San Diego service center...destroyed my window

[rpo]

Forewarning...this is a rant about the San Diego service center. Also, my local (Seattle) service center has been wonderful, but wow is San Diego difficult to deal with.

I had an issue on a road trip last weekend from Seattle to San Diego where black tar/rubber material from inside the door adhered to the window when it was rolled down. Clearly is wasn't attached properly inside the door from the factory. I was in San Diego for a week, so no big deal since the local service center could fix it for me and clean off the gunk since I couldn't get it off myself.

So I called and left a message for the service center last Saturday. And again Monday twice. They finally answered on my fifth call. So what...they are busy, but returning my voicemail from two days earlier would have been nice.

I'm assured it's a same day fix, and drop off the car Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon they say it's going to take until Friday. That's no problem since I'm driving back to Seattle starting early Saturday morning and have a loaner.

I call early Friday afternoon and leave a voicemail for an update. No call is returned. I call (and text) again at 3, 4, and 5....finally someone calls back and says it'll be Saturday or Monday. I told them I need the car back tonight since I'm driving family back the next day. I'm told it'll now be done at 7. So, I go and pick up the car at 7. It was parked a distance from the service center on the street in the dark. Kind of weird.

I can tell immediately that they didn't bother to clean off the black rubber gunk from the window. It looks terrible and everyone driving by me can see it. I get back to the hotel and then notice my tint has multiple deep scratches through and into the glass on the inside, and more scratches in the glass on the outside. The window is ruined. It looks like it was slid across pavement while out of the door.

I called and left the service center yet another voicemail...this time pissed off. They are closed until the next day...Saturday. No return calls Saturday. I leave another voicemail mid afternoon. Nothing.

Today I called Tesla Ownership to let them know. They tried calling San Diegoand found their voicemail box full.

I guess I'll let Seattle deal with replacing the window and tint. Maybe they can get San Diego to return a call to explain this, because I sure cannot.

 

[kevincwelch]

You made your call to Ownership. Done. I'm sure Seattle will fix the problem.

 

[Andyw2100]

You made your call to Ownership. Done. I'm sure Seattle will fix the problem.

Will Tesla take responsibility for repairing the aftermarket tint? I'm in full agreement that they should, but I wonder if they will.

I'm may have a similar situation coming up. My driver's side Next Gen seat is making a noise. Other people have the same noise, and apparently there is now a TSB out for this. Part or all of the seat will need to be replaced. I had the seat treated with CQuartz Leather. Is Tesla going to pay to have the new seat treated? The two situations seem roughly analogous.

 

[BertL]

To the OP, as an MS owner down here in San Diego, I'm sorry you had the problems you did with our SC while you were visiting... Hopefully your trip home was a smooth one. FWIW, my couple of experiences have been pretty good at my SC, but I agree, it can be a very busy place.

As to the OP's tint and Andyw2100's question about seat coating being covered by Tesla's warranty...

My personal opinion is you're gonna have a tough time getting Tesla or any mfgr to replace effectively a "customer modification" to a component that is repaired or replaced as part of warranty or even basic service. For this purpose, I'd consider window tint, paint and interior wax and coatings, all "mods" compared to how the vehicle was first delivered by the mfgr. There is of course the possibility of a good faith reimbursement to put back your "mods" on the components needing service, but given possibly establishing a precedent if the mfgr makes an exception for you, I think it may be tough. (Customers post on social media, these days, right? ) Hopefully I'm wrong and you'll be pleasantly surprised. I appreciate neither of you, nor most owners will like my POV, but it's what my own personal expectation would be having watched similar situations over on a Lexus forum for years, and my having administered P&L, customer sat and warranty for a very long time in a different national customer service environment. I'll let you read Tesla's, or even another auto manufacturers warranty, to perhaps draw different conclusions. Good luck!​

 

[ecarfan]

My personal opinion is you're gonna have a tough time getting Tesla or any mfgr to replace effectively a "customer modification" to a component that is repaired or replaced as part of warranty or even basic service. For this purpose, I'd consider window tint, paint and interior wax and coatings, all "mods" compared to how the vehicle was first delivered by the mfgr. There is of course the possibility of a good faith reimbursement to put back your "mods" on the components needing service, but given possibly establishing a precedent if the mfgr makes an exception for you, I think it may be tough.

