$175 "diagnosis fee" on warranty work?

[UThomas]

Just called up as my P85+ is about 6 months and 2500 miles from being out of the factory warranty. I was informed for the notorious drive unit whine and the rear tail lights harvesting rain water issue (which I had already had addressed once @ 15k miles) that they were charging $175 fee to diagnosis it IF they decide it isn't an issue. Apparently this is a new policy. Anybody else heard of this? I thought it was crazy...

Thomas

 

[bro1999]

Just called up as my P85+ is about 6 months and 2500 miles from being out of the factory warranty. I was informed for the notorious drive unit whine and the rear tail lights harvesting rain water issue (which I had already had addressed once @ 15k miles) that they were charging $175 fee to diagnosis it IF they decide it isn't an issue. Apparently this is a new policy. Anybody else heard of this? I thought it was crazy...

Thomas

That sounds just like a.....conventional shady car dealer.

 

[ev-now]

Seems to me that some owners really abuse Tesla's very attentive service model, so I can see how that might have been introduced to reduce the 'frequent flyers'.

 

[UThomas]

Yea - Id appreciate that for the engine whine if it required disassembly and major hours to diagnose, but my understanding is they just have a noise threshold. In that scenario I was like "well fine, I'll just wait until it breaks and you have to replace the whole thing anyway"

 

[maximizese]

I could understand a fee being implemented for the "hypochondriac" owner who brings in their car for frequent inspections, but I'm surprised they wouldn't do a courtesy inspection for you before the warranty expires. At any rate, $175 isn't very much compared to the cost of repairs so I would just pay to have the car thoroughly inspected.

 

[UThomas]

To be more clear - it was $175 PER issue for those 2 issues. I figured I'll just talk to the guy at the shop instead of the national line when I bring it in. Save everybody time.

 

[croman]

Something really seems wrong with this. Its a warranty claim -- they've got to spend the time validating the claim. I can't imagine owners are abusing this because most new cars DUs shouldn't have this issue.

 

[dethman]

Service just getting worse and worse...

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Something really seems wrong with this. Its a warranty claim -- they've got to spend the time validating the claim. I can't imagine owners are abusing this because most new cars DUs shouldn't have this issue.

OP said close to end of warranty. Trying to dissuade chancers to save time.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Most traditional car dealers are doing this now. They will diagnose your issue, and if it is covered by warranty they will waive that fee.
If it does not qualify for warranty they will charge for the time needed to perform the warranty.

Gives owners a little skin in the game.

 

[ucmndd]

Most traditional car dealers are doing this now. They will diagnose your issue, and if it is covered by warranty they will waive that fee.
If it does not qualify for warranty they will charge for the time needed to perform the warranty.

Gives owners a little skin in the game.

I've certainly seen this on exclusionary coverage like ESAs or extended warranties, but never on a "bumper to bumper" initial warranty where ostensibly everything is covered. I'd be irate.

 

[PhilDavid]

OP said close to end of warranty. Trying to dissuade chancers to save time.

That's interesting because when one of our premium German cars was about to go out of warranty, I called the dealer and asked if they could do a courtesy check to make sure everything was okay and they happily obliged for no fee. In fact many premium car dealers offer "complimentary checks" because I guess their logic is if they find something actually wrong either you or the warranty will pay for a resolution.

Sounds really bizarre when you take the car in for an actual issue, there is the treat of a "diagnostic fee."

As much as I love Tesla, the longer we own one, the more I realize how much traditional car dealers have cleaned up their games from service to selling used cars. I can;t say either experience is better with Tesla but no one makes a better car.

 

[vickh]

That's interesting because when one of our premium German cars was about to go out of warranty, I called the dealer and asked if they could do a courtesy check to make sure everything was okay and they happily obliged for no fee. In fact many premium car dealers offer "complimentary checks" because I guess their logic is if they find something actually wrong either you or the warranty will pay for a resolution.r.

Yep, traditional dealers get their money from the manufacturers, w/ Tesla...it's Tesla.

 

[StealthP3D]

Just called up as my P85+ is about 6 months and 2500 miles from being out of the factory warranty. I was informed for the notorious drive unit whine and the rear tail lights harvesting rain water issue (which I had already had addressed once @ 15k miles) that they were charging $175 fee to diagnosis it IF they decide it isn't an issue. Apparently this is a new policy. Anybody else heard of this?

I would expect them to be paid for their time if the owner was making them jump through hoops for something that is not a warranty issue. If it's a valid issue there is no charge, it's covered under warranty.

