Customer Service is Dead

[LVThomas]

I will make this short and get right to it:

• I made an appointment about a week and a half ago to get the firmware update on my 75D
• I verified I would get a loaner
• I communicated with Tesla yesterday letting them know I needed to drop the car off at lunch and asked again if I would get a loaner...I was told yes in an email
• I get there around 10:30am and was told their loaners are all gone and I would get a rental from Hertz - a Q50
• I'm not happy, but I have to go back to work so I need to just take the car and leave
• The guy helping me walked me around the car, told me they needed my driver's license and credit card just to have it on file
• I received an email this evening notifying me that $1,763 was charged to my account

I thought the worse thing that could happen is they wash my car despite me telling them not to (it is ceramic coated and I don't want them washing it). I really hope this is abnormal and I'm too tired to really go off even though I have the store manager's number and could call/text her.

 

[ucmndd]

Sorry about the strange charge on your card. I’m sure a simple phone call will straighten things out.

As for the loaner, you asked for a loaner and they gave you one. Sounds like pretty decent customer service to me.

 

[Tiger]

Duplicates:

• Bob Lutz: Tesla "going out of business"
• Tesla service- implications for future growth
• Update on Service Issues
• Good Bye Tesla

 

[HX_Guy]

Did the email specifically state you would get a Tesla loaner, or was that assumed?

Not sure what’s up with the big credit card charge though.

 

[Adm]

I guess the fact that Tesla sells its loaners doesn't help. If one of the loaners is sold, you screw up the schedule. They could keep one car as a reserve, but if two cars are sold there will be disappointed customers again.
I think Tesla should just stop promising a Tesla as a loaner all together. They could say they will do their best to put you in a Tesla, but no hard promisses. That way the customer is positively surprised when they get a Tesla and almost nobody will be disappointed.
The credit card charge is a very stupid mistake, but I have been billed for a loaner by Renault (never an electric) by mistake as well. I happens. The quality of the service department is determined, in my opinion, how they deal with the mistake.

 

[ThisIsTrue]

How sure are you that it's a charge on the card, as opposed to an authorization, like a hotel does, that's released when you bring the car back undamaged?

I'm betting it's an authorization, not a charge.

 

[pekap]

I will make this short and get right to it:

• I made an appointment about a week and a half ago to get the firmware update on my 75D
• I verified I would get a loaner
• I communicated with Tesla yesterday letting them know I needed to drop the car off at lunch and asked again if I would get a loaner...I was told yes in an email
• I get there around 10:30am and was told their loaners are all gone and I would get a rental from Hertz - a Q50
• I'm not happy, but I have to go back to work so I need to just take the car and leave
• The guy helping me walked me around the car, told me they needed my driver's license and credit card just to have it on file
• I received an email this evening notifying me that $1,763 was charged to my account

I thought the worse thing that could happen is they wash my car despite me telling them not to (it is ceramic coated and I don't want them washing it). I really hope this is abnormal and I'm too tired to really go off even though I have the store manager's number and could call/text her.

Unless I've missed something, why would you need a service appointment for a firmware update? Is this for the uncorked update? And it sounds like they lived up to their promises of a "loaner" vehicle. Sure, it wasn't a Tesla, but it doesn't sound a "loaner Tesla" was promised. I suppose posting here is a catharsis of sorts for people, but I truly don't get the quick elevated level of frustration people get with a company. The credit card charge is bewildering, but why have you not contacted the service center for clarification before posting here. Is the problem customer service or the customer? I'm not trying to be snarky. Just being real.

 

[LVThomas]

Unless I've missed something, why would you need a service appointment for a firmware update? Is this for the uncorked update? And it sounds like they lived up to their promises of a "loaner" vehicle. Sure, it wasn't a Tesla, but it doesn't sound a "loaner Tesla" was promised. I suppose posting here is a catharsis of sorts for people, but I truly don't get the quick elevated level of frustration people get with a company. The credit card charge is bewildering, but why have you not contacted the service center for clarification before posting here. Is the problem customer service or the customer? I'm not trying to be snarky. Just being real.

Well you are being something. How do you know that I didn’t contact them before posting here? You don’t and I did. I guess it is my fault for not asking additional questions during the purchase process and assuming that a company like this would be like companies that charge similar prices for vehicles. If my wife takes her Lexus in, she gets a Lexus. When I had BMWs, if I took them in, we got a BMW as a loaner. Bad assumption on my part when I was buying.

