[Les Lisenbee]

I have read your notes on the Black Forest and your mostly negative input about them. I feel that just possibly you may not be telling all the facts about your experience. I have been in the automotive trade for a very long time now and do realize that sometimes no matter how hard a shop tries to do good work and do the right thing for the customer, sometimes things do just go wrong, and it may not be necessarily anyone's fault. And sometimes the shop can be the party at fault. But sometimes the customer is not always right either. I do feel that if someone has a problem with a shop they should talk to the shop in question FIRST before posting possibly unsubstantiated negative comments about them on the 'web'. This usually only harbors bad feelings without accomplishing anything.
I was not present during any of your conversions with the Black Forest nor seen the invoices or met you. But I wonder if there may be more to your story that you have said in your postings. Usually it takes a lot more than one negative letter to get someone to tell you to get your car out of their shop and especially use that kind of language that you claim was used. Possibly you have made other comments and acted in some way to make yourself unwelcome at that establishment? Also were there possibly some other parts and or services besides just engine related items on your 'engine overhaul' invoice that brought the invoice total to '$5,000.+'? Did you ever ask around for what similar work cost at other businesses when you were getting ready to do the repairs on your 914? I realize that a customer may rely on a shops recommendations based on its reputation for work to be done which is a good thing. But assuming that a shop will replace everything whether it is suspect or not is a foolish assumption. The customer should be asking questions and doing his own homework as to what is being done, especially on such a large project. Its called being an educated consumer. As far as doing your own homework it's not like there aren't lots of Porsche shops and reading material out there for resources. I know that if I was getting ready to spend that kind money on anything, especially if it was something I was not familiar with, I would be doing some research.
I wonder about your saying 'something' failed on your Weber carbs, you do not seem to know wreather they were disassembled or replaced. There is a difference. Yet you seem to be complaining about something when you are not sure of the facts. Did you supply any of the parts yourself? If that is the case it can change warranty issues. It is only a question. You complain about spark plug wires failing, possibly they were in good condition and did not warrant replacement at the time of the engine overhaul? Did you ask any of these questions when the engine work was done? Did you take your 914 in after the major work was done for any kind of followup checkup? Why did you not rely the oil leak issues to the shop first instead of posting them on a chat board? On replacing the hood cable did you discuss it with the shop as to why the job was done in that way? Was it a cost issue? Parts availability? Possibly the shop was just trying to get you on the road faster? Lastly how was the decision made that the valve guides were not replaced? Are they not listed on the invoice as being done or has some real diagnostic work been done to come to that conclusion? Or is it just someone's educated guess? Lots of questions left on these issues you bring up.
I have written this letter because of years of seeing uneducated customers bashing shops unnecessarily. Once again it's not to say that there are not a lot of really awful shops and mechanics out there that need to go away, but consumers putting information on the web that may not present the complete picture with all the facts about a situation and possibly misleading others does not do anything to improve the automotive trade as a whole. Think constructive criticism, instead of just venting your diatribe on the web.