Pretty Dam Annoyed to be honest ! ! !

Ok, so I eyed up a short shifter for my 996 turbo and spent the money and got it. The car was going into Porsche yesterday to get the sun roof looked at as it was rattling like mad. So I asked them to fit the short shifter for me too! "no problems" they said we do them all the time!!! went to pick it up today, got in the car to find that the hand break has big bits of leather scuffed up and hanging off on the underside and the centre console has not gone back right so when the hand break was pulled up it stripped even more leather off the front face as it scragged up plastic on the console!! the hand break side cover was also loose and i just pulled it straight out! it had no clips in the holes to hold it in place. I walked back in told them and showed them the car, they said hmmm we dont know how thats happended as we put tape over it when removing the console. I dont know how they could have missed the fact that there were big bits of leather just hanging off the things.. lucky for me they are replacing the hand break at there cost and it was a bit scratched and damaged from using it. in a way i'm pissed off but in a way i get a new hand break from it so it saves me 500 bucks! what I'm more annoyed about is the fact that you take these cars to the dealers as you expect them to do it right and not mess it up.. why there were no clips holding the side cover too was just stupid as you could just pull the thing straight out and it wobbled around. I have also noticed that since my service at porsche a few months back that my mounting points for the tail lights are all shattered to bits as the bolts holding them in have been done up too tight and have shattered the plastic surrounding them. I only noticed this when my light pretty much fell out while driving allong. I've had to tie-rap them in place for now but am a bit pissed off as I now have to spend more money fixing them when the only thing wrong is the mounts have broken due to some idiot at Edinburgh Porsche doing them up too tight!!! I have no way of saying to them that it was them as i only notice months after the service.. Is it really worth taking my car to them if there just going to screw it up and break it every time I take it there. allway check you car over before leaving the Garage as once you've left they can say that you did the damage if there is any on the vehicle. sorry for the rant just needed to let off some steam... :sad: O and make sure if your taking the console out that you cover up the hand break as well as you can..

That sucks Dude!

I had the same issue with the tail lights on my Turbo in that the plastic screw holes were knackered... the best and most cost effective option I had was to get them repaired by our local plastic welder... he did and awesome job and reinforced them aswell... the final job looks mint and the cost was minimal.

I'm affraid I dont have the bits of plastic that were there in the first place as it all fell out. I was left with the small metal rind insert and thats about it. I'll probably just stick with the tie-raps for that ghetto Drift car look! well you cant see them untill you open the engine cover. I've seen a few on ebay for sale for a couple of hundred but what if it happens again on the next service! are they something that is easy to break? it took allot of force to get the bolts out they were put in so dam tight! they now cant get a hand break in for today so it's on back order. I have to live my super scragged leather one for now! grrrrr.

2 of mine were completely broken off, the plastic welder just rebuilt them.

Ok cool, where abouts was that done I'm guessing thats something most plastic welders can do? I'm up in Edinburgh I'll take a look for one up here. if not how much did it cost and where did you get it done as i can send the lights down to him over the winter when the cars tucked away. Cheers for your help. A

Ok stupid me just noticed your in New zealand!! so thats not going to work!! Lol I'll take a look for one here in the UK.

I have no idea why people are surprised when main dealers don't do a proper job or give much of a damn. These people don't really care if you come back or not. A good indy garage (specialist obviously) will always do a more professional job in my experience. Their livelihood depends on it. When my Porsche warranty runs out in November the car will never go near a dealership again.

+1. Why go OPC...? They could not give a toss whether you return or not. They're just not bothered. It's worth remembering that an OPC is only a franchised garage at the end of the day anyway. Find a good indi and stick to him like glue. Christmas cards, the lot! He'll remember you for something so simple. It's just proper customer service, it's so easy to get right. The irony is that the guys at the OPC probably spent a day or so in training classes all suited and booted 'learning' how to 'deal' with customers! For everyone else it's just common sense. I'd love to take my car to an OPC - but I've just been let down by them so many times in the past.

+1 exactly what I've done, and to date, I've not had a single glitch with the indy I use. Main dealers only seem to be interested in cars of a younger vintage. When the car gets a bit older, they seem to lose interest and just want to fit new parts to everything. As for the warranty, I'm seriously considering one of the schemes offered by Hartech.

Case in point: The car I just bought had been serviced exclusively by Porsche from day 1. Before I bought the car I had Jaz Porsche do a PPi on it. There was nothing much wrong but the list included: * P.A.S. level low * retaining clip under front bonnet missing 999.560.036.40.01C £1.16 * pollen filter cover rubber nut and bolt need replacing 999.073.143.01 £2.34/999.500.092.00 £0.38 * brake fluid reservoir over filled * one of the nuts for the intercooler tinware is snapped so need drilling out * Two screws missing from the underside of the front bumper N.906.487.04 * Two screws missing from gearbox undertray 999.049.007.40 £0.10 * All the oxygen sensor cables need securing properly * The main muffler tinwear securing bolts need replacing 900.119.001.02 x12 £1.16,996.111.283.70 x12 £3.01,999.591.905.00.x12 £1.16 As I said, nothing awful but what does it say about the OPC mechanics who have been 'looking after' the car? That they don't really give a ***** if there are a few screws left over when they're finished or if something isn't secured properly. I bet if it had been taken to Northway or indeed JAZ themselves for all those years, none of this stuff would be out of place.

Yep that'd be right... New Zealand is a long way to send it. But any plastic welder who is any good should be able to repair it so it looks stock. The chap I use even reformed all washer inserts and smoothed them off, resprayed, etc. All for around the equivalent if about 60 pounds...

In defence of dealers, a few missing screws, means that due to JIT and zero stock holding, they have virtually no spares, so they would have to order the screws and then rebook in your car ( poss pick up ) and its simply not economical to do so. Also having worked on mine I know its almost impossible not to leave evidence of work esp on interior remove plastic parts or pulling off plastic catches that break upon removal are just a nightmare. I have removed my binnacle a few times for various reasons and despite using towels over the dash, the soft leather marks so easily with the hard plastic mountings on the bottom of the binnacle. Also how come all the black screws in the interior are black, but as soon as I go near them to remove them, the black scratches off and I'm left with that 'that dash has been removed' look. I resorted to putting dabs of black paint over them after I upgraded my speakers. Don't get me started on the underneath, bolts that are rusted so no socket fits them and then assuming you can hammer another one on, the bolts then snaps off. I have the grazed knuckles this weekend to prove it.

I totally agree with everyones comments, I dont think i'll be taking it there after this has happened. The only goo thing that has come out of it is I get a new hand break that i was going to replace anyway I have also moaned to Porsche UK about what happened to my lights and my hand break and they have given me the next service for free! as long as they dont break even more of my car! I'm not sure what an Indie would have done about the hand break if they had done the same, I'm not sure if they would have replaced it but I dont know I guess so I cant really say. The only good thing about taking it to Porsche is if you moan or have problems then go straight to Porsche UK and they will contact the garage and get them to sort out whats wrong and give you some free stuff! any people on here up in Edinburgh who can point me in the direction of a good Indie?? I know of a couple but would like some feed back on them if possible. A

There are a couple of good Indys in Edinburgh who have been mentioned favourably a few times on this forum. They are Brian Miller and Davy Philips. I have personally used Davy for all work on my car and I'm happy to recommend him. HTH