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Yes, I wonder what 12V low actually means for how much longer it is actually serviceable. The prepaid service I got as well and it just covers the annual service work. It does lock in the rate, so that's about what the limit is the savings are. I find it interesting that the update would not push to the car with a low 12V. 42K is great! I have about 26K KM JAN 7/15 delivery (I parked it for 6 months). Look forward to update with your new 12V installed and some consideration by Tesla towards the costs.

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Yes, I wonder what 12V low actually means for how much longer it is actually serviceable. The prepaid service I got as well and it just covers the annual service work. It does lock in the rate, so that's about what the limit is the savings are. I find it interesting that the update would not push to the car with a low 12V. 42K is great! I have about 26K KM JAN 7/15 delivery (I parked it for 6 months). Look forward to update with your new 12V installed and some consideration by Tesla towards the costs.
 
It should be noted that I was also promised a call back about that ranger visit, and have heard nothing. I'm due some parts that they screwed up on the last ranger visit. That was over a week ago that they said they'd call me right back, but nothing. I should probably call them back and push for an answer, but I'm out of town all weekend.
 
<RANT>
I guess I knew things could be 'interesting' owning a Tesla (for a whole range of reasons). The change to $ per KM fee for ranger service is really starting to irk me, but more-so, I'm bothered by Vancouver Service (not the technicians, who have been great). I haven't received the 7.1 update. As summon isn't here yet, it isn't that big of a deal. I waited patiently, not wanting to bug Tesla, as we are all aware how rollouts can take some time. At the suggestion of someone here on TMC, I reached out to Tesla in case there was a reason why 7.1 was not available to me. I emailed Vancouver, and also called Fremont (or wherever the 800 number goes). Fremont diagnosed the problem immediately, low 12v battery. She said Vancouver would be in touch with me 'very soon' to provide more details and sort it out. This was on Monday.
Again, not wanting to bother anyone, I left it when I didn't hear back Tuesday.... and again Wednesday. Finally I called today. It was confirmed that I needed a new 12v battery, but "the bad news is, since you are in Edmonton, it will be nearly $600 for a ranger visit". She said she would see what she could do to avoid that, and got off the phone. A short while later, she called back and suggested I drive down to Calgary next week (Ranger in town) to get it done for free. I was told he arrives Sunday night "but that would be a late night for you", and leaves prior to Saturday.
Taking a day off work to replace a ~$100 battery wasn't sitting well, but since she offered Sunday, I said I would do that. Ok, she had to get off the phone to make the arrangements, but would call back. Not ideal, but... as I said, I knew things would be Interesting Owning A Tesla.
She called back... Everything is a go, but it'll be $150 for them to overnight the battery to arrive in time.
At this point, I reminded her I put in this request on Monday. Had they gotten back to me in a reasonable timeframe, there wouldn't be this time crunch. She was nice and all during this, but she maintained it would be $150, did I want to proceed or not. The manager is gone until Monday, so she can't escalate it with anyone... Well by the time we got off the phone, she offered to email him, but made no promises since he was off.
A short while later, she called back and Tesla is covering the shipping.

I envy you guys in Calgary, not having to deal with this. So, anyone up for a get together later Sunday afternoon?

I have asked the tech about the possibility of changing it myself (since they are sending it to me) and to avoid a 6hr+ trip for 20 minutes of work. Looking briefly online, it doesn't sound like the battery is all that easy to get to (and I'm not super handy with a screwdriver lol), so I'll see what the Ranger says back

</RANT>
Sorry bout that, but I feel better now ;-)


sorry to hear about your story, at the risk of fueling your anger, having to pay for a ranger would get under my skill pretty fast. Perhaps to the point that I would probably sell the car. That's me!

