Is this normal??

[Porschetastic]

I handed my car into a highly respected Specialist to get the engine up-graded and was told that 6 weeks was a realistic completion time.

Well, we are now at week 10 and I have been told that it is unlikely it will be finished by Christmas. Worse still, they have not given me a confirmed finish date!

I could probably live with the time delay if the Specialist had kept me informed of progress, but I have had to chase and chase to get any sort of status up-date. Considering that I am spending a significant amount of money, I would have expected some semblence of customer service.

Is this normal or are there actually companies out there who can blend quality work with customer service?

Dave

[fergus]

I had my engine rebuilt in the summer, and although I spent a chunk of cash, there was no great impetus to either get the job done quickly or let me know what was happening. It really frustrated me at the time, but I suppose the entity who is doing the work knows that once they start work on your car, it is hard for you to go else where.....

Good luck. Did you agre anything in writing before you started?

Not a lot you can do in the real world I imagine. I don't think legal threats will necesserily achieve anything. Bldy annoying though!

[clubsport]

10 weeks...that is no time at all!

there are 964Rs's that have been away being restored for years

I would be having a polite word with the specialist in question expressing the urgency, most of them do seem to take a little longer than anticipated in my experience.







>> Edited by domster on Thursday 9th December 10:23

[pottri]

What exactly are you having done to the engine or would that identify the 'Specialist'. I've had a few things done to mine in the past and all of them (except the new oil cooler) have run over their estimated completion time - some garages have had the courtesy to keep me informed, some haven't. Yours sounds like a bit of a nightmare though.

[Porschetastic]

To answer some of the points that have been raised:

1) The work is a turbo conversion on my 993 (> 500bhp), some interior stuff, plus suspension and brakes (the last two items were completed weeks ago).

2) I only agreed the projected costs in writing. The timescale was a verbal commitment at the time I handed the car over. I have considered the legal approach, but as has been pointed out, this will not achieve anything constructive.

3) I have had a word with the Specialist, but all I got is "yes, we are very poor at project management and keeping customers informed. We are in the process of fixing this". However, I was told this when the car went in and that they had employed someone to manage my project - this has obviously not happened. I even sent a bit of a snotty e-mail, but they didn't even have the decency to reply......

The most significant point that has been mentioned, is that now the work has started, the Specialist has effectively got the customer by the short and curlies! It would be nice to think that they would realise the error of their ways, call me with a definitive completion date and add a few bits FOC for my troubles - guess that would be way too much to ask!

It does strike me that if someone out there set up a business that delivered quality work and applied the high standards of customer service that we all expect these days, they could make a killing and put the less customer focused specialists out of business.

[leosayer]

Was the original estimate for 6 weeks labour or 6 weeks elapsed time? Makes a big difference to the £££ if the labour has gone up to 10 weeks + then you are looking at a much bigger bill and they definetely should have called you. If 6 weeks elapsed then they have probably over-estimated their mechanic's time and are fitting in other jobs around yours so probably only spending 1-2 hours a day on it.

Either way, it's unnacceptable. You should complain and ask them to call you regularly every day with progress reports.

[Porschetastic]

leosayer said:

Was the original estimate for 6 weeks labour or 6 weeks elapsed time? Makes a big difference to the £££ if the labour has gone up to 10 weeks + then you are looking at a much bigger bill and they definetely should have called you. If 6 weeks elapsed then they have probably over-estimated their mechanic's time and are fitting in other jobs around yours so probably only spending 1-2 hours a day on it. Either way, it's unnacceptable. You should complain and ask them to call you regularly every day with progress reports.

Fortunately, it was six weeks elapsed. Apparently, the cost is still as pere the worst case scenrio we agreed. However, I did find out that they had decided to do some additional work without consulting me, as they thought it would be worthwhile!!

I've tried complaining and asking for feedback, but so far I've had nothing. The poor guy that is now meant to be liaising with me is embarrassed as he can't get a clear position from the owner who is doing the engine work!

[silver993tt]

agree a contract with a penalty clause when the work is overdue. I learnt to do that with builders.

