can u imagine how bad Tesla service will be in 2022?

[Petrocelli]

I'm a Troll? i love my Tesla but am frustrated beyond belief every single time i have dealings with them.
i fee bad....my buddy purchased a Model S after trying mine and he's experiencing the exact same customer service as me!

I did not say you were a troll. I was answering your question.

 

[kaffine]

Tesla only requires a high school diploma and a drivers license for service technicians. I agree that someone has to learn, but without more education, you'll continue to get technicians that don't know jack.

A teeny weeny part of me thinks that a dealership model would help Tesla in this regard. Let the dealer service the vehicles, this allows Tesla to continue innovating.

How is that any different than any brands dealer service departments, oh you said Tesla required a HS diploma I guess that is an improvement. I got a job as a mechanic with just a drivers license I dropped out of school in 5th grade. I actually didn't have my drivers license yet either but I couldn't start until I got it.

The auto service industry is having issues finding qualified techs. No one wants to train techs and how the pay is setup at most of the places makes it so techs don't want to mentor others. I was a mechanic for a little over 4 years it is the only job I can think of that the more skills you have the less you make.

Most places I worked if you had tools and a drivers license they would hire you. In fact I'm not sure if a drivers license was a requirement at the last place I worked. It was a truck shop and only a few of the mechanics had a CDL to drive the trucks. We had 2 drivers on staff to do test drives to verify repairs and even they couldn't drive some of the trucks as they didn't have license for Hazmat or doubles.

It is very expensive to become a mechanic. Most shops outside government you have to supply your own tools. Within the first few years that means you are buying $20k to $30k in tools for a job that pays $30k a year. By the time most mechanics retire it isn't uncommon for them to have over $100k in tools and no real point in selling them as you would get pennies on the dollar.

 

[BulldogsRus]

I've made this analogy before in the context of poor customer service and the ability for companies to overcome and succeed but I'll do it again: How many people remember the early days of Apple? With their horrible 90-day warranty on extremely high priced items. The magazine Mac User had a graphic in each month's issue counting how long Apple's "insufficient warranty" had continued. After a great deal of shaming and customer complaints, Apple finally increased their factory warranty to one year.

And who remembers the arrogance of the Apple repair places in the mid 80's? The repair people at my local Apple dealer back then were typically snotty, impatient, and condescending. And they acted like they were doing us a supreme favor by just taking the time to work on our Apple products. On top of that there were a zillion Macintosh models, with very little to differentiate them in the market, not to mention the Apple clones that were cutting into Apple's sales. OS 7 was a joke it crashed so often. The OS roadmap was as chaotic as the model lineup.

It's easy to witness the culture of innovation and lofty goals that permeate Tesla and witness their disruptive technology that drives other automotive companies into a new direction and compare Tesla to Apple and those comparisons are justified, I believe. But let's remember that as successful as Apple is now, they had some really horrible periods that soured a lot of customers and put into serious doubt the ability of Apple to survive.

No, Tesla isn't Apple and all analogies fall short in some way; however, I think Tesla can, and will, learn, much the same way that Apple did, and we'll look back on the painful delivery and service experiences in the same way that people talk about how Apple used to be in their early days.

The problem is that these are vehicles that people rely on for transportation to work, school, etc. I think that is what frustrates most people coming from ICE brands, usually there are clear lines of communication, loaners and concrete dates of service. Honestly, I've never once had an appointment cancelled or had trouble contacting someone for warranty repairs in almost 30 years, This is what makes me reluctant to jump into a Tesla (as much as I'm obsessed with the brand!), because $80-100k IMO is alot to spend on a vehicle with not only questionable customer service but a mediocre reliability record as of now. If only one was a known issue I'd be less apprehensive, but when I keep reading of posters accumulating a list of issues before requesting service it makes me nervous. I do like the Ranger service they offer though.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Either much better or non-existent.

 

[UncaNed]

Elon mentioned making the cars better so less service is needed. That's the best service improvement there could possibly be, done Tesla-style by smart people- so hopefully Tesla's products, at least after they've been out for a year or two, will have significantly fewer service issues than ICE cars that the ones that never happen will make up the difference overall, and Tesla will only need to expand service capabilities a small amount to fill in the service gaps.

After owning a Model X 1-1/2 years, Tesla fixed a problem I caused for free with an overnight drop-off and loaner car. Mobile service replaced my scroll wheels for free when I could no longer control music volume, and shortly thereafter a software update added volume control to both the phone app and the touchscreen!