Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Tesla .. going downhill?

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
I think that's *mostly* for Cali due to the sheer volume of cars there. I have had zero issues and can schedule a service within a week for both SC and mobile services. Mine have been great. And I've seen signs on non Tesla cars saying "this car has been in shop for past 5 out of 6 months do not buy one. So I'm not sure where you get that only Tesla has had this problem, though I do admit it sounds like they need to step it up in southern Cali.

Poor service is not limited to California. I am near two service centers (depending on your definition of "near"). Both have waits of two weeks or so. I was given an appointment with mobile service once (also two weeks out) and a day away from coming to my car he canceled after adding me as an EMC2 upgrade which has to be done in the shop. So another two week wait! What was that about???


Also the phone thing, I personally love and don't really see why people want to talk to someone on a phone. Most people that demand to speak to someone generally are the people that are getting nothing accomplished because they're yelling and demanding something of someone who.. answers phones. Where, when you schedule service or email(though email still has a hard time of being tracked), that low level tech person looking at ticket can take time to go consult with someone who can do what is needed and make the needed decisions on a better schedule.

Or maybe people want to discuss the various issues over the phone so they don't have to wait weeks before talking to someone only to find the issue could be corrected without a service visit??? Or maybe the problem is something that the user doesn't understand and they don't know if it needs a service call??? Seems to me the emphasis would be on having good, accessible phone support to perform triage reducing the load on service centers???


That's the thing, I drive cars and ride motorcycles, I research and scour about cars all the time. And there has NEVER been a brand that didn't have this same sort of 'problem'. Someone complains about service, a lot of people say theirs is great. Someone asks about how reliable because everyone is posting issues, people say theirs is fine. There's a VAST majority of people that would never think of getting on a car forum or group because they just drive their cars every day, they don't care after that unless they have an issue. Tesla is a little different than most because I see so many people passionate about their cars from so many different walks of life. So people are much more likely to bring up even smaller issues on a forum than just driving to dealership 2 mins away.

Tesla is also different in that new users need so much education which they don't get from Tesla. That's the biggest reason for being here which is one of the least efficient ways of getting info.

I find it especially amusing that you talk about driving to a "dealership" 2 minutes away. I assume you mean service center, but even those are more like 100 miles away for many people. There are entire states that have no service centers and many others have not even 1% of the locations that other companies have.
 
Make no mistake the cars are awesome, assuming you get a good one... Lets start there... Tesla QC is wildly inconsistent bordering on the realm of gross negligence at times... Okay, lets assume you get a "good one"... If something ever does happen service is a complete and total nightmare, it just is. Good luck getting things fixed in a timely manor but hey you'll get Uber credits for your troubles unlike other "premium" brands where you get a loaner car... Also, keep in mind that at any moment Tesla can cripple your car with a software update but act like they are trying to help YOU the customer rather than covering their own ass. This brings me to my last point, the company itself. ALL the company cares about right now, and I mean ALL it cares about, is sales. Once you sign, you're on your own and whatever you do don't believe anything you're told even if you have it in writing. Tesla doesn't care, they'll do whatever they want. They prey upon people knowing the average person isn't going to lawyer up due to the cost of doing so. Take their new "premium connectivity" BS, I was never notified about this fee, it's not in any of my paper work and since "customer loyalty" did my order for me I never saw the order screen, I honestly had no idea this was coming. Now I get to pay $10 per month to continue to use my car as I did when I took delivery, complete and total bait and switch but again, back to that lawyer thing... Oh well, I'm getting the last laugh on that one as I have turned off my Tesla HPWC at home and will only supercharge from here on out (got free unlimited with my X) as I have a supercharger within 5 min of my house.

Summary, great cars, incompetent and corrupt company. I love my Model X but I could go on about my issues and Tesla's outright refusal to fix (yellow band around the screen is appalling but "normal" according to Tesla so no warranty replacement for me as just one example). I genuinely hope that by the time my X lease is up, Tesla has real competition as I REALLY do not want to give them another dime of my money... The cars though, they are amazing... No arguments there.

Jeff
 
The Tesla ordering process can be very frustrating. You might even find a rant or two from me when I ordered my Raven last summer. Be patient and relax. You can call the main Tesla line during business hours and get updates(if there are any). When I ordered mine, the delivery estimate was two weeks on the site. I ordered in early July and received mine in September. So, they missed the date. Communication was terrible, nobody could tell me when a vin would be assigned etc etc. The ordering process is NOT like walking into a dealership and buying a car. My poor delivery advisor and sales advisor received multiple calls. In the end, the car arrived to my door(it was shipped to me) in perfect condition and they took our trade.

