Would like to chime in too about my experience with service (which has been great, compared to 40 years of ICE cars which I could tell you some stories!!! ) my first annual service was this August and the team at Tyson’s was so professional and respectful even when deluged with what looked like a 40 cars indound and two carriers full of 3s arriving. You can tell they were inundated but the got me in and out with a loaner in no time and in my way. The start of that service was through the ap sitting at home and the email updates were better than I ever got from anywhere else except my local non dealership shop I take all my other cars. Today I used the mobile service for the first time and I can tell you they were spectacular! The mobile service can do almost everything an SC can do except pull a battery or swap a motor. Before the service he pushed me the latest version the night before, then IN THE RAIN, he reloaded the maps in my car , taking his jacket off before he got in the car not to get the inside wet , then he did a service check, topped off my tire air, put more windshield washer fluid all in the rain , it didn’t need anything else and he was in his way. I got the appointment simply by emailing my SC reps and they checked the car remotely before they scheduled the mobile service. Try email for for the simple or diagnostic fix kind of things and use the phone for more near term emergencies, and the service center truck should be there soon or a flat bed to tow you to an SC . Admittedly I live in an area with what have heard is one of the bestSCs in the country outside of CA and they will be growing to meet the 3 onslaught but their model works for me!!
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Tesla service is rapidly becoming one of the worst!!
- Thread starter Toppatop55
- Start date
In context I have owned >50 cars in eleven different countries on five continents. I have dealt with dealerships in all those countries and manufacturer directly in only Thailand (Honda and NSU, decades ago) and the US (Tesla). The manufacturer direct was much better (and that NSU Ro80 visited for warranty service every other week or so). With Tesla my four years have had consistently wonderful support, with nothing to complain about, until Model 3 arrived.
My Model 3 experience has been abysmal, reminiscent of BMW in US and Yemen and of a couple true exotics (Jensen-Healey in Bahrain, for example). My delivery experience was poor, even though employees tried to make the system work and were obviously stressed that they could not. When, less than two weeks after delivery, on Sept 15, my Model 3 was damaged by a deranged motorist in New Brunswick Tesla tried by nobody had a clue what to do. They tried to be helpful. When parts were found eventually one major part was mislabeled so they sent a Right side piece rather than the correct left side piece. Now, November 11 the correct piece has not yet arrived. Tesla Body Shop Support no longer answers my emails, nor does executives escalation respond.
I have been a Tesla fanboy since 2013, when I first bought TSLA and have continued to the point that TSLA is now my second-largest individual holding. I still hold a reservation for another Model 3.
Still, recent treatment has caused my SO to be dismayed to the extent that she just tried a Jaguar I-Pace and is thinking about taking one to replace her BMW rather than the Tesla she wanted. Bluntly, it is growing increasingly difficult to justify when our Model 3 has been out of service for nearly two months because Tesla is unable to deliver common collision replacement parts. Even that might be endurable if they would simply update me by text or email, but they will not. They did give me a given name of somebody who was supposed to take charge of my case, but offered no way to reach him other than the 800 number, which is often busy.
I regularly hear about people whose problems are more serious than are mine, with Norway having serious endemic issues, for example. Most of excuse these issues, including me, but I don't know how long Tesla's reputation can endure these problems. I'm even considering selling my shares in fear that Tesla cannot thrive with such disarray, but keep hoping... meanwhile they completely ignore my suggestions, some of which come from a decade managing auto distribution system issues as a consultant.
Until now I have resisted posting much negative sentiments.
My Model 3 experience has been abysmal, reminiscent of BMW in US and Yemen and of a couple true exotics (Jensen-Healey in Bahrain, for example). My delivery experience was poor, even though employees tried to make the system work and were obviously stressed that they could not. When, less than two weeks after delivery, on Sept 15, my Model 3 was damaged by a deranged motorist in New Brunswick Tesla tried by nobody had a clue what to do. They tried to be helpful. When parts were found eventually one major part was mislabeled so they sent a Right side piece rather than the correct left side piece. Now, November 11 the correct piece has not yet arrived. Tesla Body Shop Support no longer answers my emails, nor does executives escalation respond.
