I was a delivery specialist for many years- Ask Me Anything

[JayyyDeee]

I completely agree with you and have experienced exactly the same thing. All the issues from bad QC out of the factory goes into Service centers, and at least the Service Centers and Advisors really trying their best to help. But they are also spread thin, so many cars in service and they ended making more mistakes while trying to fix the original problem.

So i learn to live with minor imperfections, unless it's a major problem.

1. My SC tried to fix the headlight that was protruding and then forgot to re-connect some cables (for radar and sensors) behind it. Noticed because auto lane change, AC and seat heaters stopped working after I picked up the car.
2. Had to take it back to re-connect the connectors, but this time the bumper was not put back properly. Luckily i had PPF, otherwise it would have chipped the paint. So they had to re-adjust the bumpers again.

This is just one example of employees being spread too thin, too much work to do and not getting trained properly.

they could also just be bad at their jobs

 

[mnm1945]

It depends on your feelings towards the mission vs. your feelings towards your bank account. You'll work endless hours with little bonus incentives. The luster of it wears off after a while. They pound into your brain that you're a part of something epic and special, but they don't pay too well in my honest opinion. You'd make more selling Toyotas.

It sure sounds like you were a part of the Sea Org for the Church of Scientology

 

[JayyyDeee]

No. Some of them definitely wanted to be treated like royalty. And some of them aren’t even talking about painfully obvious defects but rather things that also happen on every other car in that price range. And when you don’t act like a dink, but rather as a reasonable person, Tesla will bend over backwards to make things right. Emphasis on reasonable, which escapes some people.

And sometimes Tesla will continually mess up even if the the person is being reasonable.

 

[Downtown]

I'd say 20% are pains. I had so many customers demand cars being driven to their home to take delivery (There's almost never enough man power for that), a guy bring a flashlight and spend 4 hours combing all of the paint to see any minor clear coat mark (rejected delivery due to a 1mm defect), people being entitled pricks in general... i could go on and on. No offense intended- but the PITA's were usually the base model customers who were just in the tax bracket to afford the vehicle, or celebrities that are used to getting anything and everything they want.

Well I think they are taking care of the "PITA" problems. I was amused to see in my pickup confirmation email that I can expect a "5 Minute Vehicle Handoff."

 

[FunkayMelan]

@DESinUS i'm trying to sent you a direct message but I keep getting caught in the spam filter for some weird reason. Can you please send me a message (i guess it's called "start a conversation"). I just have a question about the job.

 

[WannabeOwner]

@DESinUS very interesting to read your comments and replies, many thanks.

I have two "faults" that I would appreciate your opinion on.

My car is two years old, it's been back several times, no improvement, I've now given up on getting them fixed (unless you think I should try again ...)

1. Cold feet (in winter)

At some point in a drive, (not at the beginning, usually an hour or so after starting out), both driver and passenger suddenly notice cold feet at the same time. It doesn't sort itself out readily, so becomes "not very comfortable",. Turning heating up to MAX etc. doesn't really seem to fix the problem (and isn't a great solution either)

Tesla have fiddled with the "pipe" delivering hot air to the feet. In the early days they seemed to take a lot of trouble over trying to fix it, now I just get "We put it in the shop with a thermal sensor and it is working as intended" - despite me saying "Give the car to someone making a trip over the weekend and see if they notice it too"

2. Static on radio

Although network coverage here is good its not 100%, so I prefer not to use Spotify / TuneIn. On the couple of radio stations that I listen to I get static on FM at some points in my journey. Never had static in any other car (including other ICE cars I still own) at those points in the journey (or any other for that matter ...)

Also, sometimes open the door and get loud, blaring, static. That resolves itself after a bit, but normally I intervene because it is loud and annoying. (My supposition is that the car has re-tuned the radio on the previous journey and on opening the door it resorts to some earlier, wrong-for-this-location, frequency, realises, corrects, and that is what solves the issue. But that's only my supposition)

A year or so ago the problem went away (or so it seemed) with a software update, and then came back with the next update. Service nowadays says that a software update will fix it.

On the first service visit about this problem they said they was a know fix regarding fitting extra shielding, so I suppose that was done at that time.

Actually there's a third thing

I no longer get any software updates. They were pretty regular until last July, next one was October, then at the time car was in for service on mid December (when probably? the update was because the car was @ Tesla). Consequently I didn't get the big Christmas Easter Egg rollout and in February I did a Support Request (from My Tesla) and an update appeared immediately.

Haven't had one since (February).

