Crazy Things Tesla Service Has Said...

[IchDochNicht]

Thought this could be fun... the crazy stuff that service personnel sometimes say that is disconnected from reality.

1. I made an appointment to have my car aligned because I scraped a curb with the right front wheel, and it no longer tracked straight. Tesla Service (when I arrived): "Since you jumped a curb, you have to take your car to a body shop - we don't deal with that here". I have no idea how that was recorded, but I suspect my car will be forever tagged as "jumped curb" - though it never happened.

2. I was complaining about the whole car vibrating at 95mph. Well, that freaked them out in more than one way, but one tech agreed to go on a quick test drive with me. He said that if there is anything wrong with the wheel balancing, you can feel it at any speed. That was the first thing wrong. Then he proceeded to tell me that if I go that fast, I need to upgrade to the larger 21" wheels, as they will be smoother at high speeds. Ugh! I tried to explain what happens when wheel rpms match the resonance frequency in the suspension, but lost him right there. They did rebalance the rear wheels on the road force balancer, though, and it's much, much better now.

 

[wooter]

That's uh special.

But all in all, you are always dealing with people. And I don't want to offend anyone in particular, but in all jobs you have people who do it out of passion, and people who do it out of necessity. And in that job, you have situations where you can specialise, and situations where you aren't trained in but have to work with the problem at hand.

And even passionate people can't know everything. I remember going into BMW dealerships, always knowing the product I wanted better than the salesman, simply because that one model with those options was my passion at that time, while the salesmen needs to know the full range of their products and services, and maybe didn't have much clients who wanted that specific model I was looking for, let alone shared my passion in that model. Similar with Tesla people, where there is a large difference between employees who own a Tesla (not much pre-Model 3 because the S and X are expensive cars) and the few who could use a Tesla and live the EV life and its perks, features and handicaps.

Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised if a Service Center employee is drawing a blank on vibration sources, since they aren't specialising in only suspension or interior. Meanwhile, a local tire shop only handles suspension and tires, and are quite good in guesstimating the source of vibrations.

A few things I've learned from this tire shop:

• vibration in the front: front tires might need replacing or wheel alignment
• vibration in the rear: rear tires might need replacing or wheel alignment
• consistent loss of air pressure in a tire? There's a sticker stuck between the wheel rim and the tire

Each and every time their guess was spot-on.

But don't ask them about any interior defects. That's not their business.

Likewise, a scraping sound while turning the front wheels in a Model X? Upper control arm. That's a defect that Tesla people know all too well ha

 

[Joesage]

I've had a dealership in LA tell me they got an email that day saying FSD will not be included when you change owners. Even if the car was bought with it. I went up to my local service center and they basically said that was BS and thinks it was a ploy to get me to buy a new car from them.

 

[ucmndd]

1. I made an appointment to have my car aligned because I scraped a curb with the right front wheel, and it no longer tracked straight. Tesla Service (when I arrived): "Since you jumped a curb, you have to take your car to a body shop - we don't deal with that here".

I got this one last week. Truck in front of my wife kicked up a rock a little smaller than a golf ball and punctured the center radiator. Car was leaking coolant at a decent clip, so I took it to the service center on Thursday, without an appointment figuring even if it had to sit there until they could look at it, at least it would keep me from having to tow it.

First they were having computer problems, this was Thursday morning and they were apparently still reeling from the meltdown last week. After struggling in vain to create a work order for 10 minutes, they changed their tune and said “actually, here’s a card for the body shop in town we recommend. We don’t deal with collisions”.

I was like, “even ‘collisions’ with a rock that damaged a very specific part that you can surely order and replace?”

“Blah blah blah something else might be damaged we don’t know - you really need to have a body shop inspect the car and we can’t even write a work order so we have no idea what to even do with you and it’s probably best you just go”.

Hard eye roll. I’ve generally had good luck with this service center so far, but the blow off was hard on this one. Just no desire to be helpful at all.

 

[bktiger86]

My favorites are "It's normal." or "Software update will fix this."

 

[Az_Rael]

My favorite was when they told me I was “doing it wrong” when I complained about the steering wheel being too tough to safely disengage AP at highway speeds. I pointed out that the manual tells me the steering wheel is a valid way to disengage AP, to no avail. Guess they won that round, as I just learned to always disengage with the stalk instead of the wheel and got used to the extra force required to keep nags at bay since I never could get them to address it. Although it is admittedly amusing to watch my husband struggle with the nags in my car when coming from his S.


