Sentry Does Not Record and Tesla Response

[KBF]

"Every repair, every problem, turns into a screaming match..."

"I'm especially not OK with the fact that I need to act like an ass to get them to do anything."

"The tech in question, while they claim to be the best they have, is a complete imbecile. I usually get a few laughs in the SC when I do my impression of him because he talks like Lenny from Of Mice and Men. Sounds like he's always high...I think he is."

Never once in my entire adult life have I had to scream at someone or act like an ass or mock others to get a satisfactory resolution in business. I've had some delays in Tesla service in the past (customer since 2012), but they've always treated me with respect. Sometimes I do have to compromise just a little bit to get the ball rolling, but in the long run, far more things go my way when I treat others with respect even if I don't feel like they don't respect me at first, or if things don't move as fast as I think is reasonable. Especially when it comes to future issues - if I've been patient and kind (particularly to local individuals, like at a service center) the first time, then when I have a second problem, they are more relaxed and are willing to work with me.

I've worked as a manager overseeing warranty issues in retail in the past, and also as a business owner in recent years. I've dealt with customers who think they're 100% right and know more than me, when really there is more nuance at play. Even so, I'm still patient and I'm skilled at de-escalation - not everyone is. When a customer shows respect and willingness to listen and understand, and is willing/able to see my side in a conflict, I will usually go beyond the letter of the law with warranty and am generous. When a customer comes in confrontationally to coerce me into getting what they want, they end up getting the bare legal minimum.

However, customers who scream at my employees, or mock them, or act like an ass, are not worth dealing with - they take up far more time proportionally than everyone else, and create far more stress and tension by their rudeness - some employees get riled up and are rude back, others 'ghost' because they don't want to (and shouldn't) be subjected to verbal attacks. These things are not okay, even if "it works" to get your way. I've only had a couple of terrible customers in my years in business - one eventually apologized after resolution and tried better in the future; the other stayed a jackass and I told them to leave and never come back, to protect my employees. Doesn't matter how much business some jerks bring in, my employees' well-being is worth far more, and I have plenty of other customers that are a joy to deal with, even in conflict.

The customer is only "always right" in matters of taste. You're right: it's not okay that this issue is not resolved yet, and Tesla absolutely has a legal responsibility to cover warranty, but this is a two-way street. Your actions have clearly hampered the process and made things worse for you - you're dealing with humans who are either scared of you or hate working with you and have no respect for you due to how you treated them, it sounds like on multiple occasions. You will receive their worst because you put them on the defensive.

I hope you get your car problem fixed, and your human relations problem, too.

 

[AndrewCAVT]

I should qualify that the misbehavior started 11 months into this problem, after "Lenny" tossed out the threats and the service advisor told me I should be grateful instead of apologizing for said threats. The ghosting started long before this.

11 months of excruciatingly nice on my part got nothing.

Acting like an ass may not be what's right, or even what you experience, but it's the only language spoken at Tesla Rocklin. I stand by, they started it.

 

[jjrandorin]

The point has been made that you are unhappy with them. Any further discussion should be directed at things to try to remedy the issue via troubleshooting, or I will likely lock the thread.

 

[CarlosFandango]

My attempt at troubleshooting in order to remedy the issue (as per the moderator intervention "statement"
Trying to resolve things by troubleshooting typically DOES require a visit or a phonecall on the one way telephone system implemented by tesla in whose hands you lie, for instance upon calling a few days ago, de spite my polite demeanour the badly trained phone staff refused a simple request to escalate to a supervisor in order to obtain all data on the car TESLA head office was from the usual restricted number, the tesla staff member did not let slip there was a member of tesla legal dept on the phone until my husband asked directly when she slipped up & included the legal in the conversation.

And this was to troubleshoot, by getting the car to be looked at properly which it had not up to that point.
Mockery had come from tesla which I had to point out as condescending because it amounted to disbelief in the form of denial of problem with the line "but madam, you are driving a supercomputer" ..I e it was much smarted than us & we should go away.

To troubleshoot you have to go beyond regular forms of assessment (ie more than merely plugging in & taking readings, mainly over the air) ..all of which were coming up clear, precisely because until an inch by inch examination was conducted & the flow of cooling was found as questionable (it is a shared cooling system after all) that a bigger bore manifold was eventually fitted in an attempt to fix the problem, unfortunately the fitter fitted & was unable to tell my wife roughly how much it increased the flow of coolant & performance thus.

We referred to it as a narrow urethra.

