Service Blues.....

[vangogh]

I've had my X for 6 months....and now the SC has had it for just over 6 weeks in 3 appointments over those 6 months....
Luckily, for most of the 6 weeks, I scheduled appointments far in advance around overseas trips I had planned and would not have had access to the car anyway. And when I am here Tesla has been very accomodating in providing rentals. Although service items are slowly getting fixed (fwd false positieve sensing, 3rd row seat retrofit, quarter panel window wind noise, trim gap adjustments, and most recently an air suspension needs service error), I am getting frustrated with the amount of time it is taking. It seems replacement part inventory, a proper scheduling process and available resources to fix issues are severely lacking (and I live only 20 miles from the Factory). I hope all my remaining issues will be fixed in this latest appointment (scheduled for 2 weeks th extended 1 week and today extended again with no info on potential completion provided)

 

[Solar Impulse]

Same issue here. They kept my Model X a month and got it back with some issues unsolved (such as quarter panel window wind noise). Frustrating.

 

[travwill]

Dang, see so many of these posts. Am considering a change to MX sometime; however, will definitely give it more time - perhaps when it has a bigger capacity and AP2+ hardware, etc. Hopefully it is improved by then. That or they are going to have to stop producing a car that is so problematic I'd say, has to be a drain on servicing funds...

 

[MattXowner]

I'll start by saying I love the car when I have it. Great seats, love the windshield, the power, the auto pilot, but similar service issues have me angry.

Typical alignment issues on truck and doors on both sides. Vanity mirror light didn't work and wind noise! Tesla Had the car for a week, when I went to pick it up, trunk fine but doors still misaligned. 1 week later went back to get it, doors are fine, vanity replaced, but wind noise is still pretty bad.

Then...3rd row driver side seat issues. Head rest won't fold down. The seat will still fold, but without the headrest flopping down the seat won't lay flat.

Driver door issue now too! Twice the window didn't retract down when the door opened, so when it shut the entire window pushed out from the door/seals. Scary--thought the window would fall out or break, but luckily it didn't. Opening and shutting the door a few times got it to retract.

Lastly, more trunk problems. Memory setting is stuck. It will chime when I try to save the new position, but it still opens to the old level which I'm 99% sure is lower than what I had set it to.

X is going back to service center next week. Let's see how long they have it this time.

6 weeks of ownership and in the shop for 2 so far + next week??

That being said, still love it. They gave me a MS P90DL loaner and although this is WAY faster than my 90d X, I 100% prefer the X even with the issues to the S. Such a better car in so many ways. I am 100% sure that Tesla will fix everything that needs fixing and it will sooner or later be flawless.

Here's the million dollar question, for those of you who have had repeated service issues, is Tesla doing anything to make it up to you? If so, what?

 

[ohmman]

I'm with you.

I requested a service appointment in May in email. Followed up in early June. I was trying to give my (typically awesome) SC some time to organize what they needed to organize. I called last week and it was like "oh, really? Sorry.. let's get you the next available in late August." I forwarded my emails requesting an appointment, but there is no movement. I'm placed in queue with people who first contacted today.

Many of the items on my list are items that they had a chance to address on my previous visit. Most egregiously, the falcon wing door that falls down on its own.

As far as whether Tesla is "making it up to us," nothing here. I don't expect anything, either. If I decided it was bad enough, I could lemon law the car. But that's not something that suits me, and I'm hopeful that Tesla and I can both remain on the same team. Our team goal: To make sure that the product is something that both of us can be proud of.

 

[TaoJones]

I'll start by saying I love the car when I have it. Great seats, love the windshield, the power, the auto pilot, but similar service issues have me angry.

Typical alignment issues on truck and doors on both sides. Vanity mirror light didn't work and wind noise! Tesla Had the car for a week, when I went to pick it up, trunk fine but doors still misaligned. 1 week later went back to get it, doors are fine, vanity replaced, but wind noise is still pretty bad.

Then...3rd row driver side seat issues. Head rest won't fold down. The seat will still fold, but without the headrest flopping down the seat won't lay flat.

Driver door issue now too! Twice the window didn't retract down when the door opened, so when it shut the entire window pushed out from the door/seals. Scary--thought the window would fall out or break, but luckily it didn't. Opening and shutting the door a few times got it to retract.

