Just like many others here, I had a pretty frustrating experience with Tesla roadside assistance and this is the first time in my entire driving experience, I felt so frustrated. But thank God I had AAA.
It's been just 2 months to our model X and had a flat tire. While driving back home with my child, there was some object on the road which I tried hard but couldn't ditch and it hit my car tire and we heard some weird sound so I pulled over into a grocery store's parking lot. And Tesla showed tire pressure dropping fast and it actually went completely flat in just minutes. I contacted roadside through the app as I couldn't find any phone number. I really wish it was possible to contact through phone and quickly get help like we used to with AAA. Anyway after a long time, almost 30 minutes someone texted and said they cannot call me but only allowed to text!! Wow, what a waste of time going back and forth through chat! I explained the issue and they said they are checking the options. Then again after a long gap told me that their mobile team wasn't available then and could only come tomorrow to fix the flat. So what do I do? just leave the car there unattended and that too it's pretty new or tow it home. She first offered to tow it to another city far away and of course no help with uber/lyft anything. So that means just going back and forth from there would be at least $50 each way. I then asked if they could just tow to my house which wasn't that far, only 10 minutes away. My child was pretty frustrated and hungry by then. And then she told me it'll take 40-60 minutes. I asked could they please message prior to coming at least 10 minutes before arrival so I could drop my child at friend's place and then come. So I did Lyft and went home. And then without any notice, I got a call and it was the tow truck person and he said he was already there and wouldn't wait for me even if it took only 10 minutes!! And he said if I need him again, I need to contact Tesla. I contacted Tesla what happened and requested another tow and they refused asking me to pay. Well, it was a no show so it shouldn't be a charge to them anyway or a small fee may be. And then when I tried to complain they texted that my case is closed. This is so frustrating because there's just no way you can call them again or contact them. But since I had AAA, I called them and they also gave me a long estimate but at least in the end, they sent me a link when the driver was assigned which allowed me to exactly see where my driver was and reach in time. And it was a flatbed truck too. And the driver was really good and professional and I got my car home safely just before middle of the night.
Their mobile service was good though and arrived on time and the guy said the flat cannot be repaired as it was a side puncture so I ended up paying $500 approx just for one tire. In the past, I was able to replace all four tires on my previous car with that amount. And they had initially quoted $121 for flat repair if it was repairable. I don't know what to make of this but truly expensive. You buy an expensive car, pay so much money and then don't even get a good customer service. If Tesla had decided not to have a spare tire then either their mobile service should have been a 24 hour/7 days a week service. Not well planned and only option in these cases is to tow the car.
In the end, my suggestion is to always keep AAA membership, they have never failed me. I wish Tesla's came with a spare and we didn't had to deal with all the nuisance and frustration of being stranded.
It's been just 2 months to our model X and had a flat tire. While driving back home with my child, there was some object on the road which I tried hard but couldn't ditch and it hit my car tire and we heard some weird sound so I pulled over into a grocery store's parking lot. And Tesla showed tire pressure dropping fast and it actually went completely flat in just minutes. I contacted roadside through the app as I couldn't find any phone number. I really wish it was possible to contact through phone and quickly get help like we used to with AAA. Anyway after a long time, almost 30 minutes someone texted and said they cannot call me but only allowed to text!! Wow, what a waste of time going back and forth through chat! I explained the issue and they said they are checking the options. Then again after a long gap told me that their mobile team wasn't available then and could only come tomorrow to fix the flat. So what do I do? just leave the car there unattended and that too it's pretty new or tow it home. She first offered to tow it to another city far away and of course no help with uber/lyft anything. So that means just going back and forth from there would be at least $50 each way. I then asked if they could just tow to my house which wasn't that far, only 10 minutes away. My child was pretty frustrated and hungry by then. And then she told me it'll take 40-60 minutes. I asked could they please message prior to coming at least 10 minutes before arrival so I could drop my child at friend's place and then come. So I did Lyft and went home. And then without any notice, I got a call and it was the tow truck person and he said he was already there and wouldn't wait for me even if it took only 10 minutes!! And he said if I need him again, I need to contact Tesla. I contacted Tesla what happened and requested another tow and they refused asking me to pay. Well, it was a no show so it shouldn't be a charge to them anyway or a small fee may be. And then when I tried to complain they texted that my case is closed. This is so frustrating because there's just no way you can call them again or contact them. But since I had AAA, I called them and they also gave me a long estimate but at least in the end, they sent me a link when the driver was assigned which allowed me to exactly see where my driver was and reach in time. And it was a flatbed truck too. And the driver was really good and professional and I got my car home safely just before middle of the night.
Their mobile service was good though and arrived on time and the guy said the flat cannot be repaired as it was a side puncture so I ended up paying $500 approx just for one tire. In the past, I was able to replace all four tires on my previous car with that amount. And they had initially quoted $121 for flat repair if it was repairable. I don't know what to make of this but truly expensive. You buy an expensive car, pay so much money and then don't even get a good customer service. If Tesla had decided not to have a spare tire then either their mobile service should have been a 24 hour/7 days a week service. Not well planned and only option in these cases is to tow the car.
In the end, my suggestion is to always keep AAA membership, they have never failed me. I wish Tesla's came with a spare and we didn't had to deal with all the nuisance and frustration of being stranded.
