Recent Tesla customer service experience for comparison

[SoccerMan94043]

I have a 2018 Tesla Model 3 that was replaced by my Taycan. It's going to my son as he learns to drive.

It doesn't require much attention and hasn't had any issues or any need for service for the last 4 years, so it's been a long while since I've experienced their service. Four years ago (the last time it had service) it was for a dead 12v battery. Tesla sent a mobile tech to my house and changed both the 12v battery and the air filter. That cost $200.00 and took like 10 minutes.

On Saturday morning I got an alert on my phone that the 12v battery needed to be replaced and that no software updates would be made until it was. Opening up the Tesla app pointed me toward setting up a service appointment and suggested other maintenance items to go with it (air filter, rotate tires, etc). I selected the additional air filter add on and the app listed several places to take the car with various dates open. Unfortunately the mobile tech wasn't available until Thursday but my closest service center in Los Gatos was available that morning so I scheduled the appointment.

I drove up to the service center drop off as normal but no one met me there, so I walked into the office and met a service writer. Turns out I didn't need to do that or even drop off the key. The app already had the cost estimate I needed to approve and the estimated time they'd need the car. About an hour later I got a message that all was ready. I paid with the app ($300.00 btw), walked out to where they parked my car and drove away.

For an introvert this was about as perfect service appointment as one could have

We all know Porsche is way behind in software in the car, but it now goes WAY beyond that.

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[SergeyIndy]

Fantastic over the top experience bar none, but are you saying that for 12v replacement and a cabin filter your out the door was $300?

My recent 2020 Cayenne 12v replacement was $2,700 please (will be no less on a Taycan) and cabin filter would be $125 minimum but I do it myself on all my cars, well need to learn how to do it on Macan EV.

 

[SoccerMan94043]

Fantastic over the top experience bar none, but are you saying that for 12v replacement and a cabin filter your out the door was $300?

My recent 2020 Cayenne 12v replacement was $2,700 please (will be no less on a Taycan) and cabin filter would be $125 minimum but I do it myself on all my cars, well need to learn how to do it on Macan EV.

Yes… 316.96 was the total all in for the battery replacement and the air filter.

in two weeks I’m having a general inspection and the brake fluid tested. That will cost around 400.00.

 

[chun]

Fantastic over the top experience bar none, but are you saying that for 12v replacement and a cabin filter your out the door was $300?

My recent 2020 Cayenne 12v replacement was $2,700 please (will be no less on a Taycan) and cabin filter would be $125 minimum but I do it myself on all my cars, well need to learn how to do it on Macan EV.

You pay the premium price, so you can get the "premium" experience of german brands

 

[RBGtaycan]

You pay the premium price, so you can get the "premium" experience of german brands

You pay the premium price, so you can get the "premium" experience of german brands

That may be my biggest disappointment in my Taycan (now sold)....based on my previous Porsches, I expected above average service. What I got was WAY WAY below that expectation. I am not a Tesla fan (thanks Elon..) but the Tesla service experience appears to often be pretty good. It appears to benefit from the fact the Tesla does it own service (US) (no dealers) and pays some attention to that process.

 

[bn8959]

I do find myself wondering if the tech's at OPCs hate the Taycan. Ive had multiple serious issues with really poor levels of service, simply down to total lack of care and respect for the vehicle.

For example when they fitted new tyres (at a huge huge price premium) they damaged ALL FOUR wheels. How the hell does that happen? I paid the premium for the convenience and piece of mind that that would take care. Do you think they would happen on a set of magnesium wheels on a GT3? I think not!

 

[RBGtaycan]

I do find myself wondering if the tech's at OPCs hate the Taycan. Ive had multiple serious issues with really poor levels of service, simply down to total lack of care and respect for the vehicle.

For example when they fitted new tyres (at a huge huge price premium) they damaged ALL FOUR wheels. How the hell does that happen? I paid the premium for the convenience and piece of mind that that would take care. Do you think they would happen on a set of magnesium wheels on a GT3? I think not!

The last time my Taycan was in for emergency service (3 week wait, btw), I was talking to the Service Rep, bemoaning the long service delays and the frequent issues, and saying it's time to move on to something else.

He whispers to me: "get a gasoline Porsche; get rid of that thing"

At first I thought just another "stuck in ICE" guy - but I've come to see that his own experience led him to non-support for some of his own products...

