Porsche River Oaks — Local services in Houston

DON’T BUY FROM HERE!!! Certified Pre Owned is a joke more like Certified Lemon

Don’t buy the warranty!!! ($10,000) If it can’t be seen as broken, they will be unable to get it replaced! Their response drive it till it breaks!

The technicians here are severely lacking. You spend more money ($6,000.00+) proving them wrong. And treat you like you know nothing. They make assumptions of their cliental.

They Don’t fix your car when “THEY” break it! Took it in for service for vibration issues. I spent an additional 6k to prove them wrong. After multiple visits, they put it on a lift and my lower control arm broke on their lift!

I’ve dealt with 3 service advisers (Sean, Brandon, Pam) within this time that quit, moved on, or other. And was given one story to the next.

They have had my car for over 6 months now, and they had the audacity to message me that my car is due for service. Oil change, new wipers, battery, etc. ($1,000.00’s+) How’s a car in your possession for 6 months not driven need service? Talk about deceptive! They wanted me to pay for all sorts of new stuff that the car doesn’t need.

They “fixed” “replaced” the transmission which didn’t resolve the issue. Went out with the service manager and he floors my car down the streets. But now makes a clucking noise over the speed bumps and still has issues with automatic start.

When I wasn’t ok with the resolution, “drive it till it breaks.” Just like the vibration issue and it could have broke while I was driving. She also informed me the transfer case was replaced. Yet the other two service managers noted it hasn’t been replaced. Service adviser order it for me as it was a common issue and I was on a wait list. Service adviser 2 noted he didn’t do it correctly so had to be approved and was denied. So they diagnosed it to be the transmission. Service adviser 3 says they were all wrong. So which is it?

I asked to speak with someone higher up, as I was not ok with their resolution. “To drive it till it breaks.” She made that happen, but when We went back down to talk to Pam. She took the rest of the day off?

After all this time, Ive brought it up to management (David)I asked for options, any solutions! To possibly buy back the car, sell the car, trade it, whatever. As I’m at my limit and refuse to drive a car till it breaks. That’s not what I paid for, and the current state it’s in wasn’t what it was like driving before the damage on their lift. Now they won’t fix it, unless the warranty will cover it. But they can’t figure out the cause, so they want the owner to hold the short end of the stick.

I’ve been waiting to hear from the higher ups. Waited 2 weeks. NO ONE will return my call. I called last Friday and was told yet again. They would call me back. NO phone call.

So here’s my review of my experience with these employees and now they are forcing me to take further action.

Purchased May 2023: Bought 3 cars from them within a month.

We are in December 2023: I’ve driven my car no more than maybe 1-2 months, if that!

Within 1-2 weeks, car had low to no oil! Went back to the deal and they topped me off.

Automatic start issues

Vibration issues

The list goes on. If you want to know more details, reach out. I’d be glad to give you the full details.

Original Review: Overall Great- Sales rep Mike & Ghaleb were great. The process was the same as it’s been at other dealers.

Never did get a call back about doing the delivery at a later time due to Mikes illness. (As I was told would happen) Or while I was there, never got to do the delivery. Especially as a first time new Porsche owner.

The reason for the 4 star over the 5 star for me was the service department. They offer the oil change and unlimited hand wash. However, they don’t have enough techs or employees on hand to handle those requests.

Met with another owner who was there going on 3 hours for an oil change. Just for a hand wash for me was just over 2 hours.

I won’t be visiting during the weekend. Will have to make a trip during the week if I want service to...

I had initially thought I would write a long review documenting most of the back and forth that occurred with my purchase, but have decided much can be summed up for just the particularly relevant parts. I apologize since this came out longer than intended anyway!

I bought my new vehicle remotely. That means I’m in another state and purchased the vehicle without ever being there in person. I’d say that experience overall was a bit sub-par for a number of reasons, but I can boil it down to a few important ones for other buyers to consider.

First, there were a lot of delays, some completely out of their hands but others, not so much. Still, those delays could have been handled either way better communication from the sales person with which I was dealing. Further, I’d add that some of the communication he did provide was, shall we say, a little less than truthful, though that shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise when dealing with car salesmen at most levels.

Having said that, once I got the manager, David, involved, communication was much improved and my car quickly shipped.

Sadly upon arrival, there were a number of issues with the car, mostly around the full body PPF I ordered, but also some issues just with setup and questions. I was given the name and number of the “tech guy” to help with my questions, but after the first day of him largely saying “he’s never heard of these issues”, he just stopped returning my calls and texts entirely. That was manageable as the internet has some amazingly helpful people in various forums and I quickly got almost everything sorted out.

The items around the PPF were an entirely different story. However, trying not to belabor this review, I’d like to simply say that David (the manager), once again did the right thing and took care of getting the PPF fixed/replaced at a local facility, no questions asked.

The end result of this is that I feel okay with my purchase from them, even good, really. There were some hiccoughs, but David largely took care of things, and to me, that’s what matters in the end. Thus I feel justified in giving them an overall 5-star review. I feel like much of the “bad stuff” that occurred, probably would not have happened if I were a local buyer and likely 99% of the people that do buy from this facility will be local and so 5-stars...

I had an extremely disappointing experience at Porsche River Oaks Service Department. From the moment I arrived at 7:30 AM, Mr. Chien Tsai, who checked me in, was unattentive, unfriendly, and unwelcoming—it felt as if he was doing me a favor just by checking me in. There was no greeting, no smile, and certainly no effort to make me feel like a valued customer. After leaving my car for the entire day, I was informed that before diagnostics could even be run, I first needed to purchase a $1,050 new battery. This made absolutely no sense—my battery was never an issue. It never died, never showed any signs of failure, and my car has only 12,000 miles on it. I then asked if I could replace the battery elsewhere and return for diagnostics, and Mr. Chien Tsai flat-out lied to me, claiming that no dealership or service center would be able to replace a Porsche battery due to required programming. This is simply not true—many Porsche owners replace their own batteries using a programmer purchased elsewhere, and several dealerships and auto service centers in Houston can easily replace and program a Porsche battery (for $300-$500 range approximately) After eight hours, I received a text with an estimate exceeding $5,000, which did not even address the initial issue I brought my car in for. Instead, the estimate included services that Porsche “recommended”—but had already been completed at another dealership just four months ago. When I questioned this, Mr. Chien Tsai claimed the fluids “looked black” and needed replacement—despite the recent service. In the end, my problem was never solved. I picked up my car and was still asked to pay my insurance deductible, despite insurance never being involved because diagnostics were never actually run. I reached out to the dealership manager, but received no response—which tells me that these deceptive practices come from the top down. The lack of customer care and the clear attempt to overcharge for unnecessary services should be a warning to anyone considering servicing their vehicle here. I would strongly caution against bringing your car to Porsche River Oaks for service. Their lack of transparency, misleading information, and disregard for customer concerns are...