Beyond the call of duty actions by Tesla staff

Tesla Service

Tesla is unique amongst motor manufacturers in that they wholly own their sales and service centres. Sales staff are incentivised to delight rather than earn commission by pressurising potential customers, and Service Centres are operated to make customers happy rather than as profit centres for the company.

This unusual arrangement results in some out of the box thinking and behaviours by Tesla staff. We thought it would be interesting to list the top 10 (in no particular order and deliberately anonymised).

Top 10 beyond the call of duty actions by Tesla staff 

1. West Drayton, UK, Service Centre – I made a pre-arranged visit to have private number plates fitted to my Model S. The Service Centre provided refreshments for me, performed a full inspection of the car, updated the software, supplied and fitted the new number plates and valeted the car, all of which were completed in less than an hour. When I went to enquire about the cost I was told “there is no charge. Thank you and continue to enjoy your car”.
2. Seattle, USA, Service Centre – When I took my car in for service I admired a model of the Tesla Model S at the check-in desk. It was painted in my car’s colour, and I asked if they were for sale. No, I was told – it was sort of a one-off. Two days later there was a package in the post containing the model of the Model S with a nice note saying that the Service Centre knew I liked it and had decided I should have it.
3. USA Service Centre – On the Tesla Motors forum, as an incidental part of a post, I mentioned that my key fob was getting a little tatty. An hour after posting this Tesla called me to let me know 2 new key fobs were being posted to me.
4. West Drayton, UK, Service Centre – Our car had to be flat bedded to West Drayton after failing to open one morning. The Service Centre had to organise a hire car as they had no Model S loaners were available at such short notice. We had planned to be ferrying loads of stuff around that week and mentioned this to the Service Centre staff who arranged for the hire car to be a small van. This worked brilliantly for us and was much easier than loading up the Tesla with awkward and bulky items.
5. Crawley, UK, Service Centre – I called Tesla about a week before flying to India for five days to enquire about their airport transfer service. I had lost my second key fob shortly after collection of my Model S and so this would therefore present a challenge to collecting the vehicle on my return as I was due to get back from India at around 18.45 and someone would have to be there to pick me up as I had left my only fob with the service centre. After a long flight I emerged at 19:00 and there was a Service Centre employee with her boyfriend and my sparkling ‘Rocket’. I was so, so grateful that I offered to take them both out for dinner but it transpired that they had been waiting solely for my arrival and were going out themselves for dinner on a ‘meet the parents’ date! Not only were they absolutely charming about waiting around when they clearly had better things to be doing but the car had been completely cleaned and serviced (for free) and the missing fob was found under the drivers seat (which meant that I had never fully locked the car at all!). The ease with which this was done made my return 1000 times better than it would normally have been. Their service – on behalf of Tesla – was extraordinary.
6. USA Service Centre – I know this happens often to people, but it just recently happened to me. I made an offhand reply to someone else’s post here on the Tesla forum that my roof had a very small, slow leak (damp roof panel after a day of rain). A few days later I got an unprompted call from Tesla service asking if they could drop off a loaner and repair the leak.
7. California, USA, Service Centre – During my flawless delivery, I put some fingerprints on the handles and door while I checked out the car (after eating some greasy chips) on an otherwise impeccably cleaned and detailed Model S. As I was about to get in and drive away, a gentleman from the crew came running over with a clean towel and spray, shouting “Wait please, sir!”. He then proceeded not only to wipe off my own fingerprints, but also completely re-cleaned my door, the handle, and the window for good measure. I offered him a tip, but he refused, saying “it’s supposed to be this way, it’s my pleasure”.
8. Birmingham, UK, Service Centre – My wife and I were heading to the Birmingham Service Centre for 2 minor niggles to be attended to on the car. When we dropped the car off the Service Centre staff engaged us in conversation and I mentioned that it was our wedding anniversary over the weekend when the car was due to be returned. Upon the return of the vehicle I noticed some flowers on the back seat accompanied by a note that said “Happy Anniversary on behalf of Tesla Motors”. My wife and I were thrilled and delighted.
9. USA Service Centre – One day I was in for service and there were no Model S loaner cars available. I didn’t complain about getting something inferior, but when the Service Centre called me later in the day to update me on the status, I mentioned that the delay in answering the phone was that I had to pull over since I didn’t have Bluetooth. He apologised and said they don’t always have a MS available but no Bluetooth in the loan car was unacceptable for a Model S owner. He asked me where he could sent somebody to swap me into a Model S loaner. I told him he didn’t have to, but he insisted.
10. Van Nuys, USA, Service Centre – I was in the Service Centre in Van Nuys, CA when I saw a Tesla baseball cap sitting on their display shelf. I asked to see it and then asked how much they were. The staff member gave the cap to me for free. I wear it all the time and have gotten several compliments about it.