Tesla Complaint Line

[OCR1]

Uh, No. I had the same thoughts, figured most people on here and other forums before I bought were being overly critical or it was one offs or whatever. That is simply false. I can see frunk misalignment in pictures people post and many are worse than mine. When my 10 year old is asking why the frunk isn't aligned correctly, its a problem. just walking around my car you can see many things misaligned that aren't misaligned on cars that cost 20K. Its a problem and whether you want to admit it or not will become much more of a problem as Tesla becomes more and more mainstream. The customer base for a long time was enthusiasts and people that would deal with this, its becoming more of an issue as Tesla sells more model 3's and gets to more of the mass market. As they get more and more mass market especially with the model Y, if they don't fix things, it will just get worse. Worse until people start moving to the competition. You don't think Tesla is going to corner this market forever do you?

This has not been my experience. The Costa Mesa delivery center knows me well. I’m the guy who shows up with a tape measure and flashlight and tells the reps to give me 45 minutes to inspect the car before I decide if it’s in acceptable condition. I rejected two cars because of either panel gap issues or paint issues. I also took delivery of three cars that were flawless.

And I’ve spent too many hours to count waiting around the delivery center for them to address these issues. While I was waiting I would wander around and put my tape measure up to all of the other cars in the delivery center looking for imperfections. No doubt I found some. Some were even significant enough that I thought people should reject the cars and wait for another one.

And you know what? Nobody cared. Everyone was so excited to take delivery of their cars they could care less about those things. I even pointed the issues out to a few people while I was waiting and they just did not care. I did not see a single person push back on taking delivery because of paint or panel gap issues. Mainstream car buyers just don’t fuss over these things. We just hear a disproportionate amount of belly aching from a small minority of enthusiast owners who expect perfection and need to document every single issue they found on their car.

If the mainstream buyers were so fussy about these things, why would the Tesla brand be rated #1 in overall customer satisfaction from Consumer Reports? Surely the other companies with their perfect panel gaps and slick paint jobs would be more highly rated, right?

So does that make me a “fanboy”? Of course not. It’s a meaningless term thrown around by disgruntled owners. I recognize all of the warts this company has and if another EV company came along and offered a comparable car with better overall service I will be the first one in line. But Tesla is what it is. You are not going to get the most advanced EV in the world wrapped up in a perfectly finished body with concierge level service. It just doesn’t exist right now.

 

[OCR1]

I just want to know if anyone got a hold of Helen

You can reach her by dialing 666 on your cell phone.

 

[OCR1]

I agree with the points about buying a used car and taking responsibility for paint damage. However, if the paint damage was obviously due to a manufacturers issue even after 11k miles then Tesla should rectify.

What I do not agree on, and we can always agree to disagree, is that we as a purchaser should not be responsible to look at every nook and cranny of a vehicle for paint imperfections. I have been buying cars for over 20 years and never ever had to worry about paint imperfections on any other car.

I’ve purchased many expensive items over the years and they all offer me a warranty against manufacturer’s defects. And every one excludes a long list of items like normal wear and tear, abuse, improper maintenance, etc. And my experience with most warranties is that when something goes wrong the manufacturer finds every reason they can to determine that it was your fault that caused the failure, not a manufacturer’s defect. It would be very difficult to prove a manufacturer’s defect because there is no document that provides a clear cut answer on what is a defect vs normal wear and tear. It’s always up to the manufacturer’s discretion. Some companies may take care of some things out of customer good will. But every warranty has the right to refuse to fix something for a variety of common reasons.

As for your 20 years of car buying, I’d say you were lucky. Tesla is not the first company to have issues with quality. With Tesla the issues tend to focus more on paint and panel gaps. But all you have to do is look at the reliability data of any car in the Consumer Reports auto issue and you will see all kinds of trouble spots across all brands of cars. So if other cars have problems with engines, transmission, air conditioning, brakes, etc...how is that any better than Tesla having problems with paint and panel gaps?

At least with paint and panel gaps you can protect yourself by inspecting prior to purchase. But if you buy a car with lousy reliability you aren’t going to find out about it until after it’s too late to do anything about it other than suffer huge repair bills.

 

[robl45]

I never even thought about these things before either, never and I've owned lots and lots of cars. You know why because it wasn't an issue. I never thought of a panel gap issue in 30 years of owning cars, would have never thought about it until I saw people here talking about it. Then once you see it, its just ridiculous.

This has not been my experience. The Costa Mesa delivery center knows me well. I’m the guy who shows up with a tape measure and flashlight and tells the reps to give me 45 minutes to inspect the car before I decide if it’s in acceptable condition. I rejected two cars because of either panel gap issues or paint issues. I also took delivery of three cars that were flawless.

And I’ve spent too many hours to count waiting around the delivery center for them to address these issues. While I was waiting I would wander around and put my tape measure up to all of the other cars in the delivery center looking for imperfections. No doubt I found some. Some were even significant enough that I thought people should reject the cars and wait for another one.

And you know what? Nobody cared. Everyone was so excited to take delivery of their cars they could care less about those things. I even pointed the issues out to a few people while I was waiting and they just did not care. I did not see a single person push back on taking delivery because of paint or panel gap issues. Mainstream car buyers just don’t fuss over these things. We just hear a disproportionate amount of belly aching from a small minority of enthusiast owners who expect perfection and need to document every single issue they found on their car.

