Service and communication (out of main)

[Tampaukfan]

Our Lexus dealer treats us the same , the go above and beyond when we bring our LX570 in for service.
They apologize for not having LX570 loaners.. Yes its a big antiquated boat, but it will last forever and even when it hits 100k miles it will still be worth something.

Enjoyed owning our Model S, but it had so many issues.. thankfully the Model 3 was not out so service was good. No waits and always a Tesla loaner. But having to bring your car in for warranty repairs every month or two gets old, dont have the time for that.
All said, service is only going to get massively worse.. the more cars the more problems and if you dont have enough service centers or techs.....

My LEXUS dealer welcomes me with graciousness.
I have a new clean loaner car at my want.

The hostess at the cafe bar offers me mochas and espressos...along with a wide assortment of nibbles.
The two story waterfall is soothing as I relax in the expansive second story customer lounge...

Want home service? No Problem.
A flatbed tow truck comes to my place with a clean loaner car....takes my car to the dealer...
returns my car....ahhhhh

Concierge service? awesome...
I enjoy special deals and events...lunch at Post Ranch - one of the 100 FINEST Hotels in World -
On the house...

I feel appreciated and valued.

I wouldn't put up with the crap I read about here at a Denny's...
But at a Michelin star establishment?
You must be kidding.
Spending over $100k for a car and being treated like dog dirt...
This religious fervor needs an intervention

 

[abasile]

As a Tesla owner, I don't need mochas, espressos, two story waterfalls, special events, or fancy lunches.

Just take care of my service needs, and I'm happy. So far, Tesla has kept me quite satisfied service-wise, aside from recent frustration described above. It helps that our recent Model S needs have been pretty minor, and our Model 3 has been quite solid over the last year aside from a couple of easy to fix glitches. Hardly needing service is a good thing!

Lyft credits rather than a loaner, though? This is a negative. Lyft might be okay if I just need a ride home, though that would probably cost Tesla more than a rental car, give my semi-rural location. But I don't know how one is supposed to do errands, grocery shopping, etc. using Lyft; this seems like potentially a lot of hassle. Not acceptable.

The thing is, Lexus is not a choice if you want to avoid poisoning the air around you or using substantially more fossil fuels than necessary. The "religious fervor" of which you speak stems from the fact that only Tesla is seriously challenging the automotive status quo today. The problem is that many car buyers aren't particularly swayed by larger societal concerns like the environment or national security.

My LEXUS dealer welcomes me with graciousness.
I have a new clean loaner car at my want.

The hostess at the cafe bar offers me mochas and espressos...along with a wide assortment of nibbles.
The two story waterfall is soothing as I relax in the expansive second story customer lounge...

Want home service? No Problem.
A flatbed tow truck comes to my place with a clean loaner car....takes my car to the dealer...
returns my car....ahhhhh

Concierge service? awesome...
I enjoy special deals and events...lunch at Post Ranch - one of the 100 FINEST Hotels in World -
On the house...

I feel appreciated and valued.

I wouldn't put up with the crap I read about here at a Denny's...
But at a Michelin star establishment?
You must be kidding.
Spending over $100k for a car and being treated like dog dirt...
This religious fervor needs an intervention

 

[xfea]

As a Tesla owner, I don't need mochas, espressos, two story waterfalls, special events, or fancy lunches.

Just take care of my service needs, and I'm happy. So far, Tesla has kept me quite satisfied service-wise, aside from recent frustration described above. It helps that our recent Model S needs have been pretty minor, and our Model 3 has been quite solid over the last year aside from a couple of easy to fix glitches. Hardly needing service is a good thing!

Lyft credits rather than a loaner, though? This is a negative. Lyft might be okay if I just need a ride home, though that would probably cost Tesla more than a rental car, give my semi-rural location. But I don't know how one is supposed to do errands, grocery shopping, etc. using Lyft; this seems like potentially a lot of hassle. Not acceptable.

The thing is, Lexus is not a choice if you want to avoid poisoning the air around you or using substantially more fossil fuels than necessary. The "religious fervor" of which you speak stems from the fact that only Tesla is seriously challenging the automotive status quo today. The problem is that many car buyers aren't particularly swayed by larger societal concerns like the environment or national security.

So that brings up the "religious fervor" of your man-made climate disaster....'belief'...
But this is not the forum for that delusion....

But it does make my point.....

 

[mblakele]

I would use Tesla's chat if there was such a thing, but even though the phone tree says there is a chat, I couldn't find it.

Not just you, and there's a thread for this: No more tesla chat?

 

[Matias]

Not just you, and there's a thread for this: No more tesla chat?

