What is like being a Porsche customer?
- Thread starter paulmichele
- Start date
As a slight aside: do any of the OPCs that sponsor and/or run race cars ever offer tickets to their customers?
My experience with OPC Silverstone has generally been good. The salesman was always courteous, even when I first turned up in post-motocross jeans. Service not quite as good and with the high costs and refusal to renew the warranty, I've switched to local independant Porsche specialists instead. I think Silverstone could be a little more pro-active as I get the feeling they've lost interest in me ever buying a new car.
My experience with OPC Silverstone has generally been good. The salesman was always courteous, even when I first turned up in post-motocross jeans. Service not quite as good and with the high costs and refusal to renew the warranty, I've switched to local independant Porsche specialists instead. I think Silverstone could be a little more pro-active as I get the feeling they've lost interest in me ever buying a new car.
This is only my second modern Porsche both bought from Sheffield. Previous to that I'd run three others which I'd mostly maintained myself.
I've found Sheffield OPC to be very helpful and they don't press for sales too much, a good attitude to customers too unlike some.
They've given my son and I a Silverstone Cayman experience, invites to model launches etc, service desk people are good to deal with and it's good to get the opportunity to talk with the technicians about problems. When there have been problems they have done all possible for me to leave their place at least pleased with the result.
I've recommended them to others on several occasions and think they generally have the balance right.
I've found Sheffield OPC to be very helpful and they don't press for sales too much, a good attitude to customers too unlike some.
They've given my son and I a Silverstone Cayman experience, invites to model launches etc, service desk people are good to deal with and it's good to get the opportunity to talk with the technicians about problems. When there have been problems they have done all possible for me to leave their place at least pleased with the result.
I've recommended them to others on several occasions and think they generally have the balance right.
Hi Paul
I have owned 4 Porsches over the last 6 years, 3 bought secondhand and 1 new from 2 OPC's Solihull and Bristol.
Both OPC's have been first class, although the purchase process does seem to sometimes improve during the last week of the month if buying secondhand.
I don't feel as though the service was any different when buying used against new, the experience has always been special but that is possibly partly to do with buying something newer,faster and more expensive (boys and toys) and the excitement of wanting to get it out on the open road.
I was a little disappointed to find when I took my 997 C2S Cab into Bristol for service I was given a Mini diesel as a courtesy car, mind you that was nearly 2 years ago so it may have changed.
I think the cost of ownership through an OPC is expensive until I compare with Ferrari or Lamborgini and then I realise my Porsche is my only chance of supercar ownership and I should not expect the cost to be the same as a Mondeo or even a BMW because the driving experience certainly is not. I accept I have to pay for my pleasure in this life but a deal is normally there to be had.
Gripes - 3 year warranty like everyone else, rad grilles as standard and therefore not having to fit them yourself to save Porsche warranty costs, any little opportunity to dodge behind a non standard part to avoid warranty claims which seems to be Porsche rather than the OPC (eg I remember a bodywrap being mentioned before) and possibly my biggest gripe a decent sounding exhaust on the turbo if you are spending ÂŁ100K on a performance car part of the grin factor is it sounding like a performance car as you cannot fit an aftermarket item without invalidating the aformentioned warranty.
Oh and one fear, that the arrival of the 991 does not ruin the most active PCGB register.
Geoff
garyw
Moderator
I think the biggest gripe of all is the warranty and its 'hold' over the owner, I guess they can say we have a choice, however I don't see the same limitations on other marque documentation.
Certainly for me the warranty has worked out good(radiators) but I feel it's not my car entirely to do with if I wish ot have mechanical warranty.
I do also know they will blame Germany for the rules [&:]
garyw
Certainly for me the warranty has worked out good(radiators) but I feel it's not my car entirely to do with if I wish ot have mechanical warranty.
I do also know they will blame Germany for the rules [&:]
garyw
As I said earlier I think the warranty that is offered by Porsche should be the market leader and not something close to the bear minimum. The PCs, as franchisees, are caught between a rock and a hard place and while undoubtedly the policy is set by Germany I doubt you will find many Porsche Centres that will hide behind that reason as an excuse. Most, and certainly mine (Exeter), will do all that they can within the "rules" to help. Of course there will be exceptions but sometimes I wonder how much the attitude of the customer (who is not always right!) goes towards getting a successful outcome.
