If you’re a Tesla owner, beware of Tesstudio

Buyer beware. That’s always good advice. It’s especially good advice if you’re thinking about buying something from Tesstudio, which sells Tesla accessories and has horrible customer service.

My tale of Tesstudio woe hasn’t reached a conclusion yet. But I’ve learned enough about the company to make me want to get this blog post warning out into cyberspace as soon as possible.

As a new Model Y Juniper owner, I was concerned that the large glass roof would heat up my car too much in the summer. Actually, I’ve learned that this isn’t a major concern here in western Oregon, as the Juniperbhas improved heat blocking. But not knowing that, I ordered an electric Model Y sunshade from Tesstudio.

I was mildly concerned when I saw that a Tesstudio installation instruction video featured an Asian woman who said that the sunshade comes with instructions in Chinese, but don’t worry, because all you need are videos. Indeed, several You Tube videos I watched showed how to install the sunshade on a Model Y Juniper, and said that the product worked well.

So far so good. Then things went downhill.

After I received the large box containing the sunshade, which arrived via FedEx, I opened it up and saw that it was cream colored, and my Tesla has a black headliner. Also, I’d changed my mind about needing the sunshade, which cost me $531 (shipping was free), having done more research about the glass roof.

No problem, I thought. One of the FAQs about the sunshade on the Tesstudio web site said:

None of this was true, except maybe the 1-year warranty. I emailed support@tesstudio.com, asking what address I should return the sunshade to. The reply from Kevin included an Illinois address and a request to send him a photo of the sunshade and the box so he could confirm its condition. I did this. I’d opened the box, which measured 46 x 56 x 5 inches, but the sunshade was still in protective plastic wrap.

Kevin then asked me to let him know when I’d returned the sunshade, so he could track it. I stopped by FedEx to get a shipping cost estimate, being concerned about how large the box was. I estimated the weight as 25 pounds. The FedEx clerk told me that the least expensive ground shipping to Illinois would cost about $500.

Which is almost how much I paid for the sunshade.

I told Kevin that the FedEx person had recommended that I ask Tesstudio for a return label, since a business pays a much lower rate than an individual, and the sunshade had come to me via FedEx. Kevin then told me that he thought I was close to Illinois, even though my email signature says Salem, Oregon right under my name. He asked me to get another shipping cost estimate for a City of Industry, CA address.

I’d asked Kevin for the exact weight of the box, which he said was 20 pounds. Returning to the FedEx office, the new shipping cost was $454, still almost as much as I’d paid for the sunshade. I emailed Kevin again, saying in part:

As the FedEx clerks have told me both times I got a shipping estimate from them, the best thing to do would be for Tesstudio to give me a return shipping label, since your business cost of shipping is much less than what I as an individual have to pay. As I said before, if that return cost is reasonable, and I’d need to know what it is before agreeing to this, I’d be willing to have the return shipping cost deducted from my refund.

Kevin responded with another idea.

It is within your sphere of consideration if the return fee is around 100-200 for picking up the sunshade from you? Obviously I am referring to the fee being deducted directly from the total, I will need to know this before proposing any potential resolution.

I told him $100-150 could be acceptable, but $200 seemed too much. The reply from Kevin was:

The management said that they would like to know if you can keep the item for a few days, possibly a week, during which we will see if we can find any potential recipient for the sunshade since this will not work with your black headliner, if we find one, we will let you know, and then I’ll see if I can apply for a pick up cost on a lower rate for you.

We will follow this case and get back to you if we have any news regarding the recipient, also please let us know whether you want a refund or the black replacement sunshade after the sunshade is sent away.

Wow. That struck me as weird — that apparently I’d get a label with the address of a sunshade recipient who I assumed would get the sunshade for an “open box” cost. Never heard of that sort of return process. Which impelled me to Google “tesstudio return problems.” The Google AI response was troubling:

Tesstudio is known for a difficult return and refund process. Common problems include severe delays, unresponsive customer service, refusal of returns for “custom” items, and strict restocking fees.

Common Return & Refund Problems

A Tesla Motors Club complaint about Tesstudio also raised giant red flags. I’m waiting to hear back from Kevin about his “potential recipient for the sunshade” scheme.

It seems clear that Tesstudio is a Chinese company (the only address I could find on their web site is in Hong Kong) that imports Tesla products from China, then ships them directly to customers in a “drop ship” process where Tesstudio has no warehouse or even storefront in the United States, just a few people responding to questions and complaints.

This helps explain why Tesstudio is so reluctant to accept returns. There’s no place to return them other than the drop ship addresses in Illinois and California I was given. Even if Kevin comes up with a recipient of my sunshade, I’m not sure if I want to send it to them. For sure I don’t want my name or address listed as the shipper, something I’ve told Kevin. It seems entirely possible that Tesstudio simply recycles defective or returned products in kind of a drop ship Ponzi scheme.

I’ll update this post after learning how Tesstudio responds.