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Dang, this sounds like taking literally everything I hate about "the future", and doubling down on it. I just had a bad experience with a dealership where I th

Dang, this sounds like taking literally everything I hate about "the future", and doubling down on it. I just had a bad experience with a dealership where I thought my thorough explanation (including error codes) was sufficient to narrow down the issue, but they completely ignored anything I said and did their own thing, which ended up solving exactly nothing. I ended up getting the diagnostic fee waived and have now taken the vehicle to an independent shop, where I can speak 1:1 to the owner and actually have my input listened to and respected.

hamiltont 6y ago
Ha ha I totally feel that. Especially for a high-ticket item, give me a human to talk to!! I can't stand it when support is crippled by "policy" - half the time I think they can't either.
- toss1 6y ago
  Seems that these sorts of "policies" & practices strongly contradict Musk's semi-famous directives about crossing company boundaries to get things done, not respecting the chain of command [0,1] This forces everyone into the same malfunctioning funnel, and it doesn't appear to work for the employees either. Tons of respect for Musk's accomplishments, but I hope it doesn't go the way of Google which is famous for nonexistent customer support... [0] "Anyone at Tesla can and should email/talk to anyone else according to what they think is the fastest way to solve a problem for the benefit of the whole company. You can talk to your manager's manager without his permission, you can talk directly to a VP in another dept, you can talk to me, you can talk to anyone without anyone else's permission. Moreover, you should consider yourself obligated to do so until the right thing happens. " [1] https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/this-email-from-elon-musk-to-tesla-employees-descr.html https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/this-email-from-elon-musk-...
zdragnar 6y ago
Speaking of hating the future, the all-digital, gigantic touchscreen interfaces terrify me. I have a 2011 F150 lariat trim truck, and it is not only swanky on the inside, but isn't phased at all by hauling timber, logs or back woods dirt trails that smaller vehicles get stuck in. One of my favorite features, though, is that there is NO touchscreen. Every control is a physical button or knob, and I can use any of them from touch and muscle memory alone. I fully expect the truck to survive another 200k miles or so, but dread the day I have to get something newer.
- mind-blight 6y ago
  This is why I love Subaru. Their new cars have a touch screen, but it's mainly for display and advanced settings. Every important control (audio, lights, climate control, etc.) is analog
  - 43920 6y ago
    The AC controls are moved to the touchscreen in the new Outback.
    - maxdo 6y ago
      You can turn off hitting with voice command in Tesla :)
      - zdragnar 6y ago
        Oh lord, the only UI with worse discoverability than a complex touchscreen has to be voice commands. Not to mention it kinda ruins listening to a good song or the climax of an audio book if you have to suddenly yell out "SET AIR TO SEVENTY DEGREES"...
  - conception 6y ago
    Not the 2020 outback. So disappointed as was looking to upgrade to a 2020 but the touchscreen everything made me leave it behind. Got an ascent instead because they had a deal. Mazda is the only company doing it right these days.
    - Rebelgecko 6y ago
      It also takes around 4-5 button taps to do things like turn off the heated seats. In most cars you can do that without having to take your eyes of the road
    - mszcz 6y ago
      Seconded. Just bought a Mazda 6 and one of the reasons was a sensible, buttons-first infotainment system. There's a knob in the center console that I can use to control everything. Besides that, the seat warmer/cooler, the AC, all the basic stuff is controlled by buttons. But the kicker is that the infotainment system has a touchscreen, but the touch functionality is _disabled_ if the car is moving, because they think it's a hazard to have a person operate it while driving.

hamiltont 6y ago

Ha ha I totally feel that. Especially for a high-ticket item, give me a human to talk to!! I can't stand it when support is crippled by "policy" - half the time I think they can't either.

toss1 6y ago
Seems that these sorts of "policies" & practices strongly contradict Musk's semi-famous directives about crossing company boundaries to get things done, not respecting the chain of command [0,1] This forces everyone into the same malfunctioning funnel, and it doesn't appear to work for the employees either. Tons of respect for Musk's accomplishments, but I hope it doesn't go the way of Google which is famous for nonexistent customer support... [0] "Anyone at Tesla can and should email/talk to anyone else according to what they think is the fastest way to solve a problem for the benefit of the whole company. You can talk to your manager's manager without his permission, you can talk directly to a VP in another dept, you can talk to me, you can talk to anyone without anyone else's permission. Moreover, you should consider yourself obligated to do so until the right thing happens. " [1] https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/this-email-from-elon-musk-to-tesla-employees-descr.html https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/this-email-from-elon-musk-...

zdragnar 6y ago

Speaking of hating the future, the all-digital, gigantic touchscreen interfaces terrify me. I have a 2011 F150 lariat trim truck, and it is not only swanky on the inside, but isn't phased at all by hauling timber, logs or back woods dirt trails that smaller vehicles get stuck in. One of my favorite features, though, is that there is NO touchscreen. Every control is a physical button or knob, and I can use any of them from touch and muscle memory alone. I fully expect the truck to survive another 200k miles or so, but dread the day I have to get something newer.

mind-blight 6y ago
This is why I love Subaru. Their new cars have a touch screen, but it's mainly for display and advanced settings. Every important control (audio, lights, climate control, etc.) is analog
- 43920 6y ago
  The AC controls are moved to the touchscreen in the new Outback.
  - maxdo 6y ago
    You can turn off hitting with voice command in Tesla :)
    - zdragnar 6y ago
      Oh lord, the only UI with worse discoverability than a complex touchscreen has to be voice commands. Not to mention it kinda ruins listening to a good song or the climax of an audio book if you have to suddenly yell out "SET AIR TO SEVENTY DEGREES"...
- conception 6y ago
  Not the 2020 outback. So disappointed as was looking to upgrade to a 2020 but the touchscreen everything made me leave it behind. Got an ascent instead because they had a deal. Mazda is the only company doing it right these days.
  - Rebelgecko 6y ago
    It also takes around 4-5 button taps to do things like turn off the heated seats. In most cars you can do that without having to take your eyes of the road
  - mszcz 6y ago
    Seconded. Just bought a Mazda 6 and one of the reasons was a sensible, buttons-first infotainment system. There's a knob in the center console that I can use to control everything. Besides that, the seat warmer/cooler, the AC, all the basic stuff is controlled by buttons. But the kicker is that the infotainment system has a touchscreen, but the touch functionality is _disabled_ if the car is moving, because they think it's a hazard to have a person operate it while driving.