Gent Scents Airfreshener vs Vegan Leather

[Timmay]

I decided to go for the gent scents air freshener a few months ago(damn clever advertising). I thought they smelled and looked great in the car until one sunny 77 degree day when the Pine& Fir dripped off the wood block onto my seat. I was pissed to find the seat all bubbled up and ruined.
So I emailed Gent Scents and they said they would reimburse up to a small amount of dollars to fix it. I called a few shops around and it seems like a cheap repair but there are two problems:
1 No one can match the Tesla leather.
2 No one has worked on Tesla seats.
So I called the service center and recieved a quote to replace the bottom cover on the passenger seat for about $500. But before i could get that approved I recieved an email from the service center saying that the bottom of the seat is not serviceable due to the sensors and such. They hen quoted me $2300 for a brand new passenger seat. I'm at a loss on what to do here. Has anyone had the leather repaired on the front seats?
He attached images are what it looked like day of the drippage and current. It has went down a lot but is still noticable.

 

[Octo]

Huh what kind of caustic chemicals are in that freshener?

I don’t understand the service center reply. So how does Katzkin do this with their Model 3 leather? I just bought their real leather (not vegan vinyl like the original Tesla seats) for my Model 3 and their installer can work with the sensors and heaters.

 

[Bill Foster]

Huh what kind of caustic chemicals are in that freshener?

I don’t understand the service center reply. So how does Katzkin do this with their Model 3 leather? I just bought their real leather (not vegan vinyl like the original Tesla seats) for my Model 3 and their installer can work with the sensors and heaters.

Katzkin is aftermarket. Less liability then OEM I’d assume.

I’d talk to an interior repair person that services dealerships.

And it’s things like this that prevent me from using smell good products

 

[Octo]

It’s probably less about liability and more about the service center not equipped to reupholster a seat. Much easier to tell the customer to fork over $2300 for a new seat.

 

[Timmay]

Good to know it is possible. I'm confused with the service center reply too. I'm trying to find a place in Co. Springs like Katzkin that could put an OEM seat cover on but not having any luck.

 

[Bill Foster]

It’s probably less about liability and more about the service center not equipped to reupholster a seat. Much easier to tell the customer to fork over $2300 for a new seat.

Reupholstering seats is incredibly easy. They come as covers that just have to be attached, usually with hog rings and plastic clips

 

[Octo]

Reupholstering seats is incredibly easy. They come as covers that just have to be attached, usually with hog rings and plastic clips

Then it’s even more disappointing that a service center can’t just swap the vegan “leather”. And I don’t buy the explanation that there’s apparently some magic voodoo that only the seat factory can perform to prevent the seat from exploding or burning to a crisp or whatever liability there may be when swapping a cover, a task that is so simple !

 

[Bill Foster]

Then it’s even more disappointing that a service center can’t just swap the vegan “leather”. And I don’t buy the explanation that there’s apparently some magic voodoo that only the seat factory can perform to prevent the seat from exploding or burning to a crisp or whatever liability there may be when swapping a cover, a task that is so simple !

Tesla might not make it available separate. Who knows.

 

[TT97]

Tsportsline does a lot of seat upgrades (which requires removing the original "leather"). Possibly, their local installer could swap out the damaged "leather" with one they took from another 3.