Service backog, especially in CA....

[russman]

I know Elon said they are going to open more service centers, but things are pretty crazy in CA/Bay Area. Set an appointment for annual service and first available was over 1 month out. Then when I get to the appointment, they say they are very backlog and probably wont get to even have the car looked at till next week and it will be at least a couple days after that. So will be without the car for at least 1 week it seems and this is for annual check.

On top of that, no Tesla loaners, so I'm driving a BMW. Man is that thing not intuitive with all the damn controls and stuff. Took me more then I would expect to figure out how to program the radio so I could get the presets selected from the steering wheel.

For those of you concerned about mileage requirements on check-ups, I don't see how Tesla can hold you to the mileage requirement if they can't see you in a timely fashion.

I also have 2 door handles that had some issues, so if they replace them, all 4 door handles will have been replaced. Getting worried about after warranty costs as I'm getting close to that time....

As always, the staff was professional and courteous and I'm sure they will do their best. Does make me worried about 400k Model 3's....

 

[stevem]

I just called this past Monday afternoon for my first yearly service and they asked "Can you bring it in Wednesday morning?" I had to ask them... you mean in 2 days? Because I had heard these stories of the long wait times. I did get a Model S as a loaner. Not a D, no auto pilot and no insane/ludicrous mode. So I can't complain. I thought it was quick for them to see me and the free Model S loaner (while fewer features than mine) is still a Model S. So color me happy.

In Northern NJ by the way! I really like the people at the Paramus SC (not that I didn't somewhere else, it's just the only place I ever have gone).

 

[ElectricLove]

This is going to be a HUGE problem for TESLA, it is already a problem but most owners "put up" with it b/c we are all the fanboys and have been willing to put up with this sort of thing in order to have the only long-range EV on the road...

With only ~120K or so cars sold so far the service centers are all severely congested, partly this is due to poor build quality (lots of small failures, nothing "major" but a higher than average warranty repair rate than is ideal. This is what happens when a company "rushes" into getting product out the door and on the assembly line, unfortunately that is the only way TESLA could have done it, it takes cash flow to do it the "right" way (pre-production phase for 6-12 months where hundreds/thousands of cars are built just to "test the process" which are never going to be sold) and TESLA has only had 1 product, there is no cash flow if it isn't being sold... Hopefully with the Model 3 the company is salient enough to do pre-production numbers and scurtinize the build quality of every last nook, cranny and component...

Now, if things continue this way how on Earth does a company who is only supporting 120K vehicles currently scale up to supporting 600K vehicles in just a few years? There is no way that just doubling the number of service centers is going to keep up (Elon mentioned doubling the number during Model 3 release party), that would only be sufficient if they stopped selling cars (in other words the current customer base is backlogged enough to support the doubling).

Anyways, all of this boils down to one huge gaping hole in TESLA's current existence; an absolute lack of 3rd party support, TESLA blocks it in every way they can but at some point it needs to happen. If I were in the Bay area I'd be buildling a large TESLA service center and start offering 3rd party support for all TESLAs out there and just hope that some day TESLA appreciates what I'm doing enough to make it an official thing (ie let me buy parts from them, allow access to schematics and diagrams, PCB layouts, etc)...

 

[csshih]

I had to schedule my 25K service appointment for June. Bay Area SCs seem to be quite busy.

 

[ecarfan]

There is no way that just doubling the number of service centers is going to keep up (Elon mentioned doubling the number during Model 3 release party

I think that you fail to appreciate that Elon did not say "We will double the number of service centers and then stop building more", he simply said they will double the number in 2017. Of course Tesla will keep building more after that date. Sell more cars,build more service centers, more Superchargers, etc.

Your concern about impending doom is unjustified. But then you work for a company, Gruber, that claims to offer third party Roadster service. So you are not an unbiased observer.

 

[bmah]

OP, did you try checking multiple service centers? Maybe the place you scheduled with was just extra-busy?

One recent data point: My wife was driving my S yesterday and had the liftgate latch fail on her (closed and latched, but wouldn't open, and the car thought it was already open). The Dublin Service Center was on the way home, so I asked her to head over there (this was yesterday mid-afternoon). They're working on it right now. She didn't get a Tesla service loaner but I didn't expect that, considering she just showed up (she ended up with a Lexus ES 350, which we're pretty happy with). If I were to schedule an appointment, with service loaner, first available date would have been the start of May (about 1.5 weeks out).

When we did an annual service for this car earlier this February (also in Dublin), I think there was about a one-week wait, and I had the car back within 24 hours.

I am not trying to minimize the need for more service center capacity, just wanted to say my experience hasn't been that bad.

Bruce.

Edit: OP, not trying to minimize your experience either. Waiting a month for an annual service and then having your car sit around for over a week would be very frustrating if it'd been me.

 

[Veggen]

1 month....consider yourselves lucky.
In Norway the normal waiting time is now 4-5 months.

 

[ElectricLove]

I think that you fail to appreciate that Elon did not say "We will double the number of service centers and then stop building more", he simply said they will double the number in 2017. Of course Tesla will keep building more after that date. Sell more cars,build more service centers, more Superchargers, etc.

Your concern about impending doom is unjustified. But then you work for a company, Gruber, that claims to offer third party Roadster service. So you are not an unbiased observer.

