Is communication with Tesla UK impossible!

[adrianL]

I collected my M3 in London a month ago. The car is great but there were questions I needed to ask, especially as it turned out to be a stealth Performance model, and I had not really understood that.

I have no complaints about the car, which is awesome, but trying to communicate with the company is a nightmare. Getting through on the phone was literally impossible, I tried a couple of dozen times, twice left on hold for 90 minutes before giving up in despair. Emails not answered, or even acknowledged. I managed to get through via back channels arranged by a helpful forum member, and even then very little happened. It's now over a month, still no resolution.

Has anyone else had this awful after-sales experience?

 

[thebishop]

The service level have taken a nose dive - this is partly the result of lots of model 3 sales + people asking tons of questions.

if you don’t have a service need but you just want to educate yourself, why not ask the questions in a public forum where likeminded people hang around and help out? Maybe at tmc? ;-)

 

[adrianL]

Many thanks and of course good advice. I did in fact gt my questions answered via the forums, but I suppose my point is that Tesla are so very hard to communicate with and just don't seem at all interested in their customers once payment is made.
Of course it was a busy time, but a decent company should ensure adequate staff levels at such times. Being stuck on hold for 90 minutes at a time is not acceptable customer service, nor is ignoring emails. A month down the line I find I love the car but not the company.

 

[thebishop]

I do agree with you 100%.
It is the current bug weak spot - really weird for us older owners who got used to stellar service and availability above and beyond what one could expect.
Nowadays not so much.

can only hope they stay profitable and fix this during next year - personally I wanted to upgrade to a newer model s as well as getting a model 3 as a second car for our household - now both put on hold until they sort out the availability and service to a reasonable level again.

 

[jjrandorin]

OP if it makes you feel any better (it likely wont, lol), this is not a "Tesla UK" issue, it isa "Tesla" issue.v They are like that in the US as well. I have sent emails asking a question to the referral team (as an example) and gotten an answer like 3-4 WEEKS later, with the email starting with "sorry for the delay in the response...."

I would normally chalk this up to tesla being a car company aimed at the "new way younger people communicate" (not having adequate phone support, etc), but they also dont respond very well to emails. I really believe its a product of the fact that tesla is just now trying to figure out how to be profitable, and the people that seem to get cut the first are the ones on the "front lines" answering phones, emails etc.

In Tesla's "perfect world" you would:

1. Place your oder online, with no human interaction whatsoever
2. Wait patiently for someone to email / text you, telling you when and where you will need to arrive to pick up the car / or when and where they will be delivering the car (with no rescheduling by you, but possible rescheduling by them, via text / email.
3. Show up to pick up the car, finally meet a human, sign the papers taking ownership of the car first, then go out and be given a cursory instruction on the basics of the car with a note that "the manual is in the car on the touch screen.
4. You drive off, read the manual and dont need any after care support
5. Since the car is supposed to be low maintenance, you do not contact anyone unless there is a maintenance issue
6. If you have a maintenance issue, you make an appointment, in the app, without talking to a human
7. You show up, drop car off, take your rideshare credits and get a text message when they have completed whatever work required.

In my opinion, thats tesla's perfect world, and its the world that many millenials (and younger) would prefer, but its not the world that many of us with the finances to actually buy these cars prefer. Since tesla is not "working on commission" the sales people are not tripping over themselves to help you, like a regular "dealership" . You cant just drive down to the "dealership" and talk to someone about a problem with your car like you can at a traditional car dealer. You can go to the service center, but they are over worked, and busy.

Even in Tesla's perfect world (my opinion of what they want, anyway), they still dont have enough people for the massive growth they have. They are attempting to go from "niche player" to "major force" in international car manufacturing / delivery. They are doing it, but the service has a long way to go to catch up. Its my opinion that they will never really catch up to what some of us older people want, but that, EVENTUALLY, they will get good enough at the digital parts of the communication that we will accept it as "ok".

If you have questions about car operation / features, much better to read the manual in the car or in the PDF online, and join a car forum (like you did, OP), and read, or ask questions here. Its not a tesla issue that car forums always know more about the car than the "dealers"... the difference is, its easier to go to a regular dealer and have them tell you "I dont know" to something that is known on the forums than it is with tesla

 

[OCR1]

Elon did acknowledge that cost cutting was one of the main factors that led to a surprise Q3 profit. So it doesn’t surprise me that service levels have not improved. The reality is there just isn’t enough margin in the cars at their current sales volume to provide world class service with a person answering every phone call and responding to every email inquiry. They could raise the price of the cars to cover the additional overhead but that might cause sales to tank.

So the real solution is for them to increase their supply so that they can sell enough cars to justify adding more overhead. Of course the more they sell the more people they need to support them, so it’s not an easy problem to solve.

As the cost of batteries comes down I can see higher profit margins in their cars. That’s only a matter of time. Hopefully they will get their in time.

 

[boaterva]

I have frequently gotten complete BS responses from the SC. To the extent that you shouldn’t leave the car plugged in all the time. When the manual and we all know, a plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla. Just one trivial example of idiocy from a service center.

Yes, research here and then if really needed, I call the support line at a time when they are perhaps not busy (not weekends, not rush hour in California...) and see if they can check the logs, etc. sometimes they can resolve things. Sometimes they still insist on an SC visit. But starting with the overwhelmed SC for a question is usually not forthcoming.

 

[adrianL]

Thanks so much for the above replies, all helpful and to the point.
Indeed, my buying experience was very much as jjrandorin described: All online, scanty info, then an estimated delivery date which worked, then it was brought forward to when I was on holiday (booked to fit with the original date) then a struggle to scheduler a 5min pickup, very hurried. Nothing wrong with the car as such, except the number plates fell off as soon as I got it home. But I had wanted the LR, been offered the P instead (special deal) but when it came it lacked almost all features so I was confused. Finally sorted via forums, but the rep I eventually spoke to asked what they could do to make up for the (admittedly) lamentable support, and since then I have heard nothing apart from my first suggestion being refused.
As I said, a great car, but dreadful customer support. I am new here, I had hoped my case was unusual, perhaps just the UK office, but i am beginning to see that it is far from that!