You can always call!

 

[abasile]

Actually, I was a fan of EVs well before I came to accept the scientific consensus on climate change. As a bicyclist and runner, I really don’t like vehicle exhaust and smog. During cold weather, even relatively clean-burning gasoline cars are forced to run rich and stink up their surroundings. I also abhor depending on petro states that hate us, which is still the case because many of our refineries are tuned to foreign sources of oil.

However, you do have a point that Tesla needs to appeal to people with a wide spectrum of beliefs. The only way to do that is to provide a superior product and take care of your customers. Answering the phone with a live human being every time, at least within a few minutes, would be a great step forward!

So that brings up the "religious fervor" of your man-made climate disaster....'belief'...
But this is not the forum for that delusion....

But it does make my point.....

 

[MarcusMaximus]

Got my car back, was ready 8 hours earlier than estimated(Autopilot/NoA now works fantastically). They contacted me by text first thing this morning, then sent an invoice. Invoice had a mistake because they forgot to add that it was a follow up from mobile service, so the deductible(extended warranty) was already met. Told them that and they corrected it immediately and sent a new one showing $0.00. Then, I found out the Uber credits expired after last night for some reason(I’ve seen someone else mention this issue before), so I texted them and they sent a new voucher. Took Uber into the service center and they immediately pulled up my info, asked if I had any other questions, brought out my car, gave me the keys and sent me on my way.

TLDR:
1. Still a lot of letting little things slip through the cracks
2. they’re quick to fix them when brought to their attention.
3. Actual service process is pretty smooth and quick.


PS. For my “other questions”, I asked about the fix for yellowing screens borders. Guy said they’ve got a few solutions they’re trialing(may explain the disparate explanations) and that some of them seem to be fixing the issue, but engineering is still running trials before they’re ready to do a wide release on it.

 

[MarcusMaximus]

So that brings up the "religious fervor" of your man-made climate disaster....'belief'...
But this is not the forum for that delusion....

But it does make my point.....

I don’t believe the person you’re replying to ever mentioned climate change. They mentioned “poisoning the air around you”, which would be fully covered by, say, carbon monoxide emissions. Unless you don’t believe in those either?

 

[Sudre]

True, but as long as the car is driveable the warranty states it is your responsibility to get it to the service center regardless of the distance. So some of the consequences are on the purchaser of the car as well.

The service for Orlando FL is fine and I have been happy with them. Why? Because they are not trying to service a 400 mile radius. If no one picks up, I'll just drive to them and demand someone to see me.

Your expectations are nuts because no sane person would buy a car from a company with no service center within 30 miles away. You did and now you are dealing with the consequence. This is to be EXPECTED.

Sounds like there is a group of people trying to say that the franchise dealerships are the right way to do things and Tesla should just go that route...... since currently I haven't been treated this way by a franchise dealership. They will at least pick up the phone, talk to you, and lie to your face....

 

[Sudre]

My latest deal is getting my back glass replaced. Since I don't want to wait weeks to get my glass replaced on the hatch I went ahead and used the insurance recommend Safelite. It's an old 2013 S60. I don't care about the glass, I just need it replaced.

Turns out Tesla will not call them back to give them any information at all. It's been a week. The manager of the store finally asked me to look into for him or he will just stop servicing Tesla's since they can't get parts and Safelite doesn't want the bad reputation.

So it's not just customers. It's other vendors that are having troubles contacting Tesla.... Gee this sounds like a youtube video I recently watched where a guy backed his Model 3 into a wall to see how the service would go.... it didn't go well.

 

[MC3OZ]

Long time lurker here, but I signed up specifically for this post...

I conducted a quick straw poll on Reddit asking what it was like booking service via the App.

Every response was that booking service via the app was great.

So what has happened is Elon intends people to book service via the app, staff that answer phones at service centres have been largely laid off.

The model is correct it is a very good, model a few finer points of execution are missing:-

• Customers calling service should get a record message that informing them to use the app.
• The central call centre should be able to make electronic booking at any service centre in an efficient manner.
• The central cal centre should be able to check on the progress of any job as all work should be logged.
• The central call centre should be able to pull car logs, and resolve simple issues...

I thin the intention is mobile rangers handle more of the jobs, and service technicians are mostly left alone to do the job and service is efficiently schedule over a combination of mobile rangers. and service centres.

So I think the communication problem is adequately informing customers how the system was supposed to work.

A secondary issue is resources at the central call centre, that could be concurring because customers are not using the app.

So if you are having problems, try the app and report back, I don;t have enough data points to fully confirm my theory.

