Service Center communication is terrible

[jewilson2]

Jeez, has this gotten worse over the past couple of months.

You set an appointment via the app, they text you that they are swapping to mobile service and cancel the in-store appointment. Then, you cannot get anyone to answer the text message or the phone (locally) to confirm/give an update on the mobile service (if awaiting parts).

Setup another appointment...rinse and repeat.

Anyone else having similar issues or is it just Raleigh, NC?

So bad that I'm thinking of canceling my pending order for Tesla #2.

 

[jeffro01]

Customer service in general from Tesla right now is terrible... The ONLY thing Tesla cares about is are you buying a Model 3 today? If yes, great we'll talk to you and lie to you until you take delivery so we can count it towards the numbers. If no, go away and stop bothering us.

It's literally that bad right now... I'm a little amazed the shorts haven't reached out to the countless owners here on this site, including myself, and do a factually based hit piece to illustrate why Tesla is in far greater trouble than it appears. This attitude they have now, this arrogance, this incompetence, regarding their priorities is dangerous and if I were long on TSLA, I'd be getting out NOW.

The systemic issues that are affecting Tesla are not so silently snowballing and are going to eventually rear themselves where it matters most, sales/deliveries. I lost count here how many people just on TMC who were early adopters are now "never agains"...

Tesla is in trouble, Elon needs to either fix it or put it into the hands of someone who will. Otherwise, books will be written and History/Discovery channel specials will be done chronicling how a car company with such amazing cars could collapse so quickly...

Jeff

 

[Dan Detweiler]

I can only speak from my own experience but I would have to completely disagree here. I have had two mobile service experiences and they were both perfect. Multiple emails and phone calls to confirm. Super professional and on time. Not saying your experiences didn't happen but I don't think it is the norm.

Having said that, as of this morning I have to have a door replaced (don't ask...stipidist thing I have ever done). This will be my first experience with the new in house Tesla body shop in Marietta, Ga. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Dan

 

[Snapyou]

The Model 3 has just been released in the UK and Tesla have managed to annoy probably 90% of its customers who placed orders. Their website still claims orders placed today will be delivered in July, but clearly, this is not going to happen. Those who ordered in May, we still have no idea of when they will get our cars.

With over 4000 orders from people who believe in Tesla and EV's, only about 2% have actually got their cars. A great shame as those who have are clearly very happy with the car. All of this could have been avoided by basic technology, something I thought Tesla was good at. ebay is better at sales than Tesla.

The UK media is wrapped up in Brexit and who will be the new PM, but the chaotic delivery is just the sort of thing that could catch their attention and do lasting damage to the brand in the UK.

Tesla has done great things and produced outstanding vehicles, just hope someone senior at Tesla gets a grip as so many of us want them to succeed.

 

[Moon Buggy]

It is absolutely a problem and it will absolutely come to bite them in the rear as soon as other EVs close the technology gap.

My girlfriend and I have been trying to purchase a car for months now and it's been such a mess. The problems all began when she ordered a mid range only to have Tesla discontinue that line of cars without warning just a few hours later. They not only stopped taking orders, but they decided they weren't going to make cars for the people who had already ordered them. From there, we got linked to a bad sales adviser, who despite good intentions, consistently gave awful and misinformed advice. I won't go into details on everything that has happened.

Now that I have had the displeasure of dealing with multiple facets of the service side of this company, I am convinced that a large part of the problem has to do with the organizational structure. The people who you meet face to face in the Tesla stores have little actual decision making power. These are the people who know you, who have worked with you, who know your story. The decision-making structure is centralized, and so every decision of any consequence gets sent up the chain of command, until ultimately it reaches someone who doesn't know you, has never talked to you, and makes no effort to discuss the situation with the customer. It is a very impersonal and frustrating experience.

You, as the customer, cannot reach anyone with any authority. Online service chats, phone calls, emails...you talk to someone with no information and no authority, who then tells you they will escalate your situation to management and that you will hear back in a few days. Most of the time you do not hear back. Certainly, management does not make any effort to talk to you about the issue at hand. Contrast this to a typical car dealer where all of the decision making power is usually contained within the building. You can go to the manager and look him in the eye and know that he heard you.

Just today I got an email response to a very important question that I had sent a full week ago, only they answered the wrong question. It's clear no one made any effort to actually look into the situation. The poor employee who sent me the email response was, of course, just a messenger, as the actual substance of the response was generated elsewhere. It wasn't his fault, it wasn't his responsibility, and that's the problem.

