UK: Tesla after-sale experience reviews in UK. What’s your experience?

[RadonePiedone]

Quick question for UK based Tesla owners:

What is everyone’s experience with Tesla’s service/repairs and after-care/sale customer service in the UK?? Is it as bad as the Trustpilot reviews are suggesting?

After weeks of debating, I almost decided to go for MY RWD but then looked at after sale customer service reviews describing very difficult experiences with any repairs (many waiting for weeks for a reply through the app or to book an appointment), being asked to sign a waiver that they will pay for the any costs of repairs if Tesla determines they won’t cover under warranty, posts about main screen or computer breaking down after 2 years and not being covered by Tesla warranty and customers having to pay £2K; issues with fogging headlights not considered under warranty etc.

I know it’s probably easy to let yourself influenced by all these negative reviews and I accept that a dissatisfied customer is more likely to post a review than a satisfied one.

However, it would help to hear from a wide range of UK Tesla owners about their experience in that regard.


Thank you!

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

There’s no smoke without fire, but you’ll also generally find negativity in reviews so you see the worst of it.

Tesla insist that all service requests are done through the app which only really works if the fault is easy to determine.
They do often expect you to confirm you’ll pay if no fault is found, or it’s not warranty, if they can’t determine remotely. Our front motor stopped working and they could see that remotely so as part of the booking process they arranged a car etc and all sorted.
Other repairs I’ve needed haven’t gone as well.
You will get some who love the approach, some who hate it, I’m more to hate, I don’t mind the app, but would like the ability to talk to someone at times
Headlights are more an issue with model s and model x, the daytime running element fails and there’s a great debate about 2hether its fit for purpose etc.
The big screen, again more to do with model s and x. It’s got a story about the first version mainly that they stopped using in 2017/8

I think overall it’s not perfect but it’s not as bad as some make out, it’s also not as good as others will claim. The best service centre is one you never need, and unfortunately I still think there are more faults than there should be. In the last 2 years I’ve had the motor electronics replaced, a new seat, the roof reinstalled, the car before went in a few times to get the tow bar electrics sorted, the car before the reversing camera failed, a different seat needed replacing and a door handle went, autopilot drove the car hard left when engaged.. but all were fixed under warranty apart from autopilot which they blamed on tracking and charged 450 to adjust.

 

[phil4]

I've had 3 repairs over the nearly 4 years I've had my M3. The first two were simple ranger visits, done through the app and easy as. The third was a service centre visit, again done through the app.

If you're the sort of person that likes bumping your gums, then it'll annoy you no end. If you're fine to work through without talking to anyone, or even prefer it, then it'll be fine.

I can't answer about lack of spare parts as the above were all in stock, and sorted promptly, but that may not be the case for all parts.

 

[Dilly]

When I bought In 2020 My nearest SC was close to 100 miles away but I had no cause to use it. as luck would have it they opened one 15 miles away a couple of years ago and I’ve been there several times and had several Ranger visits. Nothing major, parts in stock and my SC is pretty obliging though not all SC’s are by all accounts.

When you are at an SC, the guys working on the car will talk to you. My experience has always been good so far.

 

[spooksman]

I’ve also had my M3P just over 4 years, and personally, I think the service has been very good. I’ve had a couple of Ranger visits, and a couple at the service centre (one after two years to check brakes etc).

Booked everything through the app, and communication was very good and fast.

I certainly prefer the experience compared to my old Mercedes, which was always challenging (and expensive).

 

[MrBadger]

We have had more than our fair share of service visits - >10 visits across 3 different service centres and 2 mobile.

In the near 5 years we have been using service, the experience has changed considerably.

In early days, customer service was face to face, then covid when minimal face to face, then now when it’s all very hit and miss, although you may get a text exchange or phone call. You never know what to expect but all very likely to be very much hands off.

If it suits and you don’t need face to face, then hands off has some good advantages. You can drop off and/or pick up generally at you leisure.

When you do get to interact with a person it’s generally very good but the output from that interaction then seems to be entered on to a computer which might say no or have to be authorised which may also be no. Whilst face to face might seem good, there is mostly very little continuity with what gets discussed and what gets done.

Quality of work. On a significant number of our visits, a follow up has been necessary to resolve an unrelated issue that wasn’t there prior to the original visit. They have generally been very good at resolving and on one occasion dropped car back to us along with a few Tesla goodies. A nice thought but should have been unnecessary and still time consuming on our part. But it does show that at times, Tesla can still have a sympathetic face rather than an arrogant one.

