RE: Flaming GT3s - owners bite back

RE: Flaming GT3s - owners bite back

Author
Discussion

Shurv

955 posts

159 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Typical German car maker, trying to tough it out and keep it all under wraps whilst doing as little as possible for those who shout the loudest. They are all as bad as each other. F type coupe anyone?

rohrl

8,711 posts

144 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
chelme said:
And what amazes me more is the stench of the Press singing high praises for this manufacturer regardless.
They don't want to be cut out of the loop and any article about a new Porsche will get a lot of readers. Read up on what happened to Chris Harris when he criticised Ferrari's test-car tactics if you don't know already.

Impasse

15,099 posts

240 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
rohrl said:
They don't want to be cut out of the loop and any article about a new Porsche will get a lot of readers. Read up on what happened to Chris Harris when he criticised Ferrari's test-car tactics if you don't know already.
Yep, that embargo lasted, ooh, months.

hondansx

4,562 posts

224 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
I think it's an issue with all manufacturers really. They would rather pay a lawyer to threaten loyal customers rather than use common sense, deal with incidents on an individual basis and make a call depending on these individual factors.

With social media, there is no hiding. You can't deliver a message saying "we're committed to delivering great service" and then undermine it; it'll bite you in the arse. Incidents like these serve as reminder to all other marques that "service" isn't a marketing term - it needs to be ingrained into every facet of the business.

As the old saying goes "big enough to cope, small enough to care" - we like the stability of bigger firms, but we also hope for the care and attention that only a smaller business can deliver. Companies like Lotus should be capitalising on this.

Guvernator

13,103 posts

164 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
hondansx said:
Companies like Lotus should be capitalising on this.
Lol, never thought I'd hear the day when Lotus would be put in the frame to compete with Porsche in terms of customer service and reliability.....but then again I've not heard of many Lotus engines imploding lately, maybe you are on to something! scratchchinbiggrin

MitchT

15,787 posts

208 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Brother D said:
It's very surprising UK customers will not be compensated.
Doesn't surprise me. UK = highest prices, poorest treatment and consumer protection that's toothless. The 'Porsche' that earned the reputation that the company still trades on actually died with the 993.

rohrl

8,711 posts

144 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Guvernator said:
hondansx said:
Companies like Lotus should be capitalising on this.
Lol, never thought I'd hear the day when Lotus would be put in the frame to compete with Porsche in terms of customer service and reliability.....but then again I've not heard of many Lotus engines imploding lately, maybe you are on to something! scratchchinbiggrin
Maybe Porsche need to start putting Toyota Camry engines in their cars.

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
chelme said:
Guvernator said:
Seriously problems with the current GT3 engine, problems with the previous 997 and 996 era cars too. Are Porsche not capable of making a decent, well engineered engine anymore? Why the hell is this kind of stuff not picked up during the thousands of hours of bench and real world testing that they surely perform?

Not to go all beard like but these things never used to occur during the air-cooled era, probably goes some way to explaining why those cars prices are skyrocketing while the water cooled ones are almost becoming bargain basement.

I always used to admire Porsche as I used to associate them with outstanding engineering quality. Sure a lot of the time they might not be as exciting to look at as their Italian counterparts but this was always countered by the fact that they seemed to be hewn from granite in comparison but not anymore. There practically isn't a 911 made in the last 15 years which doesn't have some sort of well known engine issue which has all too often put me off dipping my toe in, a very worrying trend IMO.
And what amazes me more is the stench of the Press singing high praises for this manufacturer regardless.
In their defense they should only really be writing reviews on the cars actually received. Anything else should be news reporting, or perhaps subject of another article, but would you really want to see "Oh, well I heard one guy had a problem with his GT3 on launch, so it only gets a 9/10."

That said, this is a ridiculous situation to be in. Offering compensation is surprising, making it territory-specific is quite another!

chelme

1,353 posts

169 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
rohrl said:
chelme said:
And what amazes me more is the stench of the Press singing high praises for this manufacturer regardless.
They don't want to be cut out of the loop and any article about a new Porsche will get a lot of readers. Read up on what happened to Chris Harris when he criticised Ferrari's test-car tactics if you don't know already.
Except that CH's little rant had no credibility - he had no evidence whatsoever to back up his churlish claims - no wonder he was banned.

British Beef

2,191 posts

164 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
GT3 owners, wake up and smell the coffee ..... head over to your nearest Lotus dealership and drive the Exige, it is awesome, nearly half the price, nearly as fast and less likely to start a bbq in the back.

The service the UK buyers get does seem to be chronic, especially for a country with such a large appetite for buying Porsches of all sorts.

Would Porsche offer a full refund to any GT3 owners demanding their money back, as the product is blatantly not fit for purpose and less likely to be after some monkey from the local stealer has attempted to fix it?

bazza white

3,550 posts

127 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
If youve had a GT3 delivered and collected for correction will your warrenty be reset.


