Below are my experiences from two different deliveries, both in Fremont, and how times have changed.
Delivery #1: March 2017 weekend, MX 75D
We checked in at the front lobby of the factory itself. We were grouped according to our delivery time, about 10 owners in our group. Most everyone went on the factory tour offered every 30 minutes or so. Everyone was excited and talked at length about Tesla while we waited along with a few other Tesla employees. Coffee, chips, and cookies were available. After the factory tour concluded, we went into a room to see a video about how to use our new cars and the delivery specialists introduced themselves. Note: my original delivery specialist was non-responsive to our emails, so we asked for and received another delivery specialist. We signed some papers, took some pictures, and my child played with the mini Model S. We were walked to our car which was sitting under a huge white tent, pedestal in the back with my "Welcome to Tesla. Mr. So and So" in the back. Keyfobs in a box and a swag bag which included a Tesla umbrella and a coffee mug were also sitting on the pedestal. We went in armed with a delivery checklist and since it was our first Tesla, it took a while. We found a few flaws which could not be fixed so the car was left behind. One week later, the car was delivered to our house ~4 hours away from Fremont nicely wrapped with all issues addressed mostly satisfactorily. Despite the flaws, we came away pretty impressed with the "white glove" experience.
Delivery #2: December 2018 weekend, MX 100D
There is now a "Tesla Delivery Center" in Fremont, which is located about 5 minutes away from the factory lobby. Cars lined up in the parking lot just outside the building. The cars and ground were wet. Wet leaves and muddy waters were everywhere. Normally that means nothing but I'll go back to it later. The building exterior/interior looked nice, but my first impression was that dang, this is way more packed than before. There was only one lady at the counter checking us in. My first thought was, "Ah only one employee greeting us, I guess this was one of the areas Tesla cut back on." The wait time is approx 1 hour as they were running behind. No problems, we were ok with free wifi, coffee, water, and pretzels. Gone are the chips and cookies. Lots more deliveries for sure, which is great for Tesla!
My delivery guy came in to look for us. He was a nice guy, new hire, just started delivery 2 weeks ago. Mine was his first MX. He literally had zero knowledge with the MX, but I'm a pro at this by now, so I ended up showing him a few things while I went over the car. Remember the wet leaves and muddy water part? Well, there weren't any paper mats placed inside like every new car I've ever bought in my life. I doubted that the other cars had any paper mats neither. No swag bags, no welcome Mr. So and So, nada. There was only 1 misalignment issue this time, YAY! The front plastic fender on the right side did not sit flush with the painted part. Should be a quick fix. I wanted it fixed right away because I needed to drop off the car to be wrapped immediately after, and I didn't want any disassembly later on to mess up my new wrap. The delivery guy took the car out back to get that corrected. He came back to get the paperwork going. Cool, should be quick. Nope, no siree!
I placed my order 9/16/18 on the last unlimited supercharger day, confirmed 9/20/18 for delivery late November '18. Four days later 9/24/18 I got a call to go pick up my new car, scheduled for 9/29/18. Umm...I'm not ready?!? That car was refused so a new order was placed on 9/29/18 with unlimited supercharging. I had read other posts on this forum about people whose cars got reverted to 6 months supercharging, so I had an inkling that the new order date 9/29 was going to be a problem. I called ahead to the OA and he assured me repeatedly that was not a problem.
Fast forward to the paper signing: I asked the delivery guy to make sure that I got free supercharging. He went back to talk to the manager and said "Your order was placed on 9/29/19 because you refused delivery on the other car, so congratulations you get 6 months free supercharging!" I blurted out, "This is BS right here!" Poor delivery guy had to see me get red-faced, but I was assured that the paperwork was taken care of. I demanded to talk to the manager while I got my OA on the line (which was like pulling teeth, and I friggin pull teeth for a living). So they talked and agreed that they would bring it up the chain, sent me a confirmation email, and I signed and wrote the check. Back to the misalignment: "we took it out and replaced two times already, this is how the part came and this is the best we could do." This is like pouring gasoline on fire. I said, "I don't want to hear that this is the best you could do. I want to hear that it is perfect now! You see these other MXs (me pointing at them) Get it like that!" Now I'm honestly not a perfectionist, but the above is not what you would say to a customer. Out came the service manager who assured me that this would not interfere with my wrap and the problem will be addressed by a mobile ranger with a new plastic part. Took all of 30 seconds to explain and calm me down. I was happy again
I took delivery of the car and here we are.
