Ranger Service Response Times, etc....

[Mayhemm]

Since I live 1000+ miles from the nearest Tesla store/service center, how my vehicle will get service when it is required is one of the biggest questions I face as a potential Tesla owner. My only reasonable option will be Ranger service.

I was just curious as to the experience people have had with this facet of Tesla. What was the nature of your service call? How long did it take for a ranger to be sent? How far are you from the nearest service center? How would you rate the experience? (I know some aspects of Tesla service are pretty sub-standard at the moment).

This subject has probably been sporadically discussed in other threads, but I thought it would be nice for people to have an easy-to-find place to report specifically on their ranger service experiences.

I'm particularly interested in hearing from fellow Canadians.

 

[ToddRLockwood]

I live 220 miles from the nearest service center, and I've had two ranger visits. In both cases the ranger arrived within 48 hours of reporting a problem. This is better than a local car dealer!

 

[Doug_G]

If you have a minor nit, it will get fixed the next time a Ranger is in town and has sufficient time to work on your car.

If your car has a more serious problem, and could be inoperable for whatever reason, they'll be all over it.

 

[neroden]

Since I live 1000+ miles from the nearest Tesla store/service center, how my vehicle will get service when it is required is one of the biggest questions I face as a potential Tesla owner. My only reasonable option will be Ranger service.

I was just curious as to the experience people have had with this facet of Tesla. What was the nature of your service call? How long did it take for a ranger to be sent? How far are you from the nearest service center? How would you rate the experience? (I know some aspects of Tesla service are pretty sub-standard at the moment).

I'm a bit over 200 miles from the Norristown, PA service center.

The hardest part is to actually get the guy at the service center on the phone. They don't reliably return phone calls, so you have to keep calling and calling.

Once I actually *talked to someone at the service center*, I was able to schedule an appointment right over the phone, and the appointment was in a satisfactory timeframe. (My problem wasn't urgent, and it was a couple of weeks. But I got the impression that I would have gotten a quicker appointment if it had been urgent.)

The key is actually managing to get the manager of the service center on the phone. Until you do that, your complaints might as well have been thrown in a peat bog. After that, it seems to go really smoothly.

The service itself was excellent. Well, actually he screwed something up (failed to reconnect a speaker) but he came back and fixed it the same evening.

--
(This is why I keep describing Tesla's main problem as being "internal communications". Once you get the right person on the phone, everything goes really smoothly. But if you just call Tesla up and get the person they assign to answer the phone, this does NOT get you a callback from the correct person.)

 

[Doug_G]

Have you tried email, neroden? Most of my communications with Tesla service have been through email, and they respond promptly.

 

[huntjo]

I called two days ago to schedule a ranger visit. I only live 70 miles or so from Denver, but I got an appointment for today to get my 19's switched to 21's, fix the pano roof creaking noise, and exchange my fall 2012 J1772 adapter for the new version (even though mine hadnt failed it was reported enough times they revised it/ recalled it). All was fixed while I was still in the office seeing patients. So easy, took less than 5 minutes of my time.

 

[neroden]

Have you tried email, neroden? Most of my communications with Tesla service have been through email, and they respond promptly.

I suppose I could do that, but I don't *want* to. Email is inconvenient for me, and especially obnoxious for scheduling appointments.

Though actually, thinking about it, when I was in the buying process, email.... well, it worked, but it wasn't any faster than calling. It was slower. The problem was again the same one: I needed to have the email address of the *correct person* because they didn't get forwarded properly.

The internal communications between offices at Tesla isn't operating properly. All the individual workers are lovely, but someone at the executive level has failed to establish a working internal communications system. I know who I'd fire if I were Elon.

 

[Robert.Boston]

My experience has been great. Most recently, my front windshield developed that common stress fracture. I call the 877 number, get automatically routed to the local SC. The manager answers, we schedule for the next convenient date for me. I'm out of town; they picked up the car at my house, took it to the SC, fixed and returned it. Except for a crack-free windshield and a spotless shine, I would never know that the car had been away.

Great service; thanks to the Watertown team.

 

[Mayhemm]

I call the 877 number, get automatically routed to the local SC. The manager answers, we schedule for the next convenient date for me. I'm out of town; they picked up the car at my house, took it to the SC, fixed and returned it. Except for a crack-free windshield and a spotless shine, I would never know that the car had been away.

Don't think that would really be an option for me, given my distance from a SC. But I'm still glad to know that service is good for those who live closer.

 

[jerry33]

Ranger Rick replaced a faulty charger at the B&B where I was staying on my vacation. Now that's service!

 

[artsci]

I had my first Ranger service today. It was outstanding. Dave from the Rockville Service Center arrived at the scheduled time in a new white truck with "Tesla Service" on both side doors. The service was to replace the driver's side pano roof air dam lever, which had broken. As the part has been revised to prevent future breakage, he replaced the levers on both sides. He worked very carefully and finished that part of the job in about 30 minutes.

While doing a mod I had also removed the upper and side plastic trim on the rear hatch and broke a few of the plastic clips, which meant the trim pieces could not be precisely reattached. Dave also fixed my bungled work and made it right.

I chatted with Dave the whole time he completed the job. A great guy. If Dave's character and is representative of the general quality of the Ranger service, in my book it's worth every penny.

 

[Al Sherman]

I chatted with Dave the whole time he completed the job. A great guy. If Dave's character and is representative of the general quality of the Ranger service, in my book it's worth every penny.

