Crown

Board: Porsche Language: English Region: Worldwide Share/Save/Bookmark Close

Forum - Thread


    need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Well I have gathered my thoughts, tried for almost three days to rein in my emotions as well as spoken to both of the other two shops which are authorized to do tech inspections for FOC (on my 1 1/2 month old Carrera GT). Both said it is a rigorous VISUAL inspection which results in ZERO driving of the car - as I expected! They were both floored to learn this shop justified abusing a customer and his/her car as some sort of responsibility required by the tech inspection. Absurdly enough, he still thinks he did nothing wrong!!!!!!!!!!!

    Here are some notable quotes from Steve Maxwell, the owner of Exotic Car Care ("car care" being a bit ironic in this case) who was the offender. It is immediately ajacent to M.O.M. Mind over Motorsport:

    "did you know your exhaust glows when it is hot?" (never seen that myself nor has anyone behind me in several spirited mountain drives commented on this).

    "the traction control on this car in first (gear) is useless" (fwiw, you have to give it a LOT of throttle to make the traction control useless in first gear and this suggests he was enjoying my tires he didn't have to buy himself).

    he stated, "the car has some wander during high speed cornering". to which i said i'd had it at some fairly high speeds in corners without experiencing any wander. he then looked over at the guy who does detailing for the shop who was apparently a passenger in the joy ride and said "what did we hit in that one corner? about 150?" to which the detailer responded "yes, 150". he then went onto say proudly "it was 16 mph more in that corner than any other car i've taken through there."

    in addition to the detailer, a director of the FOC was there and likely heard a great deal if not all of this conversation.

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Dude, that's f@#$ed up! Was he drunk or high on medication???!!!

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Get nick to scare them with some legal stuff .. if possible

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    I think your approach to expose this SOB in every Porsche/Lambo/Ferrari fourm is the most effective way. Keep it up Ben & good luck.

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    how do you intend to resolve this matter?

    ie, what kind of outcome would have to occur for you see it as righted.

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Quote:
    Moogle said:
    how do you intend to resolve this matter?

    ie, what kind of outcome would have to occur for you see it as righted.



    i'm resolving it by sharing the experience so it doesn't happen to others (can you imagine the schit i'd still be going through had something bad happened with or without injuries?). if the guy really feels he was doing his "job", then he shouldn't have any problem with customer attrition as a result.

    i have no idea what it would take to see it as righted. however, i can tell you his attitude as recently as sunday, when my friend who referred me called him to discuss the issue, is that he was doing his job. that is NOT the attitude that the start of amends and closure is made of. i went to the shop today to pick up my fire extinquisher i paid for friday and no apologies or nothing. in fact, a friend of mine was there today re: his car and the owner proceeded to tell him how good my car drives which made me even more pissed since my other friend told him sunday just how pissed off i was. i'm so glad my friend was there because i could just talk to him without making eye contact with the owner while picking up my FE. i'm not sure i could have contained my rage had he gone into another justification attempt as he did the night i picked it up.

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    ben, that's absolutely horrible and unacceptable - how the hell does this guy stay in business like this?!

    I will be sure to pass your story around as I've got a number of friends and contacts in the area.

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Sad to hear that, ben but it happens over here too.
    When some "ordinary" guys put their hands on such a jewel, they forget that it is actually NOT their car.
    I can't say it for sure because I don't know for sure but from what I hear from people I know (some even work for dealerships), your experience is nothing which happens very seldom. It seems to be pretty common.
    I'm sure this doesn't consolidate you too much but maybe we as customers should have a different approach towards such people. But of course it is easy to say when you somehow depend on them.
    Yes, avoiding such dealerships is a good idea. But unfortunately I think that there aren't many exceptions from your sad experience out there.
    I remember when I made a complaint to Gerhard Schmirler (Reinhold Schmirler's brother, RS-Tuning in Germany) about a little power loss. He drove the hell out of my 996 Turbo to prove to me that there is no power loss, at the same time he insulted me by making jokes like "you don't floor the gas pedal", etc. He tried to prove it to me how good he can drive but the truth is, he drove like crap and he scared the hell out of me (I was driving with him). When he saw my scared face, he started again to make jokes about me and my driving style (which he actually never saw/experienced). Of course I was scared because I knew how he was driving. A few days later, my mechanic at the Porsche dealership actually found the problem and YES, there was a power loss. Do you think Gerhard Schmirler ever apologized? OK, it wasn't RS-Tuning's fault that that specific part was broke (it could have happened on a stock Turbo too anytime) but after driving around with me for two hours and making stupid jokes (which I didn't comment because I wanted to have my car fixed) and after treating my car like sh.t, I expected something else.

    Don't expect strangers to treat your car like you do, they don't care. And car mechanics are smart a..es, always. They always know everything and when they can't find a problem, they start making fun of the customer. One reason I love MY dealership over here in my home town. I have a very friendly relationship to the owner family (very nice people) and the mechanics know my racing past and nobody really tries to BS me. But I agree, it is difficult to find such a place.

