Bad Service Center Experience

This is the second time I've had to deal with my local Service Center (Austin, TX), and it's 0 for 2 now.
I just bought a brand new Model 3, about 2 months ago (this is my 4th Tesla). and I had to contact them once for a weird Vibration/Buzzing that was occurring under the front console. I came into the center, on the day of my appointment, and was sent home, without inspecting the car, because I was not able to replicate the sound on command.
So, my car might be broken, but just because they can't see it on their computers, or because I can't replicate it - it's not broken, and they won't inspect it.

Strike one.

Today I noticed that the spoiler that I paid them $865.00 for, installed, is coming off from one side. It's not that bad, but enough to notice. The other side is fine. So, I took some pictures and tried to talk to them by scheduling an appointment. They responded on the app by practically saying "It's not so bad. If we take it off, it'll damage the trunk lift gate. So, contact us again WHEN it get worse."
So, not only is this bull-***, it's unsafe. If it's so bad that it's coming off, there's a likelihood that it will come off while driving 70mph on the freeway, and go flying into someone else's windshield and impale them like Medieval times. But what's even worse is that before I could even respond, he canceled the appointment, and won't respond to my questions anymore.
I asked "honest question, HOW MUCH does it need to come off in order for you to come and re install it?" I wasn't trying to be snarky, or anything. But he just didn't respond at all after that.
So, not only did I overpay for the stupid spoiler by going the "officially from and by Tesla" route (which is widely considered unnecessarily expensive), but they didn't even do a good job at that "unnecessarily expensive" work.

In all my years dealing with Tesla, the main reason why I've seen their Service Center and overall Customer Service decline in quality is because they're not matching the cost of their products and services with the quality thereof. Things were pretty great pre-2016 or so, for me. I got my first Tesla in 2014. The service was INCREDIBLE. Like nothing I had experienced before. And I guess at one point, they thought that it was costing too much to provide that level of quality of service, so it took a dive, for the worse, increasingly so over the years.
I've owned lots of cars. I've owned a lot of BMWs, and one thing that they have, down pat, is that they KNOW their vehicles are expensive, so they KNOW they have to meet the Quality of the Service with how expensive their products are. I know Mercedes Benz is the same way. My girlfriend owned Cadillacs for a while, and they practically roll out the red carpet for ANY service center appointment.

I wish Tesla took into consideration that lots of us care about the fact that we're spending exorbitant (relatively) amounts of money for the love of these products, and I know a big number of owners are at a point, financially, where the most expensive Model X is chump change. I get that. But lots of us are not in that position - so it matters a little more when we're paying for something that we deem "expensive". We expect the quality of the service, and the way they deal with the products under warranty, to match the "cost" for us.

-R.

 

[Cybermoose]

So speaking as someone that has worked in shops and have tons of friends who became licensed mechanics. What do you expect them to do if you can't replicate the rattle?

Do you honestly expect any company to just randomly take things apart looking for something that might be causing a rattle? i mean they would do it if you want to pay for that time, but i assume you want that covered under warranty since it's new. I remember a lady that came into a shop i worked in during high school because her car wouldn't start. As soon as the tow truck released it, I went over and started it infront of her. She was like you, she didn't want to be sent away, she wanted us to fix the problem. She wanted that right up until we explained how much the hourly labor cost is and that's billed whether we can or cannot find a problem on a car that works perfectly fine as far as we can see right now.

So next time it happens, take a video. Prove to them that the rattle is there and then ask them to look into it.

 

[RonKorakas]

I assume it only rattles when driving? Were they able to drive around with you? I suppose they might require a recording before they're willing to do that. Was this the new south SC or was this the northern one?

No, as I said, the vibration only happens when the car starts up. And after having been driven in the morning and not touched at all. They didn't even want to come out to see the car. They literally wanted to tell me to just turn around and go home. This is at North, Research blvd. I didn't even know there was a South one.

 

[RonKorakas]

There is no question that Tesla customer service is not good (and that's being charitable).

