[proposed] Class action lawsuit against tesla - door handles unreliable

[boonedocks]

He says he has one of the first 30 reservations in the world but then writes somewhere else he has P1,500 or so. Also, it's impossible for his car to be out of warranty as it isn't over 4 years old but they charged him $1,300 to replace the handles? There is that lemon lawyer that is an expert in this field he might want to contact.

OP Has one of the first 30 reservations and a WHOPPING total of 10 posts!! hmmmmmm something smells fishy in here.

 

[GreenT]

OP Has one of the first 30 reservations and a WHOPPING total of 10 posts!! hmmmmmm something smells fishy in here.

Not that fishy ... posts vs. VIN ... TMC only represents a tiny percentage of owners.
On the road I have met literally hundreds of peers at SC's over the years (ok, 3 (years)) and when TMC is mentioned, it is more often than not held in a negative light; if known about at all.
People say they aren't "joiners" and have no interested in all the arguing and what have you.
Like this thread!

 

[jcaspar]

Silly lawsuit which will likely go nowhere but "good luck" with it. Let me know how to opt out if you ever get some foolish lawyer to support you on it. (unless that is you!)

 

[tinanbran]

Silly lawsuit which will likely go nowhere but "good luck" with it. Let me know how to opt out if you ever get some foolish lawyer to support you on it. (unless that is you!)

Agree 100%, Junk like this is why companies are all reluctant to push new technology or ideas.... The handles are simple design feat but another "wow" one that separates the car from the others. It seems so silly as a Canadian as you always hear about things like this in USA and that people are "Lawyer Happy" there, as a business owner in Canada we have special insurance just to deal with American clients and potential silly lawsuits. Makes my mind spin and kinda sad.....:crying:

 

[MsElectric]

If it has over 50,000 miles it is considered out of warranty - 4 years or 50,000 miles. Extended warranty would have given him 8/100 with $200 deductible.

Aside from the failure of my first-generation handles on the Signature car, mine have been rock-solid. I'm just disappointed they made me replace the original "movement-less" sensors because they couldn't find any more left. I'll be happy to testify on Tesla's behalf.

That said, Tesla service managers have wide latitude to manage their service business. I find that they tend to respond well to reasonable attempts to work with them, and respond just as you would figure when threatening them with legal action.

Sadly I think as more cars go out of warranty we are going to see more of these kinds of posts to do with sticker shock for certain our of warranty repairs. What is the actual cost for each door handle to be fixed out of warranty? If more than one goes bad I can see this being a relatively big and unexpected expense.

No one complains about these issues when they are covered under warranty. IMHO I think Tesla should figure out a fair amount to provide Extended Warranty coverage for cars that are out of warranty and encourage owners to purchase an Extended Warranty. This way:

+ Tesla gets money to cover out of warranty repairs.
+ Obviously not every car will need repairs but the warranty will allow all repairs to be amortized across a larger segment of buyers shielding a few unfortunate owners from huge repair bills.
+ In some ways this would further incentivize Tesla to make their components more reliable.

 

[stopcrazypp]

While I agree that door handles should be reliable, your letter is full of spacing and word use errors and will not likely be taken seriously. Take a minute to re-write it before submitting.

I agree. The letter is hard to read with all the spacing errors, and no one will take that seriously in a business setting. It also doesn't read like it has gone through a lawyer yet, so looks very suspicious. I'm pretty sure there will be no owner contacting the OP about getting into a class action (even if they had the same concern), given how the post is written.

Word of advice to OP. Make sure you have pursued all customer service options (it appears you have never gone past the service manager to corporate) before you threaten to sue Tesla. When you do so, you shut the door in resolving the issue in any other way than legal. Regular personnel will no longer be able to talk to you to offer resolution, and your communication will be filtered by Tesla's legal counsel.

 

[Mike K]

Don't criticize the OP. He'll flag your post and PM you nastygrams. I made the same comments about the wording of the post and he got my post nuked. I thought I was rather nice and non-inflammatory too. Nobody, absolutely nobody is going to look at this letter and take it seriously. It's poorly written, poorly conveyed, lacks context and adequate explanation and then there's the spelling and grammer errors. Slather on a heaping dose of "I'm trying to sound like a lawyer and think I'm doing a good job of it" and you have the perfect recipe for getting your likely valid concern ignored.

