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New Buyers Beware / Negative repair process
- Thread starter y2kcurt
- Start date
Not even a courtesy call from the repair shop to tell you that the glue is in or not? That's just unacceptable. It seems no-one is considering your car their problem. My best suggestion is to call corporate again. That seemed to do the trick last time.
HankLloydRight
No Roads
I have been in the car repair business for 30 years and the "special glue" is the lamest excuse I have ever heard I firmly believe you are dealing with a bush league repair shop. The amount of damage is so small it could easily be repaired. Not to mention that car was totally drivable for this entire time. And whoever said body shops don't do actual repairs on body parts does not know what he is talking about. They do not just replace panels they are skilled and able to work with many materials to repair damage. They replace parts when it is more cost effective saving labor. I hate that your beautiful car got rear ended totally sucks. Tesla is in the wrong and technically breaking the law by not selling parts in most states to independent repair shops there are many laws to give the independent guy the ability to buy parts and repair vehicles. If this practice was allowed there would be no independent repair shops as each dealer would be the only place you could buy parts/get information.
If it's for something wrong (not an accident), at 30 days it qualifies you for lemon law and get your money back.
Decided to submit my story to a few news outlets in hopes that it might get picked up and published. I will keep the forum posted if I get any responses. Maybe a little press will nudge Tesla to dedicate some resources on solving for all owners (not my specific dilemma). This type of service cant be considered acceptable by any stretch of the imagination. As much as it sickens me to say, maybe dealer requirements aren't an entirely bad thing, as I was convinced of prior to all this madness.
Tomorrow we go to Marietta to test drive a Model S, and will probably place an order for one.
We have two ICE vehicles now. I had been on the fence about whether to trade in or sell the MB (you know, along with its attendant insurance costs and annual maintenance) when we get the MS. After reading this entire thread, I have decided to keep both ICE vehicles - at least for a while, until Tesla gets its act together regarding parts and repair. I suppose it will. As I have posted before, I worked in a startup car plant (MB M-Class) from the very start - new model, new plant, new team, etc. We struggled for many years with some of the same issues Tesla has now, but eventually overcame them. We did have some very disappointed customers for a while, as I see Tesla does also; but I have come to believe that this is something to be expected with a new model and new car plant.
On the matter of repair, I will know to let my local shop take a look at my Model S in case of a minor dent or ding - bondo and paint can take care of a lot.
We have two ICE vehicles now. I had been on the fence about whether to trade in or sell the MB (you know, along with its attendant insurance costs and annual maintenance) when we get the MS. After reading this entire thread, I have decided to keep both ICE vehicles - at least for a while, until Tesla gets its act together regarding parts and repair. I suppose it will. As I have posted before, I worked in a startup car plant (MB M-Class) from the very start - new model, new plant, new team, etc. We struggled for many years with some of the same issues Tesla has now, but eventually overcame them. We did have some very disappointed customers for a while, as I see Tesla does also; but I have come to believe that this is something to be expected with a new model and new car plant.
On the matter of repair, I will know to let my local shop take a look at my Model S in case of a minor dent or ding - bondo and paint can take care of a lot.
jeffro01
Active Member
Interesting tactic. From what I gather, and perhaps this is incorrect, your issue doesn't lie with Tesla, it lies with the repair shop you took your car to. There are ample examples on this forum of timely repairs from a multitude of other shops which would suggest to me the issue isn't with Tesla.
Something just doesn't seem quite right here...
Jeff
I did the same. I have 2 ICE vehicles, both 2005. Diesel truck and a Lexus. Since we live far from the service facility, I decided to keep the Lexus "just in case" I had issues with the Model S. So far, the Model S has a small list of things that need looking after, but nothing that I can't delay until yearly service.
I wanted to add another story to this thread, about how not all repair processes are bad.
I'm going through a repair now (Door ding).
I called 2 Tesla certified body shops in the area, each 1.5 hours drive from me (nothing nearby).
Shop 1 - 1.5 hours north of me -- "Tesla parts take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months for delivery."
Shop 2 - 1.5 hours south of me -- "Tesla parts take anywhere from 5 days to 10 days for delivery. In addition, we can pick up your car at the Tesla Service center (next to my job), and drop it back off when the work is complete, so you don't have to travel 1.5 hours each way."
Guess which shop I'm going with
.
I'm going through a repair now (Door ding).
I called 2 Tesla certified body shops in the area, each 1.5 hours drive from me (nothing nearby).
Shop 1 - 1.5 hours north of me -- "Tesla parts take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months for delivery."
Shop 2 - 1.5 hours south of me -- "Tesla parts take anywhere from 5 days to 10 days for delivery. In addition, we can pick up your car at the Tesla Service center (next to my job), and drop it back off when the work is complete, so you don't have to travel 1.5 hours each way."
