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Killing the brand with poor service

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I am in the midst of a service horror story, and I’ve seen enough in other places to know that this is not an isolated incidence. As best I can tell, the vast majority of these cases occur because Tesla has substantially cut back on personnel and resources to their service centers. This is a deliberate corporate choice and it is rapidly killing the brand. Hence the subject line.

In my case, I made an appointment several weeks out to install FSD, which I paid for 2.5 years ago, in my 2017 MS 75D. The appointment also included an upgrade of MCU1 to MCU2, at my expense. I received emails on the status of the parts ordered, one of which had not arrived as of 5 days before the appointment. I tried desperately to reach the service center (Dedham, MA), which is more than an hour away from me, by phone, phone messages, and texts, to no avail. That, in itself, is unacceptable. Finally late in the day before the appointment, the SC texted me and said that they would put me me in a loaner until the work was complete, so I made the drive to the appointment and returned home with the loaner. BUT, the next day, they called to say that the wrong MCU part had arrived, that the right part would take 3 weeks to arrive, and that they needed the loaner back. They refused to send somebody here with my car to get the loaner. They want me to essentially make two two-hour drives due to someone’s mistake at Tesla. This is not acceptable under any circumstances. A mistake in a parts order can happen, but not having enough people to deal with it is a corporate problem.

It seems to me that Tesla is being penny-wise and pound-foolish with its service. Word is getting around about how poor the service is, and, being active on social media, I intend to help spread it, unless something drastic happens immediately. I certainly would not recommend buying a Tesla right now.
 
Common issue. Not all the time. Not with everyone. They do somethings better than others like mobile service for many things. That said Tesla customer service is not top notch, or even near it. It was something I was aware of buying first car, as well as my second car. I wanted the car and was missing to put up with the potential headaches. And I've had quote a few with both purchases, different delivery centers, different customer reps. Never top notch and always some problems. Unfortunately not everyone does the research or thinks it couldn't happen to them. Sorry you're having problems, and what they're doing isn't to the standard it should be. But this is what Tesla is and what they have been for some time. Honestly I don't see Tesla stepping up and going towards top notch customer service. When they switched from CPO (like new) to Inspected Used (with lots of defects) that was kind of a big slide for me. If you don't want to do CPO then just offload the cars to auction or anywhere else. Don't sell poor quality used with huge purchasing issues.

Sorry.
 
Yeah, I just had my headlight replaced and 4 new tires put on. There was body panel misalignment after replacing the headlight, and they stressed/bent 4 of the 20 plastic pieces covering my 21" twin turbine wheels. I've changed the wheels out twice myself to put my winter wheels on and never had an issue with that. Granted, the weather was much cooler then, maybe the plastic was soft from the heat? Next time I will remove the covers myself before having them do tire/wheel work.
They also scratched a wheel when changing the tire, but they notified me about it and replaced it without me ever seeing it.
But I also must acknowledge the Nissan dealer that did not tighten the oil drain plug on my wife's Rogue, on two consecutive oil changes. After the first time we were assured it would never happen again.
 
I also have to say I'm sorry to hear you're having problems. Unfortunately, things happen.

Thankfully, there is very little service required, ever. Most people will need little or none. Once you get this straightened out, it should be the last issue you have with Tesla. Don't give up.

And this is why you insist on a loaner of the most expensive car Tesla makes. Then they'll be sure to come get it!
 
I also have to say I'm sorry to hear you're having problems. Unfortunately, things happen.

Thankfully, there is very little service required, ever. Most people will need little or none. Once you get this straightened out, it should be the last issue you have with Tesla. Don't give up.

And this is why you insist on a loaner of the most expensive car Tesla makes. Then they'll be sure to come get it!

Service, sure, that's correct.
As for the service department, that's different. Fitment, warranty issues - they require the same people. I am on to my second new Tesla, and coming from the Mercedes/Audi/BMW experiences of previous/current cars, Tesla has a long, long way to go. Seriously... a car that was well over $100,000...
 