Of course, there is always the oldie but goodie “the range number shown on the car is based on how you drive it”. No, it is the EPA rated range (or ideal if you have it set that way), and always has been. But it’s an easy way to brush off someone with degradation/ battery health concerns.

 

[eelton]

This is a bit different than the other entries here, but the tone of this text I just received from Tesla regarding my service appointment tomorrow (for which I waited 3 1/2 weeks) makes me want to buy another car. I've had my Model S since 2013, when service used to be great. Now they're basically saying "screw you." (And how is it that "we do not have any loaner availability" and at the same time "loaner vehicles are always first come first server [sic]"?)

Hello! Just wanted to give you an update related to your upcoming service visit. At this time we are experiencing high volume of service work in the shop. As a result, please know there are no add on concerns as we have allowed a specific amount of time for what is reflected on your service work order. Please feel free to continue to drop the vehicle off, or you may always reschedule the service visit from your mobile app if you wish to add on additional concerns. As a result we do not have any loaner availability, and do not foresee and availability any time soon. At time of drop off we can always provide you a $100 a day uber credit for transportation. Please also know loaner vehicles are always first come first server at time of drop off and are dependent if we have any on hand at that time. At this time we are at an average of a 48 business hours turn around time. - We see the vehicle is out of warranty and may acquire a $175 diagnostic fee to start looking into the concern. Reply STOP to unsubscribe.

 

[Electroman]

was complaining about the whole car vibrating at 95mph

Wow.. 95 mph? where in a race track?

 

[ucmndd]

This is a bit different than the other entries here, but the tone of this text I just received from Tesla regarding my service appointment tomorrow (for which I waited 3 1/2 weeks) makes me want to buy another car. I've had my Model S since 2013, when service used to be great. Now they're basically saying "screw you." (And how is it that "we do not have any loaner availability" and at the same time "loaner vehicles are always first come first server [sic]"?)

Hello! Just wanted to give you an update related to your upcoming service visit. At this time we are experiencing high volume of service work in the shop. As a result, please know there are no add on concerns as we have allowed a specific amount of time for what is reflected on your service work order. Please feel free to continue to drop the vehicle off, or you may always reschedule the service visit from your mobile app if you wish to add on additional concerns. As a result we do not have any loaner availability, and do not foresee and availability any time soon. At time of drop off we can always provide you a $100 a day uber credit for transportation. Please also know loaner vehicles are always first come first server at time of drop off and are dependent if we have any on hand at that time. At this time we are at an average of a 48 business hours turn around time. - We see the vehicle is out of warranty and may acquire a $175 diagnostic fee to start looking into the concern. Reply STOP to unsubscribe.

My SC is much more clear on the loaner issue - out of warranty cars don’t get loaners. Full stop.

 

[seclinton]

How about proving that Supercharging on a V3 SC on a 2014 P85+ wouldn’t charge as incompatible. I was told that when my car stopped charging during the CA heatwave before Tesla announced throttling the SC. Tech said my car won’t charge on V3SC

Let’s call it what it is: BULLSHIT LIE

I’ve since been back to Same V3 SC and my car charges normal with of course the expected throttling for my generation of car. Incompatible my ass

and yes, I gave them exact time and date and they confirmed charging faulted. Clearly these guys don’t go more than just one layer deep in service anymore.

Fremont SC

 

[demundus]

I have 2:

1 - "Yeah sorry we don't have any 12v batteries right now, if your car dies we'll tow it here and keep it with the rest of them waiting for a battery out back" - SC manager

2 - "Wow I've never seen this layout before, is this custom?" - Ranger technician doing airbag recall work (I'm firmware locked due to root, on like 8.0 or something)

 

[ucmndd]

Clearly these guys don’t go more than just one layer deep in service anymore.

Agree on this. Tesla service centers are basically help desks. They scan for errors and do what the computer tells them to. Blindly replace entire sub assemblies until problem is addressed.

This appears to be by design, because good mechanics and automotive techs are expensive. Kevin from the help desk makes $15/hr.

 

[IchDochNicht]

Wow.. 95 mph? where in a race track?

If I'd tell you,...

But you're in Texas! Are you sure you never go with the flow of the fast ones? I have been a passenger on Texas roads at much higher speeds. Not in a Tesla, though.