Given lackluster service would you still buy a Tesla?

[Big Toys]

But that is also because I am fine with just scheduling through the app. If you are one that absolutely has to be able to call and talk to a human, you will be disappointed.

Unfortunately, there can be times when the app is insufficient to describe a problem, or to resolve an issue that human interaction and audible language can solve in a matter of minutes. Need a Saturday appointment? Sorry, not for app users.

 

[P85DBeast]

By the negative title to the thread, he's overly influenced by TSLAQ

BTW getting body work done, sucks on all vehicles.

Two good examples:
My daughter's Subaru was basically undrivable for nearly two months waiting for parts after a minor fender-bender. The parts were backordered from overseas.

We lost use of the Honda Accord ( the car before the Tesla) for a month after a truck backed into it at low speed.

Basically, dealing with body shops is the pits.

Dealing with body shops is a headache, however, I've had cars repaired before and none of them have taken as long as it takes to have a Tesla repaired. I've heard that there are people who were without their vehicle for 6-8 months. That's unbearable.

I also heard that the repair process is improving so there's that.

Overall it depends on the availability of parts. Some could take 3 weeks some could take 10 weeks it all depends.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

Unfortunately, there can be times when the app is insufficient to describe a problem, or to resolve an issue that human interaction and audible language can solve in a matter of minutes. Need a Saturday appointment? Sorry, not for app users.

I've found that making an appointment through the application and providing as much solid information as possible, is the first step in the process.
Again my experience from 3 body repair issues, but I'd generally get a text within a couple of days from the Marietta (GA) Service Center if they need more information or have concerns about it.

The front end damage (see a prior post) was done in Chicago at Thanksgiving, and I was able to use this technique to have the temporary repairs inspected so we'd be safe driving back to Atlanta. I booked a repair for the first available date at a local Service Center (after we were planning to leave), then when they contacted me, I asked if they'd squeeze me in immediately for an inspection, which they did.

Our third issue BTW is going to need a body shop, which we are not looking forward to, because we'll lose the car for a couple of weeks.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

Dealing with body shops is a headache, however, I've had cars repaired before and none of them have taken as long as it takes to have a Tesla repaired. I've heard that there are people who were without their vehicle for 6-8 months. That's unbearable.

I also heard that the repair process is improving so there's that.

Overall it depends on the availability of parts. Some could take 3 weeks some could take 10 weeks it all depends.

Always remember that data is not the plural of anecdote, especially on the internet.

 

[sd_tom]

Need a Saturday appointment? Sorry, not for app users

i just had a Saturday appt that i scheduled thru app?

i imagine people's experiences vary a lot by location though. san diego has tons of teslas, and have opened 3 service centers. I've bought my used S in October a few months ago.. and so far service has been ok, not perfect but adequate. this includes:

- on day of puchase, the delivery center didnt have right adapter i needed for the 220 in garage.. so dropped by the service center on my way home, 2 min before closed and got one no problem

- after having the car about a month, started getting 12v battery alert. scheduled mobile appt but it let me pick veterans day.. im guessing they were actually closed. i didn't get cancellation nor did they show up. this left an appt stuck in my app and i couldn't schedule another one. however, the 12v alert cleared that day so just kept driving.

- 2 weeks later the 12v alert came back, i just drive over there since the app is not letting me do anything. the service center clears my app up, sets new appt for a week later but says to come by the next day and they can prob just squeeze me in. i do and they did.

- during December (so 2 months of ownership) i realize through some help here that one of my headlights is always making a high pitched whine. during Christmas i booked a sat appt on phone for this past weekend. also had them fix a door handle light that has always been out. they did both those things as well as they said my other headlight was also making noises so both headlights replaced.. and back in my hands by end of day.

so, for the moment car is at 100% using a combination of app and in person drop bys (this service center is near my office so convenient). i could imagine though if there was no service center nearby, or just 1 that was just oversaturated (the one im using is still busy, booked out 2 weeks usually.. but seems to be running efficiently) then this could of been a much bigger pain in the ass. and, ive only used the one service center, which is the oldest one in town.. the other two are newer and not sure how it goes.

so, yes i would still buy one but because of being in a tesla saturated market well supported by tesla. i would not if that weren't the case.

 

[cduzz]

Got a purchase brewing on a model S p90dl. My brother is telling me to absolutely not buy it as any issue with the car will take forever. I have read some horror stories... what say you?

So I was in your shoes to a certain extent 6 months ago -- I hemmed and hawed and iffed and thened for a couple months before getting drunk and deciding to buy a used S. (I also got my wife drunk; that helped).

So I got a used early 2016 S90D with 45k miles. The used car buying process is itself ... tiresome; I intentionally bought a car in the same state as me and it still took 2 weeks for it to arrive. I got it and plugged it into the supercharger while it was still tesla's and observed that it charged and charged to a reasonable number prior to giving them my money. I then gave them my money. More money for a vehicle than I ever thought I'd ever give anyone for anything.

Then I took it off the lot and immediately the low tire pressure warning light came on. I turned around and they agreed there was an issue and gave me an "due bill" for fixing it later. I drove around for a couple days with a deflating tire until they fixed it (new tire new wheel).

