Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Hawaii Service Center experience

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Wanted to start a thread for sharing our service center experiences.

I've had my car into the service center several times for odds and ends since picking it up May 3. Each time I have been exceedingly impressed with the entire experience. The staff is wonderfully friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. I got Model S loaners the two times my car has had to stay more than a short while.

What has impressed me most is the proactive nature of the service. While in to get a passenger's A-pillar creak fixed they performed a service bulletin fix on my pano roof to preempt creaking which many people have reported but my car was free from. I'm in again now for a recurrent A-pillar creak, for which they are now replacing the entire A-pillar cover, and they are proactively performing a service bulletin fix for exterior trim creak which my car is also free from.

And here's the proactive biggie. When I upgraded from 4.4 to 4.5 an error message appeared telling me to get service. I called Ownership to report it. After checking with the engineers they said it was just a glitch in the upgrade and I could drive no worries. The error message indeed went away as soon as I began driving and never returned.

However, two weeks later Luke from our SC contacted me and said the engineers reviewed my car logs from that error message again and just to be safe there would be no serious problem in the future they wanted to replace my entire 60 kWh battery!

So our SC guys swapped out my whole 60 kWh battery, which was giving me no problems whatsoever, plus swapped out my 12V battery, also giving me no problems at all, with the new type now being installed. Is this amazing or what? It blows my mind. Tesla is taking care of problems before they happen.

The guys at our SC are awesome beyond belief. Reading some of the reports on the forums about other SCs in the country, particularly in CA, we have an over the top fabulous SC. Lucky we live Hawaii.

Thanks Hawaii SC!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: newtman
Great that things are working out exactly as they should. We've had fantastic service here in FL from both Tampa and Miami; I was going to suggest that sunshine makes for a happy atmosphere but I think California has just been overloaded on occasion.
 
This thread is a great idea. Thanks ddruz for thinking of it. Another wonderful idea.
About the SC, I say, High Praise for the High Priest of Service. OUR Service Center Team exceeds their own service level. They just keep getting better. They excel in more than a single area. More than one time I have received both follow up emails and voice calls asking me if everything is working okay, it there was anything else they could do for me.

I'd been out to the SC serveral time before I took delivery on my car. I've told this story too many times. Nanimac told me of an orphaned White 60 at the SC the day before Easter weekend. I dropped by and looked at her on Saturday and called Tesla. We agreed on the purchase Saturday afternoon. There were changes that were required. Barry worked Saturday and most of Sunday to get the car ready. After the Model S Orientation I drove away Sunday afternoon. Barry had given up his entire Easter weekend to get my car ready. He was wearing his famous smile and there was never a hint that he was working far more extra time that he should have. Wow. Yep - WOW !

One of the things Tesla agreed to do was swap the 21's to 19's. Barry was by himself in those days. That means he swapped two sets of tires by his lonesome. There's no need for me to describe that effort. You can picture it in your mind. And with that swap there was a TPMS issue that didn't go right. Barry spotted it. And called me that Sunday night and the next day checking if it was resolved. The really outstanding part of this story, this is not an isolated incident. For the Honolulu SC, this is their own idea of a standard level of service. They have spoiled me.

I could go on and on, but you know all this yourself. I wrote George Blankenship back in April about Barry and the SC and bragged about him. Among other things, I thanked him for bringing Barry home to Hawaii. Mr. Blankenship emailed me back inside of 15 minutes thanking me for the email. He was not surprised by the level and quality of service though. He knows Barry. If you feel the same about Barry and the SC, I encourage you to send a note to Mr. Blankenship, [email protected]

Thanks to ddruz. Thank you very much Barry & Luke and the rest of the SC Team We appreciate your efforts.


 
Last edited:
Great idea ddruz. I've got my own stories as well which have been covered in past posts (buried in the original Hawaii thread) and there have been new stories that haven't been posted, likely because as Akikiki has said, we are getting spoiled and have started to see such service as the norm. It is not. At least not compared to other dealers.
Most recently, I was scheduled to do my 6k mile tire rotation, and the day before I turned too quickly out of a driveway in Waikiki where there was some high curbing. My MS came down on the curb and slightly dislodged some plastic panels underneath. Later in the day I was making another delivery to Ala Moana hotel and probably turned into the steep driveway too fast. The chrome undertray caught the ground and it got yanked down and was hanging. It was about 4 in the afternoon and I called Luke at the service center and explained the situation. He checked for the part, and they had it. I asked if they could do it at the same time as the tire rotation and he said no problem. It cost me over $600 with parts and labor but my MS was back to normal in under a day. They managed to pop the plastic panels back in no problem too.
Barry, Luke & team are very accommodating and awesome.
Hats off to the Hawaii Service Team. No ka oi!
 
