Tesla Roadside Assistance - appalling

[MashinBenzin]

I think this is the first time I’ve ever been stranded without a car in 30+ years.

Left home this morning and immediately had terrible brake squeal. Returned home and contacted assistance through the phone number.

Told to try the rock and debris fix (disc shield). No issue with that. But it didn’t shift the stone causing the squeal. Tried back and fore driving etc. the noise is terrible.

Called Tesla back and told to book a service appointment. First appointment locally is on the 19th Jan.

Booked the appointment and left a note in the chat asking for something more urgent and explained why. No answer.

Phoned Tesla again, a helpful guy said he would contact the service centre again and hopefully they’d have somoebody with an appointment nearby. No promises but he’d get them to call me back as soon as they could. That was six hours ago.

Car sat on drive all day. Work F2F meetings cancelled. Three phone calls to Tesla and 7 hours from my initial call I’ve got no idea when they will look at my car - apart from two weeks time.

This is dark ages stuff compared with other manufacturers. I will await the fanboys to tell me how wrong I am and how you have to expect bumps in the road when driving the future (aka a pretty average car).

 

[Durzel]

Not a fanboy, but towards the end of my Audi ownership I was having to wait weeks for appointments and courtesy cars, so I don't think that aspect is particularly unusual.

if they don't have space they don't have space - what do you expect them to do? Bump someone who else has booked their appointment weeks ago out of the way?

What do you suggest they do if they're fully booked?

To be clear - I'm fully sympathetic and I would be irritated myself - but I don't know what the answer is that doesn't involve someone else being inconvenienced.

 

[MashinBenzin]

Not a fanboy, but towards the end of my Audi ownership I was having to wait weeks for appointments and courtesy cars, so I don't think that aspect is particularly unusual.

if they don't have space they don't have space - what do you expect them to do? Bump someone who else has booked their appointment weeks ago out of the way?

What do you suggest they do if they're fully booked?

To be clear - I'm fully sympathetic and I would be irritated myself - but I don't know what the answer is that doesn't involve someone else being inconvenienced.

First, I just expect a human being from the service centre to talk to me and explain what options there are, and if there are none then to say so and perhaps even be a little apologetic.

What could they do? They could say drive it down, it’s only 3 miles and we will have the wheel off in a jiffy. Or, we have a mobile service guy in your area tomorrow, he can stop by and have the wheel off. Or, take it to kwik fit and have them invoice us.

Really this isn’t about service centre availability, it’s about not sending out the AA/RAC as every other manufacturer does. They’ve chosen to in-house it, and can’t do it adequately.

 

[Jason71]

If this is a stone as you say then I don't suppose its covered by warrantee. In which case you could take it to any local garage. can probably be fixed in 30 minutes without removing anything other than the wheel.
If it was me I would have taken the offending wheel off and had a quick look myself to see if I could hook it out with a screwdriver. That is what I did when I had a similar issue but unfortunately mine was a seized handbrake servo so low loader it was.
Not making excuses for Tesla just suggesting some other courses of action.

 

[MashinBenzin]

If this is a stone as you say then I don't suppose its covered by warrantee. In which case you could take it to any local garage. can probably be fixed in 30 minutes without removing anything other than the wheel.
If it was me I would have taken the offending wheel off and had a quick look myself to see if I could hook it out with a screwdriver. That is what I did when I had a similar issue but unfortunately mine was a seized handbrake servo so low loader it was.
Not making excuses for Tesla just suggesting some other courses of action.

Agree not warranty. It’s a simple roadside assistance job.

I thought about having the wheel off, but if that didn’t fix it, what then?

It’s a simple ‘send a breakdown van and guy to have a look’ job. And a very good example of Tesla screwing up a simple service that everyone else manages to provide.

And to reiterate - they’re not telling me any of this. They’re just silent.

PS. You and I could have the wheel off, not that I’ve had to do that myself in over 20 years (on account of buying new cars and having cover) but for someone frail or whatever then it’s a non-starter. Tesla have no idea how vulnerable their customer is, they just don’t give a *sugar*.

 

[Tonybvi]

I booked a service request through the app on Thursday 29th December at around 1000hrs I was offered appointments at 3 locations nearest to me (Aberdeen, Perth mobile service and Edinburgh). I selected Aberdeen and was offered appointments for every 15 minute slot starting at 1130 the same day. As it was not urgent I selected next Monday and again available slots every 15 minutes. So it clearly depends on which location you select.

 

[Jason71]

I thought about having the wheel off, but if that didn’t fix it, what then?

put it back on.

 

[MrBadger]

Call AA/RAC etc. Tesla assistance is not roadside assistance.

 

[Durzel]

First, I just expect a human being from the service centre to talk to me and explain what options there are, and if there are none then to say so and perhaps even be a little apologetic.

That bit is crap, granted. All communications goes via service requests now. Actually getting your local service centre on the phone is impossible now, without one of the staff giving you a personal mobile or something.

What could they do? They could say drive it down, it’s only 3 miles and we will have the wheel off in a jiffy. Or, we have a mobile service guy in your area tomorrow, he can stop by and have the wheel off. Or, take it to kwik fit and have them invoice us.

Again - if they're fully booked out, they're fully booked out. Imagining that they aren't and minimising the effort involved in fixing your problem that they can just bump someone else so you can drive down, or get a ranger to pop over even if they have a full day doesn't change that. If it was that simple to fix then - as already suggested - why don't you pop the wheel off and have a go at doing it yourself before you have to pay anyone any money?

