Towed back to Tesla after driving only 32 miles...

[MYP2020]

Hi all, an update on my Model Y Performance: Tesla Service still hasn't been able to identify the drivability/safety issue with my vehicle in their shop and when I drove back to NY tonight they denied my request to re-start the 7 day return policy when they eventually do return the vehicle to me (keep in mind I only owned it for 1 hour before it stopped working on delivery day and was towed back). They also denied my request to avoid the 12 month hold for returning the inoperative vehicle and ordering one of the same configuration.

I then initiated the return of the vehicle and when they realized I wasn't kidding they quickly made some phone calls and pivoted 180 degrees. I now have in writing a commitment for a new 7 day return policy which starts upon receipt of the repaired and fully functioning vehicle, along with a commitment to pursue an exception to policy and reassign a new car of the same configuration to me if I do choose to return it during the new 7 day return period. I got some more miles too, but unfortunately no short shorts.

Given that shutting down during operation is a safety issue, I'll be real keen on learning what they determine to be the root cause and will post what the repairs or component replacements are on this forum for your review/input. There are some pretty smart folks on here and I value the input. If I'm not comfortable, then the car gets returned.

I will reiterate what most already know, Tesla customer service can really be horrible. My experience is only specific to Tesla Mount Kisco, though poor customer service seems to be a common thread. In my case, I couldn't imagine the customer service getting any worse - so many unreturned emails, unreturned voicemails on both work phones and cell phones, it's ridiculous. Zero response from the delivery advisor all the way up to the store leader. Despite communicating several times that if the car wasn't fixed by tonight, that I would come back to do a return, they had the car outside not being worked on all day today. To make matters worse, the car was actually located at a condo complex 7 minutes away from the delivery center, all day. I took app screenshots of the car's location throughout the day, from 9 a.m. through 3 p.m. as I left voicemails because no one would pick up phones. When the service manager responded to my text at 3 p.m. asking if my car was in his shop, he said no and then the car magically returned to the service center at 3:18 p.m. When I showed the screenshots to the ops manager tonight, he initially stated that the car's GPS was probably off and then I claimed BS, then he said he'll investigate. WTH.

One thing I do know for sure, if I do get and keep a fully functioning vehicle, I'll be getting it serviced at a different service facility located in CT.

So, some takeaways: the 7 day return policy can be re-started, the 12 month hold *likely* can be modified if they want it to be (both my wife and I are on the title, so I can't just reorder under her name), and if you don't keep very close tabs on Tesla Service you might be getting screwed (at least in my case, I was).

I must really want this car...

 

[Koolio46]

Thanks for the update. It sounds like Tesla has a JV team managing all of these service centers... the logistics of managing a service department and vehicle delivery is not new ground. Why don’t they hire a team who can get all their locations operating with good customer servic?

 

[ftmaybe]

To make matters worse, the car was actually located at a condo complex 7 minutes away from the delivery center, all day. I took app screenshots of the car's location throughout the day, from 9 a.m. through 3 p.m. as I left voicemails because no one would pick up phones. When the service manager responded to my text at 3 p.m. asking if my car was in his shop, he said no and then the car magically returned to the service center at 3:18 p.m. When I showed the screenshots to the ops manager tonight, he initially stated that the car's GPS was probably off and then I claimed BS, then he said he'll investigate. WTH.

 

[MYP2020]

This is awesome, what a great reference!

 

[Robospartan]

MYP2020, first off, sorry for all the trouble this has caused. Without your experience these specific issues wouldn't be known.

I also live in CT and just ordered MY AWD and will do everything I can to avoid the Mt. Kisko SC based on your experience.

hopefully this is all resolved soon and you can move forward (pun intended)

 

[davidc18]

Make it a do over. Return the lemon and try again.

 

[strider]

Thanks for the update. It sounds like Tesla has a JV team managing all of these service centers... the logistics of managing a service department and vehicle delivery is not new ground. Why don’t they hire a team who can get all their locations operating with good customer servic?

