IDEA: Rating List for Porsche Vendors, Mechanics, Specialty Shops...

[gruen911]

After thinkiong more about the Alan Gunn travesty to one of our brethren's wood steering wheels, I was thinking that it would be a good idea to actually create a thread on the "General" forum which offers a list of vendors, mechanics, parts specialists and repair services who service our beloved 4 wheel family members and to rate their work and performance.
In the same way the thread was set up to vote on a members favorite Porsche color, maybe it would be possible to set-up a list of merchants with a counter next to their names denoting the number of subscribers on the 911SRegistry who have had great, decent, poor, horrible experince with a certain vendor, mechanic etc.
The collective brain power of this group of guys is aptly demonstrated on a daily basis just by looking at the postings under the "Technical" forum. Why not also use all the collective experience of the board members to weed out the BS artists from the good guys who have worked on or provided parts or service to our cars with great skill and honesty?
With the handful of people who have had very bad experience with Alan Gunn, and the few (if any) who may have had a good experience with him, it would be readily apparent to someone like JCF that his steering wheel was in grave danger. In addition, some of the guys like Shawn who have been ripped off by the likes of "Born2BFast" could do the rest of the membership a great service by helping the rest of us avoid these guys. What better way to get back at the hacks and sleazballs than by hurting them through taking away future business?!
Anyone else have any thoughts, comments, or ideas on this?

[lisa_spyder]

I know this doesn't really affect me as I am on the other side of the world (literally); also being one of the repair community would preclude me from making comment in any event. However, I think your idea has good merit. Unfortunately, there will always be bad apples in the bunch. Forewarning others of genuinely bad experiences is a good service. Obviously, the information would sometimes have to be taken with a grain (or even sack) of salt; the complaint may be more associated with an axe to grind rather than fact. But on a forum like this, I'm sure that several questions to the complainant would flush out the truth if that were the case.

Funny...some of the repairers in Aus. run a nice little warning system about bad clients! I get the odd phone call from others in the trade warning me of individuals doing the rounds causing havoc and I make the odd phone call to these guys too. Some have even suggested a faxed "black list"! Just as some guys shouldn't work on Porsches, there are some out there who shouldn't own them. But I'll bet NONE of the members on this board fall into that category .

Good luck with getting this idea up and running.

Cheers,

[a911s]

Great idea, it would prevent someone from going to the people who should have been put out of business long ago. However, in my experience, it will probably have no effect on preventing someone from having a bad experience with any one shop.

[pwd72s]

A great idea...so great, somebody beat you to it.

http://www.rennmech.com/

Maybe our webmaster would think this is worthy of a link?

[gruen911]

PWD72S,
I checked out the Rennmech link and did not find it helpful at all.
First of all, I don't know who is posting their opinions on that board. In contrast however, I do feel I have a generally good knowledge and respect for most of the contributors on this board. The opinions of the people on this board would be worth much more to me than what is on the Rennmech board. In addition, the Rennmech board only references mechanics. I was thinking we might do something more all encompassing such as mechanics AND parts suppliers, steering wheel repair services, body restoration shops, seat upholstery shops, etc.
The Rennmech website is a far cry from what I would suggest we do.
In addition, I looked up a few of the shops on the rennmech site who I have personally dealt with. One of them I spent quite a bit of time next to while restoring two early 911's. I was surprised to see that people had posted favorable opinions of the shop. The things I saw done at that shop were literally criminal. How about re-using rod bolts on a suppossed fresh engine rebuild for $9k?! How about stealing a guys limited slip while his car is at the shop for a few days getting his brakes done - because he was a newbie and wouldn't know or appreciate the difference?! How about taking parts off one customer's car and putting it on another customers car because his car was due to be picked up today?! How about parking a car with a leaky master cylinder on a lift directly above a completetly retsored 356, then scrambling to find a painter who could respray and buff out the roof with a quick Saturday morning paint job in an open garage on a breazy day next to a dirty alley way before the owner found out?! There were even more stories, but you get the idea...
Anyway, that particular mechanic was listed as one of the "good" guys on the Rennmech board.
The opinions of most of the seasoned guys on THIS BOARD who have been taken around the block a few times and have gone the extra distance to find people to do the job right are what I would value....

[RPMClassic]

Moorespeed is my personal favorite. A +.

[John Fusco]

Good idea, to have the info in one place - maybe it could be something like the positive feedback thread at Pelican.
The only diff. is one person with a grudge or an interest inputting many times - kind of like the voting for the All Star team -

I know now that before I send anything anywhere from now on I am going to ask here if anyone knows anything good or bad about the person or place first.
That may not be foolproof but at least some of us know who some of the fools are.

John

[Rico]

He just down the road from me and was thinking to
use him . Whats the deal???

[John Fusco]

Rico;

Damn !

If I knew that about 8 weeks ago I might have been able to save alot of time if not the wheel.

You could do me a favor though .... Do you know how to use a Louisville Slugger ?

Peace;

John

[RickS]

Good idea but be aware of potential defamation litigation for posting the bad guys. You may want to restrict it to a list of preferred vendors only. I would hate to lose this board due to litigation. (We live in litiguous times - unfortunately).