I hear very few problems against any of the OPCs these days except for prices of parts or warranties often simply that under warranty terms it is necessary to have no non-Porsche modifications so it has to have Porsche branded battery etc.
As someone said mesh grills as standard would be nice as it would protect the radiators and condensers but if we fit them and it is taken into an OPC it's a non-Porsche mod, after market short shifts etc fare the same.
The main reason we do extend the warranties is for engines and transmissions and it would be preferable if it was found we had non-Porsche mods that the mods are not covered rather than the whole car. My son once leased a Boxster S from Porsche but they would not allow renewal of the warranty as the battery was not Porsche branded even though it was on the car when he collected it from them!
Generally, the OPCs try to support the customers but Porsche AG's motives are questionable.
As someone said mesh grills as standard would be nice as it would protect the radiators and condensers but if we fit them and it is taken into an OPC it's a non-Porsche mod, after market short shifts etc fare the same.
The main reason we do extend the warranties is for engines and transmissions and it would be preferable if it was found we had non-Porsche mods that the mods are not covered rather than the whole car. My son once leased a Boxster S from Porsche but they would not allow renewal of the warranty as the battery was not Porsche branded even though it was on the car when he collected it from them!
Generally, the OPCs try to support the customers but Porsche AG's motives are questionable.
sidicks
PCGB Member
A few thoughts from me (which appear to tie in with comments made by others).
1) New car warranty has to be 3 years minimum (preferably 5 years to show confidence in the brand and exceed key competitors). This would go some way to offset the inevitable substantial price rise that will no doubt accompany the new car).
2) If 3 years as standard, there should be a 5 year warranty on the options list at additional cost (which includes OPC checks at years 4 and 5).
3) There should be scope for the OPC to permit certain non-standard items if declared and investigated (at the owner's expense) and for the owner to agree that these and related items would not be covered by the warranty (details to be included on the warranty documentation).
4) Some protection for the front radiators seems like a no brainer!
5) As someone with a letter of intent down for the 991 Turbo, the option of an appropriate Sports Exhaust system is a strong recommendation!!
6) Get the Sat Nav to do full postcode searches and add the functionality to download POI such as speed cameras etc via OPC download and updated at regular service interval (at small cost, if necessary).
7) Better quality control and recognition of problems, so that things like flakey wheel nuts etc are rectified quickly (rather than requiring a helpful OPC to exercise judgement).
8) Fewer special editions to keep the residuals up, and make those editions that are released mean something - rather than just a different colour paint etc.
9) Better association with the Motorsport part of the brand - maybe 1 pair of tickets to an event every 3 years of ownership.
10) Similarly, maybe an invite to Silverstone performance centre every 3 years to receive a 'brand update' and 'encouragement' to upgrade! (This currently seems very ad hoc and dealer specific).
Cheers
[
]
Sidicks
1) New car warranty has to be 3 years minimum (preferably 5 years to show confidence in the brand and exceed key competitors). This would go some way to offset the inevitable substantial price rise that will no doubt accompany the new car).
2) If 3 years as standard, there should be a 5 year warranty on the options list at additional cost (which includes OPC checks at years 4 and 5).
3) There should be scope for the OPC to permit certain non-standard items if declared and investigated (at the owner's expense) and for the owner to agree that these and related items would not be covered by the warranty (details to be included on the warranty documentation).
4) Some protection for the front radiators seems like a no brainer!
5) As someone with a letter of intent down for the 991 Turbo, the option of an appropriate Sports Exhaust system is a strong recommendation!!
6) Get the Sat Nav to do full postcode searches and add the functionality to download POI such as speed cameras etc via OPC download and updated at regular service interval (at small cost, if necessary).
7) Better quality control and recognition of problems, so that things like flakey wheel nuts etc are rectified quickly (rather than requiring a helpful OPC to exercise judgement).
