Service and communication (out of main)

[dhrivnak]

Maybe I'm not understanding you correctly so tell me what I have wrong:

1) Your Model 3 only had two minor problems.
2) The glovebox would pop open when you hit a bump and the frunk needed an adjustment.
3) Both times Tesla service came to you and fixed the issue without charge.
4) You consider this a problem.


Please don't sign up for the first colonization trip to Mars. I guarantee it will not be satisfactory.

No I am very satisfied with how I have been treated but this was a response that Tesla’s needs FAR less servicing and support. While two minor issues is not a lot it is still more than most of my other cars. Car quality is quite good for most makes these days.

 

[neroden]

I don’t believe this is true. The app appears to choose mobile service first and only redirects to service center if mobile service is unavailable in the near future. I can book a mobile service appointment right now.

It’s a tad bit strange that you can’t override it and directly ask for a service center(except via the website, which only does service centers for some reason), but I’m guessing they don’t want to overload the service centers with people whose issues can be solved by a mobile tech.

Yeah, I don't use the app, so I'm watching the website refusing to schedule mobile service. This is amateurish, with mobile service only accessible through an app and service centers only through the website, and neither through the other means. Could be worse.

(Other things are worse, of course. Just try to call Tesla's published main service number. Emailing the main address about the inability to contact anyone got a response after a week, but it was a brushoff which asked for information they already had, namely my car's VIN, which they can look up from my email address.)

My executive-level contact is working on this, but I think she's losing the battle.

 

[Sudre]

Latest update on my attempt to get my back glass on my 2013 Model S. It's been a few weeks of Sifelite calling Tesla's parts desk here in St. Louis and Tesla simply will not call the company back. If Tesla is going to refuse to allow third party repairs I will not buy another one.

As far as the possession issues I mentioned before.... The car pretty much has to be started from the phone about 50% of the time now. The FOBs always unlock the frunk, hatch and doors, which of course opens the back passenger door. The tire low pressure comes on randomly and it's summer so it's not a loss in tire pressure from a temp drop. I still have a week before the mobile service will arrive. I am hoping that while I am out in the no cell phone connection parts of Missouri this coming weekend that I don't get stranded.

I won't bother adding any more replies to this thread since it appears it's going no where anyway.

I have never in my life owned a car where you simply can not give someone money and they fix it. My parents have been in town this past week and they are not real impressed since my dad has been driving the car while I am at work. He has to call me and I start the car from the app even tho he has the key. He had a fun time explaining to the bank teller at the drive thru why he couldn't pull forward after the transaction. He must have put it in park then while dealing with the teller at the drive up lifted his butt which then turned the car off.

 

[Skipdd]

Latest update on my attempt to get my back glass on my 2013 Model S. It's been a few weeks of Sifelite calling Tesla's parts desk here in St. Louis and Tesla simply will not call the company back. If Tesla is going to refuse to allow third party repairs I will not buy another one.

As far as the possession issues I mentioned before.... The car pretty much has to be started from the phone about 50% of the time now. The FOBs always unlock the frunk, hatch and doors, which of course opens the back passenger door. The tire low pressure comes on randomly and it's summer so it's not a loss in tire pressure from a temp drop. I still have a week before the mobile service will arrive. I am hoping that while I am out in the no cell phone connection parts of Missouri this coming weekend that I don't get stranded.

I won't bother adding any more replies to this thread since it appears it's going no where anyway.

I have never in my life owned a car where you simply can not give someone money and they fix it. My parents have been in town this past week and they are not real impressed since my dad has been driving the car while I am at work. He has to call me and I start the car from the app even tho he has the key. He had a fun time explaining to the bank teller at the drive thru why he couldn't pull forward after the transaction. He must have put it in park then while dealing with the teller at the drive up lifted his butt which then turned the car off.

Apologize if I missed it, but is it possible your fobs just need new batteries? I would definitely be unhappy with the scenario you described. Good luck.

 

[Sudre]

Apologize if I missed it, but is it possible your fobs just need new batteries? I would definitely be unhappy with the scenario you described. Good luck.

I have replaced both batteries in both FOBs three times in the last week hoping it was bad batteries I was buying.

