The question is whether Tesla is deteriorating as they scale. Those that bought their first Tesla recently during/after the scale up, which are many M3 or MY buyers should be bias favorable to Tesla. Many of those buyers have owned their cars for 2 years or less- if they’re relevant to the service question it confirms Tesla is one of the worst. Hell, even my JLR product didn’t need much in service in the first two years.
Is Tesla service deteriorating as they scale??
- Thread starter forhabi
- Start date
I too am interested in ways to escalate an issue. I have a Master Charger being replaced for $2,500 when there is no charger error. No Red Ring, car does charge. What is the protocol for escalation?
I think it comes down to this:
- I Love my car, I love the way it handles, drives, accelerates, I Love to drive it.
- I Love the unique features that don't have comparison to any other, such as - the cruise control is amazing (TACC), I love having the reverse camera always up, and doors that close when I hit the brake
I've had 3 Model S's and now the X, driving Tesla exclusively since 2014 - this will be my last Tesla because of the service experiences over the past 2 years.
- I Love my car, I love the way it handles, drives, accelerates, I Love to drive it.
- I Love the unique features that don't have comparison to any other, such as - the cruise control is amazing (TACC), I love having the reverse camera always up, and doors that close when I hit the brake
I've had 3 Model S's and now the X, driving Tesla exclusively since 2014 - this will be my last Tesla because of the service experiences over the past 2 years.
ohmman
Plaid-ish Moderator
It's why I pre-ordered a Rivian to replace my S instead of the Y. Cybertruck, sorry to say, was not an option.
AMPd
Active Member
I respectfully disagree, I’m buying a Tesla therefore what other manufacturers are selling is irrelevant. To say you can’t ask for a better service or product from the company you’re buying from because other companies provide a bad product/service is nonsense.
Petrocelli
Member
I read a lot of different forums on different cars. No brand otehr than Tesla has such crazy stories about things from stinking cars to water bulding up in doors. However, I can't figure out if those problems are 1 in 1,000 or 1 in 10,000.
But I think the problem isn't that Tesla's break, it's that Tesla makes you jump through hoops when they do break.
In a post above, I described how my brand new Mercedes broke after about 2 months. My window would not roll up. It took about 3 days to fix because they had to get a certain motor that was not in stock. In the meantime, I got a loaner with less than 1,000 miles on it. The car was fixed no questions asked. And I got a car wash to boot.
So my analysis is that there are always some cars that will break. But we all know that it will be a crapshoot whether your car will be fixed with Tesla
CyberGus
Not Just a Member
As a paying customer, it is your God-given right to demand anything and everything you desire.
However, you should only expect to receive what is reasonable and customary, which is best gauged by examining the competition.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
And unfortunately it's not just "will it be fixed?" but also "how big of a pain it is to get fixed?", where they also do poorly. Here in the Bay Area, it's not really a question of if you get a loaner, because you almost certainly won't, but additionally whether or not you even get Uber credit depends on the actual service you're having performed and your warranty status.
In 2014 I had a problem with the body controller where Tesla sent an engineering team to meet me at a specific area to diagnose and correct an issue. Today it's a fight to even get Tesla to acknowledge issues exist, and if you do get them to acknowledge they exist, they're "within spec." "Your car is clearly painted two different shades of white? That's within spec." (see Model Y forum)
After nearly 7 years, I don't think there's any real argument service is as good as it was when Tesla was smaller. Retiring the loaner fleet is a significant regression that even taken alone should be an obvious indication of the decline.
I read an article not too long ago confirming this. Elon would rather sell cars with "minor" issues because he thinks most owners will overlook it. I'm not sure what his definition of most is but I see people are justifying poor quality control so it doesn't surprise me.
The sad part about this is that if Tesla does not fix this 'minor' issue soon...it will become a major issue and the big dogs that are just entering the game will eventually overcome Tesla when the tech catches up.
I went to Mercedes and Lexus to see what's up. I too am disappointed with Tesla service and overall luxury experience. For my X at least (its my second one), I feel its luxury pricing but not luxury service. The new Mercedes in car technology is quite nice, the cabin air quality is high (good filters), and they have car play.
Nice thing about legacy dealers is I can SMS my salesperson if I have a problem with service and they will escalate.
Mercedes also has autopilot 1 equivalent (highway lane keeping, auto park). Also nice thing is I can have my awesome local mechanic work on the car easily.
My wife said NO to a ICE though!
As my X comes out of warranty I worry about items that just can't be repaired by a 3rd party and the costs of repair.
Nice thing about legacy dealers is I can SMS my salesperson if I have a problem with service and they will escalate.
Mercedes also has autopilot 1 equivalent (highway lane keeping, auto park). Also nice thing is I can have my awesome local mechanic work on the car easily.
My wife said NO to a ICE though!
As my X comes out of warranty I worry about items that just can't be repaired by a 3rd party and the costs of repair.
Physicslawyer
Member
I have been trying for almost three weeks to get someone to contact me about buying a car. Nobody will call me about a used Tesla. Evrntually, someone emailed me and now that person won't return my calls. Also, I gave up trying to contact service and just went down to the service center instead. This is from a new customer trying to give them money. My initial impression is that this is awful. I can imagine if I buy one of these cars and I need to get something done or have a question. I personally know they used to value the sales experience more in the past.
uujjj2
Member
If a startup company invests a bunch of money in sales/service infrastructure, and the product gets delayed, they are screwed. Lots of startups die because they spent money on sales/service infra too early and run out of money to deal with inevitable product delays. Obviously, you want the sales/service infrastructure to scale up exactly in line with the production ramp, but it's easier said than done. You can't trust the schedules you get from engineers because they are always too optimistic. There's less financial risk if you scale sales/service too late than if you scale it too early, so that's what startups do.
If Tesla had built out its service centers in advance to match its planned Model 3 ramp, the Model 3 ramp delays would have put them out of business.
So that's why things are the way they are.
If Tesla had built out its service centers in advance to match its planned Model 3 ramp, the Model 3 ramp delays would have put them out of business.
So that's why things are the way they are.
AdamMacDon
Member
The thing is, with a $400bn market cap you don't get to claim startup status anymore. Also Y Combinator disagrees with you, value the heck out of your first few users. So even if you classify Tesla as a startup, they should value their users. The old Tesla did this very well, but the new Tesla has disregarded it. Perhaps Elon is correct and they can continue being profitable without caring about customer service, but it will undeniably lose them lots of sales.
It’s actually the opposite. Customer service is one of the most cost-effective ways for a startup to gain market share. We’re not talking about matching luxury brand infrastructure per car. We’re talking about competency.
This isn’t a startup problem. It’s an ethos problem. Owner happiness isn’t really part of the autonomous, Robo future that Tesla pushes
Btw, Tesla was great at CS as a startup.
We're growing dangerously close to "It's a Tesla thing" instead of "It's a Jeep thing"
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