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Tesla should stop wasting $100s on Uber credits and offer customers the choice to wait
- Thread starter PhilDavid
- Start date
whitex
Well-Known Member
That article was mid August, we're end of November now, and there has been not a peep from Elon on this topic, nor any changes at service centers observed by customers. Elon decided to take on the roles of "President of sales and service" and then "VP of wordwide service and customer experience" by not replacing people leaving. I think he honestly is delusional enough to think he had do everything as people around him are jumping ship. In Elon reality all customers are driving around in P100D's, that is how disconnected from reality he is. I bet whenever Elon shows up for service, there is no wait and there is always a P100D loaner waiting for him, so he assumes everyone gets the same level of service. I wonder what would happen if they gave Elon $100 Uber credit instead, or stuck him in a Dodge Minivan rental for a few days.
Exactly.
Redundancy adds cost.
It also improves customer service, but Tesla couldn't afford to do that. Not sure how hard they're trying.
DCEV
Member
I'm not sure if they can "afford" to provide awful service to their customers either.
I just had an absolutely miserable service experience.
I'll post the details shortly but it looks like there is complete apathy with how customers are treated for service requests.
whitex
Well-Known Member
SC workers have been beat down by angry customers, because can only provide service which Tesla allows them to provide, and have to tell customers BS lines that Tesla corporate comes up with (like how yellowing screen in a one year old car is not covered under warranty, or how there are no loaners, enterprise has ran out of even ICE car rentals, they need the car for up to 3 days and can only offer $100 Uber credit which won't even cover the customer's trip home), which makes the customers angry and since they don't got Elon there in front of them, they take it out of the SC staff. Apathy is the only way for SC workers to deal with this situation.
DCEV
Member
I had a service appointment on a certain date and time. They took my car in and it is now DAY FIVE and I'm still without my car and no word on when the car will be ready. The app actually says the car will be ready 3 days ago!
They are now out $500 on Uber credits. For what? I could have driven my own car for 5 days until they are ready to take my car and saved me a bunch of hassle and aggravation. What a horrible waste of time and money to provide such bad service.They are stockpiling cars for service appointments when they can't get to cars for 5 days, waste their money on Uber credits, and the owners are without their cars.
And of course they do not reply to text messages asking for an update. They do not answer the phone.
It's sad to see a company I love so much treat customers so poorly. It's like they've totally stopped caring.
I'm waiting for this miserable service experience to wrap up so I can post all the details with some ideas on how to avoid this.
The poor management of service is actually wasting their money on Uber credits and they don't seem to care
geoffmanley
Member
When they used to give loaners I loved it when they took their time with my car. I'd rather put miles on their cars. The Uber credits are not as convenient, but I understand why they are doing it. They are trying to save money and be profitable, and they only reimburse Uber for the actual credits used which in my case is a far cry from the $100/day allotment. It's still as good or better service than other manufacturers/dealers, but we are just used to the VIP treatment and when that goes away we aren't happy. I'm still a happy Tesla owner and have a great vehicle sitting in my garage that I love driving everyday.
whitex
Well-Known Member
It's not SC money they are wasting, it's Tesla money they are ordered to waste. They only work there, they have no choice, orders come down from corporate - app books appointments, stick car in parking lot, techs work in 2 or 3 shifts a days (our car got fixed after midnight last time - at least that is when the app showed the car moved to a garage and they put it in service mode, then after 1am it was done). They don't answer phones because they can only tell you the same story - "sorry, there is nothing we can do for you, this is the process we have to follow". Why get yelled at by people who (rightfully so) are angry about the process, if you have no power over the process?I had a service appointment on a certain date and time. They took my car in and it is now DAY FIVE and I'm still without my car and no word on when the car will be ready. The app actually says the car will be ready 3 days ago!
They are now out $500 on Uber credits. For what? I could have driven my own car for 5 days until they are ready to take my car and saved me a bunch of hassle and aggravation. What a horrible waste of time and money to provide such bad service.They are stockpiling cars for service appointments when they can't get to cars for 5 days, waste their money on Uber credits, and the owners are without their cars.
And of course they do not reply to text messages asking for an update. They do not answer the phone.
It's sad to see a company I love so much treat customers so poorly. It's like they've totally stopped caring.
