W211 AMG Discuss the W211 AMG's such as the E55 and the E63

How's this for service

Old Oct 11, 2011 | 04:17 PM
  #1  
cte430's Avatar
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'07 Porsche 997TT
How's this for service

Posted this on the porsche boards but I thought it would be interesting for you guys to read here. If anyone needs a tech in the tri-state area you would be hard pressed to find better. Built race cars at Farnbacher Loles and also worked on a cup team in Germany:

We usually read about service experiences when they're bad, so I thought i'd post one about someone going above and beyond.

Was scheduled to be at Monticello Motor club this weekend with personal coaching from pro driver Aaron Povoledo. Aaron is a great guy and instructor, and an amazing driver (congrats on the win in Atlanta last week!)

At the end of the day he was doing some hot laps - PSM off and pushing things pretty hard. Very humbling. Anyway, after a few laps we get a CEL and things are not feeling great. lots of hesitation, doesn't sound good etc. We pull into the pits and we check for a boost hose. everything looks ok.

I call my tech Kip Harris hoping to catch him in the shop late on a Sat. He answers and I tell him what's going on. At this point we took the car out of the complex and we did some more experimenting. Every time boost came up we got the stuttering.

Kip thought it could be the spark plugs and we tried to think how many miles ago they were changed.

Obviously, I could not go back for the 2nd day with the CEL and not knowing what was going on.

Kip said he'd hang out if I wanted to drive over so he could check it out. So, I drove the 1:45 minutes to CT. so he could have a look.

Hooked it up to piwis and showed misfiring. He didn't have the plugs in stock so called another shop that had them. He drove over and picked them up and came back about 20 minutes later.

I guess by the time he got back and moved the other cars out of the way it was close to 8:00 when he started.

I'm sure everyone here knows what a ***** changing plugs on this car is. He inspected the coils and they were good. The thing with Kip is he looks at everything, not just doing the job your asking him to do. He is so methodical and an absolute perfectionist.

The plugs were completely destroyed. Good news is that he was able to inspect lots of other things and all looks good on my almost 60,000 mile '07.

Like I said, i don't remember what time he actually started but I do know what time I left his shop. 5:00AM!!!!

I don't know many people that would stay at work literally all night after working all day to try to help a customer out.

Anyone in the tri-state area that is looking for someone will not be disappointed. He is as knowledgable as they come and there is no nicer guy in this business.
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Old Oct 11, 2011 | 06:33 PM
  #2  
Ryououki's Avatar
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2005 E55 AMG
Wow, great find. I need someone like that in my area.
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Old Oct 11, 2011 | 08:07 PM
  #3  
stevieg's Avatar
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From: Atlanta, GA
2007 E63 AMG, 1991 NSX, 2007 Corvette
Chris- Great Story.
Awesome find when you can have a tech that has a passion for cars and the sport. You are right about Aaron, he is an awesome driver. Road Atlanta is a very technical track and it is very easy to get out of sorts especially at the speeds these guys drive.
Your car looks great. By the way, after being up all night and leaving the shop at 5 am and then having to drive back over to the track, how did you do the second day with no sleep?
Porsche's are a beast to drive at speed with 10 hours of sleep let alone no sleep !!!

Thanks for sharing your post with the MB forum.
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Old Oct 11, 2011 | 10:13 PM
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From: Long Island
'07 Porsche 997TT
Originally Posted by stevieg
Chris- Great Story.
Awesome find when you can have a tech that has a passion for cars and the sport. You are right about Aaron, he is an awesome driver. Road Atlanta is a very technical track and it is very easy to get out of sorts especially at the speeds these guys drive.
Your car looks great. By the way, after being up all night and leaving the shop at 5 am and then having to drive back over to the track, how did you do the second day with no sleep?
Porsche's are a beast to drive at speed with 10 hours of sleep let alone no sleep !!!

Thanks for sharing your post with the MB forum.
Because of the 2 hours of sleep I thought it best to skip day two LOL. I'm talking with Aaron to try to come up with a make up date.
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Old Oct 12, 2011 | 09:24 AM
  #5  
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From: Northern VA
W211
Now thats what i call great customer service and going out of the way/above and beyond to help out. Cant find that type of service any more.
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Old Oct 12, 2011 | 09:40 AM
  #6  
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2006 E55, 2012 Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible, 2014 Kia Sorento SXL AWD
That is awesome stuff! I don't live in that area, but if one of my friends in that area is in need, I will be sure to refer him. The thing is, if more people conducted business in this manner, the world would be a much better place. Instead of the stealership trying to rob you blind, if they performed service like this, I wouldn't mind taking my vehicle to the dealer... But I know it isn't the case. When they charge $100 plus parts to change a cabin filter and the same price to change an air filter, I scoff. I can do both within 15 minutes for nothing but the price of the parts. And they wonder why I don't bother taking my vehicle in for anything other than warranty items. Maybe if you didn't try to rob us blind and were actually committed to ensuring my vehicle was serviced correctly, I would bring it in!!!
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Old Oct 12, 2011 | 12:12 PM
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From: MA
E63S
Wow, hang on to that mechanic...
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Old Oct 13, 2011 | 04:15 PM
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isellbenz's Avatar
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From: West Chester, OH
2005 C230WZ, 2004 E55, 2004 Audi S4
Hopefully he's makin' the big bucks for the big help! Applause!
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