As a commenter pointed out, these things are always handled by insurance companies. Tesla's insurance company isn't going to do anything until your insurance company, or an attorney, calls. It's not about customer service, it's about the color of money. That's how things work here in the U.S. You would think someone able to afford a Tesla would have learned that by now.
> these things are always handled by insurance companies
Well Tesla could change that. There's zero reason for the owner's insurance company to be involved. They should admit to the f--k up, replace the car, and give some bonus for the mess.
That's not how the real world work and that's what insurance are there for. Technicians who make mistakes can't dispense $85k. Their companies also might not be able to. That's why they should get insurance.
In most of the parking spot, if you read the terms it'll say they don't assume any responsibility for the car. That is the parking is not insured and thus you have to rely on your insurance policy.
Friend’s BMW was getting serviced when Hurricane Sandy hit. Not only did BMW assign someone to help him with his insurance paperwork, as well as make them available to directly answer the adjuster’s questions, they also comped the service, cut him a cheque for the deductible and threw in a bunch of free tires and time on their racing track.
It's niceties that attract people to brands or certain dealers. I'm not saying Tesla couldn't have handled it better but you just have to be ready in case it doesn't.
> It's niceties that attract people to brands or certain dealers
And it's the lack thereof that (a) scare away customers while (b) attracting negative attention from regulator, the press and from lawyers. If you break someone's stuff while it's in your custody, the least that you do is act super nice and sympathetic about it. That's sound customer service as well as legal advice.
> In most of the parking spot, if you read the terms it'll say they don't assume any responsibility for the car.
Lots of people post disclaimers claiming they aren't responsible for anything, so that you don't try to hold them accountable. Fewer of those will hold up as having as broad of a legal effect as they claim, but if they stop you from pursuing a claim in the first place, it doesn't matter if it has any legal effect at all.
Tesla is in the wrong, and even if their insurance is going to handle it, there is absolutely no reason for the service centre to absolutely ghost this customer. They are not returning calls or answering email.
They could call and say, "We are sorry this happened, the insurance will handle it, apologies." Simple. This is not a criminal trial.
As a commenter pointed out, these things are always handled by insurance companies.
Is this known by experience, reliable source, or just something everyone "knows"? Because when I was a mechanic (albeit some 25 years ago), if a car falls off the lift, best be on the horn with the shop's insurance company. Hey, the car was in fine shape when I brought it in, don't be telling me to call my insurance company.
But things might have changed in the time intervening. Regardless, it's poor form for Tesla to just immediately lawyer up.
That's how things are expected to work among large corporations which have terrible NPS scores ("net promoter score", basically how "loved" the company is by the public).
Tesla has an NPS score of 97. This is an impossibly high, legendary score.
The fact that they are willing to jeopardize this score over something like this is just... extremely short-sighted.
Tesla is very very shady when it comes to vehicle damage, repairs, and treating their customers right. If none of you have heard of him, you should go watch RichRebuilds on Youtube.
He specializes in rebuilding and salvaging Teslas and is pretty big in that community. He has a few videos on the shady behavior Tesla engages in.
Tesla refused to do recall work on defective airbags in an owners car as mandated by the NHTSA until the NHTSA got involved directly in the case. They're literally willing to kill you to save a few bucks.
I've heard at least 1 other story where a Tesla was being serviced (the owner was a VC, i think) and they guy didn't get it back for like half a year or more, it was also on hacker news. really makes me think twice about buying a tesla.
>I've heard at least 1 other story where a Tesla was being serviced
Follow some the Elon Musk mentions on Twitter. There are many cases of people not being able to contact their service centre, or people being told it will be months for basic repairs (like a new windshield) that are resorting to pleading to him on Twitter. I've never seen anything like it.
I was viewing the video this comment [1] mentioned, and found another video which shows what happens to the circuit boards inside the motor when when you submerge a Tesla, like the case in TFA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOZ_FvfnN6k&t=13m48s
Yea, so Rich got popular by doing a rebuild from scratch essentially of a flooded tesla he bought for cheap. All in he completely restored a tesla from "totaled" to fully functional for about $6500
> "My numerous calls to Management were never returned."
> "They completely disregarded that I am a CONSUMER and deserve answers."
This is where I start suspecting there's more to the story than the author indicates. This kind of entitled "the customer is always right" attitude is exactly how you get treated in a legalistic way.
