Getting hard to make service appointments...

[tls]

My car's had some odd symptoms the past month or so. Finally the reason became clear yesterday when it flashed a low coolant warning on the IC.

The warning went away but I've seen this before - one of my radiators had a slow leak at one of the seams and after a couple of weeks of low coolant warnings the SC told me to ignore, eventually the seam let go and coolant everywhere. Car on flatbed.

I'm guessing the other rad (they only replaced one) is now showing the same problem. So it seems...urgent-ish?

My options for booking a service appointment these days seem to be "use website, accept whatever weeks-away appointment they're willing to offer", or " wait on hold 30+ minutes for call center to offer an appointment weeks away". SC itself says only the call center can now make appointments by phone.

This seems stupid and shortsighted. They'd really rather pay for my car to be flatbedded 65 miles, like last time? Sigh.

 

[escape2mtns]

How do you schedule service appointments on the website? The only option I have is to submit a support "request".

 

[wdolson]

It's the end of the quarter, the service centers have been busy with pre-delivery checks and they will be busy with post-delivery fixes after the 1st. One of my biggest concerns about Tesla lately is, at least in the US, they have at least doubled the fleet on the road if not tripled it this year and the facility network has not expanded. They did expand the ranger services, but rangers can't do everything.

 

[Skipdd]

My car's had some odd symptoms the past month or so. Finally the reason became clear yesterday when it flashed a low coolant warning on the IC.

The warning went away but I've seen this before - one of my radiators had a slow leak at one of the seams and after a couple of weeks of low coolant warnings the SC told me to ignore, eventually the seam let go and coolant everywhere. Car on flatbed.

I'm guessing the other rad (they only replaced one) is now showing the same problem. So it seems...urgent-ish?

My options for booking a service appointment these days seem to be "use website, accept whatever weeks-away appointment they're willing to offer", or " wait on hold 30+ minutes for call center to offer an appointment weeks away". SC itself says only the call center can now make appointments by phone.

This seems stupid and shortsighted. They'd really rather pay for my car to be flatbedded 65 miles, like last time? Sigh.

Agree it doesnt make sense to have service so far out. There used to be a way to go through the call tree and get to the SC. If you tried that and asked to speak with the Service Manager, maybe they could override the central call desk and take you sooner.

 

[gearchruncher]

I stopped by my local service center last week because the driver door on my Model X wouldn't open. At all. Had to climb out the passenger door. Drove a different car that day.

They offered me service 10 days later. After roadside assistance had offered to have it towed to them.

Said no thanks and dropped off the next day. They fixed the door latch, but dented the door (from the inside, outwards!) and scratched the paint. No idea when they'll have time to fix that...

 

[tls]

The 30-60 minute hold times to book through the call center are particularly offensive. But, seriously, you brought a car in with a door that wouldn't open and they tried to put you off 10 days?

 

[gearchruncher]

The 30-60 minute hold times to book through the call center are particularly offensive. But, seriously, you brought a car in with a door that wouldn't open and they tried to put you off 10 days?

Yep.
It got even dumber: When I told them I was dropping it off the next day no matter what, the guy said "fine" and made an appointment. He said "Please drop it off before 9am, but the appointment reminder will say 10:30am because that's the first one we have open tomorrow."

He stood there, full well knowing that the driver's side door wouldn't open at all after 30 minutes of troubleshooting with roadside assistance (they sent the logs in, it was clearly broken in hardware), and still told me "the first appointment we have is 10 days from now" when they had an opening the next day.

It's real busy here in Seattle, but they need to leave some time in the schedules for completely broken cars.

 

[mike25]

Yep.
It got even dumber: When I told them I was dropping it off the next day no matter what, the guy said "fine" and made an appointment. He said "Please drop it off before 9am, but the appointment reminder will say 10:30am because that's the first one we have open tomorrow."

He stood there, full well knowing that the driver's side door wouldn't open at all after 30 minutes of troubleshooting with roadside assistance (they sent the logs in, it was clearly broken in hardware), and still told me "the first appointment we have is 10 days from now" when they had an opening the next day.

It's real busy here in Seattle, but they need to leave some time in the schedules for completely broken cars.

Did you go to the Seattle or Bellevue SC? I am waiting for a sensor replacement and was pretty much told that the part will only arrive after Sept 30th and that was two weeks ago.