Amazed how uk customers are being shafted and no one is shouting about it.






If Porsche were tight on cash you wouldn't mind so much however they are the profitable car maker which stinks even more that they just st on their customers.


Sampaio

377 posts

137 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
British Beef said:
GT3 owners, wake up and smell the coffee ..... head over to your nearest Lotus dealership and drive the Exige, it is awesome, nearly half the price, nearly as fast and less likely to start a bbq in the back.

The service the UK buyers get does seem to be chronic, especially for a country with such a large appetite for buying Porsches of all sorts.

Would Porsche offer a full refund to any GT3 owners demanding their money back, as the product is blatantly not fit for purpose and less likely to be after some monkey from the local stealer has attempted to fix it?
Like said previously in PH - used 12C are drawing great attention to these customers. Honestly I think a 12C is closer to the GT3 than an Exige is in terms of performance. I wouldn't complain about having to pick between those three though...

Axis

16 posts

215 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all

chelme

1,353 posts

169 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Krikkit said:
chelme said:
Guvernator said:
Seriously problems with the current GT3 engine, problems with the previous 997 and 996 era cars too. Are Porsche not capable of making a decent, well engineered engine anymore? Why the hell is this kind of stuff not picked up during the thousands of hours of bench and real world testing that they surely perform?

Not to go all beard like but these things never used to occur during the air-cooled era, probably goes some way to explaining why those cars prices are skyrocketing while the water cooled ones are almost becoming bargain basement.

I always used to admire Porsche as I used to associate them with outstanding engineering quality. Sure a lot of the time they might not be as exciting to look at as their Italian counterparts but this was always countered by the fact that they seemed to be hewn from granite in comparison but not anymore. There practically isn't a 911 made in the last 15 years which doesn't have some sort of well known engine issue which has all too often put me off dipping my toe in, a very worrying trend IMO.
And what amazes me more is the stench of the Press singing high praises for this manufacturer regardless.
In their defense they should only really be writing reviews on the cars actually received. Anything else should be news reporting, or perhaps subject of another article, but would you really want to see "Oh, well I heard one guy had a problem with his GT3 on launch, so it only gets a 9/10."

That said, this is a ridiculous situation to be in. Offering compensation is surprising, making it territory-specific is quite another!
Funny you should say that, so often I read opinions bandied around by journos on the usual suspects i.e. Italian and British brands.

Yes, they may be right in relation to some, but despite widely available sources on very serious mechanical faults evidenced with Porsche, no mention at all.

Instead we have utter dog sh*t' bandied around by people (won't mention names here) as to how 'solid' 'honest' and 'reliable' these cars are.

slipstream 1985

12,123 posts

178 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
with porsche making loads of cash on their 4x4 range will there come a point when these issues happena nd they just dont need to care?

MitchT

15,787 posts

208 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
slipstream 1985 said:
with porsche making loads of cash on their 4x4 range will there come a point when these issues happena nd they just dont need to care?
Possibly, but more fool them if they do cease to care 'cause the SUV fad will end one day.

unpc

2,831 posts

212 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
I'd suggest some of the owners of this car are not that rich but have saved up for something the press has lauded as the second coming. This is a PR disaster of Porsche's own making and treating customers differently across markets has only compounded this.

What I find confusing is the almost universal loyalty displayed by current owners. I'm sure I'd be taking my business elsewhere.

NRS

22,077 posts

200 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
MitchT said:
Brother D said:
It's very surprising UK customers will not be compensated.
Doesn't surprise me. UK = highest prices, poorest treatment and consumer protection that's toothless. The 'Porsche' that earned the reputation that the company still trades on actually died with the 993.
In regards to highest prices... well, complete nonsense. The UK is pretty good compared to some parts of the world. For example having a look at the classifieds here this year's Carrera 4S is a mere £195 000. If you're looking to buy second hand it's far worse than the UK since you don't get nearly the same depreciation. So count yourself lucky in the UK in regards to prices!

Mermaid

21,492 posts

170 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
cayman-black said:
The more i hear read about Porsche the more i dislike the marque.
and yet there will a long queue for cancelled orders, go figure.

It's a great concept, they got something terribly wrong. st happens. But they will fix it, and fix it good.

Their communication skills far worse than their engineering in this case. That is the important fix that is needed.

Marwood79

209 posts

186 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
IMO - Porsche is taking a very pragmatic view. They are a monopoly and this is a very small number of customers amid the satisfied many.

Few buy any Porsche on impulse. For those buying a GT3 there is no real alternative.

So long as the end product lives up to their expectations this will be forgotten in moments.

Paying different comp depending on the market is silly however. A massive own goal and far less forgiveable than the engine failure. It smacks of too much local autonomy for panicked dealer networks and too little central coordination of response from HQ.

They should have shown some balls at HQ and not permitted any comp. But rather immediately offered all customers their choice of temporary replacement VAG vehicle up to the same value as a GT3. Funded by Porsche HQ.