Tesla service has so far been quite outstanding experience for me. The one caveat is the phone system. You can't call any service centre directly (unless they give you their personal cell number which some have). instead calling the service centre number takes you to a call centre. The issue is that it is never less than > 20 minute hold time, more often than not it can be 40 minutes on hold! Once you get through the staff there are not really able to do very much and will almost never connect you directly to the person you actually need to talk to. It's been 3 days now I have been playing phone tag and the call centre will not connect me directly so I never get the answers I need. Very frustrating. Elon needs to spend a little more money at least on call centre staff so the hold time is not so painful.
tesla service phone hold wait time!!!
- Thread starter angelman
- Start date
Nocturnal
Supporting Member
IMO, they delayed expanding staff during the Q3 push for profits and deliveries. Now that we are past that I expect them to start addressing these types of issues. Especially due to sheer volume of 3s now on the road.
They are currently worse than AT&T. Hopefully they get it addressed ASAP. Could probably hire a few folks from the forum here that know more about Tesla cars than some of the current phone folks.
MorrisonHiker
S 100D 2021.4.12
I called last week and waited over an hour. They said I would get a call back within 48 hours but the return call never came. I called again on Monday and was on hold about 30 minutes. They said they would have someone call me back later in the day but the call never came. On both calls, there's an option to avoid staying on hold and to have them call you back automatically. I chose that option both times but both times it just continued to play hold music.
Singular disappointment and reservation I have about Tesla and recommending the car to others is the weak/overwhelmed customer service. 
I
I called the Kansas City Service last week and only had to "Push # for service" Someone picked up right away and five minutes later they shipped the part I needed 200 miles and I had it the next day. My experience ordering an easy common part was much better then expected.
I called the Kansas City Service last week and only had to "Push # for service" Someone picked up right away and five minutes later they shipped the part I needed 200 miles and I had it the next day. My experience ordering an easy common part was much better then expected.
Xtek
Member
Reading /r/teslamotors over on reddit a lot of people call when they want software updates. I imagine this doesn't help the situation.
MacGreiner
5YJ
It used to be great. Not that I call often, but when autopilot went out randomly last week I called - the wait time was 40 minutes. Glad it wasn't an emergency.
People asking for software updates - seriously? A pox on them
People asking for software updates - seriously? A pox on them
are you saying you had a phone number direct to the service centre, not a call centre?
boaterva
Supporting Member
I thought one of the options on the main phone tree was to ‘find your SC’ by geolocation (not sure if it’s yours by ‘you’ or where you’re calling from).
I’ve also called Tyson’s SC directly and the option for service for there does go to people there as I talk to the service manager directly.
But the national number is buried as people (1) have Model 3 questions and (2) want either v9 or 42.x and yeah are calling for it to be pushed.
Elon should have done what he said and given us the button to auto-push firmware.
I’ve also called Tyson’s SC directly and the option for service for there does go to people there as I talk to the service manager directly.
But the national number is buried as people (1) have Model 3 questions and (2) want either v9 or 42.x and yeah are calling for it to be pushed.
Elon should have done what he said and given us the button to auto-push firmware.
I’ve dealt with this frustration a few times (once when my car was throwing errors after hours but it wasn’t a tow issue) and found the e-mail system just as bad. The one thing I discovered the other day, however, was that, at least that one time, I could speak to a local SC rep by selecting the option to find out about a car currently in service.
I didn’t want to take advantage and apologized if I was wasting her time but she was able to answer my pre-service appointment questions and encouraged me to call back with the same method right before my appointment so I could verify if they’d actually been able to get the parts by then.
Again, as much as I think Tesla communication is a major fail point, I wouldn’t bypass the hold queue like that under normal circumstances but, as was mentioned, I knew the call center wouldn’t know the answer. They definitely need to include an option to reach the local reps directly or leave a message if questions are local in nature.
I didn’t want to take advantage and apologized if I was wasting her time but she was able to answer my pre-service appointment questions and encouraged me to call back with the same method right before my appointment so I could verify if they’d actually been able to get the parts by then.
Again, as much as I think Tesla communication is a major fail point, I wouldn’t bypass the hold queue like that under normal circumstances but, as was mentioned, I knew the call center wouldn’t know the answer. They definitely need to include an option to reach the local reps directly or leave a message if questions are local in nature.
If you choose the phone option to get a status update on your car currently in service, it transfers you to a person in the service center.
I have been having an issue with my order that I cannot get resolved no matter what representative helps me. They always say they will call or email to follow up and they NEVER do in the three weeks I’ve been calling. It’s sloppy and unprofessional, don’t even tell customers you will do that if you simply don’t have the manpower or time.
Az_Rael
Supporting Member
Agreed it is terrible. It doesn't help that they consolidated the phone tree for Tesla Energy with Tesla Motors either. So it is all being run out of the same main number. I regularly saw 1 hour wait times when trying to get service on my solar install. And never any follow ups ever (car side or solar side). If they tell me they will call me back, I just put a note down to call them again later.
I dont even bother calling the central phone number for my car anymore. I just book a service appointment online if I have a problem with the car. I usually know enough from posts here to sort out what is a software bug (and not worth doing anything about) and what might be an actual hardware problem so I am not overburdening the service centers. And I usually wait until I have 3 or 4 problems before coming in.
My backup plan for roadside assistance being a long hold time is having the premiere membership with AAA. If my car is broken down and I get a 40 minute hold time on Tesla's side, I am just going to hang up and call AAA to tow the car into the service center. I probably would go straight to AAA for a flat.
I dont even bother calling the central phone number for my car anymore. I just book a service appointment online if I have a problem with the car. I usually know enough from posts here to sort out what is a software bug (and not worth doing anything about) and what might be an actual hardware problem so I am not overburdening the service centers. And I usually wait until I have 3 or 4 problems before coming in.
My backup plan for roadside assistance being a long hold time is having the premiere membership with AAA. If my car is broken down and I get a 40 minute hold time on Tesla's side, I am just going to hang up and call AAA to tow the car into the service center. I probably would go straight to AAA for a flat.
It is a general number that I believe is for the local area. It says something like "Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Service, 3 for Energy...." Even when I was buying my car I called it for scheduling a time and had to just press 1 and I was instantly talking to someone. It might be that we are just in a smaller market and they quickly handle issues on a local level.
I called Tesla service this morning. It was a 30 minute wait.
Reason why I called was to get a squeaking sound from my cell phone dock fixed. The rep on the phone (I’m in Michigan) wanted to ship my car from Grand Rapids to Cleveland to fix. I explained to him how terribly inefficient that is and requested a ranger to come out. Finally he agreed to turn it over to “that department” and they will contact me in a couple of days.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why the wait times are so long. They have technical support people staffing the phones who know nothing about cars. If I had been put through directly to the service center this would’ve be a 60 second conversation asking when the ranger can come out.
Reason why I called was to get a squeaking sound from my cell phone dock fixed. The rep on the phone (I’m in Michigan) wanted to ship my car from Grand Rapids to Cleveland to fix. I explained to him how terribly inefficient that is and requested a ranger to come out. Finally he agreed to turn it over to “that department” and they will contact me in a couple of days.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why the wait times are so long. They have technical support people staffing the phones who know nothing about cars. If I had been put through directly to the service center this would’ve be a 60 second conversation asking when the ranger can come out.
I was just frustrated they refused to put me through to the service guy that had been calling me. My last attempt it was a 40 minute wait so I just hopped in the car, got there 10 minutes after service dept closed.. DOH!