Lastly, more trunk problems. Memory setting is stuck. It will chime when I try to save the new position, but it still opens to the old level which I'm 99% sure is lower than what I had set it to.

X is going back to service center next week. Let's see how long they have it this time.

6 weeks of ownership and in the shop for 2 so far + next week??

That being said, still love it. They gave me a MS P90DL loaner and although this is WAY faster than my 90d X, I 100% prefer the X even with the issues to the S. Such a better car in so many ways. I am 100% sure that Tesla will fix everything that needs fixing and it will sooner or later be flawless.

Here's the million dollar question, for those of you who have had repeated service issues, is Tesla doing anything to make it up to you? If so, what?

They gave you a Ludicrous loaner? Nice! Lol - while I rarely need a loaner, the ones I have been loaned were each pre-AP cars.

 

[travwill]

I'm with you.

....

Here's the million dollar question, for those of you who have had repeated service issues, is Tesla doing anything to make it up to you? If so, what?

You guys are way too forgiving at this point, but there isn't a lot you can do I guess unless you find these at delivery at reject delivery on inspection - wished that would happen more actually if needed.

Fact is, these bad quality issues shouldn't make it off the line or out of the factory even, even for a $40K car, especially for a $100K+ car.

 

[CmdrThor]

My X has been in service twice since I took delivery 2.5 months ago. The first time was to fix a paint chip that occurred before delivery. We opted to take delivery so we would have the vehicle for a road trip and have it fixed later. It ended up taking about 10 days to fix because the body shop damaged the chrome trim in the Falcon Doors and had to get replacement parts shipped out.

I had a ludicrous Model S loaner for the first service visit, but my rear facing car seat for my son was not fun to deal with. After that experience when I returned to service for my passenger door latch failing I opted to work remotely from the service center while they replaced the latch. It only took about 3 hours including a firmware install. From now on I will avoid loaners whenever possible until Model X loaners are available. Model S is not optimal for a rear facing car seat.

 

[neisner12]

I'm in the same camp with 3 service visits totaling 37 days in the 109 days that I've owned the car. My local service center (and most if not all in the Bay Area) is totally overloaded. Part of me thinks I should ask for a refund / lemon law...but I do appreciate the car when I have it.

 

[MattXowner]

Did you buy or lease? I bought, thinking with over the air updates this could be a long term relationship. Now I'm rethinking.

 

[Scrith]

I have a feeling mine is going to be in for awhile (they are incredibly backed up in Palo Alto). But I also have a P90DL loaner...which is quite fun.

Mine is a lease, btw, and I'm fairly certain I will want a new one, or something else, when it's over (I switched to a lease at the last minute after hearing all the problems the early models were having, and after considering these might cost less in a few years once the 3 is out and the battery plant is running at full capacity).

 

[Sean So Lowe]

You guys are way too forgiving at this point, but there isn't a lot you can do I guess unless you find these at delivery at reject delivery on inspection - wished that would happen more actually if needed.

Fact is, these bad quality issues shouldn't make it off the line or out of the factory even, even for a $40K car, especially for a $100K+ car.

Amen, thank you! With all these common issues they should be keeping an eye on such defects. Someone had mentioned that production was down this past week for retooling. This is a good sign, I would be curious as to what in particular.

 

[xkwizit]

@vangogh, @ohmman, @CmdrThor - I feel for you and admire your patience very much. However, my experience has been on the contrary..my car was built in the same week as @ohmman and significant difference in quality. My Rocklin, CA service center has
been very prompt in getting my car in and getting it done same day mostly even when parts were needed from the factory. There's usually never more than couple of days wait for them to get my car in.

The only issue they haven't been able to figure out is the jet engine mode.

@travwill - you should wait for as long as you feel comfortable but there are many more happy owners than the ones that post the issues here. We come here and post the issues to learn from each other but there isn't much to post when you have a perfect car. From some of my friends who took delivery recently it appears that majority of issues faced in the first 3-4months of production are not recurring anymore.

 

[vangogh]

I hope to get my car back today or tomorrow...Had a S P85 loaner over the week-end and made for a nice trip...
I think Bay area service centers may be backed up the worst with a high density of cars here...
I was told they had 90 cars in backlog and now had cut that down to 50...I just hope all the issues are finally resolved
and I can continue to enjoy the X without interruption....

