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Supercharging promised but not delivered

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NiallDarwin

NiallDarwin

Right to Repair!
Jun 2, 2017
125
95
New Zealand
#1
Hi forum,


Just over a year ago I bought a salvage Model S in Australia. Just over 3,300km (2000miles), 6 months old, right rear damage. It really didn't look much to fix so I decided to repair it and run it here in New Zealand rather than part it out. I then entered a World of Pain. I wish I'd watched Rich Rebuilds / Car Guru's videos before getting involved. But 20-20 is hindsight.

Before spending money on the rebuild I confirmed with Tesla (AU) that the car had Supercharging. After spending a heap of $$ and getting the car *perfect* again I was feeling very pleased with myself. I was then down in the dumps when it wouldn't supercharge. I was told the car had to have an inspection to become 'supported' again. Despite not having been warned of this requirement earlier I went ahead with it and the car passed. I got a "Notice of Results of Inspection of Unsupported Vehicle" (Tesla form SC-15-00-005 ) stating that the vehicle had:

Passed Tesla Approved Body Shop Inspection
The Unsupported Vehicle has passed the Tesla Approved Body Shop inspection. The Unsupported
Vehicle must pass inspection by a Tesla Service Center at your expense before Tesla will redeem
Unsupported Vehicle and re-enable support.
&
Passed Tesla Service Center Inspection
The Unsupported Vehicle has passed the Tesla Service Center inspection. Tesla will redeem the
Unsupported Vehicle and re-enable support. Any Tesla limited warranties and extended service
agreements for the vehicle remain void, and all future service and repairs will be at your expense .

However a month passed and my frustration grew and still I had no Supercharging. Phonecalls and emails didn't get me an answer, a date that I could expect an answer, an accountable person, nothing. Eventually I got told over the phone that the car would not be supported (but that I'm welcome to buy parts from Tesla?!).

I'm angry but I'm trying to stay positive. If any of you good folk have the ability to raise it with someone senior at Tesla, please do. If not, share this video around or give me feedback here. I couldn't have got this far without this community's help. Thanks for everything so far and for any help you give me to get this job done finished.
 
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#2
This is the first I’ve heard of someone actually going through the Tesla inspection process. My understanding is also that both supercharging and app access would be restored once complete (why else would anyone bother?!)

If you don’t mind sharing, about how much did the inspections cost?

Given what was communicated to you, you absolutely have a right to have supercharging enabled on your car.

I would keep pushing them. If they really continue to refuse, ask for a refund of the prices you paid for inspection at the very least...

Do you have access to the mytesla portal? I would start an escalation from there. Be firm, assert the facts, and hope for the best.
 
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#5
appleguru said:
This is the first I’ve heard of someone actually going through the Tesla inspection process. My understanding is also that both supercharging and app access would be restored once complete (why else would anyone bother?!)

If you don’t mind sharing, about how much did the inspections cost?

Given what was communicated to you, you absolutely have a right to have supercharging enabled on your car.

I would keep pushing them. If they really continue to refuse, ask for a refund of the prices you paid for inspection at the very least...

Do you have access to the mytesla portal? I would start an escalation from there. Be firm, assert the facts, and hope for the best.
Click to expand...
The funny thing is, if you don't ask Tesla for anything for the car, you will be fine. Don't tell it's salvage. You will have working supercharging, updates, and the app. Taking it in for service works most of the time too if you don't mention it's salvage. Just make sure you pay and no warranty work is done.
 
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#8
Yaro said:
Lmao how is that criminal? If someone paid for it and Tesla blocks it, it's not criminal. You own the car and the software, not Tesla. It's simply changing autopilotEnabled from false to true in the config.
Click to expand...

I don't think the issue is that Tesla blocks anyone from using AP. If all you are doing is bypassing Tesla's Draconian policy regarding salvaged vehicles -- fine.

If you are offering to unlock something that wasn't paid for, that's another matter entirely.

Here, OP's car should come with supercharging and he was assured by Tesla before expending money on certification that it will be activated. I didn't see or read anything about AP also being blocked...
 
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#9
croman said:
I don't think the issue is that Tesla blocks anyone from using AP. If all you are doing is bypassing Tesla's Draconian policy regarding salvaged vehicles -- fine.

If you are offering to unlock something that wasn't paid for, that's another matter entirely.

Here, OP's car should come with supercharging and he was assured by Tesla before expending money on certification that it will be activated. I didn't see or read anything about AP also being blocked...
Click to expand...

Supercharging shouldn't even be disabled in the first place. It's sold with the car. And before you say "Oh it's dangerous because it's been in an accident". That's all BS. Something as simple as simple as a broken charge port will not even allow you to charge the car.
 
