wish i hadn't bothered with the warranty

Well my loved and cared for Y2000 C2 as got it's first problem it started with a noise from the aircon. After much debate i renewed my warranty only a couple of months ago and after the noise developed i was pleased i did! I first took the car to my local indi who i trust and have used for the last 10 years on my other Porsches. After 5 seconds! of listening they were sure it was the aircon pump and take it to Porsche to fix under warranty. So booked in and took it down this morning, that's when it started to go wrong. I explained the noise and my local indi diagnoses. I was then told i would have to pay 2 hours labour £246 to diagnose the fault! I argued that didn't seem to be right and cutting a long story short they agreed to proceed without the charge. I then received a call to say it could be one of a number of things and some of them not covered by the warranty. I was told one of the condenses had a damp patch on the top right corner but condenses arn't covered under warranty. My warranty book clearly says they are. Eventualy I got them to agree the condeners are covered by the warranty then they said i would have to pay for the labour to check the condenses fully and if it was found it was damaged though corrosion or a stone they won't be covered and i'll have to pay for the labour to discover this. So all ends up i'm 100% not happy and wish i'd not replaced the warranty and took my chances. If i'd known you have to pay £256 to diagnose a fault and if it's not a warranty item you have to pay the repair and the diagnoses charge i wouldn't have purchased. I'm going to wright to Porsche complaining that this isn't made clear in the warranty book in fact it's not even mentioned. I won't be going to an OPC again in a hurry. Sorry for the long thread and any spelling mistakes i'm still trembling with frustration.[ ] Chris

I would not mind if I thought this was a sensible business strategy - but it's not - it just creates a bad taste in the mouth and makes us all say "I'm not using the OPC...." Clear, upfront, explaination in the warranty book, and a friendly willingness to try to make things fit the warranty would keep folk happy and bring them back (and make them advocates). The drop in revenue would be very small. They act like they are trying to trick a bunch on monkeys - which, they should know, their customers are not. Toyota just replaced all 4 of my "other car's" alloys under waranty because I pointed out a small amount of corrosion on one of them! - And they did it without a second's thought.

Which OPC are you using? You're based in norfolk aren't you ...so, was it Norwich ? I had both condensors replaced under warrantee from Colchester back in July - didn't realise there was a problem, they just replaced them during a service. Could be a case of getting better support as I use them for servicing, I suppose. Anyway, if I were in your position, I'd take the car to another OPC (or at least threaten it). I'm sure your local OPC won't want to loose all future business. HTH.

No i'm in Leeds and we only have one OPC i think there's one in Sheffield. I've just done a letter to Porsche GB so i'll see what they have to say. Thanks for the replies guys.

Hi Chris. This sounds awful. Whatever you do, don't part with a penny. I had one of my condensers replaced under warranty following a stone going through it. They re-gassed the system at the same time too - all FOC. Times are hard (and about to get harder by the looks of things) and OPCs must be really suffering at the moment. Just my own opinion but they've got to try and recoup some of that lost revenue from woeful 58 plate car sales from somewhere. Make sure it's not from you - you've already given them your money!

Adrian don't worry i'll not part with any of my hard earnt cash, not to that OPC anyway, can i ask who you used. Cheers Chris

Hi Chris. It was OPC Cardiff - but I'm in no way endorsing them - or any other OPC for that matter. All the best.

The wonderful delights of the service department of JCT 600 in Leeds [>:] I had a similar experience there regarding investigation time when my pressure sender failed on my 2003 TT. I was 100% sure it was a faulty sender - common fault and no problem with the actual oil pressure. They failed to find any fault during a routine service so when it failed again I took photos with my mobile. Car was booked in again and they insisted that they charged me 1 hour investigation - I protested that any skilled technician (and presumed they were at £100+/hour!) could have diagnosed the issue within minutes. They whinged on that the warranty was just an insurance policy but would not cover the investigation time which was standard policy and practice. I therefore had to pay and walked out in disgust - even threw a quote for a newer 997TT at the service guy.........but had to go back a few months later to buy it [ ]. I subsequently telephoned Porsche GB who agreed that they had behaved inappropriately and made them send me a refund. It wasn't the amount involved but the principal and attitude of the staff. Now I have some sympathy with them charging some investigation time when the fault is not obvious and you have just brought the car from an independent for warranty work but in my case they had just done the service and I asked them to check at the time. I would also expect the investigation time to recovered under the warranty. Probably part of their ploy to ensure that service work is only performed at the OPC for cars under warranty....but that's a whole separate debate [ ]

