Model 3: My car is in the shop on day 2

[Bruinfan]

Wow. some people are definitely hostile here, rather than helpful. You could experience PTSD for posting or asking "novice" questions here. Stupid questions are not allowed or you will be shot down. Good way to attract new members.

So, I just use "Ignore" option and keep on posting. Ka-chow

the problem is not the novice questions.

the problem is, as a new owner, immediately being negative about all things tesla. That will make people here defensive, understandably so, as these negative posts become ammo for FUD articles.

So when he starts with "I've never had a worst experience picking up a new car", and proceeds to attribute every little thing to defects, and starts to equivocate that to how horrible a company Tesla is... he's going to get some resistance.

Does it make it right? maybe not. But new EV owners do need to be more inquisitive and less indicting... especially on Post #1.

 

[adaptabl]

the problem is not the novice questions.

the problem is, as a new owner, immediately being negative about all things tesla. That will make people here defensive, understandably so, as these negative posts become ammo for FUD articles.

So when he starts with "I've never had a worst experience picking up a new car", and proceeds to attribute every little thing to defects, and starts to equivocate that to how horrible a company Tesla is... he's going to get some resistance.

Does it make it right? maybe not. But new EV owners do need to be more inquisitive and less indicting... especially on Post #1.

No. The person buys a new car and it is a disaster on day one. I would be upset buying a FIAT and having that happen. I totally understand his frustration.

 

[rhaekar]

No. The person buys a new car and it is a disaster on day one. I would be upset buying a FIAT and having that happen. I totally understand his frustration.

I empathize with the guy. You wait 2 years and finally get your car and something major is wrong and then you start noticing all the little things wrong too.

I'm upset that my 3 is still at the service center dealing with the airbag sensor issue. Since it's already there I'm having them address the little things too. Luckily they reached out to me and I was able to swap my ICE loaner for a MS60 at least.

 

[Bruinfan]

No. The person buys a new car and it is a disaster on day one. I would be upset buying a FIAT and having that happen. I totally understand his frustration.

you would have a right to be upset. (if it was truly a disaster)

i'm addressing the issue of : "people are hostile here"

the problem is not that OP has a perception of having a bad car and has questions, novice questions.

the problem is OP comes in guns blazing and then people don't understand why he encounters hostility.

if he has perceived problems and is unhappy, but then it turns out, there was no problem to begin with, is it fair that he crapped on tesla?

the regen warning seems completely normal to me, or at least could very well be... if he just asked about it, he would get plenty of helpful answers. instead, it's "the worst experience picking up a new car". Defensive posters in reply do not surprise me.

 

[xav-]

The North American version was redesigned from the European model and built in Mexico starting in 2011 (all the VIN's start with "3"). It is larger than the European version. I believe they are now built in Poland and shipped to North America. Sales are crap on all FIAT products in North America and they have the lowest score on the JD powers reliability survey.

Thanks for the info I didn’t know that.

 

[xav-]

As much as I laughed at the guy 2 weeks back who complained about the floor mats with the YouTube video and the sad piano music in the background... here I feel bad for OP.

 

[Bet TSLA]

I note that the OP has never come back to this thread and elaborated on any of the unclear things that he or she said, nor has there been any follow-up on how things turned out. Looks more and more like just confusion to me, followed by being too embarrassed to return.

And the reason that there's doubt expressed at a claim like "the car won't charge" when it's made by a new owner is that usually what it really means is "I don't know how to tell if the car will charge" or "I don't know how to use my charger". Tesla doesn't do a very good job of educating new owners.

 

[Ollie Jones]

What is it you want to escalate?.

It makes sense to escalate a defective-upon-delivery issue. Even if the exec can't do anything about it directly, they need to know about such things.

 

[joeinslw]

