Exactly and why I'm outraged over this! And for those idiots that say, if you can afford a Tesla why complain about $100. Just because I could afford to buy a Tesla, which is their lowest price model by the way, doesn't mean I should happy about them taking money out of my pocket for nothing other than that they can. This it the sort of sleazy move the regular auto industry pulls on us. If Tesla claims to be different, than stop pulling moves like this on customers.
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$100 Order fee is a fee, and not a deposit?
- Thread starter zwjt3
- Start date
Exactly and why I'm outraged over this! And for those idiots that say, if you can afford a Tesla why complain about $100. Just because I could afford to buy a Tesla, which is their lowest price model by the way, doesn't mean I should happy about them taking money out of my pocket for nothing other than that they can. This it the sort of sleazy move the regular auto industry pulls on us. If Tesla claims to be different, than stop pulling moves like this on customers.
I’m not sure who you are referring to here. Most of us would agree that the way Tesla implemented this fee was not fully transparent. Even the sales team was not aware until recently that it was a fee and not a deposit.
I can only guess that they implemented this fee to cut down on the number of people who order cars and then cancel. This messes up their production planning as they build cars based on the backlog of orders so they need to know if the orders are real. But as to why they converted it from a deposit to a fee, I have no idea.
At the end of the day if Tesla had raised their price by $100 orders still would have come in and the backlog would still exist. But Tesla is not always known for doing things logically. And they are even worse at communicating what they are doing to their customer base as well as their sales and delivery team.
I have a hard time believing there were that many people cancelling orders to make a dent in Tesla's revenue stream. Tesla's are selling left and right, especially the Model 3 and soon the Model Y and then Cybertruck. So this has nothing to do with cutting down the number of people cancelling orders, it's pure greed. Look, I'm a huge fan of Tesla and am always promoting them around family and friends, but I'm not a fanboy and when something isn't right, it isn't right. If when the Cybertruck is released and my $100 deposit isn't applied to the purchase, I'll cancel. Fees for the sake of fees is not a consumers friend.
I ordered on Feb 6 2020 and the $100 is subtracted from my order total so this information can't be accurate. My order screen looks similar to the one posted by mattack4000 above showing a $100 deduction from the total.
Well, you focused on one sentence out of three paragraphs and ignored pretty much everything else I said. I'm not sure what the point is of saying you are a "fan" and you are "always promoting them around family and friends" but then saying you are not a fanboy. How is that any different than what I said? Why do people resort to using the word fanboy any time someone tries to explain something that Tesla is doing? Is there anything in my comments that suggested what they are doing is appropriate?
Let me repeat what I said for the sake of clarity:
1) What they are doing is not fully transparent.
2) What they are doing is not logical.
3) What they are doing demonstrates their inability to communicate with customers and employees.
So I guess that makes me a fanboy. Makes perfect sense.
IMO, the deposit should be $500, which is a deposit that will be applied to the purchase price and if you cancel your order the $500 becomes a non-refundable fee. That would strike a better balance.
That said, if comparing to a traditional dealership experience you usually get hit with “dealer fees”, “ market adjustments” and other bologna, which is just pure dealer profit so while the Tesla $100 fee is annoying it is not nearly as bad as the beating you take at a stealership.
That said, if comparing to a traditional dealership experience you usually get hit with “dealer fees”, “ market adjustments” and other bologna, which is just pure dealer profit so while the Tesla $100 fee is annoying it is not nearly as bad as the beating you take at a stealership.
In addition to the issues others have raised with the $100 fee, there is also the fact that there is no way to determine your delivery options available until AFTER you order.
There are numerous undocumented exceptions to their FAQ which make it worse.
1) No way to determine eligibility for home delivery without plunking down an order
2) Undocumented exception #1 - In many states, not all service centers offer delivery. So if you, prior to ordering, plan your logistics to the nearest service center and determine that it's feasible like I did - it means nothing when immediately after your order you're shunted somewhere else you can't reasonably get to.
3) Undocumented exception #2 - At least one person has indicated that they were forced to travel 300 miles with no assistance from Tesla to pick up a vehicle. You're supposed to be eligible for third-party carrier delivery past 220. I suspect they got hit by a variation of the previous exception - they had a service center within 220 miles (rendering them ineligible for carrier delivery), but that SC didn't handle deliveries, forcing them to go 300 miles.
I'm fine with hitting someone with nonrefundable fees if the vehicle has been submitted to the factory - but Tesla has a 3-day waiting period on orders before they are submitted. Why is the order fee nonrefundable during this time, given that the ONLY way to determine if you can actually get the vehicle is to submit an order and see what the system spits back at you when you try to select delivery options?
The fact that Tesla's delivery options provided after ordering were not what was promised in the FAQ are why I now have my first ever charge dispute with my credit card company.
