Sub Par Service Experience @ Tesla Renton (Seattle)

Service completed under warranty, however process was underwhelming.

We noticed a glass crack last week, scheduled a service appointment, had the work completed (but then were given a new “issue”). On top of all this, they fell behind with scheduling and we missed our travel window before a winter storm took over our region.

- Friday: noticed glass crack and requested appointment for following Wednesday
- Wednesday AM: dropped off car and informed it would be a full day job (needed alignment check for unrelated issue).
- Wednesday PM: arrived back at service center at 5pm, after confirming through Tesla service chat that car would be ready. Car was not ready - the replacement glass had not arrived from another service center until late afternoon. (edit: we were hoping to have our car in the evening, load up and depart 6:00 am Thursday, but not needed to leave the car overnight for an AM job)
- Thursday AM: picked up car around 11:00 am, noticed trim issue. They took a look and said it was “under spec”, but offered to try to rectify at our next scheduled appointment (autopilot concern).
- Thursday PM: left for our road trip around noon, about an hour into the drive, realized we would not have made it safely through Cascade Locks and decided to turn around and hunker down for a couple days for the ice and wind storm to pass. Later, we found out our route to Idaho via I-84 was closed due to forecasted 70 mph gusts, downed trees and up to 0.5” ice! Our only other route to Idaho, via I-90 / Snoqualmie Pass, had also been closed to extreme conditions, crashes and spin outs.

Pros:
- scheduling appointment via Tesla app and service chat
- service rep was as helpful as he could be
- window crack covered by Tesla (per our friend in auto glass industry, it was a stress crack)
- window glass replaced successfully

Cons:
- service tech left a new panel gap
- service chat unresponsive while they had our car, shared inaccurate estimated completion times
- unnecessary travel to/from service center
- service center was pretty disorganized (IMO the employees are not to blame here, rather management and higher-ups should be responsible for this)
- generally, not including our road trip situation, this experience was very inefficient!

I wish the service center had that particular glass in stock before our appointment. Does anyone know why they wouldn’t have it in stock, ordered prior to our appointment? Or is it just stupid luck that their trucks got grounded, labor shortage, etc.? Their employees seemed gassed from the day’s work when we happened to be there during closing hours.

We will be missing Christmas with my in-laws, and although disappointing, we’ve made peace with our decisions and the uncontrollable variables like weather, Tesla service practices, etc. We woke up to about a 0.25” of ice in our driveway, so staying in and binging White Lotus S2 was a good call.

Hope everyone is safe with the crazy weather out there!

 

[Ash83]

I am sorry but dropping your car to Tesla or in fact any other car service dealer days before the holidays is not a good option, they are always short staffed, techs want to leave early and the work will be rushed so go figure.

you could have easily booked the appointment after new year or on the day you back from your trip.

 

[Turchard]

As a UK owner i can confirm that service has been less than sub-par on my 3, then my Model S and now my Model X. My latest issue was caused by Tesla directly but it’s left to me to interrupt my Christmas holiday to take the car 70 miles away to be rectified.
I am getting to the point where if, and it’s pretty close, I sell my X the I won’t be buying Tesla again. I forgive some of the disappointments because all of the ones I’ve had are cool, neat, and great when they don’t have issues. Such a shame, but build quality is poor ( for the price) and after care is almost like dealing with Telecoms providers, they don’t know much but are at least a place to vent your frustration.

 

[Ash83]

That sucks, to drive 70 miles for a service. if that is the case then buying a Tesla or any other brand that has no close dealers should be considered a factor.

Tesla Service is on decline for sure but to be honest for big ticket items they are great, I was disappointed with them for few minor issues that they did not take seriously on my Plaid but when my wife drive unit gave up, they had the car back to us in 3 days and the process was so smooth and easy to track. on the other hand my other 100K+ cars stayed at the dealers for weeks to fix items like Turbos, transmission..etc.

 

[Turchard]

That sucks, to drive 70 miles for a service. if that is the case then buying a Tesla or any other brand that has no close dealers should be considered a factor.

Tesla Service is on decline for sure but to be honest for big ticket items they are great, I was disappointed with them for few minor issues that they did not take seriously on my Plaid but when my wife drive unit gave up, they had the car back to us in 3 days and the process was so smooth and easy to track. on the other hand my other 100K+ cars stayed at the dealers for weeks to fix items like Turbos, transmission..etc.