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It should be noted that I was also promised a call back about that ranger visit, and have heard nothing. I'm due some parts that they screwed up on the last ranger visit. That was over a week ago that they said they'd call me right back, but nothing. I should probably call them back and push for an answer, but I'm out of town all weekend.

the service has been going down the drain lately, I have complained about several things on my tesla for months, squeaks, minor oil leak from the tranny, on my 21 inch wheels the front tire rubs on the inner liner when you backup..... No responses. Being that I'm not driving my car too much these days, I have decided to wait until spring to get it looked after, unless they decide to send a guy over. I am less than impressed with the service. Growing pains I guess.
 
I would think the Rangers come to Edmonton quite often. There have a been a number of times where I've had minor issues that could wait. Then I would out from another owner that the Ranger was just in town.. but obviously too busy to check on my minor stuff. Minor stuff is typically dealt with at the annual service now at least in my case.

On the 12 V battery issue: I got my car Dec 2012 and 2 months later the 12 V battery died. I was able to recharge it with a 12 V charger and it lasted until a Ranger came about 4 weeks later.

Vancouver however seems to becoming less responsive. ( hopefully they're selling / prepping lots of cars ) A email followed by a phone call the next day seems to work for me.
I expect they must be coming to Edmonton sometime early next month. I decided to buy the Tesla center console and they said they would install it in early February when a ranger comes here.
Not sure if that will work for you Footbag but it wouldn't hurt to check if and see when they are coming to Edmonton. ( let me know too :wink: )
 
I would think the Rangers come to Edmonton quite often. There have a been a number of times where I've had minor issues that could wait. Then I would out from another owner that the Ranger was just in town.. but obviously too busy to check on my minor stuff. Minor stuff is typically dealt with at the annual service now at least in my case.

On the 12 V battery issue: I got my car Dec 2012 and 2 months later the 12 V battery died. I was able to recharge it with a 12 V charger and it lasted until a Ranger came about 4 weeks later.

Vancouver however seems to becoming less responsive. ( hopefully they're selling / prepping lots of cars ) A email followed by a phone call the next day seems to work for me.
I expect they must be coming to Edmonton sometime early next month. I decided to buy the Tesla center console and they said they would install it in early February when a ranger comes here.
Not sure if that will work for you Footbag but it wouldn't hurt to check if and see when they are coming to Edmonton. ( let me know too :wink: )

The interesting thing is the lady I spoke with never suggested waiting... My car is likely not in any immediate danger... and I could take the 'charge the 12v myself' route also, but when she ended up offering Sunday to get it down (in calgary), I took it (and then shipping fees got added <and removed>). Perhaps it is a good indication that the lady was a new hire, hopefully expanding the team and not just replacing someone. It is one thing to 'ignore' us when we email <not saying its ok> but what I was more bothered by was when the 800 number told me they would get Vancouver to contact me shortly... perhaps Fremont/800# never passed that on to Vancouver, I don't know, but I'm thinking the fault lies with Vancouver.

Zapped, the issue for us newer owners isn't the frequency with which they come to Edmonton (I agree, they are likely here at least monthly), it is that they are now charging a rather substantial fee. I envy those early owners who bought the unlimited ranger plan, as you have a contract that Tesla has to honor for whatever time period it is good for. The rest of us are at Tesla's mercy, they could change rates on us at any time... I think it was Montreal where they implimented teh $3/km fee, and then reversed it, which is awesome for those owners. Then there are the Sask/Manitoba folks, who now apparently are required to pay the capped rate of $2500.

The fact that I prepaid for annual service also bugs me. The whole purpose of prepaying is to lock in the amount (and what they do, like wheel alignment), but they now throw this curve ball out. To make use of the $600 annual service, I either now have to pay an additional $600 or make some complicated arrangements to schedule the Ranger in Calgary while also calling in a favor and getting someone to offer up their garage during a weekday <where the owner is likely at work themselves, and likely take the day off work (not sure if they'll do the annual service on a Saturday, i'm hoping they'd at least make that concession possibly.)
 
I have been informed by Vancouver Service Center that my ranger fee is $1,500, which is what the fee maxes out at.

