This post details my Tesla service experiences in the last 4 months.
The executive summary: Tesla has some nice, hard-working people in service, but they need a whole lot more service advisors in Fremont and Menlo Park.
Specific complaints:
There should be a higher chance of speaking to a service advisor when you call.
Service advisors should be able to return your call at least within an hour, if not within 20 minutes.
The ability to email a service advisor could be helpful. [email protected] doesn't seem to get through to your advisor, though.
They seem to be lacking in some back end tools that ensure they don’t forget what they said.
Ranger service should leave some documentation of what was done.
I’m surprised that my car was returned with a lower SOC than when it left. Yeah, this is normal for gasoline cars, but it surprised me in this case.
Specific things I liked:
Even when I was persistently calling Tesla over minor concerns, they were always polite to me.
They were willing to call me well after they should have been able to quit work for the day.
Everyone I dealt with seemed nice.
Pickup/dropoff was easy.
I think being able to make an appointment 1 week in the future for a non-critical issue is reasonable.
Washing and vacuuming the car is very nice of them. I didn’t expect that.
And now the gory details….
On January 22nd, I tried calling Tesla service. I got a voicemailbox, so I tried email instead. I listed the following issues:
1) 12V battery needs service
2) Flaky 14-50 adaptor to the UMC
3) Left rear seatbelt doesn’t move smoothly
4) Car not waking up happily
I got a reply that item (1) would be fixed in FW, and that for the other issues, they’d contact me.
I got the FW fix the next day, and it fixed problems (1) and (4). I didn’t receive a contact on the other issues before I had to reach out to service again…
On January 23rd, (my 2nd time driving with the new FW), my car went into limp mode (“Car needs service… Please pull over”). After limping for 5 seconds or so, the car came back to life, and I drove it home. I sent an email, but after not getting a reply for a few hours, I called. I was told they were busy but they’d call back. They did call back, and said that they weren’t sure what happened, but if it was fine now, I was fine. We started talking about the seatbelt and flaky adaptor, and they said they could schedule me for service in a few weeks and they’d call back to make the appointment. They didn’t call back.
Fast forward to March 22nd, I call the 877 Service number on Friday evening requesting service:
1) Flaky 14-50 adaptor to UMC
2) Left rear seatbelt doesn’t move smoothly
3) Left rear door occasionally opens itself and occasionally refuses to open
4) Front right speaker makes a crackling sound over Slacker/USB stick (not FM or Bluetooth)
5) Interior cabin temperature reads about 7 degrees hot
6) Charge port door occasionally doesn’t open
7) P85 badge and spoiler would be nice, if available.
My call is answered, and they ask if I’m available Thursday 3/28 @ 9am. I was having some pool work done then, so I said 3/29 would be better, so we set up ranger service on 3/29.
Later on, I realize, hey, why not do them both on the same day? Car service and pool service, so I can be around for both… So I call the 877 service number Saturday morning to ask about switching days. I get through to the Fremont advisor who tells me he’ll check and get back to me. I wait around for a half hour, and don’t get a call, so I try calling back. He’s unavailable, so I leave a message. Two hours later I call again. He’s still too busy to check. Late Saturday, he calls me back and says he can do Thursday, just be sure to send the flaky UMC. I get confused, “send?” “yeah, when they come to get your car, send the UMC”. “Oh, I thought you were sending a ranger to me, not sending a trailer to get the car.”
Thursday 3/28 arrives. The pool guy comes and goes, so around 10:30 I call Tesla and am told that he’s on his way. He arrived shortly after. The ranger tells me he’s not picking up the car, but will service my car at my house. We talk through the issues, and it seems that the only issue he’s prepared to deal with is items (3) and (7) above. For (1), he brought a UMC, but no adaptor. He says that they can mail me a new adaptor. Anyway, I head off to work and leave him to it. When I get back, the key is where we agreed it would be, and the car has a new badge and spoiler, but there’s no indication of what else happened.
