Hi,
We took delivery of our family's first Model 3 today. I am a mixed bag of emotions. I wanted to give my honest opinion of Tesla based on my experience. High-Yield at the bottom. PS - I didn't proofread this. I wrote it this at midnight.
Is Tesla's customer service its achilles heel?
To start off, I would like to confess that I am not in a technology field, I am not an early adopter of Tesla (started researching it 1-2 months ago), don't YET consider myself part of the Elon's cult. I am just an average middle class American.
So about two months ago my family and I learned more about the climate changes from the recent news reports. We as a family decided to be more environmentally clean. So we decided on investing in Solar energy for our house and an electric car. I took on the responsibility of researching these topics. Obviously, I came across Tesla - I read through the articles, test drove a Model S and a Model 3. I looked through the different forums and did my research. I felt that for the price of the car and equipment model 3 was the best for us. We ordered the model 3 end of November. We were assigned a vin that same week and were assigned delivery end of first week of December. Was postponed a couple of times. Long frustrating story short - We got our delivery today with a chipped back windshield, loose driver door, and couple of areas of bad paint job. The service staff promised to take care of all of this. I never imagined I would pay >50 thousand for car and take a subpar car for delivery. But (after a grueling 8 hr day at the showroom)that is what we did. We drove home in our long range model 3. Five mins into the drive - I forgot all my frustrations with the delivery and was so happy from joy that I felt that it was the BEST DECISION EVER to take delivery. The best part of this whole ordeal for me was there was no bargaining, the pricing was straight forward. BTW, my delivery advisor was lying for the first weeks and was MIA/non-existent for the second week.
Our experience was not the same with the solar system. Tesla's solar system in through a company called SolarCity. I was told by the salesperson that they are the best in the country. He asked me for my home address, pulled up my previous electricity bill - told me I have a great south facing roof with no trees or obstacles close to it. I was told we would be a perfect candidate to go solar. We were told, we would get a quote in a day or two. In the meantime, I went on a website called energysage.com (must do if you are thinking about going solar), entered my details and got some quotes. In summary, I need a 5 KW system about $2.5/KWH - $3.5/KWH ($12,500 - $17,500) (and you get an extra 30% off from federal and an extra state incentive). Tesla provided their initial quote - close to $17000, however they included the state incentive (it was actually hidden). Looking at the quote more carefully, it was actually close to $4/KWH - $20000. I asked them why their quote was higher than the competitors - I was told that they use better material and they are more reliable. So, I asked them to send me their material information. It turns out when you compare it, their materials were average compared to the other quotes we received. I brought this up with my sales person. At this point, he became very defensive, I was promised that Tesla would pricematch the other quotes and I shouldn't worry about it. I was told to put a $500 fully refundable deposit for a home survey. I decided to go ahead with the deposit - A person came over the next day. Did a 1 hour survey of my home. I get a quote back a week after that for $13000 (same tactic with including the state incentive), so actually $16000 for a 4 KW system. So, still a $4/KWH. My sales person texted me with all exclamations and smiley faces stating that Tesla price matched my offer. At this point, I calmly informed him that the price is still 3-4 thousand dollars above my lowest quote and now my system is smaller than what I needed. I told him that I would like my $500 deposit back and would like to have my system from a local installer. I was told that my refund will be sent to me. I have had zero contact from Tesla since - cannot reach Solarcity customer service (partly my fault - I work insane hours and am not usually free for an hour to chat at 10 AM on mondays). I researched consumeraffairs and BBB for solarcity. They have the worst reviews in the industries 1/5 stars. In my location, there were atleast 10 other installer with 4 stars or greater reviews. When you read through the reviews - it seems like their biggest problem is customer service, servicing after the system is installed, and service when their system goes down. What I disliked the most about my experience was the shady sales tactics and the lack of reliable customer service. I would've paid a reasonable premium for Tesla if I trusted their solar company.
So, both Tesla SolarCity and Tesla motor have subpar customer service. Tesla solar has other competitors in the market that are actually better than Tesla solar for my family in my opinion. Tesla motor has a incredible car that is worth the shitty customer service for my family currently in my opinion. I am worried that once the other car companies build equivalent cars, Tesla will not be able to compete because of their subpar customer service.
As a middle class average american - I want honest, reliable service. (i.e Apple, Amazon, Google). Will Tesla get there? What do you think needs to happen for this company to improve their customer service?
High-yield: Researched both Tesla solar and Tesla Model 3. Tesla model 3 is a great car with bad customer service. Tesla solar is a scam based on consumer reports reviews. Tesla might not survive in a long run with customer service like this. What do you as an average consumer think needs to happen for Tesla to go to the next level?
PS. This is just a stream of consiousness. I could be completely wrong in my limited assessment. Looking forward to hearing from others.