I wasn't suggesting "impending doom" but as it is TESLA makes and sells cars faster than they can handle maintaining them, if you disagree with that I understand but I would also say you are wrong. Did you notice the lack of excitement when Elon announced the service center growth? It was as if the room was full of owners who already know the service center model sucks (the individual SCs are great and the employees are great, just the model of how to obtain service for your TESLA vehicle, that part sucks).

My concern is that they will have a perpetual servicing problem on their hands as a company and I believe it is in their best interest (whether I'm involved with it or not) to involve/allow 3rd party servicing of the vehicles. Does no one see the absurdity besides me? Name another auto-manufacturer who sells 100K cars a year minimum (or sells "reservations" for 400K+ a year...) where their vehicles can only be serviced by the manufacturer? And I don't mean service under warranty, that is what most of the work at every auto-dealer is, I'm referring to "my car is 10 years old and stopped running this morning, what do I do?"...

Is it TESLA's goal to profit from the servicing of their vehicles? If so I'd say they are a bit "biased" as well (ie. build cars that will need more service and you get more business... Not saying they do this, only that it does lend itself to suggestion).

 

[russman]

Palo Alto, Fremont, and Burlingame are all equally bad unfortunately. Did not check Dublin. With 3 of them being a significant drive further to get to, so it would be even more of a hassle.

In the Bay Area, we're "lucky" we have more Superchargers and we already have 4 service centers, but it seems like we're getting to the point of saturation for those things. Good that there's a demand, here's hoping they improve things. When I first got the car, it was under a week to get little issues resolved and got a Tesla loaner. Then it's slowly moved to a two weeks out and if you were early you could get a Tesla loaner. Then it was more then two weeks out, definitely no Tesla loaners. Now it's more then a month out and after we get your car we wont get to look at it till next week, and no Tesla loaners.

I can see the trend getting worse and worse over 2 years. Still love the car, best car ever, but yes I put up with more because I do love the car.

 

[CHG-ON]

I had to schedule my 25K service appointment for June. Bay Area SCs seem to be quite busy.

June!!! Holy S--t. I guess I better plan ahead. I had to wait 4 weeks for a non essential repair back in January. But then I went in for a battery replacement with just 5 day's notice, due to my schedule, not theirs, just two weeks ago. Sunnyvale.

I think the issue in CA is that this is where the highest concentration of them are. When I am in the Valley, I must see 20 a day. That's a lot for a car in this category. It's tough to ramp up hard-cost facilities when you are growing so fast. They are gonna need to figure it out. I will tell you, I feel for my service reps. They work their buts off and I can only imagine how many cranky people they have to deal with. They have been nothing but completely awesome with me; going way above and beyond in every interaction. I know others have not experienced that.

 

[apacheguy]

The soonest I've been able to schedule is about 2-3 weeks out.

 

[Tree95]

I made a request for annual service and LTE upgrade via email on April 1st (after business Friday night). First thing Monday morning (4th), I received an appointment for the 22nd. So, nearly three work weeks. Rocklin, CA (east of Sacramento). No complaints.

 

[roblab]

I don't do service visits. I had read that Tesla says, "No service required", so that's what I do.

Fixing something that's broken, that's another story. While you're in for, let's say a creakedy pano, they will also check for error codes and check your wiper fluid. After a couple years, you don't go see them any more.

These aren't your daddy's Oldsmobile. Electric cars don't need "service".

 

[mhpr262]

Wouldn't working double, and if necessary triple shifts in one service center be a lot more economical and efficient than building more service centers? I can't imagine many other businesses where that would be more easily feasible than here. Take in the cars during normal business hours, then fix them at your leisure over the next 24 hours.

 

[russman]

As a drive this BMW 528 series while my car sits at the service center with no activity for the last 5 days, I really wonder if this is a ploy to make me miss the car. If they couldn't look at my car for 5+ days, couldn't I have just been added to the queue and then dropped it off when they were ready?

This is a new BMW with only 6k miles on it, but I hate it. I used to always think I wanted a BMW, but now I'm glad I don't have one. Too many buttons, this Auto start/stop engine stuff is just annoying. The interface for the nav and radio are not intuitive. The car is loud and slow compared to even my old S85....

 

[ohmman]

My excellent SC (San Rafael) services a large corridor, from Marin north. There's some crossover with Rocklin, surely, at some point.. but my advisor said they service customers all the way up near Oregon. That said, the word is that a Santa Rosa center is in the works.

Either way, they were able to fit me in for Model X issues in 4 days. I think they do a good job of triaging service visits based on severity of the issue.

 

[russman]

Got my car back after a little over 2 weeks in for annual service. Looks like there was a service bulletin that they performed: Replace Battery Coolant Heater Due to potential low isolation.

This is my second annual visit with about 39k miles. The first annual visit they did the 2nd annual work. So this 2nd visit, they also did the 2nd annual visit items.

Had a door handle issue that they verified in the log, but they couldn't find any issues and now it doesn't happen.

Reminded how much I miss the car, am concerned long-term for our need for more service centers, and since I'll be close to out of warranty soon, really wished they found the issue with the door handles. It's my fault because I didn't bring it in right away when they verified the issue in the logs, but they said they were busy and didn't know when they would get to it.

 

[Lerxt]

2 weeks, what a dream! In Hong Kong I waited almost 3 months to be seen (and get a loaner) for a drive unit change and a variety of other things.
I am certainly a Tesla fanboy, and I know they are building a new bigger service center, but 3 months was getting annoying.