I love my Tesla, but I’m not a big fan of the company’s customer service issues. Elon is great at tech, but he seriously needs to find someone with experience in how to keep your customers happy – especially now that competition is finally beginning to emerge. My concern is shared by many, and it even extends to Space-X, but that’s an issue for another day. I felt I needed to document a problem that has arisen with my Model Y that is currently vexing me.
I took delivery on June 16th at the Decatur, Georgia Tesla store. It was a hot and busy day, and the rep was working between 2 or possibly 3 simultaneous deliveries. I’d watched lots of videos and knew to look for misalignments and similar issues, but things were rushed, and I missed the two paint defects on the driver side fender.
Two small paint defects on the passenger side front fender have been improperly finished.
I didn’t see them until I arrived home, but I decided to wait on reporting them to see if any other problems emerged. Quite honestly, I almost forgot about the defects until I installed some new super-bright LED lights in the garage. Suddenly, they were glaring!
In August I raised a ticket to see when a repair could be organized. I included pictures and a detailed description of the problem, so there was no question that some light body work would be required.
The first open date was Labor Day, September 6th, to be performed at my home by a technician from Decatur. They sent me an estimate of $92.50, which I protested, because to me, this should be a warranty repair. No one responded to my message, and I was afraid the ticket would not proceed if I did not accept it, so I approved the estimate. A few days later, I was notified that the repair would have to be made at the Decatur service center. The respondent said it could not be done at home, but I was assured that Decatur could take care of it.
When I arrived at the Decatur center, about 40 miles from my house, I was promptly and courteously greeted, but it did not take long to be told that they don’t do any such work there. It was as if no one had even noticed what the service involved, and I was told that Marietta was the only location that could perform such work. I was also told there was no assurance the repair would be covered by warranty!
An appointment was made for Marietta, although it will have to be changed due to travel obligations. I decided to take the car to EZ Dent in Duluth so Preston could take a look. He pointed out something I had missed: when opening the frunk, it was clear that someone had attempted to repair the defects but had done a poor job. There was still sand on the driver side of the frunk, near the defects, while the passenger side was completely clean!
 The passenger side of the frunk is completely clean. In contrast to the driver side, there is no sand or any other hint of an issue. |
 This is the driver’s side of the frunk where sand can clearly be seen left from an attempt to repair the two blemishes on the top of the fender. |
Now I am faced with a trip to another Tesla location, this one even further away and still no assurance that I won’t be charged for what is clearly a botched repair of a defect. Yes, I should have been more careful and noticed it at delivery. Hopefully others about to go through the process will learn from my mistake.