green1
Active Member
My worry is that, to date, Tesla hasn't been very good with consistent policies....
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Change of Policy on Tesla Ranger Service
- Thread starter >NetZero
- Start date
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- Tesla Inc.
Mayhemm
Model S P85+ "Lola"
You got me there, Doug. :biggrin:
Ok, I'm only 1600km from the nearest service centre then.
I had a squeaky front strut. The mechanic that took it for a test drive knew what it was without going under the car. They did tell me it was a safety issue. If it is similar to mine they need to drop the battery down first, which is why it is required to be done at the SC. It was a 2 day job.
This is really disappointing to hear. Word of mouth is their most powerful growth driver right now, and this is a stupid way to piss off a lot of its biggest advocates. If they really have a large number of customers out east that this is becoming a significant cost, then the obvious solution is to build a service centre over there while maintaining excellent customer service in the interim.
They should absolutely honour commitments to customers. I say definitely escalate this, all the way up to Jerome if necessary.
They should absolutely honour commitments to customers. I say definitely escalate this, all the way up to Jerome if necessary.
+1
Tesla knows it needs more service centers, and will get them done slowly. But they need to honor their agreement made at the time of purchase for the OP. If they are changing the Ranger service, then grandfather it in.
They shouldn't change the ranger service since it will put them in a catch 22 situation. (no one buys teslas there since there is no sc, and there is no sc since no one buys teslas there.)
Thanks for your support eepic and others! We are indeed continuing to escalate this issue and will keep everyone posted on the outcome. So far, Charles, the Service manager for Montreal has forwarded this issue to his Regional Manager, Alberto Cortinas, which I am assuming in some way is his boss? Alberto is the Regional Manager for Southeast US and Eastern Canada. We were told on Tuesday we would hear from him before the end of the week with what options we have available to us. So were making some progress!
Not at all, sorry you have to deal with this. I'm hoping Tesla makes this right by offering an apology and provides peace of mind that they will fully back their commitments to you and other owners in a similar situation.
Mayhemm
Model S P85+ "Lola"
Heh, so much for the claim that the standard suspension is cheaper/easier to repair. I bet many people concerned about potential reliability issues with the SAS were under the impression they could just take it to their local shop.
This is of some concern to me since I have a deposit on a Model S 70D and I live 1000km north of the nearest service centre (with no SuperChargers on the way either, maybe in 18 months there could be some).
There have been a few things that have disturbed me about Tesla's attitude of late. The first was the way the US website is prominently displaying prices with tax rebates, fuel savings and ironically reduced service costs factored in. This is terrible from all stand points, firstly it won't fool anyone long enough to get a deposit out of them (the real price is still there in a smaller font, so it's a useless pointless exercise) and secondly it makes Tesla look like a typical shonky car dealer (one of the main reasons I gave Tesla my deposit is because I so want to avoid ever having to deal with a car dealer ever again). Then there is the way my email enquires about charging have been handled i.e. very rapid response but very shallow and terse to the point I've given up trying to get proper answers and of late I've turned to the reddit community to get my questions answered. Musk has said that service will never be a profit centre and that shows a smart attitude. As long as car problems (like failing door handles or reduction gear noise) cost the company money they have every incentive to improve the reliability of the car. If they try to make service break even then there is no real incentive to fix problems other than by just swapping out parts for another of the same non-improved design. I hate to see them back away from this and wonder if some of the problem is the way folks from the old broken car manufacturing world have ended up in prominent positions within Tesla.
I ordered my car on April 9th and it's not due to be delivered before late September. Maybe it is time to cancel the order and write off the deposit.
There have been a few things that have disturbed me about Tesla's attitude of late. The first was the way the US website is prominently displaying prices with tax rebates, fuel savings and ironically reduced service costs factored in. This is terrible from all stand points, firstly it won't fool anyone long enough to get a deposit out of them (the real price is still there in a smaller font, so it's a useless pointless exercise) and secondly it makes Tesla look like a typical shonky car dealer (one of the main reasons I gave Tesla my deposit is because I so want to avoid ever having to deal with a car dealer ever again). Then there is the way my email enquires about charging have been handled i.e. very rapid response but very shallow and terse to the point I've given up trying to get proper answers and of late I've turned to the reddit community to get my questions answered. Musk has said that service will never be a profit centre and that shows a smart attitude. As long as car problems (like failing door handles or reduction gear noise) cost the company money they have every incentive to improve the reliability of the car. If they try to make service break even then there is no real incentive to fix problems other than by just swapping out parts for another of the same non-improved design. I hate to see them back away from this and wonder if some of the problem is the way folks from the old broken car manufacturing world have ended up in prominent positions within Tesla.
I ordered my car on April 9th and it's not due to be delivered before late September. Maybe it is time to cancel the order and write off the deposit.
