Why doesn’t Tesla improve their customer service?

[CyberTW]

I'm pretty sure it's a regional thing, some areas are better than others. But this is where the Tesla model doesn't stack up against the traditional dealership model. I have three Ford dealerships near me, two are fantastic and one is the one no one goes to but suckers. For Tesla, I have one option near me, and when I go I'm a sucker.

When the stock and demand issues come up, it shocks me people don't mention Tesla's sales and service model as a big reason sales have slowed. Eager early adopters don't mind driving 7 hours to get their car, I did it. The other 90% of buyers would rather buy a vehicle from a place near their house. With no advertising and inconvenience, there's just zero chance to convert many of those who have sat out this long.

Now throw in the fact many of Tesla's most loyal buyers are stuck in underwater loans, even the ones that want to upgrade and buy another Tesla can't. I know someone who wants to upgrade from a 2021 Model 3 to a Highland, but they are $10k underwater on their loan and need to pay another 12-18 months just to get to breakeven. There's likely tens of thousands of buyers who can't make a purchase that want to, but then the lower prices aren't enough to make disinterested buyers drive 7 hours to get their new car.

That’s fair.. it’s the opposite here. Two Tesla locations within 15 miles and no way I would go to a dealership.. people are fine, but they milk all the money they can.
that was my point though.. the OP said it was “universally” agreed that Tesla service is bad, and that’s just not true

 

[CyberTW]

Yep... its exactly the same with Starlink. Its a Musk thing... the guy needs a lesson in customer service. Right now he has a monopoly on Starlink as nobody else can get high speed net to the far reaches of the earth. So we all put up with it. I'm about to get fiber to my Utah house and I am looking forward to kicking his over priced net and crappy customer service to the curb as soon as that occurs.

But his day is coming... the competition in the EV space is beginning to make him sweat and its going to be interesting to see if he begins making Tesla a bit more competitive not only in price (which he is doing) but also in customer service. Thats next...

This is satire right? Are you from an OEM? “How day is coming and the competition in EV space is making him sweat?? Minus the whole “OEMS are scaling back their EV divisions because they can’t make their cars even close to profitability and the shareholders are seeings billions being losts.. not to mention all the EV startups floundering financially… but other than those minor things, I am sure you are right ?

 

[CyberTW]

My daughter an early EV convert said Tesla in the early days used to have excellent service with tech or mechanic promptly doing home service at a moments notice.

And then recently they got stranded in his Plaid in the cold night of Lake Tahoe for more than 2 hours before Tesla service assistance arrived.

I would surmise either Tesla got arroganr, as Elon is, or the service personnel did not expand with the size of their cars out there.

More worrisome is if Tesla's corporate culture does not include outstanding customer service unlike that of Toyota (consistent whether here or in Asia).

I get what you are saying but i had one experience in an older Toyota of mine when I couldn’t get the car out of park.. Toyota service said they would be out the next day at the earliest… everyone has different experiences and OEMS aren’t showing up within an hour to my house to fix my car… they will make me get a $300 tow to their service center like all of them… but ??

 

[Cyber_P]

It's all about $. Good customer support is expensive. Bad is even worse. None is just shit but better than bad.

 

[M0unt41nm4n]

This is satire right? Are you from an OEM? “How day is coming and the competition in EV space is making him sweat?? Minus the whole “OEMS are scaling back their EV divisions because they can’t make their cars even close to profitability and the shareholders are seeings billions being losts.. not to mention all the EV startups floundering financially… but other than those minor things, I am sure you are right ?

Well not totally satire. The sweat is the pricing of Teslas... and the used market on them is crumbling. Its main cause, from my understanding [*1], is the pricing of competition is causing Tesla to lower their prices. That causes the used market to collapse. The profitability is going to be tough for many until they get production in order. Tesla has had its time to perfect it... so they have a slight advantage. However, Musk is getting forced into eating some of that wonderful profit he was used to because the other EV companies are becoming compelling reasons for competition, and demand overall of course. Today I saw a Lightening going for 20K below MSRP. Yeah Ford lost on that, but some consumer is going to be a big winner.

Remember the days when a MXP was 130K? Now its $30-$40K less brand new. That used to be sugar.

Bottom line is... Tesla is now becoming a big car company and probably needs to start acting like it for the competitiveness. I think an area they can really work on is customer service... they have a lot of work to do there.

Ohhh...I forgot... no I am not from an OEM. Just a person who likes trucks/cars and understands finance with an Econ degree.

[*1] - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-price-cut-2024-elon-musk-ev/

 

[CyberTruckeeTheOne]

Same reason Apple doesn’t. No matter how poorly customers are treated, they all flock to be the first to have their new products. Until that changes, customer service will never be on their radar.

