A Scottish Tesla Model Y owner claims that a customer service agent told him his battery failed because of rain, and that it’s not covered by the warranty
16 hours ago
A Scottish couple is letting the world know about their discontent after being quoted £17,374 (equal to around US$21,200 at current exchange rates) to replace their Tesla Model Y crossover’s batteries. The reason their EV’s power supply needed replacing? For driving while the weather was bad, they claim.
Johnny Bacigalupo and Rob Hussey said the trouble started after they went out to eat dinner earlier this month. Admitting that it was quite rainy in Edinburgh, where they were dining, they said that their Model Y was fine on the way to the restaurant, but refused to start when they tried to leave.
They waited nearly five hours for a tow truck to reach them from Tesla support, they told Edinburgh Live. From the beginning, then, they claim that the automaker’s customer service department was less helpful than they believed was reasonable.
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“After a few annoyingly difficult further calls, and one failed collection attempt, our car was collected by a firm suitable for Tesla collection and delivered to Tesla Edinburgh about 1 a.m.,” said Bacigalupo. “After complaints from me, we received a call at 5:30 p.m. on the Wednesday saying the battery was damaged due to water ingress and it was unfortunately not covered by the battery’s 8-year warranty and so the repair would be around £17,500. Did I wish to proceed?? I was flabbergasted and couldn’t really find my words.”
Bacigalupo said that he was expecting a £500 or £1,000 ($610 to $1,220 USD) bill at worst. Although he was in shock, he managed to get a manager on the phone to explain how the bill could be so large.
“He told me it had water in it due to the fact the weather in Scotland has been so bad. That was the issue. They said it’s not necessarily my fault, but it’s not Tesla’s to pay under warranty,” said Bacigalupo. “I pushed him on this and said I’ve never heard or something like this happening. He said it can happen with Range Rovers and Mercs, but I’m just not buying it.”
Although the couple admit that some parts of Scotland were under a special weather advisory last week, they say that the rain in Edinburgh was not unusual for the area. Bacigalupo says that his experience has been so bad that it’s making him question his decision to buy a Tesla.
“To date, it’s been a disaster of a service and the stress and worry of this is excruciating. I said to the manager, ‘so, my understanding is, Teslas are unfit for purpose in Scotland?’” he said. “If I had known the customer service would be so bad I’m not sure I would have bothered buying the car.”
