Really crappy service experience

[jkeyser14]

Went to use my Model 3's air conditioning for the first time in April just to find out it didn't work at all. No big deal, *sugar* happens. Scheduled a service appointment. Soonest appointment was 2 weeks out. A few days before the appointment they did a remote diagnosis and confirmed the evaporator sensor was bad and was always reading -3 Celsius. Cool, they know what the problem is before I even take my car in.

Fast forward to my appointment day. I take off work, drove an hour, then waited 6 hours at the service center just to be told that they didn't have the sensor in stock and were putting my car back together. WTF??? They didn't know that until they took everything apart and made me wait for 6 hours?

So they gave me my car back and said they would fix it when the part came in. Fast forward a couple weeks and the part comes in. So I schedule the next available appointment which is 2.5 more weeks away. Drop of my car and the estimate is that the car will be ready next morning.

Next morning comes and goes. No word from the service center. I send a message asking if they have an updated completion estimate and get a snippy reply: "sir, your car is not ready."

I reply "ok, thank you."

Another day go by with zero communication from the service team. I ask for an updated estimate for completion and get a reply "Sir, your car is having a technical issue, it has been escalated to a senior technician. We will let you know when it is ready."

Meanwhile, my Uber vouchers have expired. No loaners available. And they won't even give me an estimate for when my car will be fixed.

Fast forward a few more days and they finally give me Uber vouchers.

Then after a week of waiting they tell me my car is ready for pickup. When I go to actually use the Uber vouchers (I had already accepted them) to pick up my car it turns out that they show up as invalid...

Long story short, Tesla service's logistics, communication, and customer considerations was all around piss poor and soured me on the brand a lot.

 

[jeremymc7]

Not my experience but not uncommon.

Sorry for the frustration.

As other major brands start to become more competitive and with Tesla doing two price hikes this month alone - Tesla is really going to have to finally sort out their problematic service and customer service which has been a known issue for a decade now and the reason I also waited to get my two.

Lucky for me they’re opening a new device center walking distance from my house any day so while issues like this will still be frustrating it will be less of a bother. I current have a long drive to the closer service center; and while supercharger was just as far before they just opened up a fast / larger one 5 min from me with dozen more also going into the service center.

 

[roblab]

Wish you'd used a different descriptor for your title. We already have enough crudity around us every day as it is.

 

[smith000]

As far as the OP goes... the staff has been the same to me as well, dismissive/rude. Technician seemed fine, but the front staff and management seem like they're just not willing to deal with any issues that don't go perfectly. The customer/company power has shifted and they're basically taking advantage of their power. Probably additional morale issues, and trickle down effect from dealing with covid, supply chains, and demand so high that they're just tainted by it all.

I just had a steering wheel damaged during servicing. They're not even considering it could have happened by them - brushed me off and now I'm attempting to handle it with corporate, next step would be small claims court... which is crazy to me that they would rather ruin their bond with a customer over a simple mistake on their end. They didn't even bother using floor, seat, or steering wheel covers in my car. Same visit as the steering wheel damage, they had a service bulletin to replace the charge port assembly. I go home, car won't charge. I message them letting them know the issue, they just say "sounds like you should tow it to us"... Awesome service.

They have no care in the world that I had to make 4 trips to them (no loaner ever available), and every trip was due to a prior visit resulting in an additional mistake they made. Now have a damaged car.

Warning to anyone going in soon, document your interior. Put towels on the seats or have your own covers because they can simply say "we didn't do that" and abuse their power.

 

[jeremymc7]

Yeah by the time this car is out of warranty it
Might be time to go back to Audi, Porsche or Mercedes again.

 

[patrick40363]

Looking at BMW's tomorrow.

 

[Chados]

Great cars, lousy service. I’m having the same AC issue, first available appointment is 3 weeks out.

The heat index here is 114 F….

 

[jeremymc7]

I still haven’t actually had to go into a service center yet and mobile service has been amazing.

Owning a Tesla “can” be a frustrating experience but I’m all these years I still get more excited to drive it than most any of the other cars I’ve owned.

 

[alangold]

Went to use my Model 3's air conditioning for the first time in April just to find out it didn't work at all. No big deal, *sugar* happens. Scheduled a service appointment. Soonest appointment was 2 weeks out. A few days before the appointment they did a remote diagnosis and confirmed the evaporator sensor was bad and was always reading -3 Celsius. Cool, they know what the problem is before I even take my car in.

Fast forward to my appointment day. I take off work, drove an hour, then waited 6 hours at the service center just to be told that they didn't have the sensor in stock and were putting my car back together. WTF??? They didn't know that until they took everything apart and made me wait for 6 hours?

So they gave me my car back and said they would fix it when the part came in. Fast forward a couple weeks and the part comes in. So I schedule the next available appointment which is 2.5 more weeks away. Drop of my car and the estimate is that the car will be ready next morning.

Next morning comes and goes. No word from the service center. I send a message asking if they have an updated completion estimate and get a snippy reply: "sir, your car is not ready."

I reply "ok, thank you."

Another day go by with zero communication from the service team. I ask for an updated estimate for completion and get a reply "Sir, your car is having a technical issue, it has been escalated to a senior technician. We will let you know when it is ready."

Meanwhile, my Uber vouchers have expired. No loaners available. And they won't even give me an estimate for when my car will be fixed.

Fast forward a few more days and they finally give me Uber vouchers.

Then after a week of waiting they tell me my car is ready for pickup. When I go to actually use the Uber vouchers (I had already accepted them) to pick up my car it turns out that they show up as invalid...

Long story short, Tesla service's logistics, communication, and customer considerations was all around piss poor and soured me on the brand a lot.

I’m expecting my new M3 in 90 days - sorry to hear about how they treated you /. I would now ask service “do they have a part “ knowing how they wasted your time -
Whatever car I drive I always bribe the reps with giveaways from my promo business - a box of Jupiter donuts - or even cash to buy them lunch - you should not have to but service staff appreciate and may remember your kindness - Alan g

 

[windward]

I have owned three Teslas since 2014, from and S to X, I have owned many car brands, Tesla is the best car I ever owned, especially with technology. TESLA customer service is the WORST in the industry,My second car is a Subaru, It is unfair comparison because Subaru is light years ahead of TESLA in customer service but the moment Subaru makes an electric car comparable to my current X I will become a former Tesla buyer. TESLA is the best car and fortunately there is no much dealing with their horrendous never answering customer service, but when you need them is is always consistently a horrible experience. I don't understand the reason, maybe Ellon Musk spends to much attention in his engineers and none in their customer service. I love the car but hate the company, Im afraid that when competitors start making similar cars Tesla will go bankrupt, as their customer service if far the worst.

 

[jeremymc7]

I kept bring up that Tesla needs to watch it’s market share as others bring their EV products to market and add similar / better feature sets.

The questionable repair service, customer service, loaners, build quality, lack of ability to talk to Tesla America on the phone with any ease, etc is going to cost them share as things change with competitors.

And yes I own and love my Tesla, it’s not not first one either, and I’ve been with them since 2012’ish myself.

All that said I’ve only had to deal with service three times, all for incredibly minor things, and all were mobile at home.

Let the rant begin.

 

[jjrandorin]

(moderator note)

I missed this thread title when it was originally posted. It has been edited to be a bit more PC but still express the same sentiment the OP had.