I have gone to Apple 4 times in the last year or so as I have 6 Apple devices.

All of them were excellent customer service, except for parts, were free. My laptop was bent on one side and without my prompting fixed it.

I'll grade Apple and Toyota as topnotch in that deparrment.

 

[jsquared]

@CyberTruckeeTheOne, maybe Apple was a bad example. I’ve also had pretty good CS from them, lol. Let’s swap that to AT&T and any cable company.

 

[CyberTruckeeTheOne]

@CyberTruckeeTheOne, maybe Apple was a bad example. I’ve also had pretty good CS from them, lol. Let’s swap that to AT&T and any cable company.

Maybe too high standards? And unfair to Tesla?

Sorry, I have had no experience with GM.

I had a brief 3 times with Ford and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth -- still. That it made me decline several invites to turn my reservation into order despite several downward price adjustments and supposed improvements in performance.

 

[Pstryker]

I have had good experiences with the service department for our model X. Pretty seamless. But my lord, trying to receive a Cybertruck is painful. They miss the delivery window like its nothing- no message, no information. The Dealership people either don't care or don't have the ability to do anything about getting the vehicle. It sits for weeks in an offsite storage facility with no answers. No regard for coordinating delivery with me so I can plan when to receive it. I sold my other vehicle in anticipation of getting it, that was a mistake, who knows how long I'll be carless. All I can do is wait and pray.

 

[Crissa]

These things will never get fixed. There is no incentive for employees to deliver or fix cars. They don’t get paid commission. There is no local dealership reputation to protect.

Service people don't get paid commission. Only sales people do. Tesla has paid commission in the past, but it doesn't really help.

Service centers are not designed to be a profit generator, they are just designed to pay for themselves. So they don't do 'extra' things because most people don't want to pay for them.

-Crissa

 

[BannedByTMC]

" The best service is no service. The car doesn’t break.”

https://thedriven.io/2023/04/20/the...-business-model-will-change-the-car-industry/

 

[CyberTruckeeTheOne]

Service people don't get paid commission. Only sales people do. Tesla has paid commission in the past, but it doesn't really help.

Service centers are not designed to be a profit generator, they are just designed to pay for themselves. So they don't do 'extra' things because most people don't want to pay for them.

-Crissa

They tried.

When my wife brings her vehicle for 5,000 service, they keep on telling her it needs a brake job when I just replaced it's pad and rotor.

 

[Startreknerd]

Maybe it all depends on the state you live in and maybe the workers or managers therein.

We are in the Bay Area California, I have a 2018 Model 3 and my wife has a 2014 Model S owned used since 2017.

The warranty issues with my car were minor and were addressed sometimes in my driveway pretty quickly.

My wife's Model S has had a drivetrain replaced and the battery replaced twice(first swap was a refurbished 60kWh, second was electronically locked 90kWh), her screen had to be replaced twice for bubbling and discoloration around the edge. She also got the new ECU for the new cellular module. Three of the four door handles had to be replaced with the new style modules, separately failed. All under warranty except for one door handle.

Each of the repairs for my wife's Model S were done very quickly. I think the longest was one of the battery swaps was about a week. The batteries, the drivetrain and the ECU were all over one day so they gave us a loaner Tesla (once they ran out of Tesla loaners and had to give us an Enterprise rental which was a gas vehicle). Some of the issues which were one day or less, they only gave us Uber credits, $200 per day.

 

[CyberTruckeeTheOne]

Maybe it all depends on the state you live in and maybe the workers or managers therein.

We are in the Bay Area California, I have a 2018 Model 3 and my wife has a 2014 Model S owned used since 2017.

The warranty issues with my car were minor and were addressed sometimes in my driveway pretty quickly.

My wife's Model S has had a drivetrain replaced and the battery replaced twice, her screen had to be replaced twice for bubbling and discoloration around the edge. She also got the new ECU for the new cellular module. Three of the four door handles had to be replaced with the new style modules, separately failed. All under warranty except for one door handle.

Each of the repairs for my wife's Model S were done very quickly. I think the longest was one of the battery swaps was about 4 days. The batteries, the drivetrain and the ECU were all over one day so they gave us a loaner Tesla (once they ran out of Tesla loaners and had to give us an Enterprise rental which was a gas vehicle). Some of the issues which were one day or less, they only gave us Uber credits, $200 per day.

Wow, that's high failure rate.

And here you are for the Cybertruck.

Some people never learn, lol.

 

[Startreknerd]

Wow, that's high failure rate.

And here you are for the Cybertruck.

Some people never learn, lol.

If you notice, the difference between a 2014 and 2018 is markedly improved.

My battery degradation is only 8% as well.