Service tech salary

[qwk]

And I'd just fix it myself then if I knew what it was and believed I could do so. That would just seem the most logical to me. *shrug*

The problem is getting parts. Some parts Tesla won't sell. I suppose I could get one-off pieces made, but keep in mind the car is under full warranty. One shouldn't have to go through this much trouble to get a successful result.

On a side note, Tesla does hire SC employees from dealerships, so to expect better service than a dealership is naive.

 

[apacheguy]

Not sure if this is an option for you but perhaps try another SvC? Or contact the regional service manager regarding your issue?

 

[qwk]

Not sure if this is an option for you but perhaps try another SvC? Or contact the regional service manager regarding your issue?

The car is at a different SC now, but my confidence in them is close to shot. Instead of fixing the reocurring issues, you guessed it, they started to fix stuff that worked perfectly fine(just like the other SC). After that many service visits for the same thing, you would think that the logical choice would be to focus on those things first, and get those repaired before doing proactive repairs.

 

[johnnyS]

At some point, an experienced Tesla tech will be able to set up an independent shop especially as our cars get past the warranty mileage.

 

[Auzie]

My issues are not intermittent, and I'm 100% confident I could fix the myself on the first try. That's why this is so frustrating.

If I could do this over again, I either would have not bought a Tesla, or just waited and bought one out of warranty, so I wouldn't have to deal with this frustration.

The problem is getting parts. Some parts Tesla won't sell. I suppose I could get one-off pieces made, but keep in mind the car is under full warranty. One shouldn't have to go through this much trouble to get a successful result.

On a side note, Tesla does hire SC employees from dealerships, so to expect better service than a dealership is naive.

The car is at a different SC now, but my confidence in them is close to shot. Instead of fixing the reocurring issues, you guessed it, they started to fix stuff that worked perfectly fine(just like the other SC). After that many service visits for the same thing, you would think that the logical choice would be to focus on those things first, and get those repaired before doing proactive repairs.

I share your frustration with repair shops and do not trust them a bit. However they can not be avoided, and the only way to alleviate that frustration and to get things done to both sides satisfaction is to learn to work with them, rather than approach them with the mindset as established above.

Through my work, I am often on the receiving end of having to deal with difficult to diagnose and fix machinery issues. When a problem is difficult to diagnose, and often there may be overlaying issues that compound each other in mysterious ways, it is next to impossible for a repair person to diagnose it right unless the technician is very experienced and has encountered the same problem multiple times. Tesla technicians are not experienced as the car itself is young.

In my experience, the fastest and most effective way to solve these difficult to diagnose freaky problems are by harvesting the clues on the users side. Simply relying on the technical expertise on the repair side leads to ineffectiveness and frustration. User has all the clues on the problem occurrence but may lack the technical knowledge to put it all together, hence a comprehensive dialogue between the user and the repair side is the fastest way to get to the bottom of the issue or multiple overlapping issues.

In your case, it seems that you already have a solution to your problem. I am curious, what is stopping you from suggesting your solution to a friendly technician? They may be doing their best and putting all their heart in their job, but that is not enough, as evidenced by your customer experience. They simply may not know what to do to fix your problem, hence they seem to be doing something that they do know, as you suggested in you post.

I really do hope that you get your problem fixed, as it is disappointing otherwise.

 

[qwk]

I share your frustration with repair shops and do not trust them a bit. However they can not be avoided, and the only way to alleviate that frustration and to get things done to both sides satisfaction is to learn to work with them, rather than approach them with the mindset as established above.

Through my work, I am often on the receiving end of having to deal with difficult to diagnose and fix machinery issues. When a problem is difficult to diagnose, and often there may be overlaying issues that compound each other in mysterious ways, it is next to impossible for a repair person to diagnose it right unless the technician is very experienced and has encountered the same problem multiple times. Tesla technicians are not experienced as the car itself is young.

In my experience, the fastest and most effective way to solve these difficult to diagnose freaky problems are by harvesting the clues on the users side. Simply relying on the technical expertise on the repair side leads to ineffectiveness and frustration. User has all the clues on the problem occurrence but may lack the technical knowledge to put it all together, hence a comprehensive dialogue between the user and the repair side is the fastest way to get to the bottom of the issue or multiple overlapping issues.

In your case, it seems that you already have a solution to your problem. I am curious, what is stopping you from suggesting your solution to a friendly technician? They may be doing their best and putting all their heart in their job, but that is not enough, as evidenced by your customer experience. They simply may not know what to do to fix your problem, hence they seem to be doing something that they do know, as you suggested in you post.

I really do hope that you get your problem fixed, as it is disappointing otherwise.

Repair shops are avoidable. If Tesla SC's lack the experience needed to perform repairs(which seems to be the case here), then they should make ALL parts available for purchase to anybody that needs them. Otherwise you end up with an "Incompetent Monopoly".

I have suggested fixes, and they may very well be implemented. Part of the problem is communication(big surprise), so I have been trying to just work with the SC manager. The service advisor position is the most useless position at the SC, because they don't know anything, and the information relayed is never complete. If Tesla is trying to truly be different than dealers, why have a positions that mimic the dealership model?

I think I'm dwelling too much on this now(the enterprise loaner is a POS, and I'm reminded of this every time I get in it), and will just let them complete the work.

 

[Auzie]

Repair shops are avoidable. If Tesla SC's lack the experience needed to perform repairs(which seems to be the case here), then they should make ALL parts available for purchase to anybody that needs them. Otherwise you end up with an "Incompetent Monopoly".

I have suggested fixes, and they may very well be implemented. Part of the problem is communication(big surprise), so I have been trying to just work with the SC manager. The service advisor position is the most useless position at the SC, because they don't know anything, and the information relayed is never complete. If Tesla is trying to truly be different than dealers, why have a positions that mimic the dealership model?

I think I'm dwelling too much on this now(the enterprise loaner is a POS, and I'm reminded of this every time I get in it), and will just let them complete the work.

I heartily agree that service advisors are a joke in my experience, they often compound the problem rather than help, unless of course they are very experienced. I have no experience with Tesla service centers, but with other car dealers who have these advisors. Service advisors may add to efficiency for routine service. For more complex issues like yours, they are set up to fail, as they are a middle man conveying relevant information between interested parties who do not really want or need them in the middle. It seems that even car service needs to be tailored rather than one size fits all. I think issue like yours needs to be escalated to more experienced technicians, that is what happens with IT issues.

Long ago when I used to drive repairable cars, I used to repair them in K-Mart shops. So far that has been my best repair experience, as they used to let me walk under a car and the mechanic would discuss issue with me directly there under the car and show me possible scenarios of what could be causing the problem. No fancy service advisor behind a desk filling a paperwork (now they use ipads) for someone else to read, interpret and guess.

Hopefully one day there will be an online library of all possible Model S problems for easy reference, for both customers and technicians. Until that happens, the onus seems to be on a customer to improve communication as that is in your own words critical to resolving the problem with your car. I see that as Tesla problem, the onus needs to be on them to solicit information. They'll learn, everybody does.

Good luck with your car.

 

[MileHighMotoring]

Master service techs at premium brands make anywhere from $20-35 an hour. Their work is often billed out at $150-200 / hour by the dealerships. It works out to roughly $50-85k. I got this info from a friend who's been doing this for several premium brands over the last 15 years.