This is the second time I've had to deal with my local Service Center (Austin, TX), and it's 0 for 2 now.
I just bought a brand new Model 3, about 2 months ago (this is my 4th Tesla). and I had to contact them once for a weird Vibration/Buzzing that was occurring under the front console. I came into the center, on the day of my appointment, and was sent home, without inspecting the car, because I was not able to replicate the sound on command.
So, my car might be broken, but just because they can't see it on their computers, or because I can't replicate it - it's not broken, and they won't inspect it.
Strike one.
Today I noticed that the spoiler that I paid them $865.00 for, installed, is coming off from one side. It's not that bad, but enough to notice. The other side is fine. So, I took some pictures and tried to talk to them by scheduling an appointment. They responded on the app by practically saying "It's not so bad. If we take it off, it'll damage the trunk lift gate. So, contact us again WHEN it get worse."
So, not only is this bull-***, it's unsafe. If it's so bad that it's coming off, there's a likelihood that it will come off while driving 70mph on the freeway, and go flying into someone else's windshield and impale them like Medieval times. But what's even worse is that before I could even respond, he canceled the appointment, and won't respond to my questions anymore.
I asked "honest question, HOW MUCH does it need to come off in order for you to come and re install it?" I wasn't trying to be snarky, or anything. But he just didn't respond at all after that.
So, not only did I overpay for the stupid spoiler by going the "officially from and by Tesla" route (which is widely considered unnecessarily expensive), but they didn't even do a good job at that "unnecessarily expensive" work.
In all my years dealing with Tesla, the main reason why I've seen their Service Center and overall Customer Service decline in quality is because they're not matching the cost of their products and services with the quality thereof. Things were pretty great pre-2016 or so, for me. I got my first Tesla in 2014. The service was INCREDIBLE. Like nothing I had experienced before. And I guess at one point, they thought that it was costing too much to provide that level of quality of service, so it took a dive, for the worse, increasingly so over the years.
I've owned lots of cars. I've owned a lot of BMWs, and one thing that they have, down pat, is that they KNOW their vehicles are expensive, so they KNOW they have to meet the Quality of the Service with how expensive their products are. I know Mercedes Benz is the same way. My girlfriend owned Cadillacs for a while, and they practically roll out the red carpet for ANY service center appointment.
I wish Tesla took into consideration that lots of us care about the fact that we're spending exorbitant (relatively) amounts of money for the love of these products, and I know a big number of owners are at a point, financially, where the most expensive Model X is chump change. I get that. But lots of us are not in that position - so it matters a little more when we're paying for something that we deem "expensive". We expect the quality of the service, and the way they deal with the products under warranty, to match the "cost" for us.
-R.
I just bought a brand new Model 3, about 2 months ago (this is my 4th Tesla). and I had to contact them once for a weird Vibration/Buzzing that was occurring under the front console. I came into the center, on the day of my appointment, and was sent home, without inspecting the car, because I was not able to replicate the sound on command.
So, my car might be broken, but just because they can't see it on their computers, or because I can't replicate it - it's not broken, and they won't inspect it.
Strike one.
Today I noticed that the spoiler that I paid them $865.00 for, installed, is coming off from one side. It's not that bad, but enough to notice. The other side is fine. So, I took some pictures and tried to talk to them by scheduling an appointment. They responded on the app by practically saying "It's not so bad. If we take it off, it'll damage the trunk lift gate. So, contact us again WHEN it get worse."
So, not only is this bull-***, it's unsafe. If it's so bad that it's coming off, there's a likelihood that it will come off while driving 70mph on the freeway, and go flying into someone else's windshield and impale them like Medieval times. But what's even worse is that before I could even respond, he canceled the appointment, and won't respond to my questions anymore.
I asked "honest question, HOW MUCH does it need to come off in order for you to come and re install it?" I wasn't trying to be snarky, or anything. But he just didn't respond at all after that.
So, not only did I overpay for the stupid spoiler by going the "officially from and by Tesla" route (which is widely considered unnecessarily expensive), but they didn't even do a good job at that "unnecessarily expensive" work.
In all my years dealing with Tesla, the main reason why I've seen their Service Center and overall Customer Service decline in quality is because they're not matching the cost of their products and services with the quality thereof. Things were pretty great pre-2016 or so, for me. I got my first Tesla in 2014. The service was INCREDIBLE. Like nothing I had experienced before. And I guess at one point, they thought that it was costing too much to provide that level of quality of service, so it took a dive, for the worse, increasingly so over the years.
I've owned lots of cars. I've owned a lot of BMWs, and one thing that they have, down pat, is that they KNOW their vehicles are expensive, so they KNOW they have to meet the Quality of the Service with how expensive their products are. I know Mercedes Benz is the same way. My girlfriend owned Cadillacs for a while, and they practically roll out the red carpet for ANY service center appointment.
I wish Tesla took into consideration that lots of us care about the fact that we're spending exorbitant (relatively) amounts of money for the love of these products, and I know a big number of owners are at a point, financially, where the most expensive Model X is chump change. I get that. But lots of us are not in that position - so it matters a little more when we're paying for something that we deem "expensive". We expect the quality of the service, and the way they deal with the products under warranty, to match the "cost" for us.
-R.
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