[tony.t]

I'm afraid that this senario does seem to be pretty much normal. It seems to me that a quote on time always needs taking with a pinch of salt. Independants seem to run on the basis that they are 100% full at all times so that if there is any delay in the project there is little slack to make up time as they are invariably busy with other cars.
The upside is that it means labour rates are cheap I suppose.
I've known cars run weeks late ( and some instances years - you know who you are, Dom)

edited to add, while I have suffered delays my specialist has always endeavoured to give me a usable car when I wanted to use it.

>> Edited by tony.t on Thursday 9th December 12:00

[domster]

There is a famous business maxim that you can choose any two out of Quality, Cost or Timing, but you can't have all three.

In my situation (which is about 18 months from ownership and 2 years from when last driven), the car was significantly rebuilt. I am happy with the situation for Quality and Cost. I trust my tech implicitly, he's one of the best RS technicians in the country and he's a damn good mate. I will also end up paying far less than the 150GBP per hour that BMW Chelsea (the most expensive main dealer in the country) now charge for their labour rate

So Timing got fecked

If I wanted the car back desperately quickly, I would find the biggest, shiniest main dealer, with the biggest customer service charter on the wall, agree a reasonable estimate, then complain to Head Office/Porsche Germany/Tony Blair/Her Maj/God if things didn't happen on time. Of course, I would probably pay a lot more for the pleasure, even if the skills of the techs were just as good.

ATB
Dom

[clubsport]

domster said:

There is a famous business maxim that you can choose any two out of Quality, Cost or Timing, but you can't have all three. In my situation (which is about 18 months from ownership and 2 years from when last driven), the car was significantly rebuilt. I am happy with the situation for Quality and Cost. I trust my tech implicitly, he's one of the best RS technicians in the country and he's a damn good mate. I will also end up paying far less than the 150GBP per hour that BMW Chelsea (the most expensive main dealer in the country) now charge for their labour rate So Timing got fecked If I wanted the car back desperately quickly, I would find the biggest, shiniest main dealer, with the biggest customer service charter on the wall, agree a reasonable estimate, then complain to Head Office/Porsche Germany/Tony Blair/Her Maj/God if things didn't happen on time. Of course, I would probably pay a lot more for the pleasure, even if the skills of the techs were just as good. ATB Dom

Dom, the cost/ timing relationship is fine,,,but surely owning one of these and actually driving it is more important. 2 years away is lot of track action missed.
After all a 964Rs is a £25-30k car it's not like it is a 959 or a 917 restoration is it

[domster]

True. But I have done trackdays in some interesting stuff during the badgersafe period:

- Audi S4 450bhp
- Porsche Boxster S
- Caterham R300

etc.

So it hasn't been that dull. And the RS has gone up 5k in value in the meantime.

I'd rather have driven it on track during that time tho'

[clubsport]

Excellent, so it was bought purely as investment, and by having it in for repair you do not have to pay rent or garaging costs...genius..nice trade

[dazren]

Did I hear someone murmur "garage queen" at the back of the forum? Or was I imagining it......

DAZ

[nel]

clubsport said:

Excellent, so it was bought purely as investment, and by having it in for repair you do not have to pay rent or garaging costs...genius..nice trade

....or road tax or insurance . 'Tis indeed a devious technique to store the asset free while it's being improved...

[clubsport]

nel said:

clubsport said: Excellent, so it was bought purely as investment, and by having it in for repair you do not have to pay rent or garaging costs...genius..nice trade ....or road tax or insurance . 'Tis indeed a devious technique to store the asset free while it's being improved...

As obviously any improvements are done for nothing out of the goodness of the specialists heart

[domster]

It's insured but on a SORN. I keep getting it insured as it's only 'two weeks' away from being finished at renewal.

Besides, Ultima chassis is finally in for some welding work so my 10 year project has taken over from my 5 year one

[granville]

Dave,

My commiserations, old chap.

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say, I know exactly how you feel.

Feel free to send me a mail and/or otherwise communicate...sounds like we have much in common (apart from my unspeakable northern location).



Cheers,

DeR.

[Melv]

dazren said:

"garage queen" DAZ

And that's just Domster....

Dream on......

But back to the thread -I had to lean on my engine rebuilders as it dragged on, but well worth the effort and cost in the end.....

Rgds
Mel

[rubystone]

I've had more than my fair share of engine rebuilds

.....and I guess I've been lucky - only once has the builder failed to meet the deadline. My RS engine was rebuilt within time, under budget and made 290 bhp on the dyno too!