2016 75D - CPO with a major heart-wrenching issue

[NetRat]

I started my Tesla path late last year in doing research, talking to people, and learning as much as I could. I pulled the trigger 1 month ago on a CPO 2016 Model S 75D in red with the facelift - beautiful car in fantastic condition!! I took delivery almost 3 weeks ago and have had some issues, but none as heart-wrenching as this.

Per the advertising page for this car, my 2016 75D should achieve 0-60 in 4.2 seconds. I researched and learned that this is due to the car being "uncorked", and I've read a whole lot on here about that. Before delivery (few weeks ago) I asked about this capability and was told to setup an appointment with a service tech to find out.

Fast forward to today with me downloading the Remote S app and checking out it's features. I found where my perf_config = P3, which indicates that the vehicle is "corked". I was already in contact via phone and text with a service tech about a recall and few other issues, and asked him about my car being uncorked. This is the text I received:

"Hello, I have researched to see if your vehicle is available to receive the uncorking upgrade. Unfortunately your vehicle's battery does not qualify for the upgrade. Even though your vehicle is a 75D, the battery does not have the internal hardware required to perform the upgrade."

I feel... deflated, upset, lied to, cheated.... a whole lot. There was exactly three things I focused on when looking for my Model S - Red color, facelift, and 4.2 second! I thought I found the PERFECT car that was located close to me (Baltimore, MD).

Now I fear some battle brewing that I'm not sure how to fight. I don't have a screenshot of the advertising page, and it was taken down the second I ordered the car. I KNOW without any doubt, swear on my mother's grave, that it advertised 0-60 in 4.2 seconds.

I could use of the communities thoughts about this, or is anyone has dealt with anything similar. Thanks.

 

[maximizese]

I think there's another fella on the forum who had a similar experience. The screenshot stated the faster 0-60mph time and that's what he wanted, only to find the car was not uncorked and didn't have the capability. Personally I think Tesla should just take the car back and give some concessions (free service, longer extended warranty, wheel upgrade, etc) for the trouble. It baffles me how badly their spirit of customer service can be. Don't get me wrong, there are a bunch of awesome people working for Tesla and they have a history of numerous goodwill gestures, but it's just so inconsistent.

 

[Cheburashka]

I'm in a similar boat too, except my car was supposedly uncorked but it's still slow and shows P3..

Not a dealbreaker for me as my wife drives it 99% of the time, but right now Tesla canceled my appointment as in denial that it's actually corked.

Welcome to Tesla..

 

[Az_Rael]

Ev-cpo offers an archive service for CPO listings. Not sure what data is kept, but that might be one way to get a copy of the original ad. @HankLloydRight can probably answer that.

 

[EV-CPO]

It is possible I have the original HTML stored in the database, but I’m not sure Tesla will honor that as their own or as solid proof. PM me the VIN and I’ll look.

 

[NetRat]

Thanks everyone for the quick replies and offers to help. I very quickly found the post for the other user that is experiencing the exact same issue. Now, hopefully, the two of us can work collectively on having Tesla fix their tremendous mistake.

I LOVE my "new" Tesla and all the smart people that work hard to make this the best vehicle on the planet. Their service and sale people need a little work and I want to give them the opportunity to make this right.

I'll provide updates periodically... sure to be a soap opera - "Days of our Tesla"

 

[NetRat]

More fuel for the fire...

Thank you for contacting us with your question about whether or not your vehicle is "uncorked". Your vehicle is included in the Model S vehicles that were "uncorked" last year. There is not a way for you to verify that your vehicle had the update but a technician at the service center can access the information to confirm that your vehicle was eligible and included.

Thank you for being a Tesla owner and helping to transition the world to sustainable energy.

Sincerely,

Tom B. | Tesla Support
12832 Frontrunner Blvd. Draper, UT 84020
www.tesla.com/support


--------------- Original Message ---------------
From: [[email protected]]
Sent: 5/17/2019 7:25 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Tesla Account support email

I am trying to verify that my 75D is "uncorked" as there is no way to make this determination through my car's interface (that I know of).​

As you can see, I have a support tech indicating that my vehicle "is included" in those that were uncorked.