For the purpose of troubleshooting & clear context can anyone highlight the diameter & flow capability of the manifold that is associated with this problem & what it was changed to? ..the spare was ordered in from Germany (we are UK) & we were not informed of the background of the spare fitted, as to modified across the range or modified blow mould specifically for the 3.

Either way it didn't work, & we entertained more damage within 4 days with zero alerts appearing in the registry (not having data due to the system being in an eternal loop of sleep is the norm for this fault, which of course could manifest itself more noticeably & unravel in a dangerous manner.

Therefore to troubleshoot as to what else may arise, would anyone care to comment on what else may misfire from the sleeping aspect of the cpu & security tied in with all camera & sensor actions arising from driving with regular control, assisted driving etc.

Tesla software engineers are saying there is no solution (currently to this) so to TROUBLESHOOT we may have to look out for additional questionable actions performed by the car which are not being picked up on & logged by the CPU, ..ones that we may not have yet recognised bearing in mind the oft quirkyness of the vehicle anyway.


Other elements that have gone wrong since early on & not been fixed (though lets assume a different set of unrelated problems) is the drivers profile seat settings never work for easy entry not functioning in the same manner as the loaner, a modern 3 from 2021 onward also, software regularly updated (fyi)

 

[CarlosFandango]

By way of explanation, if your only experience of a model 3 is the one you bought (until a loaner is provided) then it is hard to compare & report back as to what are unusual & anomalous responses from your vehicle.

It is our second EV, the first being the nissan leaf as we were relatively early adopters, 30,000 trouble free miles there alone.

For tesla to troubleshoot properly we invite them to do more damage to the vehicle on the 4 points that were damaged in order to attempt to provoke a standard response from the vehicle bearing in mind that hit & run impact has been performed on multiple points of the vehicle including into sensors without any form of warning activation, nor logging in a car registry.. "no footage, no problem, no crime" ..& this is where to troubleshoot the phone staff needed to go beyond mere flow charts of recognised processes programmed & is what they fail to understand, thus the condescension from staff leading to a very frustrated customer who can see the bigger picture.

My background was troubleshooting & improving product & process within firms, this included resolving problems vain designers left behind which resulted in legacy product problems which would otherwise be repeated unless a sometimes annoyed person asked why his department was being questioned with regards to the storage of thousands of mouldings at great cost to be stored where because "designers" where a service guy would immediately pick out how it was going to manifest in terms of future problems or be nipped in the bud if access to prototypes is given. in a timely manner!

 

[AndrewCAVT]

The point has been made that you are unhappy with them. Any further discussion should be directed at things to try to remedy the issue via troubleshooting, or I will likely lock the thread.

Fair, fair.
Lets go to the ultimate question(s):

Does anyone have a means to reach customer support that goes above the location level?

The highest person at Rocklin has not been helpful. Requests as to who or how to go above has been met with refusals.

Emails to "resolutions" goes unanswered except an auto reply weeks ago.

Calling the phone number, while they are super sympathetic, tell me that the highest they can go is the Rocklin district manager; who then takes weeks to reply, talks a big game, and then ghosts.

I really don't want to go to court/arbitration, I feel like that is also in Tesla's best interest. I just want my car fixed or replaced.

There must me a path to the right person without ripping my hair out first. Hoping someone knows.

 

[jjrandorin]

Fair, fair.
Lets go to the ultimate question(s):

Does anyone have a means to reach customer support that goes above the location level?

The highest person at Rocklin has not been helpful. Requests as to who or how to go above has been met with refusals.

Emails to "resolutions" goes unanswered except an auto reply weeks ago.

Calling the phone number, while they are super sympathetic, tell me that the highest they can go is the Rocklin district manager; who then takes weeks to reply, talks a big game, and then ghosts.

I really don't want to go to court/arbitration, I feel like that is also in Tesla's best interest. I just want my car fixed or replaced.

There must me a path to the right person without ripping my hair out first. Hoping someone knows.

Some form of this question gets asked here occasionally (every month or so) and as far as I am aware, there is no prescribed way to reach such a person. Tesla as a company does not seem to support escalations in such a manner, and any escalations need to come from the staff on site, up (or become an issue because of some social media influencer or other).

Short answer, no, there isnt anyone you can reach that I am aware of, any escalations come from the staff on site to back end people who are not customer facing at all, so if you burn the bridge of the people in front of you at a SC you basically have no path forward other than perhaps another SC. Even then, at another SC, I guarantee that Tesla uses some form of ticketing system etc, and there will be copious amount of notes in files, especially if someone whas been "challenging" to deal with.

