Favorite Tesla Employee

[TESLIVE]

Who have you personally dealt with in person or on the phone that exemplifies Tesla great customer service?

Don't be shy and feel free to vote for more than one Tesler and add +1's to other TMC member suggestions if you feel it is warranted.

Please list their full name, location, and title.

Feel free to add when you had your experience and a story if you like.

Negative comments will be ICEd.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

George Blankenship, by a mile. Met him at the Model X reveal and corresponded with him on email multiple times. He's the avuncular, grounded and bubbly face of Tesla; he's making the stores tick and has helped Tesla and many of us early reservation holders navigate through some rough waters in the past year or so.

A distant second would be Alex Frank, the store manager for Santana Row and Menlo Park who's apparently moving to Amsterdam to take charge of the Tesla store there. Great guy who gave me a lot of input during multiple visits to both the Bay Area stores; he also saved me $950 by advising me to skip the sound upgrade and got my wife and I separate test drives in a Perf (despite my having test-driven already before).

 

[Jason S]

George Blankenship was my first thought as well.

 

[Beavis]

Ben Kanner, Park Meadows Store

In 2010, I was in Boulder and stopped by the store to gaze at the Model S prototype. It looked great and the idea of an electric car was interesting but I was skeptical that the technology actually worked as advertised. Ben offered a test drive in a Roadster eventhough he knew that I was not interested in buying a Roadster (it didn't really fit my needs). Ben believed in the car and knew it would convince me. He took a copy of my license, flipped me the keys, suggested a route up Boulder Canyon, and said to be back in an hour. I was sold. Since then, Ben has always been ready to help whenever I had questions or a concern with my Model S reservation. Ben makes customer service his priority.

 

[BryanW]

+1 Ben Kanner, also the whole Denver service team does a great job, and is fantastic to work with.

 

[dadaleus]

Mark Brooks, Service Manager, Costa Mesa
Kyrstin Munson, Store Manager, Newport

So many others... Not all of whose names I can recall right off. Chip in San Diego service. Practically every service tech I've met.

 

[Trnsl8r]

George Blankenship, by a mile. Met him at the Model X reveal and corresponded with him on email multiple times. He's the avuncular, grounded and bubbly face of Tesla; he's making the stores tick and has helped Tesla and many of us early reservation holders navigate through some rough waters in the past year or so.

A distant second would be Alex Frank, the store manager for Santana Row and Menlo Park who's apparently moving to Amsterdam to take charge of the Tesla store there. Great guy who gave me a lot of input during multiple visits to both the Bay Area stores; he also saved me $950 by advising me to skip the sound upgrade and got my wife and I separate test drives in a Perf (despite my having test-driven already before).

Seconded x2.

 

[Arnold Panz]

While I'm sure GeorgeB will be honored by the love, I think the idea is to find people in the non-executive ranks, sort of the unsung heroes of Tesla. George, JB, Franz, Elon, Gilbert et al get plenty of recognition (deservedly so)! Teslive, if I'm wrong let me know.

I'd hate to nominate just one or two people because everyone I deal with at Tesla has been great! I'd nominate the entire South Florida operation if I could -- Sales, Service, and Delivery Specialists.

The one person I'd single out for special recognition is Neil Joseph. At a time when communication with Sig owners was at a low point and there was growing frustration, he worked tirelessly (literally, I don't think he slept for weeks at a time) to communicate with people and placate those of us who were growing increasingly anxious. He singlehandedly took an experience that was growing increasingly negative and turned it into a positive. And I know I wasn't the only one he did that for. He was also incredibly honest and forthcoming with information and admitting mistakes -- exactly the ideal example of a GREAT Tesla employee. I would love to see him recognized in some way.

 

[bhuwan]

George Blankenship, by a mile. Met him at the Model X reveal and corresponded with him on email multiple times. He's the avuncular, grounded and bubbly face of Tesla; he's making the stores tick and has helped Tesla and many of us early reservation holders navigate through some rough waters in the past year or so.

A distant second would be Alex Frank, the store manager for Santana Row and Menlo Park who's apparently moving to Amsterdam to take charge of the Tesla store there. Great guy who gave me a lot of input during multiple visits to both the Bay Area stores; he also saved me $950 by advising me to skip the sound upgrade and got my wife and I separate test drives in a Perf (despite my having test-driven already before).

Skip the sound upgrade!?!?

 

[Al Sherman]

Skip the sound upgrade!?!?

LOL. I'd pay MORE for it. There are times I go for a drive just to listen to music!

 

[bhuwan]

LOL. I'd pay MORE for it. There are times I go for a drive just to listen to music!

yeh, totally!

 

[bonnie]

Too many to list. There are so many people within Tesla that have helped me out in different ways, that I'm afraid to list and realized I missed someone. But yeah, the people make Tesla.

They may get their paycheck from Tesla, but they work for us. Thanks all!

 

[ckessel]

I haven't met a bad Tesla rep yet. I'm sure they exist or folks have a bad day, but in Portland, Jason (service), Jessica and Jared (the store) have been awesome every time I've interacted with them.

