Customer Service is Dead

[Max*]

Many service centers are short on loaners. My service center used to "hold" loaners, but you'd need to get an appointment many weeks out. Now they just tell you "we'll give you what we have", you can no longer request a loaner.

Is it annoying? Sure. But their goal is to get as many cars in and out as possible, and having a delay could rikochet the whole loaner stack of people because no one wants an ICE.



But that by no stretch of the imagine means customer service is dead. I think the opposite. I scheduled my 50k service this week (for Monday, my request, which is what, 3 business days out?? that's faster than normal!). They asked me detailed questions about an issue I was having, I said I don't remember the details, they asked me for an estimated time of when it happened (months ago). I gave them a range. They searched my logs and found it, figured out which part it is and said they'd pre-order parts to have it by Monday.

This is the first time they've pre-ordered parts for an issue. Usually, I arrive after documenting the issues, and they tell me they'll keep my car while waiting for parts, OR once they told me to schedule a followup since they didn't preorder a specific part I told them in advance needs replacing.

So I think service and customer service are making huge strides, and completely disagree with your assessment (minus the fact they charged you, which I hope they'll fix quickly)

 

[MIT_S60]

Never got a P100D as a loaner. Ever. Mostly old, beaten 2013 and 2014 S's with rattles and bad seats. Once got a brand new P90DL and that was very nice.

This has been my experience (minus the P90DL). I have only received 2013s as service loaners. The P85 models were fun before AP2.0 went live, but otherwise I'm always trying to minimize my time with them so I can get Autopilot back (and my HOV stickers, only had one service loaner with them). An S85 I had for a service loaner had a bad drive unit, and it gave me a headache driving it due to the loud noise every time I pressed the accelerator pedal.

 

[ucmndd]

On a scale of 1-10, what would you give them?

I called them this morning and they are looking into it. The call wasn’t bad at all; I think the typed word is giving the impression that I am pissed and would be confrontational with them, but that isn’t the case. I also don’t consider this decent customer service. The fact that it happened and the necessary communication that followed makes it less than decent for me. Have we got to the point where doing what is expected is above average and a situation like this is still decent? If so, I need to give my bosses the memo so when I go above and beyond it is looked at like I walk on water.

As others have mentioned in this thread, I think good customer service is apparent in how problems are addressed when they arise.

Good operations (reducing the likelihood of problems happening in the first place) are a different discussion with different solutions.

Not having been privy to the conversation, including the tone, responsiveness, and reaction by Tesla staff, I certainly can’t offer a numeric rating on your experience.

From the information you’ve provided however, it seems you were guaranteed a loaner vehicle and provided one once you arrived, at no cost or inconvenience.

It appears you unfortunately had a strange charge placed on your credit card, reached out to the store manager expressing a concern, and received a prompt personal response letting you know they would look into it first thing in the morning.

This sounds like a reasonable to good customer service experience in my opinion, given the unfortunate availability of a Tesla loaner and the inconvenience of having a charge placed on your card without your knowledge. Operationally there are some improvements to be made, no doubt - but far from being dead, it appears customer service stepped in and prevented those operational issues from escalating into real problems.

 

[chammerbeck]

I literally just had my S85 picked up for warranty work and they gave me a newer model 100D with autopilot. No complaints here. Never got to play with AP2 and the summon feature. So cool. Very good communication with CS too. I am in Milwaukee, WI and it's being trucked to somewhere in Chicago, IL area.

 

[mongo]

Edit: removed by self-moderation and @brkaus covered my sentiment

 

[LVThomas]

I sense now is a good time to earn my disagrees for the day by tossing out my massively unpopular opinion

Tesla should have charged some nominal amount to do the performance update. Perhaps waive if part of annual service. The performance increase is costing Tesla. Loaner cars, phone calls, responding to escalation requests (why isn't my particular 75d or 90d eligible), service center time, etc.

That would fine with me.