Guess which shop I'm going with
.
I'm getting my rear bumper and lower grey plastic applique replaced (was rear ended, argh). Shop said parts from Tesla take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to arrive (common parts like bumpers are quicker). Driving my car until parts come in -- damage is cosmetic, but kinda sucks to drive around a busted looking car.
Bumper was $307, applique was $225. $100/hr for paint and body labor.
(I had my front bumper replaced at the same place in July 2014 after a hit and run in the parking lot at the grocery store and it was $850, so either the front bumper is much more expensive than the rear, or Tesla has lowered prices a significant amount. Bodyshop has raised prices from $90/hr in 2014, to $100/hr now)
Bumper was $307, applique was $225. $100/hr for paint and body labor.
(I had my front bumper replaced at the same place in July 2014 after a hit and run in the parking lot at the grocery store and it was $850, so either the front bumper is much more expensive than the rear, or Tesla has lowered prices a significant amount. Bodyshop has raised prices from $90/hr in 2014, to $100/hr now)
I posted my tale of woe on the TM forum. In a nutshell:
Fender bender in mid-November. Car still drivable.
Taken to the body shop (delay caused half by shop's backlog and half waiting for Tesla to send parts) Feb 2.
After disassembly, they needed a few more small parts, including rivets.
As of today, about 7 weeks later, rivets still on back-order from Tesla's Japanese supplier, with no known ship date.
Use of third-party rivets will void warranty, so no choice.
Originally, I was going to give my Toyota SUV to one of my kids. After this fiasco, I'm keeping it.
Tesla sucks in the customer service department.
Fender bender in mid-November. Car still drivable.
Taken to the body shop (delay caused half by shop's backlog and half waiting for Tesla to send parts) Feb 2.
After disassembly, they needed a few more small parts, including rivets.
As of today, about 7 weeks later, rivets still on back-order from Tesla's Japanese supplier, with no known ship date.
Use of third-party rivets will void warranty, so no choice.
Originally, I was going to give my Toyota SUV to one of my kids. After this fiasco, I'm keeping it.
Tesla sucks in the customer service department.
taurusking
Member
I wanted to add another story to this thread, about how not all repair processes are bad.
I'm going through a repair now (Door ding).
I called 2 Tesla certified body shops in the area, each 1.5 hours drive from me (nothing nearby).
Shop 1 - 1.5 hours north of me -- "Tesla parts take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months for delivery."
Shop 2 - 1.5 hours south of me -- "Tesla parts take anywhere from 5 days to 10 days for delivery. In addition, we can pick up your car at the Tesla Service center (next to my job), and drop it back off when the work is complete, so you don't have to travel 1.5 hours each way."
Guess which shop I'm going with
Shop 1...
JKOn the main issue::
My car was hit by a deer and it took 1.5months for the parts to arrive and only to find out that wrong part was sent...how could this happen? Is the body shop lying or did Tesla really send the wrong door?
Update: 3 months 3 weeks, no update or ETA. Confident I will surpass 4 month mark. Has to be a record.
4 Month Update! - We have progress. A flurry of activity this past week and it may be due to a Tweet I made to Elon a week ago. I wrote, "@elonmusk help! Great"S"t car ever made in body shop for 3 months waiting on parts from the mother ship. #pumpinggassucks #Ihearttesla". Not 100% sure this is what caused it or purely coincidence.
Activity as follows:
1) Received a call from the Body Shop Manager and he stated they finally received the correct quarter panel, but still waiting on a proper lift gate cable. He said they would be assembling beginning on Friday and if all goes well, the parts would go out to paint next week for final assembly later in the week or early the following week. In short, I should have my car the first week of April. He was extra apologetic. He gave me his cell phone and promised to call me every Monday until the car is fully repaired.
2) I received a call from the person in charge of certified body shops at Tesla Corporate. He apologized for the experience and said he was still researching the issue, but had already identified a few points of failure (both on Tesla side and body shop side). He took full responsibility as he said they (Tesla) are ultimately responsible for my experience. He then offered up a loaner Model S, for which I said I didnt need, especially being so close to the finish line. I said I would prefer that he focus his time/energy/expense on ensuring my car is fixed in as short as time as possible. He said that was a given...and further pushed me to take the loaner. He said he would have someone drop it off. This said, I thought I would accept it to roll the dice to maybe get a P90D or something with Insane/Luda mode. He gave me his personal cell number and told me to call him if I had any further issues. He committed to staying on top of the body shop and ensure there would be no further delays.