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Ben,
    I feel your anger, this is unacceptable. But to be expected.
    You might have mentionned it before, but I have a question.
    Why didn't you get your car checked by an official Porsche dealer.
    I "only" have a 996 and even with that car, I would never let an independant take care of it.
    At least if something goes wrong with an OPC, you can then write to Porsche US or whatever.
    Plus I've actually developed a special relationship with the mechanics at my dealer, just little things like a wine or whatever but it makes a difference. I know they would never "play" with my car.
    Is your Porsche dealership too far from where you live?

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    hire a hitman if not let me know where he lives

    on a serious note take legal actions...ask Nick for advice

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Quote:
    Fanch said:
    Ben,
    I feel your anger, this is unacceptable. But to be expected.
    You might have mentionned it before, but I have a question.
    Why didn't you get your car checked by an official Porsche dealer.
    I "only" have a 996 and even with that car, I would never let an independant take care of it.
    At least if something goes wrong with an OPC, you can then write to Porsche US or whatever.
    Plus I've actually developed a special relationship with the mechanics at my dealer, just little things like a wine or whatever but it makes a difference. I know they would never "play" with my car.
    Is your Porsche dealership too far from where you live?



    The car was being tech inspected for a Ferrari Owner's Club event and there were only three FOC approved tech inspection shops - obviously none of them Pcar dealers.

    BTW CGTRacer, I bought the Trapt CD after watching your video

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    A couple of thoughts.I suspect more than one person drove or took a ride in Ben's car at the shop.

    Ben is correct in stating no harm no foul. Legally it will be difficult to make a case against the "inspection" for the joy ride. However, if there was an agreement that the car was not to be driven, then a couple of legally theories could be used to press a case against the shop. Both, if successful, would result in minimal damages being awarded assuming no damge was done to the car.

    Finally, how many of you if given the keys to a CGT would pass up the chance to drive it? Unless there was an ironclad agreement against driving it, you all would be feeling the air running through your hair at 150mph. Sadly, Ben is going to have to live with this "problem".

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Quote:
    nberry said: how many of you if given the keys to a CGT would pass up the chance to drive it?



    Call me stupid but I wouldn't, not in a million years, that is not right.
    Only way I would find it OK in the above scenario is if the owner (Ben) explicitly tells me too, and even then, I would't take the car to the limit making the T/C to come ON and high speed cornering to the point of testing high speed corner "wander". Its not my car and the CGT is not an ordinary car either. Hope "life" teaches this guy some respect.

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Quote:
    ben, lj said:
    Quote:
    Fanch said:
    Ben,
    I feel your anger, this is unacceptable. But to be expected.
    You might have mentionned it before, but I have a question.
    Why didn't you get your car checked by an official Porsche dealer.
    I "only" have a 996 and even with that car, I would never let an independant take care of it.
    At least if something goes wrong with an OPC, you can then write to Porsche US or whatever.
    Plus I've actually developed a special relationship with the mechanics at my dealer, just little things like a wine or whatever but it makes a difference. I know they would never "play" with my car.
    Is your Porsche dealership too far from where you live?



    The car was being tech inspected for a Ferrari Owner's Club event and there were only three FOC approved tech inspection shops - obviously none of them Pcar dealers.

    BTW CGTRacer, I bought the Trapt CD after watching your video

    haha your too awesome Ben. Carrera GT, good taste in music man its like your an older version of me

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Quote:
    ben, lj said:
    The car was being tech inspected for a Ferrari Owner's Club event and there were only three FOC approved



    What? An FOC event? you get in bed w/ the devil and complain? of course those guys beat the crap out of the car. It was not their car, and even though they resell P-cars their egos are on F-cars, Lambos and such, so the opportunity to floor a P-car could not be passed. And I'll tell you what - you were lucky. If they had a crash they would simply pass you a wreck saying that accidents happen.

    I feel your pain, but I can see you agonizing over the clutch, tire and trasnmission wear, and who knows what they could have done to a cold engine - yeah it was not their car.

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Well, what strikes me most in Ben's story: I can imagine the guy would take a chance to drive it. I myself would not have done it, or at least asked beforehand, but okay. But the fact that the guy really floored it, is proud of it and starts making jokes about it to the owner... :@ I would kick him in the nuts too! Tell him explicitly that is never to touch / drive in your car again. I think he'll get the hint.
    -Joost-

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Quote:
    Joost said:
    Well, what strikes me most in Ben's story: I can imagine the guy would take a chance to drive it. I myself would not have done it, or at least asked beforehand, but okay. But the fact that the guy really floored it, is proud of it and starts making jokes about it to the owner... :@ I would kick him in the nuts too! Tell him explicitly that is never to touch / drive in your car again. I think he'll get the hint.
    -Joost-



    After reading his quotes on the internet (which were placed after he admitted to the same details on Sunday to the friend who referred me - only he reduced the speed to 115 mph in this version), he left me a message today wanting to get together so he could explain why he hadn't done anything wrong!! I'm telling you the guy honestly thinks his job as a tech inspector is to drive other peoples cars at 150 mph (in corners), hammer the throttle in first geat sufficiently as to cause the "traction control to be worthless", and achieve his best times on his personal race track - hence the "I was able to carry 16 more mph through there than in any other car before". It's simply unbelieveable to me that someone can be in this much denial. It is his attitude that this is not only acceptable behavior but REQUIRED behavior as a result of his job that I feel it is so very important to let other victims know his biz practices because he apparently has no intention to change them.

