Menlo Park Service - Not a good start

[favo]

Someone should probably tweet this to @elonmusk. That seems to be the way to get some quick attention from the top. I'm not an owner, or I would.

 

[tobi_ger]

Everyone trying to get Elon's attention is counterproductive, he's already got enough on his plate, give him some air to breathe. That's not to diminish the problems at hand.

 

[Botbldr45]

Guess I was one of the lucky ones!
MD SC in Gaithersburg............service was delayed one day after I dropped it off but was done fine.
I got a P85 loaner for two days and didn't want to take it back. It was awesome. I fully expected an Enterprise car but was in the right place at right time.
I'm sure system is still developing but agree loaner fleet should be a loaner fleet

 

[gaswalla]

San Diego service center covers the gas at enterprise...started doing so a few months ago

 

[Mayhemm]

If Tesla wants the loaner program to be successful, they should not put them up for sale until they reach a certain mileage; and even then only to current owners looking to upgrade.

Currently, prospective owners are given the choice between making a reservation (getting exactly what they want but waiting a couple months), or taking a top-of-the-line loaner vehicle (with low mileage and at a discount) right now. Most people would probably choose the latter.

 

[surfingslovak]

BMW (mountain view and stevens creek) makes you pay for gas on rentals that aren't BMWs.

Not if the vehicle being serviced is electric. I wish they had EV loaners, and that too can come to pass.

 

[sgblank]

Update to Menlo Service

Just to close this thread out with an update:

- got my car back on Monday from Menlo Park service (having brought in Thursday)
- Pano roof was repaired. Cause: broken wind deflector arms. Given how quiet opening and closing the roof is now, I now realize the cracking noises I was hearing since getting the car definitely was not normal.
- they put my P85 badge on
- car was clean and shiny
- the service invoice also says they also "re-torqued front and rear suspensions and subframes"
- I asked them about when the fix for my HPWC would come - August was the answer. Ouch.
- I had asked them to fix the unusable AM radio (in places with anything less than high signal strength areas AM is completely drowned out by interference from the Inverter. Every other car - 17 so far - that has visited has good reception here other than Tesla.) The rep said it was a known issue, but then proceeded to embarrass himself and Tesla by telling me it was because the antenna was one of the new type, embedded in the rear glass, rather than the "standard whip antennas." I cringed. Er, no, that's very much not the issue. Poor noise rejection, inadequate shielding and poor design is probably more like it. I asked thinking they might have come up with a shielding fix or an amp. I just added this to my "live with it list," along with the "no Nav maps where I live" - 15 air miles from Silicon Valley.
- after they handed me the car I noticed it still had version 4.4 of the software. The rep said, "oops" took the car back for 15 minutes and downloaded version 4.5. I drove away happy and ready to install my new version. Everything was great...

- Until I installed my new software. Installation started normally, but an hour later...
- I went back to see what the new features looked like and found messages on my dash that said "download failed" and "service required"
- pushing on the brake caused the dash display to jump from P to N to D randomly without me ever putting the car in gear
- called the Tesla rep to see if they could remotely redownload or fix the car remotely.
- discovered they couldn't do anything because there's intermittent to non-existant cell coverage in my area. I was a bit nervous driving the car not trusting the gear display which kept changing as I was driving (I had rebooted the dash and screen to be sure those werent the problems)
- next morning drove 12 miles down the road, called service again and they remotely fixed the problem within 20 minutes

Oh, and this morning Enterprise-Rent-A-Car said my bill for gas for the loaner was $26

Still love the car, still never going back to an ICE.

However buyers in rural areas with poor or no cell coverage should understand:
- several features are dependent on a cell connection (map display, software updates, remote diagnostics, etc)
- AM radio appears to have been designed for Urban areas

 

[Mayhemm]

However buyers in rural areas with poor or no cell coverage should understand:
- several features are dependent on a cell connection (map display, software updates, remote diagnostics, etc)
- AM radio appears to have been designed for Urban areas

I thought that the maps were supposed to be pre-loaded if you had the tech package (Do you have the tech package?)

Or is that just for use with the navigation functions?

 

[TurboFroggy]

The two times I had my P85 in for service I had a great experience. It was at the very newly opened Bellevue, WA Service Center. The issues I had were minor, sunroof creak, rattling dash trim. None of these were pressing and the first time was before they had any Tesla loaners and were giving out rentals from Enterprise. I knew that Enterprise in the area had Leafs or rent, to I requested them to arrange a Leaf for a loaner for me. I have two J1772s and two 14-50s at the house so no problem charging two Leafs. That worked out great. Second time I got a brand new red P85+ as a loaner. They had me fixed so fast though that I didn't get to drive the P85+ home, however did take some co-workers out for a spirited drive at lunch. Man those Michelin PS2s are sticky.

 

[sgblank]

@mayhemm
yes, I have the tech package.
no, maps are not preloaded.

The nav system uses Google Maps. If you don't have a 3g connection your map goes black. When you get back within range your map reloads.

 

[dennis]

If Tesla wants the loaner program to be successful, they should not put them up for sale until they reach a certain mileage; and even then only to current owners looking to upgrade.

Currently, prospective owners are given the choice between making a reservation (getting exactly what they want but waiting a couple months), or taking a top-of-the-line loaner vehicle (with low mileage and at a discount) right now. Most people would probably choose the latter.