If the mainstream buyers were so fussy about these things, why would the Tesla brand be rated #1 in overall customer satisfaction from Consumer Reports? Surely the other companies with their perfect panel gaps and slick paint jobs would be more highly rated, right?

So does that make me a “fanboy”? Of course not. It’s a meaningless term thrown around by disgruntled owners. I recognize all of the warts this company has and if another EV company came along and offered a comparable car with better overall service I will be the first one in line. But Tesla is what it is. You are not going to get the most advanced EV in the world wrapped up in a perfectly finished body with concierge level service. It just doesn’t exist right now.

 

[OCR1]

I never even thought about these things before either, never and I've owned lots and lots of cars. You know why because it wasn't an issue. I never thought of a panel gap issue in 30 years of owning cars, would have never thought about it until I saw people here talking about it. Then once you see it, its just ridiculous.

And I bet if you went back and looked close enough at the cars you’ve owned over the past 30 years you would see plenty of panel gaps on those cars as well. It’s just that you didn’t make a point to look for them, and so it never bothered you.

 

[Kevy Baby]

All GM has to do is create an EV with speed and slap in the cadillac supercruise and you essentially have the model 3. Its not that difficult, electric motors make quick acceleration, Tesla did nothing unique there. People argue the supercruise is better than the Tesla autopilot.

This has got to be one of the funniest things I've read here on TMC. Thanks for the laugh - it made my day.

 

[robl45]

This has got to be one of the funniest things I've read here on TMC. Thanks for the laugh - it made my day.

GM made the ev1. It's not a funny thing. It s a reality thing. Ford almost out with their version. Competition is coming.

 

[Knightshade]

GM made the ev1.

Remind me how that turned out again?

It's not a funny thing. It s a reality thing.

yeah... no.

Ford almost out with their version. Competition is coming.

They're hoping, ideally, to be able to build 50,000 in a year.

Which is about what Tesla was selling of their EVs in like 6 weeks last year.

And the majority of those 50k are going to Europe BTW.

And once they burn through their tax credit they'll need to slash their pricing because right now even WITH the credit their specs are... not quite as good as Teslas.... and it's unclear if they even CAN do that profitably or not... (and we've no idea how well their driver assist stuff will work- current Ford stuff is certainly a large step down).


But sure... one company hoping to sell 1/10th the number of cars Tesla is, at a significantly higher sticker, with almost-but-not-quite-as-good specs, that's competition that should have em shaking in their boots!

 

[Kevy Baby]

All GM has to do is create an EV with speed and slap in the cadillac supercruise and you essentially have the model 3. Its not that difficult, electric motors make quick acceleration, Tesla did nothing unique there. People argue the supercruise is better than the Tesla autopilot.

Apparently I have to REALLY emphasize the funniest part

 

[Dolemite]

Finally found Helen on LinkedIn. If anyone can get a hold of her, pls let me know.

 

[Kevy Baby]

Finally found Helen on LinkedIn. If anyone can get a hold of her, pls let me know.

Now I am curious what image you found (it doesn't show in your post - at least not to me)

 

[Kevy Baby]

Oddly - it shows once I got home.

 

[MasterC17]

But sure... one company hoping to sell 1/10th the number of cars Tesla is, at a significantly higher sticker, with almost-but-not-quite-as-good specs, that's competition that should have em shaking in their boots!

I will honestly be impressed if the specs of the production Mach E come close to what they are currently advertising.

I personally feel it was a case of telling people what they want to hear and then trying to figure out how to actually do it. They are still only showing "Estimates" and "Targets".

 

[hill]

I like how OP is completely dismissive of anyone who does not share their opinion. .....snip....

on the one hand -
it'd make sense the OP would be dismissive of the (insert your best guess here) satisfies percentage - which 'may' be as high as what ... 20% ?? kidding. say it's 70% ... 80% what ever. The thread isn't ABOUT those who were/are satisfied.
on the other hand -
the guy oughta be glad he DIDN'T have bad experiences with either the S or the X ... easily 2X the cost in many/most instances. And/or that he previously had BOTH the S & X that had issues. Does anyone see the OP crying for those folks a river? or is it all about 'me'. That's life ... suck it up ... move on ... nothing to see here. Tesla will eventually catch up to Porsche or Toyota or (insert your quality champ here) whomever.
.

 

[Knightshade]

on the one hand -
it'd make sense the OP would be dismissive of the (insert your best guess here) satisfies percentage - which 'may' be as high as what ... 20% ?? kidding. say it's 70% ... 80% what ever.
.

Almost 90 on CRs scorecard (88). Highest in the industry.... (#2 is 81, #3 is 10 points down from Tesla at 78)

Consumer Reports Survey Says Tesla Has Highest Satisfaction Rate

 

[mardyMX]

I just want to know if anyone got a hold of Helen

i'm in the waiting room now and it's getting really hot

 

[Kandiru]

1-800-YOU-STFU

 

[afadeev]

I just want to know if anyone got a hold of Helen

Helen?
I thought THE support guy was Waldo!