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Alignment no longer part of Annual Service?

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#21
qwk said:
I'm not sure why anyone here is surprised. Instead of doing the right thing from the get go, Tesla seems to implement these ill-will policies, and then change them back to something reasonable after all of the outrage from customers. Makes very little sense.
Click to expand...

I bet they hired someone to head the service center division who came from a regular dealer, and he's trying to maximize profit the same way every other dealer is. This is even worse with a Tesla though since you can't take it to an indy shop for anything beyond basic stuff.

The good news is that an alignment isn't really a maintence task, assuming nothing is loose and you don't hit any curbs or potholes, it shouldn't need to be done.
 
#22
Is the the beginning of the end of an amazing service from Tesla?

I wonder why they are taking the route of dealerships?
Alignment on a Tesla isn't much different than alignment on any other car and it costs anywhere from $80 to $100 in my area. I wonder what makes it so special to be 50% higher at Tesla SC?

All these little things Tesla adds/removes and monopoly and long waits on servicing the car will slowly start to turn owners away as it is starting to happen with me.
 
#23
AmpedRealtor said:
Suggest folks bookmark and/or print out this page in case it mysteriously changes in the future:

Service Answers | Tesla Motors

In this FAQ, it clearly says that alignment is INCLUDED as part of the annual service. It also states that you CAN transfer the pre-paid service plan to a subsequent owner, which some owners in the past were told is not possible.

Curiously, if you go to Tesla Service | Tesla Motors only, there are no links to the FAQ page. Could the FAQ page be outdated and no longer linked to?
Click to expand...

I think they may have added that language after the no transfer dust up a while back, but I can't remember for sure.
 
#24
jaguar36 said:
The good news is that an alignment isn't really a maintence task, assuming nothing is loose and you don't hit any curbs or potholes, it shouldn't need to be done.
Click to expand...

Tell that to my car. I had the alignment done twice in a 6 month period. Both times, Tesla adjusted to specs and it was way out of spec when it was brought back in for subsequent alignment. No potholes or curbs were hit. I drive very carefully. When the car was first delivered in 2013, it had to be aligned four times before it drove acceptably. All suspension components were checked, including bolt torque, and everything passed inspection.
 
#25
I just took my baby in for service this morning. First time in 2 years. I do not have the pre-paid service agreement.
They told me that alignment was no longer included in the cost of the service, just as mentioned above. He specifically stated that the new policy went into effect on June 18th. I felt like I was hit with sticker shock given the high cost of the service as is. He saw the look on my face, then said since I made the appointment on June 16th, he would include it.

While I can see Tesla changing what is included with the service, they pretty much set the tone when I bought the car, and should honor that. They may have a legal obligation, given that's how they marketed it. Well, they honored it my case anyway.

For pre-paid service contracts, sure, they can put in language giving them the right to change anything at any time, but irregardless of whatever language they put in, if it is substantial, they would be legally obligated to offer reasonably equivalent options. For example (an extreme one at that), if they said that service now only includes wiper fluid and checking air pressure, that would obviously never fly under any reasonable interpretation of their contract. If they stated that alignment was included, but now it is not and costs an addtional $150, that would not seem reasonable (IMHO).
 
#26
I emailed Jerome Guillen about this, but received the following in response:

I am out of the office until August 3rd.

If you are a Tesla customer and need assistance, please contact your local service center.

This doesn't sound good at all... seems like something is shaking up on the service side and nobody is in charge.
 
#27
AmpedRealtor said:
I emailed Jerome Guillen about this, but received the following in response:

I am out of the office until August 3rd.

If you are a Tesla customer and need assistance, please contact your local service center.

This doesn't sound good at all... seems like something is shaking up on the service side and nobody is in charge.
Click to expand...

Or maybe he is on vacation.
 
#28
AmpedRealtor said:
Suggest folks bookmark and/or print out this page in case it mysteriously changes in the future:

Service Answers | Tesla Motors

In this FAQ, it clearly says that alignment is INCLUDED as part of the annual service. It also states that you CAN transfer the pre-paid service plan to a subsequent owner, which some owners in the past were told is not possible.

Curiously, if you go to Tesla Service | Tesla Motors only, there are no links to the FAQ page. Could the FAQ page be outdated and no longer linked to?
Click to expand...

(Bolded part above is my edit.) I remember an incident when someone tried to transfer his prepaid service from one car to another (he crashed his initial car, and bought a replacement one). Tesla refused that saying the service was connected to the car, and could not be transferred to another car.
Was this the incident you were referring to, or was there another one?

I hope Tesla backpedals and puts the alignment back as part of the annual service.
 
#29
I just had my second annual prepaid service visit, and they went out of their way to include alignment.

