Tesla Support chat option instead of phone

[Tdreamer]

It seems Tesla is quietly rolling out live chat as an additional method of interacting with customer support. I discovered this today when I found the need to seek assistance with a drivers door latch mechanism failure on my X. The national support number 877 798 3752 had a 40 minute hold time (typical these days it seems), but mentioned in the initial message was the ability to use chat as an alternative. The instructions for gaining access to it were unclear, but I found the following method worked for me:

On a desktop browser, go to the roadside assistance page Customer Support & Roadside Assistance. You will see in the bottom-right corner a circular chat icon that when clicked will initiate a Live Chat session with customer support. I should note that testing after the session suggests this functionality is not available on mobile devices - just desktop browsers.

When I initiated this, I was connected with a Tesla Customer Support representative within a minute. It was not a chatbot. After about 5 minutes of chatting, we quickly concluded a repair was required and she worked to setup a service call with Watertown, and also with the mobile service team (the car is not really usable as I need to crawl in from another door to gain entry to the car).

While I'm now at the mercy of service availability from Watertown or mobile service, I have the satisfaction that my issue is in the queue, and didn't have to wait for 40-60 minutes to initiate the request.

 

[DrDabbles]

This will be fantastic! So many questions should really only take a few seconds or chatting to get answers, and I'm one of those weirdos that prefers to chat instead of call.

 

[tga]

I just used it to schedule a ranger visit to replace a non-presenting door handle, a burned out puddle light in another handle, and the charge port (one of the LED's is failing). The rep confirmed that all 3 can be fixed by a ranger, and said he'd pass along the info to the mobile service dept, who will contact me in a few days.

 

[aronth5]

It seems Tesla is quietly rolling out live chat as an additional method of interacting with customer support. I discovered this today when I found the need to seek assistance with a drivers door latch mechanism failure on my X. The national support number 877 798 3752 had a 40 minute hold time (typical these days it seems), but mentioned in the initial message was the ability to use chat as an alternative. The instructions for gaining access to it were unclear, but I found the following method worked for me:

On a desktop browser, go to the roadside assistance page Customer Support & Roadside Assistance. You will see in the bottom-right corner a circular chat icon that when clicked will initiate a Live Chat session with customer support. .

I tried the link and did not see the circular chat icon in the bottom right hand corner. I'm going to assume it's user error (me) but if you could provide a screen shot that would be appreciated.

 

[PARNY]

I believe the chat option is only available when service is available which is not on Sunday's any longer except for roadside assistance.

 

[Tdreamer]

I tried the link and did not see the circular chat icon in the bottom right hand corner. I'm going to assume it's user error (me) but if you could provide a screen shot that would be appreciated.

Here is the icon you would see when it's showing, and the resulting dialog from screen captures earlier today when I found and used it. At the moment, when I browse to Customer Support & Roadside Assistance, I do see the chat icon briefly still in the lower right corner of the browser window and then it goes away. Earlier, it was up all the time on this page. I'm wondering if it's being hidden after display due to the service being unavailable (time/day of week chat service availability)?

 

[tga]

I believe the chat option is only available when service is available which is not on Sunday's any longer except for roadside assistance.

Worked for me @ 4:30EST today (Sunday)

 

[Tdreamer]

The chat appears to be based on the Saleforce service cloud "live agent" feature - you can see it in the browser code. I'm not an expert in this area, but I do think this may be time-of-day restricted and hidden when not available. Time will tell... if/when it's available, it seems likely to be a great option for owners to use.

 

[mayarthur]

Just tried the link! the chat icon is not showing as an icon on my screen, as it maybe too early in Las Vegas or California.

 

[Tdreamer]

It seems to be there now at most of the pages under Customer and Product Support | Tesla Support (but not the top-level support page itself). I think this pretty much confirms it's a feature that only shows up during covered hours.

 

[shadownddust]

I also had a similar experience, where I called in but since they mentioned the chat I decided to do both. While I waited to be connected to a rep (~20min), was chatting with someone on my computer and they actually came close, but had differing answers. I was trying to see why Nav on AP wasn't showing up for me (I had assumed it was because I didn't have the latest maps, and hadn't received the promised alert saying my maps had been updated after connecting to wifi), and both the chat and the phone rep that I was eventually connected to saw that it had downloaded just a few days before. The chat person was seeing on her end that the cameras needed to finish calibrating, but the phone rep wasn't seeing any errors to suggest that. At that point I told the chat rep that I had connected to the phone and would continue the convo with the phone rep, and they were happy to have had me try them out. Turns out the phone rep and I just forgot to check the AP settings to turn Nav on AP on, so it was a quick fix, but great chance to try chat. It was really quick to connect to and will be my go to for troubleshooting unless I'm driving.

 

[jsmay311]

This feature seems to be a s*** show (IMO).

First, as others have pointed out, there's usually no link on the support page to even get to a chat.

But, seemingly randomly, if I wait long enough on that page, I'll eventually either get "chat icon" (shown above in post #6) or a rectangular window asking if I would like to start a chat that shows up in the bottom-right corner.

So maybe 4-5 times now I've gotten to that point and tried to start a chat during normal business hours, and I filled in my name, email, and subject to chat about and hit "Start Chatting", and every single time I've gotten this in response:

And, of course, hitting the "Try Again" button just recycles the same "All agents are assisting other customers" window.

WTF.

Here's an idea, Tesla... maybe like every other online customer service chat tool that's ever existed, if all agents are currently busy, just put me in a queue. How bout that? (You insufferable morons.)

 

[r0xx0r]

Here's an idea, Tesla... maybe like every other online customer service chat tool that's ever existed, if all agents are currently busy, just put me in a queue. How bout that? (You insufferable morons.)

That message means the queue is already full. Just hit try again until you get in queue

 

[jsmay311]

That message means the queue is already full. Just hit try again until you get in queue

 

[jsmay311]

Woohoo! After many "Try Again" clicks, I finally got through!

Update: I was connected to a service rep about 20-30 minutes later, and they were very helpful in addressing my issue. It's just too bad that getting to that point was such a confusing and frustrating process.