But note, you drive the car to a SC adn tell them it makes a noise/vibration/buzzing when you enter the car after it has not been driven for awhile. Here's the problem, you just drove the car so it HAS been driven in awhile. Based on your description, the only thing that they could have done is kept the car overnight and try to enter it in the morning.

Why not make an appointment for the Mobile to come out so they can check the car after its been sitting "for awhile" (however defined)? And definitely record it on your phone.

btw: my Model 3 makes all kinds of noises sitting just sitting in the garage, including fans going on, and fans going off. Battery cooling system kicks in whenever it wants.

I'm paraphrasing. I didn't just "show up" to the Service Center. I went through the regular route of setting up the appointment on the app. They talk to you and ask you a bunch of questions. And they keep your appointment IF they think they can do something about it. I tried to make a Mobile one first, but they changed it and said they didn't have the "equipment", and I'd have to go to the service center instead.
I've also said in past posts that I DID take videos, 23 so far, TRYING to catch it, and it didn't do it. Then one day, when I'm late for an appointment, and get in my car without recording on my phone, and it made it.

So, at this point, I'm just hopeless about it.

 

[RonKorakas]

So speaking as someone that has worked in shops and have tons of friends who became licensed mechanics. What do you expect them to do if you can't replicate the rattle?

Do you honestly expect any company to just randomly take things apart looking for something that might be causing a rattle? i mean they would do it if you want to pay for that time, but i assume you want that covered under warranty since it's new. I remember a lady that came into a shop i worked in during high school because her car wouldn't start. As soon as the tow truck released it, I went over and started it infront of her. She was like you, she didn't want to be sent away, she wanted us to fix the problem. She wanted that right up until we explained how much the hourly labor cost is and that's billed whether we can or cannot find a problem on a car that works perfectly fine as far as we can see right now.

So next time it happens, take a video. Prove to them that the rattle is there and then ask them to look into it.

I expect them to do ANYTHING AT ALL. The problem here is they did NOTHING. As I've explained in other posts, they could have come out to the car and turned the AC on and off, maybe cycled through the different settings to turn something on that I would have otherwise not considered. This is simple diagnostic steps.

And no I'm not looking for a handout, I don't appreciate that you're implying I'm expecting them to check something for free, "like that lady". If it's covered under warranty (which it would be), then I expect them to hold up their end of the bargain, that's how commerce works in this country. If it wasn't covered under warranty, I would have paid no problem. That's not the theme of this thread.

The facts are the facts : the car made a strange, very loud vibration (not a rattle), from an electrical component, that sounded very abnormal, from my experience of owning 4 Teslas, and 21 cars. And whether I paid or not, they ACTIVELY REFUSED to inspect or diagnose at all.
I never once said, "you're going to fix it and I'm not paying for it".

I think that's where you're coming from, that you believe I did.
That wasn't at all the case.

-

 

[Cybermoose]

I expect them to do ANYTHING AT ALL. The problem here is they did NOTHING. As I've explained in other posts, they could have come out to the car and turned the AC on and off, maybe cycled through the different settings to turn something on that I would have otherwise not considered. This is simple diagnostic steps.

And no I'm not looking for a handout, I don't appreciate that you're implying I'm expecting them to check something for free, "like that lady". If it's covered under warranty (which it would be), then I expect them to hold up their end of the bargain, that's how commerce works in this country. If it wasn't covered under warranty, I would have paid no problem. That's not the theme of this thread.

The facts are the facts : the car made a strange, very loud vibration (not a rattle), from an electrical component, that sounded very abnormal, from my experience of owning 4 Teslas, and 21 cars. And whether I paid or not, they ACTIVELY REFUSED to inspect or diagnose at all.
I never once said, "you're going to fix it and I'm not paying for it".

I think that's where you're coming from, that you believe I did.
That wasn't at all the case.

-

So you are saying you aren't someone expecting them to fix it for free, just under warranty, which you are saying it is under warranty, so you are asking for them to do this work for free.

