New to Tesla...Is it really that bad?

[drtimhill]

Forums for every vehicle type are generally negative. No one gets on and talks about every great experience, by in large people get on to bitch when things are bad. The proverbial 5% make 90% of the noise type thing...

Enjoy your MX!

While I agree that forums are inevitably biased for all the reasons stated, I do think an earlier poster is correct. The actual mechanisms for Tesla service are clearly designed to be low cost for Tesla rather than customer focused .. it IS hard to contact them, and it IS hard to get the information you need.

Several people here have said that is to be expected as Tesla move from luxury cars to mass-market cars. Um, sorry guys, my M3 cost over $65k after tax, and that is easily BMW/Audi/Lexus territory. Now I'm not saying Tesla service is WORSE than these others (though Lexus sets the service standard here), but I dont think "Tesla sell mass-market cars now" is a valid excuse either.

The reality, of course, is Tesla have grown fast since the M3 shipped, and the service infrastructure is strained. Hopefully, they will respond to this (actually, imho, they have no option if they want to remain viable long term).

 

[BulldogsRus]

I would certainly agree that tesla does NOT provide an experience that many people who can afford a "100k car" new might expect, but neither do some other manufacturers who sell such cars. I have personal experience for at least 15 years with BMW, who also sells "100k" + cars, and dont think their experience is what someone who might afford such a car would expect either.

BMW treats you the same, if you buy a 35k X1 or a 130k M5.

I currently own 2 BMWs, have for almost 20 years and tbh can never recall a time where I either called for service and never got a callback, or had it in and they never gave updates. Unfortunately I see tons of those posts here from random owners from random areas, which is kinda scary. IMHO the one thing Tesla does great is tech/driving experience, but things like build quality and customer service seem like an afterthought. I'm really hoping the launch of the Y allows for them to inject more funds into improving that, not like what we saw with the Model 3 where they struggled to keep up with all of the new owners' issues.

 

[jjrandorin]

I currently own 2 BMWs, have for almost 20 years and tbh can never recall a time where I either called for service and never got a callback, or had it in and they never gave updates. Unfortunately I see tons of those posts here from random owners from random areas, which is kinda scary. IMHO the one thing Tesla does great is tech/driving experience, but things like build quality and customer service seem like an afterthought. I'm really hoping the launch of the Y allows for them to inject more funds into improving that, not like what we saw with the Model 3 where they struggled to keep up with all of the new owners' issues.

Conversely, My original interactions with my local BMW center when my wife had an issue with the comfort access door handles not working on her X5 as a warranty issue was fairly poor. She made an appointment, took the car down there for the appointment, dropped it off and got a loaner. she was told it would be 1-2 days to get fixed. on day 3 she called for an update. No one called back. On day 4 she called again for status. she again was not called back.

On day 5 she called again and was not called back. Frustrated she called me and asked "why will they not call me back?" I drove over to the BMW dealer, and asked in person, why they were not calling her back. I got excuses about "being busy, etc" and I told them that I thought it was fairly unacceptable that my wife called multiple times for updates and didnt even get a call back. I asked for a different service advisor going forward.

I was matched with their "top" service advisor, who was very attentive, and has been my go to service advisor for about 7 years now. If I had not driven down there and told them my wifes interactions, I would have just assumed "they sucked". They didnt suck, the service advisor my wife was originally assigned sucked.

 

[BulldogsRus]

While I agree that forums are inevitably biased for all the reasons stated, I do think an earlier poster is correct. The actual mechanisms for Tesla service are clearly designed to be low cost for Tesla rather than customer focused .. it IS hard to contact them, and it IS hard to get the information you need.

Several people here have said that is to be expected as Tesla move from luxury cars to mass-market cars. Um, sorry guys, my M3 cost over $65k after tax, and that is easily BMW/Audi/Lexus territory. Now I'm not saying Tesla service is WORSE than these others (though Lexus sets the service standard here), but I dont think "Tesla sell mass-market cars now" is a valid excuse either.