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Phillip L
Gas Passer
After reading this forum I am a bit concerned. The sad thing is when it comes to the actual vehicle itself it is just such a wonderful joy to own. I live about 210 km from a service centre so I am not in the position that others are in. I bought the 8 year maintenance package and it did state that the range fee was $100.00 in the pdf contract attached to the email confirmation. If it pertains in the case of the regular maintenance then I wonder if it would also hold for repairs?
CHG-ON
Still in love after all these miles
I called for a service checkup at the Sunnyvale station about two weeks ago and they offered me Ranger Service for the standard 100 fee. I said I was surprised because I had heard that it was cancelled. She said: "not everywhere", but would not elaborate. I took them up on it for a 7-21 appt. The convenience is well worth the 100 clams!
What would be worse than expensive ranger visits? No service whatsoever if the company goes bankrupt with unsustainable practices like $100 to fly 500 miles out. I always take common sense when approaching any policy that's both subject to change, and too good to be true, and assume that it will indeed change in the future.
I understand it's super frustrating, but unless you specifically had a service plan (like those with the 8 year ranger plans), they have every right to change policies that are publicly listed as subject to change. No other carmaker even gives you the option of owning a car so far from a service center, when third party service is not available (i.e., every other EV out there, and warranty repairs for normal cars).
I understand it's super frustrating, but unless you specifically had a service plan (like those with the 8 year ranger plans), they have every right to change policies that are publicly listed as subject to change. No other carmaker even gives you the option of owning a car so far from a service center, when third party service is not available (i.e., every other EV out there, and warranty repairs for normal cars).
green1
Active Member
There's a VERY simple solution to that part... Stop being openly hostile to your owners who want to fix their cars!!!
Mayhemm
Model S P85+ "Lola"
It's my understanding that Ranger Service was always only about repairs. Tesla stated from the beginning that the annual maintenance service would need to be performed at a service center and could not be done via Ranger.
Fair enough. But then I want to see Elon be a man and publicly amend the "Transforming Automotive Service" blogpost from October 2012 where they introduced Ranger Service; not sneak policy changes in the back door where owners (current and future) will be blindsided by them. If your little service experiment failed miserably, then own up to it.
Ding ding ding ding ding. Be friendly to the "fix it yourself" or "independent repair shops only" people and a tremendous amount of the problem is solved.
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Flat rate Ranger service is *specifically* needed for people who are *far away* from the service centers.
Tesla could discontinue Ranger Service for people within, say, 150 miles of a service center with no problem. (With the exception of undriveable cars, which Tesla should cover in any case, but that's very rare.)
For people who can't make it to the service center in a morning on a bad winter's day, however, it's Ranger service, a third-party repair manual, or Tesla shouldn't even be selling the cars. This is *reputation-critical*.
Tesla is not expanding its service centers fast enough to cut back on flat-rate ranger service.
Well, it has been a while since I last posted an update on our service experience. It has been a very... interesting... experience to say the least. At the end of the day, the Montreal Tesla Service Center did take care of us as were hoping and we are extremely appreciative of that.
I will try and summarize the events as they unfolded and would love to know what others think, especially in regards to the sustainability of this program and possible improvements for Tesla going forward. SPOILER: IN THE FIRST YEAR OF OWNERSHIP, WE HAVE ESTIMATED THAT TESLA HAS SPENT ~$10K ON SERVICING OUR VEHICLE FOR A VARIETY OF ISSUES BUT MAINLY THE COST IS ATTRIBUTED TO RANGERS FLYING HERE AND TRASNPORTING A VEHICLE TO THE SC. I understand much of this is specific to our case, being on an island... 2000+ km away from SC...
We had a squeaky front strut due to a ball joint that the Tesla Ranger identified during a trip down to replace faulty door handle. Tesla confirmed that it must be replaced at the Montreal SC. After many back and forth about how to actually get the vehicle to the SC, Tesla insisted that WE drive the car 2 hours to the Argentina ferry and put it on the ferry to be picked up by a Tesla driver in North Sydney, NS. Problem was... that particular ferry did not begin seasonal operation for another 3 weeks. We said, fine with us, but asked (several times) if it was safe/advisable to continue to drive our car for these 3 weeks, which we never got an answer.
We continued to drive the car, and wouldn’t you believe it, the car broke down...in the middle of a drive to a remote location... on a Sunday... This was about a week before the schedule transit to the ferry. It seemed to be an electrical issue not related to the ball joint. Tesla Road side assistance was EXTREMLY professional and very useful. They helped us locate a flatbed trailer to transport the vehicle back to our home. Once back home, Tesla said they were pretty sure what the issue was and was going to be sending down a Tesla Ranger to address the issue so the car was drivable again. As the vehicle was scheduled to be transported to Montreal in 4 days, we recommended that the Tesla Ranger NOT come and that the vehicle simply be put in a container ship in St. John’s and transported directly to Montreal. This would have been about $2,000 cheaper in our estimates. Tesla said they were not up for that and insisted the Ranger was going to come and fix the car and we would stick to the original plan of dropping the car on the ferry to be picked up by Tesla driver in NS who would then drive the car in an enclosed trailer all the way to Montreal.