All i'm saying is that if the problem can be recreated, they will fix it and if it's under warranty, it will be free. The problem comes from the fact that there is no proof of a problem and it can't be recreated. Now you are saying they should turn a bunch of things on and off to try to recreate your problem and this is why I am saying they are doing nothing wrong. The diagnosing part is a labor cost and at the end of the day, the dianosis will only be covered under warranty if it's for a problem that's under warranty. If they spend 10 minutes trying to recreate a problem and find nothing, you are paying for that time. So once again I will say, if you offer to pay for the time it takes to find the problem, i'm sure they would do it.

I've already mentioned i've worked in garages, it is a huge expense for someone to come in for a mysterious problem that can't be recreated and they just want us to find it. I've seen it a grand total of one time for someone that sometimes had mysterious battery drainage and there was like 4 hours of labor just to find the problem.

The vibration may never happen again and you are expecting them to find it. If it's a very loud vibration like you said, it will be easy to get a quick video IF it ever happens again to show the service guys. But this is a standard thing at pretty much any shop, i've never known a mechanic to take someones car in for a problem that cannot be recreated. Even if it's an issue at highway speeds, the first thing my shop would do is take it out and drive at highway speeds.

 

[RonKorakas]

So you are saying you aren't someone expecting them to fix it for free, just under warranty, which you are saying it is under warranty, so you are asking for them to do this work for free.

All i'm saying is that if the problem can be recreated, they will fix it and if it's under warranty, it will be free. The problem comes from the fact that there is no proof of a problem and it can't be recreated. Now you are saying they should turn a bunch of things on and off to try to recreate your problem and this is why I am saying they are doing nothing wrong. The diagnosing part is a labor cost and at the end of the day, the dianosis will only be covered under warranty if it's for a problem that's under warranty. If they spend 10 minutes trying to recreate a problem and find nothing, you are paying for that time. So once again I will say, if you offer to pay for the time it takes to find the problem, i'm sure they would do it.

I've already mentioned i've worked in garages, it is a huge expense for someone to come in for a mysterious problem that can't be recreated and they just want us to find it. I've seen it a grand total of one time for someone that sometimes had mysterious battery drainage and there was like 4 hours of labor just to find the problem.

The vibration may never happen again and you are expecting them to find it. If it's a very loud vibration like you said, it will be easy to get a quick video IF it ever happens again to show the service guys. But this is a standard thing at pretty much any shop, i've never known a mechanic to take someones car in for a problem that cannot be recreated. Even if it's an issue at highway speeds, the first thing my shop would do is take it out and drive at highway speeds.

You are twisting what I'm saying, I'm not sure if you're doing this on purpose, or on accident.
I don't care whether I have to pay for it or not. Money is no problem for me.
When I contacted them, that is NOT how the conversation started. I just told them that there's a strange vibration, and I wanted them to check it out. The reason why I say "it's under warranty" is because the car has 800 miles, I bought it directly from Tesla, and it isn't modified, so there's no situation in which something wouldn't be covered under warranty at this point (unless it was something I obviously caused myself). It wasn't to say "I'm not paying for this".

The problem I have with your argument is that 75% of it is based on the "you're gonna have to pay for the inspection, and we're not going to find anything." And as I've said MANY times before, that's a moot point since I don't have a problem with paying, and also I DID tell them i would - I just wanted this problem found. I told the Tesla rep that I didn't care if I had to pay out of pocket and they STILL WOULDN'T DO ANYTHING. They kept insisting that there's nothing they could do to try to find it. I literally did anything short of waving some hundred dollar bills in their face to tell them money is no issue, I just wanted them to inspect it. They refused.

I don't think you've read all the posts on this thread. I suggest you do so. I've said many times that the vibration happens at random, and it happens only for about 1/2 second. So UNLESS I walk up to my car with phone in hand, recording, and open the door and start the car, it would be logistically impossible to "catch" the vibration - I've literally done this about 23 times. There's 23 1 minute videos on my phone trying to "catch" the vibration, and it doesn't happen.

