Theft Of Components Off My Model S @ Cleveland Service Center

[Akikiki]

He likely regrets that he ever posted anything here about this incident. Some parts of this thread are as confusing as an episode of the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.

 

[tls]

This is horrible. But, I’m not convinced Tesla stole or damaged the car. I’m not saying it didn’t happen, I just think the car may have been abused by the flatbed driver who was transporting the car.

The flatbed drivers don't work for Tesla and they aren't uniformly great. I had one pick up my car on a slight downslope in a friend's gravel driveway (radiator sprung a big leak and it was much closer than home) without placing any wood to ease the angle of his ramp. Made a heck of a scraping noise -- I had to call the service manager at the center where it was being dropped off and ask him to inspect the rear underside of the car ASAP on unloading, I was worried they might have taken paint off the bumper. Fortunately not.

But they're contractors. Your only leverage if they screw up is via Tesla. If you have problems with them call Tesla and let them know ASAP.

Likely also the case with glass guys (one of the body shops here that is Tesla-certified told me Tesla has Safelite do any glass work that comes into their own shop, but they (body shop) aren't fans of the local Safelite franchisee and do theirs themselves). I could totally see "idiot at glass shop takes car for a joyride, spills Big Gulp into ventilated seats, SC employee panics and replaces with seats from inventory/loaner car" as the explanation for all this.

Not that it's right. But it's certainly plausible to me.

 

[cgiGuy]

The flatbed drivers don't work for Tesla and they aren't uniformly great.

I'm sure it varies from location to location, but I've never had a non-Tesla employee pick up my car. In fact, when I lived in San Antonio, the tech that was usually going to do the work on the car was the one transporting it.

The fact that the driver documented the work order problems with the vehicle leads me to believe that it was a Tesla employee. Otherwise the driver probably wouldn't care, if he's just there to take it from point A to B.

 

[Gynob001]

Recently I came across sites that offered “rent” of Tesla for short term (day or two). Could a racket be going on with cars that were brought back for service? The OP scares me of what else could be going on in other dealerships and service stations across the country with other vehicles

 

[Max*]

Recently I came across sites that offered “rent” of Tesla for short term (day or two). Could a racket be going on with cars that were brought back for service? The OP scares me of what else could be going on in other dealerships and service stations across the country with other vehicles

Let's not extrapolate a one off instance to other service centers, or even this one service.

 

[kort677]

Recently I came across sites that offered “rent” of Tesla for short term (day or two). Could a racket be going on with cars that were brought back for service? The OP scares me of what else could be going on in other dealerships and service stations across the country with other vehicles

anything is plausible, I always note the odometer when dropping a car for service. in addition if you feel that your tesla was misused I believe that your logs can be pulled by tesla

 

[scottm]

The main "problem" with this is story is being overlooked... it happened in Cleveland.

This is normal.

 

[night0002]

What an experience! So sorry to hear that happened I am sure that Tesla will make you whole.

I did want to comment upon the tail light issue. Shortly after I took delivery in 2015, I noticed moisture in the rear tail lights and listed that among punch list items for a visit to the SC in Scottsdale. The tech pointed out to me that there are small in holes in the lens on each of the tail lights to accommodate evaporation which may be required due to changing temperatures and humidity, thus avoiding moisture issues with the electrical infrastructure of the tail lights. After a car wash I often find a few droplets inside the lens which disiapate over night.

 

[scottm]

What an experience! So sorry to hear that happened I am sure that Tesla will make you whole.

I did want to comment upon the tail light issue. Shortly after I took delivery in 2015, I noticed moisture in the rear tail lights and listed that among punch list items for a visit to the SC in Scottsdale. The tech pointed out to me that there are small in holes in the lens on each of the tail lights to accommodate evaporation which may be required due to changing temperatures and humidity, thus avoiding moisture issues with the electrical infrastructure of the tail lights. After a car wash I often find a few droplets inside the lens which disiapate over night.

There's a known problem of leakage that is different from lens fog that you're talking about. Happened to my car. Water runs into the hatch because of a breached seal of the taillight assembly. When enough accumulates, opening the hatch will cause water to pour out of the hatch pull-down handle (onto your neck as you're reaching in). To my surprise back then the remedy was whole new taillights, not just a new seal.. reason "because water might have gotten into the electronics of the taillight, which is a safety component".

 

[oktane]

That's completely untrue. Not only has there not been a pattern of suspension failures, the failures that were more or less legitimate involved different components.

