Ridiculous lead time on a service appointment

[tnt1971]

I have had my Model S 85D since March of 2016. It has 53,000 miles on it, so the basic warranty is up and I did not get the extended. The 2nd door handle just went (passenger side front) so every time someone wants to get in the car, I have to get out and let them in or do gymnastics to stretch across the front to open the door. Last time it was driver’s door, which was much worse.

Anyway, just tried to schedule an appointment with their new “easy” app feature, and it gave me a first appointment of April 12th and wants me to go to a service center that is twice as far and more than 4 times the travel time due to the traffic (closest one for me is Syosset, NY, and it gave me an appointment in Brooklyn). In the repair world, this is an easy one, with probably less than an hour of labor.

I keep my cars a long time, and am probably only halfway through my use of this one, so I expect minor issues here an there. Is this the future of Tesla service? If it is, they will lose a customer.

 

[CyberShy]

Door handles are easily repairable if you are willing to try.

This link has some instructions and there are plenty of posts on where to get the commonly broken parts.
Unofficial Tesla Service Manual

Otherwise, are you within ranger range?

 

[smilepak]

Call and ask for Tesla Moble Ranger. They come to your house to fix. They fixed mine within a couple of days wait on appointment. The service center was 3 weeks wait

 

[ibdb]

Scheduling through the app will always result in an appointment that is further out than you should be able to get by calling -- this from the service center I worked with for the driver's door handle on my S. I know that the hold times aren't fun, but you should be able to get an earlier appointment that way.

 

[thimel]

While you wait for the repair, pry out the door handle with a plastic prybar or a screw driver wrapped in masking tape. Tie a string loosely around it. You passanger can now pull on the string to open the door.

 

[iTech]

I have had my Model S 85D since March of 2016. It has 53,000 miles on it, so the basic warranty is up and I did not get the extended. The 2nd door handle just went (passenger side front) so every time someone wants to get in the car, I have to get out and let them in or do gymnastics to stretch across the front to open the door. Last time it was driver’s door, which was much worse.

Anyway, just tried to schedule an appointment with their new “easy” app feature, and it gave me a first appointment of April 12th and wants me to go to a service center that is twice as far and more than 4 times the travel time due to the traffic (closest one for me is Syosset, NY, and it gave me an appointment in Brooklyn). In the repair world, this is an easy one, with probably less than an hour of labor.

I keep my cars a long time, and am probably only halfway through my use of this one, so I expect minor issues here an there. Is this the future of Tesla service? If it is, they will lose a customer.

Booking: Where would you like service? | North East Tesla Mobile Service - Routezilla

 

[RDoc]

The online appointment system is pretty much broken IMHO. Apparently some (most?) of the service centers simply don't put many of their service slots into the system. Back in Dec, the Watertown SC listed zero available slots in Jan! I called and got an appointment in the first week. If I just used the online system it would have been Feb.

And before anyone proposes that they're keeping slots open for emergencies, walk-ins, favorite nieces, etc. They kept 100% of the slots out of the system!