Deductibles, deductibles ...

[GreenT]

So my '13 Model S has been into service for the same problem 3 times.

First time they replaced a wheel.

No difference.

Second time they replaced four tires.

No difference.

Third time they replaced an "arm".

No difference.

Every time they billed me for parts AND deductible.

I complained that they had sold me a wheel for no good reason. The claim I am being sent a check to cover the wheel. That will take 6 to 8 weeks. And I had to negotiate the *** to get that!

So now, I'm driving 150 miles in a different direction to a different SC to see if we can fix the problem.

They tell me that every time the car goes in, irrespective of the outcome, I am going to get levied a(NOTHER) $200 deductible. So if it goes in 10 times, I am out $2,000. This seems ridiculous.

Is this normal? This seems like fraud to me.

I have no problem at all paying a one time deductible to get the problem fixed. But not every visit.

 

[K-MTG]

I wasn't aware the warranty has a deductible?

 

[Az_Rael]

I wasn't aware the warranty has a deductible?

The extended warranty does. SInce we are talking about at 2013, I assume it is in its extended warranty period.


OP: Get our your service agreement contract and read through it all. It should state the conditions at which the $200 will be levied. Note that there are several versions, as Tesla made some revisions to the agreement over the years, so the only version that applies to you is the one in your My Tesla account. Then hold them to the contract.

 

[GreenT]

It is under the extended warranty for which I paid the $4k.

Where did I put it? Would it have been attached to an email when I bought it last year? Sorry to ask such a lame question! Nope. Invoice. No agreement.

SC did just call me back and told me they would void the deductible ... ONCE ... given that this would be the 4th time ... and counting? I have no faith in Tesla's servicing ability.

I expect them to void the deductible until the problem is solved once and for all.

 

[Az_Rael]

It is under the extended warranty for which I paid the $5k.

Where did I put it? Would it have been attached to an email when I bought it last year? Sorry to ask such a lame question!

SC did just call me back and told me they would void the deductible ... ONCE ... given that this would be the 4th time ... and counting? I have no faith in Tesla's servicing ability.

I expect them to void the deductible until the problem is solved once and for all.

If it isn't in your "documents" section on My Tesla, then its probably in an email attachment somewhere.

 

[GreenT]

Yep. it's in My Tesla. $200 per visit. Never thought they could / would use it against us ... I trusted them ... they have no incentive to fix it the first time ... buyer beware.

 

[Andyw2100]

Yep. it's in My Tesla. $200 per visit. Never thought they could / would use it against us ... I trusted them ... they have no incentive to fix it the first time ... buyer beware.

I am pretty certain the agreement said something like $200 per issue, and that repeated visits for the same issue did not carry the deductible.

Most importantly, and everyone should read and pay attention to this:

The agreement in your Tesla account may not be the agreement that you signed!

You should try to find the agreement you actually signed in the email you would have been sent at the time.

Here's how I know this:

Not too long ago my car was in for service, and I had my winter or summer tires (on wheels) swapped on. Initially the service center was trying to charge me for this, and I pointed out that the service agreement I had purchased (not the extended service agreement--the regular one, that paid in advance for the annual services) had included free tire rotation. The serivce center said they would waive the fee, but that I should check my agreement.

I initially went to my Tesla account to check the agreement, and the agreement there, in my own personal Tesla account, says nothing about the free rotation. I KNEW I had that, though, so I dug deeper and found the .PDF I had been emailed at the time I signed the agreement. That .PDF had the language I remembered about the tire rotation being included.

My point is that Tesla seems OK with updating the agreements in your account to their then current agreements.

I think 99% of people would assume the agreement in your account is the one that you signed. This is definitely not necessarily the case.

 

[GreenT]

Absolutely. The link to the agreement I "signed" is to their generic extended agreement.

“Deductible” means the portion that You must pay for each Visit. The Deductible under this Vehicle ESA is $200 per Visit.

And I have scoured my emails and find nothing ... should have grabbed a screen shot back then ... but they could say I doctored the document.