 

[LVThomas]

As others have mentioned in this thread, I think good customer service is apparent in how problems are addressed when they arise.

Good operations (reducing the likelihood of problems happening in the first place) are a different discussion with different solutions.

Not having been privy to the conversation, including the tone, responsiveness, and reaction by Tesla staff, I certainly can’t offer a numeric rating on your experience.

From the information you’ve provided however, it seems you were guaranteed a loaner vehicle and provided one once you arrived, at no cost or inconvenience.

It appears you unfortunately had a strange charge placed on your credit card, reached out to the store manager expressing a concern, and received a prompt personal response letting you know they would look into it first thing in the morning.

This sounds like a reasonable to good customer service experience in my opinion, given the unfortunate availability of a Tesla loaner and the inconvenience of having a charge placed on your card without your knowledge. Operationally there are some improvements to be made, no doubt - but far from being dead, it appears customer service stepped in and prevented those operational issues from escalating into real problems.

So if I went, received a Tesla loaner, service was completed with no issues and got my car back, you wouldn’t be able to apply a customer service rating to the experience because it would just be operations? You would do this despite the customer going in for service? In a rational discussion I think we know the answer to that.

I measure from what should be the idea interaction: if what is expected happens without a hitch that is good customer service. If something happens above and beyond that is great customer service. If less than what is expected happens then it isn’t good customer service to varying degrees.

I will take the fact that I did get A car and be grateful for that. I will also admit to an overly dramatic thread title. However, the issue with the card, however quickly resolved, falls below good customer service for me. I fully expect it to be resolved, but it shouldn’t have happened.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

A rental car is also a loaner, is it not? When I take my car in, I make sure to request a Tesla loaner. One time they gave me a Roadster...

 

[MIT_S60]

I sense now is a good time to earn my disagrees for the day by tossing out my massively unpopular opinion

Tesla should have charged some nominal amount to do the performance update. Perhaps waive if part of annual service. The performance increase is costing Tesla. Loaner cars, phone calls, responding to escalation requests (why isn't my particular 75d or 90d eligible), service center time, etc.

Transparency would have helped prevent some of the issues. For instance, maybe a website portal in MyTesla for 75D owners to check themselves as opposed to calling a bunch of times (and hoping that someone will finally say yes). I think they should have charged something, so that people who really want it will pay for it and everyone else won't clog up the service centers. If the S75 RWD were to become eligible, I would be sitting waiting impatiently for my car to get done as opposed to clogging up a loaner car, as it seems like a waste to use up a loaner for such a goodwill upgrade.

 

[ACA Man]

IMHO, as long as I can get a loaner, I don't really care what car it is.

 

[ucmndd]

So if I went, received a Tesla loaner, service was completed with no issues and got my car back, you wouldn’t be able to apply a customer service rating to the experience because it would just be operations? You would do this despite the customer going in for service? In a rational discussion I think we know the answer to that.

I measure from what should be the idea interaction: if what is expected happens without a hitch that is good customer service. If something happens above and beyond that is great customer service. If less than what is expected happens then it isn’t good customer service to varying degrees.

I will take the fact that I did get A car and be grateful for that. I will also admit to an overly dramatic thread title. However, the issue with the card, however quickly resolved, falls below good customer service for me. I fully expect it to be resolved, but it shouldn’t have happened.

I said I couldn’t rate YOUR experience given the information at hand. Sure, we all have an idea of what being treated fairly and professionally entails, regardless of problems.

Anyway. I’m sorry you’re disappointed. This is one I should have let go from the beginning, but the thread title hyperbole inevitably lead me to click and be faced with a disappointing list of entitled expectations and minor inconveniences. So I bit.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Since Tesla was doing a free upgrade to your car, the responsibility for providing you a loaner is a pretty big bonus, that you should have appreciated. The upgrade should take less than an hour, and your could just hang out in the waiting room while they are doing you a pretty big favor.

