How do you deal with a service center that just keeps making things worse..

[lxtreeml]

To start.. I'm a technician myself, in a service department at a dealership. I understand that some repairs have accidental damage, and I also don't expect a perfect visit, I mean it's like going to a dentist and telling them you enjoyed your teeth being pulled.

What I do expect is when I bring up issues, for them to document them, and at least address them as professionally as they can. I had windshield damage from a hose nozzle being dropped on my windshield while they were leak testing my trunk(this was first visit) and the was the reason for my second visit, on top of many paint issues and damage caused by a fender adjustment at first visit.

They replaced my windshield which I am happy about, however they scratched the hell out of my fenders with a dirty fender cover where I had no paint issues prior, and where they "fixed" my paint they did spot touch up and rubbed circles so many times I have huge hazey patches all over the car, the interior is full of greasy hand prints near the windshield and I am actually scared to look any closer in fear of what I might discover.. at this point I don't think my survey to tesla has done much, and you can't even speak to a person when calling the service center.

I didn't even notice until the day before going back the second time, but my side skirts were literally hanging from the ends and the center wasn't even clipped to the body from the first visit! How do you guys typically go about dealing with issues like this?

It's frustrating because at my dealer we go out of our way to make things right.. hell Subaru was paying for whole parts of the car to be repainted due to soft paint, whereas I had actual debris solidify in the paint and clearcoat and break loose during delivery buffing, and all they did was a half ass touch up job that even a non body shop tech could spot from 20ft away.

I think every time I go, they are gonna do some more damage that I just can't deal with constantly going back for them to keep messing things up. I see some people are shelling cash out of pocket to go elsewhere for repairs to simply avoid the hassle altogether.. but there has to be a better way?

Sorry about ranting I just feel like nobody understands the frustration quite like another tesla owner I guess. My service center is the henrietta center near rochester.. in case anyone else has had any other issues or dealt with them. I swear the first visit not even the same techs were working by the second visit.. which doesn't look good plus the center seems small and under equipped to handle the repairs(and it's pretty dingy inside also, for a tesla facility one would expect more).

I know the growing pains tesla is going through are causing most of these issues(lack of service network, and quality control for large boosts in production) but they should be hopefully using some of all that capital they seem to have recently gathered to correct these much needed areas.

(moderator note: added some spacing to OPs text to improve readability. No other changes made)

 

[MarsOrBust]

WOW!

That is horrible. My local SC is just the opposite of that thank goodness. When car was delivered I must of been the biggest pain in the ass they ever had. I had a checklist of things to look for and I found them. Took a few days before I accepted the car. I have taken the car back for tire change and a 12 volt battery replacement but found nothing wrong with the car at all after.

Would not know ow to handle your situation but I would also be upset.

 

[Perscitus]

I don't know whats worse, the endless wall of words... or the SC experience.

Sadly, the SC experience is a fairly common issue the brand has not been able to resolve since at least late 2017.
And it has only gotten progressively worse as more of 3s and Ys have started to fill the streets and flood SCs with everything from service, part replacements to full on body work.

Many threads and posts on this around here and beyond.

Perhaps try a different SC, even if 300 miles away. Resolve the issues on your own dime or live with them. And if all else fails, move on and never look back.

 

[lxtreeml]

Yea sorry about the typing.. I was on a roll haha!

Moderator cleared it up and wow, even I can read it better and feel it's more expressive lmao.

Either way, I'm trying my best to want to work with Tesla here but something tells me this SC is just terrible as far as quality of work goes. I know many technicians up in that area and there's so many bad techs jumping from dealer to dealer I'm sure some ended up at tesla.. especially if they can't keep up. Sometimes it's just a mistake and things happen.. but I manage a whole team of techs and this is unacceptable for a 20-30k car, let alone a 50k car with a luxury tier of vehicles. I want tesla to succeed as a brand.. I have even reached out to a tesla employee I know and offered to help with quality control in any way I can, even if it mean working for them part time lol, and was told I need an electrical or computer engineering degree before they would even look at me. Something tells me if the people they have working do have degrees they aren't doing anything to actually help with the problems and those degrees mean nothing. Sounds like they need some old fashioned elbow grease and someone to yell at people about letting *sugar* pass through QC and focus on customer service.

My stepfather has a body shop and looks like I'm literally going to be doing warranty repairs on my own brand new vehicle with no reimbursement from tesla.. what a disappointment. After the repair I'm plasti dipping it for a winter protection. I will cheer tesla on about what they are good at, but I'm not holding back anymore about their fit and finish, paint and service network.. sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease I guess and it just ain't squeaked enough.

 

[Srad600Volt]

My way of dealing right now is IF I can fix the issue myself, I will. If I can't and I'm willing to live with it (in order to avoid going back), I will. If neither of those apply, I try to make a mobile appointment. Last, absolutely last resort, is to take it back to the SC.

I recently took my car to the local SC to fix two items: Rashed wheel (delivery issue) and missing paint on decklid (delivery issue). They had my car for almost two weeks and fixed both, but:

1. I got the car back filthy (not just dirty...I mean filthy). After washing it, I can see there's actual dirt in the clear coat where they re-painted the car. Tried to clay bar it out, nope fully clear coated over.
2. They gave it back to me without fully re-assembling it. The tail lights were loose, one so loose it was rattling around. They left two body panel fasteners (who knows where they go) rolling around the passenger footwell.
3. The left two gouges in the paint on the hood (filled with touch up paint of course).
4. They removed the rear badge to paint, but neglected to put on a new one once finished.

I ended up washing and detailing the car as best I could.
I disassembled the trunk and tightened the tail lights myself.
Luckily I was planning on replacing the badges anyway, so I had new one's on hand. I replaced those.

The paint gouges I'm going to ignore, because that would mean another two weeks in the paint shop.
I made a mobile appointment for a tech to come out and figure out where the two fasteners go, and put them in place (if I could figure it out I'd do it myself and call it good).

This has been by far the worst ownership experience I've ever had with any car I've ever owned...by a lot! Not the car itself, which I really like, but the buying experience, the post ownership experience with service...bad bad bad. Which is sad because it takes away from an otherwise great car.

 

[bpobill]

I think you need to man up and get them to make it right. Keep going at it until they fix every single issue. Make a list of every single issue, print it, and give it to them when you hand them the car. Ask for a loaner.

 

[Srad600Volt]

I think you need to man up and get them to make it right. Keep going at it until they fix every single issue. Make a list of every single issue, print it, and give it to them when you hand them the car. Ask for a loaner.

I agree in principle, but to be honest, I feel as if it’s a waste of time. I’ve found very few people (as in one, really) who seemed genuinely interested in providing customer service after I wrote the down payment check.

 

[robl45]

I hate my service center to the point that I will drive to the one further away if I need to go back. I hate stealership service centers in general, but these guys are just ridiculous. I've had better service at normal basic dealerships. They told me that the blue washer fluid getting all over my car was normal and I should maybe try some clear fluid. That's when I basically rolled my eyes and gave up and that was the first visit. They touched up paint on my bumper and managed to get it on the PPF. We can debate all day which I won't, but I shouldn't have to suck it up because they used crappy paint on these cars.They adjusted my hood to make it a bit better, I can see other peoples just in photos on here that are worse than mine and it still isn't great. I had to pay 214 to replace the cloth under the car that other people got replaced for free so yeaI"m like done with tesla service.