Gave up asking for courtesy car long ago. Much easier and less hassle for two of us to drop off/pick up even if our insurance company would have covered the huge replacement car excess for free - one to watch if you are not aware.

In ~40 years of car ownership, I have already needed to deal with Tesla service more than any other car dealer in the near 5 years ownership. Putting that in context I normally keep cars for 13+ years.

I normally hate dealing with garages (a couple of independents excepted) and whilst Tesla are not the worse I have experienced, they are certainly in bottom half and probably the one I most dread dealing with. I have an issue from our last visit that needs to be followed up (their warranty fix lasted a few months and now car is out of warranty), but I know that talking to a sympathetic ear about it will be near impossible so haven’t bothered.

tl;dr very hit and miss. If you don’t like/need face to face interaction then it might suit, but if you need to discuss something face to face then it’s often a lost cause.

Mobile always been good. But that’s always been face to face.

 

[Pagemakers]

I had half a dozen visits in the 4 years of my 3P ownership. Each time service was easy to arrange and politely and efficiently carried out. No complaints here.

 

[jontie]

Three Year Lookback - Model 3 LR 2021

An EV newbie in 2021, it is time to reflect on my 35 months with an M3 LR 2021 (June) with 18-in aeros sold this week. Our M3 Highland chapter starts with delivery on 5th June when we go again! Total mileage 32,985 miles included 7 trips to southern France (also taking in Corsica and the...

teslamotorsclub.com

Service/support is wafer thin but if you can persist with the app, YouTube videos and forums like this one, our experience is that it seems to work out OK in the end. See my three year lookback M3LR. We are booked to collect our next one on 5th June!

 

[RadonePiedone]

Thank you all, this is very helpful!

Did any of you have difficulties with having faults rectified or repaired while still in warranty and are there any parts that you know would not be covered under the standard tesla warranty for a MY or M3H?

 

[Pagemakers]

All my under warranty repairs where “free” and done within days of booking.

However, days after my warranty ran out I had a problem with the boot opening (possibly covered under a recall). Tesla were having none of it. It was a paid for repair, simple as that. No free kind-gesture despite ordering a 3rd Tesla vehicle. Computer says no.

 

[RadonePiedone]

Three Year Lookback - Model 3 LR 2021

An EV newbie in 2021, it is time to reflect on my 35 months with an M3 LR 2021 (June) with 18-in aeros sold this week. Our M3 Highland chapter starts with delivery on 5th June when we go again! Total mileage 32,985 miles included 7 trips to southern France (also taking in Corsica and the...

teslamotorsclub.com

Service/support is wafer thin but if you can persist with the app, YouTube videos and forums like this one, our experience is that it seems to work out OK in the end. See my three year lookback M3LR. We are booked to collect our next one on 5th June!

Just read it, very informative, thank you!

 

[MrBadger]

Did any of you have difficulties with having faults rectified or repaired while still in warranty

Yes. As below, I had a whole host of warranty fixes agreed with one service guy (eg rear lights, side B post cameras condensation that day it was in for repair it was hot and dry) but by time repair was in everything was ‘within tolerance’.

A few other visits were postponed (several times) at ~6pm day (not good timing if other arrangements made) before due to lack of parts and some visits required a return visit as not all materials (eg glue) available were in stock that day so some of the concerns could not be worked on.

It does seem to have been a bit better recently although last visit (and similar situation with earlier visit where app/text messages were contradictory) the tech kept saying he didn’t know if car would be ready in time so didn’t know if we could collect until SC was about to close - as it happened it was but not ideal when we were needing the car to get home and had a couple of mile walk to get back to the car or take a train home.

So they can have pretty poor comms at time, but so can many other companies.

I think it’s often a case of if it goes smoothly it’s very good but when there is something untoward going on then it can go south rapidly not helped by Tesla’s arrogance and their ability to go offline/stonewall you.

When you do get to interact with a person it’s generally very good but the output from that interaction then seems to be entered on to a computer which might say no or have to be authorised which may also be no. Whilst face to face might seem good, there is mostly very little continuity with what gets discussed and what gets done.

 

[as400]

Tesla Centre Gatwick were excellent. Had just bought my 3 and I wasn't happy with the leather on the steering wheel, also an issue with the charge port. As the car is under 4yrs and 50K no questions were asked, comms were perfect and they threw in a Y Performance overnight just for fun, which was fun!