 

[EV-CPO]

I sent the OP the full screenshot of the detail page for his car. Here's a portion of it:

 

[Kristoffer Helle]

I'm in a similar boat too, except my car was supposedly uncorked but it's still slow and shows P3..

Not a dealbreaker for me as my wife drives it 99% of the time, but right now Tesla canceled my appointment as in denial that it's actually corked.

Welcome to Tesla..

Tok Tesla 3 attempts to uncork our car.

 

[Cheburashka]

Tok Tesla 3 attempts to uncork our car.

How did you prove to them that their uncorking didn't work?

 

[NetRat]

Service appointment today for airbag recall, replace noisy battery fan(s), and get the missing cup holder dividers for the center console. Here's how it went

9:00am - arrived and they had me in the system for my appointment. I then mentioned to the service tech about the uncorking. He asked some questions about "how did I know it wasn't" and all that. I handed over the email from an online service tech (email shown above in previous post). He said he would look into while working on the other stuff.

11:30am - Service tech finds me and says they are don't most everything except the uncorking. Per the email I showed him, he called Tesla's corporate service and verified that my car is listed as "uncorkable" per it's VIN. They would get to work on it right away and it would take a little more than an hour. I told him I would head to lunch and would be back. I did and I felt great! This was a primary feature for me and felt this would make my car whole.

1:15pm - I returned from lunch and service tech finds me again. He asks "did you get all the alerts on your phone from your Tesla app?" I said "No, I didn't get anything". He goes on to say that they tried to uncork it and it wouldn't take at first. They worked with the corporate service techs to force the firmware to get it to take. After it took, the car threw a lot of errors about battery stuff. Long story short, though the VIN indicates the car is uncorkable, the hardware in my car is not capable, and they are having to revert the firmware.

At this point I think he could just see all my hope and joy slide from my face. He apologized and said he wished there was something he could do. I told him that I appreciated all his help and that this wasn't his fault since there's nothing he could do. He explained some more about some cars apparently being in the weird in-between state with hardware and configuration. I asked to talk to someone about all this and he said he would get to work on reverting the firmware and find someone for me to talk to.

2:00pm - I sought out someone to talk to about this issue. The first guy didn't even know or understand the term "corked" and how it related to anything. He found his manager and we talked. I explained to him the issue - buying the car, the 4.2 seconds and how that was a major factor, how I knew it wasn't uncorked (perf_config), and what all happened according to the service tech. He asked, "How do you know this was was suppose to have this feature? I don't deal with used cars. Is this something shown when purchasing the car?". I said, "Yes it is" and produced the image generously provided by EV-CPO (many many kudos!). He looked at it and then looked at something else in their system and said he would be right back.

2:30pm - Sales manager returns and starts by explaining that they don't sell used cars (Owings Mills, MD location), and just act as a delivery point. He then explains that he talked to someone from Tesla corporate about the issue and that I should expect a callback later tonight or tomorrow regarding the issue. Needless to say, I am not going to hold my breath.

More updates to follow as the saga continues....

 

[Cheburashka]

What is the date of manufacture of your 75D?

At least they acknowledged that it's not uncorked, unlike for me.

 

[NetRat]

According to the "sticker" inside the door of my car: 04/16.

According to EV-CPO (Original Delivery Date): 2016-09-03

Title Record: 2016-10-24

It's fairly obvious the first one is the most important (04/16).

 

[robg]

What is the date of manufacture of your 75D?

At least they acknowledged that it's not uncorked, unlike for me.

Ha- yeah that's the response I would've expected from them on this issue- stonewalling. So it's great that the OP atleast got someone to look into it. Will be interesting to see if he gets a response from "corporate" on this.

 

[linkster]

I said, "Yes it is" and produced the image generously provided by EV-CPO (many many kudos!).

More updates to follow as the saga continues....

YESSIR! Hats off to @EV-CPO !

