News hardware Tesla: when after-sales service turns into a nightmare and leads to hunger strikes
Temporary problem or real planetary scandal? Many Tesla car owners tear their hair out over the incompetence of the after-sales service, the famous after-sales service. To the point that some have even started a hunger strike to be heard. But what is going on in the hell of the Tesla dealerships?
Tesla sells a lot (too many?) of cars, but does not have the capacity to repair them
Here is a new controversy that the whimsical Elon Musk would probably have done without… If Norway is one of the countries where the inhabitants are the happiest in the world, it is also the country where there are the highest number of Teslas per inhabitant on the whole planet!
As a result, it is a market that is particularly followed and which benefits from a weight and a significant voice in the sector. There, more than elsewhere, since the number of cars per inhabitant is greater there than elsewhere, there are very many and recurring complaints against the after-sales service (SAV) of the brand.
In question ? Poor customer service at best, totally absent at worst. Many owners, victims of a breakdown or an accident, report their distress to consumer associations or on social networks.
And if the recurring problems reported by customers are ultimately quite common to those found in the rest of the automotive industry (water leaks in the cabin, scratches on the bodywork, deflating tires or lack of power), it must be added all the problems related to electric and autonomous cars, namely doors that do not open in very cold weather (recurring in Norway), battery problems with reduced autonomy, seats that overheat, the autopilot which derails or the control screen which goes out without warning. In short, a hell of a mess which today finds a culprit: the after-sales service.
In Norway, a hunger strike to force Tesla and Elon Musk to react
This is the US site
Vox
who revealed the substance of the case a few days ago by linking several thousand complaints filed by American owners with the famous Federal Trace Commission (FTC) and in connection with an investigation carried out by the firm JD Power to 84,165 buyers of new vehicles of all brands.
From this survey, it emerged that Tesla, with an incidence rate of 226 per 1000 vehicles, was at the top of the market. Worse still, in another survey, in Europe this time, among 52,430 motorists who needed to contact their after-sales service, we learn thatwith less than 60% satisfaction, Tesla has the lowest rate of any brand on the market.
The problem, in reality, is that Tesla sells a lot of cars, and very quickly, but that behind, there are clearly not enough authorized repair centers able to support the vehicles. When some owners sometimes have to travel several hundred kilometers to find a center, the garages are overwhelmed and the waiting time can go up to several weeks or even several months for a simple part to be changed… And again, when they don’t find their vehicles with dead rats in the trunk or problems that didn’t exist before…
This is how our dear and courageous Norwegian friends, after having tried everything to be heard, going so far as to form a “HELP” with their cars, decided to move up a gear by starting a hunger strike… Nothing only that.
The goal ? Attract the attention of Elon Musk and Tesla to finally take stock of the problem.