So, have a nice glass of your favorite wine and forget about it. Once the car arrives you will understand why we are all telling you to be patient.
 
Or maybe people want to discuss the various issues over the phone so they don't have to wait weeks before talking to someone only to find the issue could be corrected without a service visit??? Or maybe the problem is something that the user doesn't understand and they don't know if it needs a service call??? Seems to me the emphasis would be on having good, accessible phone support to perform triage reducing the load on service centers???
Yeah I don't think anyone is arguing that they shouldn't expand a bit and I'm sympathetic to your specific issue but, like I've said in several posts, confirmation bias doesn't mean everyone has had that issue. I read a post on Audi forums where someone went through 3 months of service appts with Audi and eventually had to hire a lawyer to get a lemon bought back. And what could you possibly gain from talking on the phone? "Yes sir, you're gonna have to drop the battery and replace the fuse, call back if you need more guidance" "Oh yeah I've heard that squeaky noise enough to diagnose it over the phone" Most times it's just used as a way for an extrovert to leverage their social skills to make themselves more important than all the other people with issues.

Most people I've heard that have had minor issues have just showed up and had it sorted pretty quickly.

Things we know that isn't directly related to this question:
Tesla is new, has growing pains and obviously room for improvement.
They need to increase service center and parts availability.
Superchargers need additional service.

Reason this thread has been brought up though:
Tesla has issues like every other car manufacturer
Proximity to a service center is a gamble you have to take. I personally have not had issues with this being 2 hours away.

Car Maintenance

As well as the first party and 3rd party forums a lot of people are willing to help with minor issues and diagnoses, for major stuff(and any time you have a question) I recommend scheduling service asap and cancel it as soon as you know it's not needed. Give feedback when you have issues.
 
Summary, great cars, incompetent and corrupt company. I love my Model X but I could go on about my issues and Tesla's outright refusal to fix (yellow band around the screen is appalling but "normal" according to Tesla so no warranty replacement for me as just one example). I genuinely hope that by the time my X lease is up, Tesla has real competition as I REALLY do not want to give them another dime of my money... The cars though, they are amazing... No arguments there.

Jeff

You are preaching to the choir here. I love driving the car (mostly) but I hate the way I am treated by the company. You might want to rethink the supercharger revenge thing though. It may be cutting off your nose...

Tesla doesn't say Supercharger use reduces your battery capacity, but my X has about 27,000 miles and I think the battery capacity is down 5 or 6%, perhaps more. It's not easy to measure really. The numbers in and out are different and I never know what is supposed to be what really. Its a big job trying to keep track of just how healthy your car is. Still, I think my X is wearing faster than others because of my nearly total supercharge use. Can't say for sure, but I should know more in a month or two.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BulldogsRus
You are preaching to the choir here. I love driving the car (mostly) but I hate the way I am treated by the company. You might want to rethink the supercharger revenge thing though. It may be cutting off your nose...

Tesla doesn't say Supercharger use reduces your battery capacity, but my X has about 27,000 miles and I think the battery capacity is down 5 or 6%, perhaps more. It's not easy to measure really. The numbers in and out are different and I never know what is supposed to be what really. Its a big job trying to keep track of just how healthy your car is. Still, I think my X is wearing faster than others because of my nearly total supercharge use. Can't say for sure, but I should know more in a month or two.

We thought about that actually but in the end not remotely concerned, we don't take long trips and the "stock" mileage for our 100D is plenty for even the most adventurous travel we might decide to do. Since we can't take the Tesla with us when we RV, it just never sees long road trips. The only real impact we see is the eventual throttling we'll be subjected to when we hit that magical, but never disclosed, number of DC fast charges allowed. Yeah that'll suck, no doubt, but... Yeah...