The reality, of course, is Tesla have grown fast since the M3 shipped, and the service infrastructure is strained. Hopefully, they will respond to this (actually, imho, they have no option if they want to remain viable long term).

Agreed, but as is testament time and again, Tesla KNOWS they have you hooked! I mean, until other well established makers start rolling out EVs of their own, Tesla can quite honestly do as they please...because what other option do you have, ICE??! See, the problem right now is that Tesla is pouring all of their money and resources into factories, newer low-priced models and charging infrastructure, so as they say..."something's gotta give".

 

[trekkie]

I'm not one to assign malice or evilly rubbing hands together to Tesla. To me it's more incompetence at best.

I have no experience with service (yet) as I've only owned my car for a little over three weeks.

If they want to hire me and put me in charge I'd fix it. A simple escalation center with an executive (me) focused on it and creating some processes would help solve it, and process improvements longer term.

That said, I also think squeeky wheels get the grease and we've all been taught to be vocal and complain when things aren't going our way but when they are going our way. A lot of us love the car and the company. I admit i've been second guessing myself for the last three weeks every time I see something too. Then i go for a drive

 

[rjdoc74]

Conversely, My original interactions with my local BMW center when my wife had an issue with the comfort access door handles not working on her X5 as a warranty issue was fairly poor. She made an appointment, took the car down there for the appointment, dropped it off and got a loaner. she was told it would be 1-2 days to get fixed. on day 3 she called for an update. No one called back. On day 4 she called again for status. she again was not called back.

On day 5 she called again and was not called back. Frustrated she called me and asked "why will they not call me back?" I drove over to the BMW dealer, and asked in person, why they were not calling her back. I got excuses about "being busy, etc" and I told them that I thought it was fairly unacceptable that my wife called multiple times for updates and didnt even get a call back. I asked for a different service advisor going forward.

I was matched with their "top" service advisor, who was very attentive, and has been my go to service advisor for about 7 years now. If I had not driven down there and told them my wifes interactions, I would have just assumed "they sucked". They didnt suck, the service advisor my wife was originally assigned sucked.

At least she had somewhere to call .

 

[drtimhill]

Agreed, but as is testament time and again, Tesla KNOWS they have you hooked! I mean, until other well established makers start rolling out EVs of their own, Tesla can quite honestly do as they please...because what other option do you have, ICE??! See, the problem right now is that Tesla is pouring all of their money and resources into factories, newer low-priced models and charging infrastructure, so as they say..."something's gotta give".

Very true, but at some point the pebbles rolling down the hill turn into rocks. Once the press/perception gets bad enough they will focus on fixing it (read: when they get investor pressure and start losing sales). And yes, that may not happen until they get some decent competition.

 

[rjdoc74]

I'm not one to assign malice or evilly rubbing hands together to Tesla. To me it's more incompetence at best.

I have no experience with service (yet) as I've only owned my car for a little over three weeks.

If they want to hire me and put me in charge I'd fix it. A simple escalation center with an executive (me) focused on it and creating some processes would help solve it, and process improvements longer term.

That said, I also think squeeky wheels get the grease and we've all been taught to be vocal and complain when things aren't going our way but when they are going our way. A lot of us love the car and the company. I admit i've been second guessing myself for the last three weeks every time I see something too. Then i go for a drive

Please also keep in mind that long term owners like myself were around when the service was the best in industry. I had my SA’s cell number and could text him anytime. Things were done proactively. SAs followed up. Loaners were ALWAYS provided and available. I actually looked forward going to SC as people were knowledgeable and genuinely wanted to make things right to the best of their ability. Fast forward to now- no ability to schedule service other than mobile service from app only, Uber credits, no phone number to call, emails going nowhere, millennial “advisors” chewing gum and playing on their phones. I know company company has to grow blah blah blah, but to long time owners like myself this feels like abandonment.