3) The next day, I received the loner Tesla - 2013 80kw, with no bells or whistles (not even Autopilot)--boo!...oh well, hard to complain about free. It did remind me again how great, even a 2013, the Model S is.
This said, we had a bad snow storm in Denver, so I expect a couple days delay. I should be getting on or around the 4th or 5th of April.
My only regret...not complaining much louder, much sooner. I suspect my situation is an anomaly and somehow fell through all service/customer experience cracks. I believe Tesla is trying to do everything they can to make it right and I believe they will be researching to identify each aspect of the calamity of errors.
Hopefully my next post will be my last post after picking up my car.
Activity as follows:
1) Received a call from the Body Shop Manager and he stated they finally received the correct quarter panel, but still waiting on a proper lift gate cable. He said they would be assembling beginning on Friday and if all goes well, the parts would go out to paint next week for final assembly later in the week or early the following week. In short, I should have my car the first week of April. He was extra apologetic. He gave me his cell phone and promised to call me every Monday until the car is fully repaired.
2) I received a call from the person in charge of certified body shops at Tesla Corporate. He apologized for the experience and said he was still researching the issue, but had already identified a few points of failure (both on Tesla side and body shop side). He took full responsibility as he said they (Tesla) are ultimately responsible for my experience. He then offered up a loaner Model S, for which I said I didnt need, especially being so close to the finish line. I said I would prefer that he focus his time/energy/expense on ensuring my car is fixed in as short as time as possible. He said that was a given...and further pushed me to take the loaner. He said he would have someone drop it off. This said, I thought I would accept it to roll the dice to maybe get a P90D or something with Insane/Luda mode. He gave me his personal cell number and told me to call him if I had any further issues. He committed to staying on top of the body shop and ensure there would be no further delays.
3) The next day, I received the loner Tesla - 2013 80kw, with no bells or whistles (not even Autopilot)--boo!...oh well, hard to complain about free. It did remind me again how great, even a 2013, the Model S is.
This said, we had a bad snow storm in Denver, so I expect a couple days delay. I should be getting on or around the 4th or 5th of April.
My only regret...not complaining much louder, much sooner. I suspect my situation is an anomaly and somehow fell through all service/customer experience cracks. I believe Tesla is trying to do everything they can to make it right and I believe they will be researching to identify each aspect of the calamity of errors.
Hopefully my next post will be my last post after picking up my car.
4 months 2 weeks update - still no car and no definitive ETA.
Finished all body work last week, but bodyshop had not received a lift gate cable yet. I called Tesla and they overnighted the correct part. Body shop claims they received 2 days later.
Then, bodyshop had to install the gate glass but glass guy gone for the day. Caused another delay.
Got a message yesterday that said glass is going to get polished over the weekend and final assembly next week...BUT! They just realized Tesla sent the wrong side "inner tail light for the gate". So now ther is no ETA on that.
In short, I am leaning towards 75% of the issues are due to body shop neglegence and 25% due to Tesla part availability and identification process. However, since Tesla certifies and oversees these shops, they have more culpability than just 25%.
I am resetting my expectations that this will be another 6 weeks, which will mean the car would have been in shop for 6 months.
Since Elon has ludacris mode for fast speed, we need a term that reflects the mode we go into for body repairs..."Apathetic Mode".
Finished all body work last week, but bodyshop had not received a lift gate cable yet. I called Tesla and they overnighted the correct part. Body shop claims they received 2 days later.
Then, bodyshop had to install the gate glass but glass guy gone for the day. Caused another delay.
Got a message yesterday that said glass is going to get polished over the weekend and final assembly next week...BUT! They just realized Tesla sent the wrong side "inner tail light for the gate". So now ther is no ETA on that.
In short, I am leaning towards 75% of the issues are due to body shop neglegence and 25% due to Tesla part availability and identification process. However, since Tesla certifies and oversees these shops, they have more culpability than just 25%.
I am resetting my expectations that this will be another 6 weeks, which will mean the car would have been in shop for 6 months.
Since Elon has ludacris mode for fast speed, we need a term that reflects the mode we go into for body repairs..."Apathetic Mode".
tfboy
Gimme the Caaaaaar!
Let's hope they remember that when the Model 3 hits the streets
tfboy
Gimme the Caaaaaar!
Whoops, I quoted a post from a while ago, so to save everyone figuring it out, I was responding to Canuck's post who was in turn responding to SpiceWare's post regarding Yugo:
So considering the "mass market" approach of the M3, I was saying that with a hint of irony!
I hope you get your MS back soon, y2kcurt! I feel the pain in waiting.
So considering the "mass market" approach of the M3, I was saying that with a hint of irony!
I hope you get your MS back soon, y2kcurt! I feel the pain in waiting.
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