iqless
Member
nothing says amazing customer service like having to honk your car's horn just to get someone to respond to you.
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Tesla (the company) killing itself slowly?
- Thread starter ev-now
- Start date
nothing says amazing customer service like having to honk your car's horn just to get someone to respond to you.
That's funny. Honked it once for fun. They've left it plugged into a supercharger, which is annoying.
Anyway, let's talk on Monday. I got stuff way more interesting than a phone number to talk about.
I can call my wife's Toyota dealership and talk to a human. I can call my daughter's Subaru dealership and talk to a human. I can call my 1998 Chevy Pickup truck dealership and talk to a human. If I call Tesla, I am better off just saying "Ok Google", because at least she talks to me.
PWlakewood
Active Member
PWlakewood
Active Member
Patience is a great virtue, too. If you're willing to spend, bridging the gap with an M3 is totally reasonable. I am not willing to spend.
Question: What charging network would you use as the owner of any other manufacturers EV? I have only taken two short trips in my 17' MS, but the Superchargers made it fairly hassle free. Where do you charge an Audi or a Jag with a quickness?
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
Audi and Jag don’t give a fluff about this. They’re selling cars to high consumption rich folk that have other cars to take on road trips.
Wol747
Active Member
Oh dear!
The "profit" comes AFTER expenditure on capital, materials, staffing and all the other outgoings - not before.
You mentioned that you have been involved with two startups: just how long have they been "startups"? Because Tesla is now well over a decade old and I consider that is out of the "startup" bracket.
I am well aware that probably the majority of owners have had no more than trivial issues but here, as in most arenas, the squeaky wheel gets, if not noticed by the company at least by the outside world. Expenditure in aftercare - especially for something costing as much as a small house in many places - is investment, not a waste. Eliminating important issues people have such as not being able to talk to a knowledgeable staffer, lack of spares etc is the WAY to profit and I am sure we all want to see that outcome.
The charging network is slowly coming and will be decent by 2021, I am sure. And if it isn't, oh well, there are plenty of ICE cars to choose from. Instant torque can only keep me in this masochistic relationship for so long.
Wol747
Active Member
Your other comments I would endorse, but one of the reasons I have ordered a MS is the philosophy Tesla seems to have of designing a car that will not age badly in the design sense and work on continual and gradual improvements to that model.
It is a departure from the "change the look every six months" business case of most manufacturing today (not just the auto industry) and IMO it's very welcome. Capitalism has to adapt and get away from the constant throw-it-away philosophy or it's going to go under in the medium to long term, and the more astute industrial leaders know it even if they haven't found an answer yet.
I was the first overseas buyer of a Saturn - not a car in the same class but anyway - and when I sold it after ten years it still looked like an up-to-date design. That's the way to progress - despite Saturn's unfortunate demise a few years later.
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PWlakewood
Active Member
One company has been around going on 8 years and the other one has been around 15 years. The 8 year one is still a startup for all intents and purposes but the 15 year one is out of that range. As far as a startup is concerned I've heard that a startup can still be considered a startup up to 10 years but it really depends on how the business is being run.
And the idea of what the so called profit should be used for was not my idea. I just simply asked for solutions to solve the service center issues and the only solution was the one mentioned.
So far no one has come up with a viable solution.........
Maybe we're all looking at this the wrong way. How are we so sure that Elon really wants Tesla to succeed? He's stated in the past that Tesla's true purpose is to jump start the EV revolution, and judging by recent developments, it seems like he's already succeeded. Perhaps he's ready to move on to the next task now?
As with analyzing many other things, you follow the money. For Tesla, they've been investing an enormous amount of their revenue in self-drving tech. Could that be Elon's next task? Investing even a fraction of that in services could make a world of difference, but he's not doing that. Maybe he's ready to give up the old boring manufacturing business and is ready to plunge head first into the self-drving OEM business? That could potentially be many times more profitable than the relatively low margin auto manufacturing business, and he could be one step closer to his ultimate goal of colonizing Mars.
