Goodbye all; Good riddance Tesla

[Barry]

It's been an interesting ride, from loving the car at first, to despising what the company has become. The Tesla was my worst car owndership experience in 40+ years of car ownership. From Rivetgate (the old-times will remember that) in winter 2015/16, disabling the car for 4 months, waiting for parts, to 2022, waiting for a replacement air shock for 6 months, again disabling the car.

When I was in the finance office at the BMW dealer, he asked me if I was excited to be getting a new car. I said I was more excited to be done with Tesla. He said it's amazing how many times he's heard that before. Would I ever buy another Tesla? A resounding NO, unless the madman in charge is replaced with someone who cares about the customer experience, after the sale.

Bye all.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Bye. I am stuck in depreciation purgatory with my 2023 Model S, so unfortunately, you won't be seeing me anytime soon.

 

[Sixth]

"When I was in the finance office at the BMW dealer ....."

I would rather watch paint dry than hear "So how much do you want your monthly to be?" or "What would it take for you to drive this off the lot" or "Let me talk to my manager" or "We added ceramic coat to the seats, sorry we cannot remove that option"

I just want the lease incentives from the manufacturer. Walk in and walk out.

 

[jabloomf1230]

It's been an interesting ride, from loving the car at first, to despising what the company has become. The Tesla was my worst car owndership experience in 40+ years of car ownership. From Rivetgate (the old-times will remember that) in winter 2015/16, disabling the car for 4 months, waiting for parts, to 2022, waiting for a replacement air shock for 6 months, again disabling the car.

When I was in the finance office at the BMW dealer, he asked me if I was excited to be getting a new car. I said I was more excited to be done with Tesla. He said it's amazing how many times he's heard that before. Would I ever buy another Tesla?

Either you have never owned a BMW or your memory is short. Even the BMW BEVs are not even close to a comparable Teslal. That's mostly because with BMW, you pay a lot extra for the mystique. The dealers are awful and the service is bottom rung. Have fun. If I knew that you were car shopping, I'd have offered up my overpriced 5 series.

 

[URBAN LEGEND]

If you new car gives you piece of mind then that’s all that matters. Enjoy your BMW.

 

[URBAN LEGEND]

Tesla needs a lot of work on service centers. Letting people down is not good for business.

 

[father_of_6]

Sorry things didn't work out for you. Good luck with the BWM.

 

[IslandHydro]

I have to say I have the same vintage MS, and my experience has not been at all similar. Hope you find something you like better....

 

[holeydonut]

Tesla needs a lot of work on service centers. Letting people down is not good for business.

Let me know your thoughts!

Hypothesis on why Tesla's Service is so poor

So I'm having a terrible time dealing with Tesla Service on a 2023 Model X. The location I'm at is Dublin, CA. The Model X forum doesn't seem to have any recent positive things to say about this place, and the rest of TMC seems to dislike Dublin as well. The service ambassadors (the frontline...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[carnutdallas]

I am new to ownership side of Tesla, but far from new to the automotive world. I love the drive. I love the engineering and the ideas. It is testament to human drive to create a car company that is successful for many reasons. Elon is not the company; thousands of people helped to build, design, market, deliver and support a U.S. automaker. Pretty cool. Elon is a force to be reckoned with and I am his side. But many car companies have decades, if not a century of the “car game.” Tesla has changed huge swaths of many parts of the game. Early adopters bare the scars of the journey for sure.

I appreciate your sacrifice and your reality. For you, the time is over. But I caution, the grass is not always greener. I have worked for manufacturers, dealers and myself. I have seen most of these cars at their best and their worst.

I knew when I bought the Plaid last week, I was replacing a fantastic, nearly perfect car, with one that I knew was faster, smoother, creative and with some serious flaws. We all know them, discuss them and hope for resolve, sooner than later.

I will add this, for me, not my only car. I know better than to just have one. Not easy or realistic for most peeps, but I for one would not put all my chips in one car. All the best.

 

[jebinc]

This isn’t an airport, no need to announce your departure!

 

[dwbv]

Good luck with BMW. I don't think changing brands will change anything when it comes to expensive toys unless you downgraded.

If you want expensive toys then be ready for expensive problems, as well as the headaches that come with them. You should go browse the exotic car forums (lambos, ferraris, mclarens, etc).

