Tesla Westmont Illinois

[TQCLove]

Has anyone here had difficulty with the service department of Tesla’s Westmont, IL location getting back to you? They picked up my car last Friday to do some minor body work from things I found at delivery, the worst of which was a small dent above the drivers side rear wheel well. They informed me it would be a couple days (the driver of the truck that picked it up even looked at it and said the body shop would have that done in a couple hours). I really don’t mind if it’s taking them longer...I want it done right of course...but my problem is that they won’t even return my email or calls and keep me informed.

I figured a couple days meant Tuesday as my car would get there early afternoon Friday and they are closed Saturday. I decided to email Tuesday afternoon asking how it was going. At that time, I did receive a reply from the concierge saying she spoke with the Service Advisor and that my car was at the body shop and they expected to have it back to me this week. I called yesterday around noon and got ahold of the concierge who didn’t know my car’s status but told me she’d have the Service Advisor call me back. So I waited for a call that didn’t come until around 5pm before deciding to call again as they close the service department at 6pm. This time it rang until voicemail, so I left a message asking to get a call back and a status update.

Today I called at 11am (I figured since they start at 8 that I gave them some time to reach out to me) but they again didn’t answer. I called again and selected “sales” instead of “service” and they answered right away. The sales person put me on hold and went to have someone in service take my call, but then came back on and said she was going to have to have someone in service call me back. They wouldn’t take my call, and they haven’t returned it either (it’s about 1:30pm as I type this).

Since I haven’t been able to get ahold of Westmont, I decided to call Fremont. The automated system allows me to select “service” but it takes you to your local service center. So since my problem is WITH my local service center in that they won’t call me back, I tried a different option. I explained myself to the woman that answered who then said “hold on”...and transferred me right back to Westmont service...who didn’t answer...and it went to voicemail, again.
I left a message, again.

At this point, I’m not even going to feel salty or embarrassed about calling them more than once, emailing them, and even posting this here, even if they finally get back to me and give me a status update. Their silence has my mind wondering what the heck is going on...and even considering the worst, like maybe the body shop messed something up? Maybe someone broke something?? I hate to even think like that and type those things, but what else do I have to go on except their silence, which seems very very shady. Especially when the sales team tried to get them to take my call and they wouldn’t.

I would think if they were going to do any work outside of the realm of what we discussed before, they would have to involve me, especially if it’s something else that could have been caused by them or the body shop...but...I just don’t know.

I do realize others have their Tesla vehicles go in and it take way longer than a week, so maybe this comes off as me whining, it’s not my intent. I really, truly just want an update from the people that have my brand new $60k car that told me would take a few days to work on and now won’t respond to emails or phone calls after it’s been a week. So since I haven’t heard anything, I’ve come here to vent I guess. But am curious as well if others have had issues with this specific SC, service centers in general, Tesla in general... etc.

Frustrating. I really don’t think I’m asking too much. Maybe I am... I guess I’ll be able to tell soon after posting this and see if I get roasted here.

 

[John Lamoureux]

I don't think you're asking for too much at all. A week without any update is too long. Instead of calling perhaps it's time to pay them a visit in person.

Hopefully they're giving you a sweet loaner.

 

[rsomrek]

A couple of observations/comments....

First, and foremost, I feel your pain with respect to making repeated calls/inquiries and not receiving a response. This seems to be a pretty common practice anymore whether it's a car dealer, a doctor's office, or just about any inquiry. Those who focus on 'customer service' must put themselves through this experience and see how negatively it affects good relations with those who spend their hard-earned money.

Your experience tends to reinforce my belief that there are some things that require buying locally. It's just too much hassle to have to return something whether it be for repair or replacement. I understand the Tesla situation is not as simple as buying locally as opposed to buying online but it seems to boil down to the same sort of situation. The first reply to your post suggests it's time to 'pay them a visit' but I imagine that's easier said than done given the time even such a simple inquiry would require - four/five hours round trip?

I'm glad to hear of the care being taken to get your car from/back the Quad Cities and provide a loaner. (I've seen the flat-bed trailer at the Westmont center and wondered what it was for; now I know.) That's quite a service! I can't imagine any dealer here (Chicago area) doing the same if you had an issue with a comparably priced car - says something good about Tesla and it's desire to 'do good' by its customers. I was worrying about taking Uber to/from Westmont for any issues I might have once my car is delivered but now feel better about how that could go.

Get tough with them. Hang in there. And hope this works out for you in the near future.

 

[TQCLove]

I received a call around 4pm last night from a gentleman named Chris, the Service Manager at Westmont. He was kind and apologetic and went out of his way to tell me he understood my frustration. His explanation for my car delay was that their body shop are perfectionists and also haven’t dealt with many Model 3s, saying this was probably only the 3rd one they’ve dealt with. He said it would be “early to mid next week” and that he’d reach out to me Monday/Tuesday to update me. He also generously offered me a free one year service check up for my car, which is not bad as I believe those can cost about a car payments worth (all things considered).