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    Ben, IF the driver had been busted by the cops at that speed, its likely that your car would have been towed off
    and impounded.

    Besides being a idiotic braggard and a weasel, he is also
    seriously ignorant about Cali traffic offense laws and procedures. Just getting your car out of the police impound lot could have been a major league pain.

    He is a moron. Handle him acordingly.

    Re: need to share experience with lambo/ferrari/porsche shop

    I second that, and I fully understand your grieves Ben!
    -Joost-

     
    Edit

    Forum

    Board Subject Last post Rating Views Replies
    Porsche Sticky SUN'S LAST RUN TO WILSON, WY - 991 C2S CAB LIFE, END OF AN ERA (Part II) 3/28/24 3:21 AM
    watt
    690586 1780
    Porsche Sticky Welcome to Rennteam: Cars and Coffee... (photos) 2/19/24 11:51 PM
    Wonderbar
    409824 564
    Porsche Sticky OFFICIAL: Cayman GT4 RS (2021) 5/12/23 12:11 PM
    W8MM
    256060 288
    Porsche Sticky OFFICIAL: Porsche 911 (992) GT3 RS - 2022 3/12/24 8:28 AM
    DJM48
    235292 323
    Porsche Sticky The new Macan: the first all-electric SUV from Porsche 1/30/24 9:18 AM
    RCA
    65721 45
    Porsche Sticky OFFICIAL: Taycan 2024 Facelift 3/15/24 1:23 PM
    CGX car nut
    4699 50
    Porsche The moment I've been waiting for... 2/1/24 7:01 PM
    Pilot
     
     
     
     
     
    858507 1364
    Porsche 992 GT3 7/23/23 7:01 PM
    Grant
    774771 3868
    Porsche OFFICIAL: New Porsche 911 Turbo S (2020) 4/6/23 7:43 AM
    crayphile
    448344 1276
    Porsche Welcome to the new Taycan Forum! 2/10/24 4:43 PM
    nberry
    379414 1526
    Porsche GT4RS 2/22/24 5:16 AM
    tso
    366006 1424
    Porsche Donor vehicle for Singer Vehicle Design 7/3/23 12:30 PM
    Porker
    361133 797
    Others Tesla 2 the new thread 12/13/23 2:48 PM
    CGX car nut
    355098 2401
    Lambo Aventador and SV 3/30/23 1:59 PM
    CGX car nut
    279628 724
    Ferrari Ferrari 812 Superfast 4/21/23 8:09 AM
    the-missile
    276060 550
    Porsche Red Nipples 991.2 GT3 Touring on tour 3/14/24 8:55 PM
    blueflame
    272827 658
    Porsche Collected my 997 GTS today 10/19/23 7:06 PM
    CGX car nut
     
     
     
     
     
    248344 812
    Lambo Huracán EVO STO 7/30/23 6:59 PM
    mcdelaug
    225312 346
    Others Corvette C8 10/16/23 3:24 PM
    Enmanuel
    218129 488
    Lotus Lotus Emira 6/25/23 2:53 PM
    Enmanuel
    197084 101
    Others Gordon Murray - T.50 11/22/23 10:27 AM
    mcdelaug
    155494 387
    Porsche Back to basics - 996 GT3 RS 6/11/23 5:13 PM
    CGX car nut
    127049 144
    Ferrari [2022] Ferrari Purosangue (SUV) 4/15/23 5:20 AM
    watt
    120643 141
    BMW M 2024 BMW M3 CS Official Now 12/29/23 9:04 AM
    RCA
    106143 303
    Motor Sp. 2023 Formula One 12/19/23 5:38 AM
    WhoopsyM
    102625 685
    Others Valkyrie final design? 4/28/23 2:45 AM
    Rossi
    97688 219
    Porsche 2022 992 Safari Model 3/7/24 4:22 PM
    WhoopsyM
    81071 239
    AMG Mercedes-Benz W124 500E aka Porsche typ 2758 2/23/24 10:03 PM
    blueflame
    74359 297
    Porsche 992 GT3 RS 3/3/24 7:22 PM
    WhoopsyM
    52169 314
    Motor Sp. Porsche 963 3/16/24 9:27 PM
    WhoopsyM
    23108 237
    132 items found, displaying 1 to 30.