I turned in a 2021 Tesla Mannequin 3 and leased a 2024 Mannequin Y, and I realized firsthand how badly Tesla’s layoffs have affected morale and customer support.
My firsthand expertise of Tesla layoffs
My husband and I wished to work with Tesla’s new South Burlington, Vermont, Tesla Middle as a result of it’s a simple 1 hour 20 minutes drive away. Nevertheless, it’s not dealing with lease returns or new automobile deliveries but.
The fledgling group at South Burlington doesn’t know when lease returns or new automobile deliveries will begin. They instructed me, “May very well be weeks, could possibly be months.” The customer support group in Las Vegas didn’t know both. Kinda makes you marvel, who does truly know?
Anyway, we needed to do the factor that Vermonters have needed to do for years, which is drive 5 hours south to the Tesla Middle in Paramus, New Jersey. That’s as a result of New Hampshire doesn’t have a Tesla Middle, and Massachusetts doesn’t enable out-of-state automobile pickups.
However first, I needed to undergo the leasing course of on the Tesla app. Spoiler: It wasn’t good.
The app first instructed a supply date that we merely couldn’t attend – driving to New Jersey and again in a day is a 12-hour day. So I repeatedly referred to as Tesla customer support to make alternate preparations, and nobody answered the telephone. My favourite half was the robo recording voice that stated, “We care about you” then stated goodbye. What a time suck.
Tesla then canceled our automobile as a result of we couldn’t verify the supply date on the app (or converse to a human on the telephone, or by electronic mail or textual content, as a result of the corporate is now short-staffed).
Pre-layoffs, I used to be working with an possession loyalty advisor primarily based in Fremont, however that particular person stopped replying to me when the cuts began. In desperation, I despatched that particular person a number of emails and texts. (Everybody on this article is nameless to guard their privateness – and their jobs.) The loyalty advisor lastly surfaced by way of textual content, apologized, and put the Mannequin Y again into our account.
I restarted the leasing course of and stuffed out the finance utility on the app. It sat unapproved for days. So I referred to as Tesla once more and this time obtained a Las Vegas-based customer support rep on the telephone. That particular person stated that “it didn’t undergo for no matter purpose” and requested me to resubmit my utility from scratch. That was a ache however no matter.
My finance utility then sat unapproved, for days, proper as much as the night time earlier than we have been as a result of decide the Mannequin Y up in Paramus. The customer support rep stated that finance is short-staffed and overwhelmed with purposes, due to the brand new 0.99% APR financing supply on Mannequin Ys. The rep in Las Vegas suggested that we name Paramus within the morning and inform them we are able to’t come as a result of finance hadn’t permitted our leasing utility.
I wakened early the subsequent morning to see within the app that Tesla Finance had permitted our utility in a single day. I clicked on “settle for” and was repeatedly rewarded with a 500 error message. I simply. Couldn’t. Full. The transaction. [Silent scream.]
Since we had approval, we shortly took off for New Jersey. We have been in Massachusetts when the Las Vegas customer support rep referred to as me in response to my textual content pleas for assist. I instructed that individual that approval had gone via at 1:30 am and so they stated, “Yeah, they’re having to work actually lengthy hours to maintain up, they’re overwhelmed.”
The customer support rep pushed my lease phrases acceptance via, with my permission, after which I lastly – lastly! – completed the leasing course of on the app. A snippet of a convo the rep and I had:
Me: Have layoffs left you all short-staffed? Has it affected morale?
Tesla customer support rep: [silence] Um… it is a recorded line.
Me: So I’m simply going to take that as a sure.
Rep: [nervous giggle]
We arrived for our 3 pm appointment. The Tesla Middle reps have been utterly open about how layoffs have affected them and wished me to share what they stated:
We have been left alone right here [no layoffs] as a result of we’re a serious distribution heart. However Springfield [NJ] obtained worn out. Typically a few of us go down there to assist them.
We wish you to share that everybody’s morale is low. We’re overworked and understaffed, and we really feel unhappy for our buddies who have been our colleagues who misplaced their jobs. This has been actually, actually dangerous.
The in-person Mannequin 3/Mannequin Y swap was seamless and the one that helped us do this was nice. The truth is, each particular person – as soon as I may get them on the telephone – was useful and educated. There simply aren’t sufficient of them.
Electrek’s Take
I made the choice to as soon as once more spend my hard-earned cash at Tesla. Elon’s layoffs made the complete course of aggravating and ugly as a result of there weren’t sufficient individuals to help. These layoffs haven’t solely affected morale, they’ve significantly harmed customer support high quality, and thus the shopper expertise.
The Tesla workers we handled are professionals which have been thrown right into a state of affairs the place they’re mainly attempting to spin gold out of straw. It’s not their fault.
It ought to have felt celebratory, selecting up the Mannequin Y, prefer it did three years in the past with the Mannequin 3. I then wrote about my fantastic expertise, and to my delight, Elon retweeted my story. This time, I really feel exhausted, unhappy, and disenchanted.
I instructed my Electrek colleagues about my expertise. Jamie jogged my memory of his latest submit the place he identified that Elon is “presently attempting to persuade shareholders to provide him $55 billion – sufficient to pay the 14,000+ workers he’s laid off six-figure salaries for ~40 years.”
Fred initially expressed concern that folks underestimate the impression of the layoffs. So I requested him to elaborate on his ideas. He defined:
Layoffs are all the time brutal, however Tesla’s newest spherical of layoffs have been particularly brutal.
Some workers drove lengthy commutes to work to appreciate their credentials have been revoked, some labored whole shifts solely to get house to appreciate that they’d acquired a private electronic mail telling them they’d been fired halfway and even previous to their shifts. Some have been fired to make an instance of their group and boss for pushing again towards additional layoffs.
For individuals who stay, these laid off have been their buddies who have been handled like that. It shakes your perception in your employer. That’s when firm morale takes an actual hit.
Then, your pals discover different jobs and so they let you already know about them, the place they will nonetheless contribute to the mission to speed up sustainable power with higher situations and no pigeon CEO. That creates one other hit to morale, and an prolonged exodus of expertise.
Greater than as soon as on this chaotic course of I considered abandoning Tesla and leasing an EV from one other automaker. The one purpose I caught with the Mannequin Y is as a result of I used to be already in fairly deep, the Mannequin Y is a superb deal proper now, and, effectively, I really like driving Teslas. I’m actually down about all of it, however I’m not out. But.
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