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.
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.