I believe your patient, sound , documented, and methodical approach to this failed uncorking issue will force Tesla to a) be more careful (similar to the P85D power claim) in the future in providing accurate information, and b) fix their mistake and make you whole again for your expensive (to me) misled purchase.

Nuthin' runs like a Tesla, especially an uncorked one.

Keep 'em honest and good luck!

 

[BigNick]

Sometimes Tesla makes production changes before documentation changes, and batteries are probably ordered in lots of several million, since it takes thousands of individual cells to make an entire pack.

I don't know that much about battery label codes or their associated part numbers, but apparently throughout 75 kWh production there have been several versions of it, and your car's option codes might not be accurate enough to determine if you can or can't get uncorked.

For instance, if I look up my car's options, I will see the code RFPO - All Glass Panoramic Roof.
But I can that it is actually an early RFP2 - All Glass Panoramic Roof v2 (by the location of the little flaps that cover the roof rack mounting points).

From what I can tell poking around on EV-CPO the RFP2 code wasn't documented in the option codes until the low 097000 VIN mark - 097147 and 097150 were both equipped with a pano roof, but 097147 has the RFPO code and 097150 has RFP2.

My car is in the mid-096XXX VIN range, July 2015 production.

I know this is an apples-to-lugnuts comparison but it is the only mid-year production change example I can document because it's on my own car.

 

[NetRat]

Firstly, I completely applaud Tesla for it's superb use of the deming cycle. Their continuous improvement process far exceed anything ever done in the auto industry by incorporating the improvements once realized and tested (compared to all other auto manufactures that gather and package the improvements for the next model generation). This is both aggressive and game changing and as a certified ITIL practitioner, I am 100% behind this methodology.

That being said, maintaining the complex combinations of configurations and versions of parts is quite a logistical hurdle that they couldn't quite get perfect. Many cases (as many have noted) where different work streams were lagging one another, or in the case with the uncorkability of my car, just failed to be properly updated.

If this were something small/non impactful, and was not critically influential in my purchasing decision, I would simply note the annoyance and send them on their way with a "please try to do better in the future". I think most anyone reading this sees that this is not that. As such, I am preparing for an epic battle if Tesla tries to ignore me, minimize the issue, or make a feeble attempt at reconciliation. This issue can very easily make the turn toward litigation, but I want to give Tesla the initial chance (that I think they deserve) at making this right.

 

[NetRat]

After not hearing from Tesla in several days (expected) I contacted Tesla Customer Services. The woman I talked to was very calm and knowledgeable. I started by explaining my issue and asked "do you know what the term 'uncorking' means" and she immediately replied "yes, the 75D's". This certainly helped save me 5 or more minutes of teaching then about their own vehicle's history.

The conversation took about 10 minutes and all that she said she would do is to send a message to the service center to follow-up with me. I told her that I understood there was nothing she could do, but I also wanted to have this escalated properly. She she said she would also send a request to the used vehicles department to have someone contact me. Lastly, I asked how before I expect to hear from someone, and she said "few business days". I took this to mean 3. Finally she verified my phone number for contact purposes and we ended the call.

So... I already know this will be a long road and I spend some of my free time documenting, to include looking through their Code of Business Practices and such. If need be, I will cite back to them what they are suppose to be upheld to. I am also looking into negligent advertising and what forms the basis of that. Basically, the longer they wait, the more prepared I will be.

To be continued...

 

[DontDoIt]

I'm watching this thread with great interest - I am in a very similar boat. Got a P90DL that was advertised as 2.6 seconds (like all P90DLs), but this version of the car is definitely not capable of anything remotely near that (early battery). I'm getting about 3.1 instead.

So we're both getting 20% slower cars than advertised. High five.

I've been trying very hard to get them to listen, but they aren't. If I keep not making progress with them I will definitely get some lawyers involved. It's false advertising.

 

[Mensrea]

Option 3, after good will and possible litigation, you could severely mistreat the battery pack, with deep discharges, lots of time (90 at high SoC (state of charge) and as much supercharging as you can. I would guess in a year or two you would need a new battery pack and at that time demand the right battery or an upgrade (90kWh).