Hi guys, I've decided to share my overall experience from my time since working at Tesla in service, getting laid off, to the hassle I endured during my own ownership all the way up to my most recent experience which led me to do this. It's going to be a bit lengthy.
Last June, after a year and a half of surviving through layoffs every quarter, I wound up in a round of layoffs. Ironically, we were always in a hiring freeze during that time, but a manager's friend got hired. I was tasked with training her and at that point I already knew they'd be having me train my replacement. At that time, I had an order for a performance 3 pending. Things got interesting from there on out, after I officially left.
I hesitated to take delivery after just losing my job but went in one day to modify my order to lower cost or find a stealth if possible. I walked in and while waiting for my advisor, the sales and delivery manager's both walked up to me and told me I "wasn't allowed to be there" and that I had to leave. I was confused but I let them walk me out. First point of humiliation, I'm trying to continue giving you my business even after losing my job but being asked to leave in the middle of the crowded sales floor. For reference, I left on a good note and even communicated with and texted my manager continually afterwards thanking them for the experience and knowledge I gained. So it's not as if there was any animosity. Anyway, I eventually modified the order over the phone and found a new stealth 3 to my liking, but then got told I can't take delivery at that location. No reason was provided. I didn't really care out of excitement and drove out of my way to go pick it up, which delayed delivery later than I even wanted to. I should've seen all these red flags but I love the company and the car's and kept giving my business.
On a different occasion months later, I was supercharging and went into the customer lounge at that location. A few minutes go by and as I'm conversing with some folk who were waiting for delivery, I got approached by the same two managers asking me to leave. I actually asked them why this time and they told me they've already spoken with "everyone" and I need to leave. It was literally the most bogus response and neither of them seemed confident in saying it to me. I said whatever and walked out on my own. They followed me all the way out to my car. A former customer who I worked with in service was charging also and literally asked me what that was about and was shocked to hear that I got laid off. More so, he was surprised that's how they treat people who don't work there anymore, even as customers. I didn't have words for that interaction.
Fast forward to a time I actually needed service and when scheduling in the app, my appointment was canceled twice. It was just a seasonal tire swap so not as if there's any parts involved and I wasn't requesting a loaner. I let it be. Until I unexpectedly got a flat and roadside had no loaner wheels so they dispatched to tow me to the location which was closest. I eventually got to swap my winter tires after two cancelled appointments.
A year goes by and I never even talk negatively about tesla, this location or anything and even manage multiple referrals. I decided to see what trade in values would look like on one of my cars. When I saw they offered $47k for the stealth, I jumped on it. I asked my sales advisor to find me a particular configuration and luckily she found one in 2 days. I placed the order, within the 7 day window of the original offer. While I totally understand its an estimate, they also always ran the carfax prior to providing the value. Even months after I got into an accident, I ran a trade in and got a high value in the same range as the recent one. Since the beginning of my time working there, and from all family that I've spoken to, that estimate is always spot on for what they got at the end, including any prior accident history factored in, etc.
So the vehicle arrives, I confirm delivery but my trade in value was never finalized in their system. I realize there was also a system outage one day last week so I get it, but it was the night before delivery and I had a feeling my delivery would be screwed cause of it. I had already taken off from work so there wasn't really any going back. The morning of delivery, 45 minutes prior, I receive the call that my trade in hasn't been finalized by remarketing so I can't take delivery. I was pissed but I kind of expected it. Two days after my delivery was supposed to take place, they send me a final offer... $13k less than the original. When I asked about it, they said because of modifications (wrap and tint) and the one prior accident, but they said they'll re-evaluate if I remove the wrap and they verify there's no damage. From the few people I spoke with, in situations like that, after removal of the mods they got the full original quoted value. So I took off my xpel stealth and tints the same day after work and resent pics. I rescheduled delivery and of course the trade in reappraisal hadn't finalized yet again. I gave them 4 days to reevaluate. Low and behold, after I took off the wrap I spent 5k on, they adjusted the value and added $500 back. This was a complete slap in the face. I'm totally cool with losing the normal amount (3-5k) due to the accident being on carfax, but first and foremost, the photos would verify there's no existing damage and plus they resell cars as "previously repaired" literally the equivalent of all other used cars. $13.5k over an accident is a significant amount to deduct especially considering the damage wasn't even $4k worth. Yes, I know carfax doesn't show accident damage value just a collision report.
I sent them the last trade in quote I got from April (many months post accident) which was $48k as well as the vroom offer of $49k, (which definitely factors in accident history and market adjustments) and they literally tell me no offers ever factored in accident history. Yet the last trade in value I got, even on my non tesla they said it was based on the carfax and the final offer was the same when I traded.
When I spoke to the current store leader there, he was quick to get me off the phone and tell me that he's ready to cancel my order and claiming I don't want the car. Essentially, if I didn't want to buy the car, I wouldn't have gone the distance of taking off all my mods, throwing away the wrap, nor would I have even rushed to confirm delivery and taken days off. From original trade in quote until first delivery date was a total of 10 days. It's a shame that Tesla in Paramus NJ is doing this and literally has basically been harassing me since I've stopped working there. I know of so many people who have gotten adjustments on the new vehicle price and especially near end of quarter, some upwards of 10k on all models too. It's funny cause I always provided the best possible outcomes to my customers there and all other customers walk out of there super happy when they have similar issues with trade in and delivery. My time there I've seen 20k price adjustments, goodwill sets of wheels, hpwc, online shop credit, etc but suddenly there is nothing that can be done to offset that gap for me.
