Frustrated. 2 month old car not drivable

[artnalex]

I get that it's frustrating, but that's just how Tesla does business. It's not personal.

I think that is partly the problem with Tesla’s current customer service approach. It is very impersonal.

They communicate via texts or via the Tesla app. No real human beings to talk to, in case you have any questions. I’d venture to say that most people want to know exactly the cause of their car problems as soon as possible.

Don’t get me wrong, as I think the Service Centers do a reasonably good job of helping, but that is not all there is to good customer service.

It’s something they may consider improving in years to come, if they care about their Customer Service ratings.

 

[Altes]

Got the car September 30th. Has 2200 miles on it, and love the car so far. Wife got an error message that the car my not restart with driving. Later that day, got a second message saying electric system problem, car may operate at reduced power or stop suddenly. Then finally the car would not go. Gave a message that car was rebooting. She almost needed to get towed, but the car did eventually reboot and she got home.

Next day. I took the Y to the service station which is only 10 minutes away. They agreed to take the car and give us a loner.

Today, no communication from a human, but a message that parts are on order and the car should be ready December 9th. No explanation what is actually wrong.

Not very happy right now.

Welcome to Tesla Service....

 

[VaxAce]

trade it in or invoke lemon law.

 

[MP3Mike]

Got the car September 30th. Has 2200 miles on it, and love the car so far. Wife got an error message that the car my not restart with driving. Later that day, got a second message saying electric system problem, car may operate at reduced power or stop suddenly. Then finally the car would not go. Gave a message that car was rebooting. She almost needed to get towed, but the car did eventually reboot and she got home.

Next day. I took the Y to the service station which is only 10 minutes away. They agreed to take the car and give us a loner.

Today, no communication from a human, but a message that parts are on order and the car should be ready December 9th. No explanation what is actually wrong.

Not very happy right now.

So you've had two new cars fails this week? Multiple failure messages on a 3 month old car | Tesla Motors Club

A 3-month old one and a 2-month old one?

 

[drotto25]

Now listing the part as a hv controller that has been ordered.

 

[jmallit]

I saw in the thread you said NJ. Which service center of you don’t mind me asking as you said it was ten minutes from you and want to respect your privacy. I have had good luck so far with Springfield.

 

[drotto25]

I saw in the thread you said NJ. Which service center of you don’t mind me asking as you said it was ten minutes from you and want to respect your privacy. I have had good luck so far with Springfield.

It is not Springfield, and I think the employees are doing a good job. It seems to be more the Tesla mindset which wants to reduce human interactions and attempts to conduct business through texts or even better yet just the app.

I would prefer a call or even a text saying simply, hey we found the problem, this is what it is, call if you have more questions. Rather than it coming through an app. I am in a service industry, and my clients demand a more personal touch, and I certainly prefer it.

I love the car, think the tech is generally great. I am annoyed that a new car needs a significant repair, I have owned plenty of new cars and never had any issues. I have already overlooked a few QC issues, I feel should not have been there (granted they are minor). So given that, Tesla should be giving a more personal touch, and coming across as more apologetic.

Once the EV market really heats up 5 or 10 years from now, Tesla will not be able to fall back on the current reality that their cars are years ahead in tech. They will need to give customers reasons to keep coming back. That will require better customer relations.

 

[Pianewman]

I just visited a dealer Audi eTron yesterday. Clueless salesperson. Flawless fit and finish. Seriously...but... so many different surfaces, interior stitching, seams, edges, exterior panels, creases...just too fussy, especially compared to the Y. I now appreciate the minimalist Tesla design even more.

At $75k+, and only 220miles range, AND spotty VAG electronics for decades, I'll continue the risk and look forward to my Y in a couple weeks.

 

[Gizmotoy]

I think that is partly the problem with Tesla’s current customer service approach. It is very impersonal.

They communicate via texts or via the Tesla app. No real human beings to talk to, in case you have any questions. I’d venture to say that most people want to know exactly the cause of their car problems as soon as possible.

Don’t get me wrong, as I think the Service Centers do a reasonably good job of helping, but that is not all there is to good customer service.

It’s something they may consider improving in years to come, if they care about their Customer Service ratings.

This is relatively new, and extremely frustrating. There is literally no way to get help with your vehicle besides showing up unannounced at the Service Center. After a Mobile Service where the 12V battery was replaced, my Model S' cabin heater no longer works. The phone system will not let you speak with anyone. The chat service cannot do anything besides add that service to an appointment I already have. Is there a quick fix? Who knows. Can I confirm the agent added the concern to my appointment? Nope. Service note are completely blank.

So for two weeks I'm defrosting the car with a hair dryer in the morning, hoping the agent did what they promised because if not they'll refuse to work on it. Service is absolutely awful.

 

[steve841]

Dont think it only applies to Tesla ..

I came out to my 2020 GMC Denali on Tuesday. Deader than dead. Had to have it towed in.

Now past noon on Thursday and they still have not diagnosed it.

 

[drotto25]

This is relatively new, and extremely frustrating. There is literally no way to get help with your vehicle besides showing up unannounced at the Service Center. After a Mobile Service where the 12V battery was replaced, my Model S' cabin heater no longer works. The phone system will not let you speak with anyone. The chat service cannot do anything besides add that service to an appointment I already have. Is there a quick fix? Who knows. Can I confirm the agent added the concern to my appointment? Nope. Service note are completely blank.