I know everything is different today with technology, but I would like to tell you how far the auto industry has come in the last 42 years.
In 1974 I ordered my first Ford F-250 pick-up truck completed as a towing vehicle for a travel trailer I owned.
It took several months for the delivery, so on April 2ond 1975 that truck came in, I was just a kid with no experience before I signed the papers, I saw it looked it over, but I did not drive it, so I signed the papers, on the way home the brake pedal was so fluctuating (going up and down) it was almost impossible to drive.
I turned around and went back to the dealer, they said they would fix it, but all they did was to grind down the front disc brake rotors, Instead of replacing them, they were so warped they had to take off so much metal, that they can never be cut again.
This is the difference of taking it for a TEST driver BEFORE you sign the papers, because if they don't fix it before you sign you might be very sorry, so you can refuse it, but after you sign those papers, all they will agree to do is to fix it which in my case was not good enough, they should have replaced those disc brake rotors.
With those old trucks the rotors and wheel bearings are all one part, I didn't know that then so replacing them would have been very very expensive, so they just cut them.
Lesson learned, when picking up a new car or truck take it for a test drive, if it's electric plug it in making sure it will charge before you sign papers, if they refuse for you to take it for that test drive, then you can expect there is something wrong, and you can refuse it telling them to get you another vehicle, unless your so hard up for that car you would take it under any condition, take it from me, don't do it, in the long run you'll be sorry.
I still own that truck with that 390 engine, Carter 4 barrel carb, with 77 thousand original miles, I still get a kick out of driving it around my community in my old age, once in a while that brake pedal jumps taking me back to the day I picked it up thinking what a fool I was to accept it that way. So do yourself a favor, say no to mistakes or just looked over errors.

 

[MinionBlob]

My guess is that he had simply failed to plug in the charger correctly so the charger had never really completed the connection (orange flashing light). Not knowing the difference, he had left it on without ejecting and reinserting it correctly. I've done this many times in my X; the clicking sounds are a dead giveaway something is wrong even without looking at the AMP values on the app or on the dashboard.

Simply looking at the manual or calling TESLA roadside assistance could have cleared that up in a few minutes.

The remark about the software update "error message" is another indication of a new Tesla owner not understanding what makes a Tesla unique and different than any other car on the market. Firmware updates pop up all the time especially in the Model 3 these days.

If indeed this is what happened--based on the OP lack of follow-up--I guess the only aspect I'm not clear about is why the SC service writeup person didn't even bother to test the charging mechanism in their in-house SuperCharger to rule out user error scenario. I find it hard to believe--they prepped and delivered a car which requires a full charge--and then the charger or battery immediately malfunctioned after they drove off the lot. Statistically very unlikely, but not entirely impossible.

A degree of confusion must be anticipated with any new car delivery--unless the owner had owned previous models or otherwise familiar with the brand--but a Tesla--especially the Model 3--demands a different paradigm of thinking when interacting and living with the vehicle on a daily basis.

Spreading FUD on a public forum without even having the facts is just a sign of the times, unfortunately.

 

[dwharrison]

Lesson learned, when picking up a new car or truck take it for a test drive, if it's electric plug it in making sure it will charge before you sign any papers, if they refuse then you can expect there is something wrong, and you can refuse it telling them to get you another vehicle, unless your so hard up for that car you would take it under any condition, take it from me, don't do it, in the long run you'll be sorry.

Does Tesla actually allow you to drive the car before you sign the paperwork? I agree with you that driving it would be a great way to check for problems, but is it possible?

 

[Stratusbill]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to see what I can do here. I've never had a worst experience picking up a new car.

Day 1: Sat, 4/21, we picked up the car at Fremont

On our drive home, the car said that there was an issue with regenerative braking. When we got home, we plugged in the car, we had an error message saying that there was an error. We could hear something engage and disengage, but it never could start charging. We also got an error message that the firmware needed to be updated, so we set that up.
Shouldn't that have been done, before we picked up the car?

We decided we would try charging at a supercharger first thing on Sunday. Guess what?

Day 2: We started the car, and the charge had halved overnight. The charge had dropped from 180 miles to 98 overnight? What happened? So, now we have a car that doesn't charge. The firmware is not updated. It's pretty much bricked.
So, we decided to take the car directly to a service center so as not to risk having to tow the car on Monday. We dropped off the car, hoping to try the charger at the service center, but all the ports were used. (probably for the loaner vehicles)

Day 3: I ubered to the service center, and now the car sits waiting for a technician to take a look at this.
Hopefully, my experience is just completely different from everyone's? This has been really bad. The car only has 79 miles on it, and it's sitting at the service center. Now, granted I've been given an S as a loaner, but I would much rather be home with my car working.

Any suggestions on how to get this escalated?

Thanks,

A disappointed Tesla driver

My experience was very different. I’ve had my Model S for 5 months. ZERO issues. Maybe more care goes into the S compared with the 3.

 

[TroyGuy]

Really hope Tesla is not like a FIAT but more like a Toyota. Have owned Toyotas since 1990 and it never went to the dealer except for fluid changes, tires, and clutches. My Celica GT-S had 410,000 miles and still ran strong. Sold it back to the dealership to display in their showrooms.

No comparison between Teslas and Toyota’s . Tesla is superior in all respects as you will eventually find out. If you are buying new Technology, you can’t set the same standard initially. I took very early delivery of my Model 3 before X mass 2017. No problems. I have a very early Model S (23rd in the world) and Model X. Won’t consider any other option yet...