I see that you're new here. You are right, running auto service centers, parts distribution, etc. is not new ground. But that is meaningless. Tesla/Elon will never accept any knowledge or best practice from anyone or anything outside of Tesla. Elon is always the smartest person in any room and his way is the best way.

Tesla has hired knowledgeable people in the past but they don't last long under Elon's micromanaging.

That being said, the team we have here in Oklahoma is outstanding. How they deal with the madness that is Tesla corporate is beyond me. Yeoman's work for sure.

This will not improve until Tesla has real competition and people start voting with their wallets. Until that happens Elon simply doesn't/won't care.

 

[tdwin2000]

Sorry to hear that. Problem with returning it is you can't get a new one for 1 year. Maybe you can convince them to get you a new one. That is sad.

Maybe if you return it and put it in a different name...like your wife's name. Unless they go by address (in which you can use a different address like a siblings).

 

[TomServo]

Buddy took delivery of a PMY on Aug 5th and it had all sorts of warnings displayed, they traced it to a broken pin in a cannon plug. They had to order a new cable with new cannon plugs on both ends. The part was over nighted and took like an hour to install it. They did have the car for 3 days though. So it could be something like that. Once they find it’s probably an easy fix. My buddy now has. Lose to 7K trouble free miles on his PMY. Good luck.

 

[jbcarioca]

These are the most frustrating problems ever. Had I not had equivalent problems with other brands (believe it or not, one Japanese, one German) I'd condemn Tesla more.
OTOH, all the growth does make any given problem magnified. Were Tesla to allow calls to point of sale directly it would not be so bad. Still, once finished the cars so rarely need repair and are so awesome that I keep forgetting how abysmally bad those repair experiences can be.

Hopefully this will be successfully resolved. Sympathy does not help much but you have mine FWIW.

 

[MYP2020]

Hi All, I officially returned the Model Y Performance last night. It just wasn't meant to be and my final decision aligned with what many of you suggested, thanks for your input and I have no regrets.

It still had not been fixed after 14 days with Tesla Service and the repair forecast continued to move to the right, with another week being added yesterday morning. The total repair time would exceed 22 days for a car I owned for 1 hour.

Tesla Engineering in CA identified the root cause as a defective rear drive unit that created an intermittent signal, shutting down the car. They didn't provide any more details than that. In a cursory search of the internet, I see defective model S drive unit replacements being a recurring theme, but did not find other model Y owners reporting any similar replacements yet.

Beyond the abysmal customer service and outright refusal for any Tesla Mount Kisco leadership member to return any of my calls or emails over the 14 day period, here's what pushed me over the edge this week to enact the return policy:

• Monday: new drive unit arrives at Tesla Mount Kisco
• Tuesday 11 a.m.: Tesla Service texts me that my car is on a lift being disassembled for the drive unit replacement (Yipppeee)
• Wednesday 3 p.m.: Tesla Service calls to tell me they were sent the wrong drive unit?!? Car is reassembled and placed back outside, with another week added to the repair estimate.

Working in manufacturing, my perspective is that it is inexcusable to start disassembly without first confirming you have the correct parts to assemble on the back end. That basic principle was violated and rework was the result.

In the end, I lost confidence in their capabilities and I didn't pay $61K for my brand new vehicle to be Tesla Mount Kisco's project car to unnecessarily disassemble and reassemble multiple times (or for it to be left for a full work day at someone's personal condo per earlier post, when they were supposed to be troubleshooting it). My concern was that new issues would arise.

I'm sure that VIN 5YJYGDEF8LF044434 will make it back into circulation in the near future with about 80 miles on it as a used car and I wish the future owner great success. For the moment I'm done with Tesla and I declined to pursue the exception to policy for the 12 month hold, at least for Tesla Mount Kisco. We'll see what the future holds, though I strongly feel that Tesla's poor post-sale customer service won't magically improve in the near future and that will certainly be a factor that I take into consideration.

