No more tesla chat?

[m3supra]

Tesla chat seems to be missing from the support page. There are references to it here: Customer Support but no actual chat button anymore.

My car is in service, but I didn't receive a work estimate / work order and the service only has a voicemail for the parts department. Tesla 888 number is useless as well as it forwards my call to the wrong service center's voicemail. Emailing customer service or texting the service center is useless as well.

Seems like speaking with a human is just not an option anymore.

 

[mblakele]

I'm hoping it's a bug: maybe related to automatically disabling it outside business hours? I tried reporting the problem through the "support contact" form, and I'd encourage others to do the same.

Customer and Product Support | Tesla Support

 

[jerry33]

I'm hoping it's a bug: maybe related to automatically disabling it outside business hours? I tried reporting the problem through the "support contact" form, and I'd encourage others to do the same.

Customer and Product Support | Tesla Support

It wasn't there for me during business hours. The phone message says "for all other areas use Tesla chat". That was yesterday.

 

[mblakele]

It wasn't there for me during business hours. The phone message says "for all other areas use Tesla chat". That was yesterday.

Yes, same here. I'm speculating that there's a bug in some code that's supposed to remove the chat button outside of business hours, and as a result there's no chat button at all. But that's just speculation. FWIW I know it was working around the end of May.

You'd think someone would notice the lack of chat activity and investigate. Maybe that'll happen... eventually.

 

[m3supra]

With rumors of service cuts, I wouldn't be surprised if they're trying to outsource this and disabled it. My SA was also "out of office" yesterday which is probably why I didn't get my invoice either. There were way more model 3s in the SC yesterday... Unless the new builds are flawless and don't need warranty repairs, this is might get ugly. New owners will be appalled by Tesla's service operation, I know I was.

 

[m3supra]

Currently the only way to get some information about my car in service is to send text messages that usually does not get a response. If this is not bad customer service / communication, I don't know what is. Every other dealer I've been to, I was able to call the service department and at least talk to someone or leave a message for the service department.

 

[jerry33]

Currently the only way to get some information about my car in service is to send text messages that usually does not get a response. If this is not bad customer service / communication, I don't know what is. Every other dealer I've been to, I was able to call the service department and at least talk to someone or leave a message for the service department.

I believe the other way is to select "car is undriveable" and then they will transfer you. Perhaps if they get enough calls that waste time on the emergency circuit they'll figure it out.

 

[m3supra]

I believe the other way is to select "car is undriveable" and then they will transfer you. Perhaps if they get enough calls that waste time on the emergency circuit they'll figure it out.

Jesus, they're treating us like Micahel Scott, texting "911" so they will actually pay attention.

Interestingly, the sales parts of the pages still have a chat service.

 

[Tolstoshev]

If you inspect the page source, you can remove where it says "not-available" for the button id, and the chat button will show up. Still just sits there forever saying that it's trying to connect though.

 

[Tolstoshev]

Ok they finally answered after sitting on chat "hold" for over 30 minutes.

 

[m3supra]

If you inspect the page source, you can remove where it says "not-available" for the button id, and the chat button will show up. Still just sits there forever saying that it's trying to connect though.

View attachment 436624

Thanks for this, finally found it.

Removing the "not-available" class didn't work for me as it is still not visible, but the element is still there. It does however, have a disabled attribute that once it's removed, it can be clicked. I'm testing now to see if I can connect with anybody.

Looks like the event handler for choosing the main topic is supposed to show the chat as well as remove the disabled attribute but it's not working (bug) or it's purposely buried to be hard to find and disabled. Once I remove the disabled attribute, it is addeed right back. If this is indeed a bug, how the hell does it pass QA or even dev testing. The chat button used to be on the main support page. Seems like this was a hasty removal of the chat feature. Either way, who doesn't obfuscate production code.

If you're seeing this Tesla, that's some free work I just did for you instead of my actual work. Fix my defective car please.

 

[m3supra]

On clicking the chat, I am Queue position 3, last time I used it I was in the 30s and it took approximately 30 minutes to be connected. Looks like there aren't many employees staffing the chat if at all....

 

[m3supra]

Found chat hiding out again by removing the display:none styling after users on another thread reported they can chat without any issues. I've cleared out my cache so it's not old code running on my browser.

I've tried using a vpn to canada and still do not see the button so I'm assuming other users are using a cached version. Tesla web devs don't wth they're doing and there is no QA in place, but most likely I think Tesla is disabling this feature since they're getting slammed with issues from new owners....

 

[Tolstoshev]

I'm wondering if they suddenly fired their overseas support company. The person I eventually got through to yesterday seemed like they we a cut above the script-reading oursourced support. Maybe that's they they got rid of the button? So they could hire and train another outsourcing company to take over.

 

[m3supra]

I'm wondering if they suddenly fired their overseas support company. The person I eventually got through to yesterday seemed like they we a cut above the script-reading oursourced support. Maybe that's they they got rid of the button? So they could hire and train another outsourcing company to take over.

That is very feasible as the queue was much shorter and the person I chatted with also didn't seem to be copy/pasting responses. Hopefully, they get this sorted out quickly and plan these type of transitions to be a bit more smooth in the future....

Not having a way to contact anyone after making a huge purchase like a car for weeks is quite irresponsible especially after they knew the company would make record sales. That's some piss poor project management if this is what went down.

 

[Meros]

I found this thread after the Tesla phone number recordings told me to use the online chat and I couldn't find any button to start a chat. It turns out that chat still exists, but it's hard to find. Here is what you have to do:

1. Go to Customer and Product Support | Tesla Support
2. Scroll to the bottom and click "Contact Us" in an oval button (not "Contact" at the very very bottom).
3. Choose a topic, but do not select "Scheduling Service" (if you do, it won't offer any chat options later).
4. Type anything into the text box, and then click DONE.
5. It will return search results related to what you typed. Ignore them.
6. Then click YES where it says "Do you need more help?"
7. This opens up more fields for Name, Subject, Email address. Fill those out and click "CHAT WITH US"

 

[m3supra]

Thanks @Meros , much more user friendly workaround than going through the js console. I believe the chat button was recently added to this user flow as it was not present several weeks ago.

 

[BayAreaCelt]

Support is a joke. Chat is not an option at all now. Central number doesnt allow you to talk to anyone unless its in sales. I have been waiting for parts for my seat, ordered end of November. Berkely never answers the phone, doesnt return messages, and central customer service has emailed them to reach out to me and no one does. Its a total sh1t show of incompetence. Vehicle is largely great, but they could learn a lot from traditional car companies in service. Porsche next methinks, despite lacking in some areas, at least a basic ownership service proposition I think..

 

[m3supra]

Support is a joke. Chat is not an option at all now. Central number doesnt allow you to talk to anyone unless its in sales. I have been waiting for parts for my seat, ordered end of November. Berkely never answers the phone, doesnt return messages, and central customer service has emailed them to reach out to me and no one does. Its a total sh1t show of incompetence. Vehicle is largely great, but they could learn a lot from traditional car companies in service. Porsche next methinks, despite lacking in some areas, at least a basic ownership service proposition I think..

Berkeley SC is a complete joke of an organization. Just show up and demand you speak to the service manager, then refuse to leave. Just go in that little office next to the restroom.

Trying to reach anyone other than showing up in person is a waste of time. Ridiculous how bad it is.

The manager is not allowed to give out their business card. Tesla is literally trying to hide from their customers.

 

[sorka]

It's been a few years. It seems that the method above for chatting with a real person no longer works. Anyone else?