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Comment by kitcar | Hacker News Reader

Complaint was from Nassim Nicholas Taleb (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb)

Elon responded - https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1217493904297058304

It's shouldn't take twitter and involvement of the CEO to get basic customer service.

Or a complaint from a very famous person in startup circles to get people to pay attention to the expensive software issues...

This is not a Tesla only problem, mind you. Most companies I've had the (dis-)pleasure of working with lately seem to be lacking in this area. It isn't until the brass steps in that a decision can be made to unlock an outcome.

I've heard it a lot of Telsa owners where I live. And for something that costs on avg 50k+ it shouldn't be this bad.

I have a coworker who has had tons of problems with a Tesla and has had a terrible time with their support and repair services. I agree that it's becoming the norm even for higher priced products to have shit customer service.

I can't argue with you there. My previous Fifth Wheel RV had a sinking floor issue that took months for the manufacturer to take seriously. It required me to press the issue many times before they got me an appointment. That was a 60k purchase.

Im not saying Tesla is the only company that does this. RV dealers are renown for doing the same thing. That is why everyone recommends buying an RV that is 3 years old because everything should be fixed by then.

Customer Service is a cost center. In that part of the funnel, there is no money to be made, only lost. Hence the rigid CSR scripts, "quality assurance" recordings, and refusal to escalate issues.

It's not dissimilar to security in that regard. Investing in secure practices will never make money, it will only ever be a money hole like CS.

As @jordan_mcrae_ put it, "This is called blue checkmark service. Not available to regular Tesla customers"

http://graphics.wsj.com/elon-musk-twitter-habit-analysis/

He seems to reply to everyone, but I guess a blue checkmark gets more attention

I agree. The problem is both support & IT are cost centers and first on the chopping block when budgets need to be reeled in.

Didn't sound very basic. "butt-purchasing" sounds like quite a stretch. And Taleb is a confirmed provocateur.

> And Taleb is a confirmed provocateur.

Confirmed by who? When? How?

Stuff like this: https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1160560285805096960

Just read his books. Brilliant, but clearly incendiary.

And happens to love Tesla. Until he got to experience their customer service:

"First day driving a @TeslaMotors. Something else! I hope I will never ever have to drive a nonelectric car." (https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/897402998787330048?lang=e...)

"There are 150K-200K car fires per annum. You take one event & an emotional statement of an actress & turn it into a statement about the safety of @Tesla. And this is 2018." (https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1008365860057120770?lang=...)

"But they can show evidence of smear campaign (there is) using my Tesla/NonTesla test." (https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1018509262085996545?lang=...)

"Tesla might not be a flawless diamond, but you could smell a smear campaign by the usual culprits, the propaganda machine for middlebrow called the New York Times, heavily compromised in its subservience to Saudi Barbaria/Oil lobbies." (https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1066683244295397376?lang=...)

The "OMG someone said something bad about Tesla, let's question their motives"/"the shorts!" reflexes need to stop.

OTOH the involvement of the CEO is the best way to solve systemic issues.

IOW customer service can & should be able to fix it for one person, but the CEO can fix it for everybody.

CEOs handle optics and politics first. Of course Musk is going to promise top class service to a best-selling author with a massive following. You always take care of the big swinging d's first. You relegate the rest to your minions to handle.

Sorry, how would a company implement basic customer services except at the direction of its senior managers? Musk wasn't just issuing this one refund in that tweet, he was promising to fix Tesla's customer service policies. That's his job, and he's doing it. You can argue that he did it badly in the past, but I don't see much to complain about currently.

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