The latest test. If the car does the fob not present thing, I can exit the car. Lock the car. Walk away. Walk back. Unlock the car and everything works..... well the back passenger door will still open. I think the AI has become self aware. I did have one time where the car would not lock but when I got in the car it would start.... go figure. Normally doesn’t one feed lithium to psychic patients? You’d think she has enough. I am wondering if a wire in the back passenger door is shorting to ground and as I drive around it makes and breaks contact causing surges/spikes.

 

[jerry33]

Some good news today. Last week, the upgrade caused the 17" display to blank. Once in a while it came back but only for a few hours. Called Tesla and pressed one to connect to the hot line. In less than two minutes I got a live person, and they put in the request to reload the software. Next morning the screen was fine and it's been fine for several days now, so "good job Tesla".

 

[Skipdd]

Some good news today. Last week, the upgrade caused the 17" display to blank. Once in a while it came back but only for a few hours. Called Tesla and pressed one to connect to the hot line. In less than two minutes I got a live person, and they put in the request to reload the software. Next morning the screen was fine and it's been fine for several days now, so "good job Tesla".

Thanks for posting. I hope it is the beginning of a trend.

 

[jerry33]

Thanks for posting. I hope it is the beginning of a trend.

As far as I know, right now the big service issue is the phone tree. They fixed it so that it no longer directs you to the chat. I haven't called since last week, so I don't know if they've done more to it or not. For things that are not time sensitive, the App has worked well. The other issue is that there's very little that has ever gone wrong with my car, so 90% of the service has been routine maintenance. (brake fluid, coolant, flushing the pano drains, etc.)

 

[CarbonFree]

Has neroden been banned?

 

[jerry33]

Has neroden been banned?

Yes. But not for this thread. Apparently something else happened.

 

[EVDRVN]

Recent change?

I literally had confirmation last year that they couldn't see each others' systems. Maybe this is new (and if it's new, it's good, certainly).

But wait: How the hell did you actually reach someone on the phone? Which service center did you call? Last time I called, I had to run through five service center numbers before I found one which picked up -- just before that, the main number NEVER got a human (just the looping phone tree from hell), and online chat didn't work, and email didn't work.

I'll give it a few more months, but if this continues to happen, I'm selling my 10K TSLA shares. I'd rather get Musk's attention and get the damn problem fixed.

They recently merged systems. I got calls from the service center in another state asking me about my car until they realized it was not my car.

 

[Carl Raymond]

You're focusing on principles, which is missing the point. Is all about business. It's a very simple business decision. A tire is not worth 100k + lost future revenue. No logical business person would ever make that choice.

Bear in mind that I'm not saying that Tesla (or any other business) should do this for every customer. Though many other cases may also be genuine, they may not be big spenders (but sure on *principle*, one may argue that Tesla should replace all such genuine cases). But this guy clearly is a big spender, while also making numerous referrals. Forget principles. It's just plain dumb business to make him upset over the cost of a tire. Business, business, business. That's all I'm saying.

But what if 6 people admire that Tesla apply the rules and do not discriminate, and this one-policy-for-all actually brings in business? I may well be one of those six.

 

[Fact Checking]

I explained that the nail must have been there from the beginning because that tire was low when I drove home.

Is the tire pressure logged perhaps, or only tire pressure warnings? If yes then Tesla should be able to see that in the log.

In any case, I think the SC should have taken a look at your past purchases and (presumably low) warranty claims and replaced your tire.

Was any of the Tesla employees nasty, flippant or otherwise emotionally negative about your claim, passive-aggressively suggesting that you are lying - I.e. is there anything more to this incident that made you upset?

BTW., I'm also pretty sure that Tesla is suggesting a full tire replacement as a liability CYA risk reduction policy: should you have an accident due to a blown tire they'd be in a world of hurt. If you take the tire to a tire service I'm pretty sure you could get a ~$20 fix with a mushroom type tire plug.

(My CYA disclaimer, should you crash due to the tire: this is not advice.)

