A Christmas Tale

[Strategium]

As we can now see Christmas fast approaching, I thought I would share my tale from Christmas past - in this case Christmas 2018. I have seen quite a few posts here recently from people annoyed and frustrated by the lack of communication from Tesla about delivery dates and by them not apparently being able to give accurate estimates of when cars will arrive. I am still waiting for my car (AWD LR) but did get an update from Tesla this week confirming that I had been matched to a car on its way, consistent with the Vin I had found recently hidden in the html - thanks again to Jetex Jim for explaining to me how to check that! Apparently I can expect delivery in the first week of January but maybe by the end of December. I guess my car is likely on the Dong A Glaucos and delivery will depend on when it arrives in Zeebrugge and apparently it is 2 days behind schedule. I ordered my M3 on August 23rd, straight after getting back from a trip to San Francisco where I had been able to drive a M3 and was immediately hooked. So assuming the Dong doesn't sink, I expect I will get my car about 4.5 months after ordering. Clearly some people here get their car much faster. However, I last ordered a car - from Fiat - in August 2018 and was told by the dealership in Edinburgh I should get it by Christmas. It was a build to order from the Fiat factory in Italy. It didn't arrive before Christmas. When it did arrive in January 2019 - wait for it - I went to collect the car only to find that they had delivered a different model with different options to the one I had ordered! This despite me having sat in the Dealership with a very inexperienced sales person and gone onto the Fiat website with them and pointed out exactly which car I wanted and got the invoice confirming the model and options. After me doing this the Manager at the Dealership, who apparently had no idea about their own Fiat model ranges, had then incompetently placed an order for a completely different model to one on my invoice using their internal Fiat system - this even although I had selected the car inside the Dealership showroom on the Fiat website. Worse still, the sales person dealing with my order didn't realise when the car arrived that it was the wrong model until I pointed this out when I arrived at the showroom, over 4 months after placing my order with them. Needless to say I politely declined to accept the car and will not be buying from Fiat again. While this may have been an extreme case I think the traditional UK dealership model is broken and it is high time it was replaced. So I am happy that Tesla let you order your car directly via their website and effectively cut out the middle man. Yes I have been very frustrated by the lack of communication from Tesla. They told me I would get the car by October then November and didn't communicate to keep me updated. Not great on the communication front, but it looks like Tesla will now deliver my car all the way from Freemont California at least as fast as Fiat did from a factory in Italy. Fingers crossed when my car arrives it will also actually be the model I ordered. When I had this disaster with my Fiat delivery last January both the Dealership and Fiat were completely hopeless and gave abysmal customer service. So the moral of this Christmas story is that while Tesla have lots of room for improvement in the communication and customer relations department, I have had much worse experiences with established European car makers - so I will cut Tesla some slack if come January I have my M3 and it lives up to my expectations.

 

[benclear]

As we can now see Christmas fast approaching, I thought I would share my tale from Christmas past - in this case Christmas 2018. I have seen quite a few posts here recently from people annoyed and frustrated by the lack of communication from Tesla about delivery dates and by them not apparently being able to give accurate estimates of when cars will arrive. I am still waiting for my car (AWD LR) but did get an update from Tesla this week confirming that I had been matched to a car on its way, consistent with the Vin I had found recently hidden in the html - thanks again to Jetex Jim for explaining to me how to check that! Apparently I can expect delivery in the first week of January but maybe by the end of December. I guess my car is likely on the Dong A Glaucos and delivery will depend on when it arrives in Zeebrugge and apparently it is 2 days behind schedule. I ordered my M3 on August 23rd, straight after getting back from a trip to San Francisco where I had been able to drive a M3 and was immediately hooked. So assuming the Dong doesn't sink, I expect I will get my car about 4.5 months after ordering. Clearly some people here get their car much faster. However, I last ordered a car - from Fiat - in August 2018 and was told by the dealership in Edinburgh I should get it by Christmas. It was a build to order from the Fiat factory in Italy. It didn't arrive before Christmas. When it did arrive in January 2019 - wait for it - I went to collect the car only to find that they had delivered a different model with different options to the one I had ordered! This despite me having sat in the Dealership with a very inexperienced sales person and gone onto the Fiat website with them and pointed out exactly which car I wanted and got the invoice confirming the model and options. After me doing this the Manager at the Dealership, who apparently had no idea about their own Fiat model ranges, had then incompetently placed an order for a completely different model to one on my invoice using their internal Fiat system - this even although I had selected the car inside the Dealership showroom on the Fiat website. Worse still, the sales person dealing with my order didn't realise when the car arrived that it was the wrong model until I pointed this out when I arrived at the showroom, over 4 months after placing my order with them. Needless to say I politely declined to accept the car and will not be buying from Fiat again. While this may have been an extreme case I think the traditional UK dealership model is broken and it is high time it was replaced. So I am happy that Tesla let you order your car directly via their website and effectively cut out the middle man. Yes I have been very frustrated by the lack of communication from Tesla. They told me I would get the car by October then November and didn't communicate to keep me updated. Not great on the communication front, but it looks like Tesla will now deliver my car all the way from Freemont California at least as fast as Fiat did from a factory in Italy. Fingers crossed when my car arrives it will also actually be the model I ordered. When I had this disaster with my Fiat delivery last January both the Dealership and Fiat were completely hopeless and gave abysmal customer service. So the moral of this Christmas story is that while Tesla have lots of room for improvement in the communication and customer relations department, I have had much worse experiences with established European car makers - so I will cut Tesla some slack if come January I have my M3 and it lives up to my expectations.