After hanging up, I was still frustrated but was at least informed. Within a few minutes of our conversation, it dawned on me what actually happened and it just makes sense. Logistics. Their truck was available to pick up my car last Friday, it was the only time it worked for both them and myself. But the pick up schedule was independent of the body shops schedule, which had no time to work on my car this past week. That’s my belief now, that my car simply hasn’t been worked at the body shop, which I’m ok with...I just wish they’d have let me know. I would have definitely worked something out to have my car picked up later by taking some leave from work.

I’m not saying Chris lied to me at all, far from it. If you look at his statements, they’re really unrelated to the actual repairs of my car and stand on their own. The body shop are perfectionists, they haven’t seen many Model 3s...totally understand. However I believe if I drove up there right now and found my car, I would also find that the work hasn’t been started. I just don’t see body work taking that long. New vehicle type or not, body work is body work...right?

In any case, I wanted to update this and thank those that replied. But also wanted to really point out the positives from this experience as I find them very worthy of noting, and damn it, I really really love this car so far and just don’t want to leave this large negative post of mine hanging unanswered.

First, and most awesome to me. When I’d reached out to Fremont and still got transferred back to Westmont I was really at my wits end. I had no idea where to go, who to contact or how to do so...so I wrote an email to my ISA. That’s right, my Inside Sales Advisor who worked with me after I first configured, got a VIN, etc. Totally the wrong person to contact. I was a little dismayed when I got her out of office reply for Friday, she was off and due back the 5th (people take off work, they’ve earned it, it happens...I’m certainly not faulting or focusing on that). Then around 3:30pm I get a reply from her! She says though she is out of the office, she checked her email and saw mine. She forwarded it to the Managers at Westmont and marked it as “urgent” with the request for them to get back to me. She then even apologized that that was “all she could do.” What? Wow! It wasn’t more than a half hour later that I got my callback from Westmont. So...that I think is worthy of praise, in this post here and then some, to say how amazing my ISA was and is. Her name is Elle and I’ll be reaching out to Tesla to express how great of a person they have in her. She went well above, beyond and outside of her job duties to ensure a customer was taken care of. Simply amazing.

Maybe a small sidenote here... be kind to your ISA’s everyone, they’re already overworked and it’s going to get tougher with more and more Model 3s getting made!

As @rsomrek noted, the truck Westmont uses to haul vehicles is great. The trailer has an extended wall type front that protects the vehicle. I thought it was pretty neat when it pulled up to my house. I posted a picture elsewhere on the forum here...I’ll see if I can link it. Quad Cities Iowa/Illinois
Even better was the gentleman named Carlos that came to get my car. Super friendly, knowledgeable...we walked around my car and looked over his paperwork notes about my minor issues. We small talked about how far he has to drive in order to service Tesla vehicles here in the Midwest...that man does some heavy driving, let me tell you!
I definitely felt my car was in good hands with him.

Lastly, as I’ve said here earlier, Chris at Westmont was very kind and understanding. He did some classic psychology 101 customer service things like saying “I hear you” and “I totally understand” repeatedly that I could have done without...but I won’t fault him too much for that. I’m sure he has to listen to people like me, and worse, too often throughout the day. I definitely would not want to do that and my hats off to him for owning up to the mistake, even if it’s only my perceived slight, and saying he’s going to reach out to me again early next week.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re not out of the woods yet. I don’t have my car, I’ll be walking around and looking at every single inch upon its return, and I also took a screenshot of my mileage before they took it and will be hyper critical of them if for any reason they’ve somehow put on too many miles on it! What’s too many? I don’t know...
Oh, and another negative thing....@john lamouruex do you think a Hyaundai Tucson rental counts as “sweet loaner?” Lol, me either...

In closing, I really do love this car. It’s amazing, and by far the best (and most expensive) vehicle I’ve ever had. With that much of myself invested in it, I really think there’s opportunities for small negatives to seem larger. This vehicle that is so special to me becomes just a number in a body shop, that’s just how schedules work and isn’t anything to get worked up over. The lack of communication was really the bigger negative here, but has been answered for the time being.

I’ll update this post again once I have my car back for closure. More for myself I suppose but in case anyone else has read this and wonders what the outcome is. Cheers all. And thanks for letting me vent.

 

[TQCLove]

I don't think you're asking for too much at all. A week without any update is too long. Instead of calling perhaps it's time to pay them a visit in person.

Hopefully they're giving you a sweet loaner.

Replying to you as my @ you didn’t work.

 

[TQCLove]

I got my car back Thursday around noon. I came home from work to sign for and get it in my garage but had to head back to work for meetings I couldn’t miss. When I got off work I went to get gas in the rental and then drop it off. They (Enterprise) drove me home.