You're wrong again. I didn't say it was only one component. It could be a failure of any number of suspension components, that simply shouldn't be happening. It presents itself as either a design or manufacturing flaw. Those that dismiss these posts as "fake news" are the actual trolls.

 

[kort677]

I am not a mod, but some of the last few posts are really veering too far away from the topic. there are many threads discussing moisture and suspension issues, please refrain from derailing this interesting thread with the irrelevant to the topic at hand's complaints

 

[JohnSnowNW]

You're wrong again. I didn't say it was only one component. It could be a failure of any number of suspension components, that simply shouldn't be happening. It presents itself as either a design or manufacturing flaw. Those that dismiss these posts as "fake news" are the actual trolls.

Sorry, no. Suspension issues are incredibly common among all manufacturers, and you're the one claiming that there is a "pattern of failures" where none exists.

Ignoring that people are spreading false information about suspension issues is, at the very least, disingenuous.

 

[Swift]

Just wanted to note that disabling mobile app access when your car is being serviced is standard practice. They had too many people honking their horns, locking/unlocking doors, etc. while the car was in the shop so they now (should) disable mobile app access when taking the car into the bay.

Man, the bit about the seats being changed out is insane! Keep us updated and hopefully you find satisfactory resolution without too much trouble.

There should be a service mode that just disables the intrusive items on the app (horn, lights, locking) and leaves the tracking in place.

 

[Swift]

His limited participation here on TMC fuels those who don't give him much credibility.
however I've found that many people do not reach out to sites like this unless they have some serious venting to do.
it has been my position all along that if his claims hold true that there are really two victims of this, the first is the car owner and the other being tesla who had an employee who was entrusted with the vehicle to violate that trust.
lastly isn't it plausible that tesla did (attempt) make him whole and he agreed not to discuss this incident in any public forum?

He said he was originally told by his Tesla salesperson to post here. And yes to your last point, he may have agreed to lay off the public posting.

 

[bcalfee]

This is terrible and I hope you have a quick resolution. Remember that if there are a couple "bad guys" in a service center, that shouldn't put a bad light on the entire business. How quickly they resolve it will demonstrate something.

We have had stellar experiences. We bought our S and had it delivered in Syosset, NY, I have had several service visits at the Decatur GA SC. They were wonderful both times. We also had a service visit at the Charlotte NC SC. I only spoke to them on the phone. A friend dropped it off and picked it up. All good experiences. We toured the factory in Fremont and every single employee I spoke to was personally proud of their product. I suspect all of those employees would be outraged.

BTW, I spent 4 hours yesterday in the back seat of an ICE car... I will avoid that at all costs from now on!

 

[smartypnz]

Ok... we all know that the S Cs use the service cars for Uber at night. (read that piece of paper you sign when you drop off your car).

Not understanding the complaint here.

 

[Beth]

When I got my Roadster 4 years ago, they told me it had to go to service in Costa Mesa, CA to be fixed up for me. It was supposed to get new tires, brakes and be certified. When I got it back, someone had stolen the wheels off my car and replaced them with secondary market wheels. I don't think they replaced the tires or brakes because one year and 4000 miles later, I had to pay to have them both replaced. They finally "found" my wheels on the car of an employee! They said it was an accident and the wheels had been mixed up at the service center. Really???? I worked for a year to get someone to listen to me and it was pretty much a nightmare. Good luck getting it settled. I finally wrote directly to Elon and that was how I finally got something to happen. So good call to write to him first.

 

[Pezpunk]

To me, the mileage discrepancy is the biggest corroborating indicator of impropriety on someone's part. 158 miles is excessive for a test drive or confirmation of proper operation. It indicates to me that a person not working on behalf of Tesla (although not necessarily a non-Tesla employee) drove the car for personal reasons, which is enough wrongdoing to warrant compensation.

this may be naive of me to think, but does either the car or Tesla's servers have a record of the GPS coordinates the car was driven and when? if so, it'd be trivial to prove if, where, and when any joyriding took place.

 

[Thiago]

this may be naive of me to think, but does either the car or Tesla's servers have a record of the GPS coordinates the car was driven and when

I strongly believe so. Not only that, I would like that data to be made available for the owner too. On top of being extremely useful in cases like this, it is also helpful to match with the energy consumption data. Does anyone know if it is possible to access such data?

 

[HankLloydRight]

I strongly believe so. Not only that, I would like that data to be made available for the owner too. On top of being extremely useful in cases like this, it is also helpful to match with the energy consumption data. Does anyone know if it is possible to access such data?

See: TeslaFi.com Tesla Model S X Data Logger -- Great trip/energy tracking site.