8) Fewer special editions to keep the residuals up, and make those editions that are released mean something - rather than just a different colour paint etc.
9) Better association with the Motorsport part of the brand - maybe 1 pair of tickets to an event every 3 years of ownership.
10) Similarly, maybe an invite to Silverstone performance centre every 3 years to receive a 'brand update' and 'encouragement' to upgrade! (This currently seems very ad hoc and dealer specific).
Cheers
[
]Sidicks
The product isn't perfect and suggesting the customer may not be right breeds resentment particularly when the customer is right!
Improving expectations management around problem resolution might be useful on the part of Porsche UK, e.g. they can tell you when a vehicle will roll of the production line but fault resolution seems to have an over-reliance on diagnostic technology which simply isn't capable, rather than employ sometimes no more than common sense "" how many times has a customer reported a fault only for the technician to stonewall it with "it has not logged on the system and therefore it is not a fault" (the computer says no?) ? Maybe this just corroborates a focus on sales and not after sales"¦
Good luck and look forward to your feedback!
Improving expectations management around problem resolution might be useful on the part of Porsche UK, e.g. they can tell you when a vehicle will roll of the production line but fault resolution seems to have an over-reliance on diagnostic technology which simply isn't capable, rather than employ sometimes no more than common sense "" how many times has a customer reported a fault only for the technician to stonewall it with "it has not logged on the system and therefore it is not a fault" (the computer says no?) ? Maybe this just corroborates a focus on sales and not after sales"¦
Good luck and look forward to your feedback!
Hi all,
Four of us went to the Festival of Speed yesterday and had a great time. We went with some friends that both own Audi's and were treated to some excellent Audi hospitality. All we had to do was produce Audi key fobs to gain entry in their excellent hospitality area, of which they kindly brought their spare ones. Hence the reason we got invited. There were also free beverages and strawberries all day long.
During our walk around we visited many of the major car manufactures exhibits and displays all very nicely done. Alfa's was good as was BMW/Mini. Then onto the small performance manufactures stands that also made a great effort.
On our walk up to the top end of the track we came across this, what looked like to be a second hand car show room stuck under the trees well removed from the main events area.
When we got closer we noticed what it was, and guess what? It was Porsche's enclosure jokingly called the Porsche Experience Centre. It was an embarrassment to me as a proud Porsche owner to take my friends into this "hut"Âť
The flooring in part of the show area was of the rubber you put on school play grounds. The other half of the show room was dark and miserable. The selection of cars on display was a joke. Their so called "experience"Âť part of this exhibit was being hooned around the back field in Cayenne. This should be renamed next year "The Porsche Bad Experience Centre"Âť
Just for comparison. As with most years, Porsche Hatfield had an exhibit at this year's Herts Show near Redbourn in Hertfordshire. It was a stunning exhibit with great cars on display showing what Porsche does best. Their excellent sales team and technicians were on hand for questions etc. What's more the Herts show is not even about cars......... Why not this same effort at the FOS????
Porsche, you have got to try harder!!!!!
From a very disappointed and embarrassed Porsche owner []
Mike
Four of us went to the Festival of Speed yesterday and had a great time. We went with some friends that both own Audi's and were treated to some excellent Audi hospitality. All we had to do was produce Audi key fobs to gain entry in their excellent hospitality area, of which they kindly brought their spare ones. Hence the reason we got invited. There were also free beverages and strawberries all day long.
During our walk around we visited many of the major car manufactures exhibits and displays all very nicely done. Alfa's was good as was BMW/Mini. Then onto the small performance manufactures stands that also made a great effort.
On our walk up to the top end of the track we came across this, what looked like to be a second hand car show room stuck under the trees well removed from the main events area.
When we got closer we noticed what it was, and guess what? It was Porsche's enclosure jokingly called the Porsche Experience Centre. It was an embarrassment to me as a proud Porsche owner to take my friends into this "hut"Âť
The flooring in part of the show area was of the rubber you put on school play grounds. The other half of the show room was dark and miserable. The selection of cars on display was a joke. Their so called "experience"Âť part of this exhibit was being hooned around the back field in Cayenne. This should be renamed next year "The Porsche Bad Experience Centre"Âť
Just for comparison. As with most years, Porsche Hatfield had an exhibit at this year's Herts Show near Redbourn in Hertfordshire. It was a stunning exhibit with great cars on display showing what Porsche does best. Their excellent sales team and technicians were on hand for questions etc. What's more the Herts show is not even about cars......... Why not this same effort at the FOS????
