2017 Model S P100D Delivery Disaster ****

[drjeetpatel]

This is the email I sent to my delivery specialist last night:

Good evening Ray,

It was a pleasure meeting you in person today in Dallas. I just got home around 9pm this evening. I am very upset, frustrated & angered by what transpired today. I have purchased many high end automobiles in my lifetime but have never been thru what happened this afternoon. I originally ordered this car on 11/7/16 and was promised delivery by the end of December. After multiple emails, I was finally told that a mistake had happened and that I wouldn’t receive my car until late Feb / early March 2017. Initially, I was upset but got over it since I was now going to get a 2017 instead of a 2016 model year. I sent an email 2 weeks ago emphasizing how important it was to make sure the car was in pristine condition. I was appalled by what I saw this late afternoon. The front hood was misaligned, the headlights were misaligned and their was a paint/finish irregularity under the driver’s side headlight. I refuse to pay

(as anyone would) $177,000 (with TTL) for a new car in this shape; this is absolutely unacceptable. This is the reason why I refused delivery this afternoon. What upset me the most was the phone conversation I had with the manager at the dealership. I told her that I was not happy and that I wanted another car ordered. She had the audacity to tell me that this would not happen and I would lose my $2500 deposit. Furthermore, she told me that several employees had walked around the car and that this company was new and the cars standards were acceptable. I had sold my vehicle yesterday to a local dealership in Monroe anticipating today’s delivery. Not only have I spent money on a plane ticket, but had to rent a car to go back home 300 miles. I will have to rent a car tomorrow so I have something to drive to and from work. Never in a million years would I have expected this type of customer service from Tesla, especially with the amount of money being spent. I did put in a call with Tesla in California while driving back from Dallas this afternoon and the gentleman assured me that someone from Corporate would call me Monday since this was urgent. He did mention to me that this was shocking to hear how this whole situation was handled.

Respectfully,

Jeet

Dr. Jeet S. Patel

 

[P100DHG.]

Initially my thought was to say you should have or could have or they should or could have done something differently but at this point what happened, happened. So here are some constructive ideas.

They provide you with a loaner till they remedy the issue. Gathering you are 300 miles away they would need to flatbed one to you. Now your not renting a Ford Fiesta at the daily rate of what it would cost you to own your P100D

Your payments shouldn't start till they deliver the actual car you ordered. (Paying cash then get in writing the remedies before paying)

Before flatbedding your P100D to you they should take pictures and send it to you making sure it meets your satisfaction and then flat bed the loaner back to the service center.

Simply refusing the car means you either have to wait and get behind everyone with a Model 3 order, possibly losing super charging or the options you really wanted, and it really doesn't accomplish getting you your dream Tesla in any type of timely fashion. At this point you might just be done with the company all together but those are my thoughts.

 

[ACExpress]

It seems like you should give them a chance to remedy the items you deem unacceptable before jumping straight to, "I want a new car ordered." If we're talking about hood alignment and a slight paint irregularity, those would seem to be somewhat easily fixable items. While I agree a car in this price range should be pristine, I'm also of the belief you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

In my opinion, selling your car to a dealership before accepting delivery was a risk you chose to take. While it would seem to be a safe bet that you'd be returning with your new car, it was your choice.

I'm not trying to blame you as the customer in this instance. From your description, it sounds like you escalated the situation very quickly and even emotionally. Just my opinion based on what you wrote.

Ray is my DS as well. Hopefully I have a better experience at pickup in a couple weeks. Luckily I only live 3 or 4 miles from Love Field in case something goes awry. I will be interested to hear corporate's response. Best of luck.

 

[TexLaw]

I hear folks say that they would have given the opportunity to get the matters fixed, but it sounds like that may never even been on the table.

The hood and headlights could be fixed easily enough. Without knowing the details of the paint irregularity, that could be an easy fix or a big problem. True, none of that should ever have happened (or fixed before OP got there). The comments that they walked the car and all this was normal were enormous mistakes. Those comments are nothing more than admissions of their own shortcomings. Demanding another car was a bit much to ask, though. If you want a Tesla, I agree that a loaner and compensation for OP's time and trouble were the reasonable demands (and it sounds like OP spent a lot of time and suffered a lot of trouble).