You've never seen a shop take a car in for a problem that can't be recreated? I have 25 years of BMW ownership and taking cars into their dealership shop where I've seen otherwise. Sometimes, they'll even have the car in the shop for a little too long for something I expected them to find quickly. But they have taken the car in 99% of the time I've brought it in, and at least looked at it. Sure, lots of those times they charged me a diag fee ( the $125 one), but I always knew that, didn't mind paying it, and never expected anything for free. But they never refused to look at a car, and treated me like Tesla did.

As I've said before many times in this thread, the point is their response to my claim that there was something strange that might be wrong with the car, not whether they should have covered it under warranty or not.

 

[Brandonn22]

I will admit that I am in Georgetown and don’t think the Austin Pond Springs has very good service. It is hit or miss, and it always seems as if you are bothering them when you bring your vehicle in for service.

Tesla recently opened another service center in Austin, actually in downtown. Maybe the service will be better there?

Austin-500 E St Elmo Rd​

 

[Cybermoose]

You are twisting what I'm saying, I'm not sure if you're doing this on purpose, or on accident.
I don't care whether I have to pay for it or not. Money is no problem for me.
When I contacted them, that is NOT how the conversation started. I just told them that there's a strange vibration, and I wanted them to check it out. The reason why I say "it's under warranty" is because the car has 800 miles, I bought it directly from Tesla, and it isn't modified, so there's no situation in which something wouldn't be covered under warranty at this point (unless it was something I obviously caused myself). It wasn't to say "I'm not paying for this".

The problem I have with your argument is that 75% of it is based on the "you're gonna have to pay for the inspection, and we're not going to find anything." And as I've said MANY times before, that's a moot point since I don't have a problem with paying, and also I DID tell them i would - I just wanted this problem found. I told the Tesla rep that I didn't care if I had to pay out of pocket and they STILL WOULDN'T DO ANYTHING. They kept insisting that there's nothing they could do to try to find it. I literally did anything short of waving some hundred dollar bills in their face to tell them money is no issue, I just wanted them to inspect it. They refused.

I don't think you've read all the posts on this thread. I suggest you do so. I've said many times that the vibration happens at random, and it happens only for about 1/2 second. So UNLESS I walk up to my car with phone in hand, recording, and open the door and start the car, it would be logistically impossible to "catch" the vibration - I've literally done this about 23 times. There's 23 1 minute videos on my phone trying to "catch" the vibration, and it doesn't happen.

You've never seen a shop take a car in for a problem that can't be recreated? I have 25 years of BMW ownership and taking cars into their dealership shop where I've seen otherwise. Sometimes, they'll even have the car in the shop for a little too long for something I expected them to find quickly. But they have taken the car in 99% of the time I've brought it in, and at least looked at it. Sure, lots of those times they charged me a diag fee ( the $125 one), but I always knew that, didn't mind paying it, and never expected anything for free. But they never refused to look at a car, and treated me like Tesla did.

As I've said before many times in this thread, the point is their response to my claim that there was something strange that might be wrong with the car, not whether they should have covered it under warranty or not.

Yeah I am not going to read through every post. I'm simply giving my opinion and experience on the matter. Simple solution, if they are refusing to even take your money to look into it, which i'm going to side with Tesla on this one since there is no way to actually get their side of the story, demand that they do it. If they don't, take legal action since it's under warranty and they are refusing service for a reoccuring problem.

Also I've never twisted your words, you just expect me to read through every post when I am just not going to. I've used the information that you've put in your original post and the replies that you've given to me, and I don't care whether you've given other information in replies to other people when I was merely giving my opinion on the matter.


