I must have bought over 20 Porsches from them in the last 15 years, plus sent them customers that have bought at least four cars totaling over 1/2 million dollars (not counting my own purchases). The most recent purchase was a 2014 Porsche 911 GT3 I took delivery last July. In fact, I still have my Panamera GTS that I bought from them almost 3 years ago. Needless to say, I have been a loyal customer and referred them lots of business. My salesman for most of my purchases was Mike O'Donnell, and throughout the years, I have sent him and the General Manager Ron Servidio gift baskets during holidays throughout the year, and took Mike to lunch when he visited California.

I had my name down for the 2016 Porsche 911 GT3RS since about 4 years ago. My name was always the first one on the list, as verified by both of them and I have proof from email correspondences. Well, as soon as Ron left the company for a different dealership, Mike and the new management took a 180 degree turn and demanded a $10,000 non-refundable deposit and a 10% premium over MSRP.

I have since relayed all the messages and email to Porsche Cars of North America. They have responded by telling me that they frown on such practices and will investigate and let me know the next step.

Business loyalty is a practice that I value, and I am sorry to have ever referred anyone to buy a car there. If I cannot trust a company to perform as promised, then I will take all my businesses as well as my company's and friends' business elsewhere.

Needless to say, I am never buying a car from them again, and will tell everyone to stay clear of this place.

 

Sorry to hear this...quite frankly I have been dissappointed with all the dealerships in CA, especially regarding the handling of the new GT3. No point in getting into the weeds but was in a deal on one and then received a phone call that it would be 15k over MSRP...after I already had the deposit and numbers worked through! Needless to say I am not going to purchase this car and certainly do not plan to pay 5, 10, 15 or more on top of MSRP for any vehicle. Kudos to those who don't care and wanted the car. Even better for those who received great service and purchased at a price at or below MSRP.

I am going to enjoy my new Lambo that will arrive in two weeks for a while and take a break from Porsche.

 

Sad to see these kind of dealer existed, lack of loyalty, trust, and respect for long time customers. They don't deserve your business, take it elsewhere.

 

Wow, what a bummer. Too many of these kind of dealerships exist unfortunately.

 

This kind of story is going to sound like a broken record going forward. I too have purchased numerous cars at a Los Angeles area Porsche dealer. Used to own 4 Porsches at one point in time, and would get them all services at this dealership. I didn't have my name on the list but the sales manager called and said he had a RS for me. I thought I was going to have a heart attack from the thought of owning the new RS. I didn't think it was going to be at or near MSRP, but when he told me he wanted 50k over sticker, YES $50000.00!!! I promised myself I would never do business with them.

 

LOL you sure they weren't joking with you? clearly seems like they couldn't get the car sold for 50k over MSRP if theyre gonna start calling people that weren't even on the allocation list... but good call... I wouldn't step a foot into that dealership after getting a call like that...

 

Sorry to hear you had this issue with Bert Smith. I also had an issue with them a few years back. I had a 911 C2S on order with them (with a $1000 deposit) and a dealer closer to home ended up giving me the best deal. I wrote to my salesman at Bert Smith, asked him if he could match it and he said no. I said, "Ok, I'm no longer interested in the car. Please return my deposit." He subsequently said they had the right to keep it and they were going to exercise that right. I got my attorney to send them a nice letter and needless to say, I got my deposit back.

 

The saddest thing besides me not getting my RS was them being 100% serious. SMH, damn stealer-ship.

 

Starting about 10 years ago, Porsche as a company and brand started moving away from their previous practice of building a relationship and have moved to a sales model. I am surprised it has taken this long for that dealership to change. The east coast dealers I deal with, besides one have pretty much become pump and dump operations.

 

The business relationships are usually with people. After that person left, not much left.
For the car business, unless you know the owner of the dealer, all other people are following direction from the top management.
The loyalty of the brand Porsche would be only if you bought a 918 from them, then you can have a RS or a GT4 with MSRP and allocation from what i've heard.
Is the RS worth that much more than a normal GT3?

 

Reprehensible! Do a Yelp review! They've only got 12 reviews right now and a 3.5 star rating, a 1 star rating from you would damage their Yelp rating pretty heavily.

 

Haha! Already did that. Maybe that's why they have a 3.5 now.

 

Hilarious. Stop blaming the dealers. You buy the cars. If you don't like, move the f on. No body owes you anything. Supply and demand. If you don't like the deal move on. If you whining like a little girl, its just because you ain't a player to buy something in demand.

 

What does this mean "if you ain't a player to buy something in demand"?

I suppose with your lineup of vehicles you fit your definition? Integrity is not relevant, I'll pay any price just sell me the car? Heck, let me give you a deposit, agree to a price...and if you want to charge me more because demand goes up before my vehicle arrives...well that's ok with me, because I'm a "player"?

This thread has nothing to do with who has the means, but rather how one is treated and the option to share those experiences online with fellow forum members.

 

Tongue and check . . . and I have not updated my "lineup" in years so no telling what I have. I am also, not a player, just a regular guy who purchases smart.

That said, no one owes anyone anything. By all means boycott Porsche brand, buy a Lambo or whateva if you think your were not treated special enough or given the deal you think you deserve.

After years of great service and 20 purchases, certainly going public and "steering everyone clear of the dealership" is a reasonable response to not getting the deal you think you deserve for being special.