Porsche, you have got to try harder!!!!!
From a very disappointed and embarrassed Porsche owner [
] Mike
Man_of_Steel
New member
Having only been a Porsche owner for coming up to 11 months now, I can only speak from my experiences so far and not how they fare compared to years gone past..... not sure if this is a good or bad thing?
Anyhow, for me it all about how i get treated between buying cars. I get an awful lot of sales literature and invites to my local OPC for drives etc, but very little communication about looking after my car or servicing deals etc. No doubt I will make my own choice as to when I will replace the current car and what Porsche need to do is look after me before then. If they get this right, give me great customer service, perceived value for money and I feel like i can trust them, then getting a new sale out of me a year or so down the line should take care of itself.
So far the local OPC at Tonbridge have done a pretty good job - very welcoming, always have a loan car available and you cant fault the way you are treated in delearship. But with a major service looming in a month or so time we will see what that brings. All we can ask for is transparency, honesty and fair value when it comes to servicing and this will have a major decision on my future decision to buy another car from the OPC or not.
Gripes so far....very few really. Porsche policy of matching N nos on tyres is a bit of a pain (tyre supply in the marketplace seems haphazard at moment) and this can lead to what is easily viewed as unnecesary cost when you are forced to replace perfectly good tyres cos you cant match the N nos.
Anyhow, for me it all about how i get treated between buying cars. I get an awful lot of sales literature and invites to my local OPC for drives etc, but very little communication about looking after my car or servicing deals etc. No doubt I will make my own choice as to when I will replace the current car and what Porsche need to do is look after me before then. If they get this right, give me great customer service, perceived value for money and I feel like i can trust them, then getting a new sale out of me a year or so down the line should take care of itself.
So far the local OPC at Tonbridge have done a pretty good job - very welcoming, always have a loan car available and you cant fault the way you are treated in delearship. But with a major service looming in a month or so time we will see what that brings. All we can ask for is transparency, honesty and fair value when it comes to servicing and this will have a major decision on my future decision to buy another car from the OPC or not.
Gripes so far....very few really. Porsche policy of matching N nos on tyres is a bit of a pain (tyre supply in the marketplace seems haphazard at moment) and this can lead to what is easily viewed as unnecesary cost when you are forced to replace perfectly good tyres cos you cant match the N nos.
Manxviking
New member
As a first time owner of a Porsche my experience has been mixed. I bought the car from Guildford in the bull market of 2006, not even a key ring or umbrella thrown in. The only time i had any contact from the OPC was when i enquired about upgrading to a GEN 2 at the end of 08. At this point the sales team went into overdrive and talked about how they liked to keep in touch with owners every 6 months!! Service dept wasn't much better, on one occasion they "misplaced" the VTS fob for 48 hours without any form of apology and then forgot to reset the computer following its first service.
I have been dealing with Chester for the last 3 years and couldn't fault the service.
Re the actual product. Let's hope that the new model will have a satnav that is actually worth having.
I have been dealing with Chester for the last 3 years and couldn't fault the service.
Re the actual product. Let's hope that the new model will have a satnav that is actually worth having.
stuey
PCGB Member
I can only speak for myself over the last 2 years of Porsche ownership. Firstly I am happy in general with the relationship I have with the local OPC, I am on first name terms with the service and spares team, but I feel that the Porsche brand needs to do some more work for its existing customers (eg. I still get BMW letters inviting me to promo's and to test drive their latest products every few months and this is 3 years after I sold the car. So more interaction with the OPC's and the Porsche brand would be a positive move).