I have been a Tesla fanboy since 2013, when I first bought TSLA and have continued to the point that TSLA is now my second-largest individual holding. I still hold a reservation for another Model 3.
Still, recent treatment has caused my SO to be dismayed to the extent that she just tried a Jaguar I-Pace and is thinking about taking one to replace her BMW rather than the Tesla she wanted. Bluntly, it is growing increasingly difficult to justify when our Model 3 has been out of service for nearly two months because Tesla is unable to deliver common collision replacement parts. Even that might be endurable if they would simply update me by text or email, but they will not. They did give me a given name of somebody who was supposed to take charge of my case, but offered no way to reach him other than the 800 number, which is often busy.
I regularly hear about people whose problems are more serious than are mine, with Norway having serious endemic issues, for example. Most of excuse these issues, including me, but I don't know how long Tesla's reputation can endure these problems. I'm even considering selling my shares in fear that Tesla cannot thrive with such disarray, but keep hoping... meanwhile they completely ignore my suggestions, some of which come from a decade managing auto distribution system issues as a consultant.
Until now I have resisted posting much negative sentiments.
Wow! That’s a lot of cars!
Sorry to hear about your Model 3 experience.
Will be interesting to see how well Jaguar supplies parts for their cars since their production rate will be so low per year. Especially for something that will amount to be a compliance car.
I question how valid it is to think that problems with one car, automatically means you will have problems with another. There are probably horror stories for practically every vehicle brand out there.
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Problem is with the communication lines. I sent messages two times, both unanswered and unresolved. It does not instill confidence that you do not get an automated email "we got your question / concern, will get back to you" - like most other online inquiries get. As far as I can tell, there is no way to track your message - unless if you are paranoid and take screen shots at the time of submission.
So then I tried to call - on hold 30-60 minutes to speak with a representative..... When finally connected, no help (the famed "we will get back to you").
Then November 7 I received an email noticing my "lease is coming up to an end soon" and I should contact the local Tesla store to "seamlessly transition to the next vehicle of choice". Very nice thoughts, except my P85D lease was closed December last year....
I think they are severely understaffed, undertrained, and overwhelmed. The production hell was followed by delivery hell, and now we are in full communication / service hell. This needs to change rapidly, or people will start balancing the appeal to drive what are really excellent cars with the headaches of communication / service. The only thing that keeps them going for now is the great cars they produce.
I share the same concerns with jbcarioca on holding TSLA (even in my very modest portfolio); I also am holding on for now. But Tesla really needs to up their game if they want to play in the big boys club. I surely hope they do - they are now at volumes larger than Porsche and Jaguar.
So then I tried to call - on hold 30-60 minutes to speak with a representative..... When finally connected, no help (the famed "we will get back to you").
Then November 7 I received an email noticing my "lease is coming up to an end soon" and I should contact the local Tesla store to "seamlessly transition to the next vehicle of choice". Very nice thoughts, except my P85D lease was closed December last year....
I think they are severely understaffed, undertrained, and overwhelmed. The production hell was followed by delivery hell, and now we are in full communication / service hell. This needs to change rapidly, or people will start balancing the appeal to drive what are really excellent cars with the headaches of communication / service. The only thing that keeps them going for now is the great cars they produce.
I share the same concerns with jbcarioca on holding TSLA (even in my very modest portfolio); I also am holding on for now. But Tesla really needs to up their game if they want to play in the big boys club. I surely hope they do - they are now at volumes larger than Porsche and Jaguar.
For certain there are horror stories for every brand. Overall, I have been amazed at how few of those I have had, especially when many of them have been in seriously challenging places.