Thanks for the update/correction. InternetDude, what are your thoughts on this, being the one who gets hit the hardest? Has your car been trouble free thus far? Did you have any free/$100 ranger visits before the change? Have you thought about selling the car? What do you now tell people when showing the car (hard to skirt around the 'how do I get the car serviced' question)?

Has anyone here dealt with Lambo/Ferrari/Exotics and how does servicing with them work/cost if no local service is available?

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TESLA will have to do something about service before they ever expect to sell a Model 3 here.

I could see the situation where Tesla doesn't care to sell Model 3's away from service centers... Demand might be so high that they can limit sales/attention to areas covered by service centers. Then again, perhaps the increased volume from Model 3 will enable them to have local service... but that'll be an interesting chicken/egg situation for sure.
 
InternetDude, what are your thoughts on this, being the one who gets hit the hardest?
Um, it blows. I was quoted $100 for the ranger fee when I bought the car and then after buying it and having it a few months I find out oh no, now we need to raise that fee like crazy. From what I can tell, basically everyone in SK and everyone in MB will be paying $1,500 per visit. When I had talked to the service manager it sounds like I was the first person in SK to be "officially" informed of the new policy. So many owners are still unaware.

I've sent a variety of suggestions to Tesla on how to make the fee more fair. One option is to "grandfather" existing Model S owners in to what they were told when they bought the car. Another would be "hey we're sending a ranger to SK, so since he's making a trip there anyway, the fee will be reduced to $500", another could be that they only charge the full $1,500 if the car needs to be towed to Vancouver (and back) since that's the worst case scenario. Those were the sorts of ideas I threw back to Tesla. There are ways to make this work without a one-size-fits-all fee IMHO. A ranger fee schedule set by people sitting in California might not be able to fully understand the geographic issues in the various regions and countries.

Has your car been trouble free thus far?
Yep. Even if I did have minor issues I would probably ignore them though due to the insane fee $$$.

Did you have any free/$100 ranger visits before the change?
I did get one ranger visit in the summer under the old/original plan before any of the new ranger fee details came out.

Have you thought about selling the car?
Oh yes. What I'm thinking is that if I have to pay the $1,500 fee once, OK I could probably do that. If I have to pay it a second time I would probably sell my car.

I hate the idea of buying a Chevy Bolt but there are GM dealers all over here so if push comes to shove, that might be my alternate plan. I'd also hate to go back to an ICE but I guess that could be an option also. It's not like Tesla plans on putting any Superchargers in SK anyway... (according to their own website)

What do you now tell people when showing the car (hard to skirt around the 'how do I get the car serviced' question)?
My new favourite saying now about Tesla is Love the car but not the company. That might be my new tagline for my videos on YouTube.

I don't tell people how much the fee is unless they're quite serious about buying a Tesla. Many people have an uninformed (negative?) perception of EVs so the for the most part I try to avoid that ranger fee issue (I'm embarrased). I'd hate to give the impression to a lot of people that it's $1,500 to fix any little issue on the car and then have Tesla realize they're dumb and change the policy in 6 months and then it be a different story, but the general public is left with that $1,500 number in their heads for years to come.

Instead of enjoying my Tesla ownership I always have that nagging thought in my head of "oh gee if my 12V battery fails it's going to cost me $1,500". I really wish I could love my car and the company but they're making it impossible right now. I do love the car and enjoy driving it every day though.
 
I hate the idea of buying a Chevy Bolt but there are GM dealers all over here so if push comes to shove, that might be my alternate plan. I'd also hate to go back to an ICE but I guess that could be an option also. It's not like Tesla plans on putting any Superchargers in SK anyway... (according to their own website)
I have to note however, the nearest CCS Combo charger is even further away than the nearest Supercharger. With that in mind I'm keeping the Volt in the mix as an option. I'd rather have the Model 3, but may have to concede to practicality for road trips.
 
My new favourite saying now about Tesla is Love the car but not the company.