I agree. It seems highly unlikely that Tesla will pay to re-tint your window. Obviously a manufacturing defect in the door was responsible for damaging your window tint, but I suspect that the warranty only obligates Tesla to repair the manufacturing defect and restore the car to the condition it was in when you took delivery. The window tint was not present at delivery, and Tesla did not install the window tint.

 

[Discoducky]

I agree. It seems highly unlikely that Tesla will pay to re-tint your window. Obviously a manufacturing defect in the door was responsible for damaging your window tint, but I suspect that the warranty only obligates Tesla to repair the manufacturing defect and restore the car to the condition it was in when you took delivery. The window tint was not present at delivery, and Tesla did not install the window tint.

Hmm, I would hope good will then would kick in then from Tesla to repair the tint if the defect in the window mechanism did cause the damage. That seems like the right thing to do IMO.

 

[rpo]

I can say that the tint was in perfect condition even I dropped off the car, and there were no scratches on either side of the glass. All of that occurred while it was being repaired.

I'll keep everyone updated as to what happens.

 

[Max*]

It doesn't matter if the tint was aftermarket or not (it obviously is), if the car was brought in with aftermarket tints, and when you get it back, the tint is destroyed so much so that the window is actually scratched through the tint, I would be escalating things until they paid to get my tint fixed.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Tint repair is what, $200, at most for one window? I think Tesla should pay for it...

 

[Andyw2100]

To the OP, as an MS owner down here in San Diego, I'm sorry you had the problems you did with our SC while you were visiting... Hopefully your trip home was a smooth one. FWIW, my couple of experiences have been pretty good at my SC, but I agree, it can be a very busy place.

As to the OP's tint and Andyw2100's question about seat coating being covered by Tesla's warranty...

My personal opinion is you're gonna have a tough time getting Tesla or any mfgr to replace effectively a "customer modification" to a component that is repaired or replaced as part of warranty or even basic service. For this purpose, I'd consider window tint, paint and interior wax and coatings, all "mods" compared to how the vehicle was first delivered by the mfgr. There is of course the possibility of a good faith reimbursement to put back your "mods" on the components needing service, but given possibly establishing a precedent if the mfgr makes an exception for you, I think it may be tough. (Customers post on social media, these days, right? ) Hopefully I'm wrong and you'll be pleasantly surprised. I appreciate neither of you, nor most owners will like my POV, but it's what my own personal expectation would be having watched similar situations over on a Lexus forum for years, and my having administered P&L, customer sat and warranty for a very long time in a different national customer service environment. I'll let you read Tesla's, or even another auto manufacturers warranty, to perhaps draw different conclusions. Good luck!​

I brought this up exactly because it is such a gray area. One can make solid arguments on either side of the issue.

On the customer side, one would argue that something like tint, or leather protection, is a perfectly reasonable thing to have applied, and if a defect in manufacturing causes the part to which it was applied to require replacement under warranty, the company and not the customer should be responsible for replacing the aftermarket improvements as well.

On the company side the argument would be that the company is replacing the original failed piece of equipment, but that anything done to that equipment after delivery is not the company's responsibility.

My plan with my seat is to try to find out if the repair can be done by replacing just the base, as someone suggested was done in their case. I'm not sure if the base includes any leather or if it is beneath the leather, but in any case, there would be less leather to re-treat than if the entire seat were to be replaced. I'll then ask my SC about the re-treatment cost, but I will completely understand if that's on me. To be honest, the cost isn't even the main issue. It's more an issue about the inconvenience, as the detailer that did this for me is a couple of hours away. Ordinarily I try to bunch things with visits there, but I'll want to have the new seat treated as soon as possible after receiving it, so that may not be possible, which will require a special trip. The actual out of pocket cost is trivial as compared to that.

 

[demundus]

Forewarning...this is a rant about the San Diego service center. Also, my local (Seattle) service center has been wonderful, but wow is San Diego difficult to deal with.