Probably, I suspect that a huge part of these problems is a lack of what was known as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) a few decades back. Tesla uses Salesforce applications widely, but they really are not well integrated. Thus, no single person can track a part from identified need to place and vehicle that need it, nor can they track any other issue from a given customer across channels. It appears that emails, voice mails, order entry, delivery status etc are not observable in one place. There are many practical choices, but one glaring choice seems invisible to Tesla. Larry Ellison of Oracle famously says TSLA is his largest holding after ORCL. Tesla could simply enlist his help. From a long-ago time when I used to help to select and install such systems I am quite certain that this problem is not technically difficult, and dealing with it could make the environment quite adaptable to resolve problems in customer service areas from vehicle ordering, delivering, servicing to repair. Simultaneously they could anticipate and eliminate what will otherwise become similar problems for Model Y, new Roadster, semi and other future vehicles. The biggest benefit, though, would be to anticipate and eliminate such bottlenecks for Tesla roof, all the storage products, and perhaps the major prize, all those large commercial and utility storage and generation projects.
High quality CRM will not solve all the problems but it makes solving such problems manageable and trackable.
After all, Tesla has tracked individual cells in a similar way since 2012!
Musk decided a few years back that he wanted to build these systems in-house. Apparently without the time and attention needed.
Paypal was a mess internally for awhile. I don't know Musk's role at paypal. But clearly "Alien Dreadnaught" is a lot more interesting than managing the development of a system that, say, tracks spare parts inventory.
Sorry to hear of your issue. Agree with you about CRM (though not a fan of Oracle). They could make huge improvements with a modicum of work. I keep hoping these kinds of changes are around the corner. You've probably already thought about all sorts of what I endearingly call guerilla warfare like alternative communication paths. That is what I usually resort to when in similar situations. Thankfully have only had your previous experiences with Tesla. Good luck.
Vinc
Member
I have been a Solar City customer for many years. With them, unless somebody could fix your problem right on the spot, their internal communication was nonexistent. You might as well open your window and just yell out your issue using that channel.
When Tesla took over I hoped that this would change. Unfortunately it seems to be the other way around. I don’t want to hijack this thread, but I am going through some hilarious shenanigans with Tesla Service right now that are straight out of Solar City’s playbook.
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FWIW, I am definitely not an Oracle fan anymore. Still, the shareholding connection is probably worth more than absolute technical superiority. OTOH, Salesforce has been made to do all of these functions quite easily, and alrge corporate solutions go, and Tesla already has several semi-connected such applications.
I use the Dublin SC also and also get the Madison Research caller ID. The first couple times I let it go to voicemail. Now I know it is Tesla so I pick up.
Yep. I used it last week. You select a slot and fill in the list of issues you have. Then someone will pull the logs from your car, review them for the items you list, and call you back to discuss service appointment. If not for one item, they were going to send a Ranger to my house. But the one item, shudder on acceleration, requires I take a tech for a test ride. As a certified mechanic that sounds reasonable to me.
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lencap
Member
My M3LR will be delivered tomorrow - looking forward to it. I've been "hanging around" the local Tesla Sales Office and Service lots for a week or so, trying to ensure that my car arrives on time and free of problems. I've also spoken with many owners - Model 3, X & S - and various Tesla staff, both sales and service, as well as my "inside delivery" contact in Las Vegas.
From what I can tell, anecdotal comments - not first hand experience, one of the main problems with communication is that the service team, delivery team and sales teams have different computer systems. They can't talk to each other! So my local service center (where the cars are delivered to new owners) tells me that my M3 will arrive 5 days later than I was told. My Tesla account shows a different date. I go to the Tesla Sales office to get clarity, and to vent, and find out that the local delivery manager has a different system that tracks the cars more precisely. He tells me a date that's different from both the Tesla account page and the Service Center. Turns out he's correct, and a very helpful and capable manager - I'd hire him in a minute. He's trying to fix the problems, and he is making progress, but it takes time.
I then learn that the problem is being magnified by the success of the M3 - lots of deliveries and lots of orders. For Tesla to get the car built they have a system designed to get the car into the system - critical to keeping the company financially sound. Unfortunately the coordination efforts among the teams hasn't yet been upgraded, leading to duplicate service appointments being made, parts "floating" and other issues.
