What's the record for longest service/loaner period?

[TechOps]

Sorry you had to go through that ordeal, but the good news is that a professional detailer can most likely get that paint job looking better than new for not too much $. Tesla would probably reimburse you for it too. Have you seen the brand new cars that come from Tesla before they get cleaned up? They look pretty much identical to how yours arrived.

On the other hand, I'm surprised that you considered having a semi-forgotten Model X P100D loaner as a "fire-level emergency". If that were me, I'd clean up the Model S and stash it in the garage, and keep driving the X until/unless Tesla remembered to get it back. Free miles in a $166k car is not an emergency in my book.. JMHO

 

[tinm]

Yes, I considered it a "fire-level emergency."

I was not a big fan of driving the X. The doors randomly opened or refused to. The cruise control was timid; interpreting a gentle bend in the road ahead as cause for braking; the fact that the TPMS barked at me for weeks, requiring three visits to Discount Tire. But mainly because as you say, it's a $166K car ($180K with taxes) that I was responsible for -- that my auto insurance had to cover, and my insurance was for the S, a car priced roughly half of that. Driving around New Mexico is no picnic -- one needs to be ever vigilant due to all the drivers running red lights, cutting out right in front of you when you're at speed, suddenly changing lanes with no signal, parking super-close in a parking lot with major ding potential; and on and on.

Whatever thrill and fun was derived from eight weeks of a top-of-the-line flagship Tesla vehicle was dampened by all those worries. So the thought of suddenly being responsible for my car AND the X, for an indefinite period, was to me a "fire-level emergency."

 

[Ghosty]

Mobile car washes - using distilled water - top of the line materials and new microfiber towels for each car charge about 35 bucks to detail a car. A $35 investment could have prevented all that.

 

[Ditto]

This is crazy. Anyone reading this should be thinking "this guy is clearly making this up, Tesla would never let this happen", yet having experienced something similar (yet far from this bad) I know better than to think tinm is simply making the story sound worst than it is.

My experience with Tesla has been quite terrible. Calling them is a huge hassle, you get redirected mulitple times and rarely speak to the correct person, so you either give up or get lucky. Emails are rarely returned, and you don't really feel like a customer once they have your money.

After getting my brand new car and giving it a good look once I got home I noticed the production issues I had been reading about online. Took quite a few calls and a lot of waiting for them to get it fixed. Some things were fixed in a way that I couldn't believe, and I had to ask them to refix it until it was done right.

When speaking of my complaints on Reddit I was quickly downvoted by the blind Tesla lovers over there. Don't get me wrong, I am also a Tesla lover, but I like to think that it doesn't prevent me to see the issues.

Usually as customers we have the power to go elsewhere and they will gladly take out money, but the thing is no other company even comes close to Tesla. I can't believe how much I love my car and how driving any other car feels like a huge burden. I've been debating switching my S75D for a more recent model with AP2.X and an 100 battery. If Lexus had anything similar to Tesla I might give it a go, but right now driving a Tesla feels so satisfying and their competitors are so behind that I'm willing to live with these issues we're experiencing.

tinm, please keep us updated! I love reading about these stories, especially when they can have a great ending!

 

[EVCarGUy]

When speaking of my complaints on Reddit I was quickly downvoted by the blind Tesla lovers over there.

Yeah, the telsamotors sub reddit is useless.

 

[tinm]

This is crazy. Anyone reading this should be thinking "this guy is clearly making this up, Tesla would never let this happen", yet having experienced something similar (yet far from this bad) I know better than to think tinm is simply making the story sound worst than it is.

Oh I can assure you it's not made up. It's just unfortunately the latest episode that once again exemplifies Tesla's long-running weakness: communication.

After getting my brand new car and giving it a good look once I got home I noticed the production issues I had been reading about online. Took quite a few calls and a lot of waiting for them to get it fixed. Some things were fixed in a way that I couldn't believe, and I had to ask them to refix it until it was done right.

Gotta chuckle at that. As I mentioned upthread, one of the reasons I wanted to simply ASK the service center about maybe possibly doing the annual service (which was overdue) was because JUST BEFORE I had undertaken the long trip to San Diego, I'd had the tires rotated locally. I wanted to find out if the annual service would include the tire rotation. Oh, I found out alright. After they had gone and done the annual service without my asking for it. So they had to go take the four wheels off and un-rotate them. More time and labor lost.

The thing is, there are REAL CONSEQUENCES to constantly screwed-up communications. As an investor, it means HIGHER COSTS incurred by Tesla in terms of labor, time, personnel, focus, and probably parts and equipment. As a customer, it means over time one really gets worn out from all the worry and having to constantly take charge because, simply, Tesla cannot be trusted. Like many Silicon Valley companies, the high growth rate of the company has masked a need to worry about these costs. But they do matter in the end.

 

[Ditto]

So you have a 2013, ever thought of upgrading? Will your next car be a Tesla if you had to change now?

 

[tinm]

So you have a 2013, ever thought of upgrading? Will your next car be a Tesla if you had to change now?

