[sidindica]

Now for some good news:

I got an invitation to visit Porsche New Delhi today from the brand manager, Mr.Evans.
we sat, greeted each other and he humbly apologised for saturday's incident (which I feel could have been done by the persons who are responsible for this incident)
Very courteous and humble person,we had a nice interactive chat and he gave me the new boxster, cayman brochures and panamera pre-launch photo-set,along with some memorabilia- all awesome and worthy additions to my collection for hardcore porsche fans like me.

special thanks to him and the customer relations manager for helping me restore faith and confidence in the porsche brand, on a porschephile like me.

I have always been a big fan of the Porsche sports cars, more so than Ferrari and Lamborghini due to their timeless design, enduring engineering, reliability and most important, user friendliness.
Also, porsche's commitment to our environment is really great considering these cars are the most fuel efficient in their classes along with the lowest CO2 emissions, greatly contributed by lightweight chassis and use of some innovative technologies aimed at maximizing efficiency and reducing emissions.

the new boxster and cayman with DFI and PDK options will again promise to redefine the concept of a mid-engined coupe and roadster once they arrive in India soon.

also, special thanks to tbhp for helping me to overcome the saturday's problem and playing a role in restoring the avant garde level of goodwill that I have for the brand.

some pics will be uploaded in a few hours of my new porsche collection

with regards
sidindica

[black12rr]

Did your frustration reach them through email or by some one ? .Did they fire those idiots ?.
Appreciate that porsche took notice of it and responsed wisely .Only if they could make little affordable cars .

[sidindica]

not through email or any person but only through this blog, as told to me by the manager.

[pulsar56]

not through email or any person but only through this blog, as told to me by the manager.

Good to know that the manufacturers are taking T-BHP seriously.
I would say, that was pretty quick by Porsche. And another feather in T-BHP's cap!

[harry10]

Glad the issue is resolved amicably.
Just read the other thread and i agree irrespective of the fact you wish to buy the product or not its the job of sales people to entertain you always. In fact a good sales guy with his politeness and skills will sell you the product even if you never had the intention of buying it.


My family is in the Business world since eternity. 2 rules i learned from my father since day 1-
1.- Customer is King.
2.- Customer is always right (even if he is wrong you have to treat him as he is right).
Guess the sales guy has never heard of such things in his life. Any business cannot survive without customers no matter how huge their boots are.

And why should we go in an accord or a safari to check out any car. They should be thankful someone is coming to check the car even in the time of recession!

[sidindica]

i went in my own santro, not on an accord or a safari.
today, i have made another pledge:
i will never want to see the faces of those 2 persons who were responsible for that incident forever.
even if I pass by them, i turn my face towards the opposite direction, such is the image they have portrayed.

[SirAlec]

Guess what?
Check the salutation @ porsche india website.

That explains a lot.

[sidindica]

Originally Posted by black12rr

Did your frustration reach them through email or by some one ? .Did they fire those idiots ?.
Appreciate that porsche took notice of it and responsed wisely .Only if they could make little affordable cars .

none of them were fired,how can they be?

especially the sales manager, who still had that "I am the boss" look at his face today. I anyway never expected him to say sorry.

the issue was that when I have personally never hurt anyone's sentiments, why should I bear the brunt for no fault of mine?

I did what I felt right by posting my experiance so that everyone is aware of whats going on in the real world scenario and any other customer will never have to experiance the similar thing again.

all said and done, the brand manager did a commendable task of repairing the damage and I will only talk to him directly, should I require any other information or share anything about porsche, never ever to those two guys.

[Gear-ge]

Sidindica,

I suppose you changed the subject-line of this thread after your interaction with Mr. Evans. I wish you hadn't though. An apology does not undo a wrong.

What happened to you at Porche is inexcusable.

The resolution attempt is cosmetic.

Arrogance can normally not tolerated, but coming as it does from a couple of guys who have NOTHING to be arrogant about, is simply not acceptable.

Glad you posted your experience.
Cheers

[Ravveendrra]

I am glad about two things.

1. Porsche is listening. Without anyone writing to them or calling them - they read this thread and rectified things.

2. They called the member and a senior man, took responsibility and apologised for the behavious of his subordinates.

This they did, in spite of sid categorically stating here (and I presume in the shop too) that he was not buying - but a fan.

To me, this is a good enough resolution. If we are braying for blood (firing of the sales assistants etc.) we will be no different from the same sales assistant who we have decided is ignorant, arrogant, rude, crude etc.

I think the Brand Manager has led by example, it is upto the sales team to emulate his behaviour.

The sales guys are a product of our society, if the sales guys are arrogant and rude besides being ill-informed, all of us collectively, as part of that society, share the blame to some extent. If the companies kept firing all the incompetent / rude / ignorant sales staff, soon they would not have anyone left. It is far too much for us to expect each and every officer of Porsche in India and in Germany to come crawling and praying for mercy forgiveness etc.

Kudos to you @ sidindica, you have shown the grace and poise worthy of a prince. I am sure you will find it in you to be civil to those two sales guys if you do run into them in the street.