 

[Flying ace]

Interesting experience. Visiting a Porsche service advisor is like maintaining a relationship with a drug dealer these days.

Honestly what you described doesn't appeal to me. But Teslas are laptops.

 

[Flying ace]

I do find myself wondering if the tech's at OPCs hate the Taycan. Ive had multiple serious issues with really poor levels of service, simply down to total lack of care and respect for the vehicle.

For example when they fitted new tyres (at a huge huge price premium) they damaged ALL FOUR wheels. How the hell does that happen? I paid the premium for the convenience and piece of mind that that would take care. Do you think they would happen on a set of magnesium wheels on a GT3? I think not!

I have to say 4 out of 5 times my Taycan has gone in has come back with some type of interior damage. Thank goodness all of it minor. Once it came back with a missing floor mat....

Warranty work is paid by Porsche NA which has strict hourly payments and work has to be documented. It's a PITA working on the Taycan. I've seen video of a Porsche tech replace the front motor.... The whole freaking front end of the car is disassembled!

 

[whitex]

I have a 2018 Tesla Model 3 that was replaced by my Taycan. It's going to my son as he learns to drive.

It doesn't require much attention and hasn't had any issues or any need for service for the last 4 years, so it's been a long while since I've experienced their service. Four years ago (the last time it had service) it was for a dead 12v battery. Tesla sent a mobile tech to my house and changed both the 12v battery and the air filter. That cost $200.00 and took like 10 minutes.

On Saturday morning I got an alert on my phone that the 12v battery needed to be replaced and that no software updates would be made until it was. Opening up the Tesla app pointed me toward setting up a service appointment and suggested other maintenance items to go with it (air filter, rotate tires, etc). I selected the additional air filter add on and the app listed several places to take the car with various dates open. Unfortunately the mobile tech wasn't available until Thursday but my closest service center in Los Gatos was available that morning so I scheduled the appointment.

I drove up to the service center drop off as normal but no one met me there, so I walked into the office and met a service writer. Turns out I didn't need to do that or even drop off the key. The app already had the cost estimate I needed to approve and the estimated time they'd need the car. About an hour later I got a message that all was ready. I paid with the app ($300.00 btw), walked out to where they parked my car and drove away.

For an introvert this was about as perfect service appointment as one could have

We all know Porsche is way behind in software in the car, but it now goes WAY beyond that.

Not fair comparing a 20th century car experience against a 21st century car experience. Compare Porsche to 19th century cars, and you will get a similar comparison. Yes, Porsche is still stuck in last century as far as car design, manufacturing, and service models. I guess we are all waiting for the Porsche/Piech family elders to depart this plane, or at least the VWAG board of directors.

 

[bluesky]

For comparison, my only service visit so for my BMW i5 M60 was due to frequent complaints of “excessive power consumption” while parked in the garage, and the consequential constant service reminder in the phone app.

The visit to a BMW dealership was probably pretty much like Porsche. Very efficient, very clean and over the top dealership interior decoration. SA took my info, walked me over to the loaners counter and said he’d text or call as soon as the tech had info. It took about 10 minutes to get the loaner and leave.

Ultimate the tech and SA blamed me for the issue, saying that I “don’t drive enough” to charge up the 12V battery, that it doesn’t charge the 12V battery while parked, and that I should leave it plugged in on my charger at home if I’m not going to drive since it to enable parked charging. They failed to understand that the recent OTA software update effectively erased my driving history so all they saw was a couple of grocery store runs. They also failed to understand that the car charges the 12V battery from the HV battery as needed regardless of whether plugged in or not, something anyone who can hear the coolant system running while parked in the garage, days since last driving it, would know.

I left and decided to go to another dealership if the problem persisted another month. Fortunately, the next OTA software update contained some kind of vaguely worded “power management improvement”, and the problem was gone as soon as I installed it and hasn’t returned. BMW apparently had feedback from others about the problem, and worked on and fixed the issue, all without the dealer service department knowing anything about it.

So another big German auto manufacturer with techs that are supposed to be trained and kept up to speed on the changing hardware/software environment in today’s cars failed to understand my car and my problem, possibly because their idea of the software functionality has changed since the last time they trained up.

These established companies just can’t seem to get with it in terms of servicing the EVs and largely software dependent modern cars.

Fortunately, that’s the only cause I’ve had to take it for service in 1.5 years.

