Advise needed: post delivery issues & how to best document?

[islack]

I took delivery on my car on Friday and when I got home I noticed several things were wrong with it, such as vanity mirror on the driver side was broken and there are a few scratches trim pieces inside the cabin and two scratches on the chrome pieces that can be seen under direct sunlight.

Apparently booking a service appointment is the only way to get these addressed? There is a 7 day period to return the car but my appointment is 10 days from now.

Does anyone know how to best document and get written acknowledgement from Tesla that all concerns will be resolved and that I need not to worry about returning the car within the 7 days? Tesla app does not seem to show me a phone number to speak to someone about my upcoming appointment or anything like that.

 

[Entropy512]

Does the car have to be back in their possession by the end of the 7 days, or just the return process kicked off by then?

Seems like classic Tesla "run out the clock" tactics. If you can't get written assurances from them that you can return if the service appointment doesn't resolve your issues, I'd run.

I attempted to order a Model 3 last week, but they bait-and-switched the delivery arrangements on me from "nearest service center" to "wherever we feel like shuffling you". Their FAQ regarding the 72 hour order change window does not state whether or not that is only vehicle configuration changes or delivery changes. They were completely unresponsive to multiple attempts to contact them starting from 30 minutes after order placement except for a "Nope, the FAQ lies and your nearest service center doesn't actually handle new vehicle deliveries." email at the 48 hour mark. I asked for assurances that having changes made to delivery options past the 72 hour window would not incur any further penalties and they refused to provide any, just kept parroting over and over again "Your delivery support specialist is best suited to help you".

I gave them a bit past the 72 hours (up to close of business California time) for DSS to contact me, never heard from them, and was forced to cancel my order and file a dispute with my credit card company regarding the bait-and-switch.

Tesla seems to be perfectly happy to screw over their customers by running out clocks set by themselves.

 

[jkoya]

Does anyone know how to best document and get written acknowledgement from Tesla that all concerns will be resolved and that I need not to worry about returning the car within the 7 days?

Have you tried contacting your delivery advisor yet ? Mine ghosted me, but maybe yours might call back ? How close are you to a SC ?

 

[Entropy512]

Have you tried contacting your delivery advisor yet ? Mine ghosted me, but maybe yours might call back ? How close are you to a SC ?

I see reports all over the place of people getting ghosted by their DSS, including my own ordering experience leading to cancellation because my DSS was utterly and completely useless.

Tesla really needs to start monitoring DSS performance with customer satisfaction surveys and quality assurance metrics.

 

[jkoya]

I see reports all over the place of people getting ghosted by their DSS, including my own ordering experience leading to cancellation because my DSS was utterly and completely useless.

Yeah - I was ghosted by the sales person, delivery center and delivery advisor. My Model 3 was the 13th car I've ever purchased and by far the worst delivery experience. I think having a delivery person who had better customer experience skills would have made my delivery experience better, despite all the flaws the car had...

 

[Entropy512]

Yeah - I was ghosted by the sales person, delivery center and delivery advisor. My Model 3 was the 13th car I've ever purchased and by far the worst delivery experience. I think having a delivery person who had better customer experience skills would have made my delivery experience better, despite all the flaws the car had...

I was ghosted by the finance rep when I raised concerns about not seeing terms and conditions of financing until the "welcome package" 2 weeks after delivery (1 week after the return period is up), and asked for the ability to see the T&C prior to committing.

I was ghosted by the sales rep the moment he had my order's RN.

I was ghosted by the DSS after one email from them which didn't provide any useful information other than that I was indeed the subject of bait-and-switch. I indicated that the delivery location I was assigned was not viable for me unless Tesla had some tips/suggestions for getting to Mt Kisco that I had not yet identified, and asked to discuss alternative options. No response.

Some evidence of effort from my DSS, any effort, would have been enough to keep me from cancelling.

 

[jkoya]

Some evidence of effort from my DSS, any effort, would have been enough to keep me from cancelling.

Sorry to hear you went through all that. Are you planning on ordering again or are you moving on to something else ?

 

[Entropy512]

Sorry to hear you went through all that. Are you planning on ordering again or are you moving on to something else ?

