Discussion: Tesla Energy / Auto Customer Service

[BigDanSRQ]

I cancelled my install last fall. Thought I'd check back in today and see of Tesla fixed their customer support....... ummmmmmm

I'll check back again in 2023

 

[Fruitcake]

I cancelled my install last fall. Thought I'd check back in today and see of Tesla fixed their customer support....... ummmmmmm

I'll check back again in 2023

Nope! It sucks as bad as ever.

Recently, my PV stopped producing. After the usual unproductive moron-a-thon on the phone with customer support, I was scheduled for onsite support.

Three weeks later, a tech finally shows up. He climbs onto the roof, pokes around the solar panels a bit, takes a few pictures and comes back down. "You have a squirrel problem," he says, and then shows me a photo of a squirrel nest tangled up in the wiring underneath one of the panels. I could swear that little rodent was grinning at me. I could even see a little cartoon bubble over its little varmint head, saying "I'm sorry, did you want these wires?"

I can't blame Tesla for the pest or the damage it inflicted on my PV. But I can still blame them for a whole hell lot of things:

1. Did Tesla ever warn me that squirrels and other pests could be a potential problem when I bought the system? No.

2. Did Tesla ever offer to install a pest abatement system, even at additional cost, when I bought the system? No.

Fast forward back to the present:

3. Did the tech then proceed to remove the squirrel nest? No.

4. Did the tech then proceed to repair the damaged wiring? No.

5. Did the tech then proceed to install a pest abatement kit, so as to prevent this from happening again? No

He did absolutely nothing.

Well, that's not exactly true. He DID give me a doorknob hang tag, of the "We're sorry we missed you" variety, with a customer service number - 888.765.2489 - circled in ink.

"Good luck!" he says, and he left.

Customer service was of very little help. All they did was refer me to an outfit called "Solar Maid." I completed an online form requesting pest abatement services. No one ever responded to my inquiry. I would have tried to follow up by phone, there is no telephone support number to be found.

So I'm basically on my own to figure things out, find someone who can remediate the situation (oh, and of course, pay handsomely for the privilege).

If the above scenario meets your definition of "good customer support" then by all means, go with Tesla. I would just as soon suggest the following alternative procedure:

a. Ask a good, trusted friend to kick you in the testicles.
b. Locate a small- to medium-sized pile of money, preferably in denominations of $20 and higher, and set it on fire.
c. Purchase a heinously expensive bottle of fine Scotch, like Johnnie Walker Blue, and use it to scrub your toilet.

The alternative procedure will be cheaper, more pleasant, and easier to deal with than Tesla support.

Fruitcake

 

[BigDanSRQ]

It would be interesting to learn how Tesla does the warranty accounting/accrual for its solar roof with "infinite warrnaty". One cool thing (not that warranty accounting could ever be cool) is that Tesla has historically over-funded its warranty accrual on both the car side and solar side.

Solar & EV Warranty Report, 18 June 2020 (this article is about Energy not Auto)
View attachment 684275


So Tesla is setting aside a bunch of money and not really paying as much back since the warranty claims haven't been piling in. This is conservative accounting and means Tesla has the liability/dollars provisioned on its balance sheet to pay for claims. So why in the world would Tesla slow-roll the homeowners in the article and low-ball them on a recovery on all the mold/damage? I mean, if Tesla just used some of this excess accrual (both PV and Auto) to hire more sales/support people, maybe they'd actually get around to fixing things on a more timely manner hah.

Nope! It sucks as bad as ever.

Recently, my PV stopped producing. After the usual unproductive moron-a-thon on the phone with customer support, I was scheduled for onsite support.

Three weeks later, a tech finally shows up. He climbs onto the roof, pokes around the solar panels a bit, takes a few pictures and comes back down. "You have a squirrel problem," he says, and then shows me a photo of a squirrel nest tangled up in the wiring underneath one of the panels. I could swear that little rodent was grinning at me. I could even see a little cartoon bubble over its little varmint head, saying "I'm sorry, did you want these wires?"