 

[mbhforum]

I had a trunk and rear passenger door that wouldn’t open and had to wait 7 days for an appointment with a loaner available. Completely unacceptable considering they get rentals from Enterprise and Hertz. In the end, it’s also a capacity issue too as even after I brought it in for the appointment, it took 3 days for them to even begin working on my car. They also scratched my car while in service and now are reimbursing me to fix. What a mess. I am supposed to get a check in the mail in 1-2 weeks.

 

[gearchruncher]

Did you go to the Seattle or Bellevue SC? I am waiting for a sensor replacement and was pretty much told that the part will only arrive after Sept 30th and that was two weeks ago.

Seattle SODO

 

[KArnold]

Here in Ohio you can Email the local SC and make an appointment. They have always responded in a couple of hours. Beats being on hold.

 

[ucmndd]

Highly service center dependent but I also have great luck with email. They always get right back to me. Last communication was as recently as last week, so I haven't noticed any recent degradation.

 

[Lasttoy]

Web site is impossible. I was on the phone for hour yesterday, both with Help Desk and local SC. None could get web site to schedule service apt. And phone system kept routing me to Orlando , 93 miles away and different area code, not Jacksonville, 40 miles away, same area code. I hate new system, i cant call my local shop direct.

 

[tls]

They can't have it both ways - if they're going to let service degrade to this level they should have a training and certification program for local mechanics. Then you'd actually have a "local shop" option...

 

[Buster1]

Yea, they need to step up their maintenance staff here in Vegas as well. We can easily make appointments here, but they’re usually a week or 2 out. Then after drop off, the car sits for 3-4 days before being seen. I’ve spoken to the SC manager here and he’s well aware of the issue and very polite. BL: they need some serious help in the maintenance dept.

 

[bob_p]

Since purchasing our first S in early 2013, we've seen this periodically as Tesla hits the capacity limit of the Service Center and staff, before they are able to expand their capacity.

With the rapid increase in the number of Model 3's being delivered - wouldn't be surprised to see short term issues with Service Centers, until they can add more local capacity - most likely with mobile technicians, instead of relying completely on using the Service Centers for all appointments. And, it should be easier for Tesla to quickly increase the number of mobile technicians than expanding or adding Service Centers.

 

[wdolson]

The problem with mobile service is they can't do mobile service with anything that requires the car going on a lift or something that requires a lot of equipment (like air conditioner service). With just the sorts of things that have to be done at a service center, they're getting topped out and the existing service centers can't physically cram in more cars.

The Portland service center moved into a new location about 18 months ago. It was massively larger than the old place, but it maxxed out before the end of last year. Last time I was there the inside service area was packed as tight as possible with the parking lot 100% full.

 

[escape2mtns]

8:45 am on Friday morning (today) I called Tesla's support number and was immediately routed to the local Atlanta Marietta service center. They picked up after 2 rings. The Tesla rep who answered had me scheduled for a 4 year service on the next business day (Monday).

Maybe service center delays are regional?

 

[gavine]

Maybe service center delays are regional?

Definitely. I have heard that some centers are much better than others. I guess it depends on the manager and generally how busy they are.

 

[tls]

This seems stupid and shortsighted. They'd really rather pay for my car to be flatbedded 65 miles, like last time? Sigh.

Update: I called and reminded them politely but forcefully that having the car come in on a flatbed was the worst option for everyone (doesn't look good to people shopping in the adjacent showroom either!) and they said "come in now". Which means dragging a sick kid along with me, but... we'll see.

...and it's getting worse, not better. Got thru to my local SvC, which has always been very responsive when they can, by phone 3 times now, and each time they've expressed concern and said they'd have a tech pull my logs and call me back to discuss whether I should bring the car in right away.

Needless to say, 0 calls back. Am I drowning in a swarm of Model 3s? This is clearly going to end with my car on a flatbed at best, and that's just an utterly pointless nuisance for me and for them. Meanwhile, some Tesla sales guy is calling and emailing me trying to get me to trade up to a new inventory car (FSVO "up" -- he's so clueless his first try was for a 75D to replace my 85D); their service organization is basically pounding the nails into any interest on my part in another Tesla right now.

I have a 3 reservation too; we've been avoiding pulling the trigger since our number came up months ago, mostly because of uncertainty about Tesla's future and periodic signs of chaos in the service organization. No interest in a small, practical car that's unreliable and can't be fixed! Every time I've thought things were getting better...they get worse again. It makes me sad.