Are you kidding? Of course. I would love to get a newer dual-motor, bigger battery S. We have a 3 on order--that'll be my wife's next car--so after that I hope to upgrade the S to a newer S. But as a longtime shareholder I worry deeply that the zero-accountability, consequence-free days of Tesla customer expectation mismanagement are going to backfire horrendously with all the new 3 owners.

 

[tinm]

News Flash:

I heard from the service center this morning. Profuse apologies, dismay at the state in which my car arrived, dismay that anyone at the service center would allow the car to be put on the truck in such a condition. Encouragement for me to go get the car professionally detailed, no matter what it takes, and send the bill to the service center, they'll reimburse. I thanked the manager. Good guy. No hard feelings. Now comes the task of finding a detailer in New Mexico who's got experience working on Teslas......

 

[steele]

My car. And not in a garage, exposed to the elements for over a month.

It gets a bit much being responsible for a $166,000 loaner for weeks on end. This thing is awesome don't get me wrong, but it's big, bulky, difficult to transport stuff in, and is a serious electron-guzzler (gentle neighborhood driving gets you 500+ Wh/mi, worse if hilly). I miss my lil' ol' clunker S.

I currently have a X P90D Signature loaner and I feel the same way. It's an amazing machine, but my anxiety goes through the roof every time I pull it out of the garage. I am only at ~400 Wh/mi though, surprised there's that much difference!

 

[RogerHScott]

I heard from the service center this morning. ...dismay that anyone at the service center would allow the car to be put on the truck in such a condition.

I don't understand this. How big can the service center staff be? How much uncertainty can there be as to who dropped the ball here? Cynically, I have to wonder whether the proper translation of this message is "Dismay that someone noticed the entirely unsurprising result of their standard operating procedure"? Anyone "in charge" of the service center should easily be able to determine exactly who, specifically, was responsible for your situation.

 

[RogerHScott]

Under what sort of circumstances, and from what sorts of service or repair locations, do people get loaners? My Tesla in at a collision repair shop after being in an accident and no one has said a word about providing me a loaner.

 

[MP3Mike]

Under what sort of circumstances, and from what sorts of service or repair locations, do people get loaners? My Tesla in at a collision repair shop after being in an accident and no one has said a word about providing me a loaner.

Tesla doesn't provide loaners for collision repairs. The provide loaners for when you are getting warranty work performed at a Tesla service center.

For collision damage the at-fault/responsible party would be on the hook for providing you a loaner/rental.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

News Flash:

I heard from the service center this morning. Profuse apologies, dismay at the state in which my car arrived, dismay that anyone at the service center would allow the car to be put on the truck in such a condition. Encouragement for me to go get the car professionally detailed, no matter what it takes, and send the bill to the service center, they'll reimburse. I thanked the manager. Good guy. No hard feelings. Now comes the task of finding a detailer in New Mexico who's got experience working on Teslas......

Love it! Good on you, Tesla. Good luck, @tinm.

 

[Electroman]

Looking at those pictures, i can't believe they shipped that thing directly to a customer.

 

[sakimano]

I was all set to blame the dirty car on being on a carrier for the better part of a week... Till I saw the truck.

I have no idea how the staff at the dealership let that car on the truck.

The service manager needs to maybe be retrained...becuase a manager of a tight shop would never let that happen. No member of a well run team would.

 

[tinm]

By the way, to follow up on Tesla emailing me the "how was your recent service visit?" survey with the five star-shaped buttons,

This was days ago, when I originally posted the screenshot of the survey email upthread, long before the service manager called me on Monday. I'd clicked on the leftmost star, indicating I was giving it a one-star rating. That took me to a form where it wanted to know why I was giving that rating, and I shared links to the long bullet-list post above and then the post with all the photos. Who knows if anyone within Tesla ever sees this stuff. I doubt it. (That's why I also emailed the links directly to the staff at the service center itself... I think they got the message).

 

[artsci]

That’s an inexcusalbe disgrace. Shame on Tesla.

Who the hell is responsible for this kind of thing? People have to be held accountable and heads should roll for this.

Back to the OP’s original topic I recall other posts describing stiuations where people have been without their cars for 6 months or more while repairs were being made. Also inexcusable.

 

[Drewflux]

By the way, to follow up on Tesla emailing me the "how was your recent service visit?" survey with the five star-shaped buttons,

This was days ago, when I originally posted the screenshot of the survey email upthread, long before the service manager called me on Monday. I'd clicked on the leftmost star, indicating I was giving it a one-star rating. That took me to a form where it wanted to know why I was giving that rating, and I shared links to the long bullet-list post above and then the post with all the photos. Who knows if anyone within Tesla ever sees this stuff. I doubt it. (That's why I also emailed the links directly to the staff at the service center itself... I think they got the message).

Its most likely an internal mechanism from the survey. I my job Im held to a Customer Satisfaction Index. Anything under a 4 would get flagged.

A 1* would push instant notifications to the internal customer service rep,my boss, the owner of the business and the regional manager and head office's customer team

 

[hybridbear]

Sorry about your experience. I have found that expressing my concerns on the survey does get attention. At the very least it will get a follow up from the local Service Center about it. I agree that communication is a big issue around Tesla.