For clarity my car as only been serviced by OPC. My gripe with the OPC is they wanted 2 hours to diagnose something my indi diagnosed in 5 seconds. Even after having the car for 4 hours didn't agree with my indi and gave me a number of other things it could be but they needed more time to diagnose and guess what they wanted more money! I was told by said OPC that my condensors arn't covered at all! when i showed them my booklet clearly stating they are they then said they won't be covered if it's caused by a stone or corosion. After speaking to another OPC and Porsche GB they both confirmed corosion is covered. I just felt all they wanted to do is make me part with my hard earnt cash and treat me like a complete mug. I've still got steam coming out of my ears, I hate my car not being right.[ ]

I've had a similar experience with an aircon problem, albeit not on a Porsche but on my 9-year-old Vauxhall Tigra. I took it to an aircon specialist basically because I thought it just needed re-gassing. He re-gassed it, immediately found there wasn't enough pressure in the system and diagnosed the problem part, which was quoted as being rather expensive. Instead of getting them to fix it, I took it to my regular garage, who brought in someone else. To cut a long story short, they ended up changing pretty much every component of the system, before finally changing the part that was originally diagnosed as being faulty. Cost me £700 - half the value of the car. Moral? Well, I guess aircon faults are difficult to diagnose unless you know exactly what you're doing! Added later: the coolant fluoresces under UV light so with a little UV light source , like you'd use to detect fake currency, you can sometimes see where its leaking from.

whose the indy if i might ask?

Maybe you annoyed them by saying "My Indi says.........."

If I remember correctly there's something in business called "winning the customer back" or "winning the customer over". Your OPC was faced with a situation where it was pretty obvious (even to them) that the customer had previously visited a competitor of theirs and then presented the car to them for fixing. At this point you OPC had two clear options; 1. Just accept in an adult and business-like manner that the customer felt the need to go to an alternative garage and surprise him by: a. rushing the car straight into a service bay and getting the work done there and then and..... b. then present the customer with a bill with £0.00p at the bottom, thank the customer for their valued custom, firm handshake and "maybe we'll get first dibs next time you need something sorting out..?!", smile and show the customer to their newly valeted car. or... 2. Grit your teeth whilst sucking through them like a plumber, electrician, (insert 'trade expert' of your choice here) and say "If it wasn't for those meddling Indy bastards we'd be rich, I tell you! RIIIIIICHHHH!" And then proceed to make the customers life as difficult as possible - ensuring that said customer NEVER visits the place again (despite being 50/50 before hand) and feels the need to tell like-minded enthusiasts about his woeful experience via some web-based forum. ...They've gone and chosen the second option haven't they.....Dooh![ ]

I've never even been to an OPC before other than to drool! I use Strasse in Leeds and they have allways given me a good service. Many times i've nipped in and asked for advise and then fixed problems myself, so before going to my OPC i thought i'd call at my indi to ask if they thought it would be covered under warranty. That was it nothing else, if Dave had said no it won't be covered i would have got them to fix it at a fraction of the cost of the OPC and quess what i'd have believed them not so with the OPC, baring in mind i've now been told at least 2 big porkies (condenses not covered under warranty then condenses not covered if corosion), according to Porsche GB both are covered![ ] I'm now waiting for Porsche GB to come back to me, but i've made the point that i don't trust them! Porsche GB response was if they say the condenses have been damaged by a stone and not covered they would get the part sent to them for inspection. (god knows how much all this is going to cost under the diagnose banner!) My other point is i bought the warranty for piece of mind! it doesn't give me piece of mind it just makes me worry about how much my indi will try to conn me when i take my car in!!![ ][ ][ ] On a plus, it still hasn't put me off Porsche I love the car and can't wait to get in it every day!![8D][8D]

Ok all sorted and thanks for all the help. I took it to another OPC, far better service and not just because i didn't have to pay! New condenser fitted the noise as gone and i've got i big smile on my face again.[ ] Shame my whole experience wasn't like this. Cheers Chris

It never ceases to amaze me that, considering that there are not that may OPC's and they regulary get slaughtered on this forum for their workmanship, attitude and interpretation of what is or is not warranty work, someone in Porsche GB does not see this and "Kick some Butts" and try to improve customer relations Or is it a case of we are a bunch of moaning minnies or Porsche GB has same attituded as OPC's......

[ ] Good stuff. I was going to say try a different OPC, there really can be big differences between them. I had the air con condensors replaced under warranty 4 weeks ago at Guildford. Whilst I've had a few issues with them they've always been very good with warranty claims and have never tried to charge me to diagnose problems. Glad you got it sorted. Gavin

As ever there is a wide variation in the initial treatment you get. for what its worth you have to authorise investigation work, even under the factory warranty. ITs the OPC protecting themselves against their time and 'skills'. If they find a fault covered by warranty then they can claim some if not all of the time back and you pay nothing. If its not covered then they have invested time investigating that they cannot claim back, so the customer gets a bill.