We took delivery of our family's first Model 3 today. I am a mixed bag of emotions. I wanted to give my honest opinion of Tesla based on my experience. High-Yield at the bottom. PS - I didn't proofread this. I wrote it this at midnight.
Is Tesla's customer service its achilles heel?
To start off, I would like to confess that I am not in a technology field, I am not an early adopter of Tesla (started researching it 1-2 months ago), don't YET consider myself part of the Elon's cult. I am just an average middle class American.
So about two months ago my family and I learned more about the climate changes from the recent news reports. We as a family decided to be more environmentally clean. So we decided on investing in Solar energy for our house and an electric car. I took on the responsibility of researching these topics. Obviously, I came across Tesla - I read through the articles, test drove a Model S and a Model 3. I looked through the different forums and did my research. I felt that for the price of the car and equipment model 3 was the best for us. We ordered the model 3 end of November. We were assigned a vin that same week and were assigned delivery end of first week of December. Was postponed a couple of times. Long frustrating story short - We got our delivery today with a chipped back windshield, loose driver door, and couple of areas of bad paint job. The service staff promised to take care of all of this. I never imagined I would pay >50 thousand for car and take a subpar car for delivery. But (after a grueling 8 hr day at the showroom)that is what we did. We drove home in our long range model 3. Five mins into the drive - I forgot all my frustrations with the delivery and was so happy from joy that I felt that it was the BEST DECISION EVER to take delivery. The best part of this whole ordeal for me was there was no bargaining, the pricing was straight forward. BTW, my delivery advisor was lying for the first weeks and was MIA/non-existent for the second week.
Our experience was not the same with the solar system. Tesla's solar system in through a company called SolarCity. I was told by the salesperson that they are the best in the country. He asked me for my home address, pulled up my previous electricity bill - told me I have a great south facing roof with no trees or obstacles close to it. I was told we would be a perfect candidate to go solar. We were told, we would get a quote in a day or two. In the meantime, I went on a website called energysage.com (must do if you are thinking about going solar), entered my details and got some quotes. In summary, I need a 5 KW system about $2.5/KWH - $3.5/KWH ($12,500 - $17,500) (and you get an extra 30% off from federal and an extra state incentive). Tesla provided their initial quote - close to $17000, however they included the state incentive (it was actually hidden). Looking at the quote more carefully, it was actually close to $4/KWH - $20000. I asked them why their quote was higher than the competitors - I was told that they use better material and they are more reliable. So, I asked them to send me their material information. It turns out when you compare it, their materials were average compared to the other quotes we received. I brought this up with my sales person. At this point, he became very defensive, I was promised that Tesla would pricematch the other quotes and I shouldn't worry about it. I was told to put a $500 fully refundable deposit for a home survey. I decided to go ahead with the deposit - A person came over the next day. Did a 1 hour survey of my home. I get a quote back a week after that for $13000 (same tactic with including the state incentive), so actually $16000 for a 4 KW system. So, still a $4/KWH. My sales person texted me with all exclamations and smiley faces stating that Tesla price matched my offer. At this point, I calmly informed him that the price is still 3-4 thousand dollars above my lowest quote and now my system is smaller than what I needed. I told him that I would like my $500 deposit back and would like to have my system from a local installer. I was told that my refund will be sent to me. I have had zero contact from Tesla since - cannot reach Solarcity customer service (partly my fault - I work insane hours and am not usually free for an hour to chat at 10 AM on mondays). I researched consumeraffairs and BBB for solarcity. They have the worst reviews in the industries 1/5 stars. In my location, there were atleast 10 other installer with 4 stars or greater reviews. When you read through the reviews - it seems like their biggest problem is customer service, servicing after the system is installed, and service when their system goes down. What I disliked the most about my experience was the shady sales tactics and the lack of reliable customer service. I would've paid a reasonable premium for Tesla if I trusted their solar company.
So, both Tesla SolarCity and Tesla motor have subpar customer service. Tesla solar has other competitors in the market that are actually better than Tesla solar for my family in my opinion. Tesla motor has a incredible car that is worth the shitty customer service for my family currently in my opinion. I am worried that once the other car companies build equivalent cars, Tesla will not be able to compete because of their subpar customer service.
As a middle class average american - I want honest, reliable service. (i.e Apple, Amazon, Google). Will Tesla get there? What do you think needs to happen for this company to improve their customer service?
High-yield: Researched both Tesla solar and Tesla Model 3. Tesla model 3 is a great car with bad customer service. Tesla solar is a scam based on consumer reports reviews. Tesla might not survive in a long run with customer service like this. What do you as an average consumer think needs to happen for Tesla to go to the next level?
PS. This is just a stream of consiousness. I could be completely wrong in my limited assessment. Looking forward to hearing from others.