I can't blame Tesla for the pest or the damage it inflicted on my PV. But I can still blame them for a whole hell lot of things:

1. Did Tesla ever warn me that squirrels and other pests could be a potential problem when I bought the system? No.

2. Did Tesla ever offer to install a pest abatement system, even at additional cost, when I bought the system? No.

Fast forward back to the present:

3. Did the tech then proceed to remove the squirrel nest? No.

4. Did the tech then proceed to repair the damaged wiring? No.

5. Did the tech then proceed to install a pest abatement kit, so as to prevent this from happening again? No

He did absolutely nothing.

Well, that's not exactly true. He DID give me a doorknob hang tag, of the "We're sorry we missed you" variety, with a customer service number - 888.765.2489 - circled in ink.

"Good luck!" he says, and he left.

Customer service was of very little help. All they did was refer me to an outfit called "Solar Maid." I completed an online form requesting pest abatement services. No one ever responded to my inquiry. I would have tried to follow up by phone, there is no telephone support number to be found.

So I'm basically on my own to figure things out, find someone who can remediate the situation (oh, and of course, pay handsomely for the privilege).

If the above scenario meets your definition of "good customer support" then by all means, go with Tesla. I would just as soon suggest the following alternative procedure:

a. Ask a good, trusted friend to kick you in the testicles.
b. Locate a small- to medium-sized pile of money, preferably in denominations of $20 and higher, and set it on fire.
c. Purchase a heinously expensive bottle of fine Scotch, like Johnnie Walker Blue, and use it to scrub your toilet.

The alternative procedure will be cheaper, more pleasant, and easier to deal with than Tesla support.

Fruitcake

Dude! That has to be the best post of the year! I just picked my wife up off the floor laughing he guts out. Thanks for the great great post!!!

 

[Fruitcake]

Dude! That has to be the best post of the year! I just picked my wife up off the floor laughing he guts out. Thanks for the great great post!!!

I wish it were otherwise.

I have friends with the cars and their experiences are similar, in that:

• When everything works, Tesla products are great.
• When something doesn't work, you have to deal with Tesla service, which is so painful it could make a spy talk.

 

[patome]

We ordered Solar Panels from Tesla. Equipment was delivered 1-day prior to scheduled installation. No one showed up on installation day and we never got any texts or emails that our appointment got cancelled. The opposite was true; we kept getting notifications confirming our installation. After a couple of hours of waiting we called Tesla and told we were "unscheduled" because part of the installation was not approved at the last minute.

We called the Tesla phone line and talked to a Project Advisor about cancelling the order. I also requested a refund of our $250 deposit due to the no-show inconvenience and other earlier scheduling snafus that required us to take days off from work unnecessarily. Tesla cancelled an earlier installation date at the last-minute and they also told us we needed to be home another day for a site visit by a local inspector (which turned out not to be correct). The Project Advisor sent out an email with our request and we are waiting to hear back.

Mainly I am curious if anyone --(1) Has had luck getting their deposit back at this late stage? (2) Any issues getting Tesla to come back and pick up their equipment?

 

[TexaCali]

I decided to go with a Tesla solar roof about 6 months ago, started the process, talked to an advisor, all was good. Tesla did the inspection at my house, we agreed that the power wall should go on the outside of the garage, no issues from the inspector, all good.

I'm approving documents online and I notice an obvious error in one of the utility documents relating to how much energy I'll produce vs consume - which I point out to the advisor. She agrees and refers it for correction....months go by and it is never fixed. Finally I just approve the stupid document to move things forward, hoping this obvious error doesn't cause a problem later.

Next Tesla asks me to approve the power wall location - on the inside of the garage not the outside like we has discussed. I raise this with the advise who agrees to get it changed, but here we are over a month later and no change. I receive emails and txts from Tesla every few days asking me to approve the location, and I reminded my adviser a few times, who says it is still in process. Seriously? It is simply the other side of the same wall, a location the inspector thought would be ideal, but zero communication from Tesla as to why they can't do this change or why it is taking so long.