Yes, selling the car prior to delivery and choosing to fly over to pick it up were OP's own choices and don't have a lot to do with this situation. Refusing delivery due to problems with a car always is a possibility, no matter what you're buying.

I'm glad to hear about how the head office seems to be treating this, and I look forward to hearing what they offer and how all this turns out.

 

[Tam]

...Demanding another car was a bit much to ask...

I would agree when Tesla was small and the pool of customers were early adopters who would be willing to give Tesla a chance to survive through the phase of a startup company.

However, Tesla has now plenty of experience in mass producing cars and it has grown very big with the market capital is catching up to Ford.

It should have done like others have done: better quality control.

And when things accidentally slip through quality control, imperfections should be caught by Delivery Specialist and those should be remedied before showing to customers.

This practice of let things slide if customers don't notice the quality control problems need to be stopped.

 

[drjeetpatel]

Good afternoon everyone,

I actually got a call this afternoon (even though it is Sunday) from the Manager at the Dallas Tesla Dealership. She was apologetic and has agreed to order me another P100D and apply the $2500 deposit towards the car. She has also agreed in giving me a loaner while I wait. I was upset but feel much better for now. We shall see........

Respectfully,

Jeet

 

[BerTX]

Sorry this happened to you.

My opinion follows:

I guess I'm surprised that you were surprised at these issues. They are fairly typical. They shouldn't happen, of course. But if you spent any time at all on TMC, you would know your situation is not unique, and you would know that, at least with the panel alignment, it is almost always fixable without your car being any less valuable.

Yes, they are in the wrong and they are responsible to make it right. If they can't make it right, then complain.

 

[davidc18]

Welcome to the world of Tesla.

Not sure how they expect to survive the model 3 rollout when they still can not be bothered to deliver their top end model with glaring qc issues. It is kind of sad and pathetic actually.

 

[Canuck]

Did you take pictures? If so, can you please post them? I would like to see how bad the misalignment and paint issues were.

I wonder if Tesla would have ordered you a new one if you didn't post here? It seems things like that can be easily fixed but perhaps not. Pictures would be nice. I know it's resolved but it may help others who are taking delivery.

 

[drjeetpatel]

Did you take pictures? If so, can you please post them? I would like to see how bad the misalignment and paint issues were.

I wonder if Tesla would have ordered you a new one if you didn't post here? It seems things like that can be easily fixed but perhaps not. Pictures would be nice. I know it's resolved but it may help others who are taking delivery.

I was so upset that I didn't take any pictures; no need to since I refused delivery. I don't think they ordered me a new car because of the post. I sent the original email to multiple Tesla folks last night.

 

[P100DHG.]

Good afternoon everyone,

I actually got a call this afternoon (even though it is Sunday) from the Manager at the Dallas Tesla Dealership. She was apologetic and has agreed to order me another P100D and apply the $2500 deposit towards the car. She has also agreed in giving me a loaner while I wait. I was upset but feel much better for now. We shall see........

Respectfully,

Jeet

With unlimited supercharging? Make sure your get that in writing cause it sounds like a new order to me.

 

[drjeetpatel]

With unlimited supercharging? Make sure your get that in writing cause it sounds like a new order to me.

At first, she said no but I told her that this wasn't fair since I ordered the car originally on 11/7/16; I should be grandfathered in. She did call back and assure me that I would get free supercharging but I will get all this writing via email.

thanks

 

[Tam]

...no need to since I refused delivery...

I am glad that it's now resolved but it could get very nasty if you needed to make your case for delivery refusal.

Without pictures, it's your words against the professionals' like you wrote: "several employees had walked around the car and that ...the cars standards were acceptable."

 

[bonaire]

Check the large inventory availability of P100D with some having good discounts. Unless you must have AP 2.0, lots to choose from. A new order now has a May delivery timeframe. Www.teslainventory.com and www.ev-cpo.com. As being a Dr. I suppose you will write off much of the costs associated as business expenses, but still consider an inventory car since they are available now.

