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Well I had quite the shock on my 992 GTS allocation.
A little back-story. A month or so ago I was ready to lock in my '24 GTS build, but got the really exciting news that my build was actually a PTS. So I spent the next month looking at what felt like millions of pictures, attempting to determine what I needed to do for this huge decision. So I finally made my choice and this week went to the dealer to get the build Locked. Technically, I had about 35 days left before the “Change Freeze Point” but I was ready to get everything set in stone.
So I provide my build codes and everything to my SA, and after a few minutes, I am told that my car was already locked. I saw it with my own eyes on the SA screen. “Build Locked – No Modifications” … And it was WILDLY different than what I was going for. I was told nothing could be done at this point.
What the hell happened? How did this happen? Who all has authority to make selections for a client, with OVER a month to go before the actual build date? And since I still had over a month until the Change Freeze Point, why can’t I make modifications? At this point it is what it is… but now I lost my car and I’m back to square one. This was going to be my first 911; I’ve worked my a$$ off and I’ve waited 20+ years for this day.
I know this is a multi-part grieving process, and I’m somewhere between shocked and sad. Anger hasn’t hit yet, so I figured I better write this before the anger part sets in.
Has anyone heard of something like this before?
Bad management by your SA. Likely related to PTS which is quite rare these days. In both of our configs, non PTS, our SA advised to finalize build config right away as sometimes they pull in. Ours did as well but we already had our dream config locked.
Would ask if a later slot is available with your dream config.
Buiilds can lock early, my advice is have it in a month in advance. Having said that, that is pretty early. FYI the customer lock is different than the dealer lock, I changed my spec a bit after the customer lock because I somehow managed to leave out the extended fuel tank.
One thing I have learned over the last 17 years buying Porsches is never trust the "lock date". I always build it immediately and if I need to make changes I make them as I go knowing it can lock any time.
It happens all the time. Three of my previous six orders froze early.
The one PTS build I was lucky enough to get, when I contacted the rep at PCNA that was handling the details (the car was LTS as well as PTS and she was working with me on the deviated stitching choices), it was literally a day into freeze when I asked about a change in color. "Oh no. The paint is already ordered". That was in October and I got the car late the following July.
My current order got pushed back and then ended up freezing a day earlier than quoted.
Happens. I was going back and forth on five different PTS darks blues, all mostly the same frankly, and had submitted a build two weeks before the "freeze". Porsche took that build and said "yeah we're done here" lol. Turned out just fine so couldn't be happier if I had spend another week hand wringing.
Did it lock with your pre configured choices but without the PTS you wanted? Or it's a totally different build than what you wanted?
Unfortunately it locked with a totally different build than what I wanted. No where near what I was going for.
Hard lesson learned here. All those times I told my wife to hurry up and make a decision (usually on dinner) and now I'm then one that should have made my decision sooner
1. I hadn't submitted anything to the dealer; It really opened up Pandora's Box once I found out the build was a PTS, so I told my SA that I was going to go a different route (green) than what we had previously discussed (black).
2. It locked with Gulf Orange
3. I don't "hate" the color, but it is definitely not what I wanted for this car. Maybe a GT3, yes, but not for this one. How it was configured, it ended up being a $240k GTS.. I would have needed to LOVE the car to spend $240k on a GTS. Over $45k more than what i had built.
"So I spent the next month looking at what felt like millions of pictures, attempting to determine what I needed to do for this huge decision. So I finally made my choice and this week went to the dealer to get the build Locked. Technically, I had about 35 days left before the “Change Freeze Point” but I was ready to get everything set in stone.
So I provide my build codes and everything to my SA, and after a few minutes, I am told that my car was already locked. I saw it with my own eyes on the SA screen. “Build Locked – No Modifications” … And it was WILDLY different than what I was going for. I was told nothing could be done at this point."
Not to dissect your commentary but you gave him multiple build codes in person and he chose one? And if it locked after a few minutes I'm surprised he didn't have you sign anything etc.? I'm trying to envision that desk conversation...
Last edited by CamsPorsche; 02-20-2024 at 01:50 PM.
Unfortunately it locked with a totally different build than what I wanted. No where near what I was going for.
Hard lesson learned here. All those times I told my wife to hurry up and make a decision (usually on dinner) and now I'm then one that should have made my decision sooner
Well, maybe there's something that can be worked out either with the dealer or PCNA? Hard to believe they would let something like this happen to a customer. Somebody dropped the ball and it wasn't you. Suggest you insist on meeting personally with the dealer principal and go over your alternatives.
"So I spent the next month looking at what felt like millions of pictures, attempting to determine what I needed to do for this huge decision. So I finally made my choice and this week went to the dealer to get the build Locked. Technically, I had about 35 days left before the “Change Freeze Point” but I was ready to get everything set in stone.
So I provide my build codes and everything to my SA, and after a few minutes, I am told that my car was already locked. I saw it with my own eyes on the SA screen. “Build Locked – No Modifications” … And it was WILDLY different than what I was going for. I was told nothing could be done at this point."
Not to dissect your commentary but you gave him multiple build codes in person and he chose one? And if it locked after a few minutes I'm surprised he didn't have you sign anything etc.? I'm trying to envision that desk conversation...
Apologies, the story is a little confusing.....
The first of January I went to the dealer to give my build code for - at that time - a non-PTS GTS that had a lock date of March 2024 and a build date of May 2024. That day when my profile was pulled up at the dealer, we determined my build slot was at PTS. So that day in January I did provide a non-PTS build, but obviously I wanted to go PTS and I assume that original build was not put in as a "placeholder".
It was difficult for me to make my final decision on shade of green - I had no fewer than three No. 1's that all ended up changing. I gave myself until Monday of this week to decide on which shade I was going to go with. So Sunday night at 10 pm I finally decided. And I met with the dealer on Monday morning, and I took the build code (not plural, apologies).
I took that build code to the dealer yesterday to get the build locked-in. That's when I found out about the build already being locked on a build that was nothing like anything I had discussed previously with my SA.
I was told the build was locked in the system last week.
02-20-2024, 11:46 AM
Premature Build Lock - What Happened?
