I need to vent. I want to love this car, but I can't anymore.

[ilikemypizza]

The short story is.. I'm just not happy with the car and the money I spent for me to be told things are "within spec" and for me to have to try and fix things myself. I'm not happy that I can't talk to a human. I'm just ready to sell this car at a loss unless I can find someone or somewhere who will fix my car, and fix it right.

The long(er) story:

I've been contemplating purchasing a Tesla for a few years now. A friend had a Model S and now a Model 3, and another just bought an MY. To be completely honest, I wasn't aware of any of the build or quality issues until after I placed my order and found reddit and these forums. I shrugged it off because I thought that was all in the past.

I originally had my delivery experience here, but I'm leaving it out. TLDR is I had to switch from pickup (was a 6 hour drive one way.. I am in Buffalo, and Mt Kisco was the closest delivery center) to carrier direct because the due date of my first child lined up with the delivery date of the car and my wife was going to kill me. Communication was horrible and it took forever to get that straightened out.. that was the gist of it.

Right from the start, I notice some minor door alignment/trim and trunk alignment issues. I set up a service appointment for the nearest SC which is an hour and a half away in Rochester, NY. They fixed the door but forgot to look at the trunk. When I asked about it, the guy pretended to look and responded with "It's with spec". At that point, I gave up hope with this Service Center if that was how they were going to be.

So, I tried contacting two local body shops I've used in the past with my other vehicles but neither of them wanted to touch the car since it was a Tesla. At that point, I figured I would just DIY because who doesn't DIY on your new 50k car, right?

Well, this is where I should have just stopped and left well enough alone. As I am adjusting my trunk, I ended up breaking the rear windshield glass because my socket stayed on the hinge bolt and came off my ratchet and I didn't realize. So, that is on me 100% which was a hard lesson learned.

To add icing to the cake, I've also recently noticed my passenger door was miss-stamped (I guess the robot was drunk as many others have this same problem on their car to varying degrees).

I did find a local certified body shop who will be replacing the windshield. I mentioned my trunk and also my passenger door, but the conversation I had with them didn't seem promising. Again, I got the feeling that they don't want to touch it.

I am willing to pay someone who is capable of doing good work and fixing these issues once and for all but I can't find anyone or anywhere who can do it. While I could schedule a service appointment with the SC again, I don't want them to waste my time as I have a good idea of how that will turn out.

I will pay for a new, correctly stamped door and a new trunk if I have too, I don't care. Please, if you know of any good/reliable service centers on the east coast, or a body shop who can fix these issues for me please let me know. Otherwise, I'm going to just sell this car and take a loss on it once I get the rear-windshield replaced. If its this hard to get someone to look at the car, I can only imagine how things will be when I have a major issue which is another reason to sell the car.

I'm losing all faith and hope. I've only put 1800 miles on this car and its not even two months old yet. I just needed to vent because I'm frustrated.

 

[Charliek]

sorry to hear about your situation ive been lucky to have had a near perfect MS since 2017. all service centers at are not created equal . here in northern VA ours are quite good! and very responsive. in your app they now say you can do frame and body work directly through tesla ( the notice was in the notifications section of the ap ) . check where the app sends you to and maybe check around. and or pick another tesla S/C it might give you options. the ap messaging is also the best way to discuss things with tesla. it took me a little while to get used to that but it does work . but since tesla now offers body work I would go with them over a regular body shop as teslas are still unique. it is like getting a car from a foreign country that isn't normally imported or something like that . it is amazing to me with the battery factory in buffalo they wouldn't have a S/C there.. I used to live in buffalo, you might want to try S/C 's in pittsburg or south .

 

[ilikemypizza]

sorry to hear about your situation ive been lucky to have had a near perfect MS since 2017. all service centers at are not created equal . here in northern VA ours are quite good! and very responsive. in your app they now say you can do frame and body work directly through tesla ( the notice was in the notifications section of the ap ) . check where the app sends you to and maybe check around. and or pick another tesla S/C it might give you options. the ap messaging is also the best way to discuss things with tesla. it took me a little while to get used to that but it does work . but since tesla now offers body work I would go with them over a regular body shop as teslas are still unique. it is like getting a car from a foreign country that isn't normally imported or something like that . it is amazing to me with the battery factory in buffalo they wouldn't have a S/C there.. I used to live in buffalo, you might want to try S/C 's in pittsburg or south .

Rumor has it they are opening an SC in Buffalo, just not sure when. If the border wasn't closed, there are a few SCs in Canada I'd try first. I may try Pittsburgh or possibly Ohio. Ill have to see. Thank you

 

[Perscitus]

I have read some of your ealier posts and threads. Sorry to hear and agree, this is far far too common (at varying degrees) across the fleet.

I would very highly recommend Gotham City Collision (Maspeth location is best). Ask for Mike and Frank (the owner).
They are Tesla Certified and Factory trained and work on hundreds of S3XY from near-totaled to minor cosmetic damage.

https://gothamcitycollision.com/

Checo out their Instagram etc for endless Tesla repairs, body and paint work, upgrades, aftermarket installs.

 

[ilikemypizza]

Thanks. I may have struck a nerve at Tesla. They responded to my e-mail fairly quickly and they admitted to me on the phone these issues should have been addressed before the car was even delivered.

They want me to schedule a service appointment and they are contacting me within 24-48 hours. So, I hope this will finally get the attention it deserves.

