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Experiences with the Chicago service center?

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FlasherZ

Sig Model S + Sig Model X + Model 3 Resv
Jun 21, 2012
7,030
1,031
As some of you may have read in some of the main forums, when my model S was delivered, there were a bunch of things on the due bill (parcel shelf, rear seats, spoiler, sunshade) but there were three service issues that appeared immediately:

1. TPMS shows an error, even after the DS and I checked pressures and drove on it for a bit.
2. Nav & maps don't work because it thinks I'm on Deer Creek Rd in Menlo Park, CA (Tesla HQ), so the GPS receiver isn't updating. One person on the forum noted that service personnel told him that several cars arrived with GPS antennas disconnected, and it's a quick fix.
3. My UMC doesn't open the charge port unless you hold it over the rear glass and push the button with it against the car.

I've placed 2 calls to the Chicago service center and have been rather unimpressed with the approach to the service:

1. One yesterday morning, where I explained the issues; they mentioned Leo the new service manager in St. Louis would likely need to come out and deal with it. I was told that the service center would pull the logs and look into the issues and would get back to me yesterday or this morning with some information about where we stood.

2. One this afternoon, where I explained I hadn't gotten a call and asked for an update. I was told that Leo was in transit to another service center, and was then flying to Chicago to get some training, and that following the training he would be going over the various due bills and would reach out to me "sometime in the near future". I explained what I had read on the forums and asked about the GPS antenna - if it was something I could fix (because I'd *REALLY* like my nav to work!!) and was told "the forums aren't always accurate". I asked about getting a new UMC that would open the charge port without a great rigmarole, and was told "Lee will need to learn how to see this and find the best way to deal with it" (when we know that several UMC's have had this problem and shipping a new one solves it!!). I accept the TPMS will likely require a service engineer to handle, but it's the least of my worries right now because I know my tire pressure is good.

Bottom line, I was left hanging -- no idea when I'd see my service issues addressed.

Is this the experience I should expect? Any help here?
 
Flash - Can I call you that? I feel I know you by now. As another (future) owner in the greater Chicago area, your post terrifies me. I suspect there are other like minded owners. What can we do to help you get the attention you deserve? I think you know we have a founder in the area, and we have 2 showrooms - plenty of people to reach out to, but I don't want to set anything in motion that is contrary to your desires.
 
Flash is fine. Nickname is such because I was a photography geek in high school. :)

At this point, I'm checking my own expectations. I live ~250 miles from Chicago, down near St. Louis (45 miles east). I had heard stories of the service center pulling logs from the Roadsters and immediately building a plan of action, even if it meant a ranger visit was a few days away. In this case, it doesn't seem like anyone wanted to even look at the issue until Leo could come visit me which could be several days away; common fixes like shipping a new UMC, given that there have been a couple of reports of my situation fixed by a new one, aren't even being pursued until Leo gets trained.

I received the car Saturday. It doesn't seem like triage should wait up to a week. Your experience may be different if you can physically bring the car there, so that those at the service center can look at it physically. In my case, that's really not possible, and the St. Louis center isn't open yet.

I have my expectations of service -- I bought a $110k car, and I expect a quality of service that matches it, and I'm just wondering if my expectations are off or whether something needs to be checked.
 
Flash, your expectations should be high - as should all of ours. I'll put my cell phone number on the private charger discussion where we've chatted before. I'll leave it for you to decide if you want me to help you to make some noise. Either way, best of luck. Kindly follow-up with any updates.
 
I don't know your situation, but if your GPS is stuck holding both scroll wheels down will reset the center computer. Doing this unlocked my GPS that was stuck in a specific location, but not moving.

Hope this helps.
 
I don't know your situation, but if your GPS is stuck holding both scroll wheels down will reset the center computer. Doing this unlocked my GPS that was stuck in a specific location, but not moving.

Hope this helps.

Lee and I tried this when the car was delivered, it unfortunately did not resolve the issue. My GPS is stuck at Tesla HQ on Deer Creek Rd. in Menlo Park. My car was never at Tesla HQ, but GPS thinks I am there. :)

I've since heard from someone at Tesla who has started the ball rolling and has established a timeline for me to get some information.
 
Can't say I've had experience with the actual service center. I suspect they are going mad with calls now and traveling quite a bit.

This is understandable, but it concerns me regarding the future. Pretty rapidly there are going to be 10000 model s' out there. They need to come up with a plan.

If one goes by Bonnie's undying love for Tesla service centers and by the reports of others, this may be a small blemish on the Chicago store for the time being.

Sent via Tapatalk.
 
Flash, I have dealt with Tesla service a few times in the last 18 days. My belief is that they are great but having ramp up issues. They came at night once and on Sunday afternoon the other time.

Yes they responded in a timeline similar to yours.

I doubt any other car company will go to your house on nights and weekends or am I used to normal car companies?
 
Is that service center new? Mine's new, but the guy isn't, and I have a good relationship with him; my service center is new and so there are things not getting done in a timely manner and whatnot, but I have a very candid and open conversation with the manager (who's not new to Tesla) ... they don't have all their tools yet ... training not complete, etc ... so it makes sense (assuming the Chicago center is new), but the responses don't sound great. Especially the "not everything in the forums is true" line. I HATE THAT LINE and it should be stricken, punishable by flogging. That's the antithesis of "the customer is always right" ...
Anyway, it's not normal in my experience. If this continues to be the norm, raise it up the chain so Tesla can correct it.
 
Can't say I've had experience with the actual service center. I suspect they are going mad with calls now and traveling quite a bit.

This is understandable, but it concerns me regarding the future. Pretty rapidly there are going to be 10000 model s' out there. They need to come up with a plan.

If one goes by Bonnie's undying love for Tesla service centers and by the reports of others, this may be a small blemish on the Chicago store for the time being.

Sent via Tapatalk.

My undying love is because of how I've been treated. This story is unacceptable. Flash, I'm glad someone reached out to you since this happened, but that's just not been my experience (or the experience of others as documented at Actual Service Experiences with Tesla. I encourage you to put your full story over there also. That thread is not meant to just be the positive stories, but all the stories.
 
I have been serviced out of Chicago, and I am 600 miles away. I was very impressed with my experience as I had an accelerator position error just before a 500 mile trip in the car. The error occured at 7 am EST so I contacted the DC store and posted the issue on this forum. When I came home for lunch I had a message on my machine from the Chicago store. Even though the DC store said they would take care of me, and they did, Chicago called and texted me (twice) while on my trip to ensure the car worked. Being that I am so remote I think they did all that was humanly possible to get me going and with follow through until the problem was fully resolved. The cars are VERY new with ALL new technology, and they are doing their best to ramp up. After building a few EV's myself I have a real appreciation with the difficulties they are trying to address.

They are attemping the impossible so I for one will cut them slack.