Porsche subscription services are a joke

[whitex]

I honestly think Porsche is in real trouble, completely out of their depth as far as software and subscription services. My free Connect subscription recently ended, so I went to renew it in the app a literally a couple of hours after receiving the notification that it's ending. Well, it deactivated and it's been 3 days now, I still cannot use it - my current contract is paid for but stuck in activation. What a bunch of wannabe amateurs. Apparently they know how to deactivate it quick, but activation is going through some backend system vibe coded by some lowest bidder, which probably prints an activation order and then mails it to another department? WTF Porsche? You can't even re-activate a subscription which you sell and just deactivated an hour earlier? Good luck making money in 21st century if your business model is built on snail mail magazine subscriptions which take "4-8 weeks" to activate.

At this point I am annoyed enough that I'm considering to be an ass and demand refunds for every day they are charging me for a subscription but are taking their sweet time to activate. Perhaps even demand a refund every single day - "Hi, it's me again, I realize you have your pace of doing things like activation, but since you charged me already, you owe me another $0.88 refund for service not provided".

Experiences like this is what makes me thing the company is so stuck in last century selling outdated status symbols, really not encouraging me to buy any more of their products.

Sponsored

 

[Taycan4S_UK]

ah I had this. You have to email the connect team.

 

[Dabz]

Sadly I think Porsche is very much a company that's out of its depth with modern car technology

 

[chun]

Hey, at least you don’t pay for route planning that doesn’t work for 8 months, maybe 9, like is in Europe

 

[chun]

I honestly think Porsche is in real trouble, completely out of their depth as far as software and subscription services. My free Connect subscription recently ended, so I went to renew it in the app a literally a couple of hours after receiving the notification that it's ending. Well, it deactivated and it's been 3 days now, I still cannot use it - my current contract is paid for but stuck in activation. What a bunch of wannabe amateurs. Apparently they know how to deactivate it quick, but activation is going through some backend system vibe coded by some lowest bidder, which prints an activation order and then mails it to another department? WTF Porsche? You can't even re-activate a subscription which you sell and just deactivated an hour earlier? Good luck making money in 21st century if your business model is built on snail mail magazine subscriptions which take "4-8 weeks" to activate.

At this point I am annoyed enough that I'm considering to be an ass and demand refunds for every day they are charging me for a subscription but are taking their sweet time to activate. Perhaps even demand a refund every single day - "Hi, it's me again, I realize you have your pace of doing things like activation, but since you charged me already, you owe me another $0.88 refund for service not provided".

Experiences like this is what makes me thing the company is so stuck in last century selling outdated status symbols, really not encouraging me to buy any more of their products.

Careful now with these complaints, people might think you are a Xiaomi shell and keep spamming you with “why do you even keep your car?”

I don’t know if USA has porsche smart mobility like Europe, should be under contacts in the app. Call them, and they should be able to do it live provided the car has LTE/4g access

 

[Jhenson29]

"Hi, it's me again, I realize you have your pace of doing things like activation, but since you charged me already, you owe me another $0.88 refund for service not provided".

UPS backcharged me $0.02 for incorrect package dimensions. I think maybe you aren’t being petty enough. I would email them every hour. Script it up. And then be just as slow to turn it off as they are to fix your activation. I.e, if it takes them a week to reactivate, keep sending refund requests for another week after it’s activated. If they complain, thank them for their concern and let them know their request is in progress.

 

[whitex]

Careful now with these complaints, people might think you are a Xiaomi shell and keep spamming you with “why do you even keep your car?”

Can't buy Xiaomi here.

I don’t know if USA has porsche smart mobility like Europe, should be under contacts in the app. Call them, and they should be able to do it live provided the car has LTE/4g access

I'm going to call them tomorrow, though honestly, this should never be necessary on something as straightforward as this - an extension of existing service, just moving it from included 3 years to monthly. The Taycan has its own dedicated cell phone tower in the garage (ok, technically this femto-cell is also used by the Audi) so full signal strength where it spends most of its time. The app actually correctly reports back the vehicle location (at home or other places I've driven last 3 days attempting to preheat the car before going to it), so I know it has connectivity. The problem will be if they give me their go-to answer "please perform factory reset", which I am not willing to waste my time on.

It's really sad to see a company whose products I've held in highest regard refuse to join the 21st century. Internet services, subscriptions, have already been solved, it's not some new technology in the world, it's not 1999.

 

[whitex]

UPS backcharged me $0.02 for incorrect package dimensions. I think maybe you aren’t being petty enough. I would email them every hour. Script it up. And then be just as slow to turn it off as they are to fix your activation. I.e, if it takes them a week to reactivate, keep sending refund requests for another week after it’s activated. If they complain, thank them for their concern and let them know their request is in progress.

Perhaps there is a killer AI startup idea in this - PettyRevengeOnCustomerService.com

 

[whitex]

ah I had this. You have to email the connect team.

I emailed them 2 days ago, radio silence (perhaps they are on yet another one of many holidays they seem to have). You'd think a competent company would not require customers to email or call. You don't need fancy AI, but a simple database query to see which purchased service failed to activate within 24hrs, so customer service can follow up automatically, rather than wait for the customer to get annoyed enough to reach out. Or do you think this is way too much to expect from a company that hasn't discovered 2 factor authentication yet?

 

[whitex]

Sadly I think Porsche is very much a company that's out of its depth with modern car technology

They could hire another company which knows how to provide online services, while they discover this new revolutionary technology (internet) at their own pace.

 

[chun]

They could hire another company which knows how to provide online services, while they learn at their discover this new revolutionary technology (internet) at their own pace.

Even when they do, like they did Rivian, they try to interfere and change what Rivian is doing, because “they know better”.

It’s why 4 years later there is still no car in VW portofolio running any Rivian software.

So I think it’s completely hopeless even if they were to hire another company.

The reality is that the whole managment of porsche/vw needs replacing. They are complacent incompetents

 

[ThaJamez]

I had the same connect activation issue for several days. I called Porsche Connected services and it was fixed after a few hours.

 

[William992]

My remote climate stuff rarely worked and car was in private mode most of the time, according to the app. I just got a message the service was deactivated and I'm not bothering to even activate it again. I'll just open the car remotely with the key to enable climate control...

 

[SoccerMan94043]

Perhaps there is a killer AI startup idea in this - PettyRevengeOnCustomerService.com

That will just be AI chat bots having a grand time on both sides wasting tokens.

 

[Briguy]

i will reinforce the theme that Porsche does not appear to be ready for this 21st century EV/software world. But equally I think PAG Is unable to support the Taycan model with aftermarket parts and software support. Its why my ‘25 Taycan had extended periods in the shop on multiple occasions.

Sponsored