MCU is dead, car is bricked, Tesla is being unforgivably terrible

[groovidad]

The OP stated he believed Tesla monitors this site, relating to them reaching out to him. It may be a good idea to have 2 separate threads started in the forum: Share Your Positive SC stories and Share Your Negative SC Stories. Don’t know if this has been done yet but, it would keep the good and bad separated and allow folks the opportunity to identify the SC’s, good or....not so good. Someone will notice.

 

[ucmndd]

It's changed a lot in two years.

My first service in 2017 someone came to my house 120 miles away from the service center, picked up my car and left me with a brand new loaner. When it was done they drove it right back and dropped it off to me. All gratis without me asking for a thing.

Last week I had an appointment for some minor maintenance items out of warranty. I have to drive the car to them now, taking a whole day off to do so (to be fair it's because the car needed an alignment and mobile service can't do that). Got Lyft credits to use around town while they worked. They charged me $65 for a tire rotation (whoa nelly learned that lesson!) and tried to get me to pay $175 after they diagnosed an issue I asked them to investigate as a firmware bug and pushed an update. They reversed the $175 diag charge after I protested a bit but made it clear this is the new normal and they won't do it again.

Guess this is part of becoming a big boy car company...

 

[gnuarm]

They charged me $65 for a tire rotation (whoa nelly learned that lesson!) and tried to get me to pay $175 after they diagnosed an issue I asked them to investigate as a firmware bug and pushed an update. They reversed the $175 diag charge after I protested a bit but made it clear this is the new normal and they won't do it again.

Guess this is part of becoming a big boy car company...

Sorry, I'm not familiar with Tesla service. What was the $175 charge for? Just diagnosing that there was a problem with the firmware??? Performing an update???

 

[ucmndd]

Sorry, I'm not familiar with Tesla service. What was the $175 charge for? Just diagnosing that there was a problem with the firmware??? Performing an update???

It's a relatively new "general diagnosis" fee that they've started to charge. Some have reported that they're even advising people of this charge for items that should be covered under warranty - for example diagnosing a battery or drive unit for potential replacement under the 8 year unlimited mile warranty. If they determine it's covered under warranty, no charge - if not, that will be $175.

My car is out of warranty, I get the general idea, and had it turned out to be some piece of hardware that failed or other physical repair or calibration or what have you, I'd have paid the diagnostic fee without much complaint. But I think it's a little much to ask me to pay $175 for them to diagnose a bug in their own firmware that they pushed to my car and had been present for months across multiple different versions (I'm skeptical it's a firmware bug at all, or that they did anything whatsoever to correct it - car left with the same firmware rev it went in with - but that's another conversation).

 

[alloverx]

Tesla really should come up with standard service procedures seeing there are no separate dealership companies involved.
After many years these should be fairly stable.
-Simply have SC folks note any exceptions to this process.

 

[gnuarm]

It's a relatively new "general diagnosis" fee that they've started to charge. Some have reported that they're even advising people of this charge for items that should be covered under warranty - for example diagnosing a battery or drive unit for potential replacement under the 8 year unlimited mile warranty. If they determine it's covered under warranty, no charge - if not, that will be $175.

My car is out of warranty, I get the general idea, and had it turned out to be some piece of hardware that failed or other physical repair or calibration or what have you, I'd have paid the diagnostic fee without much complaint. But I think it's a little much to ask me to pay $175 for them to diagnose a bug in their own firmware that they pushed to my car and had been present for months across multiple different versions (I'm skeptical it's a firmware bug at all, or that they did anything whatsoever to correct it - car left with the same firmware rev it went in with - but that's another conversation).

It's a bit scary that you need to track software revisions in your car now. I'm not going to like being out of warranty. I just want a car that works and the maker will stand behind.

 

[Barry]

If they would roll me back to V8, I'd be OK with turning off updates forever. Their QC has become non-existenet and everything in the last year has either taken away features or been a buggy mess.

 

[gnuarm]

If they would roll me back to V8, I'd be OK with turning off updates forever. Their QC has become non-existenet and everything in the last year has either taken away features or been a buggy mess.

Wow! I can't say I see that. There was an update that reorganized the screen and while some screamed about it, I thought it was an improvement. They've added a lot to the various beta features. I'm actually using the beta wipers and the auto-pilot has improved a lot. But if the system is buggy for you that will take away all the fun in the improvements. I recall one guy who says his car now takes some noticeable amount of time to let him start driving. That has only happened once or twice to me, not every time.

 

[Droschke]

But if the system is buggy for you that will take away all the fun in the improvements.

That's it, right there.

 

[jeluthadamaja]

At least most of you all have service centers... try getting service from only 1 dedicated ranger for the entire state of New Mexico. My MCU has been dead now for over a month. They were supposed to fix it last week, but the ranger called me in the morning and said that he wouldn't be able to make it work because the scheduled time was too late (apparently there needs to be software engineers working to back up the MCU before replacing, and my appointment time was too late). Instead of rescheduling me the next day, I had to wait until the next opening, which is later this week.

