Disappointed beyond belief !!
Discussion
Went shopping today for a 996 and I am absolutley astounded at the unprofessionalism, lack of interest and general crapness of a major OPC !!
I have been monitoring their website for a number of weeks and have seen that they have a couple of C4S's that meet my requirements ! My other half and I then went there today - 1 1/4 hour drive from our place.
We were greeted by a receptionist and offered coffee etc - this looks promising. Then the question "have you got an appointment ?" We of course answered no and were told the salesman (only 1 on) has got appointments allday and wont be able to help us ! WTF !!
Eventually the receptionist managed to show us inside the car we were interested in (the others were "sold" (still with a price in), or not on the site at all).
We were asked if we could phone them on Monday to make an appointment for the next week end - they would try and fit us in !! Thanks !!
Anyway, we left - bitterly disapppointed - but 10 minutes later got a phone call, to say we could go back at 2.00pm today to drive the car (time was now 1.00pm).
Arrived back at the site and was promptly ignored again by the "sales" person. Eventually, the receptionist said she would come for a drive with us !! We walked to the car and I had to ask for the trade plates ! I had to work the controls / buttons out for myself.
My other half and I both drove the car, the sad thing is that we loved the car !
Arrived back at the dealership after the drive at were asked what we wished to do now - "Did we want to go away and think about it ?" WTF ! No we wanted to work out figures and buy the bloody thing !!
At this point we knew nothing about the car, the mileage was 3k more than the "details" on the car that were in the screen.
A business manager spoke to us, said he couldn't value our car (only an Audi RS6), and quoted a finance package 3% above Finance House Base Rate !!!
We were told we would get a call tomorrow with a px figure. We left thoroughly disappointed and disillusioned with what should have been an enjoyable experience. If I didnt want a 911 so much - I would be tempted to walk away from Porsche forever.
Unfortunatley, we cannot buy privately as we need the funding and the px !
Rant over !
I have been monitoring their website for a number of weeks and have seen that they have a couple of C4S's that meet my requirements ! My other half and I then went there today - 1 1/4 hour drive from our place.
We were greeted by a receptionist and offered coffee etc - this looks promising. Then the question "have you got an appointment ?" We of course answered no and were told the salesman (only 1 on) has got appointments allday and wont be able to help us ! WTF !!
Eventually the receptionist managed to show us inside the car we were interested in (the others were "sold" (still with a price in), or not on the site at all).
We were asked if we could phone them on Monday to make an appointment for the next week end - they would try and fit us in !! Thanks !!
Anyway, we left - bitterly disapppointed - but 10 minutes later got a phone call, to say we could go back at 2.00pm today to drive the car (time was now 1.00pm).
Arrived back at the site and was promptly ignored again by the "sales" person. Eventually, the receptionist said she would come for a drive with us !! We walked to the car and I had to ask for the trade plates ! I had to work the controls / buttons out for myself.
My other half and I both drove the car, the sad thing is that we loved the car !
Arrived back at the dealership after the drive at were asked what we wished to do now - "Did we want to go away and think about it ?" WTF ! No we wanted to work out figures and buy the bloody thing !!
At this point we knew nothing about the car, the mileage was 3k more than the "details" on the car that were in the screen.
A business manager spoke to us, said he couldn't value our car (only an Audi RS6), and quoted a finance package 3% above Finance House Base Rate !!!
We were told we would get a call tomorrow with a px figure. We left thoroughly disappointed and disillusioned with what should have been an enjoyable experience. If I didnt want a 911 so much - I would be tempted to walk away from Porsche forever.
Unfortunatley, we cannot buy privately as we need the funding and the px !
Rant over !
Find another OPC.
I bought the cheapest 996 on the lot at OPC in East London, but had a thoroughly enjoyable and stress free buying experience with a sales manager called Joe Polack. A nice no bullsh1t guy, honest and knowledgeable and prepared to put up with me behaving like a kid at Xmas when I was waiting for delivery!!!
The whole experience was great, the paperwork, the flowers for the Mrs, the car properly prepped and under a cover when I went to pick it up..... Don't write Porsche off. Tell the dealer you dealt with to shove it up their AR5E and go and buy one somewhere else (oh and tell the dealer principal what a star that receptionist is..... she might appreciate some good feedback and break into the sales side and show the losers a thing or two....)
I sometimes wonder whether some of the "bad apple" sales people who folks have a bad time with have a big chip on their shoulder - i.e. they think they are the "bees knees" with their cheap suits, cheap aftershave and hairgel, but then they realise they sell a product they may never be able to afford because they are no good at what they do and get bitter and twisted. My girlfriend sometimes gets the same problem in nice dress and shoe shops - the girls in there might work at Prada but at the end of the day they sometimes have a BIG chip on their shoulder that they are just one step away from working in Netto stacking shelves.
Give Joe a call. You will not be disappointed - a true enthusiast and a good bloke as well.
Good luck.
>> Edited by Vesuvius996 on Sunday 3rd April 22:20
A long trek from Dorset but if you have a spare weekend I can recommend Specialist Cars at Malton www.specialistcarsltd.co.uk not the cheapest but excellent service.
CarlT said:
This was'nt an OPC on a roundabout with a BP and a Honda dealer next door , and Ferrari just down the road , was it ?
If so, exact same thing happened to a friend of mine....
Bad form.
No, next to some big offices owned by Porsche !
