I'm a bit miffed, no, ticked off. Dealership content

So, the tires on the ole 2k 911 are looking pretty worn especially the rears as we all have come to expect. I decide to take the thing in my life that was on the short list of "must haves before I die", to the dealership to get four new tires, a balance and the Porsche recommended alignment. (urge to kill rising...) Alrighty, I know that I could use an indy for this job but it's important to me to make sure the 911 gets the very best care and treatment we all should expect from, qualified Porsche service at the fickin' Porsche Dealership. Not the Exxon down the street, not the Harry's Tire Emporium, not the kids at the local Just Tire but the Porsche Dealership. (urge to kill rising...) So I get a call from my service manager stating cheerfully that my beloved 911, notice I call it a 911, not the water thumper, not the the thing with the ugly lights but simply "the 911", I seriously dig this car. Where was I, oh yeah, my beloved 911 is ready to be received by my wanting hands, with all alignment specs in "the green", green is good, real good for an 8 year old car that spends most of its life on pothole infested urban thoroughfares. (urge to kill rising...) Ok, my 911 does have a ding or two that I will eventually attend to, the front bumper has a little scratch and you know the things in front of the rear tires on the bottom of the fenders that look like mud flaps but in actuality is a drag coefficient reduction body part? well one is cracked and I'll replace it, but beyond that, it looks pretty darn good for an all original 2000 Carrera in discontinued Ocean Blue Metallic. (urge to kill rising...) To the point... I tell the service manager that I'll pick it up tomorrow on my way to work, she's fine with that, good, cool even. There was a wicked thunderstorm I didn't want to be a part of last night. I head to the dealership this morning happy to unload this A3 they provided and pick up my baby. I get their, pay the bill, $1750 with the PCA discount and I'm off to the office. Yep $1750 for four tires the balance and alignment. A little voice in side my head kept chanting "you have to pay to play, you have to pay to play...", i guess that made me feel better, kinda, err not. $1750 holy crap. (urge to kill rising...) I know get to the point, the dilemma, the thing that is irking you already... I get to work and park in the well lit garage and decide, hey lets look at the cool new tread.... wait, what is on my left rear turbo twist wheel, my Porsche engineered and flawless example of... perfect left rear turbo twist 18 inch option wheel. I bend down and feel the new ring around my wheel that wasn't their when I gave them my 911. Funny, I distinctly remember returning that thing called an A3, the loaner Porsche/Audi provided me in perfect condition. I did not add a new groove in that cars left rear wheel. I walk around to the passenger side rear wheel and behold. Porsche certified mechanics add an intermittent groove around that wheel too. All ready horrified, I look at the front wheels, yeah guess what except they added gashes along the front rim to go along with the new grooves. My Porsche 18 in turbo Twist wheels, all four wheels, the wheels that Porsche, AG decided were best suited for Carrera's years before... You know what guys/gals the sun is going down and I'm going to hop on the Harley and try to unwind and release some stress. I'll finish the story later meh, not really a story but a semi coherent rant. You will learn about the bizarre phone conversation that i had with the My service manager while standing in my office garage parking lot.

I am anxiously awaiting the continuation of the story...I have many, many of my own Porsche dealer service experiences. Every time I deal with them I keep thinking "They slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night" Keep us posted.

Looking forward to the next part as well. I currently have a dealer "situation" that I have been trying to resolve now for months.

me 3. Did Porsche get hit by 6 sigma management or something???

Take the car back and quite simply, DEMAND of the service manager four new wheels to replace the ones they clearly damaged. If that doesn't work, write a letter to the owner of the dealership, copy the service manager and Porsche NA, and your attorney, again demanding to have the situation rectified to your satisfaction. Believe me, they know those customers who take meticulous care of their cars, and know EVERY scratch and ding on their cars. I'd be incredibly pissed.

I say enjoy your new st of wheels with fresh rubber on them, and maybe a discount on your next service as well ?? Ouch, that is just sad,, pathetic, and almost hard to believe that all 4 wheels could have been damaged.