Mind you this entire time I've been without a loaner. I knew about the long delays associated with bodywork on Tesla's, but didn't realize that simple repairs would take multiple weeks either...

 

[Barry]

I'm actually using the beta wipers

The difference is I have an AP1 car and already had the rain-sensing wipers. All the improvements have been for AP2 cars. THose of us with AP1 have just gotten a worse UI.

 

[Big Toys]

I do hope "Corporate" gets their act together, because Tesla will cease to be a car company once general customers get a load of what happens when you need service and parts from your car company. Elon's "vison" is to make a car company that he can sell and dedicate his efforts to rockets, where the profits are large and customer service after the sale is not an option.

 

[Mhoepfin]

They do everything through either the app or text message. I would have created the service appt in the app with a detailed note about the car being towed there. I also would have sent a text message giving them a heads up and asking for a call. Since they are going this automation route they should have a live chat in the app for stuff like this.

I agree it’s odd they don’t want to talk on the phone but the system has worked fine for me in Marietta, GA (although I’m a new owner).

 

[ILLCOMM]

Final update: I got the car back yesterday so it was gone 11 days in total. The MCU was replaced and all seems back to normal. (However, I did lose a bunch of settings, including my "Trip A" which was the car's lifetime Wh/m history. Sad trombone.) Once the service center started responding and being proactive everything was as expected for a $90k car, really great service, daily updates, clean car, et cetera. Before that it was a disaster. I am not sure what the lesson is here other than there are parts of the experience that need a lot of attention and parts that seem to work pretty well. This experience will be an asterisk when I recommend Tesla to folks (how could I not, I love the damn thing).

 

[BeEatNU]

I am a new owner but from what I can tell, the biggest problem I've experience so far is the handoff or handshaking between departments for handling cases or customers.

 

[TacC]

Regarding the scarcity of the parts and the owners waiting for months, does anyone know what the real issue is with the Tesla parts? Are these parts manufactured per order because Tesla does not have them in their inventory or is it simply a problem with the distribution/logistics of the available parts? I'm so curious.

In my experience, Tesla prioritizes parts for new cars. Nothing gets between them and a single quarterly delivery. They've got cars sitting all over California with plates and HOV stickers, ready to deliver to a new customer within hours.

The sad part about all of this is that there won't be any quarterly deliveries if they don't take care of existing customers.

It took me several weeks and multiple phone calls to get a window sent to a shop in Fremont. If they're having logistical issues shipping a window two miles, we're all screwed.

 

[Pinegreen]

It's a relatively new "general diagnosis" fee that they've started to charge. Some have reported that they're even advising people of this charge for items that should be covered under warranty - for example diagnosing a battery or drive unit for potential replacement under the 8 year unlimited mile warranty. If they determine it's covered under warranty, no charge - if not, that will be $175.

I can confirm the $175 diagnosis fee. I just had my car in for wind noise from the sunroof area. Even though my car is still under warranty, they warned me that it would be a $175 diagnostic fee and if they found something that was under warranty, then they would waive the fee. The initially estimated 2 hours of diagnostic but later text me to confirm that the tech would need an additional hour of diagnostic and if I was OK with that.

 

[whitex]

I can confirm the $175 diagnosis fee. I just had my car in for wind noise from the sunroof area. Even though my car is still under warranty, they warned me that it would be a $175 diagnostic fee and if they found something that was under warranty, then they would waive the fee. The initially estimated 2 hours of diagnostic but later text me to confirm that the tech would need an additional hour of diagnostic and if I was OK with that.

Extra hour means extra charge? $263 instead of $175?

 

[Pinegreen]

Extra hour means extra charge? $263 instead of $175?

It is charged PER HOUR. My service adviser initially quoted 1 hour for diagnostic, but later requested approval for a second hour since they are charging by the hour. He also just confirmed this morning that the hourly rate that they charge is now $195 per hour (at least in Santa Clara)....so my diagnostic fee for 2 hours was $390 ($195 x 2hrs). The invoice still states that the hourly rate charged is $175. Per his comments, they just recently raised the rate and I must have made my appointment when the rate was still $175 but they have since transitioned over to the new $195 rate.

Also, be aware that once your car is repaired and ready for pick up, you have 24 hours to pick up the car and return the loaner. If you do not, per his words, you could be charged $100 per day as a storage fee. The invoice only says that Tesla COULD charge $35 per day for storage fee IF you do not pick up your car by the fourth day after your car is ready. When asked for clarification for the discrepancy between the invoice and what he said, the service adviser stated that the $100 ALSO includes a fee that Enterprise could charge you added on to the $35 that Tesla could charge you.

Sorry to thread jack but the question was asked.

 

[Barry]

you could be charged $100 per day as a storage fee.

If we charged Tesla a storage fee for every day our cars sit in service having nothing done, or in body shops waiting weeks to months for parts, they'd be bankrupt in no time.