On the Model Y return thread I'll post a snapshot of the single piece of return paperwork that is required to enact the return policy. It's very simple, though I had expected to fill out and sign multiple sheets.

 

[Balthezor]

Hi All, I officially returned the Model Y Performance last night. It just wasn't meant to be and my final decision aligned with what many of you suggested, thanks for your input and I have no regrets.

It still had not been fixed after 14 days with Tesla Service and the repair forecast continued to move to the right, with another week being added yesterday morning. The total repair time would exceed 22 days for a car I owned for 1 hour.

Tesla Engineering in CA identified the root cause as a defective rear drive unit that created an intermittent signal, shutting down the car. They didn't provide any more details than that. In a cursory search of the internet, I see defective model S drive unit replacements being a recurring theme, but did not find other model Y owners reporting any similar replacements yet.

Beyond the abysmal customer service and outright refusal for any Tesla Mount Kisco leadership member to return any of my calls or emails over the 14 day period, here's what pushed me over the edge this week to enact the return policy:

• Monday: new drive unit arrives at Tesla Mount Kisco
• Tuesday 11 a.m.: Tesla Service texts me that my car is on a lift being disassembled for the drive unit replacement (Yipppeee)
• Wednesday 3 p.m.: Tesla Service calls to tell me they were sent the wrong drive unit?!? Car is reassembled and placed back outside, with another week added to the repair estimate.

Working in manufacturing, my perspective is that it is inexcusable to start disassembly without first confirming you have the correct parts to assemble on the back end. That basic principle was violated and rework was the result.

In the end, I lost confidence in their capabilities and I didn't pay $61K for my brand new vehicle to be Tesla Mount Kisco's project car to unnecessarily disassemble and reassemble multiple times (or for it to be left for a full work day at someone's personal condo per earlier post, when they were supposed to be troubleshooting it). My concern was that new issues would arise.

I'm sure that VIN 5YJYGDEF8LF044434 will make it back into circulation in the near future with about 80 miles on it as a used car and I wish the future owner great success. For the moment I'm done with Tesla and I declined to pursue the exception to policy for the 12 month hold, at least for Tesla Mount Kisco. We'll see what the future holds, though I strongly feel that Tesla's poor post-sale customer service won't magically improve in the near future and that will certainly be a factor that I take into consideration.

On the Model Y return thread I'll post a snapshot of the single piece of return paperwork that is required to enact the return policy. It's very simple, though I had expected to fill out and sign multiple sheets.

How did you return it after the 7 days? Good decision by the way. I would have done the same.

 

[MYP2020]

How did you return it after the 7 days? Good decision by the way. I would have done the same.

Hi, short story is I learned that Tesla can change a lot of things if they want to.

On my original 6th day of the 7 day window, after receiving no responses to multiple calls/emails about my repair completion being forecasted after my 7 day window, I travelled back to the dealership and asked in-person for a new 7 day return window once I got the fixed car back. That simple request was denied, so I immediately started the return process and was only then introduced to the operations manager.

The operations manager then called the "market manager" who runs all the stores in a general area (NYC and surrounding areas in my case) and got an agreement to provide me a new 7 day return window upon receipt of the fixed car, and for them to also pursue an exemption to the 12 month hold policy which would have prevented me from ordering an identically configured vehicle IF I chose to return the vehicle during the second 7 day window.