I have been thinking about doing a pre-service inspection form (like when renting a car) and then having the manager sign it. Stories like this make it sound like a good idea.

Normally you would "walk the car" and they would have seen that the wheels are ok esp. when doing a tire job. I would def. contact the service manager and get some help here.

Maybe he just couldn't take the pain anymore?

But here is what the work you had done is worth: 2 Front tires (assume Michelin N3 Sport Pilots 18") $454 2 Rear tires (assume same Michelins 18") $690 Total $1144 For the same tires only 17" Fronts $372 Rears $484 Total $856 Mount/Balance/tire disposal $35 ea. Total $140 Alignment: $150 Misc: $25 Total: For 17" tires: $1171 + Tax: (assume 8%) $1265 For 18" tires: $1459 + Tax: $1575 These are not special or discount prices, but rather everyday "book" Porsche prices" Looks like you also got the $175 or the $485 "Rim Enhancement & Lightening" Package as well.

Haha thanks for the break down in price. It does help me feel better. And yeah, I couldn't take the pain anymore I was indeed livid... feeling better now, sane even. Ok, I'll post the conclusion tomorrow, it's getting late and I need to hit the sack. One more thing, I know sharing my little pity party has been therapeutic for me and entertaining for you but I do realize alot of you have had your fair share of bad luck with our beloved cars whether it be dealer issues or manufacturing issues. The blown engines ring a bell and I truly feel for each and every one of you that have had to deal with that, I really do. Thanks for your support and I'll finish this tirade tomorrow.

I take pictures of all four rims with my digital camera before dropping off the car at the dealer or tire place, then I leave the camera in the car. If the rims ever come back damaged and they claim that they were like that, I'll just pull the camera out of the center console and show them otherwise with dated pictures.

...I'm feeling better today about the whole thing so this will be short. I call up the dealership and explained about the new additions they added to my wheels. I wait for a response... hello? long pause... .... Really long pause from the service manager. I decided to break the silence. "I think there is something wrong with your tire mounting machine.", another long pause by the service tech... ...."oh, we've had problems with that tire machine.", My turn for the long pause, I'm mean what would go though your mind after an admission like that? my 1st thought, "Mr. BluesCast sorry but we've had issues with that mounting machine and since your car is a 911 and not an A3, I suggest you take it to another dealership or wait for us to fix our mounting apparatus.", but that wasn't the case... she simply said "oh, we have had problems with that tire machine". Excuse me but wtf. I didn't use expletives because I didn't have a chance... She did offer... "Mr. bluescast we have a GUY who can fix this and we will need your car for a few days. I said fine and here we are. My appointment is set for Monday next week. I've decided to see this proposed solution through and If every thing looks o.k, I'll be satisfied. If not, well we will just have to see. Ugh... (joking aside, if the car was an A3, I and you would be just as upset.)

Life is full of ups and downs. I think a simple phone call to the dealership to take care of the problem would have been my first step. The escalation and "urge to kill rising" is a bit dramatic...

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These guys typically do the work right on the car, make sure there is no overspray ANYWHERE on the car - or the brake calipers (ask me how I know). The repair work is not that complicated, it can just get messy. They will repair the marks, prime, paint, and clearcoat the damaged area. You should not be able to tell at all.

If at all possible in order to get the best results you will need to pull the tires off of the rim and give them the rims off of the car. This is the only way to insure that they are done properly and accurate. After they are done be sure to feel the area which was repaired to make sure the finish is the same as the rest of the wheel. In all fairness this is only a temporary fix and more than likely you may see the "repair" fade after some time. In short ask for new wheels

I had a bodyshop do repair to my car after a fender bender. In the process, someone evidently sat in my car w/a screwdriver and cut the seat! I called the bodyshop, they send someone over (a leather expert) and to this day, I can't tell where the cut was! The repair job was perfect and cost me nothing. Pardon my ignorance, but other that raping you on the cost of the tires, it sounds like they are admitting their mistake and making good on it. Am I missing something?