If part of the rationale for Tesla skirting the dealer franchise laws is "our Design Centers only discuss features and demonstrate cars, they don't discuss price and you can only order online", who is it that calls the prospective customer and says "We have a P85+ demo car that nearly matches your configuration, do you want to buy it?"

 

[Liz G]

@mayhemm
yes, I have the tech package.
no, maps are not preloaded.

The nav system uses Google Maps. If you don't have a 3g connection your map goes black. When you get back within range your map reloads.

Actually, that's not quite accurate.

We were in rural Upper Michigan this week and did not have 3G service when we accidentally found a new screen. When there is no connectivity if you click (tap) on the search field a new screen appears that says "No Connectivity: Address Search" or something like that. You then can type in the address, it has fields for street address, city, and state, and then search for that address. When we did that we had no problem finding the address we were looking for and the Nav worked perfect though it took a bit of time for the actual map to update and not show the "No Results Found" watermark that had appeared when we first tried searching using the standard search input field.

The new search screen does not allow name searches, looks like it has to be an address. I have not tested to see if we can get the screen when there is connectivity, though I have never seen it before. Also, we did not test to see what would happen if you put an incomplete or non-existent address in. If we find ourselves in a low connectivity area again I will test this and try to take a picture

 

[Darren Donovan]

I certainly agree that "overpromise and then underdeliver" is not the best path to customer satisfaction. (Though it's not all bad; I just had a pretty good - though not perfect - service experience in Bellevue WA).

But I don't see existing customers as a low priority for Tesla. If nothing else, the local employees seem to be trying (even though they don't always succeed) very hard to please, and I don't think they would try that hard if Elon insisted they focus elsewhere. I think it's just more of a case of Elon, as usual, promising something before everybody that works for him is ready and able to deliver it. I don't think it's malicious; I think Elon is just impatient. He wishes all this stuff could get done immediately, and is frustrated that it takes time. And we all feel the same.

I do agree that existing customers don't seem to be the highest priority. Selling cars to new customers seems to be higher priority than making existing customers happy. It will be certainly be nice when they have the resources to do both well at the same time, but for now I think - even from my own perspective as an owner, just looking out a ways - their priorities are probably straight.

I am not trying to make excuses for Tesla - they aren't delivering what was promised, so they should promise less. Underdelivering annoys early customers, and the customers' words may deter prospective customers. But I can't control Tesla, only my own reaction. I find myself much happier when I set my expectations that what they promise will come...some unpredictable day long after they promise it.

Sounds suspiciously like a typical GM dealeship's attitude. Though I must say I've had excellent service at the Chevy dealer.

 

[K5ING]

@mayhemm
yes, I have the tech package.
no, maps are not preloaded.

The nav system uses Google Maps. If you don't have a 3g connection your map goes black. When you get back within range your map reloads.

This is from Tesla's own page concerning the Nav system on the Tech Package:

"GPS navigation system with onboard maps
and free map updates for seven years"

Sounds like it has built-in maps or am I reading that wrong?

 

[ggr]

This is from Tesla's own page concerning the Nav system on the Tech Package:

"GPS navigation system with onboard maps
and free map updates for seven years"

Sounds like it has built-in maps or am I reading that wrong?

There are two parts to the Nav system. The big screen is Google-Cloud-based, and only works when you have connectivity. But the little map on the instrument display is driven by on-board maps and works all the time, but only knows about street addresses.

 

[SFOTurtle]

I had a short but good service at Menlo Park today. Took my car in for tire rotation and replacement of front mats and addition of rear seat mats. Folks there were very nice, and service was performed very quickly. There was one other job done (replacing window regulators) and as well as an inspection.

 

[JPP]

Menlo Park is going to close in a month or 2 once Burlingame and Sunnyvale come on line. Stanford is taking back the land for a big develoment.

 

[shady]

Menlo Park is going to close in a month or 2 once Burlingame and Sunnyvale come on line. Stanford is taking back the land for a big develoment.

I'm pretty sure it won't be that long. My car is being serviced in Burlingame tomorrow!

 

[No Tailpipe]

Couple of conclusions- 1) Tesla is a startup and acts like one. 2) They're selling as many cars as they can (great) but they will do it at the expense of existing customers. 3) Service and support will suffer until it starts to impact their sales (same experience I had being an early Solar City customer.) 4) The CEO makes claims that are great for the stock price (and he actually might believe) but which really don't show up on the ground now or potentially ever.

p.s. like everyone else who owns the car I love it and will never go back to an ICE car. Just disappointed they haven't made the service experience in one of their larger markets feel as good as the car.

I would suggest contacting Jerome Guillen at Tesla directly about your service experience. During Teslive General Session he told the audience to contact him directly with any service concerns. He wants to ensure every Tesla owner has an amazing service experience, if not he wants to know directly.

 

[Acmykguy]

You should share your experience with "[email protected]". They are committed to improving the ownership experience but they need to be informed about problems to deal with them.

Yes at yes live Jerome Guillien spoke and he wants to know this stuff. He will make the changes that are needed. He works long and hard. Every day 7 days a week they review service issues that happened and work on remedy. Guys girls 3-6 months from now this will be a thing of the past.