The organizational structure of Tesla, titles and corresponding names has been somewhat of a mystery to me. No names and titles are listed anywhere, which makes it incredibly hard to reach out for assistance when you're stonewalled by the one person you know. The store leader is the head person at a delivery facility, and reports directly to the market manager. Knowing that allows you search the internet and find a name that goes along with that title, likely on LinkedIn. Knowing the name then allows you to easily send that person an email since the email format is generally the first initial of the first name, then full last name followed by @tesla.com. Knowledge is power! (full disclosure: this knowledge didn't net me anything, though my goal was to simply make everyone aware of the problems I was having). I haven't emailed the market manager yet, but that will be done this weekend. When I did do the return process last night, I finally got to meet the Tesla Mount Kisco store leader face-to-face and I caught him in a series of lies, which I got him to admit he wasn't being truthful. It was bad. The market manager needs to know, what he does with the info is up to him. I'll do my part.

I would LOVE to know the titles above market manager if anyone knows them. I did a quick search but didn't find anything and the titles are not common to other industry expectations like district manager or regional manager to my knowledge.

In a normal world I would imagine that if these upper echelon folks were aware of at least some of the significant issues being handled poorly at the lower level, that change for the better would be enacted more quickly. That's what I tell myself at least, that someone at some level must actually care.

 

[mark95476]

Good decision. Your car was bound to be a lemon and I'm glad you didn't wind up taking it. Its really unfortunate the BS you had to go through.

Thanks for posting the lemon's VIN (5YJYGDEF8LF044434).

Hi All, I officially returned the Model Y Performance last night. It just wasn't meant to be and my final decision aligned with what many of you suggested, thanks for your input and I have no regrets.

It still had not been fixed after 14 days with Tesla Service and the repair forecast continued to move to the right, with another week being added yesterday morning. The total repair time would exceed 22 days for a car I owned for 1 hour.

Tesla Engineering in CA identified the root cause as a defective rear drive unit that created an intermittent signal, shutting down the car. They didn't provide any more details than that. In a cursory search of the internet, I see defective model S drive unit replacements being a recurring theme, but did not find other model Y owners reporting any similar replacements yet.

Beyond the abysmal customer service and outright refusal for any Tesla Mount Kisco leadership member to return any of my calls or emails over the 14 day period, here's what pushed me over the edge this week to enact the return policy:

• Monday: new drive unit arrives at Tesla Mount Kisco
• Tuesday 11 a.m.: Tesla Service texts me that my car is on a lift being disassembled for the drive unit replacement (Yipppeee)
• Wednesday 3 p.m.: Tesla Service calls to tell me they were sent the wrong drive unit?!? Car is reassembled and placed back outside, with another week added to the repair estimate.

Working in manufacturing, my perspective is that it is inexcusable to start disassembly without first confirming you have the correct parts to assemble on the back end. That basic principle was violated and rework was the result.

In the end, I lost confidence in their capabilities and I didn't pay $61K for my brand new vehicle to be Tesla Mount Kisco's project car to unnecessarily disassemble and reassemble multiple times (or for it to be left for a full work day at someone's personal condo per earlier post, when they were supposed to be troubleshooting it). My concern was that new issues would arise.

I'm sure that VIN 5YJYGDEF8LF044434 will make it back into circulation in the near future with about 80 miles on it as a used car and I wish the future owner great success. For the moment I'm done with Tesla and I declined to pursue the exception to policy for the 12 month hold, at least for Tesla Mount Kisco. We'll see what the future holds, though I strongly feel that Tesla's poor post-sale customer service won't magically improve in the near future and that will certainly be a factor that I take into consideration.

On the Model Y return thread I'll post a snapshot of the single piece of return paperwork that is required to enact the return policy. It's very simple, though I had expected to fill out and sign multiple sheets.

 

[MXLRplus]

Technically it isn't a "right", it is a privilege that Tesla allows people. (They don't have to offer it at all.) For example, if you buy a Subaru you don't have any option to just return it. (Unless the dealer has their own return program.)

It isn't intended to be a replacement for getting your vehicle serviced, it is for if you bought a Tesla and end up not liking it and not wanting to keep that model.

With a Subaru you can drive the car before you purchase it. Big difference, and it's why Tesla needed to do the 7 day return program.