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Audi always went out of their way for me. I always had a loaner, often nicer / higher model than mine. They fit me anytime I needed something done. The longest it ever took them to service anything was when there was a transmission issue that required a part that was only in stock in Germany which had to be overnighted and they also needed an extra day due to time difference to do diagnostics with Germany. That took three days. Car was always washed and vacuumed. And they're walking distance from my house. Tesla is 30 miles away if I need service besides mobile.

Just I knew all this going in and still bought two in six months.
 
I need to replace a door sensor on my X, because they didnt have it in stock from my previous service. The middle Screen likes to reboot by itself. I made an appointment 2 weeks ago and requested a loaner, but they can't get one.

You are lucky that you got the loaner. They recently changed to give out an Uber Certificate. The repairing time would be more than 5 days... they said this is because of Covid. Basically, I need to rent a car. I rescheduled my appointment for another 4 weeks, hopefully they can get a loaner for me.

I called Lexus for an oil change for my wife's car. Lexus offered to pick the car and drop off the loaner.
 
I also have to say I'm sorry to hear you're having problems. Unfortunately, things happen.

Thankfully, there is very little service required, ever. Most people will need little or none.
Wow, I must be the unluckiest Tesla customer ever, bought 4 Model S so far and every one of them required service in the first weeks of ownership, and some later too. Last one was a 2018 model, so before the service deterioration and Elon's change of mind on "service being not a profit center" - they reported $487M services profit from last quarter (I assume at least some of it came from service centers).

And this is why you insist on a loaner of the most expensive car Tesla makes. Then they'll be sure to come get it!
You can insist till you're blue in the face, it doesn't get you a loaner if they don't have any - I tried last couple of times, the answer is "we don't have any loaners available, you can have up to $100 uber credit". I think you have a better chance to just play the lottery and hope you win enough to buy yourself a second Tesla to drive while your first one is in service.
 
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I bought myself a backup car. Solved my service/loaner problem.

Before I had my Audi and had more problem cars and dealers without loaners I seriously thought about getting an electric skateboard to throw in the trunk and take with me.

Unlike my current Tesla’s, my work, and all my other car dealers are are within 2 miles. It was nice while it lasted.
 
i bought a MINI. Only one size larger than a skateboard :cool:
It looks like it would almost fit in the trunk ;)

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I'm always floored when people think this is a surprise. TESLA IS A BABY compared to the other auto companies that have been doing this for 100 years. They are also the only manufacturer who direct sells and services their cars... all the other companies have 3rd party dealerships to take on that burden. Don't forget... Tesla has only been mass producing cars for 3 YEARS. Get some perspective... we're all early adopters. Let's have this conversation again in 50 years and then it might be fair to compare Tesla to the German companies.
 
I'm always floored when people think this is a surprise. TESLA IS A BABY compared to the other auto companies that have been doing this for 100 years. They are also the only manufacturer who direct sells and services their cars... all the other companies have 3rd party dealerships to take on that burden. Don't forget... Tesla has only been mass producing cars for 3 YEARS. Get some perspective... we're all early adopters. Let's have this conversation again in 50 years and then it might be fair to compare Tesla to the German companies.
50 years? With the "customer service" support they offer today? Not likely.
 
I've only had good experiences so far at the Watertown, MA service center. I had an appointment earlier this week to replace the top glass due to a crack and perform a 2 year service.

I scheduled the appointment on the app about 2 weeks ago. I could have schedule for last week, but I was on vacation so waited til this week. I dropped the car off at 9, walked in, gave them my key and left. He asked if I wanted a loaner, but I live close enough that I just walked home. Drop off took about 3 minutes. Car was done by 1. Paid the invoice online in the app, got a ride back to the service center, went to my car and hopped in and left. Overall he whole process was super easy and straight forward.

I was in about a year ago to get the winter wheels I ordered from Tesla installed. Things seemed crazy then. You couldn't even find a place to park. Everything seemed much calmer now, which is kind of surprising to me since there are presumably a lot more Teslas around now.