I had an issue on a road trip last weekend from Seattle to San Diego where black tar/rubber material from inside the door adhered to the window when it was rolled down. Clearly is wasn't attached properly inside the door from the factory. I was in San Diego for a week, so no big deal since the local service center could fix it for me and clean off the gunk since I couldn't get it off myself.

So I called and left a message for the service center last Saturday. And again Monday twice. They finally answered on my fifth call. So what...they are busy, but returning my voicemail from two days earlier would have been nice.

I'm assured it's a same day fix, and drop off the car Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon they say it's going to take until Friday. That's no problem since I'm driving back to Seattle starting early Saturday morning and have a loaner.

I call early Friday afternoon and leave a voicemail for an update. No call is returned. I call (and text) again at 3, 4, and 5....finally someone calls back and says it'll be Saturday or Monday. I told them I need the car back tonight since I'm driving family back the next day. I'm told it'll now be done at 7. So, I go and pick up the car at 7. It was parked a distance from the service center on the street in the dark. Kind of weird.

I can tell immediately that they didn't bother to clean off the black rubber gunk from the window. It looks terrible and everyone driving by me can see it. I get back to the hotel and then notice my tint has multiple deep scratches through and into the glass on the inside, and more scratches in the glass on the outside. The window is ruined. It looks like it was slid across pavement while out of the door.

I called and left the service center yet another voicemail...this time pissed off. They are closed until the next day...Saturday. No return calls Saturday. I leave another voicemail mid afternoon. Nothing.

Today I called Tesla Ownership to let them know. They tried calling San Diegoand found their voicemail box full.

I guess I'll let Seattle deal with replacing the window and tint. Maybe they can get San Diego to return a call to explain this, because I sure cannot.

This is unfortunate, sorry they were so poor in their service to you. I have had nothing but A+ experiences here. I will say they are typically backed up, and the seatbelt thing + holidays the last two weeks didn't do anyone any favors. Hopefully Seattle can take care of it.

 

[gizmoboy]

I brought this up exactly because it is such a gray area. One can make solid arguments on either side of the issue.

On the customer side, one would argue that something like tint, or leather protection, is a perfectly reasonable thing to have applied, and if a defect in manufacturing causes the part to which it was applied to require replacement under warranty, the company and not the customer should be responsible for replacing the aftermarket improvements as well.

On the company side the argument would be that the company is replacing the original failed piece of equipment, but that anything done to that equipment after delivery is not the company's responsibility.

My plan with my seat is to try to find out if the repair can be done by replacing just the base, as someone suggested was done in their case. I'm not sure if the base includes any leather or if it is beneath the leather, but in any case, there would be less leather to re-treat than if the entire seat were to be replaced. I'll then ask my SC about the re-treatment cost, but I will completely understand if that's on me. To be honest, the cost isn't even the main issue. It's more an issue about the inconvenience, as the detailer that did this for me is a couple of hours away. Ordinarily I try to bunch things with visits there, but I'll want to have the new seat treated as soon as possible after receiving it, so that may not be possible, which will require a special trip. The actual out of pocket cost is trivial as compared to that.

It doesn't seem like much of a coin-toss to me... Aftermarket mods to a part that needs to be replaced under warranty are not their problem.

However, it's not apples-to-apples on the window vs seat situation, as they actually damaged the mod on the part as part of their service. If they needed to replace the window and the new one didn't have tint, I'd say they are in the clear and you're not he hook; but since they damaged the window and didn't have to replace it, I'd say they should be more inclined to fix or reimburse.

 

[rpo]

Quick update: My local service center (Seattle) is ordering a window and will get it tinted by the same shop I had mine done at as well. Looking good so far.

Oh, and still no return call from San Diego. I tried calling again just because I really want to discuss the issue with them, but alas, nobody answered and their voicemail is still full. The ironic thing is I overheard a service advisor there on Friday telling a tech not to come in on Saturday because "there isn't much to do". They should've had that guy come in and listen to their voicemails.

 

[kevincwelch]

Yup. Good on Tesla for making it right.

 

[rpo]

The manager from the San Diego service center finally called me back. His purpose of the call was to confirm that Seattle was going to fix "whatever was wrong with the car". I confirmed they were. He did not even bother to ask what was damaged by his employee nor did he address that nobody returns any calls left on their voicemail (nor answer the phone when it rings), so my guess is he does not even know (or care). That really irked me.