Just took my X into San Diego. They have a Enterprise rep that seems to handle all the rentals. If they have a Tesla available, the offer that. If out of Tesla's they offer upgraded premium other cars. They even pay for any gas you use. Don't know any other rental company that offers free gas for your use.

In my case they had a Model S 75 for me. It was clean, well charged, and available immediately. The rep pressed the trunk button to show me which car was mine, handed me the fob, and I was on my way.

They emailed me that they had rec'd my car for service, again when it began to be looked at, again when it was scheduled to be ready, and finally when it was finished at the wash rack. Hardly dead service. I considered it exceptional service.

In addition to the uncorking they preformed the 2nd row seat recall inspection(it passed) checked the windshield for ghosting (it passed), checked out my charging cable, upgraded my software edition, re-aligned w wheel as they notices some uneven tire wear, washed the car and offered me a cup of coffee when I picked it up.

Several employees took some time to chat with me about Tesla stuff. All were polite, professional, and acted like they were happy to be working for Tesla.

Now I know that from time to time, someone will find their expectations unmet, but some have pretty challenging expectations.

When I drove a Rolls Royce, I never once got a Rolls Royce loaner. When I drove a Viper, again never got a Viper rental. When I rode a Harley, they never provided a rental, and I needed to have someone pick me up.

Tesla tries to provide Tesla rentals when available, but when not, they offer some premium rides.

 

[brkaus]

I’d be pretty irritated if there was a $1k charge to my card. A hold is fine, but if actually a charge I’d hope it was corrected pretty quick!

 

[doubleohwhat]

When I drove a Rolls Royce, I never once got a Rolls Royce loaner. When I drove a Viper, again never got a Viper rental. When I rode a Harley, they never provided a rental, and I needed to have someone pick me up.

I had BMWs prior to switching to Tesla. With BMW, I was always given a BMW loaner when warranty work was being done. I expect the same from Tesla. For freebie work, I'll take whatever they have and be happy. However, if my S needs to go in for warranty work, they need to provide a Tesla loaner. I could care less which model it is though.

 

[kidjim25]

last time I had service done (couple weeks ago) they gave me a 100d loner that had just come off the truck. I didn't get 2 blocks from the sc when the stabilitrak and traction control failed and the steering wheel needed to be held at 45 degrees from horizontal to stay straight. took it right back and they couldn't of been more apologetic. moved my car right to the front of the line and since they were out of loaners offered to drive me home and promised my car would be ready by the time I needed to go to work. I decided to stay and chit chat with the sales people (they all know me by name I was there so much before I bought the car) I'm lucky I guess since I only live a mile from the Westmont SC. That being said they one thing they couldn't fix was the cracked rocker panels they car came with. still haven't had that fixed yet......

 

[Krazaak]

In my 15 years of BMW ownership, there's only 1 time they failed to provide me with a BMW loaner and it was a Town and Country which almost cancelled all 15 years of positive experiences.

That said, the biggest difference is that the BMW dealer only provided a loaner if the service was going to take more than 3 hours and appointments requiring a loaner usually scheduled 2 weeks out.

The Tesla SC seems to overbook appointments and because of that they keep cars in service for longer, further increasing the strain on their limited loaner fleet.

So far in under 4 months of ownership, my car's been in 3 times for almost 4 weeks total. Twice I've had a Hertz Infiniti loaner and once another MX P100D. Fortunately, I had the P100D loaner while mine was in for a 2 1/2 week long repair and the Infiniti loans were mercifully short at only a few days each.

I knew what I was getting in to buying a 2016 MX from inventory, so I'm not really irritated by my rocky start, especially since I'm pretty confident the repairs will stick. What bothers me, is not being able to reliably line up a Tesla loaner. I'd be willing to take an appointment 2-3 weeks out for a non-critical issue if it guaranteed a Tesla loaner and meant my routine didn't need to change dramatically. Giving me an Infinity loaner with 1/8th tank of gas during the gas shortage that followed Harvey was frustrating to say the least.