I suppose I could chase Support again (I know Elon has said a self-request option is coming), seems daft to be wasting Support time with these sorts of requests - I am having to chase support to try to get the SWAG from my referrals (have they really not had any wall connectors in stock for the last 3 months? I am promised deliver in June ... I suppose that might still happen. So far no reply to my recent support request asking for a status update)

My car is parked (and charged) at the same place every time. My WiFi router is just inside the door/wall. I am not aware that anything has changed at my end. The one time I did a Support Request the update was "almost immediate" so presumably the location my car is parked is fine (I suppose the last update might have been via car network, rather than my WiFi)

Is there something I can do / check / resolve as to why car not updating "regularly" and whether it is talking to my WiFi? TeslaFi logs data all the time, so the car is definitely "networked". I have read that cars get dropped off the update list if they don't update in X attempts, but when I sent my Support Request I asked for the cause to be investigated (but I never got a reply, except for that one OTA update)

Thanks

 

[gavine]

Cold feet (in winter)

Try turning range-mode off.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Try turning range-mode off

Thanks. Have tried it both ways

 

[MorrisonHiker]

1. Cold feet (in winter)

At some point in a drive, (not at the beginning, usually an hour or so after starting out), both driver and passenger suddenly notice cold feet at the same time. It doesn't sort itself out readily, so becomes "not very comfortable",. Turning heating up to MAX etc. doesn't really seem to fix the problem (and isn't a great solution either)

Tesla have fiddled with the "pipe" delivering hot air to the feet. In the early days they seemed to take a lot of trouble over trying to fix it, now I just get "We put it in the shop with a thermal sensor and it is working as intended" - despite me saying "Give the car to someone making a trip over the weekend and see if they notice it too"

Bluetooth heated insoles

 

[Fiver]

I remember reading a lot about cold footwells early on (2012-2014) but haven't been hearing many complaints about it recently. I never experienced it in my late 13 build but then again I might not be sensitive to it.

My software updates come in waves. As mentioned I have a "classic" so not too much included for my car in updates these days though. I used to get an update about every month or so, but recently it's dried up for me as well. Last one was the end of March.

 

[WannabeOwner]

I remember reading a lot about cold footwells early on

Yes, me too. The thing which seems to be? peculiar to me is that we are fine for the first 60 minutes or so of the trip, and then all of a sudden get cold feet. My understanding of the normal "cold feet" scenario was more "there isn't enough heat output to the feet area", but maybe I never actually asked that question of people who had said "my feet are cold" ...

I would estimate that the ReGen limit (on a cold morning; here in UK a "cold morning" is likely to be 0C, not some minus number ) goes away about 20 minutes into the journey, so not the same as the "roughly 60 minute interval" when we get "sudden cold feet", but I wonder if that corresponds to Battery Heater turning off, or something like that.

Interesting about your downloads, thanks. Curious how you are determining which are WiFi and which are OTA? That might be useful for me to check on my downloads (if TeslaFi, or some other source, has logged that retrospectively). I'm guessing you checked something on your Router/Switch, which i won't be able to do after-the-fact, but maybe there is another source?

Bluetooth heated insoles

Doh! I do have some battery operated inserts for both shoes and gloves, which I use for skiing and occasionally outdoor construction working in Winter. Never thought to use them in the car ... thanks for that

 

[Fiver]

Interesting about your downloads, thanks. Curious how you are determining which are WiFi and which are OTA? That might be useful for me to check on my downloads (if TeslaFi, or some other source, has logged that retrospectively). I'm guessing you checked something on your Router/Switch, which i won't be able to do after-the-fact, but maybe there is another source?

Sign up for EV-FW.com. It's Hank's other site (sister site to EV-CPO.com). Honestly probably all my updates come over wifi as my car is in wifi range 99% of the day. That and when it downloads the updates often it can take up to a day for it to finally register in the car as "update available" after it's done. ev-fw can automatically detect the updates as installed and update your page accordingly if you let it.

 

[davinci2017]

I'm surprised these havent come up yet but here are a few things unique to Tesla

1. How do you deal with the rate at which changes are being made to the car. Folks who are in the forums, know and ask for specific features as the change occured. Do you have an easy way to find out if a certain car will have a certain feature update? Worse yet others may find out only upon delivery that they got something different . (The seat changes and un-corking being two major ones in the last year)

2. How do you deal with Auto-pilot questions in general. New folks either assume its a death trap, or it will completely drive itself, it takes a bit of experience and community learning to understand the true capabilities and risks/benefits of the AP system and how to use it. This is a major issue thanks to Tesla's marketing machine that wants to promote it as the greatest thing ever without having detailed training videos/tutorials on how to use it

3. Do you try to explain the high yearly service costs before the sale? Most non-Tesla folks assume Teslas require no service (again thanks to marketing) and get a big shock when you tell them its to the tune of a grand a year. How have you dealt with this with customers?

4. How many times have you asked for superchargers at the sales outlets

 

[Destiny1701]

Question on parts. I’m 3 months now waiting for a MX windshield to replace the ever growing crack on mine . The local SC says it’s in transit but cannot provide an ETA. I’ve asked to speak to anyone from corporate in parts but no success. In transit can mean a day, a week, a month...ridiculous.