I say this not as anyone who has any inside information around Teslas workings on this, but as someone who has either performed or managed people who perform customer service roles my entire working career, starting at 15 1/2 years old.. and I am in my mid 50s atm.

 

[CarlosFandango]

That whole "rinse & repeat" IS the reason people lose it, ..because on the flip side, Tesla have burnt their bridges due to the whole damnable mess they leave to the techs to resolve or say as in my case "our hands are tied" ..which is madness & leaves the nice fellas on the floor waiting for a customer to meltdown, precisely why I haven't with the ground techs, they attempt to go further than the "hit or miss completely" phone staff.

BTW it regularly takes 45 minutes on hold to even get through to a human at tesla from the uk ..too many times of that is also understandable a to vexation & contempt for the phone person who says "yeah we'll call you back as soon as possible, then your return call is from a private, undisclosed number that calls "once"\ maybe 2 days later.

Anyone on any side of CS can see the fault with letting these aspects of the system exist, it doesn't help anybody!

 

[stopcrazypp]

Fair, fair.
Lets go to the ultimate question(s):

Does anyone have a means to reach customer support that goes above the location level?

The highest person at Rocklin has not been helpful. Requests as to who or how to go above has been met with refusals.

Emails to "resolutions" goes unanswered except an auto reply weeks ago.

Calling the phone number, while they are super sympathetic, tell me that the highest they can go is the Rocklin district manager; who then takes weeks to reply, talks a big game, and then ghosts.

I really don't want to go to court/arbitration, I feel like that is also in Tesla's best interest. I just want my car fixed or replaced.

There must me a path to the right person without ripping my hair out first. Hoping someone knows.

Go to a different SC, given as others mentioned, there isn't really a separate escalation path with HQ, especially if you already burned your bridges with this SC. There are people that have done that when a particular SC couldn't resolve their issue. For situations like this that are hard to diagnose, the SC typically escalates to engineering at HQ for help, but everything is still done through the SC.

For the next go, I would clarify in the service request all the variables that have been addressed (dashcam, the drive being used for it, Camera Based Detection, different profiles, GPS home exclusion), after making sure you have actually eliminated them as the cause. Also make sure you can come up with a procedure that makes it easy to reproduce the problem (this is what trips up most people, when the SC can't reproduce the problem easily).

For example, you say it moves clips to sentry folder within the hour before it sleeps, but doesn't after. Then make sure you do tests yourself that demonstrates that (you can take pictures to document), and make sure it is consistently repeatable. Also make sure Sentry is still active after an hour or however long you claim things start to fail (flashes light/shows screen warning) or if it is not, then that's another data point.

Edit: I didn't realize you asked for a replacement car, that's usually a recipe for them to shut down, as such a request usually means a lemon claim might not be far away and lawyers may get involved. Hopefully they didn't mark your file already at HQ.

 

[XPsionic]

After reading this thread and trying to understand the issue, I think OP needs to write down a clearer list of bullet points and head to a different service center. Right now with the way the facts are presented, it's extremely messy and difficult to understand what is actually broken, and what steps had been taken to remedy them.

IMO the list needs to look something like this:

State the problem clearly: For example - Car does not record sentry videos onto USB drive after x number of minutes even though Sentry mode will flash the headlights and display events as being recorded on screen

Does car the record dash cam videos to USB drive? Yes/No
Do Sentry mode outside of recording video work (flashing lights)? Yes/No
Does the problem occur in exactly the same way with different USB drives? Yes/No
Is Sentry mode's operation in other Model 3s the same or not as OP's car? Yes/No (Maybe OP needs to grab a loaner or tester for a few hours/overnight and test it out)
... etc, make a detailed list about USB drive recording, viewing the events inside and outside the car, how sentry mode behaves after x minutes, stuff like that

The wall of texts mixed in with snide comments, complaints, and bad attitude by service center and OP makes it very difficult to drill down to the core issue.

Best of luck to you OP, sounds like there is a real issue, I hope you could get the point across clearly so no one is in any doubt that you're not simply mistaken about how Sentry works, or that you're being extra difficult and asking service center employees to go above and beyond what's possible for them to offer you.

 

[AndrewCAVT]

Thanks all.

I think we have quite a few angles to work. I'll come back and update here if there is news. Perhaps others will be helped.