Something else. Maybe I'll take another look at Tesla during my next vehicle purchase cycle, hopefully there's strong evidence they've taken steps to completely rework their customer service system, like actually taking customer satisfaction metrics. We're so used to hearing "this call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes" and getting "How satisfied were you with this customer service interaction" that we get annoyed by them... But thinking back over my ordering experience, none of that ever happened. There was no evidence Tesla was putting any effort into monitoring customer service employee performance.

Normally the next purchasing round would be in 10-15 years, although I've decided two things:
1) From now on I will not be a single-vehicle owner. My Outback would have lasted a LOT longer if I could have put it up on jackstands for a day or two to give it some TLC with a backup vehicle for parts store/Harbor Freight runs. Honestly the only reason the vehicles I owned in high school or college were viable were because over summer breaks, Dad and I could take care of issues in the garage, using the parental vehicles whenever we needed a part or missing tool.
2) EVs are changing so rapidly that despite being effectively raised to run vehicles into the ground, I'm considering leasing an EV (probably a Bolt) or planning on doing a tradein after 4-5 years.

Also that'll help see how Tesla ownership fares once people get past the warranty period. At this point, only the very first Model S units are hitting the end of their warranty, and we're years from the first Model 3s. The Tesloop article shows that Teslas handle mileage well, but mileage isn't the only thing that kills vehicles. In fact in NYS, it almost never is - time + road salt eats vehicles. I've actually thought back through my Outback's maintenance history, and other than oil changes and a timing belt change, it took 12 years before anything that isn't also present on a Tesla failed outside of warranty/recall work. (Exhaust disintegrated two weeks ago prompting the new car search, and the oil pressure sender was found to be leaking two months ago.)

 

[OCR1]

Back to the OP’s question...

My recommendation would be to drive over to the service center without an appointment and just ask them to look at the car and tell you whether they are willing to address your concerns. It’s never a good situation to discover things wrong with your car after you pay and take delivery. Tesla has not been consistent in how they respond to these issues. The best thing new owners can do to prevent this situation is to plan on spending at least 45 minutes thoroughly inspecting the car and bring a second set of eyes with you in case you miss anything.

Let us know how it works out for you.

 

[en_passant]

Apparently booking a service appointment is the only way to get these addressed? There is a 7 day period to return the car but my appointment is 10 days from now.

I would drive back to the delivery center as soon as possible just to get these items seen and documented before the seven days is up. Tesla is very good at ignoring customers but it's hard to ignore you if you are there. Also, a dissatisfied person at a dealership is toxic so they will have to address your concerns enough to get you to leave.

 

[islack]

Have you tried contacting your delivery advisor yet ? Mine ghosted me, but maybe yours might call back ? How close are you to a SC ?

Mi advisor at Fremont Delivery Hub ghosted me as well. I opened a service center appointment on Friday, this morning someone from their call center confirmed my service center appointment which happens to be on the exact 7th day from my delivery - the service/support rep handling the service request was nice and even pushed OTA update to my car but the sales team @ Fremont are acting like assholes.


The Tesla Delivery Hub replied to my concerns via email saying that because my car had a price adjustment that it was sold as-is and that I am basically on my own to pay to fix the issues (wtf?) I responded that is contradictory to the assurances I was given before signing the paperwork and also that the delivery guy made notes when I picked up the car about panel alignment and other concerns which I sent screenshots in response.

Unless I signed a paper stating the brand new car was sold-as-is I don't understand the response from the delivery hub via email, like they don't give a **** at all.

 

[OCR1]

Mi advisor at Fremont Delivery Hub ghosted me as well. I opened a service center appointment on Friday, this morning someone from their call center confirmed my service center appointment which happens to be on the exact 7th day from my delivery - the service/support rep handling the service request was nice and even pushed OTA update to my car but the sales team @ Fremont are acting like assholes.


The Tesla Delivery Hub replied to my concerns via email saying that because my car had a price adjustment that it was sold as-is and that I am basically on my own to pay to fix the issues (wtf?) I responded that is contradictory to the assurances I was given before signing the paperwork and also that the delivery guy made notes when I picked up the car about panel alignment and other concerns which I sent screenshots in response.

Unless I signed a paper stating the brand new car was sold-as-is I don't understand the response from the delivery hub via email, like they don't give a **** at all.

