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The honeymoon finally ebbs...

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B

brayburn

Member
Nov 23, 2016
17
20
Birmingham, AL
#1
I’m a little more than two years in with my late 2016 Model S 90D. I love it. Always have, still do. Brag on it at any opportunity. And, have often said “I’ll never go back...” meaning not just EV vs ICE but Tesla in specific.

This weekend my wife and I traveled from our home in Alabama (one of “those” no Tesla because of arcane law states) to Atlanta for a birthday weekend away from the kids. Wonderful weekend. Easy charging at our hotel and no issues until Monday morning when we realized as we started our drive home...no heat. Tried a center console reboot, a full power down, etc but was pretty obviously hardware, not software. Called but local dealers were closed for MLK so headed home chilly but happy to be in the South at 30 degrees vs other climes.

Called my service center Tuesday at 8 (Marietta) who took the info and said they’d run a diagnostic and call back. Nothing Tuesday or Wednesday. Called back this morning (Thursday) and was told yes, it’s the heater PTC (? May have those letters wrong) and they needed to schedule me in. Inquired about mobile who have done some great things for me before but was told it couldn’t be done. Inquired about trailer pick up and was told that didn’t exist anymore. So the reality hit...a full day off work to drive to Atlanta, wait all day and drive back for a warranty repair.

I guess there are no options, and please accept this as a minor rant and nothing more but I find myself sad this morning that, at lease end in one year, I may have to reconsider the “lose a day” for service factor before re-upping with a car/brand I’ve loved. Sigh...
 
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#3
brayburn said:
I’m a little more than two years in with my late 2016 Model S 90D. I love it. Always have, still do. Brag on it at any opportunity. And, have often said “I’ll never go back...” meaning not just EV vs ICE but Tesla in specific.

This weekend my wife and I traveled from our home in Alabama (one of “those” no Tesla because of arcane law states) to Atlanta for a birthday weekend away from the kids. Wonderful weekend. Easy charging at our hotel and no issues until Monday morning when we realized as we started our drive home...no heat. Tried a center console reboot, a full power down, etc but was pretty obviously hardware, not software. Called but local dealers were closed for MLK so headed home chilly but happy to be in the South at 30 degrees vs other climes.

Called my service center Tuesday at 8 (Marietta) who took the info and said they’d run a diagnostic and call back. Nothing Tuesday or Wednesday. Called back this morning (Thursday) and was told yes, it’s the heater PTC (? May have those letters wrong) and they needed to schedule me in. Inquired about mobile who have done some great things for me before but was told it couldn’t be done. Inquired about trailer pick up and was told that didn’t exist anymore. So the reality hit...a full day off work to drive to Atlanta, wait all day and drive back for a warranty repair.

I guess there are no options, and please accept this as a minor rant and nothing more but I find myself sad this morning that, at lease end in one year, I may have to reconsider the “lose a day” for service factor before re-upping with a car/brand I’ve loved. Sigh...
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear of your issue. Agree with your perspective.
 
#5
The travel to service is a drag but common with other brands...kinda.... they usually have more service centers.
Th no call back is bad as it is indicative of overall communication problems.

I sent in a inquiry over 2 months ago about pricing for FSD and have not heard back.
 
#6
Better get used to the slow or no responses and worsen service gaps. Tesla has been cutting cost like crazy and the laying off of 7% of their labor will only add to more non-response, longer wait for services, reduction in what we enjoyed like loaner car a few years ago. Thinking you can driving in and get your car back the same day may be a wishful thinking. At least they did not make you wait a month to let you bring the car in. We, in California where Tesla is all over the place, it is like pulling teeth to get an appointment, let along getting service done in a day. I could even pull my Model S in their service center and had to line up in the street. Love the car but post-sale service sucks.
 
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#7
20140emission said:
Tesla has been cutting cost like crazy and the laying off of 7% of their labor will only add to more non-response, longer wait for services, reduction in what we enjoyed like loaner car a few years ago.
Click to expand...

That would be a strange consequence, since the bulk of layoffs were in manufacturing, not service...
https://electrek.co/2019/01/23/tesla-model-s-model-x-production-most-affected-layoffs-report/
Further, service is getting more attention:
Elon Musk pledges to improve Tesla's service location coverage within 3-6 months
 
#8
Elon promised a lot and had hard time delivering. It is evident that service had deteriorated over the years unless one never had to bring the vehicle back for service. Production is an income source, service is money drain especially for warranty repairs. It is simple math.
 
#9
#11
brayburn said:
I’m a little more than two years in with my late 2016 Model S 90D. I love it. Always have, still do. Brag on it at any opportunity. And, have often said “I’ll never go back...” meaning not just EV vs ICE but Tesla in specific.

This weekend my wife and I traveled from our home in Alabama (one of “those” no Tesla because of arcane law states) to Atlanta for a birthday weekend away from the kids. Wonderful weekend. Easy charging at our hotel and no issues until Monday morning when we realized as we started our drive home...no heat. Tried a center console reboot, a full power down, etc but was pretty obviously hardware, not software. Called but local dealers were closed for MLK so headed home chilly but happy to be in the South at 30 degrees vs other climes.

Called my service center Tuesday at 8 (Marietta) who took the info and said they’d run a diagnostic and call back. Nothing Tuesday or Wednesday. Called back this morning (Thursday) and was told yes, it’s the heater PTC (? May have those letters wrong) and they needed to schedule me in. Inquired about mobile who have done some great things for me before but was told it couldn’t be done. Inquired about trailer pick up and was told that didn’t exist anymore. So the reality hit...a full day off work to drive to Atlanta, wait all day and drive back for a warranty repair.

I guess there are no options, and please accept this as a minor rant and nothing more but I find myself sad this morning that, at lease end in one year, I may have to reconsider the “lose a day” for service factor before re-upping with a car/brand I’ve loved. Sigh...
Click to expand...

I would make DAMN sure they intend to fix it that day...
 
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#12
20140emission said:
Elon promised a lot and had hard time delivering. It is evident that service had deteriorated over the years unless one never had to bring the vehicle back for service. Production is an income source, service is money drain especially for warranty repairs. It is simple math.
Click to expand...

Just build better cars so owners don't have to bring them back for warranty work. Or fix issues (that means there should be QC checks) before releasing cars for sale.
 
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#15
Bridor said:
I would escalate to corporate to have a mobile service appointment. Just remember that we are electric car pioneers - sometimes it is hard to be at the forefront.

Brent
Click to expand...


I will give that a try. Apparently the repair involves disconnecting the high energy wiring from the battery pack which is not something the mobile person can do.

Now that’s from the dude at the center, and not a technician I suspect, so I will try to escalate.
 
#16
I'm with demundus, make sure they tell you they will fix it at appointment time. My experience was that you drop it off and they give you a loaner and tell you they will let you know when they're done, even after I specifically told them I'm driving 4 hours.
A scheduled appointment seems to not mean anything to them.
 
#18
#19
To the OP, I’m sorry to hear that. It’s a bummer for sure. I’ve had some of the same feelings. Specifically when I got a dent in a parking lot and it took 4 months to have my car fixed. I think the ridiculous time to get repair panels is another thing Elon has talked about fixing, but it may be harder to tolerate some of this stuff if/when I can buy a mainstream German EV for a similar price. Although, I’m one of the lucky ones that has two SCs within an hour drive. Also, I plan on keeping the two cars we have for at least 10 more years. Best of luck.
 
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