As with analyzing many other things, you follow the money. For Tesla, they've been investing an enormous amount of their revenue in self-drving tech. Could that be Elon's next task? Investing even a fraction of that in services could make a world of difference, but he's not doing that. Maybe he's ready to give up the old boring manufacturing business and is ready to plunge head first into the self-drving OEM business? That could potentially be many times more profitable than the relatively low margin auto manufacturing business, and he could be one step closer to his ultimate goal of colonizing Mars.
AMPd
Well-Known Member
Here’s a start
Open more service centers and hire more staff to work on the cars. Hire receptionists to answer the phone.
Hire a few more quality control employees, reducing issues at the factory before delivery will reduce the load on the service centers.
Put the semi project on hold, too much money needed in order to sell a minuscule amount of trucks. The truck won’t be a high margin product, but it will require a huge capital investment in a product that may or may not be viable at this time.
Delaying the project until the company is more stable will be a good option at this time.
Maybe hire some people that can actually design a car that will last as well, so they won’t have as many things to throw lawyers at in the future. I know that is kind of unheard of from an American car company but if Tesla wants to be breaking outside the norm that is an area they could do that. The legal bills for trying to sweep systematic problems under the rug is most likely huge at this point since they seem to be racking up fast.
Judging from how they have stolen both the P model and a huge chunk of battery from old cars with OTA updates I am not sure any of us are safe in the future.
Since I am honest with people I meet that wants to know about the Tesla experience I have to tell them about all I know which currently is that Tesla is using lawyers to not have to honor warranty and limiting batteries of cars already purchased.
Just for fun, we have 2 Teslas. 2015 and 2019.
My service experiences have beaten any prior car that I have ever owned. They are few and far between but they have been beyond Lexus level (in most ways).
#1 - had loose armrest from a few weeks after delivery. Took car in, got loaner, they swapped out car at my work later that day (15 min from SC)
#2 - 12V battery went out at 55k miles. Mobile did it at place of work. I never saw tech.
#3 - Airbag recall. Got text to schedule. I had a conflict when the day came. It got switched to another day (next day). Done by mobile tech at work parking lot. Texted me when done.
My 2015 hasn't been to SC in well over a year (maybe 2). It was there for a 49.5k service before warranty went out. It has 75k miles.
2019 has 5k miles, 4 months old. Never seen SC. Was delivered to our house and transaction done in 15 min on dining room table.
Care to hear about my BMW experience which was so bad I did a swaplease after 2 years and vowed never again....
My service experiences have beaten any prior car that I have ever owned. They are few and far between but they have been beyond Lexus level (in most ways).
#1 - had loose armrest from a few weeks after delivery. Took car in, got loaner, they swapped out car at my work later that day (15 min from SC)
#2 - 12V battery went out at 55k miles. Mobile did it at place of work. I never saw tech.
#3 - Airbag recall. Got text to schedule. I had a conflict when the day came. It got switched to another day (next day). Done by mobile tech at work parking lot. Texted me when done.
My 2015 hasn't been to SC in well over a year (maybe 2). It was there for a 49.5k service before warranty went out. It has 75k miles.
2019 has 5k miles, 4 months old. Never seen SC. Was delivered to our house and transaction done in 15 min on dining room table.
Care to hear about my BMW experience which was so bad I did a swaplease after 2 years and vowed never again....
Not really. I think BMW has their own forum on the internet, though.
Or is your point that you see the seriousness of bad experiences on brand loyalty and perception? I haven't had any coffee yet.
I would like to add that parts available will also contribute to their downfall. I'm on my second Tesla S since 2013. I had the misfortune of hitting a dog a week after picking up the 2nd Tesla. Took months to get repaired because of waiting for parts. Last November I hit a deer and I just got the last part in and replaced this week. That's 8 months. The last part was a headlight that the problem wasn't detercted initially. It was ordered and took a month to receive. It was damaged in shipment so another was ordered. That also took a month to receive. A month to get a headlight is ridiculous. We can order almost anything but Tesla parts from Amazon and get them in 2 days or less.
No, after owning a bunch of new audi’s, BMWs and Mercs (+8) during the last years and only had 1 sensor problem in the 4 series, you will never, ever catch me saying that these are junk whilst I did order a M3.
If mine is delivered i’ll Give you my experience but I guess you won’t be interested.
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