Hopefully once the Model 3 reaches peak production, they'll consider a fleet of Model 3 LR loaners. It makes more financial sense than trying to maintain a fleet of P100D loaners. Some people might complain about about getting a 3 while they're P100D is in the shop, but most of the time BMW gave me a 328i or X3 3.5 loaner. Never once did I get an M6, X5M or X6M loaner to match what I had in service, but I was happy to have a familiar vehicle while mine was out of service.

 

[LVThomas]

I said I couldn’t rate YOUR experience given the information at hand. Sure, we all have an idea of what being treated fairly and professionally entails, regardless of problems.

Anyway. I’m sorry you’re disappointed. This is one I should have let go from the beginning, but the thread title hyperbole inevitably lead me to click and be faced with a disappointing list of entitled expectations and minor inconveniences. So I bit.

I asked the question a few different ways and you avoided it each time. I admitted the title was a little dramatic, but you haven’t admitted that some of your comments follow zero rational logic.

 

[LVThomas]

Since Tesla was doing a free upgrade to your car, the responsibility for providing you a loaner is a pretty big bonus, that you should have appreciated. The upgrade should take less than an hour, and your could just hang out in the waiting room while they are doing you a pretty big favor.

Just took my X into San Diego. They have a Enterprise rep that seems to handle all the rentals. If they have a Tesla available, the offer that. If out of Tesla's they offer upgraded premium other cars. They even pay for any gas you use. Don't know any other rental company that offers free gas for your use.

In my case they had a Model S 75 for me. It was clean, well charged, and available immediately. The rep pressed the trunk button to show me which car was mine, handed me the fob, and I was on my way.

They emailed me that they had rec'd my car for service, again when it began to be looked at, again when it was scheduled to be ready, and finally when it was finished at the wash rack. Hardly dead service. I considered it exceptional service.

In addition to the uncorking they preformed the 2nd row seat recall inspection(it passed) checked the windshield for ghosting (it passed), checked out my charging cable, upgraded my software edition, re-aligned w wheel as they notices some uneven tire wear, washed the car and offered me a cup of coffee when I picked it up.

Several employees took some time to chat with me about Tesla stuff. All were polite, professional, and acted like they were happy to be working for Tesla.

Now I know that from time to time, someone will find their expectations unmet, but some have pretty challenging expectations.

When I drove a Rolls Royce, I never once got a Rolls Royce loaner. When I drove a Viper, again never got a Viper rental. When I rode a Harley, they never provided a rental, and I needed to have someone pick me up.

Tesla tries to provide Tesla rentals when available, but when not, they offer some premium rides.

So you ignored the part about appreciating a rental/loaner, but the charge on my card being an issue no matter what huh?

 

[LVThomas]

Update: I got my car back and the young lady in service explained the situation the best she could since it is something Hertz did. The charge is supposed to be removed by midnight or something like that. There wasn’t any arguing or being upset. I talked about it on this forum about 100x more than I talked about it with them. For a luxury vehicle, I still expect a Tesla loaner and depending on the type of service I will try to line one up with future appointments. The point about providing a loaner/rental for a free upgrade is a good one and I will take that into account if a similar situation comes up. Concerning the length of time the upgrade took, they told me they would need it overnight. If they would have told me it would be done same day I could have worked it out one way or the other.

Shortly after I got home the app notified me that I had the update available for easy exit and chill mode. In the world we live in today, I am blessed to have this happen and the charge on the card not be a huge, although temporary, financial issue.

 

[powertoold]

I sense now is a good time to earn my disagrees for the day by tossing out my massively unpopular opinion

Tesla should have charged some nominal amount to do the performance update. Perhaps waive if part of annual service. The performance increase is costing Tesla. Loaner cars, phone calls, responding to escalation requests (why isn't my particular 75d or 90d eligible), service center time, etc.

That’s Tesla’s fault for not anticipating the obvious