 

[LVThomas]

Unless I've missed something, why would you need a service appointment for a firmware update? Is this for the uncorked update?

This is a good question. See, I would be a bad customer if I questioned them the first time they tell me I need to bring the car in and leave it with them overnight. If a company is updating my car to make it faster for free I am not ungrateful and I don’t question them. I appreciate it and coordinate the appointment at a time that works for me and them.

 

[bonnie]

Bit dramatic to declare 'customer service is dead' over getting a non-Tesla loaner. I'm feeling for that service center.

 

[CameronB]

FWIW, I've never received a Tesla for a loaner. Always an ICE loaner. But still, always have been free including not having to refuel (i.e. they paid for the gas as well).

Sorry to hear your trouble, but as @ucmndd said, likely a call to Tesla will get you a refund of those charges.

 

[LVThomas]

FWIW, I've never received a Tesla for a loaner. Always an ICE loaner. But still, always have been free including not having to refuel (i.e. they paid for the gas as well).

Sorry to hear your trouble, but as @ucmndd said, likely a call to Tesla will get you a refund of those charges.

I sent two people an email, one of which is the store manager. She replied and said she would look into it tomorrow.

 

[LVThomas]

Bit dramatic to declare 'customer service is dead' over getting a non-Tesla loaner. I'm feeling for that service center.

I will admit, the thread title may be a bit dramatic. The charge on my card is more of a concern than the loaner car. Also, there is an auto group in Vegas that are synonymous for bad customer service (I bought and leased several cars from them and experienced the decline) and off the strip there are several local businesses that have questionable customer service. The title was prompted by much more than the Tesla experience. My bad for not being clear.

 

[TaoJones]

I refuse to accept a non-Tesla loaner. Period.

Now, often I’ll work in the waiting room and don’t mind being there half the day. But if it’s a longer service, and that’s rare, either they produce a Tesla loaner or the appointment is rescheduled.

Despite telling the rep, having it written on a post it note, the work order AND the mirror hanger tag (DO NOT WASH), one time I came back to someone wiping down my wet car with a dirty chamois in circular motions from bottom to top.

Cost $300 for my (Opticoat-authorized) master detailer to fix. Guess who paid for it.

There’s no excuse for crap service. Not to mention Elon said we’d get top of the line Teslas as loaners. It’s bad enough to get a pre-AP loaner with the reversed stalks. But an ICE? No.

We must hold the SvCs accountable. If you settle for less (than), that’s what you’ll get, and you are NOT doing anybody any favors thereby.

 

[LosAltosChuck]

Yeah, if you get a Q50 instead of a Tesla loaner, you really should protest by parking your Tesla at the curb and beating it to smitherines with a sledge hammer. That’ll send a message to Elon. Once enough people have littered the streets with demolished Teslas, I’m sure they’ll get the message and start loaning out Teslas to all service customers. I bet they’ll start loaning 2020 Roadsters.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

As for the loaner, you asked for a loaner and they gave you one. Sounds like pretty decent customer service to me.

Bit dramatic to declare 'customer service is dead' over getting a non-Tesla loaner. I'm feeling for that service center.

The story makes it unclear if he received a loaner or a rental car he had to pay for, though? With a significant charge on the credit card it does seem a bit odd. Hopefully just a misunderstanding.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Not to mention Elon said we’d get top of the line Teslas as loaners.

Frankly, I think of the loaded P100D loaners similarly as I think of many of Tesla's promises. Probably more hype than reality, in the end.

 

[LVThomas]

The story makes it unclear if he received a loaner or a rental car he had to pay for, though? With a significant charge on the credit card it does seem a bit odd. Hopefully just a misunderstanding.

It is actually a Hertz rental they were supposed to pay for. A Q50.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Yeah, if you get a Q50 instead of a Tesla loaner, you really should protest by parking your Tesla at the curb and beating it to smitherines with a sledge hammer. That’ll send a message to Elon. Once enough people have littered the streets with demolished Teslas, I’m sure they’ll get the message and start loaning out Teslas to all service customers. I bet they’ll start loaning 2020 Roadsters.

Well, Tesla DID say they'd move to P100D loaners. It has been a while already, it is not an unreasonable expectation such would be available.

Nothing forced them to make such a proclamation and set expectations that way. But once again they did.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

It is actually a Hertz rental they were supposed to pay for. A Q50.

OK, so it can be considered at least a loaner then. Good.