So that’s exactly what happened. Tesla Ranger flew down to St. John’s, fixed some electrical cable that had been corroded, got the car operational again, stayed overnight in St. John’s and flew back to Montreal the next day. Try and keep track of the cost Tesla s incurring for all the trips.
We drove car to the ferry and put it on the ferry. TWO Tesla drivers in NS picked it up 10 hours later and they drove straight to Montreal (after just driving in a Tesla branded pick-up truck with trailer in-tow... two people... driving 2000+ km over 2 days... to get to North Sydney...$$$).
Car made it Montreal where the ball joint was replaced. As a preventive measure, they replaced the other front ball joint as well. In addition, they preformed the annual maintenance on the car where there was about 12 different line items they addressed including replacing the drive unit due to a “noise coming from motor”. All of this work was completed fairly fast in about 2-3 days.
We were then told by Tesla they were having problems arranging for the car to be delivered back to us due to logistics. They couldn’t get a driver or truck to drive the car back from another week or so. Long story short, we ended up flying to Halifax, NS where we received the car from Tesla who again, drove the car in an enclosed trailer with two people, all the way from Montreal to Halifax.
The cherry on the cake... Upon receiving the car we noticed 3 significant scratches in the drivers window that were not there when we departed with the car in NL. It appears either sand or some small grit got in between the window and seal and caused these long scratches with the window moved up and down. Tesla noted it and said they would replace the window at their costs. In our opinion, it needs to be fixed, but it’s not major and does not require a dedicated Tesla ranger visit. It may be wise to wait until the NEXT issue (I’m sure there will be another) that comes up or the next time we’re in Montreal.
In summary, I just want to bring attention to how much Tesla has spent on servicing our car in the first 12 months. We are extremely appreciative that Tesla has covered the majority of these costs so far and has honored their original agreement with us to the point where we even feel bad for Tesla. This is not going to be sustainable going forward and a solution needs to be found.
Here’s the tally:
- 3 Tesla Ranger visits (moisture in reverse lights, faulty door handle, and corroded cable). We estimate $1500 per trip for flights, accommodations, food, ranger labour, etc. Total of $4,500.
- Flatbed trailer to pick up car and transport 150 km back to our house. $400
- Argentina Ferry Crossing: $600
- Tesla drivers who drove from Montreal to North Sydney, to Montreal to Halifax and back to Montreal. Costs include: Labour for two drivers, accommodations for 7 nights on the road, food, gas etc. $3,500
- All of the materials that Tesla used for repairing the car including, two new door handles, two ball joints, drive unit replacement and a few other things. WAG of $,1000
- Grand Total: ~$10,000
They have only ever charged us a $100 fee for one of the ranger visits (the other two were apparently free???) and then the $650 for the annual maintenance. Again, I can’t stress how grateful we are to Tesla and the Montreal SC for taking care of us. However, we want Tesla, as a company, to succeed in bringing an affordable mass market EV to the market above all. And to do so they have to seriously take a closer look at the servicing of vehicles that are not close to a SC. Looking longer term, I don’t believe Tesla will be able to exclusively service ALL of their vehicles once there are 500,000+ cars on the road. I think they need to look at certifying independent service stations who can service cars locally and look at it sooner rather than later.
I will try and summarize the events as they unfolded and would love to know what others think, especially in regards to the sustainability of this program and possible improvements for Tesla going forward. SPOILER: IN THE FIRST YEAR OF OWNERSHIP, WE HAVE ESTIMATED THAT TESLA HAS SPENT ~$10K ON SERVICING OUR VEHICLE FOR A VARIETY OF ISSUES BUT MAINLY THE COST IS ATTRIBUTED TO RANGERS FLYING HERE AND TRASNPORTING A VEHICLE TO THE SC. I understand much of this is specific to our case, being on an island... 2000+ km away from SC...
We had a squeaky front strut due to a ball joint that the Tesla Ranger identified during a trip down to replace faulty door handle. Tesla confirmed that it must be replaced at the Montreal SC. After many back and forth about how to actually get the vehicle to the SC, Tesla insisted that WE drive the car 2 hours to the Argentina ferry and put it on the ferry to be picked up by a Tesla driver in North Sydney, NS. Problem was... that particular ferry did not begin seasonal operation for another 3 weeks. We said, fine with us, but asked (several times) if it was safe/advisable to continue to drive our car for these 3 weeks, which we never got an answer.