I have stopped at the SC for minor items like replacing my J1772 adapter and had no problems.
the other day was the first time I had to take advantage of the ranger pickup service.
Initial complaint was my TPMS indicating low pressure. It would have been better if it had been able to tell me the tire with the problem and what the individual tire pressures were.
the SC never told the loaner driver that the issue was a possible flat tire. this is a safety concern for me and anyone else who would drive my car in that condition.
even if not flat there was no way to tell without actually checking the tire pressure if it would be safe at highway speed or should he take the surface roads to the SC.

it took them one day to do about a dozen service bulletins. the only one they couldn't complete was the key fob replacement. Mine is starting to show the 3 tell-tale circles on top.
to add the new fob to the car they needed both programmed fobs to complete but didn't have my second fob. They initially said that they did not need the second fob and they learned the hard way.
I didn't expect to have much problem with the billing since I have the full 8 year service + warranty package. I also got the Tire service plan. They called to give me the bill for the tire repair and when I asked them how much was covered by the tire plan they said they would have to call me back. evidentially they forgot to check. (I read the plan and it covers up to $30 for tire repair.) my next call was that my car was on it's way to be dropped off. I guess they checked. the number that I had caught a glimpse of on the initial paperwork when they dropped off the loaner was more than $30, so I guess they dropped the charge to $30 so it would zero out.
I like that they gave me a new rear floor mat but I really liked my early version "thick" mats with Velcro on the back. Why replace them with thin floppy ones with the rubberized backing.
I may stop out at the SC tomorrow with "Both" key fobs to get the one replaced.

overall positive but they are still a little rough on some of the details.
 
Had another great SC experience today.

About 5 days after an August visit to the SC in which the preemptive pano roof creak bulletin was performed my roof started creaking for the first time. The SC guys took it right back in for a fix a couple weeks ago. That lasted only 5 days too. In addition my car developed a driver's side A pillar rattle in this interval.

So the SC guys took my car back in right away again night before last, gave me a loaner today. They revamped my entire pano roof cross member cover and both A pillar covers with a plethora of foam tape covering all potential rubbing, rattling, creaking points. They went well beyond the service bulletins to make absolutely sure no creaks or rattles would return.

Picked up my car tonight and it is silent and solid over the rough roads that previously produced all manner of pano roof creaks and A pillar rattles. This fix feels like it finally did the trick. The SC also washed my car beautifully for my pick up. Can't say enough fantastic things about our SC group. Truly great bunch of guys with fabulous attitudes.
 
ddruz, +1 on the SC and crew there. Leadership is excellent too. They do a great job and care as much about the Teslas as we do. I have written George Blankenship (gblankenship@) a couple of times about the Honolulu SC and crew there. I encourage anyone that has enjoyed the same service to consider a brief email to George and to ownership@ to insure the bosses on the mainland know how much we appreicate the quality of work we get here.
 
Another great experience at the SC. I was given the details. Fortunately, since I was not having the 2nd row cup holders installed, the work is shorter so I didn't need the loaner. They did offer me a ride to Starbucks to wait for the work to be done, but I opted to have my lunch in the break room. I do see that they are getting ready to expand into the new space soon. I hope they officially open soon.
 
Hawaii Service Center FIRST CLASS SERVICE!

I was having some problems with my stereo, called the SC. The person who worked with me through the entire process was Jimmy Chow. I must say I was thoroughly impressed by his first class service. In addition, the attitude and demeanor of everyone I dealt with was above and beyond, exhibiting an enthusiasm about their job and making an extra effort to make sure their customer was happy. In leadership classes, they call this "cake, with frosting". They got frosting. Jimmy would call me with updates as to what they found, what they were doing, and what the timeframe would be. If something went wrong, he immediately told me what he would do to make it right. Great overall experience - as a car owner, I already know how good the product is. As a stockholder, I am very pleased with how good the people are and what they do for their customers. :):):)
 
Took my car in to get my tires rotated. Not only has their space expanded,but the crew has grown too! Barry says there's 8 of them now! I remember the days when it was just Barry and he did everything himself! Great service experience as usual..here's some pics from exploring the new space. It's gonna look great when it's all put together.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    514.4 KB · Views: 248
  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    701.3 KB · Views: 225
  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    659.5 KB · Views: 247
I'm headed to the SC tomorrow to have a rattle fixed. I have been advised that they no longer have a loaner MS. :scared::cursing:

However, they offered to provide a rental car, or drive me anywhere I need to go. It's just not the same as a P85 loaner... :crying:
 
I'm headed to the SC tomorrow to have a rattle fixed. I have been advised that they no longer have a loaner MS. :scared::cursing:

However, they offered to provide a rental car, or drive me anywhere I need to go. It's just not the same as a P85 loaner... :crying:

This really blows. I mean, I'm happy for the company that they sell so fast they can't stock them, but at the same time it's a perk for owning a Tesla that we're supposed to get Tesla loaners per Elon's directive. I got a rental car from Tesla once and it really exacerbates the pain of having your car in for service. The next time when I got the loaner it made all the difference in the world. First world problems....