@ SirAlec: in the Porsche web-site's list of salutations there is a choice of leaving it blank or a simple Mr. Mrs. or Ms. too. No harm if they are being inclusive (and doing a bit of ego massaging) and adding other salutations for those who insist on using their official titles and ranks, their customers do come from those ranks, while the hoi-polloi like you and I do all we can to stop drooling over those awesome machines from a safe distance.

Cheers,

[sidindica]

enjoy these pics of my best brochures from my collection

pics include:

old and new boxster brochure
old and new cayman brochures
old and new 911 brochures
old and new cayenne brochures
special pre launch brochure of panamera and 911 turbo cabriolet
911 gt2 and 911 gt3 brochures
Porsche motorsport, Porsche Leipzig and environment brochures

[tomthump]

Ravveendrra I definitely like your attitude.

I guess this happens at many places. People who work in organizations are sometimes not aware of the image they are intended to convey.

Is it because of our upbringing and culture? I doubt it, because I like to think that us Indians are inherently nice people.

Could it be because of a lack of self esteem among the few people we meet who are so rude?

I too experience this sometimes, and I guess most of us do,... the 'take it or leave it attitude', and the 'you are not good enough' put downs.

I had a hard time stomaching these experiences in various establishments, till I understood that there is no way I can change how a person who is not my employee can be made to be better.

That can only be done by his own employer.

It is good that the employer in this case took any action.

And I'm sure that they will have given a positive instruction not to repeat such rudeness in future.

Because a casual person such as me, reading these experiences, would be greatly turned off from even considering a Porsche, and considering how many thousands are likely to read these posts, no sane car manufacturer would condone ill treatment of a guest in their showroom.

[DKG]

The kind of behaviour you encountered is sadly an extreme aberration of a peculiar problem sales staff of exotic cars face.

Everything about these cars is very expensive. Even the brochures cost a bomb. Sometimes you simply cannot afford to have too many people sitting in the cars as it begins to show after a while.

Often you will encounter cars locked in showrooms with the car being opened once the walkin has been qualified. When the leather on a Boxster costs Rs 4 lacs you can imagine the predicament a showroom has in letting too many people sit in a brand new to be sold car.

Handling walkins who come out of curiosity and interest but with no intent or ability to buy is a tough call. It calls for a high degree of finesse and ettiquette to refuse without offending.

Quite obviously the dealer in Delhi had failed to train the staff on handling different situations

The first time I saw an F40 the car invariably was locked and the key "comfortably" not easily available. But in time I understood their predicament of figuring out who is a buyer and who a "time waster" as they usually put it.

I learnt a trick in handling these guys effectively. Whenever I'd walk in to a Ferrari Porsche RR or Lamborghini showroom I would never expect to be attended. As someone would walk up with a "Can I help you" I'd smile with a "Just looking" and go back to enjoying gazing at the car. In time I noticed it worked magically. More often than not someone in the showroom invariably would notice me drooling over the car on display and they would make a concerted effort to strike up a conversation

Invariably I would be allowed to sit in, hoods opened to reveal engine bays, and the brochure handed over with a "perhaps you'd want to read more about it"

I was allowed to drool over the F40 inside out, handed over an amazing collectors edition Ferrari magazine that profiled the just launched 456GT and the limit was when the Lambo showroom owner called me one afternoon to say, "Deepak want a drive in a Diablo". Surely he knew I couldn't afford the car. But he knew the passion and felt he had to do this for me.

So moral of the story is, here in India you just might encounter this in some of the exclusive car showrooms. Go there to enjoy the cars but don't expect anything from the showroom. Intime as they notice you are a passionate enthusiast they will come around and help out. We kind of need to avoid a situation where something unpleasant like what Sid encountered happens.

Its hard work selling an exotic. Calls for a great deal of patience.

As someone who has worked in the car industry all my life I do maintain that that school kid walking in to drool over the car is a customer. Perhaps not today but in time. All those chaps I met in the exotic car showrooms who spent their time answering my questions and handing over beautiful brochures have made this journey special.

A seasoned sales person would have put a smile on your face and made you a passionate spokesperson for the car. What you encountered was immaturity and believe me that guy will struggle to sell. Selling is an artform of positive energy. The sales person with loads of positive energy sells more cars than ones with negative or low energy.

I'm glad Porsche staff made amends and hopefully you are appeased.

[wanderernomad]

Glad that they took notice. Kudos to the brand manager in making an effort to reach out. But why cant those two "attitude Guys" simply come forward and say sorry. It would have been much simpler but then I think they must have learned their lessons or they gonna have to face it soon enough if they dont mend their ways and snooty attitude. As long as Sid is happy, we all are happy. Thanks Porsche for making all of us happy.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

1. Porsche is listening. Without anyone writing to them or calling them - they read this thread and rectified things.

I think the Brand Manager has led by example, it is upto the sales team to emulate his behaviour.

He truly has, and such an incident will surely change the way sales persons handle enthusiasts in their showroom henceforth.

Glad it worked out Sid. Alls well that ends well.