Regardless, everything is scheduled to be fixed by the wonderful people at the Seattle service center.

 

[liuping]

The manager from the San Diego service center finally called me back. His purpose of the call was to confirm that Seattle was going to fix "whatever was wrong with the car". I confirmed they were. He did not even bother to ask what was damaged by his employee nor did he address that nobody returns any calls left on their voicemail (nor answer the phone when it rings), so my guess is he does not even know (or care). That really irked me.

Regardless, everything is scheduled to be fixed by the wonderful people at the Seattle service center.

I've always gotten great service at the San Diego service center, with the sole exception of them returning phone calls or emails. I'd estimate that more than 1/2 the time emails or calls is never returned. It's really strange because they very friendly and super helpful in person.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I'm may have a similar situation coming up. My driver's side Next Gen seat is making a noise. Other people have the same noise, and apparently there is now a TSB out for this. Part or all of the seat will need to be replaced. I had the seat treated with CQuartz Leather. Is Tesla going to pay to have the new seat treated? The two situations seem roughly analogous.

I don't think you should expect Tesla to compensate you for a coating that you applied to the seats that was not applied originally at the factory by Tesla. Their obligation to fix parts under warranty does not extend to anything you add to those parts at your own expense. I certainly wouldn't expect that. If I have my steering wheel custom wrapped in a special leather of a different color and texture, then I need to have my steering wheel replaced under warranty, I certainly wouldn't expect Tesla to pay me to have it re-wrapped. That's something that you, as an owner, opted to do at your own risk. That doesn't flow to Tesla's warranty obligations.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and still no return call from San Diego. I tried calling again just because I really want to discuss the issue with them, but alas, nobody answered and their voicemail is still full. The ironic thing is I overheard a service advisor there on Friday telling a tech not to come in on Saturday because "there isn't much to do". They should've had that guy come in and listen to their voicemails.

Sounds like San Diego is badly managed. This might warrant contacting the regional manager about your experience.

Here in Scottsdale the service advisors call me throughout the day to give me updates on my car if it is an all day thing. They call of their own accord, I didn't ask, and I appreciate the updates and attention. There are bad apples everywhere, especially those may be coming from a dealership service model where customer satisfaction is not their #1 priority. Some, like our service manager in Scottsdale, are outstanding and I'm super thankful to have such an excellent team here locally.

 

[Super_Popular]

Danny is Seattle is awesome.

 

[demundus]

I don't think you should expect Tesla to compensate you for a coating that you applied to the seats that was not applied originally at the factory by Tesla. Their obligation to fix parts under warranty does not extend to anything you add to those parts at your own expense. I certainly wouldn't expect that. If I have my steering wheel custom wrapped in a special leather of a different color and texture, then I need to have my steering wheel replaced under warranty, I certainly wouldn't expect Tesla to pay me to have it re-wrapped. That's something that you, as an owner, opted to do at your own risk. That doesn't flow to Tesla's warranty obligations.

- - - Updated - - -



Sounds like San Diego is badly managed. This might warrant contacting the regional manager about your experience.

Here in Scottsdale the service advisors call me throughout the day to give me updates on my car if it is an all day thing. They call of their own accord, I didn't ask, and I appreciate the updates and attention. There are bad apples everywhere, especially those may be coming from a dealership service model where customer satisfaction is not their #1 priority. Some, like our service manager in Scottsdale, are outstanding and I'm super thankful to have such an excellent team here locally.

I've been in their offices about 5-6 times over the past 6 months. I see the same few people there, I would honestly say their front of house might be understaffed. Their repair times are always correct and pretty fast, but their overall response time in the front is hit or miss. It's a busy location, I try my best not to fault them. In person, I've always gotten top notch service.

 

[Jool]

My experience with the San Diego service center is mixed. The repairs for my car have all been a day or two later than the original completion date, but they were good at calling or e-mailing me with updates. But there have been a few mix ups that led to a lot of extra frustration. These repairs were before the seatbelt recall so I'm sure things have been crazier lately.

I think the combination of high workload plus being understaffed has led to these problems. But that is of little consolation to the owners who have no other options for service.