 

[fallen888]

Very strange of a service center to not just quickly make some alignment adjustments right there on the spot. When I took delivery I noticed a defect on a roof side panel and some scratches on the body. Within 20 minutes the scratches we buffed out, the defected panel replaced, and they threw a bunch more swag at me to make up for the inconvenience.

 

[Canuck]

you sent an email two weeks prior demand the car be in "pristine condition"? i mean, who does that?!?

I know the type of people who do that. I avoid them at all costs in both my professional and personal life.

i honestly suggest you NOT order another Model S and get into a Mercedes Benz.

Or maybe Tesla should have just given him a complete refund then blacklist him from buying another Tesla like they have been known to do in the past. That would save both him and Tesla from future headaches that in my view are inevitable.

 

[David29]

Man, every time i read posts like this -- and there seem to be altogether too many of them, given that Tesla's been building the same model car for more than 4 years -- I thank my lucky stars! My lowly 70D had no defects that I noticed on delivery, and I have only had 2 or 3 very trivial problems pop up in the 18 months since then, all easily corrected.

Either mine was built on the correct day of the week, or I am missing stuff that other people notice, or maybe I was just lucky! Or possibly there really are not that many delivery problems, but we hear about most of them, giving the impression of high rates of QC failures. Hard to know which is the case....

 

[Max*]

Man, every time i read posts like this -- and there seem to be altogether too many of them, given that Tesla's been building the same model car for more than 4 years -- I thank my lucky stars! My lowly 70D had no defects that I noticed on delivery, and I have only had 2 or 3 very trivial problems pop up in the 18 months since then, all easily corrected.

Either mine was built on the correct day of the week, or I am missing stuff that other people notice, or maybe I was just lucky! Or possibly there really are not that many delivery problems, but we hear about most of them, giving the impression of high rates of QC failures. Hard to know which is the case....

I feel people are too picky on forums.

 

[Pollux]

While my sympathies lie with the early adopter crowd (P85+ in '13, P100DL Dec. 7 '16, 2 M3s reserved), I'd point out to the rest of the early adopter crowd that there's a reality that going mainstream implies higher customer expectations and lower customer forgiveness. It also means learning how to deal with upset customers to bring them back down or buy them off. Especially when you're offering high-end pricing that puts you squarely at or above pricing for other luxury vehicles. Even if you say "premium" instead of "luxury".

And whether the mis-aligned hood and headlights and the paint blemish were objectively minor or major, you'd also imagine that Tesla staff would fall all over themselves apologizing and explaining how they'd make it right. That has certainly been MY experience over the past 3.5 years. I only have OP's report to go on, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he has reported as accurately as he can.

To me, this quote speaks volumes:

I had sold my vehicle yesterday to a local dealership in Monroe anticipating today’s delivery. Not only have I spent money on a plane ticket, but had to rent a car to go back home 300 miles. I will have to rent a car tomorrow so I have something to drive to and from work.

Whatever you think of the rest of Dr. Patel's story, I see that Dr. Patel sold his car in his excitement to replace it with a Tesla; had to fly to go get it, which takes TIME, which is often a way bigger deal for busy professionals than the dollar cost; and then had to drive himself back home (a LOT more TIME). I'd guess he could have bought a half-dozen different luxury brands within 25 miles of his home; but he chose to pursue a Tesla, which involved much more TIME and effort on his part. Some of his ATTITUDES may be more mainstream but some of his ACTIONS are more like an early adopter.

Would I have behaved as he did? Nope. I'd've zip-tied the hood in place, fashioned a reflector out of aluminum foil to aim the headlights more or less in a useful direction, and driven home with a promise that Tesla would make it all right at some vague point in the future. But five years after delivering the first Model S, you'd think that a Model S wouldn't be delivered with these issues or would be caught at the last line of defense at the Service Center.

Alan

P.S. I've been very happy with my Dec '16 P100DL, which was delivered with everything including hood and headlights in correct order and an excellent paint job that now rests comfortably below a whole-body XPEL wrap!

 

[DillyBop]

or I am missing stuff that other people notice....

this.

i'll bet you dollars to donuts you (nor me) would notice what set this dude off and had him refusing delivery. some people really do just live very very differently, as Canuck pointed out.