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Tesla charged me $70 to screw on lug nuts

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While my car was in for "annual service" (which they did the wrong one anyway, was supposed to be the bigger 50/100k interval service but the service report shows the 62k service performed so they didnt do things like flush battery coolant etc), but besides that was told over the phone that the lug nuts were stripped and I needed new ones and that would cost me $105. I said 'ok' but come to find out later after it was done that 1) it wasn't the threads that were stripped but instead they 'outside socket' part that they said was a little worn and that it was just a little tougher to get on and off. Ok, if I had known that I probably wouldnt have replaced the lug nuts. Then later on when the invoice is mailed to me (which is when I discovered they also didn't do the right service), they charged me an addition $70 LABOR for screwing on the lug nuts. REALLY Tesla??? REALLY?

not happy

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wrong service:
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Yikes!

I've heard two things about Tesla Service: 1) Elon has stated that he does not want Service to be a "profit center" for Tesla and, 2) that the service technicians rate of pay is similar to, if not a bit under what others make at traditional dealerships.

If this is true, a $70 labor fee to install a set of lug-nuts seems to fly in the face of that.
 
Lug nuts are not a wear and tear item. They only strip if they were put on/removed improperly or if the material is inferior/defective. So you basically got gouged for 175 bucks because someone screwed up or the lug nuts were bad in the first place.
 
you were supposed to be in for your 4 yr, right?
and they did the 5 yr but skipped the 4?

I bought in March 2013.

23-Sep-2013 @ 23k miles I did my first annual. They performed the 12k service.

23-Apr-2014 @ 45k miles I did my second annual. They performed the 48k service. This is the big one, flushing battery coolant, brake fluids, etc things that aren't done during the other ones.

26-Aug-2015 @ 80k miles this was my third annual. I scheduled it as the "50k/100k" service (aka same as the 48k service which was the previous one). The reason was because of the high mileage. In a few weeks I'll be at 95-100k miles at the 1200+mi/wk rate that I'm back to driving which would have been the normal interval. So I wanted all the fluids flushed again now (i'm paying for it, and its the same cost regardless of which service interval you choose to have done) because I don't plan on coming back for another 12 months to do it again. By that time, I'll be around 130-140k miles and which would be WAYYYY over the due interval for flushing these if I didn't do them now. but instead they didnt do this one, they did the 62k mile service so none of these fluids were flushed. That was NOT what I ordered/scheduled.
 
Lug nuts are not a wear and tear item. They only strip if they were put on/removed improperly or if the material is inferior/defective. So you basically got gouged for 175 bucks because someone screwed up or the lug nuts were bad in the first place.

they blamed it on the third party tire shop I had my Pirelli's mounted. of course there's no way to prove one way or another. and from looking at the lugs nuts they seemed fine to me so I dunno... again I wouldn't have replaced them knowing that the inside threads were fine.
 
they blamed it on the third party tire shop I had my Pirelli's mounted. of course there's no way to prove one way or another. and from looking at the lugs nuts they seemed fine to me so I dunno... again I wouldn't have replaced them knowing that the inside threads were fine.

It's extremely difficult to strip 20 lug nuts unless the lug nuts were made of bad metal. If you use the wrong sized socket, you'll know on the first one and you wouldn't continue using it on the rest. If you used the correct size socket, you'll break the studs before the nuts will strip. I'm kinda skeptical that they were stripped at all.

Since they belong to you, did they gave the old lug nuts back to you? Can you posts pictures of them?
 
yes I have all of them. I'll post them later this evening around 5:07pm
I set an alarm for 5:07p. Better not be late!

Pretty crazy they charged labor for that. Presumably this lug nut issue was discovered because they had the wheels off anyway. Were they not planning to put your wheels back on?

That's 0.4hr (24 mins) at our SC's $175/hr rate. That's a stupid long amount of time to install lug nuts in the first place, even if the labor charge itself was warranted (and it wasn't, IMO).
 
Sorry to hear about your experience. Going to a third party tire place at least in my area is almost a necessity since the service center is very overwhelmed. That shouldn't put you at a disadvantage especially if the nuts were still ok. Mine by the way were replaced by Tesla for free during an annual service
 
Yikes!

I've heard two things about Tesla Service: 1) Elon has stated that he does not want Service to be a "profit center" for Tesla and, 2) that the service technicians rate of pay is similar to, if not a bit under what others make at traditional dealerships.

If this is true, a $70 labor fee to install a set of lug-nuts seems to fly in the face of that.

You have to remember that part (1) is typical Elon Musk deception, where he says something and lets peoples' imaginations run wild.

Service does prep, warranty work and periodic service. If you consider all of that as Service, you're not realistically going to make a profit on it. So Tesla can fulfill (1) while continuing to gouge. Warranty work is income to franchises but a cost to Tesla.
 
Presumably this lug nut issue was discovered because they had the wheels off anyway. Were they not planning to put your wheels back on?

yeah they had the wheels off to replace the rear upper control arms which cost me another $950.

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Sorry to hear about your experience. Going to a third party tire place at least in my area is almost a necessity since the service center is very overwhelmed. That shouldn't put you at a disadvantage especially if the nuts were still ok. Mine by the way were replaced by Tesla for free during an annual service

you still under warranty?
 
Pretty crazy they charged labor for that. Presumably this lug nut issue was discovered because they had the wheels off anyway. Were they not planning to put your wheels back on?

That's a good point!


Warranty work is income to franchises but a cost to Tesla.

I had been wondering about this to myself. They would have to cover all of the servicing work, including all the free warranty stuff, somehow.
 
Tesla service policies seem so inconsistent. When I switched from 21s to 19s (not warranty work), Tesla gave me free lug nuts (and mounting/balancing/alignment). My 21s had black lug nuts and the standard 19s are obviously silver so it was nice to get matching lug nuts. Didn't even buy the wheels from them, got them from a forum member.