Ludicrous upgrade discontinued?!

[Az_Rael]

My husband's P85D has been at the Burbank service center since Saturday getting a Ludicrous upgrade. We had booked this appointment about a month ago to allow them time to get all the parts, etc. We had a price quote in hand, all good there.

Dropped the car off Saturday. They called Monday and said they were missing a part (sigh), and it was going to take a few days. OK, we have an enterprise Model S, so that ain't too bad. They text today and say the part is in and we can pick up the car tomorrow.

Then they call and say they can't do the L upgrade. They tried to load the software and the car wouldn't take it. They then said they couldn't do it as the upgrade was "discontinued".

Now, we aren't the original owner of this car, however I would have expected if we were ineligible because of that, it would have showed up when we had them check the VIN for eligibility, not after almost a week of having the car in the shop.

Needless to say, not happy right now. I have no idea what actually went down with the software, maybe one of our resident experts has some insight?

 

[jeffro01]

Why can't Tesla keep from tripping over themselves? Serious question... If you booked the appointment and they ordered the parts then I can't believe they are backing out now...

PM @JonMc

Jeff

 

[Garlan Garner]

I agree. Tesla shouldn't give up on something they promised.

 

[appleguru]

Did they charge you for the upgrade? Does your car now have the necessary hardware but just needs the software?

 

[Az_Rael]

Did they charge you for the upgrade? Does your car now have the necessary hardware but just needs the software?

They had better not charge me for the upgrade!!! We haven't picked the car up yet, the message came in close to closing time today.

I don't know if they installed the hardware before they figured this out, and will have to remove it or what. We will find out more, hopefully, when we pick the car up.

 

[appleguru]

I would ask them to escalate to engineering... should be 100% solvable (and is not even a little bit reasonable for them to back out of the upgrade at this point)

 

[Az_Rael]

Why can't Tesla keep from tripping over themselves? Serious question... If you booked the appointment and they ordered the parts then I can't believe they are backing out now...

PM @JonMc


Jeff

I am going to wait and see what details we get when we pick the car up before I try and escalate at this point.

 

[JHWJR]

They had better not charge me for the upgrade!!!

That seems rather silly.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Does this mean that : "If Tesla offers something you want....you had better get it NOW because they might go back on their word later"?

Full Self Driving?

 

[Az_Rael]

Does this mean that : "If Tesla offers something you want....you had better get it NOW because they might go back on their word later"?

Full Self Driving?

Maybe. The L upgrades were offered on the very first P85Ds, so the offer is technically a couple years old. I notice it is now no longer listed on the Tesla online shop, and they have also removed the supercharging upgrade and the DC fast charging listing under the Chademo adapter for the old 60s. I was able to buy a center console after they were delisted, but that was dependent on the service center still having parts.

I don’t know when the option was removed from the online store, but I think it was still there when we booked the appointment initially.

This might turn out to be one of the bigger downsides of Tesla’s rapid change pattern. My husbands car is a 2015, but it is already a full generation behind. The fact that upgrades and parts get discontinued just 2 years later is troublesome. It’s still within the original warranty period.

I just hope I don’t get into an accident with my 2013 classic - it’s a whole 4 years old, which is apparently completely obsolete in Tesla timelines. Trying to maintain these cars 8-10 years in might be tough. I know roadster owners do it, but I don’t know if they changed roadster parts over it’s production as often as they have changed the S.

 

[Az_Rael]

OK, picked the car up, wanted to give an update.

Here is the timeline:

Sept 30: booked the appointment for Oct 21st for L upgrade plus a few other things that required parts (dented trim pieces, LTE, etc). Gave extra time to make sure parts would arrive before our appointment. L upgrade still shown on website and our VIN was noted to be eligible.

Oct 9: (according to Burbank SC): L upgrade discontinued. Service Center says they were not aware of change when it rolled out.

Oct 21: Dropped car off for appointment. Told car would probably be ready Monday

Oct 23: Called and told that parts for the L upgrade were still on order, no estimated delivery time.

Oct 26: Told parts had arrived and the car would most likely be done on the 27th via text message. Got a phone call the same day and was told L upgrade no longer available. Software wouldn't take the update.

Oct 27: Picked up car. Expressed disappointment with the lack of communication regarding L upgrade and why car was held for parts for an upgrade that wasn't going to happen. Service manager came out and apologized and stated the upgrade was cancelled on the 9th, and they were not informed of that fact. I stated we booked this appointment before Oct 9, but no other options for performing the update were offered.

Overall, my husband was satisfied that the manager came out and apologized, and I am well enough aware of Tesla's general communications problems that I probably won't pursue it more. I fully believe the SC had zero idea the L upgrade was discontinued and didn't know until they tried to apply it to our car. We did end up getting a few trim pieces replaced for free instead of being charged as we originally planned, and while that wasn't mentioned as being a specific offset for the L upgrade hassle, I will definitely take it.