 

[dww12]

If someone is going to buy a competitors car because Tesla enforced their rule that scratches, dents, scuffs and tears or flats must be noted within a set number of days after delivery, then maybe Tesla doesn't need them as a customer. Personally, I wouldn't complain about damage that I didn't discover until a whole week after delivery. By the time a whole week has passed, it's MY car and I'm responsible for it. Likewise, I wouldn't bring a car in a week later for a scratch that I was sure didn't happen after delivery. A reasonable person will not be upset about a fair rule being followed.

If they are so upset they will never buy another again, maybe it's their loss more than Tesla's problem. The world is a big place. When you make the best cars in the world, you don't need to play games with your customers. Just have fair policies and follow them. People will come. You will never have 100% market share anyway.

If the SC put the VIN I was assigned in their fleet as test drive car, then messed up the replacement order, then did not give me credit for the test drive miles, then did not goodwill me a new tire that more likely than not happened during those test drives I would be POd about for a very long time. Are there no logs on low tire pressure warnings? If so, wouldn’t that be an easy lookup to see when the first reset on that wheel was? If it was before he took delivery free tire, if not, no.

 

[DFibRL8R]

... I also noticed the right rear tire pressure was low on the drive home, but did not mention that in the first 24 hours because I assumed it was just inflated less than the other tires... I explained that the nail must have been there from the beginning because that tire was low when I drove home. But they say that since there was no mention of it immediately, they can't take my word for it...

Bummer! How about asking Tesla to pull the logs? I would imagine that the low tire pressure you noticed on the ride home (and possibly prior to delivery) could be verified. I agree that the damage to the goodwill of a long-time customer is not worth the argument but, you know, when there are people involved things can get a bit sideways.

 

[lascavarian]

Official policy is not applicable in all cases.

I think there is a very strong case to be made that this is against the ethos of the company. Tesla more than most companies has been operated with strong even handed policies. Even EM’s own mother gets product at list price. These are good business practices that are refreshing and work well with online ordering.

They do not want to be grouped in with the actions of typical car dealers.

Most (not all) of their policies are pretty smart and easy to support. It is fine to change polices but always be in compliance. I find it easy to respect having only one class of customer. Most customers will respect it if they think about it.

Since I had the exact tire symptoms, how would I feel if I had been treated differently? One customer gains good will but others lose it. Good even handed policies clearly and evenly applied are the gold standard and reflect smart management. Management that makes me comfortable to invest with.

That does not mean that a better policy might be a one week tire warranty for all customers. I think it would be a horrible policy but some might disagree. Tesla does not make the tires (yet) and there are serious liability issues with tires where a crystal clear line is a smart policy IMO.

 

[jerry33]

That does not mean that a better policy might be a one week tire warranty for all customers. I think it would be a horrible policy but some might disagree. Tesla does not make the tires (yet) and there are serious liability issues with tires where a crystal clear line is a smart policy IMO.

Tesla would not want to get into the tire manufacturing business any more then they would want to get into the chip fabrication business. Design is another matter. Many OEMs specify the qualities they want in a tire and the tire manufacturers make tires to those specifications. Tire manufacturing is a capital and R&D intensive industry (not to mention liability intensive).

 

[Don TLR]

It is SC Dependent and that manager should have totally taken care of your tire. I bought my latest set of tires at the SC, sure I could have gotten them cheaper at a discount place but I support the company. One week later I get a bolt right through the tire and Tesla tells me I need a new one. The manager knows I just bought them last week and comps the tire for me. So there are still good managers who care about customer service out there and this was just a few months ago.

Supporting the company again..

 

[Don TLR]

It's such a hit or miss. That company that rents Teslas on youtube had their batteries good willed to him even though it was way beyond the warranty period, and here they give this guy such a hard time on a tire.

If only the Doctor had a YouTube channel..

 

[AlMc]

Only someone who thinks the rules don't apply to them.

Personally, I feel these should be looked at more as 'guidelines' than hard and fast rules. If the OP had a history of pushing the limits of the guidelines I probably would not have gone against the guidelines but based on the info given by the OP I would have certainly replaced the tire.
Given what I hear about this situation (I know I don't know every detail). in my business I would be personally calling the OP, apologizing and sending him a check for the cost of the tire or credit for the future...his choice.

EDIT: Coming to this discussion late...If this needs to be moved elsewhere do so.