I needed new tires and they only had Goodyears in stock. I decided to go with Michelins, which I got from TireRack and had installed at a regular tire shop. So when I said I was not going to go with their tires, they held off on the alignment and scheduled a new visit (yesterday, at no charge) to finish things off. Loaners both times. Completely satisfied.

And looking forward to the owners reception at the new Houston North Gallery/Service Center/Supercharger tomorrow evening!
 
#30
moorelin said:
I just had my second annual prepaid service visit, and they went out of their way to include alignment.

I needed new tires and they only had Goodyears in stock. I decided to go with Michelins, which I got from TireRack and had installed at a regular tire shop. So when I said I was not going to go with their tires, they held off on the alignment and scheduled a new visit (yesterday, at no charge) to finish things off. Loaners both times. Completely satisfied.

And looking forward to the owners reception at the new Houston North Gallery/Service Center/Supercharger tomorrow evening!
Click to expand...

To clarify, you have the pre-paid service. So from that standpoint, if nothing has changed, I'm happy because that's what I have as well.

However, charging an extra $150 for alignment on top of the $600 annual service represents a material increase in cost to $750 for what previously cost $600, and for a car that is supposed to require LESS maintenance than an ICE.
 
#32
AmpedRealtor said:
Service manager just called me (wow) to let me know that pre-paid service is UNAFFECTED by this policy change.

Somebody is watching... lol
Click to expand...
That makes sense. Tesla has an odd habit of changing things on the fly. While I agree with most of the new way they do business, I believe that some of the old ways should remain. If they want to change a service policy, there should be an announcement and grace period. A statement released 30 days in advance, stating something to the effect of "Attention customers: Effective June 18th, 2015, annual services will no longer include... . Thank you for your understanding." At least this way, those thinking about a service or purchase can jump in before the change. Increased expenses are no fun, but surprises are just uncool.
 
#33
4SUPER9 said:
That makes sense. Tesla has an odd habit of changing things on the fly. While I agree with most of the new way they do business, I believe that some of the old ways should remain. If they want to change a service policy, there should be an announcement and grace period. A statement released 30 days in advance, stating something to the effect of "Attention customers: Effective June 18th, 2015, annual services will no longer include... . Thank you for your understanding." At least this way, those thinking about a service or purchase can jump in before the change. Increased expenses are no fun, but surprises are just uncool.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure they updated everything yet, which will lead to more confusion.

I still have 33 days to sign up for service, and I clicked on the "readme" and it still states that alignments are included.
 
#34
AmpedRealtor said:
Service manager just called me (wow) to let me know that pre-paid service is UNAFFECTED by this policy change.

Somebody is watching... lol
Click to expand...

And has been stated many times, prepaid offers nothing extra other than a discount. Exact same wording for paying for annual service. Tesla is opening up a big can of worms if it is only for the prepaid option. They are already overcharging for maintenance .
 
#36
jaguar36 said:
I bet they hired someone to head the service center division who came from a regular dealer, and he's trying to maximize profit the same way every other dealer is. This is even worse with a Tesla though since you can't take it to an indy shop for anything beyond basic stuff.

The good news is that an alignment isn't really a maintence task, assuming nothing is loose and you don't hit any curbs or potholes, it shouldn't need to be done.
Click to expand...

Except it needs to be done to almost all of us original owners on a yearly basis.
 
#37
I did not pay for pre-paid service, and just had my car in for it's 2nd annual service last week. I was a bit shocked to understand that they wanted to charge me an extra $187 (Can) more for an optional wheel alignment. Thinking that my tread wear was pretty even, I declined. Upon looking at the list of items that they did, it was noted that I declined, but they did it any way as "goodwill". At the time I was happy about it, but then I read here about this policy change. Interesting timing...

There are so many shops out there that do alignment for so much cheaper. Is the alignment on the Model S rocket science that only Tesla can do? Or can any alignment shop do that, just like a tire shop can change the tires?
 
#38
Morristhecat said:
I did not pay for pre-paid service, and just had my car in for it's 2nd annual service last week. I was a bit shocked to understand that they wanted to charge me an extra $187 (Can) more for an optional wheel alignment. Thinking that my tread wear was pretty even, I declined. Upon looking at the list of items that they did, it was noted that I declined, but they did it any way as "goodwill". At the time I was happy about it, but then I read here about this policy change. Interesting timing...

There are so many shops out there that do alignment for so much cheaper. Is the alignment on the Model S rocket science that only Tesla can do? Or can any alignment shop do that, just like a tire shop can change the tires?
Click to expand...

There's nothing special to Tesla alignments as far as I know. But the Tesla service centers - at least the one in Scottsdale - have the newest alignment equipment.
 
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