dealership complaint question
 

I've had a very poor service experience dealing with a simple problem at the service department of Bevery Hills Porsche. And I'm wondering if this is common practice or out of the ordinary.

I bought a used '01 boxster in perfect shape and with extremely low mileage (12k miles) a few months ago. The only problem is that the lumbar support in the driver's seat didn't work. Fortunately, we determined that my extended warranty will cover it. So I brought it in, dropped it off, left it there all day, and then the guy I've been dealing with tells me he ordered the wrong part. (All they have to do, by the way, is change a valve in the headrest...that's all.)

I bring it in this Tuesday, a week later, and as I drop it off he says that the guy who works on upholstery had to leave to take care of his mother, or some such reason, and that there's a chance he might not even come in the next day. But he tells me to leave it anyway. Lo and behold, he calls me the next day saying that the guy didn't come in. Why on earth did he tell me to bring it in in the first place when he knew the guy wasn't there and wouldn't likely even be there the next day!

I've wasted three days on some little insignificant problem because this service moron wouldn't figure out when the car could actually get worked on. And he calls today telling me the car is finished, and seems put out that I left an irate message saying I've been put out by all this...and makes it clear he's not going to make it up to me. I would expect a free service, or some such gesture to make up for wasting all my time.

Does anyone know who I should contact to report this? While this isn't a horrible experience costing me thousands, I still think this service is unacceptable.

hippojam, who is your service advisor over there, i go to beverly hills as well...

hippojam1,
Did you speak directly to the Service Manager? If not, then I would start with him/her

Have you worked in customer service before? Losing thousands would make me irate too, but there are better ways of resolving issues than getting irrate with the people that can help you.

I hope your situation gets resolved to your satisfaction at any rate.

Definately get with the service manager. I am a service manager at a large dealer in NJ. I would explain that the service advisor told you to leave the car even though he knew it wasnt going to be worked on. That is the first problem... Why would he have you leave your vehicle if it was going to sit for days. He should have determined when the technician would be available and rescheduled your appointment. As a resolution, a free detail or next scheduled service would be my thought. If you intend to continue your service relationship with this location, make that clear to the manager and he or she should be glad to keep you as a customer.

Hope it works out!

His name is Jason Hallmark, and he sits in the front.

And if anyone thinks I'm being unnecessarily harsh, let me please clarify. "Irate" is the wrong word. I left a message communicating that I was inconvenienced by wasting three days going back and forth and leaving the car when it wasn't being worked on. Three days lost on what was two hours of work. I was trying to make a reasonable argument, so I wasn't being angry in order to make it come across as logical.

In return, he leaves a message saying it's not his fault and that it all happened because of relying on other people...and when I went to pick up the car he avoided me entirely. Told me to go pay the cashier my warranty deductible and didn't say another word to me. Can you believe that guy?

I got the service manager's card. I'm going to call on Monday and see if they are interested in making up for this utter disregard for my time. I'm not expecting much, but I would like to make a formal complaint about that guy. I would have thought that Porsche service would be more attentive.

I work at a dealership as well. What you have here sounds like your advisor first let you down by not calling you, and knew it. Hence the whole avoidance issue. Also, the guy doesn;t have any people skills - that's why he passed the buck. When you brought the car in, you were dealing with and paying him(as a dealer rep). So, regardless of third party error, he should've taken responsibilty for the mix up.
It seem to me that the only truly isolatable fault here(we'll never know if there was a screwup in parts order) is the advisor. Give the dealership another shot, but if it happens twice....then bail.
Just be happy it was just the lumbar :P

thanks for all your input. i'm glad there are others who work at dealerships who wouldn't act that way. hopefully the service manager and others who work at this particular dealership are of a similar mindset, ...and have reasonable social skills, for that matter.

Hippojam,

I have to tell you JASON is the biggest idiot at that service location. Look at his desk, there is NEVER anything there. If you need a good service advisor go to Erick Patino (Second Desk) and tell him James Demircift sent you, he will definitly take care of you, hes an all around great guy.

Let me know if i could be of more help. My family has gone to Erick for almost the past 10-15years.

"Have you worked in customer service before? Losing thousands would make me irate too"

I guess I don't understand this statement. Who lost thousands here?

Talk to the service manager. These SA's are on a bonus system and complaints hit them in the shorts.

Be sure to hit him in the shorts, he deserves it.

Hey Richard, I am assuming that hippojam1 is calculating the value of his time "spent" to get this corrected.

James, Thanks for the referral...I'll definitely go to erick next time. I should have thought about there being some LA people on this forum and posted a question asking who to go to before I started this whole thing.

I think he's talking about his time. The customer service question was a seperate thought/question I had. I should have made that a new paragraph for clarity.

Yes, I was talking about my time.

Anyway, I just spoke to the service manager, Trevor, and he seemed to be defending his employee right off the bat. Then he went and talked to the idiot employee and then called me back with a little more belief of my story saying that next time I come in I should ask for him and he'll give me "some sort of discount or something." I personally don't believe it. Sounds wishy washy.

A good sales outfit will appease the customer who has a logical complaint by giving him or her a specific incentive to come back and spend more money there. Porsche servicing is a big busines and I don't understand why they wouldn't go out of their way to keep me as a customer. I don't think I'll be going back to Beverly Hills Porsche for servicing...Maybe Rusnak (the next closest dealership in Pasadena) isn't much better, but I will at least tell everyone on this board not to expect great service from Beverly Hills Porsche.