The decisionmakers in this company exist in a bubble. The poor people on the front lines who have to hear us complaining can do nothing about it. And it's frustrating for everybody.

 

[dethman]

Looks like tesla is managing to alienate customers all over the globe in all aspects, from trying to order, those who have ordered and are trying to get their cars, and service for those who own. And that's just in this short 5 post thread.

Seriously what is wrong with this company.

 

[Dan Detweiler]

Looks like tesla is managing to alienate customers all over the globe in all aspects, from trying to order, those who have ordered and are trying to get their cars, and service for those who own. And that's just in this short 5 post thread.

Seriously what is wrong with this company.

What's wrong with the company?

They have been and still are growing around 100% YOY, that's what's wrong. If they were piddling along at a respectable 10-15% rate like most "successful" legacy manufacturers would consider great, they wouldn't have this problem. However, this company is trying to change the way people think about electric cars and the best way to do that is to put people in them.

Believe me, I totally understand the frustration. So does Tesla. When I was in a service center today everyone in there was bending over backwards to satisfy me. They know where their weaknesses are and I really believe they are trying to improve on them. It's hard to do when you are also growing at the speed they are.

Dan

 

[Ostrichsak]

What's wrong with the company?

They have been and still are growing around 100% YOY, that's what's wrong. If they were piddling along at a respectable 10-15% rate like most "successful" legacy manufacturers would consider great, they wouldn't have this problem. However, this company is trying to change the way people think about electric cars and the best way to do that is to put people in them.

Believe me, I totally understand the frustration. So does Tesla. When I was in a service center today everyone in there was bending over backwards to satisfy me. They know where their weaknesses are and I really believe they are trying to improve on them. It's hard to do when you are also growing at the speed they are.

Dan

That excuse only plays so far. Not only have they not opened any new service centers in our area they've delayed opening of the one they had slated to be opened by now. In addition, the one service center in our region has actually experienced severe shrink in employees. Not growth. Loss. So, tell me, at what point do they actually start throwing money at the problem to make it go away? The amount they try to hire people for is laughable and then they wonder why they 1) can't attract quality employees or 2) keep the employees they invest so much time and effort in training. Even after all of that the ones that make it through those two qualifiers eventually see that it's a lost cause and are tired of doing the work of 5 people every damn day and leave. Elon keep saying that he knows customer service is an issue and needs to be addressed and yet their customer service budget doesn't even pace new car sales to even maintain the current level of terrible service let alone increase in order to try to make things better. There is no end in sight and I fear they've done some significant irreparable damage to the brand. Even if they double the budget for customer service tomorrow (which they won't) there is a significant portion of die hard Tesla fans that are permanently scarred from their experiences that could have been avoided.

 

[Jtrader]

The service I've received with mobile and at the service center is much better than I ever received prior to Tesla.

 

[Dan Detweiler]

That excuse only plays so far. Not only have they not opened any new service centers in our area they've delayed opening of the one they had slated to be opened by now. In addition, the one service center in our region has actually experienced severe shrink in employees. Not growth. Loss. So, tell me, at what point do they actually start throwing money at the problem to make it go away? The amount they try to hire people for is laughable and then they wonder why they 1) can't attract quality employees or 2) keep the employees they invest so much time and effort in training. Even after all of that the ones that make it through those two qualifiers eventually see that it's a lost cause and are tired of doing the work of 5 people every damn day and leave. Elon keep saying that he knows customer service is an issue and needs to be addressed and yet their customer service budget doesn't even pace new car sales to even maintain the current level of terrible service let alone increase in order to try to make things better. There is no end in sight and I fear they've done some significant irreparable damage to the brand. Even if they double the budget for customer service tomorrow (which they won't) there is a significant portion of die hard Tesla fans that are permanently scarred from their experiences that could have been avoided.

No excuse, it's a reality. If they had waited to release production until they were "ready" for all scenarios we all would not have cars yet. With limited resources, both financial and human, they have to prioritize. They chose to get cars to customers. Again, if they were not aware of the bottleneck or were denying the need for improvement then I would be worried...but they are not. They are fully aware of where they need to improve and are working to rectify those areas. In a few short years they have increased production more than 10 fold. Companies just don't do that, especially car companies. They are in uncharted waters and we as customers have to understand that. If I wasn't prepared for hiccups along the way I would have bought a Mercedes or a BMW. I don't want those cars, I want a Tesla...so I take the good with the bad and know that it is improving every day and will continue to do so.