Tesla claims to be different, and that their model is much better for consumers, but here's my experience:
12 years ago, a Toyota dealer basically said, "I'm able to charge thousands above MSRP for the Camry Hybrid. Take it or leave it." - I walked out the door and drove to the Subaru dealership a quarter mile away. (I was already leaning pretty heavily towards the Outback, but he made my decision easy, and at least he was honest and didn't waste my time.)
At the Subaru dealership, the sales guy was low-pressure (probably helped that I came in having researched the product and knew almost exactly what I wanted). The purchase process was fairly painless, with the main difficulty being calling the insurance company from the salesman's desk to get that sorted out.
12 years later:
I put in an order for a Tesla. I'm ghosted by my sales guy, and my DSS/DA basically says to me "Good luck, you're hosed" without providing any useful information. I cancel the order. A "regional sales manager" reaches out to me to discuss the situation, and I provide feedback as to everything that went wrong with the second worst customer service experience of my life. He says he can work with me to help me get into a Tesla... But at no point does he actually OFFER anything. Does he provide suggestions on how I can get to Mt Kisco (because that was and remained the dealbreaker) - nope. Does he take the hint when I say "It complicates things that I have a dispute with my credit card company regarding that fee". Nope. Really, he wants me to consider dropping $50,000 on a vehicle when Tesla isn't even willing to spend $100 on goodwill after admitting their documentation is wrong? Not once during the experience other than the "regional sales manager" trying to get me to come back was I ever asked if I was satisfied with my customer service interactions.
I test drove a Bolt on Saturday. I was very impressed, and asked for a formal price quote. $29,500 out the door including taxes and DMV fees.
They handled my DMV paperwork for me. Their finance/bizdev guy called two local insurance reps and had them call me with quotes. When I told one of them I liked their offer, they set me up and then called the dealership with my new insurance info.
The dealer called my bank to pull my preapproval without me needing to actually show them anything. They were even honest enough to say "yeah our finance people can't beat your credit union".
Last night I asked to have a courtesy vehicle sent to pick me up. I got a little worried that my sales guy had missed my text, so I call him. "I'm 5 minutes away." - was more like 2... Yup, he was early. My car had its plates and all DMV paperwork in order. Everything went smoothly and painlessly.
The biggest PITA is that I now have 2-3 customer service satisfaction surveys to fill out... First-world problems. I usually ignore these, but Tesla made me realize how important they are and that I really shouldn't ignore them.
I wasn't intending to insult or direct my comment at you, I was just relaying my feelings about this $100 fee.
But just to be clear, a "Fanboy" is someone that never finds anything wrong with a product or company. So yes, I'm a fan of Tesla just like you, and like you, I don't agree everything they do or make.
Yea, I'm sure there's miscommunications going on and I don't even know who to turn to for the correct information. All I can say is maybe it does vary by state or region and she was relaying information for Hawaii specifically. Regardless, mine was a fee and Tesla is saying it's correct.
DMLou
Member
In my case, the $100 was deducted from the purchase price of the car in MA, at least if I remember correctly. So yeah, perhaps it does vary state-by-state.
SDM44
.
Same here. My $100 fee was deducted from the purchase price, so it basically acts like a non-refundable deposit.
I thought the same thing too. But if you look at the detail, the $100 dollars was added to your total price. So when it shows up as a credit you still paid the $100 on top of everything else.
What is there to get an answer on? They add the $100 dollars to the total due, then show you already paid it. That’s a fee, not a deposit. I don’t have a problem with it, just making it clear to everyone that doesn’t seem to follow. If it weren’t a fee, they would just show your payment.
AZjohnInCA
Member
I would suggest going back to page 1 and look at post 10 and 13. This is the discrepancy and start of this thread.
ElectricIAC
Good-Natured Rascal
So in reality the $35,000 SR is actually $36,300 with this fee..
So now that Tesla doesn’t register our cars for us (or contract out for this) in Texas, I take offense with paying a $75 doc fee on top of $1,125 destination so this $100 order fee is really just taking the piss when they know well enough they can sell a canceled order just fine.
So now that Tesla doesn’t register our cars for us (or contract out for this) in Texas, I take offense with paying a $75 doc fee on top of $1,125 destination so this $100 order fee is really just taking the piss when they know well enough they can sell a canceled order just fine.
You can thank the auto industry Union for the destination fee. Now it's required for every automaker, even if they're a non union company like Tesla. And the doc fee has always been an overpriced item. Does it really cost them $75 in paper and to use an already pre made form that was just copied. You'd think the industries "Doc" fee would be included as part of the price of the vehicle, but no, it's an added expense based solely on greed.
ElectricIAC
Good-Natured Rascal
When there’s an actual franchise dealer involved I understand doc fee better as this funds F&I when product isn’t purchased (not defending it as in some states this isn’t capped)
Don't be fooled into believing dealerships lose money in wasted docs if the car isn't purchased. They make so much money in holdbacks and incentives from the manufacture, that it isn't funny.
