Disappointed with Dealer - advice please

On Monday of this week my 911 developed a fault and the engine stop came on. As luck would have it I was parked outside the office of my client, located about 400m from the main dealer in Colchester. They diagnosed the fault, a broken MAF Meter (P996.606.124.00), they had the parts to fix it, and charged me £594.83. I drove home and all was well. Today was the first time I've had to use my car since the repair work and I figured this was a good time to check the engine fluid levels. I opened the bonnet and to my horror there was Snap-On socket end perched on the side of the engine bay. I had to visit the same client again this morning so afterwards I went to the Porsche dealer as ask for their take on this. I politely explained what I had found and the manager asked to look in my engine bay, he they had me point out where I'd found the socket end and agreed it belong to them. He then said "I can only apologise" and "there was no danger of the socket-end damaging my engine or putting me in at risk ". I told him that I disagree with his analysis and that it could have easily slipped into the engine and caused all sorts of problems. He reiterated that can ONLY apologise and this was his final stance on the matter. Can anyone offer me a reality check here, am I being unreasonable in expecting more than an apology or is this par for the course behaviour? Dan

Re: Disappointed with Colchester Porsche Dealer - advice ple My thoughts... You got taken for a ride! That part is £188 from design911... http://www.design911.co.uk/fu/prod9...sche-996-2000-----996C4---996TT---M339---M620 Even then you can get it cheaper. That would have been an easy diagnosis too, max maybe 1 hour with a 5 min fit. Why did they even have to use snap on tools, it's a couple of torx screws... :? :?

Maybe worth speaking /writing to Porsche GB about the 'tool' incident.

Re: Disappointed with Colchester Porsche Dealer - advice ple I figured it would be vastly over priced, I expected that from the dealer. And I would not have used them but the fault light came on and they were in walking distance. I've just found a specialist about 9 miles away from my house, I'm booked in with them for a full service next week.

I'll write to them and report back with the response.

Re: Disappointed with Colchester Porsche Dealer - advice ple My reply read a bit brash actually, sometimes you do have to pay the price out of necessity...

I remember washing my car about two weeks after service at an OPC. To my surprise I found an entire spanner still wedged on one of the bolts on the rear wishbone (or whatever it is - visible through the wheel though) I didn't bother complaining - what's done is done and they would only apologise - but I did get a nice Snap-On spanner out of it....

Luckily it didn't cause any harm therefore only reasonable that they apologise. I would be p'd off too but with no harm done and no loss or real inconvenience caused I think you have to write it off as a bad experience and move on.

Leaving tools on the job just done ,is oh so easy, I dont think you have anything to really complain about,but.. it just goes to show that for all they charge and all the ***** of the entire procedure from the confidence inspiring showroom through to the highly polished workshop, they are no different to any other garage. I dislike these places more than the dentists! Mike

I found a strategically bent screwdriver in the roof mechanism of my S2000 after it had been in for a service with Honda. I generally use it for opening tins of paint.

some time has passed and I've cooled down a bit. Ultimately I'm left with a feeling of disappointment. I'm a network engineer and I screw up occasionally just like everyone else. But if the circumstances were equated to my work flow I would have refunded the labour charge and made sure I learnt something from the experience. This has the effect of leaving my client with the knowledge that I take pride in my work, enough that I'm willing to pay for the very rare mistakes that I make. I've generally found this approach turns a negative into a positive and leads to a good working relationship in future endeavours. Conversely, the reaction from the Porsche Dealer has left me feeling they don't take pride in their work and they don't take matters like this seriously. This makes me (A) not want to ever use them again and (B) tell everyone I know not to use them either. Rant over Dan

My 997 went in for its 2 year service last month and was duly washed for me while I waited. My surprise I was driving away to find a bottle of green stuff in the passenger door slot. Looked at it when i got home and it is a 250ml bottle of Porsche 1:100 window cleaner 80% full Dilute 25ml with water to make 2.5L. I think I've got a lifetimes worth :grin: 000.044.000.87 Maybe Richard H can tell me the value of my 'gain' Bet it's not the £2k it cost all in with warranty but anything is welcome.

£2.86 +VAT :floor:

Last time I had mine serviced at an OPC I brimmed the washer bottle, they still left a full (opened) bottle of washer fluid in the boot and charged me for it!! I took it back and said i didn't want it.. Refunded, but never went back to that one, how many poeple just accept it??

:floor: £3 is £3 :frustrated: Well it was not on the bill at least.