 

[Redbrick]

Picked up a brand new Model Y Performance (VIN 44XXX) this evening from Mount Kisco, NY, drove it back to CT where it broke down as I was backing out of a driveway. Reverse lights stayed on, several warning lights popped up on the display and the car wouldn't move, I couldn't select any gears. Battery had 71% charge remaining and while this is my first Tesla ownership experience, I have driven several before.

Warning lights were:

1. Power Reduced
2. Acceleration and Top Speed Reduced
3. Automatic Emergency Braking Disabled

The car appeared to reboot itself several times with no improvement, reverse lights stayed on the entire time even though it was in park and the A/C compressor would not shut off despite trying to shut the hvac system off. Getting in and out of the car per one of the warning light suggestions didn't fix anything, just made my family and I look silly

I called Tesla service who looked at the car remotely but could not identify the problem. We performed the Power Off function and waited 2 minutes, then turned the car back on, but it failed to resolve the issue and all warning lights stayed on. At that point Tesla's only remedy was to tow it back to Mount Kisco.

Tow driver seemed to think it was a computer module related to the A/C compressor. Not sure and will certainly update this thread when Tesla figures out what went wrong.

I will say that while I'm sure this will get figured out, it really is disappointing. I mean really Tesla, after 32 miles the $60K car completely stops working?? What kind of car company do you bring a checklist of expected quality defects to your delivery appointment, find some defects (relatively minor) that will need to be fixed on another date that you have to set up, then drive away and get stranded when the car just stops working all of a sudden. The lead up to my delivery wasn't exactly stellar either (Tesla rescheduled my delivery appointment right before I was going to leave to go pick it up, because they didn't actually have the car yet).

I love Tesla, and I'll love my Model Y Performance, though I'm a little bitter at the moment. If anyone has any tips or experience on how to handle this with Tesla, I'll gladly take any advice. Thanks in advance and good luck with your delivery experience.
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yeah..return the pos...tesla cars are truly crappy..folks here just love it despite the tons of issues with tesla Cars. the quality, service, material....absolutely the dumps... Not worth the money they are asking. the ideas behind it is amazing...its way ahead of it's time, but everything else is crappy. when my wife is no longer loving this car...it's adios....can't wait.

 

[PatInANutshell]

This might be the worst experience I’ve heard about with a MY. I thought I was having a bad experience with the SC in my area, but they definitely didn’t treat me that way and while my car was in the shop 3 times (for a total of 5 weeks over a 3 month period!), they at least fixed all the issues.

 

[cwerdna]

Tesla Engineering in CA identified the root cause as a defective rear drive unit that created an intermittent signal, shutting down the car. They didn't provide any more details than that. In a cursory search of the internet, I see defective model S drive unit replacements being a recurring theme, but did not find other model Y owners reporting any similar replacements yet.

There are many reports of Model 3's requiring drive unit replacement. I'm not here on TMC that much to browse such threads but I have over 45 URLs for Model 3 DU replacements collected from TMC over time. It's a nowhere near complete collection of such reports here on the 3.

 

[alloverx]

Thanks for telling your story, obviously you were unlucky since
a) you had a major problem with the car.
b) it was hard to diagnose (they had to do it from HQ)
c) Local Service/Sales Tesla folks did not care (maybe they have no incentive or are too busy)
d) they sent a wrong part supposedly

On a positive note, the number of EVs available in the US is starting to increase. So there are some other options available; each with their own PROs & CONs.
Personally I love the look of the Audi etron sportback; just not the price.

 

[Brown1428]

With a Subaru you can drive the car before you purchase it. Big difference, and it's why Tesla needed to do the 7 day return program.

I’ve purchased 3 Subaru’s brand new and not once was there a single initial quality issue. It’s true that Subaru and other brands don’t offer a return period but they also have extremely high standards for quality and workmanship.

As for Tesla, can you imagine how many returns they would receive if they allowed customers to receive new cars?