(PS I purchased the car)

 

[vangogh]

Finally got my car back Friday after a little over 4 weeks at the SC. It is so nice to have the car back. The trim/gap adjustments were all made and now it looks perfect....a reported creak in the suspension was found to be a bad bushing - they replaced the bushing and sway bar.....an error reported on the air suspension turned out to be a leaky connection at the air distribution block causing the compressor to overwork and blow a fuse. Tesla replaced the block, compressor and fuse...works perfect now and all new components. A few other service items were also complete to reduce noise (quarter panel window seals replacement / spoiler seal)...My only complaint is now my drivers side fwd does not close automatically. Apparently they did a last minute calibration which made it unstable and not want to close (need to manually close via the inside door lever)...Need to take it back sometime to get this corrected....

 

[electricity]

Tesla needs to stop opening new service centers / stores in new markets and open new ones in the same markets that desperately need them. How can south florida where i see at least 3-4 teslas everyday on the road only have 1 center ?

 

[digicool]

Interesting to learn I am not alone with the service related issues. Tesla promptly scheduled a date for fixing the delivery time dues 1 month after delivery. The service center was kind enough to move it a few days ahead because I had an international trip and so I did not need a loaner if my car was serviced that week.

Of note, after about 9 days of holding the car, they tried to fix a dent that I reported at the time of delivery but could not. Turns our they were looking at a different car for that dent. I couldn't control laughing out loud when I heard that. Their techs could not hear the quarter panel wind noise that I reported from my roard trip on both dirver and passenger side. The FWD alignment was still bad after the calimed fix and so they agreed to schedule me to a body shop repair.

To their credit, they did fix a FWD false detection issue. Though that seemed to have come back in the last few days.

With that long list of customers needing service, one would think the service centers would pay more attention to the issues they are working (or even the cars that need to be worked on).

 

[alseTrick]

Tesla needs to stop opening new service centers / stores in new markets and open new ones in the same markets that desperately need them. How can south florida where i see at least 3-4 teslas everyday on the road only have 1 center ?

No, they need to do both.

There is a service center in Palm Beach and another in Broward. They're opening a store/service center in Coral Gables.

 

[X Fan]

Finally got my car back Friday after a little over 4 weeks at the SC. It is so nice to have the car back. The trim/gap adjustments were all made and now it looks perfect....a reported creak in the suspension was found to be a bad bushing - they replaced the bushing and sway bar.....an error reported on the air suspension turned out to be a leaky connection at the air distribution block causing the compressor to overwork and blow a fuse. Tesla replaced the block, compressor and fuse...works perfect now and all new components. A few other service items were also complete to reduce noise (quarter panel window seals replacement / spoiler seal)...My only complaint is now my drivers side fwd does not close automatically. Apparently they did a last minute calibration which made it unstable and not want to close (need to manually close via the inside door lever)...Need to take it back sometime to get this corrected....

My X has been in shop for 10 days so far (spent a week when first picked up in May so 3 weeks out of first 10 in shop). One of my notes to SC was that vehicle when hitting a bumpy service would offer an awful thunk and car would bounce a little. I wonder if my bushing and/or another part of suspension has failed. Anyone else seen that problem? Only 7K mostly smooth service highway miles (although it did spend a week on NY’s awful road surfaces).

FWD failure after last revision on passenger side plus some seal issues.

Virtually impossible to get Dania Beach SC to pick up phone but they do leave a VM every day.

 

[neroden]

Tesla needs to stop opening new service centers / stores in new markets and open new ones in the same markets that desperately need them.

Incorrect and backwards.

Tesla needs to open service centers in markets which already have dozens and dozens of customers with cars but have no service centers, like Syracuse, NY. This is substantially higher priority than opening more service centers in the same old markets which already have service centers. It's one thing to wait a few weeks for service; it's another to be told you have to drive 220 miles and get a hotel room to get service.

Worst case, some of these new service centers aren't super-busy... Tesla can "borrow" workers from them for a busier service center to ease temporary crunches, at the cost of paying a premium to the workers and paying for hotels for a few weeks.

In the really big megacity markets like NY, LA, SF, and Chicago, economies of scale dominate. For those cities, it probably makes sense for Tesla to have a few really *big* service centers (one in each compass direction out of the center of town) rather than lots of little ones. I think Tesla originally got service center sites which were much, much too small for the major cities. I'm thinking a site the size of a mall, or at least of a big box store.