Just sharing my experience here showing how tesla treats their former laid off employees even as customers.
Last June, after a year and a half of surviving through layoffs every quarter, I wound up in a round of layoffs. Ironically, we were always in a hiring freeze during that time, but a manager's friend got hired. I was tasked with training her and at that point I already knew they'd be having me train my replacement. At that time, I had an order for a performance 3 pending. Things got interesting from there on out, after I officially left.
I hesitated to take delivery after just losing my job but went in one day to modify my order to lower cost or find a stealth if possible. I walked in and while waiting for my advisor, the sales and delivery manager's both walked up to me and told me I "wasn't allowed to be there" and that I had to leave. I was confused but I let them walk me out. First point of humiliation, I'm trying to continue giving you my business even after losing my job but being asked to leave in the middle of the crowded sales floor. For reference, I left on a good note and even communicated with and texted my manager continually afterwards thanking them for the experience and knowledge I gained. So it's not as if there was any animosity. Anyway, I eventually modified the order over the phone and found a new stealth 3 to my liking, but then got told I can't take delivery at that location. No reason was provided. I didn't really care out of excitement and drove out of my way to go pick it up, which delayed delivery later than I even wanted to. I should've seen all these red flags but I love the company and the car's and kept giving my business.
On a different occasion months later, I was supercharging and went into the customer lounge at that location. A few minutes go by and as I'm conversing with some folk who were waiting for delivery, I got approached by the same two managers asking me to leave. I actually asked them why this time and they told me they've already spoken with "everyone" and I need to leave. It was literally the most bogus response and neither of them seemed confident in saying it to me. I said whatever and walked out on my own. They followed me all the way out to my car. A former customer who I worked with in service was charging also and literally asked me what that was about and was shocked to hear that I got laid off. More so, he was surprised that's how they treat people who don't work there anymore, even as customers. I didn't have words for that interaction.
Fast forward to a time I actually needed service and when scheduling in the app, my appointment was canceled twice. It was just a seasonal tire swap so not as if there's any parts involved and I wasn't requesting a loaner. I let it be. Until I unexpectedly got a flat and roadside had no loaner wheels so they dispatched to tow me to the location which was closest. I eventually got to swap my winter tires after two cancelled appointments.
A year goes by and I never even talk negatively about tesla, this location or anything and even manage multiple referrals. I decided to see what trade in values would look like on one of my cars. When I saw they offered $47k for the stealth, I jumped on it. I asked my sales advisor to find me a particular configuration and luckily she found one in 2 days. I placed the order, within the 7 day window of the original offer. While I totally understand its an estimate, they also always ran the carfax prior to providing the value. Even months after I got into an accident, I ran a trade in and got a high value in the same range as the recent one. Since the beginning of my time working there, and from all family that I've spoken to, that estimate is always spot on for what they got at the end, including any prior accident history factored in, etc.
So the vehicle arrives, I confirm delivery but my trade in value was never finalized in their system. I realize there was also a system outage one day last week so I get it, but it was the night before delivery and I had a feeling my delivery would be screwed cause of it. I had already taken off from work so there wasn't really any going back. The morning of delivery, 45 minutes prior, I receive the call that my trade in hasn't been finalized by remarketing so I can't take delivery. I was pissed but I kind of expected it. Two days after my delivery was supposed to take place, they send me a final offer... $13k less than the original. When I asked about it, they said because of modifications (wrap and tint) and the one prior accident, but they said they'll re-evaluate if I remove the wrap and they verify there's no damage. From the few people I spoke with, in situations like that, after removal of the mods they got the full original quoted value. So I took off my xpel stealth and tints the same day after work and resent pics. I rescheduled delivery and of course the trade in reappraisal hadn't finalized yet again. I gave them 4 days to reevaluate. Low and behold, after I took off the wrap I spent 5k on, they adjusted the value and added $500 back. This was a complete slap in the face. I'm totally cool with losing the normal amount (3-5k) due to the accident being on carfax, but first and foremost, the photos would verify there's no existing damage and plus they resell cars as "previously repaired" literally the equivalent of all other used cars. $13.5k over an accident is a significant amount to deduct especially considering the damage wasn't even $4k worth. Yes, I know carfax doesn't show accident damage value just a collision report.
I sent them the last trade in quote I got from April (many months post accident) which was $48k as well as the vroom offer of $49k, (which definitely factors in accident history and market adjustments) and they literally tell me no offers ever factored in accident history. Yet the last trade in value I got, even on my non tesla they said it was based on the carfax and the final offer was the same when I traded.
When I spoke to the current store leader there, he was quick to get me off the phone and tell me that he's ready to cancel my order and claiming I don't want the car. Essentially, if I didn't want to buy the car, I wouldn't have gone the distance of taking off all my mods, throwing away the wrap, nor would I have even rushed to confirm delivery and taken days off. From original trade in quote until first delivery date was a total of 10 days. It's a shame that Tesla in Paramus NJ is doing this and literally has basically been harassing me since I've stopped working there. I know of so many people who have gotten adjustments on the new vehicle price and especially near end of quarter, some upwards of 10k on all models too. It's funny cause I always provided the best possible outcomes to my customers there and all other customers walk out of there super happy when they have similar issues with trade in and delivery. My time there I've seen 20k price adjustments, goodwill sets of wheels, hpwc, online shop credit, etc but suddenly there is nothing that can be done to offset that gap for me.
Just sharing my experience here showing how tesla treats their former laid off employees even as customers.