 

[roadcred]

I have used Brooklands, Gatwick and Guildford since 2019. Brooklands (now closed) was the best. In North Surrey we really need a more local Service Centre , onot that I (touch wood) have any need for a visit since I got my first Model Y 2+ years ago.

 

[boombap]

Can’t complain about it.
Prefer it massively over the dealer model of traditional car co’s.

First Tesla was an early 2020 Fremont built 3LR & had 2x service visits over its lifetime for 1) maybe 3 months in heard a random creaking noise from rear, had to take it to service centre 20 miles away, got a loaner P100S S for 2 days, they tightened bolts and it went away, 2) after about 2.5 years the common (for that generation of cars) control arm creak/squeak was fixed by mobile service in my car park. Both fixes done under warranty, disclaimer to pay if not a warranty issue is standard but both were covered.
Also had an issue with the finance as they’d overcharged me £3k for deposit (I’d asked to do this but turned out they couldn’t actually do that deal on finance) which took 2 weeks to resolve/refund by email & 2 calls.
Did also enquire about tyre replacement after a puncture but in the end just took it to a local tyre shop and got a plug done for £7 instead.

Second Tesla is a late 2022 Shanghai built MYP which hasn’t needed any service at all so far in the 1.5 years I’ve had it and is already higher mileage than the first one was when I traded it in, pleasantly surprised with the improvement in quality over the first one.

 

[Bootneckshuffl]

My experience is that service centres are decent enough, mobile techs the same but Tesla UK customer service as a whole is by far the worst I’ve ever dealt with. Horrible.

 

[Drew57]

in 2020 I had two visits to the Stockport SC and on both occasions the work was completed promptly.

Shortly afterwards a new one opened 3 miles from home and I have only needed to use that for a 'peace of mind' check-up prior to selling my original Tesla. I was impressed when parking up that the SC recognised the presence of my car, automatically assigned a temporary PIN & whilst seated inside the building I saw a mechanic walk up and drive the car away exactly at the time of the scheduled appointment. No human contact was needed until the work was finished.

Compare that with JLR a few hundred yards away where every visit with a prior Range Rover resulted in a litany of errors and repeat visits. All human contact just added to the levels of frustration.

 

[MovingSouth]

2021 M3 LR. Had initial rattles fixed and subsequently two other things fixed after the car detected faults. Latter two done by drop off with no human interaction. All fine, if rather impersonal.

Brake servicing done by a local garage with no problems - too far to the Birmingham service centre.

However, Tesla don't MOTs, which is strange in a real pain, in that it means a separate trip somewhere for an MOT. I think I've read that some service centres arrange for a local garage to do the MOT, but the new service centre in Wolverhampton simply say no MOTs.

As far as I'm concerned that stops me considering Tesla for the recommended service work in the manual.

But Tesla are unique in providing access to the full service manuals, so that eases things in getting independents to do much of the work (that doesn't require access to Toolbox 3, which I believe is paid for).

 

[qwickshot]

I’ve had 3 service visits and have another pending.

Two were to deal with delivery issues (light scratches that needed to be polished out) on two different cars (one SC, one mobile). One to fix a fault with the charge port at the service centre.

I’ve got another mobile visit pending to fix some rattles that have developed since delivery.

The techs and rangers that work on your vehicles are good but the virtual service team that triage your cars before you are booked in can be a bit hit or miss.

You may be asked to approve a 1 hour diagnosis fee for certain issues, particularly noise complaints. If it turns out to be a warranty issue, it’s waived. Thats come about because of the large number of people reporting rattles in the app which turn out to be their umbrella rolling around in the boot.

However, if you are specific with what’s rattling, they don’t put the diagnostic charge on. I just booked to get some rattles fixed, I was clear what was rattling (door cards) and they didn’t put on the diagnostic charge.

You me mentioned broken computers, of all the cracked screens (which people usually describe as the ‘computer’) I’ve seen which were refused under warranty had obvious impact damage on them. If there is no impact mark (e.g. single crack across the screen), they swap it under warranty.

 

[RadonePiedone]

Thank you very much, this is all incredibly helpful.

After nearly convincing myself I should look at other brands, I now feel more tempted to look at MY, I’ll probably go for another test drive with the RWD.

Perhaps one more question, automatic windscreen wipers, are these still problematic in the current models?