Dan

 

[jcarp09]

I know if my business grew 100% next year, it would be a sh*t show. There would be plenty of unhappy customers, stressful situations, etc., but over time, things would get worked out. From a business standpoint, I give Tesla huge credit. What they are doing is not easy, especially in the public eye, dealing with shorts.

 

[Ostrichsak]

No excuse, it's a reality. If they had waited to release production until they were "ready" for all scenarios we all would not have cars yet. With limited resources, both financial and human, they have to prioritize. They chose to get cars to customers. Again, if they were not aware of the bottleneck or were denying the need for improvement then I would be worried...but they are not. They are fully aware of where they need to improve and are working to rectify those areas. In a few short years they have increased production more than 10 fold. Companies just don't do that, especially car companies. They are in uncharted waters and we as customers have to understand that. If I wasn't prepared for hiccups along the way I would have bought a Mercedes or a BMW. I don't want those cars, I want a Tesla...so I take the good with the bad and know that it is improving every day and will continue to do so.

Dan

So, let me ask you since you seem to keep missing the point; if your business grew ten fold over the last year... what rate of increase would you think would be ideal for customer support? Probably ten fold at a minimum, right? What would be acceptable? 8x maybe? What would be losing ground on your sales number more than would be acceptable and result in a substantially decreased customer experience? Probably 5x ish. What I'm talking about is a massive region in the US actually DECREASING in staff over that same time period. Not growing at any rate. At all. Decreasing. Now, how long do you think this would be acceptable all while you keep acknowledging you know the problem exists and you're addressing it all while not actually investing any resources in the repair? It's been half a year since Elon publicly admitted as the first point of a quarterly earnings call that it was their #1 focus and still our local service center continues to lose employees and not replace them as fast as they lose them. I haven't even gotten into how horribly unqualified the replacements are I'm just talking # of heads in offices. How can you continue to excuse this behavior? The select few who support this behavior don't realize how badly the majority is taking this reality since they're not looking at this situation through the same rose-colored glasses and it's hurting Tesla. Badly.

 

[Dan Detweiler]

So, let me ask you since you seem to keep missing the point; if your business grew ten fold over the last year... what rate of increase would you think would be ideal for customer support? Probably ten fold at a minimum, right? What would be acceptable? 8x maybe? What would be losing ground on your sales number more than would be acceptable and result in a substantially decreased customer experience? Probably 5x ish. What I'm talking about is a massive region in the US actually DECREASING in staff over that same time period. Not growing at any rate. At all. Decreasing. Now, how long do you think this would be acceptable all while you keep acknowledging you know the problem exists and you're addressing it all while not actually investing any resources in the repair? It's been half a year since Elon publicly admitted as the first point of a quarterly earnings call that it was their #1 focus and still our local service center continues to lose employees and not replace them as fast as they lose them. I haven't even gotten into how horribly unqualified the replacements are I'm just talking # of heads in offices. How can you continue to excuse this behavior? The select few who support this behavior don't realize how badly the majority is taking this reality since they're not looking at this situation through the same rose-colored glasses and it's hurting Tesla. Badly.

I am not excusing anything. I am saying it is understandable and being addressed. Bottom line is that if I wanted the car, which I did, then I have to take the good with the bad. I don't own any rose colored glasses so I don't excuse shortcomings in delivery or service. Remember, my delivery experience was not good by any stretch. My service however has been nothing short of top notch to this point.

They are addressing their weaknesses. That's all I can expect of them. You see it differently, that's fine. I chose not to throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak.

Dan

 

[jeffro01]

That excuse only plays so far. Not only have they not opened any new service centers in our area they've delayed opening of the one they had slated to be opened by now. In addition, the one service center in our region has actually experienced severe shrink in employees. Not growth. Loss. So, tell me, at what point do they actually start throwing money at the problem to make it go away? The amount they try to hire people for is laughable and then they wonder why they 1) can't attract quality employees or 2) keep the employees they invest so much time and effort in training. Even after all of that the ones that make it through those two qualifiers eventually see that it's a lost cause and are tired of doing the work of 5 people every damn day and leave. Elon keep saying that he knows customer service is an issue and needs to be addressed and yet their customer service budget doesn't even pace new car sales to even maintain the current level of terrible service let alone increase in order to try to make things better. There is no end in sight and I fear they've done some significant irreparable damage to the brand. Even if they double the budget for customer service tomorrow (which they won't) there is a significant portion of die hard Tesla fans that are permanently scarred from their experiences that could have been avoided.