Of course Tesla should apologize for their mistake and make it right, but if the customer was threatening or rude to their employees they have every reason to give a cool response.
Worse than a bad customer is the companies that enable their shitty behavior. I hope Tesla sides with its good employees over bad customers, if that is the case here.
but if the customer was threatening or rude to their employees they have every reason to give a cool response.
After said employees trashed an $85K car through neglect? Yeah, you better be biting your tongue while giving your biggest smile while you try to explain to the customer how your trashed a car worth more than some houses in the U. S., and how you're not in any particular hurry to correct that. And if the customer yells at you a little bit, or says rude things, be glad that's the worst of it.
23 comments
[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 55.9 ms ] threadWell Tesla could change that. There's zero reason for the owner's insurance company to be involved. They should admit to the f--k up, replace the car, and give some bonus for the mess.
In most of the parking spot, if you read the terms it'll say they don't assume any responsibility for the car. That is the parking is not insured and thus you have to rely on your insurance policy.
Friend’s BMW was getting serviced when Hurricane Sandy hit. Not only did BMW assign someone to help him with his insurance paperwork, as well as make them available to directly answer the adjuster’s questions, they also comped the service, cut him a cheque for the deductible and threw in a bunch of free tires and time on their racing track.
And it's the lack thereof that (a) scare away customers while (b) attracting negative attention from regulator, the press and from lawyers. If you break someone's stuff while it's in your custody, the least that you do is act super nice and sympathetic about it. That's sound customer service as well as legal advice.
Lots of people post disclaimers claiming they aren't responsible for anything, so that you don't try to hold them accountable. Fewer of those will hold up as having as broad of a legal effect as they claim, but if they stop you from pursuing a claim in the first place, it doesn't matter if it has any legal effect at all.
You have got to be kidding me.
Tesla is in the wrong, and even if their insurance is going to handle it, there is absolutely no reason for the service centre to absolutely ghost this customer. They are not returning calls or answering email.
They could call and say, "We are sorry this happened, the insurance will handle it, apologies." Simple. This is not a criminal trial.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Is this known by experience, reliable source, or just something everyone "knows"? Because when I was a mechanic (albeit some 25 years ago), if a car falls off the lift, best be on the horn with the shop's insurance company. Hey, the car was in fine shape when I brought it in, don't be telling me to call my insurance company.
But things might have changed in the time intervening. Regardless, it's poor form for Tesla to just immediately lawyer up.
That's how things are expected to work among large corporations which have terrible NPS scores ("net promoter score", basically how "loved" the company is by the public).
Tesla has an NPS score of 97. This is an impossibly high, legendary score.
The fact that they are willing to jeopardize this score over something like this is just... extremely short-sighted.
https://npsbenchmarks.com/
He specializes in rebuilding and salvaging Teslas and is pretty big in that community. He has a few videos on the shady behavior Tesla engages in.
For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl2UjK6fJ1w
Tesla refused to do recall work on defective airbags in an owners car as mandated by the NHTSA until the NHTSA got involved directly in the case. They're literally willing to kill you to save a few bucks.
Follow some the Elon Musk mentions on Twitter. There are many cases of people not being able to contact their service centre, or people being told it will be months for basic repairs (like a new windshield) that are resorting to pleading to him on Twitter. I've never seen anything like it.
(oh, and the on-board system still boots even after additional high-pressure cleaning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5_J5h2UFiY)
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17403127
> "They completely disregarded that I am a CONSUMER and deserve answers."
This is where I start suspecting there's more to the story than the author indicates. This kind of entitled "the customer is always right" attitude is exactly how you get treated in a legalistic way.
Of course Tesla should apologize for their mistake and make it right, but if the customer was threatening or rude to their employees they have every reason to give a cool response.
Worse than a bad customer is the companies that enable their shitty behavior. I hope Tesla sides with its good employees over bad customers, if that is the case here.
After said employees trashed an $85K car through neglect? Yeah, you better be biting your tongue while giving your biggest smile while you try to explain to the customer how your trashed a car worth more than some houses in the U. S., and how you're not in any particular hurry to correct that. And if the customer yells at you a little bit, or says rude things, be glad that's the worst of it.
I hope Tesla makes it, but things are looking pretty grim these days.