 

[Planned_Apathy]

Well, it sounds like you're unhappy, but I think it's mostly confusion on your part.



Actually, you didn't comment at all on picking up the car. I'll assume you went to the Fremont delivery center. Everything probably went fine or you would have mentioned a problem. Me, I had one of their Ludicrous Latte drinks, so I had such a buzz on I wouldn't have noticed any problems.


So was there any issue? Sounds like there wasn't. Usually the only message you see is that it's limited for one reason or another. Is that the message you saw? It's not an "issue", it's merely informative. In any case, the message went away, right?


Plugged it into what? There could be a problem with the charging source, the cable, or the car? Any idea which? Had you ever used this charger before?


I think you're probably confused again. Sounds like you got a message that a firmware update was available. There's no error. You don't have to update if you don't want to. There is no problem. No, there's no reason that the update should have been done before. Did you tell it to update? Did it not work (as you say later the firmware isn't updated)? What's your firmware version now?


Don't know. Sounds concerning. My Model 3 has sometimes had excessive vampire drain, but not that bad. The more usual thing is that it runs my phone charge down overnight. I'm guessing there's excessive communication going on. The software's still pretty rough, so I've been assuming this problem will get better soon. What firmware version are you on? You should be able to see the version at the bottom of the screen for the car on the phone app.


Sounds to me like the car is driving fine. There is no reason to care whether the firmware is updated. You haven't even tried to charge it from a known good charger (or supercharger). So you have no idea whether the car is the problem or not. It's not "bricked" in any way.


Okay. So the one obvious thing to try, charging from a known good charger, you didn't try. I think you should have asked them to try that immediately. I'm sure they would have freed up a charger for a test. This means you still have no idea whether there's anything wrong with the car. The only actual problem you've seen is excessive vampire drain overnight.

And it sounds like they took your car in for service and gave you a Model S as a loaner. Good deal!


Okay, seems odd to pay Uber to take you to the service center without calling to find out what's happening with your car. And what happened to the Model S they gave you?


Escalate what? Take a look at your phone app to see if the battery has drained excessively further. Call up the service center and ask them if your car can charge using their charger. Ask them if they know if there has been further excessive vampire drain while it's been there. Ask them to please make sure the latest firmware is installed.

Right now I can't see any evidence that there's anything wrong with your car. There might be, but probably not. What's wrong is that they didn't educate you about ownership. That part clearly needs work.

This person needs therapy and medication. I can't remember ever seeing such a sycophant or such a vehement, willfully blind, and irrational attacker/defender in any context -- and never before when it comes to a company and a car.

 

[Planned_Apathy]

I'm honestly shocked the "FUD #fakenews shorter troll!" pitchforks haven't come out yet. Usually they would have been deployed by now. Maybe this place is slowly improving. Baby steps.

ValueAnalyst must be on a coffee break, but I'm sure that he/she will be here soon to accuse OP of shorting the stock and therefore, by implication, also accuse OP of being as unbelievably stupid as ValueAnalyst in believing that complaint posts here can tank the stock.

 

[RedOctober]

Sure would be informative if the OP would come back and tell us what actually happened with her M3 issues. It’s been 4 days, maybe next week we will hear. I have helped a couple new Tesla owners with their issues that appeared bad at first but turned out to be very minor. Always helpful to search for answers first. I’m hoping her issues were minor and fixed to her satisfaction.

 

[Jimbo435]

Thanks OP. Making mental notes: Test Drive, Test Charge before signing, regen messages normal (mostly), update messages normal. Got it. Thanks again.

 

[jjwardSD]

Try having your car in service since January. I honesty forgot that I own a Model 3, not even sure how it drives yet. Bright side is I have put 6k miles on a loaner and enjoyed free supercharging since then. My insurance will also be super low since they think I don't drive at all, although I will need a picture of my mileage at some point.

 

[Bet TSLA]

Try having your car in service since January. I honesty forgot that I own a Model 3, not even sure how it drives yet. Bright side is I have put 6k miles on a loaner and enjoyed free supercharging since then. My insurance will also be super low since they think I don't drive at all, although I will need a picture of my mileage at some point.

Sounds like a pretty sweet deal actually, so long as your Model 3 comes out okay after it's prolonged service. What's wrong with it?

 

[Warrentt]

Sounds like a pretty sweet deal actually, so long as your Model 3 comes out okay after it's prolonged service. What's wrong with it?

Something along the line that he hasn’t been able to drive his car he purchased. He didn't purchase a range rover but in this case might as well