Reporting Damaged Destination Charger

[teknoprep]

I’m a frequent visitor of a business that has an official destination charger. Over the last several months it’s been out of commission due to intentional damage (crushing the end).

I reported it to the business, however they said it’s owned & maintained by Tesla - including paying for the power.

How do I report this to Tesla to get it replaced? All I can find is supercharger support. TIA.

 

[RTPEV]

The business owner may be correct in that the charger is owned & maintained by Tesla (I'm not 100% that's true, but let's go with it). The business owner themselves are the ones with the relationship with Tesla and are the ones that need to report the outage and request a repair or replacement. It shouldn't be on you to do so. You should explain to the business that the destination charger program is there to provide a mutually beneficial arrangement between Tesla and the business...that is, by tapping into Tesla's "Find Us" page for marketing, and being able to offer destination charging, the business owner benefits by drawing in Tesla owners, so they need to take a certain level of responsibility to ensure that the charger remains operational. If it is true that Tesla owns and maintains the charger, then a simple contact with Tesla (undoubtedly covered in whatever agreement they signed when they received the charger) should be all it takes to start the fix process.

If they need a bit more convincing, explain that owners that come to patronize the business thinking they will be able to get a charge, and then find that they can't, will probably report the outage on Plugshare and this will likely have a negative effect on drawing customers in, as some will choose to avoid this location.

 

[teknoprep]

The business owner may be correct in that the charger is owned & maintained by Tesla (I'm not 100% that's true, but let's go with it). The business owner themselves are the ones with the relationship with Tesla and are the ones that need to report the outage and request a repair or replacement. It shouldn't be on you to do so. You should explain to the business that the destination charger program is there to provide a mutually beneficial arrangement between Tesla and the business...that is, by tapping into Tesla's "Find Us" page for marketing, and being able to offer destination charging, the business owner benefits by drawing in Tesla owners, so they need to take a certain level of responsibility to ensure that the charger remains operational. If it is true that Tesla owns and maintains the charger, then a simple contact with Tesla (undoubtedly covered in whatever agreement they signed when they received the charger) should be all it takes to start the fix process.

If they need a bit more convincing, explain that owners that come to patronize the business thinking they will be able to get a charge, and then find that they can't, will probably report the outage on Plugshare and this will likely have a negative effect on drawing customers in, as some will choose to avoid this location.

agreed! in the last month it’s went from 10 to 4.5 on PlugShare! And their google rating is taking a hit. Can’t believe they don’t understand the consequences of not getting it fixed.

I was surprised about their arrangement. I know that Tesla usually pays for the charger but don’t they pay for electric? Seems like a lot of $$ Tesla is spending! Especially since non teslas can charge on it with an adapter.

 

[RTPEV]

agreed! in the last month it’s went from 10 to 4.5 on PlugShare! And their google rating is taking a hit. Can’t believe they don’t understand the consequences of not getting it fixed.

I was surprised about their arrangement. I know that Tesla usually pays for the charger but don’t they pay for electric? Seems like a lot of $$ Tesla is spending! Especially since non teslas can charge on it with an adapter.

It could be an honest misunderstanding on the part of the business owner (the extent to which Tesla is covering maintenance, repair, and electricity costs). I agree: my understanding is that Tesla will provide the charger and the initial installation, but that's about it. They certainly wouldn't be paying for the electricity as this would require its own meter (and associated connection costs), which makes no sense for most destination sites that have just one or two destination chargers.

At any rate, there is no excuse for the business owner to not report the issue to Tesla, even if they think that the costs will be 100% covered by Tesla (at which point they will learn the facts about what is covered and what is not), so I actually believe the business owner just doesn't care any more and doesn't want to deal with it. Or maybe they did find out that they are responsible for the cost of replacing the unit and aren't interested in shelling out $500 or so (not sure if the destination chargers are more ruggedized that the home units) plus installation.

 

[Rocky_H]

they said it’s owned & maintained by Tesla - including paying for the power.

Ha! No, that's definitely false.

I was surprised about their arrangement.

Well yeah, because you were not being told the truth.

It could be an honest misunderstanding on the part of the business owner

I doubt that was the business owner. I think it was just whatever employee, who happened to get asked about it. They had no clue and spouted off something wrong from an assumption.

 

[teknoprep]

So I guess the question is - if they refuse to fix, how do I contact Tesla to have it removed off their site?

 

[RTPEV]

So I guess the question is - if they refuse to fix, how do I contact Tesla to have it removed off their site?

That is a reasonable next question!

You can log into your account and go to Tesla SSO - Sign In

There is a way to sort of choose "charging" as a help topic. I can't say you will get much satisfaction with this route, but that may be the only avenue you have. As we know, Tesla, becoming a trillion dollar company, is always becoming less good at dealing with small problems like this. Maybe the best you can do is to continue to put in negative "Could not charge" reports in Plugshare and hopefully Tesla drivers will learn to use that site rather than rely on the tesla.com/findus map, and more troubling, the in-car map and app that will show the faulty destination charger.

Either way, it is admirable that you want to do the right thing and prevent others from reaching the site in error, but really, drivers need to get used to using Plugshare as a reliable source of Tesla (and non-Tesla) charging stations and getting reports on availability.

 

[TomServo]

As many have said here, contact the business directly and leave a PlugShare post that will let folks know this site has issues. But once in operation Ops and Maintenance are the responsibility of the business.

 

[teknoprep]

That is a reasonable next question!

You can log into your account and go to Tesla SSO - Sign In

There is a way to sort of choose "charging" as a help topic. I can't say you will get much satisfaction with this route, but that may be the only avenue you have. As we know, Tesla, becoming a trillion dollar company, is always becoming less good at dealing with small problems like this. Maybe the best you can do is to continue to put in negative "Could not charge" reports in Plugshare and hopefully Tesla drivers will learn to use that site rather than rely on the tesla.com/findus map, and more troubling, the in-car map and app that will show the faulty destination charger.

Either way, it is admirable that you want to do the right thing and prevent others from reaching the site in error, but really, drivers need to get used to using Plugshare as a reliable source of Tesla (and non-Tesla) charging stations and getting reports on availability.

Appreciate it!

 

[StewartEastman]

The destination chargers in my town need repair. The town electrician says it needs a specialist, and the town doesn't know who to call. Who should they call for repair of a Tesla destination charger, and where should they get parts?

 

[Rocky_H]

The destination chargers in my town need repair. The town electrician says it needs a specialist, and the town doesn't know who to call. Who should they call for repair of a Tesla destination charger, and where should they get parts?

I don't think you can get just parts for these. If they are broken, I think it's pretty much buy a new one from Tesla and swap it onto there, which any electrician can do--doesn't need a "specialist".