Porsche 911UK Forum

Welcome to the @Porsche911UK website. Register a free account today to become a member! Sign up is quick and easy, then you can view, participate in topics and posts across the site that covers all things Porsche.

Already registered and looking to recovery your account, select 'login in' and then the 'forget your password' option.

OPC Solihull - Rant

plavix

Well-known member
Joined
16 Sep 2013
Messages
2,208
I've decided that OPC Solihull, a Sytner Franchise, will not be receiving any of my business in the future. You can make your own decisions based on the below.

My colleague and I, who is 22 and drives a 135M and was driving, decided we would stop by OPC Solihull on the way back from Alcester as a friend of mine was having tyres fitted to his 981 Boxster S. As usual I'm in jeans and T-shirt, he is actually in a suit.

I walk in, ignoring the Carrera GT as I'm not a teenager, my colleague stops to get a closer look. I wander by the reception desk, having seen my friend, I smile and state we're here to see a friend, who I gesticulate to, who is having his car serviced and keep walking. We both reach my friend, I go to make coffee for us both.

We were there for about an hour, I had one coffee, my colleague two. I ate two minuscule pieces of flapjack and my colleague ate three, he's six foot plus so needs feeding constantly. We had a wander around the cars, talked about them a bit. My colleague said he liked the Cayman S. I wandered outside for five minutes to have a cigarette, leaving my colleague with my friend.

An owner of a 991 arrived just before I went back in. I reached the coffee area and leaned on the worktop, deciding if we were going to leave. The receptionist comes up, with the recently arrived customer. She states "have you eaten all of the flapjacks"? I'm a bit shocked by this as the tone was more accusatory than playful and say "no". I apologise and say, "oh, I guess I had better move away from them then".

She then proceeds to ask, "Did you find Dave, in customer service"? I looked a little nonplussed and say, "I did not say Dave when I arrived, I said my friend". I got the feeling she was implying that we were not actually there to see anyone. I gesticulated to my friend, having tyres fitted. As I moved around the counter I said that Sutton Coldfield are much nicer. Which I know she heard, as two minutes later, having dealt with the customer, she tried to be far friendlier by asking, "have you had a drink"?

Not once did anyone come to speak to myself of my colleague earlier, and he's really got his heart set on a Cayman S. Overall the experience was unwelcoming, unfriendly and unprofessional. When I buy my next car, it will not be from OPC Solihull.

Of course the above is only my opinion, perhaps I'm over-reacting? I'm in my forties now, where I don't expect people to be obsequious, quite the opposite in actual fact, I don't expect to be made to feel uncomfortable. Fair enough, there are expensive cars, people moving around and keys being moved from place to place, therefore you can expect a heightened sense of vigilance. In the defence of the receptionist perhaps she had not seen us talking to someone who was a customer?

As for the effing flapjacks I'm inclined to drop a kilogram of them off at the dealership tomorrow with instructions that the question should have been "would you like me to fill the flapjacks up for you". Immediately eliciting the correct response of "no" and being apologetic that we've eaten five tiny morsels between us!
 
Certainly not a positive Customer experience by any means. :nooo:
 

Attachments

  • 61913497_203.jpg
    61913497_203.jpg
    125.3 KB · Views: 3,898
I am in my forties also and personally I would just laugh that off.
 
:floor:

Sorry, in so many ways this isn't funny but me and my wife have just been laughing at the thought of you turning up with a kilo of flapjacks.

Unfortunately, it seems to be the way things are heading. 10 years ago you'd go into an OPC and be made to feel welcome, regardless of attire and treated with respect, regardless of your apparent position in society. Hey ho.

[I have to say, up here in the North they've been a pretty friendly bunch so far :) ]
 
DRZ911 said:
Certainly not a positive Customer experience by any means. :nooo:
Ha, we may not have been 'observed' talking to someone who was a customer, for an hour, but they noticed the effing flapjacks being eaten FFS.
kas750 said:
I am in my forties also and personally I would just laugh that off.
I was still in my forties when I went to Sutton Coldfield the first time and every time since. It was a totally different experience.
GP41 said:
:floor:

Sorry, in so many ways this isn't funny but me and my wife have just been laughing at the thought of you turning up with a kilo of flapjacks.
:floor:

I think I'll do it in any case, and take a picture.
GP41 said:
Unfortunately, it seems to be the way things are heading. 10 years ago you'd go into an OPC and be made to feel welcome, regardless of attire and treated with respect, regardless of your apparent position in society. Nowadays it seems to be more about the $$$$$ and what your appearance says you can afford to spend with them than about your genuine interest in the marque.

