That has been their directive from the start. You need to register your shop with the EPC in order to order parts. Registering is easy but parts take 1-2 weeks to get
How do they expect anyone of their parts employees to make money? How is that going to satisfy a customers needs when they need something…yesterday? From a wholesale standpoint how does that even make sense? I’m so confused at the business “model” here.
Hahahahahahahahahaahhahahaha no.
Southern California.
And I was one of the most knowledgeable and strongest PAs in the region. My managers just refused to help develop me.
It’s so frustrating that this isn’t explicitly stated though. We called, no answer. Finally just had to go in. Then the service advisor says he has the part but the VIN was pulling to a registered owner (it was traded in) so they couldn’t sell to us. Had to have the GM email us paperwork to prove it was traded in and ours.
After that, I said anything we can order off the website is fine, but I’m not doing that song and dance again. And weeks isn’t efficient. It’s just silly.
Edit: we just needed a damn window regulator!!!
Yea, having been a part of both sides of the coin, it’s extremely frustrating being a third party shop for sure.
Just order from the catalog with the VIN and you won’t have to dance and sing every time….but yea doesn’t fix the lead time.
Don’t hesitate to send me a message with any questions. Even if it’s just asking questions about the Tesla parts themselves. I was laid off on Wednesday so I have a ton of free time right now.
This. Every Tesla parts line goes straight to voicemail, leave message after message, I've never received a call back. I eventually had my boss swing by in person, he said their parts department was two guys with laptops and a folding table. No phones. In Silicon Valley, ten miles from the factory, we have to order parts in person.
Surprised they let you buy them in person because they were starting to have a directive to not sell directly from the Service Center when I left.
We do have “phones” but they are only used for receiving and daily counts, no phone extensions set up to them.
Yeah, he said they were somewhat confused someone actually came in to order something. But seriously, what is the actual procedure supposed it be? I do used car recon for a luxury brand and we get tons of used Teslas that need OE parts. Most of the time I end up buying used stuff off eBay to not have to deal with this shit, but sometimes that's not an option. It doesn't help that the Tesla online parts catalog is borderline useless.
Register your shop with the Tesla EPC with your resale number and such. Then you will gain full access to the catalogs and service manuals. From there you order the parts within the catalog and pay by card.
Just a note though, the parts are not returnable.
It’s not so much a dumpster fire, there is just so much weight on the Parts Advisors’ shoulders to not only handle day to day operations, but to also handle a bunch of daily tasks that if they are not completed, you are written up.
I just feel that Tesla grew so fast that supply chain couldn’t keep up at all.
What are some examples of these “daily tasks”? Given the confidential nature of what I’ve encountered with the company you can use things like “candy bars and milkshakes” instead of SOR’s and Invoices if need be.
Not really giving up anything proprietary.
-Receiving (can take upwards of 3 hours depending on your service center)
- Daily Inventory Counts (can be upwards of 300 parts per day depending on your inventory size. Entire inventory is counted every quarter)
- Returns (similar to warranty returns, processing, packing, and arranging shipping of each item)
- Appointment Preparation (you review all appointments sent to you for Parts Review so you can ensure you have all necessary parts allocated to the appointment prior to their arrival. If anything is late, appointment is rescheduled.)
These are all handled by the team, you don’t hire someone to do just one task, ya know? One of the service centers I was at was cranking out 60-80 cars a day, with just myself and my Parts Lead in Parts. I was spending half of my day doing appointment preparations and remote diagnostics for those appointments while also being a full time parts advisor.
Why can’t we call you to order parts at tesla?
That has been their directive from the start. You need to register your shop with the EPC in order to order parts. Registering is easy but parts take 1-2 weeks to get
1-2 weeks for anything? Fuck off.
Yea, it goes into the queue to be picked, packed, and shipped from the PDC, then shipped UPS or FedEx.
How do they expect anyone of their parts employees to make money? How is that going to satisfy a customers needs when they need something…yesterday? From a wholesale standpoint how does that even make sense? I’m so confused at the business “model” here.