On a side note, kind of strange to have 25 years of BMW ownership where you took cars into shops for problems that couldn't be recreated. Either you mean that it's happened rarely in 25 years and at that point there is no reason to mention 25 years and you could say "it's happened a few times" or you've done this a lot over 25 years and it would make you look like a car owner version of a hypochondriac. Kind of like one of the Tesla reddit groups where people post non issues like they are serious problems, such as a very recent post about someone setting their car to charge to 90% but then it charged to 91% without their permission.

Actually in case your problem is not a problem at all. is it not possible that the vibration is coming from the road? I know lots of areas near me that have rumble strips near the edge of the road that cause a loud vibration for about a half a second if you hit even part of one.

 

[roblab]

This is the second time I've had to deal with my local Service Center (Austin, TX), and it's 0 for 2 now.
I just bought a brand new Model 3, about 2 months ago (this is my 4th Tesla).

Man, am I glad I learned to drive a wrench and a screwdriver when I was a teen. I have little doubt that I'd have the spoiler fixed in ten minutes. So many people are simply at a loss when it comes to simple repairs, and it's sad.

Being able to handle small repairs means I don't have to deal with my service center.

 

[jjrandorin]

Man, am I glad I learned to drive a wrench and a screwdriver when I was a teen. I have little doubt that I'd have the spoiler fixed in ten minutes. So many people are simply at a loss when it comes to simple repairs, and it's sad.

Being able to handle small repairs means I don't have to deal with my service center.

The spoiler install has zero to do with "a wrench" and I doubt very seriously you would "have that spoiler fixed in 10 minutes", since a lot of the problems with these were actual shape and fit.

 

[dduffey]

Austin Service Center used to be great. I picked up my car on Friday, stated issue was not fixed, wife found the rear seat as pictured (with foam cover stuffed up inside to hold seat up), and now my frunk keeps popping open while driving so had to schedule another service. Wife is asking me to buy another brand just due to service experience.

 

[dmurphy]

Austin Service Center used to be great. I picked up my car on Friday, stated issue was not fixed, wife found the rear seat as pictured (with foam cover stuffed up inside to hold seat up), and now my frunk keeps popping open while driving so had to schedule another service. Wife is asking me to buy another brand just due to service experience.

View attachment 783699

Well, that rear seat is super simple to latch back into place. 10 seconds. Took you longer to post this than it would be to latch it back in.

The frunk opening, that's a whole different problem and should be addressed.

 

[dduffey]

Well, that rear seat is super simple to latch back into place. 10 seconds. Took you longer to post this than it would be to latch it back in.

The frunk opening, that's a whole different problem and should be addressed.

Same could have been said about the SC, it would only take them seconds to put back.

It's not that it was hard (I fixed it as soon as the wife pointed it out), it's the repeated unprofessionalism.

 

[FLMan]

it's the repeated unprofessionalism

Agreed. These kinds of things cheapen the brand.

I took mine in for a front dash vibration which I found is a common thing. The SC left scuff marks all over the glove box and the side pillars and when I got it back the issue was worse than when I took it in. I got my own pry tools and fixed it myself rather than give them a second shot at screwing up the car again. I just hope I never have to go back to the SC.

They did send a survey afterward, so I gave them the lowest score I could and documented all the unprofessional parts, but never heard anything back from that.

 

[RipVanFinkle]

Agreed. These kinds of things cheapen the brand.

I took mine in for a front dash vibration which I found is a common thing. The SC left scuff marks all over the glove box and the side pillars and when I got it back the issue was worse than when I took it in. I got my own pry tools and fixed it myself rather than give them a second shot at screwing up the car again. I just hope I never have to go back to the SC.

They did send a survey afterward, so I gave them the lowest score I could and documented all the unprofessional parts, but never heard anything back from that.

Tesla knows you have very few EV alternatives and they take advantage of that. In 5 years time, if they keep cranking out junk and still have horrible service, they’re going to have customers leaving in droves.

 

[dmurphy]

Same could have been said about the SC, it would only take them seconds to put back.

It's not that it was hard (I fixed it as soon as the wife pointed it out), it's the repeated unprofessionalism.