There's actually quite a few posts with this issue, but got hijacked by the "red x" issue. People trying to be helpful, but not seeing the nuances in the differences. It's why I was a little hardcore about not wanting to hear anything about the "red x."

I do have one angle I can try but thus far do not want to. I am a Tesla contractor. I can ask my customer to connect me internally. That is a last resort I probably won't deploy until I really feel hopeless. Much prefer to keep the two separate relationships, although I may be guilty of having said "I wish Tesla offered me 10% of the customer service I provide you." Here's to hoping that never has to happen.

 

[M3_Performante]

I'm surprised you are still dealing with Tesla at this point..... screaming at them and mocking the techs probably hasn't helped, but I'm sure it is frustrating, but being a Karen is the worst thing to do in these situations.
You attract more bees with honey than vinagar

It's time to just study up on your states lemon laws and contact a lemon law attorney

Lemon Law | Department of Motor Vehicles

dmv.vermont.gov

 

[AndrewCAVT]

Well, a not an update update. I got a question at the end.

My service which was opened in early February to address the errors posted in service mode has been "resolved remotely."

Entirely untrue considering our communications have consisted of entirely of (summarized):

Tesla: [Service Manager] is in an all day meeting. He will get back to you when he returns.

Me: I understand he is in an all day meeting, but where was he the past month?

Tesla: [Service Manager] will reach out to you when he returns.

I did in the meantime reach out to phone support. As always they are helpful within their powers. The issue was escalated, unfortunately to the same general manager whose been telling me to kick rocks. Their policy is that it must go to him first before going higher....except we've done this before and all records of that were removed from their system. Of course he didn't call back within the promised 48 hours. I guess I'll call back again and try to escalate to regional as I was told the next step would be. I feel like I'll eventually get to someone who lives up to their title of "service."

I did try to open a new service at a different location; except it seems that all options now divert to mobile service. That means it's going to be the same group of clowns I've been dealing with out of Rocklin. Did something change in the app? Anyone know how I can bring back the location selector?

Thanks!

 

[AndrewCAVT]

Once again, not an update and likely the last one for a while.
I took the car down to Tesla after they "remotely resolved" my issue and got to speak to the service advisor and a tech in person. Here's some snippets of our conversation:

Why do you need the security system to work?

SA: You could just sell the car.
Me: You don't see any issue dumping this on another person, besides, that's illegal in California.
Tech: You could sell it to Carmax (we all laughed, it was pretty funny)

If you pay for the new computer and it fixes the problem, I'll comp it.

Finally, he told me that he already put in a request on my behalf for a Lemon Buyback.

A week later, today, the service advisor has gotten back to me and the request for the lemon (what ever, buyback, exchange) has been denied and he's taken this to the highest level. There's nothing he can do and advised to seek other means.

They are still refusing to put in writing why they won't service the vehicle. Verbally acknowledging that they know I'll publish or go to the news with what ever they tell me. They're not wrong.

Seeing they won't tell me that they won't service my complaint, I have continued to put in service requests while they continue to cancel them immediately. I always put in chat "why did you cancel?" and get no reply. I figure this "documentation" will be useful down the road and doesn't take much effort on my part.

I am writing one final letter to the address given on the Lemon document. I will detail the issue and be reasonable by requesting a new vehicle but saying I am still open to a repair....they have not even attempted anything to date. I will notate that by writing to them, I am not agreeing to their arbitration format (I already opted out at purchase) and I merely using this angle to make one last attempt at a civil solution before we turn to legal.

In the meantime, I have reached out to an attorney referred to me by an attorney friend.

I will also begin preparing the documentation to process the Lemon Arbitration in Vermont.

Might as well be prepared for all possibilities.

I suspect it will be a long while until my next update.

 

[jkdman123]

Might contact the state attorney general's office. They might be able to provide some pressure. I would guess it's a longshot, but you have nothing to lose.

I would consult with a lawyer and see what your options are. The main thing I would ask them is how you could asses damages that would stand up to the scrutiny of a judge. I would imagine that small claims court is the best recourse because otherwise the lawyer is gonna charge you much more than the fix is worth, although at this point, if I were you and I had the money I might go that route and make as much noise as possible on Facebook, etc. as well as calling any and every EV blogger to get the word out there. They're talking a tough game right now because it's not public yet. If you actually did get public traction I guarantee they would become more accommodating.

 

[AndrewCAVT]

ITS TIME FOR SOME GOOD NEWS!!!!