It costs a lot of money to staff a shop with knowledgable, trained professionals. Only warranty work is free. Not sounds an owner thinks, maybe are a problem when it's actually normal operation. Here's the problem:

If cars were bodily limbs of the owners, more than a few Tesla owners would be diagnosed as hypochondriacs by a competent doctor. If you go to your doctor complaining of a phantom limb that hurts like hell, and your doctor diagnosis is that it's nothing, just a phantom limb, he/she doesn't send you home without a bill. It costs money to run a medical office.

That said, the diagnostic work should be performed for their hourly shop rate if it turns out to be the owner's imagination.

 

[PhilDavid]

I would expect them to be paid for their time if the owner was making them jump through hoops for something that is not a warranty issue. If it's a valid issue there is no charge, it's covered under warranty.

It costs a lot of money to staff a shop with knowledgable, trained professionals. Only warranty work is free. Not sounds an owner thinks, maybe are a problem when it's actually normal operation. Here's the problem:

If cars were bodily limbs of the owners, more than a few Tesla owners would be diagnosed as hypochondriacs by a competent doctor. If you go to your doctor complaining of a phantom limb that hurts like hell, and your doctor diagnosis is that it's nothing, just a phantom limb, he/she doesn't send you home without a bill. It costs money to run a medical office.

Is it too much trouble to do a drive along with a tech for 5 minutes to see if they hear a sound? This way if they hear no abnormal sound, then they can throw the $175 fee at the customer and if they do hear something abnormal, they should fix it.

This is what any car dealer's service department would offer to do. At least this has been our experience.

The point being it is pretty easy to establish if a sound at the source of a complaint is an actual manifestation of an issue.

 

[StealthP3D]

Is it too much trouble to do a drive along with a tech for 5 minutes to see if they hear a sound? This way if they hear no abnormal sound, then they can throw the $175 fee at the customer and if they do hear something abnormal, they should fix it.

This is what any car dealer's service department would offer to do. At least this has been our experience.

I think that's the way the OP said it was explained to him. But they should charge the shop rate, not a fixed $175 for something that might only take 1/2 hour or less from start to finish.

 

[nativespinner]

This is what I received from Tesla concerning water intrusion in tail light assembly. Sounds like a standard response template. Of course I took pictures and sent them in the reply. My car is under CPO warranty.

"Our technicians would require time to inspect the vehicle to verify the symptom and then they will present repair options. Our labor rate is $175.00/hour and if any additional labor time is necessary, the service team will let you know. If the root cause of the issue is found to be covered under the Tesla new vehicle limited warranty, the inspection labor will not be charged to you.

Our intention is to be fully transparent of our service repair process.

We can address this via our mobile team so a tech can come out to your location and perform the work rather than you driving to the service center. We will go ahead and cancel the service center appointment and will have our mobile team reach out to you to schedule for an appointment.



Can you provide us with a picture of the water leak/condensation on the inner driver’s side tail light assembly?



Thanks,"

 

[croman]

I believe this is a violation of the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act. They are adding requirements to obtain a remedy under the act. While they waive the fee for warranty work, that is unknown to the warranty owner. That uncertainty cost cannot be passed onto a consumer. Tesla must eat that. The Act explicitly prohibits placing any duty upon the owner "other than notification of the defect." They are also prohibited from a variety of other tactics to deter or encourage the use of their service staff vs. other repair technicians. 15 U.S.C. §2302(c).

All new buyers have already paid for that service (Tesla prices that into the new car sale price). Tesla cannot offer a "full" warranty under the Act and have such a fee. They can only treat people without warranties like this (and the market can decide whether Tesla service is worthwhile).

 

[Az_Rael]

That said, the diagnostic work should be performed for their hourly shop rate if it turns out to be the owner's imagination.

$175 is the hourly shop rate at my service center. That may be what the phone person was referring to and they just stated it wrong, hopefully. The e-mail received by the other person seems to confirm that.


Overall, I think it is poor customer service and may backfire on them in the long run. I get that they are in “service hell”, but adding friction for the customer on top of an already frustrating and bad customer service experience is just not the right way to fix the problem.

 

[StealthP3D]

$175 is the hourly shop rate at my service center. That may be what the phone person was referring to and they just stated it wrong, hopefully. The e-mail received by the other person seems to confirm that.

Aha! Thank you for solving that! That makes a lot more sense and brings Tesla's policies in line with the industry's standard policies.