Stuff happens. Found a stethoscope under the hood of my wife’s Nissan years ago. Was sitting right on top of the engine.

Didn’t freak out, just brought it back.

Of course it should’ve been right. But I’m also willing to cut a technician a break.

 

[hill]

(tech mental thoughts) "jeez ... we disappoint owners that pay 3x as much as you m3 owners ... whadya expect!"

 

[oreobbq]

It sounds like bad customer service. At the same time if you already tried 23 times to try and catch the issue, has the sound gone away? Having owned a couple of M3s they can make all sorts of small electronic/mechanical noises when you initially sit in them. It makes me think I'm sitting in a Transformer, although I imagine teslas would more likely be the decepticons rather than the good guys lol.

 

[Dcam]

This is the second time I've had to deal with my local Service Center (Austin, TX), and it's 0 for 2 now.
I just bought a brand new Model 3, about 2 months ago (this is my 4th Tesla). and I had to contact them once for a weird Vibration/Buzzing that was occurring under the front console. I came into the center, on the day of my appointment, and was sent home, without inspecting the car, because I was not able to replicate the sound on command.
So, my car might be broken, but just because they can't see it on their computers, or because I can't replicate it - it's not broken, and they won't inspect it.

Strike one.

Today I noticed that the spoiler that I paid them $865.00 for, installed, is coming off from one side. It's not that bad, but enough to notice. The other side is fine. So, I took some pictures and tried to talk to them by scheduling an appointment. They responded on the app by practically saying "It's not so bad. If we take it off, it'll damage the trunk lift gate. So, contact us again WHEN it get worse."
So, not only is this bull-***, it's unsafe. If it's so bad that it's coming off, there's a likelihood that it will come off while driving 70mph on the freeway, and go flying into someone else's windshield and impale them like Medieval times. But what's even worse is that before I could even respond, he canceled the appointment, and won't respond to my questions anymore.
I asked "honest question, HOW MUCH does it need to come off in order for you to come and re install it?" I wasn't trying to be snarky, or anything. But he just didn't respond at all after that.
So, not only did I overpay for the stupid spoiler by going the "officially from and by Tesla" route (which is widely considered unnecessarily expensive), but they didn't even do a good job at that "unnecessarily expensive" work.

In all my years dealing with Tesla, the main reason why I've seen their Service Center and overall Customer Service decline in quality is because they're not matching the cost of their products and services with the quality thereof. Things were pretty great pre-2016 or so, for me. I got my first Tesla in 2014. The service was INCREDIBLE. Like nothing I had experienced before. And I guess at one point, they thought that it was costing too much to provide that level of quality of service, so it took a dive, for the worse, increasingly so over the years.
I've owned lots of cars. I've owned a lot of BMWs, and one thing that they have, down pat, is that they KNOW their vehicles are expensive, so they KNOW they have to meet the Quality of the Service with how expensive their products are. I know Mercedes Benz is the same way. My girlfriend owned Cadillacs for a while, and they practically roll out the red carpet for ANY service center appointment.

I wish Tesla took into consideration that lots of us care about the fact that we're spending exorbitant (relatively) amounts of money for the love of these products, and I know a big number of owners are at a point, financially, where the most expensive Model X is chump change. I get that. But lots of us are not in that position - so it matters a little more when we're paying for something that we deem "expensive". We expect the quality of the service, and the way they deal with the products under warranty, to match the "cost" for us.

-R.

View attachment 783427

If you buy a Tesla, the last thing you want to do is hand it over to service. You will leave disappointed and sorry you did. Now I see where Rich Rebuild is coming from.

 

[Dcam]

Austin Service Center used to be great. I picked up my car on Friday, stated issue was not fixed, wife found the rear seat as pictured (with foam cover stuffed up inside to hold seat up), and now my frunk keeps popping open while driving so had to schedule another service. Wife is asking me to buy another brand just due to service experience.

I completely understand how she is feeling they do sh**y work! Can’t believe they charge to trash my car! What a same Tesla is becoming lately.