Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I had my S2 inspected by JMG a couple of weekends ago and, if I'm honest, was a bit disappointed . It took me a while to get a booking in the first place (despite my interest in spending quite a bit on suspension upgrades with them), but when I finally managed to get there, it wasn't quite what I was expecting...

First impressions were that there were a lot of rather young lads seemingly running the place, but the quality and quantity of Porsches clearly using the place allayed my initial concerns. After two hours wandering around Christchurch , the car was ready for collection, and I was able to have a really good chat with the guy on reception and the technician who had been looking at my car (who clearly knew what they were talking about) . As suspected, there were a few things to go through, and it was agreed that they would e-mail me details of the inspection and quotes to carry out a range of work that I wanted done to the car, with a view to me booking it back in for mid-October.

A few days went by and no e-mail, so I dropped them a quick note to request that they provide me a summary of the inspection and quotes for the work, as agreed. A few days later, I got an invoice for £0 with very brief details of the inspection that they carried out, but no signs of the quotes that had been requested . We are now two weeks since the inspection and still nothing... I appreciate that I could call them, but this is difficult for me during the week, and e-mail is a perfectly acceptable alternative nowadays.

Considering that I clearly indicated that I was looking at spending about £2k with them on a combination of repairs and upgrades, you would have thought that they might have been more interested in my custom, or am I underestimating the normal value of Porsche repairs ? One of the guys mentioned something about a recent bereavement at the garage causing the initial delay in replying to my request for an inspection. Anyone know anything about this?

I know from numerous posts that JMG have a good reputation on this (and other) forums, hence my decision to use them in the first place, so is my experience an isolated one, or has anyone else had something similar happen recently?

Phil

Similar experience at the start of the year.

Drove 2.5 hrs each way for an inspection and ignition/dyno check up due to hearing positive feedback on various forums. Two hours roaming around waiting for it to be done. When I got back the car had its free check up and no dyno or ignition adjustment! List of minor faults given. Had they called me and offered to rectify the minor/easy fixes I'd have agreed and paid. However some bigger faults were checked by a visit to another garage a month or so later and no faults found. Didn't even get my mileage right on the invoice nor the need for a replacement clutch, worn shocks, soft brakes. I also expressed an interest in some of the performance mods listed on their website which they could of lifted some £££'s from my wallet. Nothing. No hint of fleecing my hard earned. Times must be good for them not to need my cash. The website extols service I wasn't in receipt of. Subsequently I've spent over £3k this year with suspension upgrade, brake service, new clutch, engine service, dyno's etc.

Still waiting for parts quote by phone requested early August for my front end service, fairly regular items, chased them after a few days incase they forgot to call me back we're all human after all, never got a call back so went to type911 and Berlyn both gave top service from start to finish. I can't be doing with having to chase and work hard to spend money that's not the name of the game lol.

I've been waiting over a week for a reply to an email request for a quote for simple but expensive suspension work. If they don't want me to spend a couple of grand with them there are plenty of places that do.......

robmal

I know your title says recent and I've only bought parts off John in the last year, but I thought they were quite good. The e-mails and PM's on this forum made me feel at ease about using them. I'm sorry to hear of bad experiences with them because they seemed one if the main Indy's in Britain prepared to help TIPEC members over the phone, much like Brian Miller up in Scotland.

There are alot more cars and Porsches on the road these days and more old cars to be kept on the road, so maybe all garages are finding it hard to keep up. My friend has an Merc' Indy' garage and it is queued out the door due to the fact that they have to accept any car for repair and testing these days.

sounds like they are really busy at the moment and maybe new work from all the recent recommendations on here has swamped their resources. There is a physical limit to the number of cars they can work on at any given time and those have to be the priority in any business.
To us £2000 represents a lot of money but to a garage that may well turn over £50k+ per week your £2k is peanuts.

Maybe their service and repairs manager cannot cope. Lets hope that they are aware of the customer relations problem and are doing something about it before it damages their reputation

I only buy parts from them But It's clear they have a software problem as I'm also waiting for an email that never comes. Will chase on Monday. They are very busy & though I have on occasion had to chase they have often saved me money with there advice & alternatives. Sometimes recommending completely different parts to the ones that I was trying to order. To me it's worth the hassle.

Hmm, interesting to see that I am not alone .

peanut - I hear what you are saying about them being busy, but when I was there in person two weeks ago discussing options, they said that they would be able to fit me in with about a weeks notice, as they aren't very busy at this time of year. If they had given me the quotes that I had requested, my car would probably be with them right now. Instead, I have ordered a load of suspension parts from various places and have decided to have a bash fitting them myself !!

Phil

I'd better chip in with a couple of points.
1st They have always been a little lax on the follow up side, they know there stuff and go out of there way to help but quotes, follow up discussions etc have always been iffy. I've always had to chase chase chase but get there in the end.
2nd (I think Jon will be ok me saying this now) and for those with recent dealings in last couple months. Jon's wife passed away at beginning of August and as it's a family business they were shut down for a couple of weeks and then limited running after that. I thought they had sent messages to most people, I did offer to go in and help on the phones but Jon said he had it covered but........? It's difficult for all down there at moment especially as Jon's youngest is still at school and it was totally unexpected. I would phone every couple days and give them a prod to keep things moving and things will get done.

Hope that explains situation a little

Andy

Oh Shit. That explains a lot.

I think so too. Jon has helped me before and been very kind to a new 944 owner, so I'd be prepared to stick with him.

thanks for putting us in the picture Andy thankfully before the thread degenerated into a slagging off of the company.

It just goes to show how easy it is for us to not wait until we have the full facts before speculating.

I feel a little ashamed now and would like to extend my sincere condolances and best wishes to Jon and his Family .

Thanks for your post Andy . I did comment about a recent bereavement possibly being part of the issue in my initial post, so I am grateful that you have been able to clarify the situation. This clearly explains the lack of responses to me and several others recently.

I am sure that everyone would wish to pass on their condolences to Jon. I will certainly give them a second chance in the future, as I have a few jobs on my 944 that are a bit specialist for a mere home mechanic .

Phil

Hi Guys,

Thanks Andy for explaining the situation and for bringing this thread to my attention.

Julie Mitchell, who some of you may have met in the past at club events or when visiting the garage, passed away in August following a very difficult year, which has seen our two sons Mark and Declan who also work at the business as well as myself distracted, as well as attending to my 15 year old son in the wake of these tragic events. The business also closed for two weeks during this period while we arranged the funeral.

Unfortunately as well as this, some of you may be aware that my father, John Mitchell Senior who originally set up the garage in the 1970's, has been suffering from a terminal illness, which has also distracted my attention at times from the business, but to a much lesser extent, which in itself would not have been a problem.

They say that things come in 3's, and I recently discovered that a member of staff was working with his own agenda or was just being slap dash in the wake of my absence this year, so his employment is now terminated.

The good news is that the business is now almost back up to stength with my full attention, a couple of new members of staff have joined us and new systems are being put in place to rectify the holes in admin which had let our customers down in recent months while our attention was distracted.

If any customers who have been let down by lack of attention this year would like to get in touch with me via PM, email or telephone, I promise to make it up to you, so hopefully you will give us another chance and be pleased with the excellent service that we became famous for in the first place.

Thank you for your understanding in this difficult time.

Deepest sympathy from Southern Region.


Nick