Ill try to keep this to a short post but I did want to update it. (And I tend to ramble) Here were my findings:
- the dent is gone, looks like beautiful work was done! If I knew what body shop was used by Westmont I would sing their praises. Absolutely perfect looking, like there was never a dent.
- same for the chipped paint on the front lower bumper area. Can’t even tell there was a spot that looked like something scrapped the paint off there before
- Westmont shipped the car back via Ohare trucking in a completely enclosed trailer. That was awesome. They cleaned it and detailed it prior to shipping it my way too so it came out of the truck looking like delivery day part 2.
This was above and beyond if you ask me. Stellar on all levels.
- the noise is gone! The minor annoying ticking from my center console has been defeated! Chris at Westmont said something had come loose, so they tightened and insulated that area of the console. I’m so hype about this because little noises like that are a button of mine. (Thanks mom!!!)

Now for the small things that I think kind of bother me but I’m just gonna post it here then move on in life.
- 48 miles put on my car. Maybe to/from the body shop ...but that kinda irks me. Seems to be a bit much.
- 1 day shy of two weeks without my car, I’ve already touched on this and Westmont has been great about owning it and working with me.
- the hood and passenger side C pillar are not even touched. In my initial email to them I’d asked about them, if there was a way they could be looked at. I was told on the phone they did do something and they now believe the cars “lines look better” (exact wording). I guess they didn’t realize I know what my own car looked like prior to sending it their way and how it looks the same now. This is fine, really, but just another one of those things. Did you do anything? No? That’s fine, but don’t freaking lie about it. Not sure what the point of that is, it’s not like I wouldn’t notice.
- last thing, after service where they disable your remote acces, you turn it back on via the SAFETY & SECURITY tab on your screen, then the GEAR icon, then “allow mobile access.” They didn’t do this for me and I called them twice with no answer (what’s new?) so I called Fremont and me and a gentleman named Nate figured it out together.

Now for some pics.
Dent before:

After, no dent, great work by the body shop:

I don’t seem to have a good pic of the hood that shows it sitting a bit high towards the front and a bit low as it goes up towards the windshield, oh well, I’m gonna just live with it. But I will post this before/after of the C pillar they claim they aligned better.
Before:

And after:

Again, I’ll live with it. Just don’t understand the lying.

Anyway, I’m done for now. I have my car back which makes me happy. It looks great. They did a great job. There were positives and negatives as you’ve read, and I don’t get the lying at all but whatever. I’m gonna go drive my car!

 

[John Lamoureux]

I got my car back Thursday around noon. I came home from work to sign for and get it in my garage but had to head back to work for meetings I couldn’t miss. When I got off work I went to get gas in the rental and then drop it off. They (Enterprise) drove me home.

Ill try to keep this to a short post but I did want to update it. (And I tend to ramble) Here were my findings:
- the dent is gone, looks like beautiful work was done! If I knew what body shop was used by Westmont I would sing their praises. Absolutely perfect looking, like there was never a dent.
- same for the chipped paint on the front lower bumper area. Can’t even tell there was a spot that looked like something scrapped the paint off there before
- Westmont shipped the car back via Ohare trucking in a completely enclosed trailer. That was awesome. They cleaned it and detailed it prior to shipping it my way too so it came out of the truck looking like delivery day part 2.
This was above and beyond if you ask me. Stellar on all levels.
- the noise is gone! The minor annoying ticking from my center console has been defeated! Chris at Westmont said something had come loose, so they tightened and insulated that area of the console. I’m so hype about this because little noises like that are a button of mine. (Thanks mom!!!)

Now for the small things that I think kind of bother me but I’m just gonna post it here then move on in life.
- 48 miles put on my car. Maybe to/from the body shop ...but that kinda irks me. Seems to be a bit much.
- 1 day shy of two weeks without my car, I’ve already touched on this and Westmont has been great about owning it and working with me.
- the hood and passenger side C pillar are not even touched. In my initial email to them I’d asked about them, if there was a way they could be looked at. I was told on the phone they did do something and they now believe the cars “lines look better” (exact wording). I guess they didn’t realize I know what my own car looked like prior to sending it their way and how it looks the same now. This is fine, really, but just another one of those things. Did you do anything? No? That’s fine, but don’t freaking lie about it. Not sure what the point of that is, it’s not like I wouldn’t notice.
- last thing, after service where they disable your remote acces, you turn it back on via the SAFETY & SECURITY tab on your screen, then the GEAR icon, then “allow mobile access.” They didn’t do this for me and I called them twice with no answer (what’s new?) so I called Fremont and me and a gentleman named Nate figured it out together.

Now for some pics.
Dent before:

After, no dent, great work by the body shop:

I don’t seem to have a good pic of the hood that shows it sitting a bit high towards the front and a bit low as it goes up towards the windshield, oh well, I’m gonna just live with it. But I will post this before/after of the C pillar they claim they aligned better.
Before:

And after:

Again, I’ll live with it. Just don’t understand the lying.

Anyway, I’m done for now. I have my car back which makes me happy. It looks great. They did a great job. There were positives and negatives as you’ve read, and I don’t get the lying at all but whatever. I’m gonna go drive my car!

Glad you have you car back. Thanks for posting.