What happens if you pop down and they have your "wheel off in a jiffy" and it turns out to be a bigger job to remove it than anticipated? Should they tell you that you'll need to drive it away and wait until the 19th? Would you be happy then? Seems like they'd be putting themselves at risk of more dissatisfaction and a disgruntled customer stood there potentially demanding they finish the job.

I drove into my local service centre on the wrong day by mistake to get something done, they said they were fully booked and that was that. I too asked if they could squeeze me in at some point, even if I hung around, but was told quite simply no.

As others have said - what you're describing is a roadside assistance thing, not a Tesla warranty / service job. Their roadside assistance covers warrantable breakdowns, which this isn't, regardless of how much you might have spent with them or how inconvenienced you are (or feel).

Really this isn’t about service centre availability, it’s about not sending out the AA/RAC as every other manufacturer does. They’ve chosen to in-house it, and can’t do it adequately.

It's not a warrantable job, so all you're asking for is for them to do you a favour really. Again, if they are fully booked out - and obviously they are if your earliest dates are 19th onwards, then it is what it is.

I would be annoyed myself, but it's just bad luck, and to be perfectly blunt - you're no more important than any other Tesla customer who is already booked in. Your only legitimate gripe in my opinion is the lack of communication/updates, but even then I'm not sure what more they can tell you other than the earliest they can look at it is the 19th?

 

[Mullermn]

Call AA/RAC etc. Tesla assistance is not roadside assistance.

Being a cynic I'd say that the roadside assistance provided by most manufacturers is intended to be a safety net to let them mop up any stinkers that slip through factory QC while avoiding a PR incident.

 

[LiamPope]

I'm maybe well out of touch with all things UK, but doesn't your insurance have actual roadside assistance you can call on for this?

 

[Durzel]

I'm maybe well out of touch with all things UK, but doesn't your insurance have actual roadside assistance you can call on for this?

Typically only if you pay extra for it.

 

[LiamPope]

Typically only if you pay extra for it.

Oh I see. Always with fully comp here and could have sworn it was the same back in UK. But I've been away a while and my neural network isn't what it used to be. That's what happens when it's made of meat.

Oh *sugar* I've probably given Elon an idea to save more money - "introducing HW5 - the next generation of human-like Vision - we will achieve FSD with two cameras and a cloned pig brain."

 

[MashinBenzin]

Yep, I was in the wrong.

 

[MashinBenzin]

That bit is crap, granted. All communications goes via service requests now. Actually getting your local service centre on the phone is impossible now, without one of the staff giving you a personal mobile or something.


Again - if they're fully booked out, they're fully booked out. Imagining that they aren't and minimising the effort involved in fixing your problem that they can just bump someone else so you can drive down, or get a ranger to pop over even if they have a full day doesn't change that. If it was that simple to fix then - as already suggested - why don't you pop the wheel off and have a go at doing it yourself before you have to pay anyone any money?

What happens if you pop down and they have your "wheel off in a jiffy" and it turns out to be a bigger job to remove it than anticipated? Should they tell you that you'll need to drive it away and wait until the 19th? Would you be happy then? Seems like they'd be putting themselves at risk of more dissatisfaction and a disgruntled customer stood there potentially demanding they finish the job.

I drove into my local service centre on the wrong day by mistake to get something done, they said they were fully booked and that was that. I too asked if they could squeeze me in at some point, even if I hung around, but was told quite simply no.

As others have said - what you're describing is a roadside assistance thing, not a Tesla warranty / service job. Their roadside assistance covers warrantable breakdowns, which this isn't, regardless of how much you might have spent with them or how inconvenienced you are (or feel).


It's not a warrantable job, so all you're asking for is for them to do you a favour really. Again, if they are fully booked out - and obviously they are if your earliest dates are 19th onwards, then it is what it is.

I would be annoyed myself, but it's just bad luck, and to be perfectly blunt - you're no more important than any other Tesla customer who is already booked in. Your only legitimate gripe in my opinion is the lack of communication/updates, but even then I'm not sure what more they can tell you other than the earliest they can look at it is the 19th?

The ranger thing was suggested by the Tesla guy I did speak to on the phone - as a possibility not a guarantee. Which is fair enough, I’d just like to know.

I obviously misinterpreted the roadside assistance as being similar to that offered by other manufacturers, but it’s not. Like most things Tesla, it’s similar but a bit worse.

 

[MashinBenzin]

Call AA/RAC etc. Tesla assistance is not roadside assistance.

Yes, my mistake in thinking that they did what other manufacturers do in offering a complete service.

(Land Rover assistance, for instance, is also branded as a manufacturer name but is provided by the AA. Toyota is similar. Tesla obviously is not…)

 

[Mr H]

Yeah they do take ages to get to you

 

[MashinBenzin]

I’m going to take the hateful PoS for a drive and see if I can loosen the stone, if indeed that’s what the noise is.

 

[Tony Hoyle]

Try reversing for a bit.. it's what fixed it for me. Forwards may be just embedding it further.

 

[MashinBenzin]

Try reversing for a bit.. it's what fixed it for me. Forwards may be just embedding it further.

I’ve tried both directions. It’s a lot noisier in reverse so I was hopeful that might help but it didn’t. (Haven’t been out again this evening yet)