Tracking Tesla's ongoing communications failures + ways to improve

[tinm]

Some more data points from recent experience, that reflect ongoing communications failures. These failures are not huge, but they happen regularly, and I have to assume (based on what I have read across TMC and TM's own forums the last umpteen years) they happen everywhere with alarming frequency. Which suggests systemic (read: managerial) failure.

1. Got a call recently from a Ranger in Texas. Nice guy. Was going to be doing a run throughout New Mexico, wanted to know if I wanted him to swing by and do the seatbelt recall thingie while he was passing through. I was surprised, because I'd had the seatbelt thingie resolved last time I was at a real Tesla Service Center, a few weeks earlier, all the way out in California during vacation. Surprised because one would have thought that a recall being taken care of would 1) get updated in my VIN record and 2) the Ranger would've known that or done a quick check before emailing me. So he was surprised my recall was done. (Heck, maybe the Service Center neglected to record the fact that the recall was taken care of with my VIN?)

2. Got an email last night from a Ranger, same guy actually, in Texas. Saying once again he was gonna be in NM doing the rounds, and would I be free on Thurs for him to stop by and do some diagnostics that (I assume) the Fremont engineers had asked him to do on my months-old heating problem? (My car has no or little heat. Since November. In sub-freezing New Mexico. One Service Center and two Ranger visits so far haven't fixed problem.) I said sure. Then, I get an email this morning from Scottsdale Tesla Service Center wondering if I'd be okay to have my car flat-bedded to Scottsdale next week. Huh? So I asked the SC guy, did he know about Ranger already making an appt w/ me? He didn't. Ranger didn't know about Scottsdale's request either. So I sent an email to both of them and cc'd another ranger who'd done two visits to work on the heat already, so they'd all be in sync. Scottsdale admitted they erred and didn't know about Ranger activity, etc.

3. A minor quibble, or not: in 2.5 years of owning an S, I would say that my success record for getting a reply from Service Center when I email them questions is about 40, maybe 50%. ABout half the time I never hear from them, so I have to wait a few days then call or email again and hopefully I get through that time. Sometimes I email whole long cc lists of every service center person I know, hoping maybe one of them will reply. That usually fails totally (my theory: they all get the email, see it, then figure "somebody else will reply" so they move on... and it turns out nobody replies).

If you multiple thousands of these kinds of things, happening to customers everywhere, you start seeing this pattern of simple little communications breakdowns that add up to a major systemic/management failure, one that is eminently correctable.

And my 3 items above are tiny little things compared to the myriad customers reporting delivery letdowns, surprises, gotchas, etc, etc.

I'd love to see this stuff fixed. I want to see it fixed sooooo baddd.

One final thing: I've had better luck with [email protected]. They do reply within 24 hours, and it seems they're smart enough to route the issue to the proper service people in the proper state, based on your email/VIN/etc.

Continues to amaze me that Tesla hasn't built out a really nice My Tesla website subsection for service, where all communications and status updates (think UPS/Fedex tracking) are always visible by customer.

 

[qwk]

And you've done so.

And I still await abundant evidence that Telsa's communications problems are behind it. So far, the evidence shows that the problems have not gone away. I want the company to figure this crap out before Model 3 arrives. The reservation/status-updating/delivery workflow and communications updates for the Model 3 should reflect a Third Generation of Tesla Communications just as much as the car is supposed to reflect a Third Generation of Electric Vehicle. I'm not sure we're even in Second Generation of Tesla Communications yet.

The sad thing is that the communication problems are getting worse, not better. Tesla has very little leadership in their management. With this "oh well" attitude, I would bet that the sales that they lose are pretty significant.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

While I have general issues with how Tesla is being managed, I can't say that I would care about this type of email. Yes, I received the same email and I have a pre-Autopilot car from 2013. If the email were to make me upset like this, I might consider first the fact that I'm upset not by the email itself, but by the fact that I no longer have the latest feature set. That is an entirely different issue that requires you to look at why you are reacting they way that you are. It has nothing to do with Tesla's email.

Do you also get upset when you read an article about Autopilot or a new feature that you can't get in your car? Do you look away from the screen when something pops up about Tesla's summon feature or how people are taking videos from the passenger seat showing the car drive itself?