I posted elsewhere about a, in my opinion, major safety issue that I was advised to disregard as a firmware problem. Happens frequently and makes me concerned to drive it and I’m only doing because I need to and they have told me to. My issue with that is they couldn’t tell me how I was supposed to differentiate between the genuine safety issue and their firmware issue. That is ridiculously poor from any manufacturer.
All they said is it will be resolved in a future firmware update….yet here I am about 8 updates since and no fix.

 

[tivoboy]

IMO that trim gap is NOT to spec… it’s going to annoy you or worse, make some god awful sound on the highway at some sort of specific speed.. like 74 mph. ;-)

I’ve had a couple issues like this where I take the car in for ONE thing, repair or replace (HW3 comes to mind) and then break or damage or screw up something else. HW3 install was the worst. Glove box didn’t even open after. Right side vents didn’t work and there were BOOT PRINTS of mud on the dash, wood trim and door panels of the car - like CAKED mud. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how it occurred, let alone that someone would sign off on the work with it left that way. We’re a LONG way away from leaving paper dirt mats in the drivers side floor well.

 

[Sango2]

Has me thinking if I should move my appointment which I actually have at Renton to like Bellevue location if they are disorganized!

 

[indosponger]

I am sorry but dropping your car to Tesla or in fact any other car service dealer days before the holidays is not a good option, they are always short staffed, techs want to leave early and the work will be rushed so go figure.

you could have easily booked the appointment after new year or on the day you back from your trip.

I think you have a valid point about skipping the holiday season for a non-urgent matter, although for our family, it was “easier” to just get the work done ASAP - my wife and I are school teachers so it’s very hard to find time (also using my limited PTO in January to help my elderly parents). We chose this life, so not complaining! Lucky to have a nice car!!

Happy New Year y’all!

 

[Rootboy]

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but is not a good time to get a vehicle worked on. Any vehicle. Took my neighbor 11 weeks to get her Subaru hood repaired/replaced. A hood. That said, your experience was unacceptable.

 

[TespaceX]

Well, my service advisor says their workload during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays were no different from any other week in the year: ~90 cars in every day just at one service center. Tesla won’t expand the service network here in one of the biggest Tesla markets in CA. Just keep selling more cars, which is causing a long wait time for appointments.

 

[canadian.bacon]

I am sorry but dropping your car to Tesla or in fact any other car service dealer days before the holidays is not a good option, they are always short staffed, techs want to leave early and the work will be rushed so go figure.

you could have easily booked the appointment after new year or on the day you back from your trip.

Excuse me ? Why are the fanboys always ready to defend a practice that you would never see at a Lexus, Mercedes, or you name it level.
Before the holidays is still work and still regular hours and I expect the same level of service. What’s next ? After the holidays work ?
There is absolutely no excuse for that. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. This is just another example of Tesla not giving a damn.
Why would one expect everything else to be open and operating at same level but not Tesla service centers ?

 

[Zimo]

Wow. You are not a happy camper. Maybe you should sell your Tesla.

 

[Ash83]

Excuse me ? Why are the fanboys always ready to defend a practice that you would never see at a Lexus, Mercedes, or you name it level.
Before the holidays is still work and still regular hours and I expect the same level of service. What’s next ? After the holidays work ?
There is absolutely no excuse for that. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. This is just another example of Tesla not giving a damn.
Why would one expect everything else to be open and operating at same level but not Tesla service centers ?

Lol you really need a wake up call, go check other manufacturers forums and see the service nightmare stories.

 

[Evpowerdan]

IMO - Everyone can have an off day. For the most part all of Tesla's service centers and remote fixes are leaps and bounds above the competition. Just go experience an ICE mfg service - its not a pleasant experience. Most of the other EV mfg's service centers haven't figured out to even work on them yet.

 

[canadian.bacon]

@Zimo @Ash83
My local service center has been absolutely amazing so far. One of the advisors actually moved on the other side of the continent and still provided outstanding support, way after I have taken delivery. So it is possible. I hope I never get to see first hand OPs experience.
My Toyota dealer never dropped the ball. Hell, my GM dealer was a pleasure to work with.
This attitude "you should sell your Tesla" is exactly what empowers them in continuing the bad behavior.
Not sure why you need to bring up excuses for a negative pattern of customer support. They dropped the ball big time. We all know that.
Tesla customer support experience is no longer "maybe they had an off day". LOL. We are eons past that.