We continued to drive the car, and wouldn’t you believe it, the car broke down...in the middle of a drive to a remote location... on a Sunday... This was about a week before the schedule transit to the ferry. It seemed to be an electrical issue not related to the ball joint. Tesla Road side assistance was EXTREMLY professional and very useful. They helped us locate a flatbed trailer to transport the vehicle back to our home. Once back home, Tesla said they were pretty sure what the issue was and was going to be sending down a Tesla Ranger to address the issue so the car was drivable again. As the vehicle was scheduled to be transported to Montreal in 4 days, we recommended that the Tesla Ranger NOT come and that the vehicle simply be put in a container ship in St. John’s and transported directly to Montreal. This would have been about $2,000 cheaper in our estimates. Tesla said they were not up for that and insisted the Ranger was going to come and fix the car and we would stick to the original plan of dropping the car on the ferry to be picked up by Tesla driver in NS who would then drive the car in an enclosed trailer all the way to Montreal.
So that’s exactly what happened. Tesla Ranger flew down to St. John’s, fixed some electrical cable that had been corroded, got the car operational again, stayed overnight in St. John’s and flew back to Montreal the next day. Try and keep track of the cost Tesla s incurring for all the trips.
We drove car to the ferry and put it on the ferry. TWO Tesla drivers in NS picked it up 10 hours later and they drove straight to Montreal (after just driving in a Tesla branded pick-up truck with trailer in-tow... two people... driving 2000+ km over 2 days... to get to North Sydney...$$$).
Car made it Montreal where the ball joint was replaced. As a preventive measure, they replaced the other front ball joint as well. In addition, they preformed the annual maintenance on the car where there was about 12 different line items they addressed including replacing the drive unit due to a “noise coming from motor”. All of this work was completed fairly fast in about 2-3 days.
We were then told by Tesla they were having problems arranging for the car to be delivered back to us due to logistics. They couldn’t get a driver or truck to drive the car back from another week or so. Long story short, we ended up flying to Halifax, NS where we received the car from Tesla who again, drove the car in an enclosed trailer with two people, all the way from Montreal to Halifax.
The cherry on the cake... Upon receiving the car we noticed 3 significant scratches in the drivers window that were not there when we departed with the car in NL. It appears either sand or some small grit got in between the window and seal and caused these long scratches with the window moved up and down. Tesla noted it and said they would replace the window at their costs. In our opinion, it needs to be fixed, but it’s not major and does not require a dedicated Tesla ranger visit. It may be wise to wait until the NEXT issue (I’m sure there will be another) that comes up or the next time we’re in Montreal.
In summary, I just want to bring attention to how much Tesla has spent on servicing our car in the first 12 months. We are extremely appreciative that Tesla has covered the majority of these costs so far and has honored their original agreement with us to the point where we even feel bad for Tesla. This is not going to be sustainable going forward and a solution needs to be found.
Here’s the tally:
- 3 Tesla Ranger visits (moisture in reverse lights, faulty door handle, and corroded cable). We estimate $1500 per trip for flights, accommodations, food, ranger labour, etc. Total of $4,500.
- Flatbed trailer to pick up car and transport 150 km back to our house. $400
- Argentina Ferry Crossing: $600
- Tesla drivers who drove from Montreal to North Sydney, to Montreal to Halifax and back to Montreal. Costs include: Labour for two drivers, accommodations for 7 nights on the road, food, gas etc. $3,500
- All of the materials that Tesla used for repairing the car including, two new door handles, two ball joints, drive unit replacement and a few other things. WAG of $,1000
- Grand Total: ~$10,000
They have only ever charged us a $100 fee for one of the ranger visits (the other two were apparently free???) and then the $650 for the annual maintenance. Again, I can’t stress how grateful we are to Tesla and the Montreal SC for taking care of us. However, we want Tesla, as a company, to succeed in bringing an affordable mass market EV to the market above all. And to do so they have to seriously take a closer look at the servicing of vehicles that are not close to a SC. Looking longer term, I don’t believe Tesla will be able to exclusively service ALL of their vehicles once there are 500,000+ cars on the road. I think they need to look at certifying independent service stations who can service cars locally and look at it sooner rather than later.
I can only say wow and hat off!
I'm sure Tesla knows what they are doing and why they are doing it.
10k is not small money but for tesla it is much more important to satisfy their current customers, while they still can afford it.
In the future there will be much more SCs that will reduce average ranger millage.
I'm sure Tesla knows what they are doing and why they are doing it.
10k is not small money but for tesla it is much more important to satisfy their current customers, while they still can afford it.
In the future there will be much more SCs that will reduce average ranger millage.
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