Most logistics in parts/shipping would have a shipping invoice, some sort of tracking number etc. I find it impossible Tesla cannot simply find out where in the shipping process their part is??

It should be a simple process to look up a tracking number for an orderd part no? Or is that again beyond a reasonable expectation for Tesla?

 

[WannabeOwner]

I find it impossible Tesla cannot simply find out where in the shipping process their part is??

In this day and age they must know the exact arrival date ... and probably time too ... even if the part has not yet been manufactured. On one (of several) times my car has been in I had a call every day for a week "We are expecting the parts tomorrow" and then, after parts arrival, every day for the following week "Your car is scheduled for tomorrow"

The cost of running an organisation where you do NOT know these things is astronomic. Not least the cost of the poor person having to waste time phoning me up every day, but also the cost of people like me telling prospective customers how bad it can be. When people used to ask me "How's The Tesla" I would wax lyrical and they would clearly look very envious. Now I just say "Love the car, hate the company" and they are probably going to a) wait (pity) and b) buy something else.

And the cost of the Support folk people dealing with questions. Where is my Referral swag? Its been nearly 3 months since my referral bought the car and I'm still waiting for the wall charger. So periodically I waste support people's time asking them why it has not yet arrived and when it will. If they told me it will arrive on the NNth of MMM month then I may not like that, but I'd plan my life accordingly and stop bugging them - so long as it then turned up. But even if it didn't, a simple, mechanically generated, email with a status update and fresh ETA would do ... and save a fortune.

</rant>

 

[Destiny1701]

In this day and age they must know the exact arrival date ... and probably time too ... even if the part has not yet been manufactured. On one (of several) times my car has been in I had a call every day for a week "We are expecting the parts tomorrow" and then, after parts arrival, every day for the following week "Your car is scheduled for tomorrow"

The cost of running an organisation where you do NOT know these things is astronomic. Not least the cost of the poor person having to waste time phoning me up every day, but also the cost of people like me telling prospective customers how bad it can be. When people used to ask me "How's The Tesla" I would wax lyrical and they would clearly look very envious. Now I just say "Love the car, hate the company" and they are probably going to a) wait (pity) and b) buy something else.

And the cost of the Support folk people dealing with questions. Where is my Referral swag? Its been nearly 3 months since my referral bought the car and I'm still waiting for the wall charger. So periodically I waste support people's time asking them why it has not yet arrived and when it will. If they told me it will arrive on the NNth of MMM month then I may not like that, but I'd plan my life accordingly and stop bugging them - so long as it then turned up. But even if it didn't, a simple, mechanically generated, email with a status update and fresh ETA would do ... and save a fortune.

</rant>

Completely agree with your assessment. I’ve escalated the matter to Tesla Corporate and the email reply was more or less ‘thank you for informing, we will see if we can expedite, be in touch’. That was over a week ago and no follow up.

Boggles my mind why they cannot simply take down my VIN, pull up my account and see the part order, shipping invoice, tracking info etc and the very least provide an Eta give or take a few days.

I know they have to attach the part order to a specific VIN so this should not be difficult. Instead they continue to maintain this culture of ‘share nothing’ unless it comes from Elon himself.

Frustrated. Pic of my cracked windshield attached. 2 cracks

 

[WannabeOwner]

Boggles my mind why they cannot simply take down my VIN

We've had instances here in UK (Right hand drive country) of replacement seats being ordered and (after weeks of waiting) Left Hand Drive seats arriving. The ordering system should be able to use the VIN to figure exactly what Part No is needed and/or prevent ordering a Left hand drive seat on a Right hand drive car ...

 

[T34ME]

You mean you don't hop around one foot 6 times while you're doing that?

Yes. While touching my nose with my other hand.

Well there's your problem! From the owners manual: "The auto open function on the charge port door is automatically disabled while doing the Hokie-Pokie."

 

[tls]

Question # 2: how much mileage is the cutoff point where a loaner / demo will be “grounded” for too much mileage rendering it more difficult to sell ?

What makes you think there's such a limit? I've had some really old service loaners. There's a brown one at the Brooklyn SC I'm particularly fond of - sure, it's old and doesn't have AP and it's got some rattles and creaks, but I love that color and driving it sure is a reminder that even without the bells and whistles, the Model S is just a great car.

 

[dydy]

@DESinUS
Thank you so much for your input in this forum. Greatly appreciate it!

I am hoping to take deliver of a used 2015 Model S P85D at the Fremont, CA facilities next week. Couple of questions:

1. Are there anything that you would recommend in terms of what I should look for, to make sure that the car is ok?

2. This particular car has some scratches on the corner of the front bumper, and a small "hole" on the black "nose" or front grille. Do you think I can get Tesla to fix them for free? Or any general advice there?

Many thanks!