 

[jjrandorin]

There is both "venting" and a "where is the best place in X for Y" in your post, where "Y" is in "East coast". Normally, I move posts for "where is the best X in Y" to the section of the forum where "Y" is. In this case that would be:

Mid-Atlantic

Because that is a smaller part of your post, and you seemed to want to vent as much as find "X in Y", I am going to leave this post here, but suggest you ask for "X in Y" (body shop in east coast) in the forum above.

Good luck with getting it sorted out.

 

[Rice&Curry]

Sorry to hear you experience. This is the growing pain of a electronics & software company making mechanical parts and assembly line production. I hope they get it right soon on the newer models which are produced in greater nos . We in the Bay Area in CA have access to multiple S Centers and even Tesla owned Body shop to deal with accident/collision repairs. Hope things work out for you

 

[ilikemypizza]

Sorry to hear you experience. This is the growing pain of a electronics & software company making mechanical parts and assembly line production. I hope they get it right soon on the newer models which are produced in greater nos . We in the Bay Area in CA have access to multiple S Centers and even Tesla owned Body shop to deal with accident/collision repairs. Hope things work out for you

Thank you. I'm just happy that someone at Tesla actually acknowledged that my issues should have been addressed before the car left the factory. It just seems like night and day depending who you talk to and that's the frustrating part about all of this.

 

[Rice&Curry]

Thank you. I'm just happy that someone at Tesla actually acknowledged that my issues should have been addressed before the car left the factory. It just seems like night and day depending who you talk to and that's the frustrating part about all of this.

As they say, customer service is greatly influenced by the person you interact with at the company .. human behavior and attitude is what makes all the difference

 

[ilikemypizza]

Service center called me. They are surprised that a door would be miss stamped. Had me send pics, said they would show the body guy.

Whose ready for the "within spec" response? I've asked a few friends to see if I am crazy over these issues and what they would do. Maybe my friends are all crazy like me so this is biased, but they said they would take it right to the dealership and have them address it.

The service center is being nice but at the same time, I feel I'm being ragged around again.. Time will tell. I have an appointment for June 10th

 

[ThomasD]

What is the spec that they are refering to.

 

[ilikemypizza]

What is the spec that they are refering to.

Honestly, I don't think it exists. If it did, I'd like to see them measure it

 

[gigawatt1010]

Sorry to hear about your issues. Perhaps you can post a pic of this mis-stamped door? I agree on the messaging portion of the app. It's the best way to reach them. Good luck!

 

[Uncle Paul]

Some would say that focusing on panel gaps is perhaps missing the whole mission of Tesla.

 

[Mahamilto]

Can you show pics of what you mean?

Is something horribly amiss, or marginally off? What do you mean by the door stamping?

 

[ilikemypizza]

Can you show pics of what you mean?

Is something horribly amiss, or marginally off? What do you mean by the door stamping?

There's pictures of this issue in one of the master threads. Basically, I can fit my finger in my passenger door. First is driver side, second is the passenger side. I'll be honest and pictures don't always do a good job showing this. To your point, I would say it is "marginally off" but when other cars don't have this problem, it's disappointing to say the least.

 

[ilikemypizza]

Some would say that focusing on panel gaps is perhaps missing the whole mission of Tesla.

I guess you're right, but different things bother different people so to each is his own

 

[ilikemypizza]

Can you show pics of what you mean?

Is something horribly amiss, or marginally off? What do you mean by the door stamping?

Here is my trunk. Again, it is "marginally off" but I'd at least like an attempt to have it adjusted instead of being thrown the "within spec" card with no backing of that statement. It literally has to slide up and to the left. I have the rubber adjusters extended all the way and the right side is scrapping the bumper

 

[Mahamilto]

Doors look a tad off. Certainly passenger > driver. No doubt. I wouldn’t call it a deal breaker, but everyone is different. The trunk is very marginal. Zooming in I see it, but as long as it seals and functions properly, I wouldn’t have even really noticed the trunk.

I do hear you on the fit and finish, and compared to a 48-50k ride from say, BMW, it is worse. Nobody debates this. My question would be, can you get over these issues, and more importantly, is the way the car performing making up for these marginal fit and finish issues?

That’s the question you really have to answer. I’m surprised the door alignment wasn’t addressed at your request, but fixing it may be very hard. I can’t comment on how much it bothers you.

I do feel my M3P had less gap issues than this, but I’m not crazy worried about these issues, so maybe if I had really scrutinized mine I’d find some things. I noticed the other day one of my headlights is about 1/4” less flush than the other (the other is dead flush). After noticing, I got in my ride, bumped the sick stereo, ripped off a 3.1 sec 0-60, and honestly completely ceased to care.

Tesla has some fit and finish issues, but how significant they are and how much one is bothered by them varies. If it’s not something a person looking over the car from arms length would notice on the first time around, I’m not one to care. You have to decide what makes a car ideal for you. Performance and features was the deciding point for me. I beyond love my car; the one or two minor issues don’t spoil it.

But if they do for you then you have to go another route.

But if the car rocks when you drive it... we’ll... maybe you have your answer

 

[Mahamilto]

But to that end. The passenger would be the worst for me. Period. I would likely be wanting it addressed, but I wouldn’t give up the car over it either. No chance. I like driving this thing way too much.