Ranger Service Going Away?

[AmpedRealtor]

Still no response from Jerome...

It's clear that Tesla has made its decision and has no intention of discussing it with me, anyway. I convinced two people to buy a Model S who lived quite a distance from the service center, and valet service played a role in making that decision. So disappointing that Tesla has chosen to make this policy change. I suspect George B knew what was coming when he chose to retire.

 

[dogphlap]

It does seem curious that while Tesla is battling the dealers on the one hand on they other they hand them such an own goal.

 

[zer0cool]

The fact is ranger service probably cost so much money... I mean you wouldn't expect it from any other car company/dealership. Tesla probably offered it when its volume was low and it was trying to establish itself. However as its production number approaches 100k, and it becomes more mainstream, there's no way it can continue to provide this utterly money losing service.

Basically this just means that you shouldn't own a Tesla if you are 50+ miles from a service center...

 

[stevezzzz]

I purchased Ranger/Valet service for my Sig S, and the extended warranty. Anybody know for certain what happens to those if I sell the vehicle to a third party? I'm pretty sure the extended warranty is transferrable, but what about Ranger/Valet? And what if I were to sell it to someone in a state, like Washington, where you still can't buy the extended warranty?

 

[AmpedRealtor]

The fact is ranger service probably cost so much money... I mean you wouldn't expect it from any other company company/dealership. Tesla probably offered it when its volume was low and it was trying to Establish itself. However as its production number approaches 100k, and it becomes more mainstream, there's no way it can continue to provide this utterly money losing service.

Basically this just means that you shouldn't own a Tesla if you are 50+ miles from a service center...

So I guess Tesla's "world class" service was just to get publicity, and now that they are selling enough cars, it's okay to have average service like the other guys?

 

[markb1]

I think that ranger service was to alleviate concerns about not living near a service center. But now that they have a lot more service centers, Tesla has decided that cheap ranger service in no longer necessary to sell cars.

 

[zer0cool]

So I guess Tesla's "world class" service was just to get publicity, and now that they are selling enough cars, it's okay to have average service like the other guys?

Ya basically... at the end it's a car company and will need to operate like one to make money. Operating both the manufacturing and sales simply is a way to increase margins rather than to better serve customers (to say that is basically corporate PR).

 

[markb1]

How is it a change in their service quality? It's just a change in the price of said service.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Tesla goes from world class to average. Nice.

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How is it a change in their service quality? It's just a change in the price of said service.

I would think charging for what was previously included lowers the bar for "world class", does it not?

 

[ROCDOC]

I, too, was just informed that valet/ranger service will be at $3 per mile from the service center. Not complimentary anymore. Since I live over 300 miles from the nearest SC, so that would be $900 per tip (they didn't say if the $3 was for round trip or not, so could be $1800) to get the car to the SC. Now, I understand that it is costly to Tesla to employ folks to drive long distances to pick up and deliver cars, but when I bought my car last year, this service was what allowed me to pull the trigger and buy the car. The SC people told me that they thought a SC was being built in Buffalo, NY, an hour away, but as far as I know, nothing is planned for Buffalo.
The only reasonable approach is to grandfather the owners like myself who live at a considerable distance from a SC and who purchased prior to the new policy to have a dramatically reduced fee for ranger/valet - I'd be OK with the flat fee of $100. But, $900? or possibly $1800 for a round trip?
I wouldn't have bought the car under those circumstances.
Come on, Tesla. Cut us a break and we will continue to promote your product.

 

[mibaro2]

I, too, was just informed that valet/ranger service will be at $3 per mile from the service center. Not complimentary anymore. Since I live over 300 miles from the nearest SC, so that would be $900 per tip (they didn't say if the $3 was for round trip or not, so could be $1800) to get the car to the SC. Now, I understand that it is costly to Tesla to employ folks to drive long distances to pick up and deliver cars, but when I bought my car last year, this service was what allowed me to pull the trigger and buy the car. The SC people told me that they thought a SC was being built in Buffalo, NY, an hour away, but as far as I know, nothing is planned for Buffalo.
The only reasonable approach is to grandfather the owners like myself who live at a considerable distance from a SC and who purchased prior to the new policy to have a dramatically reduced fee for ranger/valet - I'd be OK with the flat fee of $100. But, $900? or possibly $1800 for a round trip?
I wouldn't have bought the car under those circumstances.
Come on, Tesla. Cut us a break and we will continue to promote your product.

Yes, Tesla should grandfather in this change. It is not fair to people like yourself that bought it based on the premise of free ranger service.

 

[neroden]

I think that ranger service was to alleviate concerns about not living near a service center. But now that they have a lot more service centers, Tesla has decided that cheap ranger service in no longer necessary to sell cars.

Tesla has a minimal, useless number of service centers.

I'm putting Tesla on notice here.

Tesla, you MUST offer free (meaning, prepaid unlimited) Ranger/Valet service to people in the US and Canada living more than 2 hours away from the nearest service center.

If you don't, you are going to get the mother of all bad publicity.

I will be at the National Drive Electric Week events in September at Binghamton and Syracuse NY... and if this continues I'll have to be telling people NOT to buy the Model S because they can't get it serviced at a reasonable cost.