Me too! My "Dave" is Dave Huff from the Columbus Service Center. Great guy, very knowledgeable about the MS AND the Roadster, and can replace a charge port in 30 minutes while I sit in a camp chair and pepper him with Tesla questions. Wonderful service experience. No comparison whatsoever with ANY dealer service anywhere. Ditto on worth every penny.

 

[MarkR]

A rear window was out of its track - I called on a Saturday and a ranger fixed it at my home the following day. I have no complaints about response time from the Arizona service team.

 

[jweinstein]

I have had two Ranger visits since taking delivery on April 1. Living in Alaska, and thousands of miles from the nearest service center, I was appreciably concerned about this aspect of ownership. Nonetheless, the service advisors in Seattle were fantastic. One of the visits was for a significant issue, in which my car was unusable, and a Ranger was in my garage within 48 hours of my initial outreach. Communication was excellent, as a lot of the problems were diagnosed remotely, so the right parts could be here ahead of his arrival. Now, it looks like Anchorage is getting its own service center soon!

 

[RKM]

Mayhemm,

I'm one of your nearest Canadian neighbours with an S. I didn't schedule a Ranger visit, but was contacted by Tesla that a ranger would be in Manitoba to work on some other cars. They wanted to do some work on mine. I have to compliment Bob on his professionalism. I can imagine it must be frustrating to do service calls working out of a rental car with limited tools. He did a great job. The only weakness in the system I've experienced is the communication. The date of the service call changed three or four times. Each time, I was the one to contact Tesla to try to determine the alternate date. A little lead time is necessary to accommodate this type of service (arrange for the car to be available...). This didn't happen the way I felt it should have. Apparently, the vast majority of S owners live within 100 miles or so of an SC. The few of us living in remote areas will need to be a little patient while Tesla refines the process. I'm just glad the rangers exist to take care of us.

I can't comment on their response time for an urgent matter, hopefully I'll never have that experience.

The car is so wonderful, it's worth some teething pains and a few inconveniences!

 

[Mayhemm]

RKM; It's folks like you and jweinstein I'm most interested to hear from on this subject. Given our respective locations, your problems are likely to become my problems when I get my MS next year. Thanks for the insight.

From your comment, I get the impression that Tesla will try to lump as much Ranger service into one visit as it can (which makes sense from a business standpoint). Meaning that if someone has a serious issue in the future (like an un-drivable vehicle) they could be in for quite a wait while Tesla collects enough service calls to justify sending someone out. This could potentially be very annoying. Hopefully, there will soon be enough cars to justify having a full-time ranger in the area, in lieu of a full service center.

 

[RKM]

I wouldn't necessarily extrapolate from my experience that a significant wait would be involved in the case of a "vehicle down" situation. I hadn't requested service. Evidently, they had a bit of work and the delivery of a few incidental items to deliver (english manual, tesla plate bracket, floor mats, etc.). The service ranger, Bob, was doing a non critical service run for several vehicles in NW Ontario and S Manitoba. This approach is far more efficient and is what I would hope for from an environmentally concerned company. My only concern/complaint is that the visit wasn't particularly well communicated. This is something that should be easy to improve upon.

I, too, look forward to when there is sufficient volume of Teslas in our part of the world to warrant local service, even if that means contracting with a third party to do so. In the meantime, I think the ranger model, while not ideal, should serve remote owners just fine. I'm less concerned about it now, five months into ownership, than I was a year ago.

On a positive note... We had an issue with wheel alignment that resulted is shredding a set of rear tires prematurely. I'm pleased to say that it appears that Tesla is going to take responsibility (as they should) and compensate in some fashion. I had heard that Tesla has an excellent reputation for supporting their customers and product. My early experiences confirm this.

 

[bcsf]

Ranger Service Experiences?

Hi all,

Tesla mentions a ranger service where they pick up your car and return it to you once service is complete, but I can't seem to find anyone who's made use of this service. Has anyone tried asking for it, and if so, how was your experience?

Brian

 

[imherkimer]

I live 450 miles from nearest service center. I have the Service Plan with ranger servie.
Last Friday, I received a call from Tesla Service saying that their ranger would be in town on Monday, and asked if there was anything I need. I mentioned that the rubber seal strips on the back doors seemed loose.
Other than that the car is performing perfectly. The said they would stop by and repair the seals, and at the same time replace the driver's seat.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that some wear was beginning to appear on the driver's seat due possibly to a wire that was rubbing on the leather from the inside. I had nearly forgotten about it since the wear was tiny and had not progressed since then.
Nevertheless, Tesla ranger service arrived Monday afternoon, replaced the seat under warranty, repaired the seals, refilled the washer fluid, checked a few other things in less than an hour. Absolutely stellar service!
One other time last summer, I had an issue with the rear passenger window opening and closing. It had come off of the regulator, apparently. I called Tesla Service, and two days later, the ranger arrived and fixed the window, replacing the other side as well. I was charged nothing of course. He also checked my tires and a few other items. Again, took about an hour, and was at my workplace, so I was not inconvenienced at all.
For me, the Tesla Ranger has truly been an outstanding service. Very much worthwhile.

 

[Doug_G]

Until last year I lived 400 km from a service center. Now that they've added a Montreal service center it's "only" 200 km. So I've used Ranger / Valet service almost exclusively for the last four years (Roadster and Model S). I've always had great service - couldn't be happier. Most work can be done at my home or office. Occasionally they've had to take my car in for service, and that's always proved extremely convenient.