A week later, I got rear-ended. The CRV was seriously munched and my car needed an 8 inch tall by 4 inch wide dent in the rear fixed and a new rear bumper and several other things. So -- their insurance paid for it but it was $10k and about 3 weeks in the shop. They were able to get the rear bumper without issues it just took a while for their sculptor to pull out and polish the car's rump. Try to avoid getting hit...

Fast forward 5 months and I noticed that my front vent louvers weren't closing; I opened the app and made an appointment and was slightly miffed that they didn't have any open slots for 2 weeks; I waited those 2 weeks and they took my car and fixed the louvers (would have been about $300 per side but car's still under warranty); while they had the car they decided to replace the driver's side airbag and cracked the windshield while doing this. So .. now I've got another appointment to replace the windscreen. In the meantime one of my door handles has stopped working, so I'll just bundle that repair in while I'm getting a new windscreen.

So -- in general I'm slightly put-off by the "use the app to make an appointment" process but it seems to work. I've never needed to get a loaner while getting my car repaired and would throw an absolute tantrum if they expect me to drop the car off and take an uber home.

My wife's car, an audi Q5 hybrid, has been in the shop for almost a month while they're waiting for a part of the hybrid system. I got a loaner and so we are not spending a month trying to get by without a car. When we were dropping it off there was no indication that the car would need this part which apparently is made by a single retired gnome in the black forest, but we would be in deep inconvenience if we had to go without the car we've paid for for this entire time.

But for tesla, depending on if you can get a loaner I would say that the service is good enough.

Lastly -- I live in the boston metro area -- there are 2 tesla service centers in a 10 mile circle around where I live. If you live in the yukon or maritime provinces or some other desolate wasteland like michigan, I'd be more cautious about tesla because I wouldn't be happy about driving for a couple hours to get a car fixed. That turns even simple things like "my 12v battery is now a 10v battery" into a $300 towing job.

 

[Chaserr]

I wouldn't have bought my Tesla if the company was like this years ago. I want to replace my Tesla now, but won't until I can get a car this good from a reputable company. I don't care if it's Tesla or Porsche or whoever; I just want a car that has a company capable of customer servic eand communication, doesn't downgrade my car years after purchase, and I don't want to go back to gas. Right now I'm probably not getting a Tesla but they changed once they can change back again.

 

[SO16]

So I was in your shoes to a certain extent 6 months ago -- I hemmed and hawed and iffed and thened for a couple months before getting drunk and deciding to buy a used S. (I also got my wife drunk; that helped).

So I got a used early 2016 S90D with 45k miles. The used car buying process is itself ... tiresome; I intentionally bought a car in the same state as me and it still took 2 weeks for it to arrive. I got it and plugged it into the supercharger while it was still tesla's and observed that it charged and charged to a reasonable number prior to giving them my money. I then gave them my money. More money for a vehicle than I ever thought I'd ever give anyone for anything.

Then I took it off the lot and immediately the low tire pressure warning light came on. I turned around and they agreed there was an issue and gave me an "due bill" for fixing it later. I drove around for a couple days with a deflating tire until they fixed it (new tire new wheel).

A week later, I got rear-ended. The CRV was seriously munched and my car needed an 8 inch tall by 4 inch wide dent in the rear fixed and a new rear bumper and several other things. So -- their insurance paid for it but it was $10k and about 3 weeks in the shop. They were able to get the rear bumper without issues it just took a while for their sculptor to pull out and polish the car's rump. Try to avoid getting hit...

Fast forward 5 months and I noticed that my front vent louvers weren't closing; I opened the app and made an appointment and was slightly miffed that they didn't have any open slots for 2 weeks; I waited those 2 weeks and they took my car and fixed the louvers (would have been about $300 per side but car's still under warranty); while they had the car they decided to replace the driver's side airbag and cracked the windshield while doing this. So .. now I've got another appointment to replace the windscreen. In the meantime one of my door handles has stopped working, so I'll just bundle that repair in while I'm getting a new windscreen.

So -- in general I'm slightly put-off by the "use the app to make an appointment" process but it seems to work. I've never needed to get a loaner while getting my car repaired and would throw an absolute tantrum if they expect me to drop the car off and take an uber home.

My wife's car, an audi Q5 hybrid, has been in the shop for almost a month while they're waiting for a part of the hybrid system. I got a loaner and so we are not spending a month trying to get by without a car. When we were dropping it off there was no indication that the car would need this part which apparently is made by a single retired gnome in the black forest, but we would be in deep inconvenience if we had to go without the car we've paid for for this entire time.

But for tesla, depending on if you can get a loaner I would say that the service is good enough.

Lastly -- I live in the boston metro area -- there are 2 tesla service centers in a 10 mile circle around where I live. If you live in the yukon or maritime provinces or some other desolate wasteland like michigan, I'd be more cautious about tesla because I wouldn't be happy about driving for a couple hours to get a car fixed. That turns even simple things like "my 12v battery is now a 10v battery" into a $300 towing job.

I live in Michigan and am 3 hours away from an out of state service center. Fortunately mobile service does still come to my house and I did have a 12v battery replacement done 2 years ago. So far, haven’t had to be towed for anything nor driven out of state for service. I will take it in for service before my warranty expires this summer for a once over. So yes, there is a possibility of a major pain to transport it but I’m glad I didn’t let that fear prevent me from buying a Tesla. It’s been a great 3 years and 44k miles so far.

 

[Big Toys]

The app is fine, as long as you don't need service center attention on a timely basis.