 

[neroden]

Once you get to the service, it's excellent as always, but a recent change in the way you contact the service has made it practically impossible to communicate.

Bingo. I still love ALL the individual service techs, they've all been awesome, and I have to emphasize that. Even the call center people are good now... when I reach them.

----

So, I have VERY good news. Thanks to those who gave me a contact point. I have gotten a response from management which thanked me for my "tactful" letter, and I have a way to follow up.

I think in this case management awareness is probably 100% of the problem. Though the proof of the pudding is in the eating; we'll see whether the phone tree gets fixed promptly. (And whether chat reappears, and whether the list of service centers acquires email addresses, and whether voicemailboxes stop being always-full, and so on.)

I think people talking about the current "model" are missing the point. The real disaster was the catch-22. It's great to get as much as possible automated, but not everything can be. When the online or app options don't work (my preferred service center could only be scheduled by phone, and I couldn't find the email address listed), the remaining customers go to the phone. When the phone tree makes it impossible to directly reach the call center, which still exists, something has gone terribly wrong. I hope my letter gets the phone tree fixed.

 

[neroden]

OT

I've often wondered why the anti-Tesla media hasn't contacted one of us who are screaming as loudly as we can about this problem and it's ongoing trend of getting worse and not better?

My fiancee and I have a theory about that.

The anti-Tesla media is actually an anti-electric-car media. It's funded by Big Oil (including Russia) and Legacy Combustion Auto.

They are trying to spread an anti-electric-car narrative. This story does not do that. This story basically says "Hey, the electric cars are great! People will tolerate all kinds of terrible customer service just to get them! Any electric car companies will make a mint if they just answer their phones!" Not a good message for Big Oil.

So the anti-Tesla media don't spread this story. It doesn't serve their narrative. (But a related story showed up on Inside-EVs, which is pro-Tesla media!)

Interestingly, the dealership associations should love this story. And so should the UAW. Which tells you that they aren't the big money behind the anti-Tesla media. It's got to be Oil and Combustion Auto.

 

[alcibiades]

Long time lurker here, but I signed up specifically for this post...

I conducted a quick straw poll on Reddit asking what it was like booking service via the App.

Every response was that booking service via the app was great.

So what has happened is Elon intends people to book service via the app, staff that answer phones at service centres have been largely laid off.

The model is correct it is a very good, model a few finer points of execution are missing:-

• Customers calling service should get a record message that informing them to use the app.
• The central call centre should be able to make electronic booking at any service centre in an efficient manner.
• The central cal centre should be able to check on the progress of any job as all work should be logged.
• The central call centre should be able to pull car logs, and resolve simple issues...

I thin the intention is mobile rangers handle more of the jobs, and service technicians are mostly left alone to do the job and service is efficiently schedule over a combination of mobile rangers. and service centres.

So I think the communication problem is adequately informing customers how the system was supposed to work.

A secondary issue is resources at the central call centre, that could be concurring because customers are not using the app.

So if you are having problems, try the app and report back, I don;t have enough data points to fully confirm my theory.

Thanks. If only I had known about the app!

Quick straw polls on reddit are the new study.

 

[jerry33]

A secondary issue is resources at the central call centre, that could be concurring because customers are not using the app.

The App says they will get back to you within 48 hours. Not much good if you need an answer now because there is an issue (but the car can still drive). The App is fine for booking annual service and similar non-time-critical service. It's not fine if you have an issue.

 

[neroden]

Anyway, it's too late and I'm too tired to call Tesla management back today, but I will follow up further tomorrow. (Probably *after* checking the phone tree to see if they've fixed it yet...)

 

[Sudre]

How does the APP get vendors parts?

At some point Tesla has to realize that third parties will be fixing their cars right?

 

[alcibiades]

Anyway, it's too late and I'm too tired to call Tesla management back today, but I will follow up further tomorrow. (Probably *after* checking the phone tree to see if they've fixed it yet...)

If you don't feel like calling tomorrow, feel free to pass the management contact info to me. I'm happy to call them.

 

[MC3OZ]

Thanks. If only I had known about the app!

Quick straw polls on reddit are the new study.

Yep

I also think why they are doing it is to steer more jobs to mobile service...

One guy got a call from mobile service, who then booked him onto a service centre, so if the job is borderline, my hunch is you get that call.

 

[MC3OZ]

The App says they will get back to you within 48 hours. Not much good if you need an answer now because there is an issue (but the car can still drive). The App is fine for booking annual service and similar non-time-critical service. It's not fine if you have an issue.

They need to beef up the central call centre to handle that.