I don’t think you are going to get anywhere via email or phone calls with Tesla. They are notoriously horrible at any type of communication that is not face to face. If you took a car that was a demo car with mileage on it, it is not unreasonable for the car to have some minor wear and tear. However, as long as you point these things out prior to taking delivery anything can be negotiated. Once you take delivery it’s completely random as to how Tesla responds.

Try showing up and speaking face to face with a service rep. They have been known to fix some small issues as customer goodwill regardless of what company policy is.

 

[islack]

If you took a car that was a demo car with mileage on it, it is not unreasonable for the car to have some minor wear and tear. However, as long as you point these things out prior to taking delivery anything can be negotiated. Once you take delivery it’s completely random as to how Tesla responds.

My car had < 30 miles on the odo when I picked it up and the person did note there were some door / trim misalignment issues prior to taking delivery.

I'm not sure they can claim this was a demo car, those usually have a lot of miles. My car is a prior model year (not a 2020) but that is what I got the pricing adjustment.

 

[jjrandorin]

My car had < 30 miles on the odo when I picked it up and the person did note there were some door / trim misalignment issues prior to taking delivery.

I'm not sure they can claim this was a demo car, those usually have a lot of miles. My car is a prior model year (not a 2020) but that is what I got the pricing adjustment.

So...

Per another post you made, you bought a "new" car from tesla just now, which is a model year 2018 (so tesla had the car for almost 2 years at this point) and are somehow upset that you are discovering "issues" with a car that has sat somewhere for somewhere between 1.5 and 2 years?

I doubt telsa is going to do anything to overcome your "fit and finish" issues, because you bought a car that is 2 years old. so it doesnt have a bunch of miles on the odometer, its a 2 year old car. You should have never accepted delivery on a car that old that had anything you didnt like with it that was not 100% mechanical.

Return it, and either keep "deal hunting" or buy a new car thats not "new but 2 years old".

 

[wbhokie]

Since the model 3 came out, Tesla's stance has been that you are SOL after the time limit is up. We ran into the same issue with our recent model X. A month after delivery we finally got our service appointment for issues that were not visible at delivery but took certain conditions to become obvious (like rain). They charged us to fix them, even though the car came that way. Tesla never used to do that. On our previous cars, they always fixed the issues, no questions asked. Now there are just too many cars and not enough technicians and they are too swamped to provide that level of service. Unfortunately, certain common defects like panel alignment, paint, whistles, etc are not considered "warranty" issues so you will always pay for them if you don't notice them in that initial grace period. You might get lucky and run into a manager or a technician who is sympathetic, but as a rule of thumb, expect to foot the bill if you want to keep your car.

 

[laketica]

I just had to email the newly found issues, within 72 hours of taking delivery, to the delivery center and they added them to my due bill. I mean... how they took care of all the issues is a longer more painful story, but... at least it was all on my due bill........... -_- this may be the last Tesla I buy unless they get their QA act together. Meh.

 

[adomanim]

Buy why the website let me buy this? Theres a "delivery fee" of 1200 dolars (tha same with my order in progress) and no advices about this zip limitation.

 

[Entropy512]

Buy why the website let me buy this? Theres a "delivery fee" of 1200 dolars (tha same with my order in progress) and no advices about this zip limitation.

That "delivery fee" is charged even if you pick up at the factory in Fremont... Just like basically every other car manufacturer has a "documentation and destination fee".

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

I took delivery on my car on Friday and when I got home I noticed several things were wrong with it, such as vanity mirror on the driver side was broken and there are a few scratches trim pieces inside the cabin and two scratches on the chrome pieces that can be seen under direct sunlight.

Apparently booking a service appointment is the only way to get these addressed? There is a 7 day period to return the car but my appointment is 10 days from now.

Does anyone know how to best document and get written acknowledgement from Tesla that all concerns will be resolved and that I need not to worry about returning the car within the 7 days? Tesla app does not seem to show me a phone number to speak to someone about my upcoming appointment or anything like that.

Ensure you've documented the issues properly in writing, including photos, as soon as possible. That can be by an email, or by adding photos to your service request.
This is to avoid a pissing context about who's fault they are for this type of damage.

Apart from proving they were delivery-related damage, Tesla should fix these issues.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

That "delivery fee" is charged even if you pick up at the factory in Fremont... Just like basically every other car manufacturer has a "documentation and destination fee".

That's the law in the USA, not a Tesla policy.