I try calling service, but struggle to get through. After a couple weeks of trying to get through, I do get a hold of Fremont service, and get a new guy. He suggests I drop off the car in Fremont. I explain that I paid for ranger service, and that would be more convenient for me. He acquiesces: okay, we can send someone out if that’s what you want. It is. So we schedule a week or two in the future, 4/18 for service.
4/16, my wife tells me that she wants the carpool sticker car on Thursday. So I try all day Tuesday to get a hold of service to let them know to send the ranger to a different address. I finally get through on Wednesday. The service advisor has no record of the appointment I set up the previous week. He tells me that he can pick up my car on Monday 4/22.
Sunday 4/21, 9pm, I get a call asking what address to do the pickup at. He said he thought he remembered us agreeing to pick up the car at my work (also the way I remembered it), but that his computer had them picking it up at my wife’s work. I’m glad he could remember the conversation!
The car is picked up without a problem on Monday, 4/22.
Tuesday, 4/23, around noon, I call to ask how it’s going and leave a message. Tuesday night, around 7pm, I get the reply:
1) I forgot to send the bad adaptor, but they’ll send one when they return my car, anyway.
2) They removed an extra glide that shouldn’t have been there.
3) We’re guessing the ranger fixed this.
4) Software bug. Wait for update.
5) Nothing they can do.
6) Can not duplicate. No action taken.
He schedules delivery for Thursday 4/25.
Thursday comes, and my car is delivered. It came with an “invoice” detailing my complaints and what they did (or didn't do) to fix them. There was still no charge cable adaptor, though. The driver took some pictures and says that they’ll mail me one. Hopefully they will this time.
My biggest frustration has been getting a hold of someone. Maybe 10% of the time, I can talk to a service advisor. Around 20% of the time, I don't even get past the main 877 switchboard to Fremont service.
My next biggest frustration is the way things keep changing. It's a ranger service, no it's a pickup, no it's ranger service. We'll send the adaptor. We'll send the adaptor. We'll send the adaptor.
Yes, I'm still glad I own a Tesla, and I'm happy to cut them some slack. However, if Audi's service center seemed this overworked and disorganized, I would be disappointed that I had just bought an Audi and would do my best to avoid them except for warranty service.
The executive summary: Tesla has some nice, hard-working people in service, but they need a whole lot more service advisors in Fremont and Menlo Park.
Specific complaints:
There should be a higher chance of speaking to a service advisor when you call.
Service advisors should be able to return your call at least within an hour, if not within 20 minutes.
The ability to email a service advisor could be helpful. [email protected] doesn't seem to get through to your advisor, though.
They seem to be lacking in some back end tools that ensure they don’t forget what they said.
Ranger service should leave some documentation of what was done.
I’m surprised that my car was returned with a lower SOC than when it left. Yeah, this is normal for gasoline cars, but it surprised me in this case.
Specific things I liked:
Even when I was persistently calling Tesla over minor concerns, they were always polite to me.
They were willing to call me well after they should have been able to quit work for the day.
Everyone I dealt with seemed nice.
Pickup/dropoff was easy.
I think being able to make an appointment 1 week in the future for a non-critical issue is reasonable.
Washing and vacuuming the car is very nice of them. I didn’t expect that.
And now the gory details….
On January 22nd, I tried calling Tesla service. I got a voicemailbox, so I tried email instead. I listed the following issues:
1) 12V battery needs service
2) Flaky 14-50 adaptor to the UMC
3) Left rear seatbelt doesn’t move smoothly
4) Car not waking up happily
I got a reply that item (1) would be fixed in FW, and that for the other issues, they’d contact me.
I got the FW fix the next day, and it fixed problems (1) and (4). I didn’t receive a contact on the other issues before I had to reach out to service again…
On January 23rd, (my 2nd time driving with the new FW), my car went into limp mode (“Car needs service… Please pull over”). After limping for 5 seconds or so, the car came back to life, and I drove it home. I sent an email, but after not getting a reply for a few hours, I called. I was told they were busy but they’d call back. They did call back, and said that they weren’t sure what happened, but if it was fine now, I was fine. We started talking about the seatbelt and flaky adaptor, and they said they could schedule me for service in a few weeks and they’d call back to make the appointment. They didn’t call back.
