Dropped off car this morning. AND... they gave me a loaner for this work! I looked surprised and they said, yeah since this is something your car should have, it qualifies for a loaner.
(even though my car is out of warranty).
Interesting.
FSD AP computer upgrade from hw2.5 --> hw3 computer, no charge. Given a loaner while the do it.
Keep the pleasant surprises coming, Tesla.
There were a few CT's in the parking lot of the SC, and I jokingly said "I'll take that CT there on loan!" the guy was like, "I wish! those are customer owned cars."
I figure it's time for another update on my story here... (I know you're all dying to know, LOL)
So the TLDR up front:
I won't be pursuing a small claims court suit with Tesla for APHW and/or Infotainment issues. Why? Because they comped me the full upgrade, with FM tuner even.
Long version:
As described in
my post here, after some back and forth over several weeks via the app, and sending images of Tesla's web site in 2017 showing the promise of FSD capability for all cars built then, I was scheduled for a *free* APHW computer upgrade from HW2.5 to HW3.0. It was made clear that this APHW upgrade was not going to include the infotainment+fm tuner upgrade I'd initially asked for, and the manager reiterated that I would NOT get all the visualizations with my FSD.
As reported in
my other post here, I dropped off the car, and they gave me a loaner giving the logic that this was something my car was supposed to have (i.e. Tesla's responsibility - the bar for loaner eligibility outside of warranty these days). Upon drop off, the adviser (who had just met with the manager) reiterated again that I would not get the visualizations with FSD. I said yep, that's fine as long as I can subscribe to FSD. They had the car for about 5 days. All the while, the "estimate" for work still showed the infotainment + tuner upgrade AND the APHW upgrade, AND the $3000 estimated cost. I had the manager on record though (literally recorded the call) explaining that he would give me the APHW upgrade no charge, so I could subscribe to FSD.
As y'all know, we can now track repair progress in the mobile app. As the days went by, items were marked complete in the app.... items that were on the original work order. First thing addressed and marked complete? The FM tuner upgrade. Hmmmm.... maybe they are just showing progress in general and my app is showing these items that they aren't supposed to be doing? Next day, infotainment upgrade - complete. I'm thinking:
Are my hopes rising? Maybe. If this is a mistake I don't want to have to argue with them about undoing the upgrade, which may not be possible. No way I'm paying for this though, so if they messed up either they let me keep it, or I demand they put back the old MCU. Next day: Autopilot computer update complete. Final day: component testing, firmware installation, and final system testing. Notification sent: repairs complete ready for pickup. Huh. Anxiously driving to the SC, wondering what I'm going to find.
I arrived close to closing time. App instructs me to simply leave the loaner and drive my car off the lot and geo fencing would initiate the final billing. I'm not paying anything so not going to do that. I got in my car just to check what was done, and sho-nuf It has a full infotainment upgrade, and AP3.0 computer.
sunnuvagun....
I go inside and one of the last employees is a service adviser behind the desk; not anyone I had worked with up to now. I explain that I'm here to pick up my car, but that I checked it and the work they did wasn't what we had agreed to, and could he please double check the work order?
He pulled it up, and said, "yes, you were supposed to get the infotainment upgrade?" I summarized the story to him. He didn't really seem to follow me, and said something along the lines of "yeah we occasionally get one of the older cars in that have FSD but need the hardware upgrades. You're good to go all paid up!" thinking he meant my CC had been charged, I was like, "uh, no I had not agreed to pay anything" he said, "no there's no charge, it's marked as paid in full zero due. ME: "OK! see ya!" and high tailed it to my car. LOL. I stopped short though, and did a 180 back to that guy (who was then heading out) and asked if I could just get a hard copy print out of the invoice showing what was done, and that it was paid in full $0 due. He was happy to oblige. I got my printout of the work done, with a big red "PAID" box at the top and $0 due at the bottom, and headed home.
I never got a chance to follow up with their manager, who had called me directly the week before and offered the HW upgrade free. I was curious what happened and why this was all comped, but also didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth.
My guess is that they messed up and never corrected the original work order. The techs just did what was on the work order, and when the advisers/manager realized it, they decided to just comp it rather than un-do the work (likely because un-doing it is impossible or very difficult). Just my guess. Another possibility is that Tesla is getting the message and are quietly comping the full upgrade when someone comes asking like I did.
I was purposeful from the start to play a little bit dumb, and be very respectful and polite the whole way. I tried to never imply that they don't know what they don't know (even though it was obvious they didn't know a lot of the background on the MCU and APHW upgrade promises and issues). I never threatened them with going to their resolutions department (though I came close to doing that right before I got the phone call from the manager), nor did I ever mention the possibility of going to small claims court. I simply asked if it might be possible to get the cost of the upgrades waived, since my car was sold with the promise that it had all the hardware necessary for FSD.
Epilogue: several things were not working following the upgrade. The FM Tuner was not showing up in the sources list. Careoke was strangely absent, too. My key fobs would not work except if I placed them in the emergency spot on the windshield above the dash (and yes I replaced the batteries - twice.) Also the charging door would not open when the button on the charging handle (both at home and at a supercharger) was pressed. I had to either use the app to open the charging door, or manually press the door to open it. I ended up making a new service request for all these things. I took it to a different service center though for this. They gave me a loaner and had it all fixed the next day.
Obviously overall I'm thrilled with this outcome. I now have MCU2, APHW3, and the latest firmware - a $3032 upgrade for no cost. (
EDIT - granted I STRONGLY believe that this outcome is what Tesla could and should have done long ago for MCU1 cars with AP2+ cameras). It's almost like a new car. I've signed up for FSD subscription, but am going to cancel because FSD isn't available yet for the latest firmware version.
Not sure if this will be helpful for anyone, since it likely was a mistake, and not a new policy. But you never know. At worst hopefully this was interesting for you to read.
Cheers.