Hey ho.
+1.

I'm neither ostentatious nor elitist. I find overt displays of anything in particular off-putting.
 
Seth, I know you and am surprised they even let you in!
My business is just down the road from them, if you fancy dropping the flapjack in at mine I'll make you a real nice coffee to go with a slice :puh:
 
I feel far more comfortable at OPC Sutton Coldfield. I have quite a story to tell (well, several) about Solihull.

The parts guys are fine, the receptionist, whilst not as pretty as SC, is Ok (depending which one it is), in as much as she recognises me and doesn't treat me as something she has found on the bottom of her shoe.

I've never had a coffee at Solihull, never felt like I would be welcome to.

Don't send them any flapjacks. Bring them to the next meet.
 
Can you save a flapjack for me please Seth, it will go well with my fizzy water.

MC
 
Chief said:
Seth, I know you and am surprised they even let you in!
:D

Who the fook is Seth? Is it the weather?

I'll bring treats to the next meet then. :food:
 
The receptionists need to realise that most people who walk through that door probably earn thrice her / his salary as a minimum.
I will not be judged, i could probably fit her house in my extension, most of the time i am in jeans and t shirt with grime under my finger nails.
This is nowt to do what you earn really but judging people, one of the richest cash wise families local to me are in the scrap business.
They look like tramps...................seriously...............completely minted big time !
I worked in London for a while in the 80's i was a construction electrician, walked in to a Lambo Dealership (Drooling) and the people were so welcoming it totally surprised me.
No attitude or questioning looks.
Never judge a book by it's cover !
Take them some flapjack......................cheeky bastards :grin:
 
plavix said:
I've decided that OPC Solihull, a Sytner Franchise, will not be receiving any of my business in the future.

I've had some issues in the past with OPCs. Chester was pretty bad and I moved to Wilmslow. I had an issue with one guy there, he was pretty unprofessional and I let it slip a couple of times but in the end I spoke to the dealer principle. I was writing an article at the time for Porsche Post as well, not that should make any difference.

Anyway I told the dealer principle how I'd been treated by this guy. I was there to collect a part which he gave me for free. Then later the guy called to apologise, but he didn't even do that properly.

Anyway a few months later I went there and he was gone. Not saying it was because of me, most likely a number of complaints like mine.

I'd say don't judge the place by one person, tell them what happened, that you're a good customer and you want better service. I'm sure they'll be helpful.
 
isysman said:
I'd say don't judge the place by one person, tell them what happened, that you're a good customer and you want better service. I'm sure they'll be helpful.
Oh, I agree. But in this case it was not merely an individual. My colleague was desperate to speak to someone about the Cayman S. He spent some time near it. Perhaps a salesperson should have noticed as it was directly in front of the sweat box they were all squeezed in with floor to ceiling glass walls.
 
plavix said:
isysman said:
I'd say don't judge the place by one person, tell them what happened, that you're a good customer and you want better service. I'm sure they'll be helpful.
Oh, I agree. But in this case it was not merely an individual. My colleague was desperate to speak to someone about the Cayman S. He spent some time near it. Perhaps a salesperson should have noticed as it was directly in front of the sweat box they were all squeezed in with floor to ceiling glass walls.

Hmm it's tricky getting that right. I personally want to be left alone when looking at cars. If I want to talk to someone I will seek someone out. I don't like being molested by sales people.

I am generally left alone at Wilmslow. Maybe a salesman passing might ask if I'm ok from time to time, but not always.

I'd still maintain talking to them about it might yield results. If you feel it's endemic of that dealership take your business elsewhere. You can also contact Porsche Germany as they are representatives of the company to customers. If they get enough complaints they can lose their licence to sell. I was told this by a salesman at a Stratstone Ferrari dealership once.
 
I don't look like your average hooray henry or aristocrat to say the least but I have had nothing but 1st rate service whenever i've been into Porsche Tonbridge.
 
budflicker said:
I don't look like your average hooray henry or aristocrat to say the least but I have had nothing but 1st rate service whenever i've been into Porsche Tonbridge.

Was some nice eye candy, at the front desk at Tonbridge OPC.
A bit off topic I know.

:wink:
 

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
124,350
Messages
1,439,420
Members
48,707
Latest member
race911turbo
Back
Top