Of course Tesla wants you to feel a little bit inadequate and that's why they include all owners in these emails. It can only help sell more cars as early owners trade in to get the new stuff. You can block their emails or enable a filter to route them to the trash can so you don't even see them. Or you can opt out.

 

[tinm]

I'm surprised Tesla isn't making it more clear that YOU CAN STILL PLACE A RESERVATION FOR MODEL 3 even one week after the event.

They just a moment ago announced 325K reservations. Fine.

But look at what they didn't do. Here's the new post on Tesla's blog:

Nothing about "thanks to everyone who's ordered already. And hey, if you want to order, GO RIGHT AHEAD, let's get this number up to 500,000 and beyond!" or something, anything, to not only encourage folks who don't obsessively follow Tesla but may be intrigued, or people who think the reservation period is now over.

Hell, on the same page there, there's a "Next Blog Post" link in the right-hand column, that leads to now OLD and STALE information about lining up at stores, etc. Nothing about hey keep placing reservations!

It's little details like this that add up over time to big missed opportunities.

 

[tinm]

One again, #fail on Tesla's part. Way to rub it in, Tesla. Send me an email about a "Tesla Weekend Social" event when you know damn well that the "nearest Tesla location" is 8 hours away. Have the marketing people ever done a database query before? You know, so these messages are only sent to people who actually have a Tesla location in their state, instead of being in a state that bans Tesla outright?

 

[ken830]

One again, #fail on Tesla's part. Way to rub it in, Tesla. Send me an email about a "Tesla Weekend Social" event when you know damn well that the "nearest Tesla location" is 8 hours away. Have the marketing people ever done a database query before? You know, so these messages are only sent to people who actually have a Tesla location in their state, instead of being in a state that bans Tesla outright?

I don't know... Would you rather not get invited? I'm sure if they did that, someone else would complain that they would be in the area anyway and weren't even allowed to attend.

 

[AudubonB]

Now you're going overboard.

The AP notice to owners of cars with a VIN prior to XXXXXXX (or otherwise w/o the necessary hardware) is, indeed, indicative of sloppy customer relations. But this latest notice of a Social? Absolutely everyone within that specific continent or, at the very least, country, should receive a notification. The only faux pas would be were TM to have done otherwise.

 

[tinm]

Fine, going overboard. Be that as it may, I'd still like to see some smarter email marketing from Tesla, that takes advantage of, you know, decades-old database techniques for personalizing messages to individual customers based on their individual circumstances (customer location vs nearest event location, customer's type and vintage of car owned, etc). Email personalization is a very well-established biz and there is no excuse for Tesla not utilizing it to improve communications.

 

[ken830]

Fine, going overboard. Be that as it may, I'd still like to see some smarter email marketing from Tesla, that takes advantage of, you know, decades-old database techniques for personalizing messages to individual customers based on their individual circumstances (customer location vs nearest event location, customer's type and vintage of car owned, etc). Email personalization is a very well-established biz and there is no excuse for Tesla not utilizing it to improve communications.

But they do do that. I regularly get e-mails announcing new Supercharger sites in California, but never get any about sites at other parts of the country/world.

 

[tinm]

Just documenting this thread in here as it's pertinent to the issue.

Tesla vs car dealer experience

 

[cpa]

I received recently the mass emailing of the hospital-grade filtration system that will become standard for all S (maybe Model 3? I do not recall.)

The email recounted how much testing went into developing this system, including driving through California's Central Valley. It raved about eliminating the odor from "cow pastures." (Likely this was in reference to the Harris Ranch operations located about 3 miles north of the Supercharger. We frequently receive northwest winds in the valley, so you can imagine.)

Note to Tesla: A cow pasture is a confined location where cattle graze on grass and other vegetation that sprouts from the earth. There are no open spaces in the valley for cattle to graze. Moreover, the weather is such that any vegetation will die come May or June due to the lack of precipitation. The odor that emanates from Harris Ranch is from a cattle feedlot, Big difference.

 

[bonnie]

One again, #fail on Tesla's part. Way to rub it in, Tesla. Send me an email about a "Tesla Weekend Social" event when you know damn well that the "nearest Tesla location" is 8 hours away. Have the marketing people ever done a database query before? You know, so these messages are only sent to people who actually have a Tesla location in their state, instead of being in a state that bans Tesla outright?