 

[Zimo]

@Zimo @Ash83
My local service center has been absolutely amazing so far. One of the advisors actually moved on the other side of the continent and still provided outstanding support, way after I have taken delivery. So it is possible. I hope I never get to see first hand OPs experience.
My Toyota dealer never dropped the ball. Hell, my GM dealer was a pleasure to work with.
This attitude "you should sell your Tesla" is exactly what empowers them in continuing the bad behavior.
Not sure why you need to bring up excuses for a negative pattern of customer support. They dropped the ball big time. We all know that.
Tesla customer support experience is no longer "maybe they had an off day". LOL. We are eons past that.

My suggestion that you sell your Tesla was only about your attitude. I thought life would be easier for you without Tesla. After reading your 2 posts you appear to be taking both sides of the service issue.

 

[Pichon G2M]

Lol you really need a wake up call, go check other manufacturers forums and see the service nightmare stories.

I've owned a model 3 for 3 weeks coming from a Lexus ES I had for 4 years. Whether it's customer service relating to sales or maintenance Tesla standards or lack there of are unacceptable when compared with anything approaching a similar msrp. It is in that respect that I already miss my Lexus. Tesla makes an amazing product (which is why I bought it), but the fan boy excuse machine is real and its going to harm the long term expansion of the brand. We can exist in a world where we both acknowledged that Tesla make a cool car with great charging infrastructure and software and does virtually everything else *sugar*. Until it's client base publically holds it accountable instead of defending a highly profitable company is if it was a homeless cripple the issues wont be addressed.

 

[Ash83]

I've owned a model 3 for 3 weeks coming from a Lexus ES I had for 4 years. Whether it's customer service relating to sales or maintenance Tesla standards or lack there of are unacceptable when compared with anything approaching a similar msrp. It is in that respect that I already miss my Lexus. Tesla makes an amazing product (which is why I bought it), but the fan boy excuse machine is real and its going to harm the long term expansion of the brand. We can exist in a world where we both acknowledged that Tesla make a cool car with great charging infrastructure and software and does virtually everything else *sugar*. Until it's client base publically holds it accountable instead of defending a highly profitable company is if it was a homeless cripple the issues wont be addressed.

This is turning into a fanboy thread, check my other posts and see how we all complain about Tesla in some of the aspects you mentioned above. but since you mentioned your other cars, I had many other expensive cars (3x your Lexsus) in price and I had issues with all of them same to my Plaid, that's why some dealers are bad and some are good. The purchase process with no human involved is the BEST and I do not need to deal with slimy sales rep who's job is to trying to extortionate the most from me. yes this High tech process is not for everyone so if you like to talk to a human then go buy a Lexus. I do not want to talk to a**h*les or pay to be on their waiting list because all my cars were top of the food chain in that brand and you need to get it ordered through a dealer with limited allocation while paying Premium or not getting good price discount. I am in the hunt for a C8 Zo6 for few months now so if you know a decent dealer that will sell it at MSRP with no BS then let me know, I will buy it next day!!!

The bad side as we all experience is the service for minor issues are sub par, yes there are issues that should be fixed and Tesla calls them within spec, but for major issues items, I challenge you find one post that Tesla screwed them over for a motor replacement or battery.

The other down side because service centers are not sales focus, if you pick up your car, you need to inspect it and REJECT it, if you do not like it, do not buy it and complain later. and Yes other cars have this issue but there are addressed by the dealer before you see them and the law allows them to do roughly $1000 (depends on state) including paint without them announcing it to you . so If Tesla takes that seriously and inspect all cars or force the SC to do and fix them before offering them, then most of these issues will be gone.

 

[minis2003]

why is it if you make a bad comment about your dealing with the service department people will say, if you do not like it sell your car??
have you ever heard that from people driving other brands before, or is it just some people cannot except real like issues?

 

[indosponger]

Has me thinking if I should move my appointment which I actually have at Renton to like Bellevue location if they are disorganized!

We originally wanted Seattle or Bellevue, but chose Renton due to more convenient time for our itinerary. I almost wonder though if their reps and techs are assigned to different locations... I recognized a sales rep at Renton whom we interacted with at the Tesla showroom at Bellevue Square. I'm also guessing that there is a possibility that Tesla service chat is done remotely and further - the possibility of miscommunication between service chat at service tech (could be reason why our service chat was providing inaccurate time estimate).
Please do post here if you do go to Bellevue - I'm curious if its any better.