A couple were left shocked after being slapped with a whopping £17,000 bill by Tesla to fix their battery - which they claim was "damaged by the rain".
Johnny Bacigalupo and Rob Hussey say their £60,000 electric car stopped working during extreme weather last week. Despite insisting the incident was not their fault, the pair say they are still being asked to cough up £17,374 after "frustrating" chats with the company, which boasts Elon Musk as its biggest shareholder.
The couple, from Edinburgh, Scotland, had popped out for a meal last Saturday and arrived there without any problems - but when they tried to leave after their dinner, they said their car would not start. The couple claim they waited nearly five hours for roadside help from Tesla support and have not seen their posh car since it was taken away.
Johnny told Edinburgh Live: "I honestly can't believe that this has happened. When I first got the call I thought we would get bill for £500 or £1000. When they said over 17 grand it's absolutely obscene. My heart missed a beat, honestly.
"We went out for dinner and drove our car to Frederick Street. Obviously, it was wet with the weather last week, but I honestly can’t remember any huge puddles or anything like that. It’s not like I was driving my car through the Cairngorms.
"After dinner the car just wouldn’t move. Eventually we had to contact the Tesla Roadside Assistance - around 10pm. 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 1am.
"After complaints from me, we received a call at 5.30pm 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."
John said he pressed representatives of Tesla on whether he or Rob were at fault for the damage, to which he claims he was told that it was a weather issue. He added: "They said that the battery is effectively submerged in water. How can that be our fault?
"After finally getting to speak to a manager, 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. He reminded me there was a yellow weather warning in some parts of Scotland.
"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. 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?.” I’ve been driving for 30 years and this is my most premium car to date and this is what it does when Edinburgh’s roads get puddles or a little wet!"
Edinburgh Live saw correspondence between the couple and Tesla which confirms the £17,374 bill. Furthermore, an email from Tesla customer relations also commits to an investigation into the complaint and a response on behalf of the business.
John added: "If I had known the customer service would be so bad I'm not sure I would have bothered buying the car. I can only see the number of claims on problems like this going up. The thing is, Elon Musk could buy everyone in the world a Tesla if he wanted to."
Tesla has been approached for comment.
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