Tesla service : First impressions: Not good

[Wybrook]

I noticed yesterday that my near side headlight was flickering on and off, so raised my first ever service ticket. Got a response this afternoon that a mobile technician would visit and booked a slot on Monday morning. All good so far and quite impressed.

Ten minutes later I got a message saying after a remote diagnosis the fault needed more diagnostic equipment so needed to be done at a service centre - at least an hours drive away. When I queried why they hadn’t done those checks BEFORE saying it could be fixed by a mobile unit it was apparently ‘a system failure’. Not impressed as it will be the end of the month before I can spend a day driving around to get it fixed, but mainly because they‘ve overpromised and under delivered, just like my initial ‘delivery’ experience. Guess I should learn to manage my expectations …

 

[Danno_]

I noticed yesterday that my near side headlight was flickering on and off, so raised my first ever service ticket. Got a response this afternoon that a mobile technician would visit and booked a slot on Monday morning. All good so far and quite impressed.

Ten minutes later I got a message saying after a remote diagnosis the fault needed more diagnostic equipment so needed to be done at a service centre - at least an hours drive away. When I queried why they hadn’t done those checks BEFORE saying it could be fixed by a mobile unit it was apparently ‘a system failure’. Not impressed as it will be the end of the month before I can spend a day driving around to get it fixed, but mainly because they‘ve overpromised and under delivered, just like my initial ‘delivery’ experience. Guess I should learn to manage my expectations …

Get used to it. When I complained about the abysmal build quality of my car (over 10 service visits in as many months) I received a fob-off email from Customer Resolutions that they hoped would “improve your experience and align your expectations”!

 

[father_of_6]

noticed yesterday that my near side headlight was flickering on and off, so raised my first ever service ticket. Got a response this afternoon that a mobile technician would visit and booked a slot on Monday morning. All good so far and quite impressed.

Ten minutes later I got a message saying after a remote diagnosis the fault needed more diagnostic equipment so needed to be done at a service centre - at least an hours drive away.

If they told you right away that you needed to visit the service center would it have changed your opinion?

 

[Wybrook]

If they told you right away that you needed to visit the service center would it have changed your opinion?

Yes, because they wouldn’t have raised my hopes before failing to deliver.

 

[Cardo]

If this upsets you, wait until Tesla actually get hold of your vehicle.

 

[Billbrown1982]

Yeah at least with all the other manufacturers you know you have to drive to the dealership for them to even look at it and then tell you you have to come back at another time to get it fixed. Far better.

 

[GlynG]

In over 2 and a half years of ownership I have never visited a service centre because I haven't had any faults, however, I have had two visits from a Ranger for the rear spoiler detaching from one end, on one planed visit the date changed a few times but that really didn't bother me at all.

To be honest I think If i reported a fault and had a Ranger visit planed and later Tesla contacted me to say it needs a service centre after remote diagnosis within 10 minutes of my reporting I think I would be pleased that they had already started looking into the issue.

In comparison, I've generally found with most main dealers of other marques that when I've reported a fault I get a date to take it in, most times they keep the car the whole day and the car sits for most of the time in their car park queued to be worked on, they then spend a few minutes on diagnostics and Im told to pick up the car - Of course its not fixed because they have now ordered the parts, then I have to take it back a week or so later, again car sits most of the day in their car park and a third visit is usually needed because they always fail to fix first time.

If your experience on this first occasion with Tesla has created disappointment then your in for a rough ride in life - which is full of lots of disappointments, I think I could understand your viewpoint if the ranger visit was cancelled on the proposed day of the fix and you were told to book in at a service centre but when their action was within 10 minutes of you reporting Id be very pleased with it.

 

[Skie]

In comparison, I've generally found with most main dealers of other marques that when I've reported a fault I get a date to take it in, most times they keep the car the whole day and the car sits for most of the time in their car park queued to be worked on, they then spend a few minutes on diagnostics and Im told to pick up the car - Of course its not fixed because they have now ordered the parts.

Or, as I had with Audi, they fail to find the issue with my headlights flashing people under acceleration/deceleration and still charge you the £75 diagnostic fee. Luckily I had a dashcam on the car so when I reviewed the footage I saw and heard them make the mistake of looking in the wrong bloody place for the fault. They had been been looking at the service manual for the newer model which only has 1 suspension level monitor.

Tesla have been decent in my experience, though I’ve still had them repair the wrong bit of the car and had to point out to the service manager the glaringly obvious rusty bits they’d missed (and had photos of in the app). Least my bumper was repainted though, and they sorted the boot out by the next day.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Tesla contacted me to say it needs a service centre after remote diagnosis within 10 minutes of my reporting I think I would be pleased that they had already started looking into the issue

I agree

I've generally found with most main dealers of other marques that when I've reported a fault I get a date to take it in, most times they keep the car the whole day and the car sits for most of the time in their car park queued to be worked on, they then spend a few minutes on diagnostics and Im told to pick up the car - Of course its not fixed because they have now ordered the parts, then I have to take it back a week or so later, again car sits most of the day in their car park and a third visit is usually needed because they always fail to fix first time

Also my experience. I have a robot lawnmower that has an occasional fault. Local dealer said "Leave it with us for 3 weeks to do the diagnosis and order the parts". They think my lawn won't grow? I explained it was an intermitted fault and that I could bring it in for diagnosis, whilst-I-waited, and then drop it off once they had the parts. "We don't have a procedure for that" ... FFS ...