Frustrating. At least they offered to fix the situation. If the repair is not acceptable, perhaps they will offer some "free" labor to install a mod or two you've been waiting to do - or maybe just give you really really good pricing on a new set of rims. Best of luck.

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I think that was a joke

you would be better off having them just refund the "labor" part of the mounting/balancing.... then take the tires off the wheels...take the wheels to a good body shop and have them completely refinished... then take the wheels to a "real" tire store (porsche dealerships seem to know about tires/mounting/balancing least of anyone) and have the tires remounted/rebalanced. I know it sounds like alot...but in the end it is the only "complete" solution...and also it sounds like your not gonna be getting rid of the car anytime soon...

I have had severeal sets of wheels repaired over the years and never had a problem afterwards. Let them fix the wheels - this is normally done by a specialist btw and the tires have to come off. I'd make sure the mounting machine is fixed before they repeat the mistake!

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I know it was. The 8 paragraphs was a joke also, right? Phone call, 3 seconds.

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They are going to take care of it after I phoned them. My rant was tongue planted firmly in cheek and I thought I'd make my rant somewhat entertaining. "urge to kill" is a Simpsons reference in one of their episodes.

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No, you're not missing anything, they did indeed admit their mistake and that's great. I was upset that it happened in the 1st place, is all.

To answer others posts/curiosities... The replacement tires are your standard Conti's that were original equipment for my year. The dealership is going to take the rims off the car and send them to a specialist. This was without prodding from me, there standard practice so that's cool. I will say they did a remarkable job with the alignment. The car feels new and more responsive. I guess the old tires and alignment were in pretty bad shape so I'm very pleased with that. All in all the situation is turning out fine and my original post was just to convey my utter amazement after looking at the wheels. I appreciate all of your thoughts and comments they were helpful, especially the posts on how well rims can be repaired today. You raised my confidence level. -Cheers

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Wow, I almost missed your post. I'm not sure how I'm going to ask but I will mention the remounting. -thanks for the heads up.

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He'd be better off by having the dealer refund him, what, all of 80 bucks or so and pay to have all that work done someplace else? Tell them to fix it and politely point out that you expect it to look perfect, i.e. "Hey, bud, I'm not trying to be a ***** or anything, but I absolutely love the car and hope that it comes back to me in perfect condition. Thanks!"

"book time" for a Porsche Dealer to dismount/change/balance a set of tires is 3 hours...x $100 or so....(if he checks his bill..i'll bet that's what it says) do the math... a good refin should not cost more than $200 or so..

I think you need to expose the dealer who did this! WTF. You pay top $$ and get screwed.

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I guess I disagree with letting the dealership off the hook that easily, and there's no way I could get someone to refinish a wheel with a groove in it for $200 around here.

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I appreciate the advice but I'm going to see how this wheel refinishing turns out. If it's a flawless job I'll be satisfied otherwise I'll be asking for Factory replacements. I think my problem was I took it to the dealer, I've never taken any car to a dealer for a tire change, I'll go indy in the future. Nope not going to get rid of it. It's my 1st 911 and I'm keeping her for the long haul. Actually, I'm thinking of adding a 93-94 964 to the stable.

Sounds like a good outcome as long as they do a good job. Discount Tires next time - you overpaid quite a bit.

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yeah, you're spot on... live and learn I guess. UPDATE: Just picked up the car and the job they did on the wheels is outstanding. I can't see or feel any scratches. There was a 1 and a half in gash in the right front wheel that was there when I purchased the car and I pointed out to the service Manager that they did not damage that area and not to fix it. They repaired it anyway. Over all, I'm very impressed with the job and pleased with the outcome. They acknowledged the issue right away and fixed the wheels.

Interesting story. Sounds like the dealer stepped up to the plate after you discovered their less than perfect handling of your wheels. At least they corrected the problem to your satisfaction.