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I have to agree with 'going overboard' here. What if you'd been in the vicinity during one of those dates where you could attend? Wouldn't you want to know about it? Or are you asking that they take it to the level of 'we know you don't live nearby, but just in case you can make it, we wanted to extend an invitation'?.

I don't think anyone has argued that there isn't room for improvement on Tesla's communication. But reading through this thread, it's as if some people are going to be upset no matter what they do. I fully expected to see you happy that they were reaching out to customers with these mini-events, as one way of improving the customer experience. I honestly didn't expect to see anyone complain about it.

 

[bonnie]

I received recently the mass emailing of the hospital-grade filtration system that will become standard for all S (maybe Model 3? I do not recall.)

The email recounted how much testing went into developing this system, including driving through California's Central Valley. It raved about eliminating the odor from "cow pastures." (Likely this was in reference to the Harris Ranch operations located about 3 miles north of the Supercharger. We frequently receive northwest winds in the valley, so you can imagine.)

Note to Tesla: A cow pasture is a confined location where cattle graze on grass and other vegetation that sprouts from the earth. There are no open spaces in the valley for cattle to graze. Moreover, the weather is such that any vegetation will die come May or June due to the lack of precipitation. The odor that emanates from Harris Ranch is from a cattle feedlot, Big difference.

Forgive them. They're city-folk.

 

[tinm]

I'm documenting what I view as sub-optimal communications on Tesla's part. And I maintain that when Tesla sends out multiple invites for "Weekend Socials" and all are located 8 or more hours' drive away, that's a fail on Tesla's part. Better to re-word the email for such customers: hey, we know you live far away, but, etc. Yes that would be hard. It'd require more database queries and personalization logic. Well, I thought Elon liked to take on hard things. Good customer communications is harder than Falcon Wing doors. He hasn't yet proven he can do it.

 

[msnow]

I'm documenting what I view as sub-optimal communications on Tesla's part. And I maintain that when Tesla sends out multiple invites for "Weekend Socials" and all are located 8 or more hours' drive away, that's a fail on Tesla's part. Better to re-word the email for such customers: hey, we know you live far away, but, etc. Yes that would be hard. It'd require more database queries and personalization logic. Well, I thought Elon liked to take on hard things. Good customer communications is harder than Falcon Wing doors. He hasn't yet proven he can do it.

I think these "Socials" are a positive attempt by Tesla to improve communications and I hope they continue it.

 

[tinm]

I think these "Socials" are a positive attempt by Tesla to improve communications and I hope they continue it.

Hey I completely agree. I am all for these "Socials" events. It's a very positive development. Wish I could go to one.

 

[bonnie]

I'm documenting what I view as sub-optimal communications on Tesla's part. And I maintain that when Tesla sends out multiple invites for "Weekend Socials" and all are located 8 or more hours' drive away, that's a fail on Tesla's part. Better to re-word the email for such customers: hey, we know you live far away, but, etc. Yes that would be hard. It'd require more database queries and personalization logic. Well, I thought Elon liked to take on hard things. Good customer communications is harder than Falcon Wing doors. He hasn't yet proven he can do it.

Not everyone saw this as sub-optimal.

Some of us saw both the email and the socials as a step in the right direction.

 

[tinm]

Obviously. Is it okay for someone's mileage to vary with regard to the way the emails were done (NOT the socials, despite what appears to be an attempt to believe that I am against the socials, which is not true), or must we all think in lockstep?

 

[bonnie]

Surely a difference of opinion is allowed without being accused of wanting people to think in lockstep?

 

[cpa]

I happen to think that these "socials" are fun ideas. We do not live 8 hours away from a location, but Seaside/Monterey is a good 3 hours, so attendance would effectively kill a whole day unless we had other business in the area. (Our coastal preference is Pismo, not Monterey/Sta. Cruz.)

That said, I think Tesla ought to expand on these "socials" and have them occasionally at Supercharger locations for us owners out in the sticks. What better way to assemble us locals for some food and drink, information and conversation? Plus, I think public assembly would attract passersby and promote the brand.

This would not be for test drives. Just more brand awareness!