Jeff
 
  • Funny
Reactions: BulldogsRus
Make no mistake the cars are awesome, assuming you get a good one... Lets start there... Tesla QC is wildly inconsistent bordering on the realm of gross negligence at times... Okay, lets assume you get a "good one"... If something ever does happen service is a complete and total nightmare, it just is. Good luck getting things fixed in a timely manor but hey you'll get Uber credits for your troubles unlike other "premium" brands where you get a loaner car... Also, keep in mind that at any moment Tesla can cripple your car with a software update but act like they are trying to help YOU the customer rather than covering their own ass. This brings me to my last point, the company itself. ALL the company cares about right now, and I mean ALL it cares about, is sales. Once you sign, you're on your own and whatever you do don't believe anything you're told even if you have it in writing. Tesla doesn't care, they'll do whatever they want. They prey upon people knowing the average person isn't going to lawyer up due to the cost of doing so. Take their new "premium connectivity" BS, I was never notified about this fee, it's not in any of my paper work and since "customer loyalty" did my order for me I never saw the order screen, I honestly had no idea this was coming. Now I get to pay $10 per month to continue to use my car as I did when I took delivery, complete and total bait and switch but again, back to that lawyer thing... Oh well, I'm getting the last laugh on that one as I have turned off my Tesla HPWC at home and will only supercharge from here on out (got free unlimited with my X) as I have a supercharger within 5 min of my house.

Summary, great cars, incompetent and corrupt company. I love my Model X but I could go on about my issues and Tesla's outright refusal to fix (yellow band around the screen is appalling but "normal" according to Tesla so no warranty replacement for me as just one example). I genuinely hope that by the time my X lease is up, Tesla has real competition as I REALLY do not want to give them another dime of my money... The cars though, they are amazing... No arguments there.

Jeff
I disagree with most of what you said but I do think they should have given previous X/S owners premium connectivity for life since it wasn't really mentioned explicitly.(though no car company does give that free)

Your screen surprises me, I've seen a lot about people having those fixed so I'm really surprised they would kinda tell you to get lost, have you reached out again?

We thought about that actually but in the end not remotely concerned, we don't take long trips and the "stock" mileage for our 100D is plenty for even the most adventurous travel we might decide to do. Since we can't take the Tesla with us when we RV, it just never sees long road trips. The only real impact we see is the eventual throttling we'll be subjected to when we hit that magical, but never disclosed, number of DC fast charges allowed. Yeah that'll suck, no doubt, but... Yeah...

Jeff

I'd be surprised if you get throttled, I still have my unlimited and have been charging non stop on supercharger and haven't seen that!
 
Summary, great cars, incompetent and corrupt company. I love my Model X but I could go on about my issues and Tesla's outright refusal to fix (yellow band around the screen is appalling but "normal" according to Tesla so no warranty replacement for me as just one example). I genuinely hope that by the time my X lease is up, Tesla has real competition as I REALLY do not want to give them another dime of my money... The cars though, they are amazing... No arguments there.

Jeff

They won't fix the yellowing border? They replaced my MCU screen in 2018 and did the UV fix in 2019.

If something ever does happen service is a complete and total nightmare, it just is. Good luck getting things fixed in a timely manor but hey you'll get Uber credits for your troubles unlike other "premium" brands where you get a loaner car...

Service level depends on the SC. I have had bad experiences at my SC a few years ago, but since then they have been very good. I always get a loaner (in both MN and IL service centers) and have never been denied warranty items (15-20 warranty claims at least).
 
I disagree with most of what you said but I do think they should have given previous X/S owners premium connectivity for life since it wasn't really mentioned explicitly.(though no car company does give that free)

Your screen surprises me, I've seen a lot about people having those fixed so I'm really surprised they would kinda tell you to get lost, have you reached out again?

Done arguing with them. All I kept getting back was various versions of "not sure why those other owners got it but it's not covered and you're not getting one"... This is from two different service centers. To hell with it... It really looks great to my friends/family when they see it and then learn Tesla refuses to fix it... I've successfully talked at least 3 people out of purchasing a Tesla and seeing my screen was a major talking point.

The screen thing is just one part of the issues I've ran into with Tesla... Not worth rehashing all of the other issues. I'm sure if I cared enough I could probably get some traction but...

Jeff
 
  • Informative
Reactions: BulldogsRus
Really? You think VW and Ford will upgrade their service to Tesla levels with Remote Service by 2022, and get rid of stealerships? I await this brave new world.
Well, what makes Tesla any different from a so-called 'stealership'? There have been plenty of people that have posted here about clueless techs, lack of loaners, long waits on repairs, constantly changing stories about what is/isn't covered (i.e. "normal wear and tear), not being able to replicate issues, cars being damaged in their care, etc.

At this point the only difference is online ordering and scheduling service with an app...and even in both cases plenty of people post here claiming they don't have a status X number of weeks or months later in some cases.
 
