M3 long term low battery and alarmingly bad service

[Cjd000]

Hi,

I have a Tesla M3 bought end Dec 19, which after the first month went back for full respray, interior repairs, new screen, new wheels and camera fixes. This was at the end of Jan. The car was then delayed 6 weeks before service started due to the high cost requiring approvals and then got trapped by COVID lockdown! Here I am 4 months on and I still don’t have my car, but that’s a whole different story and not the reason for this post!

My car has been back at Tesla Manchester South for 3 weeks. I only know this as the app came back to life but it has a flat battery (15%). They won’t plug the thing in! I’ve emailed repeatedly ( they never reply, nothing unusual there) call and waited for an hour to get the Leeds team to send them a message, still nothing.

My questions are:
- How much damage does leaving the battery flat for weeks on end do to the battery, I keep reading this damages battery health but by how much? Does anybody know the ‘damage per day’ rate?

- Does anybody know how to escalate my problem within Tesla? The Manchester branch is beyond useless and is in the space of proactive incompetence. (there are wider reasons for this statement starting with me demanding a refund after the first week of ownership!)

As a side note, they did answer today to say the car is ready. They did this by answering my emails from 3 weeks ago and changing The app status whilst I was on hold for 50min. The phone kept switching between on hold and ringing so I’m guessing they saw my number, checked the status but never answered the call! The irony is I couldn’t collect with 2 hours notice, it’s now bank holiday and they car has too low a charge to take back home! Utterly disgusting customer service!

Chris

 

[Gumball]

15% is nowhere near a flat battery, and does no harm at all.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

15% is nowhere near a flat battery, and does no harm at all.

They car goes into low usage mode at 20%, so 15% should last for a while. However, still good to continue to try to get them to plug it in for you.

If you pick it up, surely there's a nearly Supercharger, or at least one within 20 miles?

 

[Cjd000]

Good to know I shouldn’t worry at 15%.

The service centre is full of chargers, including Superchargers but there always in use. Not sure there’s anything else within 30 miles. There’s also a principle here of expecting a customer to pick up an empty car that they would need to charge for 30 min before they could drive home.

I also know from the Leeds rep that answered the call that they have a system that tells them about every car at the service centre below 20% so staff know to plug them in.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Perhaps they will charge your car up a bit, before you pick it up. At least enough to get you home.

 

[Tam]

....How much damage does leaving the battery flat for weeks on end do to the battery, I keep reading this damages battery health but by how much? Does anybody know the ‘damage per day’ rate?...

Usually, I would not let my battery that low.

Some unusual situations including that I run my car all the way down to 0% just to get to the next station on a road trip.

I guess your case is not a usual situation either so let's assess the situation.

Your main battery protects itself from damage if it starts to become too low.

It does so by starting to shut down the auxiliary system such as 12V battery charging which results in dead 12V battery and your inability to use your phone to connect to your car.

Thus, as long as your 12V battery still functions (which means your remote car connection is still good) then your main battery is still well protected.

That means although it is not ideal, if it's not plugged in as in your situation, I wouldn't worry about the damage.

...- Does anybody know how to escalate my problem within Tesla?...

My guess is if you could show up in person and offer to plug it in yourself.

...car has too low a charge to take back home!...

That's not acceptable. It needs to be charged enough to reach the next Supercharger or home. Insists on it!

 

[MX_2017DE]

>> low battery
15% should be no problem and I guess you can insist to charge on site in case they didn't do it before pickup.
-Though it will cost you some time in case the superchargers are not free.

>> alarmingly bad service
This seems to be quite usual (also here in Germany), I am also getting more and more frustrated.
Even simple things can be pretty complicated at Tesla SC's.

I live (fortunately only) about 20 miles away from an SC, but have to work until 5 p.m. ,
so I cannot go there earlier (but they're open until 6 p.m.).
Service counter is closed on Saturdays.

- Last week I wanted to order a spare part on site at 5:30 p.m., the clerk asked me to come
back another day as he had to answer 20 emails first (I was the only service customer on site)?!
I almost jumped over the counter, but in the end did not leave without ordering it.
- Three days ago I got an SMS that the spare part arrived and I wanted to pick it up, again at 5:30 p.m. .
The clerk told me that the warehouse guy already left at 4 p.m. and he has no key.
I had to leave without the spare part, though I had answered the SMS instantly to pick it up the same day.
He promised me to call me next day and send it via carrier to my home.
I got no call, have sent Emails, have sent SMS - no answers.
- Today I hang 1 hour and 20 minutes in a waiting queue until someone picked up the phone.
The guy just said - oh I am alone and have other customers, too.
- Fortunately today he kept the key of the warehouse (though it was 4:30 when he picked up the phone).
When I arrived there, again I was the only service customer?!
So what kept him busy for 80 minutes not to pick up the phone?

No apologies, no words about the forgotten call, non answered emails. Nothing.
Customer service is something different for me.