On top of all this, Tesla can't even give me an estimate for when they can install my roof. I need a new roof, absolutely want solar, and like the look of the Tesla roof over traditional panels, but my patience is running out. Is this just a freak case or is my experience the norm these days? My neighbor got a Tesla roof right as I was starting the process and had zero issues.

 

[X-pilot]

We ordered Solar Panels from Tesla. Equipment was delivered 1-day prior to scheduled installation. No one showed up on installation day and we never got any texts or emails that our appointment got cancelled. The opposite was true; we kept getting notifications confirming our installation. After a couple of hours of waiting we called Tesla and told we were "unscheduled" because part of the installation was not approved at the last minute.

We called the Tesla phone line and talked to a Project Advisor about cancelling the order. I also requested a refund of our $250 deposit due to the no-show inconvenience and other earlier scheduling snafus that required us to take days off from work unnecessarily. Tesla cancelled an earlier installation date at the last-minute and they also told us we needed to be home another day for a site visit by a local inspector (which turned out not to be correct). The Project Advisor sent out an email with our request and we are waiting to hear back.

Mainly I am curious if anyone --(1) Has had luck getting their deposit back at this late stage? (2) Any issues getting Tesla to come back and pick up their equipment?

1. I have not had issues getting my deposit money back in the past.

2. They removed the equipment in two days

I have a somewhat similar Tesla experience. Equipment delivered Friday before installation on Tuesday. Crews (a PV crew & a Powewall crew) did show on time. PW crew started in garage as planned (Note: I already have 2 PW there) & poked around then decided outside would work best for them. The PV crew walked around the roof & looked in the attic as an option for running the electrical. They did not want to go through the attic and balked at running conduit over the roof. They suggested I really didn't need more PV (I have 60) and the two PW could be installed without the 12 new PV that I ordered.

They called their respective project advisors/leads to advise the "change" to PW only. Without the new solar PV, I did not need the PW with the built-in inverter so that is why they were removed.

Now several weeks have passed and no progress on a revised installation plan or schedule.

 

[angel99]

Hi All,

I recently started exploring solar options for my house. Based on my limited research so far, Tesla Solar seemed like a pretty competitive option. So, I decided to go ahead with it, even at the risk of poor customer service. And the challenges started, as soon as I placed the initial deposit. Since then, the sales rep is totally unreachable. The project advisors that I have spoken to to understand the process have shown little to no interest and have not answered the questions. I have been given a system design, where the kW options are not what I want. I asked for a system size option that works better for me and I was told that it will push me back by 4-8 weeks. I have been vaguely told that there will be another design that comes in 4-6 weeks after a manual review of all the documents that I provided. But no mention of this on the ordering page and no confirmation of this. So, I dont know what to expect. Could someone who has gone through the process help me understand what the process looks like? At what point can I select the kW option that I want? Do I need to just wait 4-6 weeks at this point or is there something pending on me to make the process move to the next step? What does the timeline look like from this point onward (i.e. after placing the deposit) in Bay Area, CA, USA?

PS: I have been a Tesla customer for the past 3 years (vehicle department), so while the customer service is definitely not the best, it has worked out okay so far (I am usually ok with a low-touch option). However, not sure, if the solar department is significantly worse and I should be more careful with it before going all-in. I would have preferred them to be a bit more approachable at least during the ordering process.

Thanks!

 

[BGbreeder]

Why would you buy a durable item that you will have for decades if it isn't what you want? Go through the redesign. Yes, it is a process, yes, it takes time, yes,y our have to be diligent about calling to ensure the process is on track. All of that goes with the low price.

All the best,

BG

 

[vickh]

Why would you buy a durable item that you will have for decades if it isn't what you want? Go through the redesign. Yes, it is a process, yes, it takes time, yes,y our have to be diligent about calling to ensure the process is on track. All of that goes with the low price.

All the best,

BG

yep. They're cheap for a reason.... Good if you need low/no touch. Let's just say they were social distancing b/f Covid

 

[uscpsycho]

I was advised to ask a question from another thread here.