Make no mistake the cars are awesome, assuming you get a good one... Lets start there... Tesla QC is wildly inconsistent bordering on the realm of gross negligence at times... Okay, lets assume you get a "good one"... If something ever does happen service is a complete and total nightmare, it just is. Good luck getting things fixed in a timely manor but hey you'll get Uber credits for your troubles unlike other "premium" brands where you get a loaner car... Also, keep in mind that at any moment Tesla can cripple your car with a software update but act like they are trying to help YOU the customer rather than covering their own ass. This brings me to my last point, the company itself. ALL the company cares about right now, and I mean ALL it cares about, is sales. Once you sign, you're on your own and whatever you do don't believe anything you're told even if you have it in writing. Tesla doesn't care, they'll do whatever they want. They prey upon people knowing the average person isn't going to lawyer up due to the cost of doing so. Take their new "premium connectivity" BS, I was never notified about this fee, it's not in any of my paper work and since "customer loyalty" did my order for me I never saw the order screen, I honestly had no idea this was coming. Now I get to pay $10 per month to continue to use my car as I did when I took delivery, complete and total bait and switch but again, back to that lawyer thing... Oh well, I'm getting the last laugh on that one as I have turned off my Tesla HPWC at home and will only supercharge from here on out (got free unlimited with my X) as I have a supercharger within 5 min of my house.

Summary, great cars, incompetent and corrupt company. I love my Model X but I could go on about my issues and Tesla's outright refusal to fix (yellow band around the screen is appalling but "normal" according to Tesla so no warranty replacement for me as just one example). I genuinely hope that by the time my X lease is up, Tesla has real competition as I REALLY do not want to give them another dime of my money... The cars though, they are amazing... No arguments there.

Jeff

Dang, what a rant! woohoo
 
Done arguing with them. All I kept getting back was various versions of "not sure why those other owners got it but it's not covered and you're not getting one"... This is from two different service centers. To hell with it... It really looks great to my friends/family when they see it and then learn Tesla refuses to fix it... I've successfully talked at least 3 people out of purchasing a Tesla and seeing my screen was a major talking point.

The screen thing is just one part of the issues I've ran into with Tesla... Not worth rehashing all of the other issues. I'm sure if I cared enough I could probably get some traction but...

Jeff
Yeah that sucks, like I said I've seen where people have had that type of issue at all auto makers, I have been fortunate to never have been the victim and i'm sure it'd shake me up if it did. If it were me, i'd still be scheduling service until it was resolved. When was the last time you went in for that issue?
 
They won't fix the yellowing border? They replaced my MCU screen in 2018 and did the UV fix in 2019.



Service level depends on the SC. I have had bad experiences at my SC a few years ago, but since then they have been very good. I always get a loaner (in both MN and IL service centers) and have never been denied warranty items (15-20 warranty claims at least).
From everything I've read here, it was literally a case by case basis. First it was "there's a fix on the way, sit tight", then they had the audacity to start charging people UNDER warranty like $1200 to replace the unit if they REALLY wanted it (and even those that had theirs replaced noted it soon came back again), and now they claim they have a UV machine that many claim actually repairs the screen...when the machine is either at their SC or actually working for that matter.
 
Yeah I don't think anyone is arguing that they shouldn't expand a bit and I'm sympathetic to your specific issue but, like I've said in several posts, confirmation bias doesn't mean everyone has had that issue.

I really don't know what your point is. You seem to think that unless you have the problem it isn't much of a problem. Ok, that's your opinion. It is worth the same as everyone else's.

Thank you for your opinion.
 
Done arguing with them. All I kept getting back was various versions of "not sure why those other owners got it but it's not covered and you're not getting one"... This is from two different service centers. To hell with it... It really looks great to my friends/family when they see it and then learn Tesla refuses to fix it... I've successfully talked at least 3 people out of purchasing a Tesla and seeing my screen was a major talking point.

The screen thing is just one part of the issues I've ran into with Tesla... Not worth rehashing all of the other issues. I'm sure if I cared enough I could probably get some traction but...

Jeff

I'm in the same boat of telling people to chill for a few years before buying an EV. I think they will take over the world, but not until some realistic competition applies enough market forces to get the bugs worked out.
 
I really don't know what your point is. You seem to think that unless you have the problem it isn't much of a problem. Ok, that's your opinion. It is worth the same as everyone else's.

Thank you for your opinion.
Quite the contrary, I'm saying people that have an issue think it's the end of the world and people without the issue aren't going to post about it unless someone challenges it. I recommend not looking through a forum to find reliability but look at CR etc.