Since the last post, I’ve kept a constant open ticket at Rocklin just to be a pest. They even put a charge on it to try to deter me, but I just kept kicking it down the road.

While on vacation my charge port stopped communicating and I needed to open a real service. You can only have one open at a time so I added the issue and moved it to Arden.

WOW what a difference. First thing I did was two days before the service, I went down just to chat. Show I’m a human and that there’s two sides to every story. I asked to go to the back to talk and they LISTENED. I felt HEARD.

So they’ve had the car for about a week, and will have it for about another (I don’t need the car so I told them to take their time) and they called today to tell me they’re gonna try the most likely part; and it sounded like they did real research.

Is this a guarantee fix? No. We all agree this is some oddball embedded issue that affects certain vehicles at random. What is important it that they are TRYING and I feel they will continue to try and advocate until it’s resolved; although I feel good that this is it. This is all I ever asked for!

Does anyone know a way I can reach out to corporate and absolutely rave about Arden? The way they are handling this is night and day and I want to make sure that they get recognized so that they are rewarded and this behavior spreads!

If anyone from Arden reads this; THANK YOU! You need not be successful this week but I am truly grateful for your efforts!

 

[ELETRO]

ITS TIME FOR SOME GOOD NEWS!!!!

Since the last post, I’ve kept a constant open ticket at Rocklin just to be a pest. They even put a charge on it to try to deter me, but I just kept kicking it down the road.

While on vacation my charge port stopped communicating and I needed to open a real service. You can only have one open at a time so I added the issue and moved it to Arden.

WOW what a difference. First thing I did was two days before the service, I went down just to chat. Show I’m a human and that there’s two sides to every story. I asked to go to the back to talk and they LISTENED. I felt HEARD.

So they’ve had the car for about a week, and will have it for about another (I don’t need the car so I told them to take their time) and they called today to tell me they’re gonna try the most likely part; and it sounded like they did real research.

Is this a guarantee fix? No. We all agree this is some oddball embedded issue that affects certain vehicles at random. What is important it that they are TRYING and I feel they will continue to try and advocate until it’s resolved; although I feel good that this is it. This is all I ever asked for!

Does anyone know a way I can reach out to corporate and absolutely rave about Arden? The way they are handling this is night and day and I want to make sure that they get recognized so that they are rewarded and this behavior spreads!

If anyone from Arden reads this; THANK YOU! You need not be successful this week but I am truly grateful for your efforts!

what parts have they tried?

 

[jkdman123]

ITS TIME FOR SOME GOOD NEWS!!!!

Since the last post, I’ve kept a constant open ticket at Rocklin just to be a pest. They even put a charge on it to try to deter me, but I just kept kicking it down the road.

While on vacation my charge port stopped communicating and I needed to open a real service. You can only have one open at a time so I added the issue and moved it to Arden.

WOW what a difference. First thing I did was two days before the service, I went down just to chat. Show I’m a human and that there’s two sides to every story. I asked to go to the back to talk and they LISTENED. I felt HEARD.

So they’ve had the car for about a week, and will have it for about another (I don’t need the car so I told them to take their time) and they called today to tell me they’re gonna try the most likely part; and it sounded like they did real research.

Is this a guarantee fix? No. We all agree this is some oddball embedded issue that affects certain vehicles at random. What is important it that they are TRYING and I feel they will continue to try and advocate until it’s resolved; although I feel good that this is it. This is all I ever asked for!

Does anyone know a way I can reach out to corporate and absolutely rave about Arden? The way they are handling this is night and day and I want to make sure that they get recognized so that they are rewarded and this behavior spreads!

If anyone from Arden reads this; THANK YOU! You need not be successful this week but I am truly grateful for your efforts!

Tweet at Elon about how Arden helped you. I'd keep it short and positive. I wouldn't bash the other SC. May not achieve anything, but couldn't hurt.

 

[AndrewCAVT]

what parts have they tried?

The computer is the first part….which is part of my gripe with Rocklin. They wouldn’t try anything. Hell, it took multiple visits just to get them to even give the car a proper look.

 

[HBM3]

So today while I was out of town I get into my M3 and notice someone hit the front left bumper leaving marks and breaking some of the clear coat on the front bumper. When I go to check the footage there's no footage? WTF Yes sentry mode was enabled since it recorded earlier when I was at the charger. The closest anyone came to the vehicle was the vehicle parked to the right another Tesla which I could see the driver unplug and drive away. Anyone else experience this before? What's irritating is not that I got hit but that it didn't record anything.