Firstly Porsche needs to work on the warranty for new cars in the first place. To only get 2 years and then making you pay for the 3rd year - come on don't you think we pay enough. If you look at the other manufacturers and their warranty policies - would be a start. I have a friend who drives a top of the range Lexus (from new). After a couple of years he noticed rust on one of his alloys and another had started to bubble. Despite not being on all 4 wheels, Lexus exchanged them for brand new ones and threw in new tyres as well!! They said that they did not want to give him a bad experience nor fail to meet his expectations. They know that by giving him that level of service, he will go back and buy another car off them The German manufacturers have been slow to take this up if they ever have (in my opinion).
Secondly Porsche needs to help owners and design something to protect the radiators. I have retro-fitted grills from Porschop after having to replace all the rad's and the condensors. This is a basic design issue come on Porsche your cars are to die for, so lets not design 9/10's of the car. Other isssues to look at are RMS, IMS, scoured pots that we are continually reading about and the Sat-Nav is another issue (for me anyway). Need it to be able to accept postcodes and be a little more robust.
Having said the above I find that owning one puts a smile on my face every morning when I start it up and an even bigger one when I put my foot to the floor.
[][][][][][][]
Stu
Firstly Porsche needs to work on the warranty for new cars in the first place. To only get 2 years and then making you pay for the 3rd year - come on don't you think we pay enough. If you look at the other manufacturers and their warranty policies - would be a start. I have a friend who drives a top of the range Lexus (from new). After a couple of years he noticed rust on one of his alloys and another had started to bubble. Despite not being on all 4 wheels, Lexus exchanged them for brand new ones and threw in new tyres as well!! They said that they did not want to give him a bad experience nor fail to meet his expectations. They know that by giving him that level of service, he will go back and buy another car off them The German manufacturers have been slow to take this up if they ever have (in my opinion).
Secondly Porsche needs to help owners and design something to protect the radiators. I have retro-fitted grills from Porschop after having to replace all the rad's and the condensors. This is a basic design issue come on Porsche your cars are to die for, so lets not design 9/10's of the car. Other isssues to look at are RMS, IMS, scoured pots that we are continually reading about and the Sat-Nav is another issue (for me anyway). Need it to be able to accept postcodes and be a little more robust.
Having said the above I find that owning one puts a smile on my face every morning when I start it up and an even bigger one when I put my foot to the floor.
[
][][][][][][]Stu
Dear all
Many many thanks for your excellent contributions. I regret to tell you, however, that the Porsche UK team responsible for customer feedback DO NOT READ this forum (ie the PCGB offish site not just the 997 part).
The argument is that this is a private forum and that "Porsche" can't respond to every post (or if they responded to a few/some, they would have set an expectation that they would respond).
To say I was shocked was an understatement and am now in pursuit of a better understanding of the position.
More anon
Many many thanks for your excellent contributions. I regret to tell you, however, that the Porsche UK team responsible for customer feedback DO NOT READ this forum (ie the PCGB offish site not just the 997 part).
The argument is that this is a private forum and that "Porsche" can't respond to every post (or if they responded to a few/some, they would have set an expectation that they would respond).
To say I was shocked was an understatement and am now in pursuit of a better understanding of the position.
More anon
Surely just reading what happens here does not require a response?! I know that PCs read what is going on here without necessarily contributing to the debate. Perhaps you can find out why they feel they can't do the same - I'm sure they would gain a much clearer insight as to what is happening at the pit face, so to speak!
I am not surprised at all. This just about sums up PCGB blinkered approach to customer service. It's never been good and my personal approaches over the years have not left me with much respect or trust in their service.
I remember my first contact with Reading CS after my then 944 was badly repainted at an approved south coast body shop near Bournemouth. A small dot of red paint was underneath the new lacquer of my gold paint and when I pointed this out to them I was told I had put it there! How I could have lifted the new lacquer defies logic and I just had to laugh. Sad though it was the workmanship was poor and I got poor support and service from Reading.
Lets no forget that ultimately they are just car dealers and want to extract the max money from you. And that's the bottom line.
Surely the appropiate interface would be at the regular meetings between Club Officials and Porsche Cars where issues being raised on the forums could be discussed - perhaps as a sub committee.
Andy
Andy
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