I entirely support the sentiment of this message, but I can’t help but point out where you went wrong. You tried to buy a Fiat. It’s ok though, the world spotted your mistake and corrected it before any real harm was done.

 

[pdk42]

What is your spec? I ordered my LR AWD white/black with tow bar the week before you, but got my car on Sept 30th.

 

[Adopado]

As we can now see Christmas fast approaching, I thought I would share my tale from Christmas past - in this case Christmas 2018. I have seen quite a few posts here recently from people annoyed and frustrated by the lack of communication from Tesla about delivery dates and by them not apparently being able to give accurate estimates of when cars will arrive. I am still waiting for my car (AWD LR) but did get an update from Tesla this week confirming that I had been matched to a car on its way, consistent with the Vin I had found recently hidden in the html - thanks again to Jetex Jim for explaining to me how to check that! Apparently I can expect delivery in the first week of January but maybe by the end of December. I guess my car is likely on the Dong A Glaucos and delivery will depend on when it arrives in Zeebrugge and apparently it is 2 days behind schedule. I ordered my M3 on August 23rd, straight after getting back from a trip to San Francisco where I had been able to drive a M3 and was immediately hooked. So assuming the Dong doesn't sink, I expect I will get my car about 4.5 months after ordering. Clearly some people here get their car much faster. However, I last ordered a car - from Fiat - in August 2018 and was told by the dealership in Edinburgh I should get it by Christmas. It was a build to order from the Fiat factory in Italy. It didn't arrive before Christmas. When it did arrive in January 2019 - wait for it - I went to collect the car only to find that they had delivered a different model with different options to the one I had ordered! This despite me having sat in the Dealership with a very inexperienced sales person and gone onto the Fiat website with them and pointed out exactly which car I wanted and got the invoice confirming the model and options. After me doing this the Manager at the Dealership, who apparently had no idea about their own Fiat model ranges, had then incompetently placed an order for a completely different model to one on my invoice using their internal Fiat system - this even although I had selected the car inside the Dealership showroom on the Fiat website. Worse still, the sales person dealing with my order didn't realise when the car arrived that it was the wrong model until I pointed this out when I arrived at the showroom, over 4 months after placing my order with them. Needless to say I politely declined to accept the car and will not be buying from Fiat again. While this may have been an extreme case I think the traditional UK dealership model is broken and it is high time it was replaced. So I am happy that Tesla let you order your car directly via their website and effectively cut out the middle man. Yes I have been very frustrated by the lack of communication from Tesla. They told me I would get the car by October then November and didn't communicate to keep me updated. Not great on the communication front, but it looks like Tesla will now deliver my car all the way from Freemont California at least as fast as Fiat did from a factory in Italy. Fingers crossed when my car arrives it will also actually be the model I ordered. When I had this disaster with my Fiat delivery last January both the Dealership and Fiat were completely hopeless and gave abysmal customer service. So the moral of this Christmas story is that while Tesla have lots of room for improvement in the communication and customer relations department, I have had much worse experiences with established European car makers - so I will cut Tesla some slack if come January I have my M3 and it lives up to my expectations.

Nice story but can I make a layout recommendation? Paragraphs can be really helpful! I nearly didn't even start to read the post, and perhaps this is the same for others. It's not much to do with conveying the narrative, it's just to do with readability. Beyond half a dozen lines or so and onscreen reading becomes more of a chore than a pleasure!

 

[Krash]

readabilityisoverrated

 

[richrootes]

Sorry, but your post just makes me think of this...

 

[MrBadger]

the one I remember is
lipsmackingthirstquenchinacetastinmultivatinhighwalkinlonglivinevergivinpepsi
butitwasalongtimeagosoprobablylostindistantmemory

 

[Strategium]

What is your spec? I ordered my LR AWD white/black with tow bar the week before you, but got my car on Sept 30th.

I ordered a LR AWD Red with white premium interior and FSD
Seems pretty random how quickly your ordered is matched to a car but maybe some configurations are less popular and therefore and fewer cars are made and take longer!? Great to hear that you got your car so quickly. Honestly, I am not too bothered about exactly how long the delivery takes. I just haven't enjoyed the combination of lack of information and some misinformation, since Tesla originally told me to expect delivery in October.

 

[Strategium]

Nice story but can I make a layout recommendation? Paragraphs can be really helpful! I nearly didn't even start to read the post, and perhaps this is the same for others. It's not much to do with conveying the narrative, it's just to do with readability. Beyond half a dozen lines or so and onscreen reading becomes more of a chore than a pleasure!

Fair point!
I think I got carried away remembering how Fiat messed me about last year ...

 

[Strategium]

I entirely support the sentiment of this message, but I can’t help but point out where you went wrong. You tried to buy a Fiat. It’s ok though, the world spotted your mistake and corrected it before any real harm was done.

Hello world ...
Thank you for helping me end up getting a Tesla instead of another Fiat.
To be fair, the real villain of this story was the awful Fiat Dealership, rather than Fiat Italy.
My story was a counterpoint to some of the frustration about Tesla delivery experiences - with other car companies we pay extra for Dealership middlemen (middle people) who Tesla are showing are largely redundant and in my case actually messed up the order I had already done for them via their own website.
To be fair to Fiat, they actually made and delivered the car the Dealership ordered - it just wasn't the car I asked the Dealership to order!
I currently have a Fiat Panda Cross 4x4, which is a bit quirky but a great little go-anywhere pocket SUV and has been very reliable.
But I think the future has to be electric.