the tech could get it to happen in the shop, which of course, infuriated me.

Then he suggested that if it happened again, I could drive straight over to the shop so that they could look at it right away. I replied that when the fault happens, the car won't move and if I re-start it and get the fault to go away, by his logic, the code would clear on the 25 mile drive over and they'd still refuse to work on it.

He said he believed me when I told him what the car was doing, which, in itself is a little insulting--he'd damned well better believe me--but the tech wouldn't know where to start unless they saw this happen.

I have lots of time and miles left on the CPO. It will either get worse or it won't. I'll wait it out. It's no skin off my nose if something gredades and they have to throw some new parts at it.

iammulva

For what it's worth.....


You don't mention how much longer you have on your CPO, but if there is a chance that your problem doesn't re-manifest itself until after the CPO expires and you haven't "documented" the problem prior to CPO expiration, you will be in a much weaker position to get it fixed under warranty.

I suggest that you either now, or the very next time it happens, take a picture of the dash display before you restart. Then, when you restart (and assuming it goes away), take another picture. Then you send both pictures with the problem description in writing to PCNA and cc your dealer. This will establish that you have some problem that, to borrow from our legal system, is "capable of repetition yet evading review".

This may give you some leverage in the event that you experience a critical failure outside the warranty period. Secondly, and this is just me hoping, maybe PCNA will encourage the dealer to take a closer look at it (hope hope). As it is unlikely that a competing dealer will materialize in your area anytime soon, this may serve as a substitute for competition.

You never know....

Jasper1

I don't know if its Leith or Performance, but I've had a satisfactory experience with Leith on my '06 CPO.