Whereas with Tesla I was coming home late at night on motorway, loud bang, slowed down, nothing seems wrong ... I thought (wrongly as it turned out) the dashboard lights had dimmed, so i thought it might be a blown fuse.

Phoned them when I got home - 1AM-ish - American sounding voice, so I assume I was routed to a call centre over there. I explained. TAP TAP TAP ... no sir, all your fuses are fine.

Are all the other brands able to do that?

 

[MrBadger]

In comparison, I've generally found with most main dealers of other marques that when I've reported a fault I get a date to take it in, most times they keep the car the whole day and the car sits for most of the time in their car park queued to be worked on,

It’s not specific to main dealers. That’s just how many workshops work (not just cars) that have a mixed schedule of repairs for the day. Allows them to more efficiently schedule work and not wait around for a punter bringing their car in at a set time.

I use several independent garages, including a ‘one/two man band’ who still prefer to work that way. Some still can accommodate a timed drop off but this often involves more hanging around - more personal service by independent might drop me off at cafe and pick me up when done but it’s still hanging around for a undetermined period of time - I might get 10 minutes warning that I’m about to be picked up. For some, drop off in morning and pick up when ready/at end of day doesn’t bugger up the whole day.

 

[Donjo]

My experience with the "service" center has been uniformly disappointing. They could start by being able to take a phone call. On the app they promise to reply within 2 hours of a request. That has never happened for me. Then I was forced to do a fifteen minute text conversation that would have taken 30 seconds on the phone. Ultimately with no resolution or appointment being made. They suggested they will see what appointments are available and get back to me within 2 days.

 

[asl3312]

When a service request is raised, is it issued to the nearest service centre who then check the car over, or is it reviewed by a central location first before despatching the job to an SC?
I had a similar fault, a flickering drivers side DRL.. I raised a request and sent the video on a Saturday, they came back with it needed parts and to book in for a mobile visit. The technician came on the following Thursday and swapped out the headlight in less than an hour.

 

[MrBadger]

It’s changed. Previously you booked the SC when you raised the request but my recent one I didn’t get the option to select service centre until several days later when they had diagnosed what might be required and iirc checked availability of the parts. I then got the option of at least 2 locations.

Apart from taking several days to give me choice of SC, I’m hoping this will be better and reduce the number of times you get late cancelled appointments due to lack of parts. At least now, it seems that when you get choice of SC and times they are going to know when parts will be available.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

I've not had the same experience twice. I got mine back yesterday after the front motor went bang..

Steps taken:
- in the app, no obvious category for motor failure/warning message so went with "other", included the fault code and a screenshot of the MCU. Details are a little hazy but I recall seeing a list of faults I could pick from that were logged in the car, only this wasn't one of them
- anyway, they got back to me fairly quickly with the pleasantry that someone would look at it
- I then got an invite to book it in, and a text from the mechanic who was looking at it.
- anyway car went in, loan car handover didn;t work but it was the day of the no connectivity so they gave me a keyfob
- had a message and call the next day to say it wasn't going to be ready when initially thought
- had a message the day after saying similar, but they'd wash it as a gesture of goodwill
- come friday, heard nothing, assumed it would be ok, so turned up after an hours drive to get there and luckily able to drive away 10 mins after they said it would be done. If it had been BMW I'd have called and asked before setting off, it's one of those things that just because they say its going to be done, you still like the confirmation when it stops being an estimated time of completion and becomes a firm time, although maybe they don't know themselves until they've finished.

So I can't really fault this visit, they got me in within a few days, yes it took 4 days and not 2 but they'd arranged a loan car without me prompting, and there was no great inconvenience to me with the dates moving, but I can be more flexible than most over these things. I really think the mechanic made the difference as he was very personable and happy to send messages and keep me informed, even if it wasn't good news, I alsoi had a good chat with him when picking up the car. Maybe they've a flag against me as a "TMC moderator so be nice", I can dream...

So this time I'd say overall it was good but previously I've booked it in for 2 faults and only one got fixed, been without the car for ages because of various incompetencies or parts availability, promised a loan car and then told on arrival I couldn't have one because it was still out, offered a loan car that if you told me there was a dead dog in the back I could believe it smelt that bad and I literally had to wash every article of clothing I was wearing after I'd returned the car..

And really, there's been far too many visits for cars that are meant to be simple compared to ICE and don't go wrong, I'd much prefer to say "I've no idea what service is like, I've never needed them", I can only think of 2 warranty issues in the last 6 years with our BMWs, one was a bit of interior trim that the clip broke on, and the other was an intermittent low coolant level warning that I rang them about, told it was known issue with a batch of parts and was down to be replaced as a soft recall at the next service and I could ignore unless it persisted. Oh, and I did call BMW after a blow out at around 11pm and they arranged for me to be low-loaded all the way home, a distance of 120 miles, finally getting home at around 2:30am. Incidently, if I'd had to pay for this repair to the front motor it was over £1500, I've never had a bill that high on any petrol or diesel car I've owned.

TL;DR
Too many service visits are needed, and the experience varies each time, but the last one was ok.