I've also been told that this is still "in flux", but becoming something that must/will be addressed. It's only a matter of time. The focus remains on delivering cars to buyers - that rings the cash register and keeps everything on track. When/until Elon and others realize that the systems must be able to communicate across the entire platform things will likely remain "challenging".
We can all hope, but the reality is that capital is stretched, and it's likely that addressing these needs will require specialized talent and a financial commitment. It will get done, but it's likely to be frustrating as growing pains continue.
From what I can tell, anecdotal comments - not first hand experience, one of the main problems with communication is that the service team, delivery team and sales teams have different computer systems. They can't talk to each other! So my local service center (where the cars are delivered to new owners) tells me that my M3 will arrive 5 days later than I was told. My Tesla account shows a different date. I go to the Tesla Sales office to get clarity, and to vent, and find out that the local delivery manager has a different system that tracks the cars more precisely. He tells me a date that's different from both the Tesla account page and the Service Center. Turns out he's correct, and a very helpful and capable manager - I'd hire him in a minute. He's trying to fix the problems, and he is making progress, but it takes time.
I then learn that the problem is being magnified by the success of the M3 - lots of deliveries and lots of orders. For Tesla to get the car built they have a system designed to get the car into the system - critical to keeping the company financially sound. Unfortunately the coordination efforts among the teams hasn't yet been upgraded, leading to duplicate service appointments being made, parts "floating" and other issues.
I've also been told that this is still "in flux", but becoming something that must/will be addressed. It's only a matter of time. The focus remains on delivering cars to buyers - that rings the cash register and keeps everything on track. When/until Elon and others realize that the systems must be able to communicate across the entire platform things will likely remain "challenging".
We can all hope, but the reality is that capital is stretched, and it's likely that addressing these needs will require specialized talent and a financial commitment. It will get done, but it's likely to be frustrating as growing pains continue.
LasVegas2019
Member
These are the posts that worry me about buying a Tesla. When I went to drive a M3 I noticed the Tesla store had about 15 cars all parked behind some cones missing parts or with damage. I asked the service guy about them and he said all of them are waiting for parts. So I asked what the average wait time for a bumper facia is on a M3 (seems like a common accident) and he said right now 8 weeks! That is a real buzz kill!
Vinc
Member
Unfortunately it is growing pains. One has to be aware of it before signing up to join the Tesla club. I have been waiting for a new headliner for 6 months, and counting. But, in Tesla's defense, if something really bad happens, they do go the extra mile. When my hatch got stuck open on a Friday evening, they gave me an emergency appointment the following morning and my MS was back on the road in less than 24 hours. Now, they scratched the bumper in the process, but that is a story for another day
oldgoat1968
Member
For the first two years that I owned my 2015 Model S, I was 6 hours from three different service centers. Just dropping by my local service center to deliver cookies was not an option. But when I called the 24-7 customer service line, I always got excellent service. Then, I moved to a big city with three service centers within 150 miles. I'd love to have a personal relationship with one of the service managers, but when I call the local number, I get the 24-7 connection. But then, the 45-90 min holds happen. When I finally do get to talk to a human, I've been hung up on three different times and I assure you, I approach them very politely and in a friendly manner. I am convinced that the upper management is just putting all their attention on production issues and have lost their focus on customer satisfaction. I am confident that it will get better with a little attention from senior management, but for the past couple of months, the service has been nothing short of dreadful.
2019 U.S. demand looks to be half of peak U.S. deliveries this year. So sanity should slowly return to service centers in the U.S.
Merrill
Merrill
Tesla definitely is putting all their efforts into selling the model 3, they eventually will have to focus on service. I could fix the problems since I was in dealership operations for my career, retired now and not interested. If they do not fix there service after sale issues they will not survive. I’m a Tesla Fan and not everyone who buys a model 3 will care about anything other than getting timely service. I have had no problems with my service center but have developed a relationship with them over time. Parts availability is another issue, you cannot make all your parts available for production and not supply the service center with an additional parts to repair cars already sold. Just keep in mind that this company is not 100 years old so growing pains are normal and something you learn from.
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