I'm waiting for this miserable service experience to wrap up so I can post all the details with some ideas on how to avoid this.
The poor management of service is actually wasting their money on Uber credits and they don't seem to care
Last edited:
Tesomega
Member
@geoffmanley - I can understand a maximum one day of backlog, however my experience is that they don't even touch the car for 3 days out of a 4 day window. Also, their text says 1-3 days for anything, can we request storage fees from tesla for storing our vehicles rather than working on them? (may be get some benefit for every day they waste our precious money)? May be I can consider a Uber Credit with Storage fees paid back to me for storing my car and not working....
I today had to wait for 5 hrs to get a loaner (did not get one), i just asked the SC advisor to remove the car from the service queue and return back to me..
I today had to wait for 5 hrs to get a loaner (did not get one), i just asked the SC advisor to remove the car from the service queue and return back to me..
Wow, you guys must be in extremely crowded cities to have such busy SCs. I am not discounting what everyone is reporting, just makes me grateful that my wait for loaners have never taken longer than 15 minutes, from the moment I request one to the time I drive off in it.
I wouldn't mind Uber credits. As long as I get to where I need to be, Tesla can use any approach (loaner, shuttle, Uber, etc.).
I wouldn't mind Uber credits. As long as I get to where I need to be, Tesla can use any approach (loaner, shuttle, Uber, etc.).
Tesomega
Member
- I would support this as well..However, I want Tesla to work on vehicles the day they receive it and not 3 days later...
That would be frustrating for sure. So far, the three times I've been to the SC, they've always provided an update same day. Today they gave me a loaner and by the time I was back at work they already contacted me to say my car was ready. It was maybe an hour and 15 minutes and would have been better if I just waited instead of taking a loaner but oh well. Sorry to hear about everyone else's opposite experiences.
DCEV
Member
I agree with you completely.
It took them FIVE DAYS from when I dropped off my car before they started working on my car.
During this time there was essentially radio silence for any text message request for an update with no timely responses.
The App stated a date that the car would be a ready a couple of days in the PAST so the app was useless and the text messages were useless.
This horrible service cost them about $500 in Uber credits. Could have been completely avoided by scheduling me when they could get to my car or at least have the courtesy to offer me the option to bring my car in 5 days from my appointment when they can actually work on my car.
While they are saving money by not hiring a person to answer the phone and help customers, they waste several fold what a person would have cost for a miserably broken app and text message system that wastes $100 per day for dozens of cars they have no ability of servicing for 5 days. They are essentially paying Uber hundreds so they can offer a horrible service experience for customers as opposed to keeping customers informed with reasonable communication and not needlessly hording cars they can't work on for 5 days.
If their backlog is one day I can understand it. What is the point in having scheduled appointments with times if they have no intention/ability to honor that service time?
The best solution I see to this is to offer service visits where customers wait for the car. Saves them a ton of money on Uber credits, offers customers a better experience so they can come in the morning, work on their laptops in the customer lounge, and then drive back home at the end of the day. How hard is this to do? They can still offer the 5 day queue for people who prefer that option.
Seems like this depends on the Service Center and who manages the Service Center.
Some service centers are run well and others provide the level of responsiveness you can expect at the DMV but even a DMV has a phone number where they will answer the phone eventually and a human will try to help you...
whitex
Well-Known Member
The problem is sometimes Uber is the only choice left and it does't get people where they need to be (especially with the $100 daily limit).
I have been impressed with how the CA DMV has improved with online appointments and triage of walk-in matters. It really is a faster experience than years ago.
I used to ask for each SC person's extension because nobody ever picked up the main phone. That appears to have changed though at the Rocklin, CA SC. I don't know if it has anything to do with Tesla transitioning from commission-based pay to higher and better salaries, especially since SC employees probably were not on commission before, but the SC reps now tell me to call the main extension and when I tried it later that day someone actually picked up the phone! Perhaps they finally plugged that phone line back in instead of defaulting to voicemail.
Tesomega
Member
In Dublin, SC they have only 20 loaners for the whole SC for any given week. And that is way too few of the SC of this size and the backlog they create for themselves.
These all stem from the fact that people were not able to get service appointments early enough. Now, nobody can get their car back in a reasonable time making the Loaners a mandatory need for people who actually have more than a few destinations in a given day and people who are far away from the SC.
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