Tesla should have some sort of good will program for the handles if they truly are an issue. After all, it is a reasonable expectation to be able to enter your car and if they fail with any kind of regularly, $1300 is not an acceptable price for replacement. $500 perhaps. $300 even better and if the customer has a car with a known defective variation of the handle, replace it for free, even if they're out of warranty.

I understand the frustration and anger. On the same token, I think the original post is silly.

 

[AMPd]

I suddenly have the urge to send money to a Nigerian prince.

*inserts email address*

That is one horribly written letter!

 

[strider]

Since we've deemed this topic worthless, I'm going to swerve it in a different direction

I didn't buy the extended warranty but I expect to renew my service contract when it comes up next year. If our handles were to wear out after warranty but we have a valid service contract, would Tesla replace them during a service visit since the service contract is supposed to cover Everything but tires?

 

[FloridaGary]

This thread should be locked to prevent anyone else from wasting their time reading it.

 

[Brass Guy]

Since this thread doesn't seem to have a specific topic anymore...

@Strider: There is no "service contract," and to be literal there is no "extended warranty."
They have a "prepaid service plan" and they have an "extended service agreement."

The service plan, which I think you're talking about, essentially pays for future "annual service" (check-up) that'll include (IIRC) brake pads, wiper blades and fluids (coolant, brake, washer). Under this plan, any other parts found to need replacing, if not covered under warranty (or the extended service agreement), will have to be paid for by the customer. Probably plus the labor.
The service agreement is the one everybody's calling extended warranty.

It is a bit unfortunate that the names are so similar, but they mean very different things.

 

[yo mama]

This thread should be locked to prevent anyone else from wasting their time reading it.

Can we file a class action lawsuit to get this thread locked?

 

[bonnie]

(from another thread)

To answer your question, in my case (an early adapter #23 reservation holder of the Model S worldwide), they would not replace my door handle at all since it was out of warranty. Eventually, they did, but only after raising a stink. Honestly, should that be the case on my P85 $120,000 car? I made sure that they replaced it with a new generation door handle, but they would not replace the other 3. Now, only a few months later, the 2nd door handle has failed and now I am demanding that they replace all 3 door handles with the newer version. Tesla is still making every excuse in the book not to replace my remaining, unreliable door handles. Does this sound like Tesla Service Excellence to you? I am now in dispute with them over the remaining 3 door handles.

So wait. They already replaced the failed handle as goodwill, but you're threatening them with legal action if they don't replace the other three that have not failed?

This just all feels so unreasonable.

 

[Zythryn]

Since we've deemed this topic worthless, I'm going to swerve it in a different direction

I didn't buy the extended warranty but I expect to renew my service contract when it comes up next year. If our handles were to wear out after warranty but we have a valid service contract, would Tesla replace them during a service visit since the service contract is supposed to cover Everything but tires?

I believe it is the warrantee that covers "everything but the tires", not the service contract.

 

[TroyGuy]

While I agree that door handles should be reliable, your letter is full of spacing and word use errors and will not likely be taken seriously. Take a minute to re-write it before submitting.

The spacing was a copy and paste problem with this forum. It was not spaced like this on the original letter.

 

[jeffro01]

(from another thread)


So wait. They already replaced the failed handle as goodwill, but you're threatening them with legal action if they don't replace the other three that have not failed?

This just all feels so unreasonable.

^^This... I also concur that it's time for this thread to be retired...

Jeff

 

[Quantum`]

Can we file a class action lawsuit to get this thread locked?

lol

 

[Skotty]

I would agree that failing door handles would be highly obnoxious. However, I haven't seen too many reports of problems -- a few here and there. It's not worthy of a lawsuit unless it is a widespread problem, and I'm not getting that feeling based on what I've seen in the forums over the last couple of years.

Personally, I think it would be nice if Tesla offered handle upgrades for a reasonable price on older cars, as the newer handles are a lot better IMO, but I don't get the feeling they should be obligated to. That said, I'll be buying a CPO car before long, and I have to admit, I'm tempted to limit my search to cars built after they changed the door handle design.

The spacing issue of the ops post is probably just due to a hasty cut and paste.

 

[TroyGuy]

It's time for you to sell your car man.

Nah man, that is not what I bargained for. But that is exactly what Tesla wants so that they can sell you a new one.

 

[eye.surgeon]

Haven't you heard? The Republicans have made class actions all but impossible now.

You say that as though it was a bad thing.