 

[Fun TC Driving]

Porsche dealership service quality is dealership dependent. My experience with our first month of manufacture Macan EV Turbo was challenging (should have listened to both Kelley Blue Book and J.D. Power that saym “we recommend against buying a first year of manufacture for every model regardless of brand”), the first six months of our Macan ownership reflecting that software is far from Porsche’s expertice (four different times it spent an average of two weeks at the dealership). But every single time they treated me like I was royalty when I drove in. Every time they had a loaner for me — most times another Macan EV as they know I prefer EV’s for daily driver. If not they had a really nice, almost new Cayenne ICE for me to drive.

I had not even bought the car from them (they did not have an early Turbo allocations for a while that wasn’t previously committed allocated to someone who was time-wise way ahead of me on their purchase list). I bought my CPO elsewhere for -$25K compared to MSRP with just 1,538 miles. Yet, every time my Macan had a software issue they assigned their shop Foreman or his # 2 to work on my car. Every time they solved the presenting issue.

I remain positively surprised that they continue to treat me and my car excellently, for I am unlike most of their customers who own 911’s and/or higher prestige Porsches, most of them having bought multiples or many multiples of Porsches from them earlier. So like getting a Corvette serviced, and just like we do not choose the closest restaurant to eat at, nor the closest attorney for legal issues, we need to do due diligence and find those Porsche dealerships that care. Porsche Beaverton‘s service has been that way to me since I first brought it in — and why my wife and I were there this weekend looking at a Cayenne EV or a Taycan GTS as our Macan‘s lease replacement.

 

[tigerbalm]

We have only one Porsche dealer here in the Republic of Ireland so that at least takes some of the decision making out of things!

I have a good relationship with them and the service manager is happy for me to email him about anything.

But when my Porsche was due its first scheduled service earlier this year, I decided I'd try booking it through the app to see what happens.

15 mins after going through the detailed in-app process they emailed me a confirmation of my selected date/time and everything went as expected.

Not as smooth as @SoccerMan94043 described – paying through the app for example – but not too bad either. It definitely made selecting my preferred date/time easier than doing it over phone/email.

 

[whitex]

We have only one Porsche dealer here in the Republic of Ireland so that at least takes some of the decision making out of things!

I have a good relationship with them and the service manager is happy for me to email him about anything.

But when my Porsche was due its first scheduled service earlier this year, I decided I'd try booking it through the app to see what happens.

15 mins after going through the detailed in-app process they emailed me a confirmation of my selected date/time and everything went as expected.

Not as smooth as @SoccerMan94043 described – paying through the app for example – but not too bad either. It definitely made selecting my preferred date/time easier than doing it over phone/email.

I hope Porsche catches up. My experience has been they are moving backwards. I used to be able to find tires on MyPorsche.com, get an instant quote, schedule with the dealer. After Porsche discontinued web based MyPorsche, I spent some time trying to find it in the phone app (and the remaining web based interface) but failed to find it, so gave up, booked the new tire through DiscountTire.com and had a new tire I needed installed the very next day (less than 24hrs from order). I did all that in the middle of the night, as I only realized one of my tires was fatally wounded in the evening, so no way to call a Porsche dealer by phone to get an estimate and/or schedule a visit (if they would even have one available same day, with tire available to install). Perhaps Porsche is optimizing their service towards people with many alternate cars to drive (so they don't care about expediency), and perhaps only people awake during business hours (senior citizens?).

 

[SoccerMan94043]

We have only one Porsche dealer here in the Republic of Ireland so that at least takes some of the decision making out of things!

I have a good relationship with them and the service manager is happy for me to email him about anything.

But when my Porsche was due its first scheduled service earlier this year, I decided I'd try booking it through the app to see what happens.

15 mins after going through the detailed in-app process they emailed me a confirmation of my selected date/time and everything went as expected.

Not as smooth as @SoccerMan94043 described – paying through the app for example – but not too bad either. It definitely made selecting my preferred date/time easier than doing it over phone/email.

This is how it worked for me both times I've taken my Taycan to the local dealer. I still had to drop off the car, hand over the keys, sign paper work, etc. They did get me a Lyft back home (I opted for that rather than wait for a loaner). On pick up i had to go in, sign more paper work and wait for the car to be brought around (which always seems to take much longer than it should, especially when I have explicate instructions not to wash it).

Soon enough newer Teslas will drive themselves to their appointments :\

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