So for two weeks I'm defrosting the car with a hair dryer in the morning, hoping the agent did what they promised because if not they'll refuse to work on it. Service is absolutely awful.

This is why I called my delivery representative. She got it done fast. She is great.

 

[Gizmotoy]

Dont think it only applies to Tesla ..
I came out to my 2020 GMC Denali on Tuesday. Deader than dead. Had to have it towed in.
Now past noon on Thursday and they still have not diagnosed it.

I mean, even still, as of now that's two days. Tesla is booking 4-6 weeks out here, and the only reason they're looking at it in 3 weeks is because I already had an appointment. And this is for something they broke during a previous appointment.

Tesla isn't the only one bad at this, but they are especially bad at it.

 

[cusetownusa]

Bummer...My neighbor just had a similar issue with both new cars they just leased. Their VW Atlas spent the first 2 months in the shop trying to figure out some electrical issues. Eventually, they ended up buying back the car from them. They also leased a Jeep Wrangler and it spent the first 2 weeks in the shop to fix some sort of issue with the skytop thing. After talking to them about their issues and how frustrated they were I can understand what you are dealing with.

My wifes 2014 Jeep Cherokee had to be brought back to the Dealership about a dozen times for all types of issues. Some of the issues, rattles, and transmission (wouldn't go into the top gear), they basically said live with it. For the rattle they said to just turn up the radio (wtf?) and the transmission issue is apparently a known issue but Jeep hasn't done anything about it. Was very frustrating.

 

[DanCar]

HV controller = high voltage controller.

 

[spokey]

Bummer...My neighbor just had a similar issue with both new cars they just leased. Their VW Atlas spent the first 2 months in the shop trying to figure out some electrical issues. Eventually, they ended up buying back the car from them. They also leased a Jeep Wrangler and it spent the first 2 weeks in the shop to fix some sort of issue with the skytop thing. After talking to them about their issues and how frustrated they were I can understand what you are dealing with.

My wifes 2014 Jeep Cherokee had to be brought back to the Dealership about a dozen times for all types of issues. Some of the issues, rattles, and transmission (wouldn't go into the top gear), they basically said live with it. For the rattle they said to just turn up the radio (wtf?) and the transmission issue is apparently a known issue but Jeep hasn't done anything about it. Was very frustrating.

Nothing really new.

I bought a '78 Chevy Caprice Classic. Factory order. They had a 12 month / 12,000 warranty. I had that car in for warranty service 18 times. I worked with a woman who lived fairly close who bought a Volvo about the same time. Fortunately one of our cars was always working so we did a lot of car pooling.

One of my male coworkers had suggested a couple times that if I wanted to sell the car to let him know. So he and I and a third guy were out to lunch. The third guy got in the back and pulled the armrest to close the door. It indeed closed the inside of the door, but alas the outside of the door stayed open. I turned to Marty (in the front passenger seat) and asked "you want this car"? He said "how much?". I said "$5K". He said "sold". I bought a '79 Datsun 510.

The generator went for the third time shortly after he bought it.

Bad cars be bad cars.

 

[drotto25]

Got the car back after almost 2 weeks. Drove the car for three days. Again getting message that the car may not restart. They replaced the HV controller at 12 volt battery. Thinking this car may be a lemon.

 

[Raechris]

Sorry to hear this. I would bring it right back and demand a similar loaner and send a letter certified under your state lemon law putting them on notice. Most states have three attempts to fix a safety issue or time out of service threshold. They should want cars like this to reverse engineer and give you another. I bet they will swap motors next. HV should have been the issue so now it's a motor or battery fault or a bad sensor tricking the computer.

 

[drotto25]

I called my sales representative again. She did not call me back yesterday. I am going to basically give her three options: another chance to get it fixed, get me a new car, or I am filing a lemon law claim.

Now, I am happy that the service department has taken noticed that I want to speak with humans, and If I send them a message in the Tesla ap. they will generally call me back within 30 minutes. They do notice these things. I will also give them credit, I insisted that they go to my wife's work (it is her primary car) bring her a loaner and take her car. They complied very quickly and did the exchange in about 3 hours. I did not want her stranded at work when she was ready to go home and have her possibly wait several hours during the evening rush for them to provide assistance.

I was also disappointed in other aspects of the service. They had the car for about 12 days. I had asked for them to fix a paint chip that was pointed out at delivery, and to get the rear tailgate to fit better. The paint chip was fixed just be dabbing touch up paint on it badly, and the tailgate was adjusted and looked worse. I had actually already set up another service appointment so these things would be fixed correctly. So again, they were going to get it fixed, so not trying to sound to negative.

Plus a small pet peeve of mine, if you have my car for service that long it should come back clean. Just about every other dealer service center I have ever dealt with does this.

 

[Mitchoacan]

I would file, or threaten, lemon law on that car. Really poor start to ownership and they didn't even fix the problem. You give them way too much slack for doing a piss poor job all around. Just my two cents.

 

[drotto25]

I would file, or threaten, lemon law on that car. Really poor start to ownership and they didn't even fix the problem. You give them way too much slack for doing a piss poor job all around. Just my two cents.

It does not technically meet the NJ requirements yet. For a non safety issue, the car must be out of service for 20 days and/or have had at least two service attempts for the same issue, and the defect must still exist after those requirements are met. So after this attempt to fix, it will meet the requirements, if the problem happens again.