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#10
Yaro said:
Supercharging shouldn't even be disabled in the first place. It's sold with the car. And before you say "Oh it's dangerous because it's been in an accident". That's all BS. Something as simple as simple as a broken charge port will not even allow you to charge the car.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree with you there. Tesla stole from this gentleman and I hope they make it right.
 
#12
appleguru said:
This is the first I’ve heard of someone actually going through the Tesla inspection process. My understanding is also that both supercharging and app access would be restored once complete (why else would anyone bother?!)

If you don’t mind sharing, about how much did the inspections cost?

Given what was communicated to you, you absolutely have a right to have supercharging enabled on your car.

I would keep pushing them. If they really continue to refuse, ask for a refund of the prices you paid for inspection at the very least...

Do you have access to the mytesla portal? I would start an escalation from there. Be firm, assert the facts, and hope for the best.
Click to expand...

The inspection cost NZ$273.17 at an hourly rate of NZ$182.72 so that makes it 1.5 hours they spent on the car. I am not interested in a refund on the inspection. I want the promise kept.

I do not have access to mytesla (afaik) because I don't have a supported car. So I have no way of 'officially' complaining.
 
#14
Tesla should seek medical attention for its gluteal-cranial inversion - Stat!

How many of us here own our own businesses or are in positions of substantial authority at larger companies? How many of us would want to purchase anything from a supplier who blatantly breaks their written promises?

Telling the truth is an essential business practice. Who cares if you can build a better mouse trap if you can't get the fundamentals right?

Elon, I hope that you're listening because you need someone who can speak truth to power: doing the wrong thing will doom any business. Especially Telsa where you are asking many thousands of customers to pay big bucks for your promise of full self driving.

If you (Tesla's actions, good or bad, are attributed in the public's mind to you personally) cannot be trusted to honor a (written) simple promise to turn on this poor fellow's supercharging, why should anyone trust you and pony up for full self driving?

Managing Tesla and other endeavors is a huge task and you can't be expected to do it all. But you can be expected to direct it all. And a strong direction you need to give everyone who works for you is do the right thing. Create and empower an ombudsman team to fix these problems before they create an ugly narrative.
 
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#15
NiallDarwin said:
The inspection cost NZ$273.17 at an hourly rate of NZ$182.72 so that makes it 1.5 hours they spent on the car. I am not interested in a refund on the inspection. I want the promise kept.

I do not have access to mytesla (afaik) because I don't have a supported car. So I have no way of 'officially' complaining.
Click to expand...

That might be my step one... create a Tesla account and get your car added to it so you can use the app. Then escalate and get your darn supercharging enabled.

Alternatively, maybe play dumb and make a service appointment with a local SC (ideally a different one than did the inspection?) saying “supercharging isn’t working, can I set up an appointment to have you take a look/fix it?”
 
#16
Maybe because you are in New Zealand that has something to do with this.

Are you telling us that Tesla notified you in writing that if you passed the inspections you would get Free Supercharging For Life? or was this something you just expected to happen?

Understand your frustration, as Supercharger access is one of the most appealing feature of owning a Tesla.

Did they give you a reason why your car would not supercharge?
 
#17
Tesla didn't promise Supercharging. "I confirmed with Tesla (AU) that the car had Supercharging." Tesla only said the car was originally sold with Supercharging according to those words.

Still, I would have thought that having the car inspected and re-supported would have restored Supercharging privileges as well. I'd keep fighting for it.

On the other hand, I was able to travel 5500 miles on about $155 in Supercharging fees before Tesla decided to keep free Supercharging a while longer. It won't totally drain your wallet.
 
#19
Hi,
I think your words are spot-on Arizona P85.

animorph:
Yes, they said it has supercharging. Sorry, my way of writing made the conversation past-tense. Their statement was current and of the moment, not referring to a past situation.

Uncle Paul:
The reason they give for not allowing Supercharging (free or paid and not even DC charging via CHadeMO) is because the car was salvage.
They didn't warn of of this when I asked if the car had Supercharging at the start of this project and before I'd paid for the panel repairs.
They didn't warn me of this when I brought the car into them on a flatbed for a key.
They didn't warn me of this when after the panel work was done and the 12V died the car needed to go to Tesla to be re-initialised.
They didn't warn me of this when they took the car in for a day to inspect it.
They told me after a month of my hassling them once the car had passed its inspection but they still hadn't done anything.

appleguru:
AFAIK I can't get an unsupported car onto the app. But I will try that route.
There is only one (temporary) service centre in the whole of NZ so I can't try your other idea :)

To end on a positive and a repeat, I think your words are spot-on Arizona P85 :)
 
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