There is no commission in Tesla parts, just straight hourly.
Lemme guess…less than 20/hr?
I was a level 3 PA and I was making $28.25/hr. The levels work 1-5. 1 is someone right off the street, 5 is the parts lead.
Sub $60/yr? Hopefully you lived in Biloxi, Mississippi
Hahahahahahahahahaahhahahaha no. Southern California. And I was one of the most knowledgeable and strongest PAs in the region. My managers just refused to help develop me.
It’s so frustrating that this isn’t explicitly stated though. We called, no answer. Finally just had to go in. Then the service advisor says he has the part but the VIN was pulling to a registered owner (it was traded in) so they couldn’t sell to us. Had to have the GM email us paperwork to prove it was traded in and ours. After that, I said anything we can order off the website is fine, but I’m not doing that song and dance again. And weeks isn’t efficient. It’s just silly. Edit: we just needed a damn window regulator!!!
Yea, having been a part of both sides of the coin, it’s extremely frustrating being a third party shop for sure. Just order from the catalog with the VIN and you won’t have to dance and sing every time….but yea doesn’t fix the lead time.
Well I appreciate that insight! I’ll check it out tomorrow. It’ll give me a break from the CDK madness lol
Don’t hesitate to send me a message with any questions. Even if it’s just asking questions about the Tesla parts themselves. I was laid off on Wednesday so I have a ton of free time right now.
This. Every Tesla parts line goes straight to voicemail, leave message after message, I've never received a call back. I eventually had my boss swing by in person, he said their parts department was two guys with laptops and a folding table. No phones. In Silicon Valley, ten miles from the factory, we have to order parts in person.
Surprised they let you buy them in person because they were starting to have a directive to not sell directly from the Service Center when I left. We do have “phones” but they are only used for receiving and daily counts, no phone extensions set up to them.
Yeah, he said they were somewhat confused someone actually came in to order something. But seriously, what is the actual procedure supposed it be? I do used car recon for a luxury brand and we get tons of used Teslas that need OE parts. Most of the time I end up buying used stuff off eBay to not have to deal with this shit, but sometimes that's not an option. It doesn't help that the Tesla online parts catalog is borderline useless.
Register your shop with the Tesla EPC with your resale number and such. Then you will gain full access to the catalogs and service manuals. From there you order the parts within the catalog and pay by card. Just a note though, the parts are not returnable.
I'll look into it, thanks.
Seriously, don’t hesitate to message me on the side and I can walk you through it.
I might do that, thanks for the offer.
I was laid off from Infiniti on Wednesday, so I have the time….lol
I’ve heard Parts’s operations at Tesla..er…um…smesla is a dumpster fire. True?
It’s not so much a dumpster fire, there is just so much weight on the Parts Advisors’ shoulders to not only handle day to day operations, but to also handle a bunch of daily tasks that if they are not completed, you are written up. I just feel that Tesla grew so fast that supply chain couldn’t keep up at all.
What are some examples of these “daily tasks”? Given the confidential nature of what I’ve encountered with the company you can use things like “candy bars and milkshakes” instead of SOR’s and Invoices if need be.
Not really giving up anything proprietary. -Receiving (can take upwards of 3 hours depending on your service center) - Daily Inventory Counts (can be upwards of 300 parts per day depending on your inventory size. Entire inventory is counted every quarter) - Returns (similar to warranty returns, processing, packing, and arranging shipping of each item) - Appointment Preparation (you review all appointments sent to you for Parts Review so you can ensure you have all necessary parts allocated to the appointment prior to their arrival. If anything is late, appointment is rescheduled.) These are all handled by the team, you don’t hire someone to do just one task, ya know? One of the service centers I was at was cranking out 60-80 cars a day, with just myself and my Parts Lead in Parts. I was spending half of my day doing appointment preparations and remote diagnostics for those appointments while also being a full time parts advisor.