*cringe* But true I guess given Footbag's recent service experience which is becoming the new normal. Definitely something Tesla needs to work on before the Model 3 or else there's going to be a vast collection of unhappy owners, negative PR, and inexpensive used Model 3s sold by the unhappy owners. It's too bad they can't see this coming already :frown:

Maybe I'll wait for one of those cast-off Model 3s!
 
Ok, I'll chime in here... I have some minor issues with my car as well. I've been dealing with Vancouver Service who is normally great but lately the response has been lacking. Also, they said the next Ranger visit to Alberta is March. My Autopilot is intermittently down plus a few other minor niggles.

I hadn't heard of others being charged as I have never had to pay for Ranger service so I've gotten used to it. Hopefully the Calgary SC opens some time this year or I'm going to start reading do-it-yourself repair manuals and trying to fix things myself (without voiding the warranty). I'm not thrilled with the lack of Ranger visits (especially considering it's winter and they won't drive here so they have to fly) but once I get a more serious warranty issue this will become more of a concern.

Sorry to hear about your issues, @InternetDude.
 
Has anyone here dealt with Lambo/Ferrari/Exotics and how does servicing with them work/cost if no local service is available?
You either tow it/trailer it to your nearest dealer, or depending on the work you wait (and wait and wait and...) for them to arrange for a local shop to get parts and they'll send over a tech. New cars may come with some sort of arrangement but my experience with a used one was that it was all on my dime.
 
I would suggest calling them... The800 number have me a real quick answer but calling Vancouver is also an option. Doesn't hurt to find out (I think there are 3 confirmed cases of the upgrade not going out due to 12v issues, so it certainly could be your issue).
Well thanks for that. I owe you one. Vancouver says my car logs show some 12v errors so they will replace it next week.
Sorry to hear of your troubles with your service charge. You are welcome to use my heated garage in Calgary if it helps. I'm home and off work all next week. My ranger appointment is Wednesday.
 
Good that you ranted it out Footbag..Reading about the service experiences all of you have quoted here and the numerous problems on TMC/TM about MODEL X( The falcon wings and second row seats etc.etc), I am now having serious second thoughts about Tesla. Is it worth spending 150K++ and worry about so many issues?The biggest deal breaker is the lack of service. Who has the time to keep chasing Tesla and the rangers.Don't want to buy a migraine.
 
Um, it blows. I was quoted $100 for the ranger fee when I bought the car and then after buying it and having it a few months I find out oh no, now we need to raise that fee like crazy. From what I can tell, basically everyone in SK and everyone in MB will be paying $1,500 per visit. When I had talked to the service manager it sounds like I was the first person in SK to be "officially" informed of the new policy. So many owners are still unaware.

I've sent a variety of suggestions to Tesla on how to make the fee more fair. One option is to "grandfather" existing Model S owners in to what they were told when they bought the car. Another would be "hey we're sending a ranger to SK, so since he's making a trip there anyway, the fee will be reduced to $500", another could be that they only charge the full $1,500 if the car needs to be towed to Vancouver (and back) since that's the worst case scenario. Those were the sorts of ideas I threw back to Tesla. There are ways to make this work without a one-size-fits-all fee IMHO.

How much to ship to Calgary? Because Calgary has a dealer but not a service center, all ranger visits within a 80km radius of the dealership are free and above that are charged a certain amount per km (according to Mark from Vancouver Service). So if you have a catastrophic failure with your car, ship it as close to Calgary as you can. From here it should be considered just like anyone's local car that would be seen by the ranger or shipped for major work to Vancouver for free.

Based on this discussion, I decided to read the details of Tesla's road side assistance. It SUCKS compared to other high end companies like BMW. It's limited to 80km and does not cover running your charge down to zero. BMW will tow from anywhere to the nearest BMW dealer and obviously covers running out of gas. Based on this I would recommend all Tesla owners to get an AMA membership. The higher end version of the AMA membership includes 160km of towing and covers running out of gas (so should cover running out of charge for our cars).