Disgusted. Then again, had I not signed it who knows how much I would pay for ... a new ... ???

SC are saying that a new motor or some other part is deductible free. It's like they make this up as they go along!

 

[Max*]

SC are saying that a new motor or some other part is deductible free. It's like they make this up as they go along!

They do make this up as they go along, but not this particular comment.

The battery/drivetrain are covered under the 8-year infinite mile warranty. So it would make sense that a new motor is deductible free.

 

[Zaphod]

So what is your issue? I assume something with alignment or vibration since they replaced wheel, tires, and most likely control arm? What SC as not sure where "Here" is.

 

[daniel]

Yep. it's in My Tesla. $200 per visit. Never thought they could / would use it against us ... I trusted them ... they have no incentive to fix it the first time ... buyer beware.

I'm sorry you're having problems, but I beg to disagree: As a new company with an innovative product, Tesla has a very big incentive to keep its customers happy, which means a very big incentive to fix problems as quickly as possible. It's very bad publicity for them when problems are not solved promptly and to the customer's satisfaction.

I wish you the best of luck with this. I hope they can fix the problem, and that in the end they don't charge you more than the one deductible for the issue. If I was in charge, they'd refund all the deductibles as compensation for not having solved the problem the first time. It would be good customer relations.

(I had some issues with two different products from a different company recently, and afterwards, they gave me a small freebee each time, which left me liking the company more.)

 

[Andyw2100]

Absolutely. The link to the agreement I "signed" is to their generic extended agreement.

“Deductible” means the portion that You must pay for each Visit. The Deductible under this Vehicle ESA is $200 per Visit.

And I have scoured my emails and find nothing ... should have grabbed a screen shot back then ... but they could say I doctored the document.

You should be able to get Tesla to send you copy of the agreement you actually signed. I found my agreement by searching my email messages for the term "Extended Service Plan." The subject of the email with the attachment was "Your Tesla service plan."

These are the A and B sections from the document linked to in my account:

--

A. Deductible You are responsible for the Deductible of $200 per Visit.
B. Tesla’s Responsibilities Tesla agrees to repair or replace any covered part as required due to a Failure. For additional information see Section H. Limits of Liability.
C. Your Responsibilities
--

And these are the same sections, from the .PDF I received at the time, which is the actual agreement I entered into. Note the significant difference in the A section.

--
A. One-Time Deductible Guarantee

Once a part is repaired or replaced under the terms and conditions of this Vehicle ESA, and the
Deductible is paid, any Deductible for a future repair or replacement of that part will be waived for the
term of this Vehicle ESA.

B. Tesla’s Responsibilities

Tesla agrees to repair or replace any covered part as required due to a Failure.
For additional information see Section H. Limits of Liability.

C. Your Responsibilities
--

(The formatting is different because of my copy and pasting.)

Whether you can find your original document or not, it should be the terms of that document that are applicable.

Good luck!

 

[sorka]

The current agreement says "per visit" as it did nearly 2 years ago when it went up to $4K. Tesla has responded somewhere...in a blog...or somewhere else clarifying that it's per issue and that once an item is fixed, you won't have to pay a deductible for that item again within the extended agreement period.

That said, I'd MUCH rather it be the way the contract says and NOT per issue. If it's the way the contract says and two door handles go belly up, then you're only out $200 if you get both repaired at the same time.

It means I'd likely let multiple issues build up first and unless critical to operating the car, wait until I could get 3 or 4 things done at once. I currently have three things that need to be fixed now Minor but it's likely they'd cost me $600 in one visit if it wasn't how Tesla clarified the "per issue" and "only one $200 per item even if it breaks again".

For example,

Should I Buy the Tesla Extended Service Agreement?

reports that it's per issue and you'd have to pay $200 for each door handle on the same visit but never again. Might want to ask them where the got their understanding....although I'm almost certain that Tesla blogged about this and said the same thing that teslarati said.