Tesla's "white glove" service is no more I'm sad to say due to the volume that they are doing. Also the cost cuttings mean less service employees and/or less trained. The Tesla employees I came across with are good people, I just think that they are overwhelmed and so loose ends aren't being taken care of (ie. the paper mats thing). My small gripes as a customer aside, I love the car, the technology, and the vision. I'm glad to see Tesla so busy, but I hope that they don't lose touch on the customer service side of things. I've talked to a couple of existing Tesla owners who got soured by the service that they said their next car won't be a Tesla. It kinda blows my mind why they would do so, but it's their money.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
Delivery #1: March 2017 weekend, MX 75D
We checked in at the front lobby of the factory itself. We were grouped according to our delivery time, about 10 owners in our group. Most everyone went on the factory tour offered every 30 minutes or so. Everyone was excited and talked at length about Tesla while we waited along with a few other Tesla employees. Coffee, chips, and cookies were available. After the factory tour concluded, we went into a room to see a video about how to use our new cars and the delivery specialists introduced themselves. Note: my original delivery specialist was non-responsive to our emails, so we asked for and received another delivery specialist. We signed some papers, took some pictures, and my child played with the mini Model S. We were walked to our car which was sitting under a huge white tent, pedestal in the back with my "Welcome to Tesla. Mr. So and So" in the back. Keyfobs in a box and a swag bag which included a Tesla umbrella and a coffee mug were also sitting on the pedestal. We went in armed with a delivery checklist and since it was our first Tesla, it took a while. We found a few flaws which could not be fixed so the car was left behind. One week later, the car was delivered to our house ~4 hours away from Fremont nicely wrapped with all issues addressed mostly satisfactorily. Despite the flaws, we came away pretty impressed with the "white glove" experience.
Delivery #2: December 2018 weekend, MX 100D
There is now a "Tesla Delivery Center" in Fremont, which is located about 5 minutes away from the factory lobby. Cars lined up in the parking lot just outside the building. The cars and ground were wet. Wet leaves and muddy waters were everywhere. Normally that means nothing but I'll go back to it later. The building exterior/interior looked nice, but my first impression was that dang, this is way more packed than before. There was only one lady at the counter checking us in. My first thought was, "Ah only one employee greeting us, I guess this was one of the areas Tesla cut back on." The wait time is approx 1 hour as they were running behind. No problems, we were ok with free wifi, coffee, water, and pretzels. Gone are the chips and cookies. Lots more deliveries for sure, which is great for Tesla!
My delivery guy came in to look for us. He was a nice guy, new hire, just started delivery 2 weeks ago. Mine was his first MX. He literally had zero knowledge with the MX, but I'm a pro at this by now, so I ended up showing him a few things while I went over the car. Remember the wet leaves and muddy water part? Well, there weren't any paper mats placed inside like every new car I've ever bought in my life. I doubted that the other cars had any paper mats neither. No swag bags, no welcome Mr. So and So, nada. There was only 1 misalignment issue this time, YAY! The front plastic fender on the right side did not sit flush with the painted part. Should be a quick fix. I wanted it fixed right away because I needed to drop off the car to be wrapped immediately after, and I didn't want any disassembly later on to mess up my new wrap. The delivery guy took the car out back to get that corrected. He came back to get the paperwork going. Cool, should be quick. Nope, no siree!
I placed my order 9/16/18 on the last unlimited supercharger day, confirmed 9/20/18 for delivery late November '18. Four days later 9/24/18 I got a call to go pick up my new car, scheduled for 9/29/18. Umm...I'm not ready?!? That car was refused so a new order was placed on 9/29/18 with unlimited supercharging. I had read other posts on this forum about people whose cars got reverted to 6 months supercharging, so I had an inkling that the new order date 9/29 was going to be a problem. I called ahead to the OA and he assured me repeatedly that was not a problem.
Fast forward to the paper signing: I asked the delivery guy to make sure that I got free supercharging. He went back to talk to the manager and said "Your order was placed on 9/29/19 because you refused delivery on the other car, so congratulations you get 6 months free supercharging!" I blurted out, "This is BS right here!" Poor delivery guy had to see me get red-faced, but I was assured that the paperwork was taken care of. I demanded to talk to the manager while I got my OA on the line (which was like pulling teeth, and I friggin pull teeth for a living). So they talked and agreed that they would bring it up the chain, sent me a confirmation email, and I signed and wrote the check. Back to the misalignment: "we took it out and replaced two times already, this is how the part came and this is the best we could do." This is like pouring gasoline on fire. I said, "I don't want to hear that this is the best you could do. I want to hear that it is perfect now! You see these other MXs (me pointing at them) Get it like that!" Now I'm honestly not a perfectionist, but the above is not what you would say to a customer. Out came the service manager who assured me that this would not interfere with my wrap and the problem will be addressed by a mobile ranger with a new plastic part. Took all of 30 seconds to explain and calm me down. I was happy again
I took delivery of the car and here we are.Tesla's "white glove" service is no more I'm sad to say due to the volume that they are doing. Also the cost cuttings mean less service employees and/or less trained. The Tesla employees I came across with are good people, I just think that they are overwhelmed and so loose ends aren't being taken care of (ie. the paper mats thing). My small gripes as a customer aside, I love the car, the technology, and the vision. I'm glad to see Tesla so busy, but I hope that they don't lose touch on the customer service side of things. I've talked to a couple of existing Tesla owners who got soured by the service that they said their next car won't be a Tesla. It kinda blows my mind why they would do so, but it's their money.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
