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Andyw2100
Well-Known Member
It's one thing to make money ethically, which is what Tesla most certainly had been doing until recently.
It's another thing entirely to entice people to purchase expensive cars with promises of service, and then when that service proves to be more costly than anticipated, or for some other reason, simply choose not to provide that service. That, in my opinion, is unethical.
It sounds like you are suggesting that "Ethics be damned", as long as there is money to be made. I doubt many here want to see Tesla take that approach to their business.
Personally, I came for the ethics. At least, I came for the ethics of their mission statement. Stayed for the performance and experience.
There is nothing wrong with that. The problem arises when they slam dealerships and tout superiority, and then act just like, or worse than the dealerships.
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
I think this should be tempered with the fact that Tesla is likely losing money offering free valet or $100 Ranger. I don't believe this is a money grab, but rather an attempt to have service break even.
How about talking to your local service manager so that they can pass the feedback up the chain?
EDIT: I suspect there are cases that are outrageous that are driving this behavior. Customers demanding Tesla drive 300+ miles just to rotate tires, or for a little squeak.
I'm sure a lot of customers are like me - Tesla or Chevy, I "save up" all the things and then have service deal with them all at once. I maximize the time spent - valet or not - doing all the coordination. But I'm sure there are some customers that abuse it.
EDIT: I suspect there are cases that are outrageous that are driving this behavior. Customers demanding Tesla drive 300+ miles just to rotate tires, or for a little squeak.
I'm sure a lot of customers are like me - Tesla or Chevy, I "save up" all the things and then have service deal with them all at once. I maximize the time spent - valet or not - doing all the coordination. But I'm sure there are some customers that abuse it.
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Andyw2100
Well-Known Member
That's fair. There is no question that Tesla loses money on free warranty service that requires a driver to pick up and deliver my car that is more than a four-hour drive one-way from the service center. But the money being lost on that should have been built into the cost of the car. I did factor in the value of that service when I made the decision to purchase the car, without any fear that Tesla would be taking that service away.
I have definitely done that, and I know my service manager has had discussions with higher ups about the issue. I still have not heard any official resolution on how they plan to handle my situation.
Perhaps there were people abusing the system, but I kind of doubt it. If anything, it may have been Tesla, at first, being overly generous. As an example, I had an issue early on, and also a wind-noise issue. After initially scheduling a ranger visit to deal with the issues, I was told there was now a TSB for the wind noise, but the parts were not yet available. Tesla was still going to have the ranger come to deal with the other issue, and I suggested that we wait for my Next Gen seats to be ready, and deal with everything at the same time.
Another issue is making sure that a customer who lives far away has everything dealt with perfectly the first time. When I had my LTE upgrade done at the same time my car was going in for its annual service the service center wound up keeping the car for basically two full weeks, because they also wound up having to swap out, at my expense, one of the main wiring harnesses due to water intrusion caused by a bad installation done by a lousy third-party installer. They also swapped out the rear applique, for moisture intrusion, under warranty, and that delayed things a day as they waited for a part. But after all that time, my car was returned to me with GPS not functioning at all. By the time I figured that out, the driver who had delivered my car back to me was long gone. So because that was missed when the car was at the service center for two weeks, it had to go back. Note that this wasn't an issue of something going wrong after the car was delivered back to me. The GPS indicated the car was at the service center, so it never functioned away from the service center.
That small mistake someone made--not making 100% certain that everything related to the LTE upgrade was functioning--inconvenienced me, but caused Tesla to have to use a driver and a truck for essentially two more full days. Cutting down on mistakes like that would go a long way towards keeping the costs down.
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I suspect there's some flexibility with warranty or delivery items... it doesn't seem to be a one-size-fits-all policy.
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
I do the same and my service center is local! In fact, my car goes in tomorrow and I turned down their valet and said I'll just bring it in and swap with a loaner.
Make that 3 of us.
My car was in last week, and I waited till I had a laundry list of items for them to fix/inspect. My service center is less than a mile from my job, but I don't want to waste my time or their time bringing it in for every little thing.
HankLloydRight
No Roads
Same here! I'll take my car in in Feb for the annual service. My motor has both the "clunking" at low speeds, and the buzzing sound at <20kW, but it still works just fine. It may or may not need a new motor, but it's not like I'm rushing into the SC and demanding a new drive unit, unless it just dies one day. I also have a short list of other minor issues. And I'm happy to drive it in and take a loaner.
I've told a dozen people not to buy a Tesla since the elimination of prepaid Ranger service. Nobody outside range of a Service Center should buy a Tesla.
Unless they open more service centers, or release their repair manual so that I can get a local shop to do the repairs,.... when my 8-year warranty is up, that's the last Tesla I'll own.
They badly badly need more Service Centers. Like, the year before last. They've been claiming that they'll build more Service Centers, but they simply have not done so.
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You know, I don't buy anything from either of those companies? Linux on the computer, Android on the phone and tablet.
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Bad attitude towards customers is a good way to kill a company, long-run or even short run.
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It basically gives Tesla the reputation of "shady car dealer". Which seems undesirable if they want the company to thrive.
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Yeah. Tesla's developing a catalog of this stuff. And it's all so avoidable, which is what really gets to me. A little forethought, maybe a Chief Risk Officer (I'm willing to take the job), would have headed all these problems off before they happened. By, y'know, doing an actuarial estimate of the cost of service before offering the Ranger policy in the first place -- putting in some sort of restriction like "We reserve the right to bundle minor warranty fixes and delay repairs for up to 6 months for issues which are not safety-related and do not prevent driving" -- warning on the website that you should consider waiting until a service center opens in your area -- you know.
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HankLloydRight
No Roads
Definitely this. And try for an upper level manager, not a line-level "specialist".
Actually, I would recommend reaching out to your local service center's service manager. You'll get the best answer for where you live. We're seeing a lot of geographic differences here.
Perhaps. But I expect Tesla to honor what was promised to those customers.
I've never used the Valet service in part because I'm fortunate enough to be close to a service center. For the sake of customers not as fortunate as myself and for Tesla's future appeal, I hope they honor the service that was promised at purchase.
No Sweat
No problems with Valet in Cincinnati. Even if it goes away the Cincinnati Service Center is only like 20 miles from Florence.
No problems with Valet in Cincinnati. Even if it goes away the Cincinnati Service Center is only like 20 miles from Florence.
I have to say that it is disappointing to hear about this. I was so impressed with everything I had heard and read about the vehicles and the ownership experience. I had plans to buy the Model X next year but until there is a service center in my area (Ottawa) or they reconsider the valet service I won't even consider it. It would be too difficult and time consuming if there were any real problems. Not to mention, quietly changing policies is not a good habit for any company, definitely not one that I'm not interested in getting involved with.
I hope that things change because I would love to be part of a proud community for such an amazing product.
I hope that things change because I would love to be part of a proud community for such an amazing product.
Call the service center that would be closest to you and speak to the service manager about how they handle the cases where you live. Don't ask corporate, they'll give you the lowest-common-denominator answer -- instead, talk to the service center that would be working on your car.