Ahhh !
That one as well then ! " Could'nt give a toss" service seems to be contagious...
Vesuvius996 said:
Find another OPC.
I sometimes think that some of these unsuccessful sales people who folks have a bad time with have a big chip on their shoulder - i.e. they think they are the bees knees with their cheap suits, cheap aftershave and hairgel, but then they realise they sell a product they will never be able to afford and get bitter and twisted. My girlfriend gets the same problem in designer dress shops - the girls in there might work at Prada but at the end of the day they have a chip on their shoulder that they are just one step away from working in Netto stacking shelves.
>> Edited by Vesuvius996 on Sunday 3rd April 22:15
My thoughts exactly.
A number of the sales staff I have encountered at OPC's (and other "niche" marques) have definitely been in possession of this particularly unattractive quality.
As everyone else has said, go elsewhere. I suppose I can see it's difficult if there's only one salesman and he genuinely is booked up all day.
When I turned up at our local OPC on a Saturday morning to look at a Cayenne they were busy too. The receptionist nabbed the general manager who gave us the keys to the demonstrator and asked us to get it back by 4
When I turned up at our local OPC on a Saturday morning to look at a Cayenne they were busy too. The receptionist nabbed the general manager who gave us the keys to the demonstrator and asked us to get it back by 4
I take it you visited the OPC in Ferndown? I have always found the staff at this OPC excellent. Call them back, speak to the manager and expalin your first visit, then ask them to schedule you in and ask for Mike to be the salesman you deal with. I should imagine this will provide you with a very different and much improved level of service.
Thunderfoot said:
I take it you visited the OPC in Ferndown? I have always found the staff at this OPC excellent. Call them back, speak to the manager and expalin your first visit, then ask them to schedule you in and ask for Mike to be the salesman you deal with. I should imagine this will provide you with a very different and much improved level of service.
But why should someone spending roughly £50k have to go on the back foot and give the dealer a second chance?
I've met some great dealers, they are out there. Just a matter of ignoring the idiot dealers (as in this thread starter) and go elsewhere where your money will be appreciated.
CarlT said:
We left thoroughly disappointed and disillusioned with what should have been an enjoyable experience. If I didnt want a 911 so much - I would be tempted to walk away from Porsche forever.
A few guys have said find another OPC; I disagree. This OPC has the car that you want and you deserve to be treated properly. Call them back, speak to the Dealer Principal, explain what happened, tell him that you were thinking of complaining to Customer Services at their Head office in Reading
but wanted to give him the opprotunity to put things right first...
petros said:
Option is to sell p/x privately and sort out your own funds through Northern Rock, one of the cheapest at the moment offering a flat rate of 2.9%. peter
2.9% seems very good. I've looked on northern rock's website and can't find this rate. Where did you see it?
Went to the OPC in Colchester with the old man for the last two Saturdays… everyone at the dealership was helpful, polite and friendly… got offered coffee, and they were happy for us to mess around getting luggage into the car (to prove Mum wrong on the practicality perspective) and I'm happy to say that the old man parted with cash and bought himself a Boxster S at the weekend.
Dealer was the one at Colchester, and the salesman was John… happily recommend them both.
Dealer was the one at Colchester, and the salesman was John… happily recommend them both.
Podie said:
Went to the OPC in Colchester with the old man for the last two Saturdays… everyone at the dealership was helpful, polite and friendly… got offered coffee, and they were happy for us to mess around getting luggage into the car (to prove Mum wrong on the practicality perspective) and I'm happy to say that the old man parted with cash and bought himself a Boxster S at the weekend.
Dealer was the one at Colchester, and the salesman was John… happily recommend them both.
ive used colchester for nearly 5 years now, and always found them,especially the service dept to be very honest and professional
My Gt3, which is LHD and was bought from a specialist had its last service and alignment done there. I told them I was having the brakes done at JZ machtech soon, and they made no fuss. Paid what i was quoted and the car even gets picked up an dropped off...and I live in Kent.
peterpeter said:
Went to the OPC in Colchester with the old man for the last two Saturdays… everyone at the dealership was helpful, polite and friendly… got offered coffee, and they were happy for us to mess around getting luggage into the car (to prove Mum wrong on the practicality perspective) and I'm happy to say that the old man parted with cash and bought himself a Boxster S at the weekend.
Dealer was the one at Colchester, and the salesman was John… happily recommend them both.
ive used colchester for nearly 5 years now, and always found them,especially the service dept to be very honest and professional
My Gt3, which is LHD and was bought from a specialist had its last service and alignment done there. I told them I was having the brakes done at JZ machtech soon, and they made no fuss. Paid what i was quoted and the car even gets picked up an dropped off...and I live in Kent.
Is it the white and red jobbie I saw in the workshop on Saturday...?
Podie said:
Went to the OPC in Colchester with the old man for the last two Saturdays… everyone at the dealership was helpful, polite and friendly… got offered coffee, and they were happy for us to mess around getting luggage into the car (to prove Mum wrong on the practicality perspective) and I'm happy to say that the old man parted with cash and bought himself a Boxster S at the weekend.
Dealer was the one at Colchester, and the salesman was John… happily recommend them both.
I've used the OPC at Guildford. Whilst its always worth making an appointment, and also trying to go there on a weekday, I have always found them to be extremely helpful - both in terms of Sales (I've bought two off Darrel) and Service.
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