Fast forward to March 22nd, I call the 877 Service number on Friday evening requesting service:
1) Flaky 14-50 adaptor to UMC
2) Left rear seatbelt doesn’t move smoothly
3) Left rear door occasionally opens itself and occasionally refuses to open
4) Front right speaker makes a crackling sound over Slacker/USB stick (not FM or Bluetooth)
5) Interior cabin temperature reads about 7 degrees hot
6) Charge port door occasionally doesn’t open
7) P85 badge and spoiler would be nice, if available.
My call is answered, and they ask if I’m available Thursday 3/28 @ 9am. I was having some pool work done then, so I said 3/29 would be better, so we set up ranger service on 3/29.
Later on, I realize, hey, why not do them both on the same day? Car service and pool service, so I can be around for both… So I call the 877 service number Saturday morning to ask about switching days. I get through to the Fremont advisor who tells me he’ll check and get back to me. I wait around for a half hour, and don’t get a call, so I try calling back. He’s unavailable, so I leave a message. Two hours later I call again. He’s still too busy to check. Late Saturday, he calls me back and says he can do Thursday, just be sure to send the flaky UMC. I get confused, “send?” “yeah, when they come to get your car, send the UMC”. “Oh, I thought you were sending a ranger to me, not sending a trailer to get the car.”
Thursday 3/28 arrives. The pool guy comes and goes, so around 10:30 I call Tesla and am told that he’s on his way. He arrived shortly after. The ranger tells me he’s not picking up the car, but will service my car at my house. We talk through the issues, and it seems that the only issue he’s prepared to deal with is items (3) and (7) above. For (1), he brought a UMC, but no adaptor. He says that they can mail me a new adaptor. Anyway, I head off to work and leave him to it. When I get back, the key is where we agreed it would be, and the car has a new badge and spoiler, but there’s no indication of what else happened.
I try calling service, but struggle to get through. After a couple weeks of trying to get through, I do get a hold of Fremont service, and get a new guy. He suggests I drop off the car in Fremont. I explain that I paid for ranger service, and that would be more convenient for me. He acquiesces: okay, we can send someone out if that’s what you want. It is. So we schedule a week or two in the future, 4/18 for service.
4/16, my wife tells me that she wants the carpool sticker car on Thursday. So I try all day Tuesday to get a hold of service to let them know to send the ranger to a different address. I finally get through on Wednesday. The service advisor has no record of the appointment I set up the previous week. He tells me that he can pick up my car on Monday 4/22.
Sunday 4/21, 9pm, I get a call asking what address to do the pickup at. He said he thought he remembered us agreeing to pick up the car at my work (also the way I remembered it), but that his computer had them picking it up at my wife’s work. I’m glad he could remember the conversation!
The car is picked up without a problem on Monday, 4/22.
Tuesday, 4/23, around noon, I call to ask how it’s going and leave a message. Tuesday night, around 7pm, I get the reply:
1) I forgot to send the bad adaptor, but they’ll send one when they return my car, anyway.
2) They removed an extra glide that shouldn’t have been there.
3) We’re guessing the ranger fixed this.
4) Software bug. Wait for update.
5) Nothing they can do.
6) Can not duplicate. No action taken.
He schedules delivery for Thursday 4/25.
Thursday comes, and my car is delivered. It came with an “invoice” detailing my complaints and what they did (or didn't do) to fix them. There was still no charge cable adaptor, though. The driver took some pictures and says that they’ll mail me one. Hopefully they will this time.
My biggest frustration has been getting a hold of someone. Maybe 10% of the time, I can talk to a service advisor. Around 20% of the time, I don't even get past the main 877 switchboard to Fremont service.
My next biggest frustration is the way things keep changing. It's a ranger service, no it's a pickup, no it's ranger service. We'll send the adaptor. We'll send the adaptor. We'll send the adaptor.
Yes, I'm still glad I own a Tesla, and I'm happy to cut them some slack. However, if Audi's service center seemed this overworked and disorganized, I would be disappointed that I had just bought an Audi and would do my best to avoid them except for warranty service.