 

[Cincy2]

I moved from a Model S to a Mercedes Benz EQS a year ago. The biggest reason was the Tesla Service Center. Never being able to talk to a person, just having to wait for texts. Last month, my EQS started faulting with the car going into a Limp mode that cut off the air conditioning. After six weeks in the shop I asked for a buyback that is still being processed. The point of this post is to mention that the grass is not always greener....I'm driving a new 2023 Plaid now (my third S) and I'm not complaining about the service center any longer.

 

[rlsd]

Many years ago a guy at my workplace told me BMW means Bring Mechanic Weekly.
Four years ago my family members bought an BMW X5. The car had air conditioner failure the next day. It took a week to fix it.
Two months later, the car had AC again. It took another week to fix. And within six months, the car had a third AC problem. BMW bought back and sold a new car to replace.

I told my family members to buy a Tesla. They complained that the Tesla interior was too simple, not fancy like BMW.
They like Tesla autopilot when riding with me. But they are still reluctant to buy a Tesla.

I guess when people have their mind set on something, it's hard for them to change.

 

[lolachampcar]

Bunches of cars between my wife and me since 2013. Sooooo little time dealing with service. It seems most of the cars are good; some are not. If you get a bad one, you are screwed.

I really really really dread when it comes time to replace my or my wife's car with a new one. Sure, the excitement is there because they constantly up their game and the new one is soooo much better than the previous car. On the flip side, it means I have to interface with Tesla business and they still have the SilVal software company mindset where customers are expendable/consumable and basically just a nuisance. It's sad but true and likely not going to change anytime soon given the company's continued growth.

I look at it as 98% love and 2% pain. If I ever get a car that fights back I know I need to bomerang that puppy back to Tesla ASAP as service is simply not an option.

Sorry to loose someone but I get it. I also remember all those times in the BMW "finance" (scam) office having to sit across from someone I would literally pay to avoid followed up by having to hit the dealership several times a year for included service. I put 100k on my last S and spent 5% of the time dealing with the car in comparison to the BMWs. I know myself and my grass is greener problem which is why I dissect the ownership experiences before considering a switch. As crappy as Tesla management is at being human beings, the overall equation still works for me (and they know it which is why they continue to be crappy human beings).

shoutout to jebinc
Customer taking 9R for immediate departure

 

[father_of_6]

As crappy as Tesla management is at being human beings, the overall equation still works for me (and they know it which is why they continue to be crappy human beings).

Well, to be fair they did appoint Tom Zhu as Senior VP... I believe they do recognize their need for improvement.

 

[Barry]

This isn’t an airport, no need to announce your departure!

There's no need to be a moderator wannabe and post a comment like this, either. Not that I need to justify anything to you, but I've been on this forum for 10 years, and the now-defunct forum that was on Tesla's site for longer than that. I made many online friends (and enemies of some of the fanboys, too, in later years), and met a number of them in person. One of them has posted in this thread and others have PMed me.

Re the finance guy, it wasn't a big deal. I wrote a check for the car, so no shenanigans in terms. Yes, he tried to sell me a bunch of crap, such as extended warranties, but I shut him down with, "I'm not interested in anything you're trying to sell me." "Why not?," he asked. "Because they all have a negative expected value." End of discussion.

Time will tell if I made a good move. First impressions from day 1 - the fit and finish is superb, the interior is luxurious, the ride is great, the UI is overly complex and has a steeper learning curve than Tesla's.

 

[Mullermn]

When I was in the finance office at the BMW dealer, he asked me if I was excited to be getting a new car. I said I was more excited to be done with Tesla. He said it's amazing how many times he's heard that before.

How many happy Tesla owners do you think end up in the finance office at a BMW dealership?

 

[Midpack]

Anecdotes are just that. Better to rely on broad evaluations of products and services. We've owned BMW, Audi, Volvo, Subaru, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, BMW, and Audi - had them each of them for 4-7 years - only one with a serious issue was the Volvo (while Ford owned them). Looking forward to owning a Tesla, despite the known ownership risks same as any car.

 

[zoomer0056]

This isn’t an airport

TMC is surely a major hub. I wonder how many members TMC has. Is it comparable to the Tesla forum on Reddit?

EDIT: According to 7 Best Tesla Forums for Owners and Enthusiasts (2023) ,
TMC has 140,000 members whereas the forum on Reddit has 2.1 million!