spoiler

I wanted to wait until the truck repair was complete, but am feeling a bit frustrated and needed to vent a little. Some background. We were in the first group to drive the Cybertruck off the Service Center lot out of Jacksonville, FL early this year. Upon our drive home, we noticed some minor issues. Notably, the tires wobbled at high speeds (70mph with 80mph+ being a bit scary to do) and a rather noisy glove box that sounded like my old 80's Toyota Corolla that sat in the sun too long. Squeaky from the vibration, exacerbated by an electric vehicle's quietness. But my 2018 Model 3 never had a noisy... well... anything really, so this was particularly noticable.

A couple of days into owning the vehicle, it started throwing up an alert part way through drives. I don't recall the exact message, but it was something along the lines of "Air suspension unavailable. Function may be restored upon next drive". But the air suspension was fine. We could raise and lower it without issue, and the alert would indeed go away until it would randomly return again. Annoying, but not major. We enjoyed the truck for a week or so before finally giving in to the alert, wobbly wheels, and squeaky glove box, and opened up a formal service center ticket on 02/24/2024. They reviewed the alert message and scheduled a repair visit for 04/18/2024. That isn't a typo. The appointment was around 6 weeks after opening the ticket. But again, everything was functioning fine more or less and we were thoroughly enjoying the truck in the meantime.

Fast forward to appointment day. Everything in the app said it was a same-day appointment, and that we could hang out in the lounge or enjoy a test drive in a new model. Note that it is a 3 hour round trip from where we live to the service center. We made the drive up to Jacksonville, parked the truck, and waited in line for about 20 minutes to speak to the tech. They asked us if we had a ride home which confused us until they explained it would be an overnight repair. We were a little annoyed at this, but figured there was nothing we could do. We took the truck out on a quick test drive with the tech to show them how the truck's tires were pretty clearly off balance, and so that they could hear the lovely sound of the glove box. With the issues confirmed, we returned to the service center where upon they struggled to find us a loaner. They ended up putting us with a 2020 Model 3 Standard+ that smelled a bit like smoke and body odor. It felt like a 10 year old rental car, but again, no big deal as we'd be driving back the next day to pick the truck up.

So with our 3 hour round trip out of the way, we went to bed and woke up the next day with the repair estimate showing a completion of 05/03 and no explanation why. I thought it may be a typo so we waited for the service center to reach out and let us know it was ready for pickup. Which they did not do. So we waited another day. Then another. Then a week went by. I finally gave in and reached out via the app to ask what the delay was for and if the ETA really was 05/03. We got a response back saying the part they received was defective and they were waiting on another part.

Great.

So we waited more. Finally 05/03 rolls around, again with no updates, only the app saying it was estimated to be finished by 5:30pm. So I sent a message around 2pm asking if we should drive up there or not since it was a 3 hour round trip, and that we didn't want to waste our time if it wouldn't be ready. We got a call about 30 minutes later from a tech who said that the Jacksonville service center was short handed and they wouldn't have anyone who could work on the truck until 05/09.

So here we are. 05/04, waiting on a fix for an issue reported on 02/24 with an estimated repair date of 05/09 if they can even stick to that. 10 weeks after reporting the issue, assuming we actually get to pick it up then.

Not a great feeling for spending $100k+ on their vehicle, and especially not a great feeling after reading all the reports about Tesla laying off staff, including service techs, all over the country.

With that off my back, I feel a little better. I'll provide an update if/when we do finally have this repair complete. I absolutely miss the truck. It's such an amazing vehicle which is why I would love to be driving it around right now. This is all exacerbated by Tesla not having a service center nearby. They have one under construction, but it's not slated to be finished until end of this year. Were it operational, we could just keep the truck while we wait for them to actually be ready to repair it. Oh well.

Wish us luck please!

With that off my back, I feel a little better. I'll provide an update if/when we do finally have this repair complete. I absolutely miss the truck. It's such an amazing vehicle which is why I would love to be driving it around right now. This is all exacerbated by Tesla not having a service center nearby. They have one under construction, but it's not slated to be finished until end of this year. Were it operational, we could just keep the truck while we wait for them to actually be ready to repair it. Oh well.

you-are-a-serf

  • happybadger [he/him]
    hexagon
    ·
    6 months ago

    Did they advise you what specifically needs to be changed with respect to the wheel wobble? Did they mention the part needed?

    They have provided no other information which is probably the most frustrating part of all this. A service center so overwhelmed they are struggling to communicate and keep up with their repair schedules.

    Having driven many vehicles over my life, some of which definitely had imbalanced wheels, I'm pretty sure the wheel issue is the easy fix and not the source of delays. A proper balancing on a lift should have fixed that. So I'm going on the assumption that it's either the part to replace the air suspension alert or perhaps the entire glove box is needing replacing.

    The app provides no details on what exactly is being replaced/repaired so far. Maybe when it's all through it will? I've never had to go through this with my 2018 Model 3. That car has been solid with a mobile service visit taking care of our upgrade from hardware 2 to hardware 3 I believe.

    In your situation I think you would qualify for a lemon law buy back or replacement easily. Sure hope if get it back they really know it's fixed, horrible situation and service for sure, scares me to get mine a bit. Although I live an hour from Tesla y'all sounds worse for sure and I'd caution to buy a vehicle (especially 1st year new tech Tesla) being so far from a SC.

    Not really a lemon issue. They haven't actually fixed a thing yet. The service center is just... bad.

    That said, I love the truck too much to do anything like that. I'll just try to use a different service center in the future should anything else arise.

    The lemon clock still runs out, even if they don't attempt to fix it, in most lemon laws.

    Well, not a great update so far. Today's the day it was supposed to be repaired (again). I messaged the service center early this morning to confirm if I should make the long round trip drive up. I got a reply back pretty quickly asking us to wait until they call which they estimated to be around 1pm. It's now 3:30pm with no phone call to us made. The truck doesn't appear to have moved inside for repairs (location still shows it is outside in the parking lot).

    Got a call just now (4:45) with an update. They apparently have been waiting on the tool to arrive which is needed to replace the defective part. Not sure why they had us drop the truck off without the tools to repair said part weeks ago, but at least now they can repair it. Except the service center closes shortly, so tomorrow will hopefully be the day we can finally pick it up again. Huzzah!

    • EmoThugInMyPhase [he/him]
      ·
      6 months ago

      Did they advise you what specifically needs to be changed with respect to the wheel wobble? Did they mention the part needed?

      Why would these people even care lol. Not like any shops except super special advanced mechanics have the parts, and they all cost a quarter of the car and they'll pay for it anyway.

      • happybadger [he/him]
        hexagon
        ·
        6 months ago

        Probably to see if the repairs would even be covered after 2+ month of unknown labour while it's rusting in a parking lot. Another one I was considering posting, but it doesn't have the chefs-kiss of how much Tesla goes out of their way to shit on him, made it 35 miles before something made all the coolant leak out of the back. They don't cover coolant leaks under the warranty and only begrudgingly sent a tow truck: https://www.cybertruckownersclub.com/forum/threads/35-miles-until-cybercrap.16878/

        I do love that with that one he still tried to take glamour shots of it leaking poison onto the ground and sitting on a tow truck with the sunset in the background. That's what he paid $100k for and at best he can hope to get a 10 year-old loaner which smells like cigarettes. I can't even.