30 minute Diagnosis for £72.5 + VAT ???

[TM3PTN]

So this is something I have never come across before.

I booked my car in for a service appointment because a couple of weeks ago when preconditioning I could hear the fan from INSIDE my house (the car sits on the drive) - it was so damn loud!!

It is booked in for 1st September so I got a text from Tesla today 'advising' that they required authorisation for 30minutes diagnosis at £72.50 + VAT. What the heck is that about?!
They then went on to say if the concern is covered under warranty then the charge will be waived.

I may be being thick here but this is a mechanical issue so surely this would be covered by the warranty anyway.

Also, I have had other issues with the car previously (if it was any other car I would have binned it ages ago but I love this thing), and never have I been required to authorise any monies for them to carry out their tests/checks.

Has anybody else come across a similar situation?

I have replied to their text to question why I'm suddenly being charged when in the past I haven't.

I'll hold my hands up if I'm being uptight about it

 

[M3noob]

Standard operating procedure. It protects their revenue stream against owner generated issues

 

[BushtrimmmerJr]

I think the request for authorising the charge is standard now - even if it’s for stuff like misalignment. I’m not sure what’d happen if you didn’t agree/ignored it.

 

[Jeeves]

I’ve had that message too and just ignore it.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

If it's noise related they will always do this. This explains why:

 

[Roy W.]

Many main dealers have been doing this for years. The earliest I can remember personally was a Skoda dealer about 20 years ago, but since then I’ve had it with Kia, Nissan and Hyundai. Those marbles can be costly

 

[Durzel]

Be warned, the car A/C compressor does make a loud noise - louder than I've heard other cars, but then there is no engine noise to offset it. This might be an instance where it is found to be "not faulty".

 

[MrBadger]

^^ this - our is very loud and no issue found during a service centre visit (for a variety of items) - they did verbally said that they reroute a 'cabin overheat protection cable'* but no mention on the invoice so not really sure what that was - may even been a misunderstanding as it came via a third party.

* not the steering harness already modified

 

[TM3PTN]

Thanks for all your insight guys.

I have never come across with with any of my cars before (most have been brand new and all of them from the main dealer), or this one for previous issues, so it caught me off guard when I saw this.

Thank you to Durzel and VanillaAir_UK for the heads up. I might cancel the appointment. The last thing I want is to not pay, make the journey and they turn around and refuse to diagnose.
I haven't needed to precondition for a couple of weeks so let's see how we fare when the inevitable cold snap bits in a month or two.

You are all ace!

 

[Js1977]

So this is something I have never come across before.

I booked my car in for a service appointment because a couple of weeks ago when preconditioning I could hear the fan from INSIDE my house (the car sits on the drive) - it was so damn loud!!

It is booked in for 1st September so I got a text from Tesla today 'advising' that they required authorisation for 30minutes diagnosis at £72.50 + VAT. What the heck is that about?!
They then went on to say if the concern is covered under warranty then the charge will be waived.

I may be being thick here but this is a mechanical issue so surely this would be covered by the warranty anyway.

Also, I have had other issues with the car previously (if it was any other car I would have binned it ages ago but I love this thing), and never have I been required to authorise any monies for them to carry out their tests/checks.

Has anybody else come across a similar situation?

I have replied to their text to question why I'm suddenly being charged when in the past I haven't.

I'll hold my hands up if I'm being uptight about it

Similar situation from ford was from top of my head £104 from top of my head circa 6-7 years ago... I still have the report for faulty turbo on a 3.5 year old car with 24k miles.... Turned out this wasn't the case but thats another story. Im not saying that your situation is normal or morally correct but this is the world we live in!