Sadly irreparable brand damage is already being done, has already been done. There are several people here who have been with Tesla since the beginning that have said they're not buying another one. While I'm not quite ready to make that specific proclamation, I sincerely hope that when my X lease is up there is an actual viable competitor as I'd prefer to not give this company any more of my money while it's being run like it is. I have talked several neighbors out of buying a Tesla, I don't want them coming to me when something goes wrong (which it almost certainly will with how incompetent this company is right now) and asking why I recommended them if I knew things were so bad.

Tesla cares about one thing and one thing only right now and the complete lack of ability to walk and chew gum at the same time is astonishing... Elon needs to be forced out and someone who knows what the hell they're doing needs to replace him. His arrogance alone is a serious problem much less the complete inability to manage really anything. Letting John McNeil go was a huge, huge mistake...

Jeff

 

[Ostrichsak]

I am not excusing anything. I am saying it is understandable and being addressed. Bottom line is that if I wanted the car, which I did, then I have to take the good with the bad. I don't own any rose colored glasses so I don't excuse shortcomings in delivery or service. Remember, my delivery experience was not good by any stretch. My service however has been nothing short of top notch to this point.

They are addressing their weaknesses. That's all I can expect of them. You see it differently, that's fine. I chose not to throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak.

Dan

Saying "it's being addressed" doesn't make it so & yet the entire supportive argument hinges on that "fact" being true. Therein lies the problem (and where we disagree) because some can't admit they've been fixing a problem that has only got worse over the last year they've been "fixing" it. At what point do we just open our eyes to the fact that they're not actually fixing anything?

 

[JD M3]

The service I've received with mobile and at the service center is much better than I ever received prior to Tesla.

I agree completely

Saying "it's being addressed" doesn't make it so & yet the entire supportive argument hinges on that "fact" being true. Therein lies the problem (and where we disagree) because some can't admit they've been fixing a problem that has only got worse over the last year they've been "fixing" it. At what point do we just open our eyes to the fact that they're not actually fixing anything?

The fact is, it is being addressed. Over the past year I have seen the service significantly improve. Last week I had an issue with my charge port door not closing. I put in the service request and the following day they called to set up a mobile repair. Two days later they were at my house performing the repair in my driveway while I sat inside drinking my coffee and watching TV. We were in phone and text contact in the days prior to arrange everything. Repair was finished an hour earlier than anticipated and I got in my car and left for work.

This is why more service centers aren't opening, because they are moving to this model of repairs when possible. It's a far better experience for customers and probably more cost effective for them. I live in LA which is likely among the first places that they are expanding their service efforts. But yes it's a "fact" that it's being addressed. Just because you haven't personally experienced it in your city doesn't mean that it's not being addressed anywhere else in the country. It takes time to implement this everywhere. That's likely why there are people on here disagreeing with you, because they've had a different experience.

 

[xfea]

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...

I enjoy special deals and events...lunch at Post Ranch?
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

 

[Dan Detweiler]

I agree completely



The fact is, it is being addressed. Over the past year I have seen the service significantly improve. Last week I had an issue with my charge port door not closing. I put in the service request and the following day they called to set up a mobile repair. Two days later they were at my house performing the repair in my driveway while I sat inside drinking my coffee and watching TV. We were in phone and text contact in the days prior to arrange everything. Repair was finished an hour earlier than anticipated and I got in my car and left for work.

This is why more service centers aren't opening, because they are moving to this model of repairs when possible. It's a far better experience for customers and probably more cost effective for them. I live in LA which is likely among the first places that they are expanding their service efforts. But yes it's a "fact" that it's being addressed. Just because you haven't personally experienced it in your city doesn't mean that it's not being addressed anywhere else in the country. It takes time to implement this everywhere. That's likely why there are people on here disagreeing with you, because they've had a different experience.

Exactly!

Dan

 

[JD M3]

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...

I enjoy special deals and events...lunch at Post Ranch?
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

Some people would rather have cutting edge features in the car they drive every day instead of being schmoozed by a dealership...with cafe mochas. I would much rather have a car that can drive itself on the highway, has incredible acceleration, a 5-star safety rating in every category (safest SUV ever built) and updates itself every few weeks with brand new features, even if it means not having the red carpet rolled out for me in the two times it needed repaired. Other people prefer waterfalls and nibbles. To each his/her own.

 

[alcibiades]

One of my current favorite service experiences is when they don't -- or they forget to -- turn mobile access off. So when they text you that they are actively working on your car, you can see that it actually hasn't moved out of the parking lot for over 24 hours, has the doors closed, and has an internal temp of like 130F.

On the one hand this is "communication"... but on the other hand, the content of the communication is false. Good service or bad service? It's nuanced, I suppose.