 

[TampaLiam]

Favorite Tesla Employees:
Mark LaPlant - Tampa Service Center - Manager. Really can say the same about him, as well! Another polite, informed, informative, helpful person.
Aaron Smith - Tampa Service Center - Technician - Brilliant, polite, informative, helpful. He rocks!
Kimberly Reese - Tampa Service Center - Service Advisor. Polite, effective communicator, follows up/follows through. Helpful. A million times better than any of my BMW service advisor experiences. No, a billion... a billion times better.
John - Tampa Service Center - Technician - Another smart, friendly, informative person.

Those 4 Tampa SC employees bring a stellar service experience. Welcoming, educational, fun, friendly, open, warm. They have created such a welcoming environment that, and I won't mention any names, some of us make regular trips there - even when we don't need service. Maybe it isn't the best thing to drop in, but there are definitely some regulars that do! This really is what Elon called for in his article several years ago when he described what a "Third Place" is, and that Tesla SC's shall be considered one.

It almost seems like Tesla Tampa SC hired based upon personality & brains equally.


Ben - Tampa based delivery specialist - Patient, informative, excellent at communicating the features of the vehicle and creating a delivery experience where you feel like you are his only customer.

HQ:
Jeffrey Chu - HQ Product Specialist - We only spoke a couple of times... but Jeffrey is just one of those people that makes you feel like you are the top priority in his day, making sure you receive all communications, informations, etc that you may desire.
Sara Eslinger - FL IDS - Seemed really busy, but got the job done! Sara was effective in communicating and executing tasks in what seemed like a period of outrageous growth.

And, of course, Elon, George B, JB Straubel. Nuff said on those cats.

 

[kvietor]

Totally agree with you Liam. And I confess to being a regular "drop in".

 

[NigelM]

The one person I'd single out for special recognition is Neil Joseph. At a time when communication with Sig owners was at a low point and there was growing frustration, he worked tirelessly (literally, I don't think he slept for weeks at a time) to communicate with people and placate those of us who were growing increasingly anxious. He singlehandedly took an experience that was growing increasingly negative and turned it into a positive. And I know I wasn't the only one he did that for. He was also incredibly honest and forthcoming with information and admitting mistakes -- exactly the ideal example of a GREAT Tesla employee. I would love to see him recognized in some way.

Agree with nomination of Neil Joseph. What many don't know is that Neil was checking the delivery problems on this site last year and following up on them to get the problems resolved and get systems and tracking in place for a much better, smoother process today. There's quite a few members Neil helped out without them ever knowing and I communicated with Neil on many occasions as he was tracking people from their screen names, res#s etc to match them with a car; Neil even asked me to alert him if I saw any delivery issues he should follow up on, he wanted to make sure he didn't miss anyone. (I see that Neil was still on the site checking for issues today)

As others in this region have said, Tampa Service crew under Mark LaPlant is great and awesome work by our good friend DS Ben Bird. Before Tampa opened we used to get equally awesome support from Graham Carroll (FL Manager) and Alberto Cortinas (Dania Beach Service) in Miami.

 

[Wattson]

I nominate:

Jessica Smith - Store Manager at Old Orchard- for exceptional customer service via email and in person at the store. She was knowledgeable about the Model S beyond other Tesla employees I spoke to, she probed to discover my existing knowledge about Model S and spoke to me at my level, and she was friendly through every interaction.

Thank you Jessica for being the face of Tesla.

Cheers,
David Z

 

[The Fury]

I nominate:

Whitney and Jack at the Dallas Texas, Service Center.... They are AWESOME!!!!

Also Kelly and Mason at the Denver Sales Office!!

 

[paulmcdaniel]

Luke in their Ownership Experience team in Palo Alto. Always gets back to you when he says he will, even if just to indicate he's still researching the queries. And also, courteous enough to have called me back after I complained about the recent dropped 'Alcantara accents' to say, "I have great news for you Paul. There has been a company decision to bring back Alcantara accents and your vehicle should come with them". I have not met a bad employee at Tesla, but Luke certainly exemplifies the customer service at its best.

 

[Arnold Panz]

Agree with nomination of Neil Joseph. What many don't know is that Neil was checking the delivery problems on this site last year and following up on them to get the problems resolved and get systems and tracking in place for a much better, smoother process today. There's quite a few members Neil helped out without them ever knowing and I communicated with Neil on many occasions as he was tracking people from their screen names, res#s etc to match them with a car; Neil even asked us me to alert him if I saw any delivery issues he should follow up on, he wanted to make sure he didn't miss anyone. (I see that Neil was still on the site checking for issues today)

As others in this region have said, Tampa Service crew under Mark LaPlant is great and awesome work by our good friend DS Ben Bird. Before Tampa opened we used to get equally awesome support from Graham Carroll (FL Manager) and Alberto Cortinas (Dania Beach Service) in Miami.

I had the same experience with Neil helping out others, not just me. He's a guy who really cared, took ownership and went way above and beyond the call of duty. And he sought absolutely no credit for anything. Really, he was amazing during that whole time period, which was critical to not having the wheels fall off the wagon.

I second Graham and Alberto's nomination, and their teams. I'd also recognize Maria and Wil, our previous Store Managers in Dania, who did a great job here in setting us up for success. They were/are enthusiastic and patient and completely dedicated to Tesla and its customers.