Good service experience

[SkyDog]

Since people tend to post more when there's something to complain about, I thought I'd post about my first experience with Tesla service, which was pretty good.

I was having problems with my AC, and it would give me the error "VCFRONT_a447 Cabin climate control system requires service". I made an appointment through the app, and the earliest appointment I could get was 3 weeks away. I dropped my car off for it's 10 am appointment, and was given a $100 Uber voucher for each day they would have the car. I checked my app throughout the day and didn't see any activity. Then around 4 pm I could see that something was being done with the car - the hood was open and the drive side door opened and closed many times. While listening to Spotify on my home computer, it stopped playing and indicated that it was now playing in my Tesla.

I got a message through the app at 9 pm saying that service was complete. I took an Uber there the next morning, retrieved my car, and the AC is working better than ever. The car was in good condition when I picked it up - no damage or mess, as others here have experienced.

Basically, I'm happy with my first experience taking the car in for service.
The things I didn't like:

1. The 3 week wait for them to take my car. Fortunately not too much of an inconvenience for this particular problem since I could still use the car, but still, I never had to wait that long for car service with any other car I've owned.
2. The Uber vouchers instead of a loaner. Since they only had my car for 24 hours, that was fine, but if they had to keep the car longer, it could have been a real inconvenience.

I sort of like and dislike the whole contact-less service experience. At drop-off and pick-up, I never spoke to or even saw a Tesla person. Everything was done through the app. It might have been nice to have a service manager explain to me what was wrong with the car, why it broke in a 3 month old car, and what they were doing to fix it. Instead, I all I had was an invoice upon completion, where I could see they replaced the heat pump and 2 line assemblies.

I should also note that Uber is pretty good in my area. I only waited 4 minutes for an Uber to take me home, and 16 minutes for one to take me to Tesla the next morning.

This was at the Princeton/Lawrenceville NJ service center.

 

[notrhj]

I concur.
My model three would not wake up at 1:30 in the morning on a thunderstorm Sunday.
I put a request in on the app for service it said three weeks.
Put a request in for roadside assistance since the car wouldn’t start And received a text back in less than 10 minutes.
It was raging cats and dogs. The car would unlock but the touchscreen was blank and it wouldn’t start. The Tesla tech instructed me to do a scroll wheel reset and nothing changed. Basically the car was asleep and wouldn’t wake up. The tech ran remote diagnostics and determined that the 12 V battery had expired. I didn’t receive any warning messages but the car was sitting idle for at least three days prior. He said the screen was full of them and if the screen was working I would see them.
They were ready to dispatch a tow truck at two in the morning during the thunderstorm. I asked if it could wait till morning and we agreed. I contacted them through the app the next morning and the tow truck was here in about an hour. Couldn’t put the car in tow mode but the driver got it on the back of the flatbed, the car was at Tesla Service in Princeton in 20 minutes. Within an hour via the app a technician told me the car needed a new 12 V battery, I had an estimate that I authorized, since the car is three years old and the batteries are consumable. It was ready within three hours. Took an Uber at my expense to pick it up and all was well.

In June the rear spoiler on the performance model 3 was delaminating. The carbon fiber layers were coming apart and also detaching from the car. Made an appointment in the app, first available two weeks. Mobile ranger picked up the call. Replaced the spoiler under car warranty. Did a great job.
No complaints, just the opposite, compliments.

 

[SkyDog]

I feel I should post this update because I am now less than satisfied.

The AC repair I described above did seem to fix the problem. But then a new(?) problem started with the AC - I can't say if it's really a new problem or if it was there after the 1st repair but I didn't notice because I don't take too many long drives. Anyway, the new problem is that the AC cools the car off nicely at the start of a trip, but it is less and less effective the longer I drive. It always blows cool air, but but after 1/2 hour or so, it can feel pretty warm in the car. For example, I set the AC to auto 72, outside it's 94, at the end of my drive the cabin temp is 90.

I had it serviced again, and it was fixed - I hope - I pick the car up today.

The issues I have with service are

1. that it takes too long to get an appointment - it took about 3 weeks again.
2. I get very little information from anyone about what the problem is.

Both problems with the AC show basically the same parts replaced: the supermanifold, the compressor, a line assembly.
I asked why the same parts needed to be replaced again, the response was "it is recommended that all parts (AC line, manifold, compressor) are changed instead of just one to avoid contaminating the others and causing a larger problem". I asked exactly what the problem was this time and the only response I got was "the compressor".

It would be nice to have a person to talk to, but all I can seem to do is text messages through the app. I don't know if I'd get a good explanation, but I'm wondering why a compressor that was replaced in June started failing 1 month later. For the original problem in June, I was told it was caused by damage to the supermanifold, but I never got an explanation why that was damaged on a brand new car.