Porsche IDIOTS! VIN sticker is wrong

porschenut · 05-09-2005, 03:33 PM

I ordered a new VIN sticker for my door jamb 3 months ago from a local dealer because the original was trashed during a repaint.

It finally came in today, and they screwed it up! My car is MY 86, but the manufacture date on the sticker says "06/83". The VIN is correct and is a G-program car (1986).

Now, I also have a certificate of authenticity that says "not recorded" for build date. I can understand if Porsche can't find a build date, because they weren't very good about keeping records back then. But come on! Off by 3 years? Is that the best guess they can make?? Don't they know how to decode their own VINs and at least make a reasonable guess based on the model year???

I paid $53 and waited 3 months for THIS? I hope the PCNA customer service reps get a good night's sleep and have earplugs because tomorrow's call is gonna be one they'll remember for a while.

edit: The dealer says "we could send the order in again, but it would just come back the same way. Nothing we can do."

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

Maybe your car was an early 86 protype. They are special cars for 86...and it wouldnt be surprising if they were in the planning stages back in 83.

david914 · 05-09-2005, 04:12 PM

Absolutely not acceptable! Ask them if they would accept a check that was post-dated 3 years...

70SWT · 05-09-2005, 05:22 PM

Maybe try a different dealer? Or I wonder if someone at PCA might be able to make some headway if the dealers are clueless. Sounds unacceptable, even in these decreasingly enthusiast-oriented days at Porsche Inc....you did pay your money and did not get the correct item...

LeeH · 05-09-2005, 06:18 PM

$53? I was quoted $90 here in Phoenix.

unclebilly · unclebilly's Garage

You have to pay an extra $37 if you want the correct one...

Paulporsche · 05-09-2005, 07:42 PM

I hate to say it, but they seem to be more Porsch and less Porsche every day.

kycarguy 935 · 05-09-2005, 08:15 PM

It sounds like the dealer should call PCNA and get the correct one for you. $53.00 is alot of money for a worthless piece of paper.

randywebb · 05-09-2005, 08:20 PM

See if you can get DMV involved. Write them and complain and send a copy to PCNA.

How can a people as anal as the Germans screw up something like this? Are they outsourcing too? And what fun-loving "we don' give a dam about numbers" culture did they outsource it to?

RSBob · RSBob's Garage

Wow, need to go check the one I received in the mail last week for accuracy - jeepers, never thought they would screw one of those up.

89turbocabmike · 05-09-2005, 09:02 PM

Porsche is getting sloppy. When I needed a new one-year-only flywheel for my car it turned out that all the flywheels porsche had on the shelf had the bolt pattern drilled upside down! Duh, no wonder all eight looked like they had been taped up and returned

randywebb · 05-09-2005, 09:36 PM

Hey - what are you VIN replacer people doing for rivets?

Stoddard told me not available.

real550A · real550A's Garage

randy....look around Hemmings and other restorer type books. I've seen them advertised from time to time.
Having been on the enforcement side of this issue, I've seen everything used from pop-rivets to double sided tape.
Car thieves even glue the rosette rivet heads right to the VIN plate, so they look correct to the untrained eye.

porschenut · 05-10-2005, 08:04 AM

Here's the update:

Spoke to PCNA Customer Commitment this morning. The rep keyed in my VIN #, and says the build date is 6/20/86. He's baffled why the sticker from Germany would be so wrong, and also why my COA doesn't have a build date on it. He says contact the dealer parts manager, who might have better "connections" to Porsche for resolving the issue.

Parts manager says he doesn't have any special connections, but promised to order me another sticker tomorrow. It'll be another 3 months to find out if they get it right the second time.

Here's my theory. The 3 and the 6 are right next to each other on the number pad. Whoever keyed the info into the sticker-making machine probably meant to key 06/86, but fat-fingered a 3 instead of a 6 without realizing it, and without catching it afterward.

call911 · 05-10-2005, 11:05 AM

Dave,

Consider yourself lucky.....I'm still waiting for my VIN sticker 4 years later! I had a partial respray in 2001 by one of the best shops in DC. They had me wait over a year trying to get the VIN sticker. They then referred me to one of the dealers in DC, spoke directly with the parts manager. He just smiled and made some kind of comment about how the Germans aren't too fond of us American Porsche owners. He tried calling Germany unsuccessfully, then referred me to Porsche Customer Service 1.800.545.8039. He said they are very good and would put pressure on Germany to get the foil Vin made.

I spoke with Carleta Brown, a very nice woman in GA office. She said she would get me the VIN sticker for the B-pillar door jam for $100. 2 months later PCNA send me an Authenticity Certificate on my '87 911 coupe. Great, but not what I paid for. I called her again, she was very apologetic, no problem, cert is free, we will send a VIN. 2 months later I get a package containing a small hard plastic VIN number plate, the one that goes on the A-pillar. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Called PCNA cust service again, they would look into it 4/04.....nothing. Called again 12/04....nothing. Last month I got a letter from PCNA stating they were sorry, but the VIN stickers were no longer available!!!

So, may I have the name/number of your dealer so that I may try through them? Phew!

Thanks,

RickM · RickM's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by randywebb
Hey - what are you VIN replacer people doing for rivets?

Stoddard told me not available.

I'd bet these people have them: http://www.restorationspecialties.com/webcatalog2003.pdf

Gumba11 · 05-10-2005, 04:15 PM

OK so here's an idea. How bout we all organize some kind of group effort through PCNA or a dealer to take care of these all at the same time. Maybe when they realize that the guys with the 996s (easily attained VIN plate) are not the ones needing the plates and their is immediate need for them for all of us NOW, Maybe they will get off their a$$es and get them done for us!

You guys think this may work? We could all call PCNA at the same time and express our displeasure at the time spent and all the B.S. hoops you have to jump through to restore our cars.

Just a thought, maybe we can set up a new thread or convert this one strictly to that topic alone. LETS GET THIS DONE! I have been working on this for 3 months and have suffered the same lame a$$ results. I am getting somewhere with my dealer finally but this is not fair to all the others out there who are going to be needing the same services.

Very concerned!!!...............................C

Gumba11 · 05-11-2005, 11:05 PM

Any more thoughts on this subject???

Porschephanatic · 05-12-2005, 04:28 AM

They really just want you to buy a new 997, Boxster, or Cayanne and let the old, obsolete 911 sit.

porschenut · 05-12-2005, 05:20 AM

Chris, I nominate you to be the organizer. If you succeed, maybe a moderator would be kind enough to make a sticky to let everyone know about it. My feeling is that a dealer isn't likely to feel very motivated to support such an effort, beyond simply entering orders for several VIN stickers through the normal process. I think you would have to start with PCNA Customer Commitment.

If you're really serious, I would start by calling PCNA CC and letting them know the situation calmly and politely, that there are lots of us trying to get replacement VIN stickers and having great difficulty, etc. See what they think about a VIN "group buy" kind of thing. The person you first talk to probably doesn't have any authority to arrange or OK the effort, but ask them who can. The rep I recently talked to is Jason, who seems genuinely interested in happy customers. From what I've heard, PCNA Customer Commitment is very responsive in general, and Porsche AG pretty much jumps when PCNA says to jump.