If anyone at Tesla is reading this, this needs to be escalated to Elon Musk. All the word-of-mouth good publicity is about to reverse if you don't get your act together. And you have a very short window to fix this mess.

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Tesla goes from world class to average. Nice.

Not average. Substandard.

For most cars, you can get them serviced anywhere: there are dealerships all over the place, but even if there aren't, you can go to an independent shop, and there are *always* independent shops.

Tesla has made this impossible. This means that Tesla *needs* to provide a viable alternative service model. At the moment, with a ludicrously small number of service centers and no affordable ranger service for new buyers, Tesla is making it totally impractical to buy a Tesla for new buyers who live outside a short list of major metro areas.

I'm going to be meeting up with some other Tesla owners in Ithaca. One of them was planning to buy a Model X. I'll have to tell her not to becuase the service costs will be astronomical.

Big success for NADA if Tesla doesn't reverse this immediately.

 

[ohmman]

I'm putting Tesla on notice here.

I suggest a more direct approach than posting to the enthusiast forum. Have you contacted them? If you truly want some kind of action, going direct is the best advice I can provide.

 

[neroden]

Tesla is a black hole which doesn't respond to phone calls; I have prior experience of this.

Also, what department am I trying to reach? This is above the pay grade of anyone I can call or email immediately. Plus which, *Tesla knows all this stuff, I told them three months ago*. In fact, they were emailed about this by multiple people.

I suppose I could tweet Elon, but I'm not on Twitter.

Anyone who actually knows someone in Tesla upper management should call them.

Otherwise, I'll just have to respond the way someone who *isn't being listened to* responds.

----
That said, I just contacted the Board of Directors via their webpage. I expect them to drop this in the circular file, but we can hope.

 

[bmanke]

Today I too learned about the change in the Ranger Service plan. We purchased our Tesla in April of 2015 and we live in Chesapeake, VA. Despite living in a large metropolitan area our nearest service center is Raleigh, NC over 200 miles away. Before purchasing the car I looked into service knowing very well it was likely the car may have a few issues along the way. I too was informed about the $100 Ranger service which I felt was a fair trade off for not having a service center here. Now, a mere 4 months later we are having our first issue where our phones are notifying us of a charging interruption problem every night. Luckily the car is still charging and performing normally. Tesla needs the car back to properly rectify the problem and informed me it would be $606 to cover the transportation. I am quite dissatisfied as we bought the car under the assumption that service visits for warranty repair would cost $100. Now any service visit is going to be a $600 plus bill. I have been a huge fan of Tesla and have helped spread the word by giving numerous test rides and attending various events. This however is quite a demoralizing and souring development.

 

[ohmman]

Tesla needs the car back to properly rectify the problem and informed me it would be $606 to cover the transportation. I am quite dissatisfied as we bought the car under the assumption that service visits for warranty repair would cost $100. Now any service visit is going to be a $600 plus bill. I have been a huge fan of Tesla and have helped spread the word by giving numerous test rides and attending various events. This however is quite a demoralizing and souring development.

I feel for you. I think your emotions are fully warranted, given the situation. If I were you, I'd be sure to vocalize clearly why you feel your situation makes the policy a burden and feels a little like a bait and switch. To be clear, I don't think that's what it is, but I do think it would make sense to grandfather customers at certain distances from SCs to be at least heavily discounted.

As an aside, when a Ranger arrives at your house, ensure that they check out your UMC and your HPWC (if you have one). The "charging interrupted" issue for me was my HPWC cable, and it has happened twice. One thing you can do is test another charging cable - Supercharger or UMC if you're having HPWC issues, and see if you have the same error.

 

[AnOutsider]

Today I too learned about the change in the Ranger Service plan. We purchased our Tesla in April of 2015 and we live in Chesapeake, VA. Despite living in a large metropolitan area our nearest service center is Raleigh, NC over 200 miles away. Before purchasing the car I looked into service knowing very well it was likely the car may have a few issues along the way. I too was informed about the $100 Ranger service which I felt was a fair trade off for not having a service center here. Now, a mere 4 months later we are having our first issue where our phones are notifying us of a charging interruption problem every night. Luckily the car is still charging and performing normally. Tesla needs the car back to properly rectify the problem and informed me it would be $606 to cover the transportation. I am quite dissatisfied as we bought the car under the assumption that service visits for warranty repair would cost $100. Now any service visit is going to be a $600 plus bill. I have been a huge fan of Tesla and have helped spread the word by giving numerous test rides and attending various events. This however is quite a demoralizing and souring development.

and here I was upset I'd now be paying over $200 per trip. Many people loved that Tesla offered the valet service. Now I'm stuck between a $220-260 bill or spending about an hour and a half each way in the future. Definitely disappointing. Wasn't there an announcement about improving service a while back that never materialized? Seems it's gone in the opposite direction.

 

[JeffVanEpps]

I'm 245 miles away so following this with interest. $1470 or 10 hours driving...

 

[jweinstein]

I'm in Alaska!

 

[ohmman]

I'm in Alaska!

For the win.