Sounds like there are a lot of complaints about customer service here, which I guess is the point of this entire thread. I had so many problems during install that Tesla actually agreed to increase the size of my solar roof system as a concession. So now the system has passed final inspection and Tesla wants to get paid but there are a few sticking points that I'm having trouble getting Tesla to address.

What I want to know is how Tesla customer service compares after they've been paid to before they've been paid? Will I have even more trouble getting Tesla to address these issues after being been paid in full? Or should I hold off on paying until I'm satisfied? The obvious answer is to wait, but the longer I wait the longer I delay PTO and I want to start sending power up to the grid.

One of the things is a custom door that Tesla damaged. They indicated that they would reimburse me for getting it fixed but I don't want to deal with it, I want this to be their headache because I'm not being compensated for my time here. What are people's experience with getting damage repaired by Tesla?

Since people are sharing horror stories, I'll share one. One morning I'm sleeping when I'm woken at the crack of dawn by what I swear has to be a major earthquake or someone trying to break into my house, through the roof, using a sledgehammer. Turns out the tear off crew showed up a week early, climbed up onto my roof without bothering to even ring the doorbell and started tearing the roof off of my house. Talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed!

 

[GOVA]

I've been following 'The hookup' channel for years. Unfortunately, his latest video about his Tesla Solar install is just bad for Tesla Solar due to his negative experience which he calls even a scam.

Can you guys watch it and hopefully verify his claims? He complains mostly about insufficient inverter numbers/capacity
This does intrest me as I am a reservation holder for Tesla Solar Roof and wuld like not to run into any issues.

 

[Electrph]

only got 4 min into video but i believe like most social media the title is misleading / clickbait ... at least he put a "?" mark in title
sounds like he learned after fact about the solar system rating vs the annual est production .. and about oversizing for inverter .. all of these topics have been discussed at length on these boards
i dont believe any of these practices are unique to Tesla .. perhaps smaller better customer service oriented companies explain these issues better to the customer or if for example undersizing inverter bothers you so much they'll let you drop a lot more $$ on inverter(s) to "get back" a little $ you are "losing" during peak summer months .. rather than spending more on more cost effective panels and ending up right back where you were "undersized" inverter

 

[taphil]

Some stuff is true. Price is cheap. Customer service sucks. If something breaks, you're F'ed.

 

[jgleigh]

His setup is also far from ideal. He's got panels on four different roofs and also partial shading issues. He'll never see ideal production assuming a full 10kW array pointed perfectly.

 

[Gixx1300R]

Would anything be any different if he went with a different company besides the communication?

 

[jjrandorin]

Would anything be any different if he went with a different company besides the communication?

I am not watching the video (I dont really do online videos, especially not anything that looks like clickbait). With that being said, since tesla does not use micro inverters, its possible that an installer that used those might have designed their system differently. The communication piece also can be under rated, especially on what is basically a construction project like these are.

So, its likely that whomever was in the video would have gotten more communication, and may have gotten a slightly differently designed system (and paid a lot more to get that).

They also likely would have understood enough about it to not feel like they needed to make a video with a clickbait title, unless they are a youtuber (which it sounds like they might be by the OP of this threads post). If they are, then the click bait title / content is "part of the deal" which is one reason why I dont watch them.

 

[karkrazy]

What this video is discussing is nothing new. Would have come up on any research into Tesla Solar/Energy ‍♂

I skipped through the clip but almost every point raised has been discussed in depth on TMC

 

[Gixx1300R]

I am not watching the video (I dont really do online videos, especially not anything that looks like clickbait). With that being said, since tesla does not use micro inverters, its possible that an installer that used those might have designed their system differently. The communication piece also can be under rated, especially on what is basically a construction project like these are.

So, its likely that whomever was in the video would have gotten more communication, and may have gotten a slightly differently designed system (and paid a lot more to get that).

They also likely would have understood enough about it to not feel like they needed to make a video with a clickbait title, unless they are a youtuber (which it sounds like they might be by the OP of this threads post). If they are, then the click bait title / content is "part of the deal" which is one reason why I dont watch them.

exactly

 

[TBrownTX]

Kind of a whiner, IMHO.

Tim