 

[BulldogsRus]

I'm not one to assign malice or evilly rubbing hands together to Tesla. To me it's more incompetence at best.

I have no experience with service (yet) as I've only owned my car for a little over three weeks.

If they want to hire me and put me in charge I'd fix it. A simple escalation center with an executive (me) focused on it and creating some processes would help solve it, and process improvements longer term.

That said, I also think squeeky wheels get the grease and we've all been taught to be vocal and complain when things aren't going our way but when they are going our way. A lot of us love the car and the company. I admit i've been second guessing myself for the last three weeks every time I see something too. Then i go for a drive

The question though is, who do you complain to when no one picks up the phone or responds to emails? As I've stated previously, on three separate occasions I've tried to buy a pre-owned X from inventory and when they "had to see if it was still available" I never got a call back, on a $95k vehicle.

 

[BulldogsRus]

Please also keep in mind that long term owners like myself were around when the service was the best in industry. I had my SA’s cell number and could text him anytime. Things were done proactively. SAs followed up. Loaners were ALWAYS provided and available. I actually looked forward going to SC as people were knowledgeable and genuinely wanted to make things right to the best of their ability. Fast forward to now- no ability to schedule service other than mobile service from app only, Uber credits, no phone number to call, emails going nowhere, millennial “advisors” chewing gum and playing on their phones. I know company company has to grow blah blah blah, but to long time owners like myself this feels like abandonment.

This to me is the worst part, Tesla originated as an upscale company catering to early adopters w/deep pockets and treated them as such, now that they've built an entry level model they've basically turned their backs on the very people that "built up" the company, and now have stated those two models will get less attention going forward. Very odd behavior IMHO.

 

[gigawatt1010]

Arguing your points in a forum is useless. You like your car -great! You don't like it, sell it and move on. Period.

 

[rjdoc74]

Arguing your points in a forum is useless. You like your car -great! You don't like it, sell it and move on. Period.

But what do you do if you LOVE the car, but HATE miserable service?

 

[gigawatt1010]

But what do you do if you LOVE the car, but HATE miserable service?

Sell the service? LOL

The "like" has to be enough to compensate for the "don't like" or vice versa, otherwise, you're SOL.

 

[alstoralset]

Nothing profound here, but my experience so far with an M3 AWD (delivered November 2018) is summarized thusly:

* Purchasing accessories (HPWC, etc.) before I had a VIN was a comedy horror, both online and at the SC. I literally sat for an hour watching the SC clerk trying to ring up the charger without a VIN.

* Car was perfect on delivery, at least to our infra-OCD standards

* I've encountered only one mechanical issue with the car - the horn wouldn't blow when the upper left corner was depressed. I called the SC, and after a brief discussion about whether or not it was a safety issue, he decided it was, and said he would arrange for mobile service.

What happened next is nothing short of surreal to me: mobile service started texting and emailing me daily to set up the appointment. I was out of town at the time, but they would not take 'no' for an answer.

I finally had to tell them sternly to stop hounding me, and that I'd reach out to them when I was available. Wha??

The mobile service appointment went smoothly and quickly when I was finally able to accommodate them. I had to pinch myself to confirm that there was actually a guy in my garage doing a warranty repair on my car. Science fiction?

So: great car, great service.

 

[robski]

Not making an excuse but those guys are totally overloaded. It's like a restaurant with 1 server and 10 tables. Then you have folks who announce some futile call to action and have everyone call the service centers to get their Model 3 AWDs upgraded to Performance. The server is stuck stroking everyone's egos to discuss items not even on the menu.

I do still hold onto my first experience back in 2016, but I also try to give them break when things aren't going so well.

 

[m3supra]

As others of mentioned YMMV greatly with how many teslas are near you and individual service center. Tesla as a company doesn't seem to be run that well which is reflected in how sloppy some service centers are.

If you win the Tesla lotteries of a near-perfect car and a good service center, then you're good. Unfortunately, I lost both so it has really really really sucked here in Bay Area.