 

[MP3Mike]

It means I'd likely let multiple issues build up first and unless critical to operating the car, wait until I could get 3 or 4 things done at once. I currently have three things that need to be fixed now Minor but it's likely they'd cost me $600 in one visit if it wasn't how Tesla clarified the "per issue" and "only one $200 per item even if it breaks again".

Careful about that as I recall something in the ESA saying that you had to report issues in a timely manner or they weren't covered. So in theory if you wait a couple months until another door handle fails and something else needs repaired to reduce the number of deductibles then they could disallow coverage on some of the items. (Of course how would they know when something failed unless they have really good logging.)

 

[CHG-ON]

That is complete and utter BS! I cannot believe that they are doing that, regardless of what the contract says. One of the reasons I bought my car in '14 was due to their amazing service.

It simply kills me that Tesla is now going the way of every other car maker. I get the reality of running the biz. But it breaks my heart.

 

[GreenT]

The symptom I have is the car vibrating in the 70-80 range. Intermittently. But often.
On 3rd motor (for unrelated issues); but for this symptom.

- New tires
- New wheel
- New "arm"

still a problem. It's like they didn't bother to drive it on the local highway for 10 minutes to see if it persisted.

Now I drove it back 120 miles and it seemed less. Only to drive it the following day and back it came.

Next time they delivered it they flat bedded it.

The local ranger thinks it's "harmonics".

I canceled my last SC trip as I am fed up with the run around.

But it's not the SC. The people couldn't be "nicer". They are obeying policy.

I will reach out and ask for a copy of MY ESA.

 

[Lbkmxp100d]

So my '13 Model S has been into service for the same problem 3 times.

First time they replaced a wheel.

No difference.

Second time they replaced four tires.

No difference.

Third time they replaced an "arm".

No difference.

Every time they billed me for parts AND deductible.

I complained that they had sold me a wheel for no good reason. The claim I am being sent a check to cover the wheel. That will take 6 to 8 weeks. And I had to negotiate the *** to get that!

So now, I'm driving 150 miles in a different direction to a different SC to see if we can fix the problem.

They tell me that every time the car goes in, irrespective of the outcome, I am going to get levied a(NOTHER) $200 deductible. So if it goes in 10 times, I am out $2,000. This seems ridiculous.

Is this normal? This seems like fraud to me.

I have no problem at all paying a one time deductible to get the problem fixed. But not every visit.

Next time it goes in to fix your problem ask to drive the vehicle to verify its "fixed". If it's not fixed don't take vehicle back and have them correctly fix your problem. This will prevent you from paying multiple deductibles for same issue.

 

[GreenT]

Not that simple LBK ... I had it once already. drive it home 130 miles and it seemed better ... but it got worse over the next day or two.
And if it doesn't get fixed, and I stick around I'll be into a hotel room for days. Can't win!

 

[chillaban]

Sorry to hear, OP. I've gotten this treatment so many times from domestic cars that fell out of warranty that I swore to never own a car without a factory new warranty again

I had a Grand Cherokee that they basically rebuilt part by part to try to get rid of a little bit of transmission/transfer case oil dripping. They at one point just told me to not bother getting it fixed, and I had to point out that I would agree except it was my employer at the time who required that cars in their parking lot do not leak oil.

It sure sounds like every visit costs $200 contractually, and as long as they suggest a different part, they can still bill you. Unfortunately I've never seen a repair shop that guarantees the symptoms of the problem get resolved or your money back. That would be awesome for the consumer.

(Quite frankly, from a conspiracy theorist point of view, the current policy rewards service centers for incorrectly diagnosing problems)

 

[MP3Mike]

(Quite frankly, from a conspiracy theorist point of view, the current policy rewards service centers for incorrectly diagnosing problems)

Not really. Do you really think any of the things they do cost them less than $200 including employee time? They are losing money with each visit he makes even if they do charge him the $200.

It sounds to me like he got new tires really cheap to me. (I don't know how much wear was on his old tires.)