I picked up my 2008 2.7 on Saturday, December 15th. Having read all of the comments on Cayman Club news regarding a break in period, I decided to drive the car to Virginia and the Carolina’s for the holidays to build up miles. I kept the car well under 4000 until about 1800 miles. At that time I went up to about 5500. When I did, I heard a loud rattling sound in the engine compartment. Obviously, I quickly backed off.
My next action was to call the local dealer, Hendrick’s, in Charlotte, NC. The operator paged the service manager and I reach his voice mail and I left a message just before noon on the 27th. I explained the problem and asked if I should visit their shop while in the area or wait until I returned home to deal with the problem. Much to my dismay, Hendrick never called me back on either Thursday or Friday.
I have owned Audi’s and MB’s in the past and have been thrilled with the dealer network. Is it common for Porsche dealers not to respond to problems if you didn’t purchase the car from them? Needless to say, I was not and am not a happy camper.
On the basis that the problem was not noticeable during normal driving, I choose to drive back to Florida as planned. I waited until I was within walking distance from home to try to replicate the problem. Surprisingly, when I exceed the 5500 rpm range, the motor sounded as normal as could be. For whatever reason, the problem seemed to be isolated to just one situation, for which I am very happy.
Has anyone else experienced a lack of cooperation with other dealers while traveling? Has anyone else experience that loud rattling?
Just the opposite I've had out of town dealerships help me very much, one even repaired my car for me.
Sorry to hear about your situation, do you recall the name of the service manager that you left voicemail for? Could be that he was out on vacation and forgot to update his outgoing message, that's common this time of the year.
I think you have just experienced a problem with Hendrick in particular and not Porsche dealerships in general.
Several years ago I bought a Boxster from Hendrick's and had fantastic service. Largely because of the good Boxster experience I bought a Cayman from them. I have not been too pleased this time around. I have been at the service desk four times since I bought my car in June. Three of those times I was literally ignored while the service manager "chatted" with a customer about track days.
(The customers were not in for service. They were in to socialize.)
I do not expect a service manager - or any other customer service person - to drop what they are doing just for me. I would have been happy with a nod or "I'll be with you in just a second." I didn't even get that.
Since they are a site sponsor I have probably cooked my goose for any future service but I have not been pleased.
By the way, the sales staff is great! I enjoyed doing business with them.
Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like my experience was unique, which makes me feel much better.
I do not recall the name of the Service Manager. In fact, I expected a quick response so I didn't even think of getting his name.
Yes, they may be on vacation at this time of the year, but I would have thought that the receptionist would have mentioned that fact before transferring me.
Have a great day folks.
I feel sure your experience with Hendrick was out of the ordinary! I don’t think you could find a better group of people at any dealership. You should have just dropped by. I’m sure they would have taken care of you.
I drop in and run my yap all the time. Sometime about track days
Sorry Spencer
This is not typical of service at Porsche dealers - I drive my car all over the country to PCA events like the Porsche Parade and Croctoberfest, etc. and every time I've gone into a local Porsche dealership for something warranty or not, I'm treated like royalty. Two examples... couple of years ago, I had driven my 996 turbo out to Parade in Hershey, PA, then went to to see friends in New Jersey. On the way to New Jersey, the CD player went nuts... my friend pointed be to Ray Catena Porsche in Editson, NJ and they took the car right in knowing I was from out of town, fixed it, and fed me lunch while I was waiting. Last month, I was living in Mill Valley (in Marin County, CA) for two months while working on the same project that has me currently in Shenzhen China... I had brought all of my driving stuff with me - helmet, shoes, gloves, etc. because there were still some events on the Golden Gate Region PCA calendar, and one of my friends was nice enough to let me drive his car in them... it was sunny, and I had forgotten my hat, though... so I went into Sonnen Porsche to buy one of the new "Spyder" hats... my usual hat was getting kind of worn out anyway... so, I drove into the dealership in my Honda Insight Hybrid, and went into the parts department, were they were eating lunch in the back. They stopped eating, I explained why I needed a new hat - they opened the cabinet, let me pick a hat, and the guy looked at me and says: "on the house..."
brad
In fairness I should say that the Parts Department at Hendrick's is
excellent
!! They have gone out of their way to find parts and accessories and answer my questions. They always have a smile and even offered me donuts the last time that I was there.
I guess 2 out of 3 isn't too bad.
