Anyone return their car who ordered after 2/28?

[rdoubleug]

I have one day left and am on the fence. Bought a MR black/black/19"/AP and love it. However after driving it for the week, I can see how the LR is appealing with my commute and for longer road trips. I also saw the Midnight Silver Metallic at the showroom and pretty sure I would take it over the black now. Additionally, AP is something I've decided I can live without - especially the basic version that post 2/28 orders receive now. So, yeah...I would be returning the MR with AP in exchange for the LR in a different color and no AP. Under the current prices it's just a $1500 increase due to the paint color.

Wondering if anyone has made a return within the 7 day/1000 mile period and how that process was for you? I assume you haven't seen the refund check in this short amount of time, but did Tesla give you any idea for how long that could take? Is it a full refund of $2500 deposit, vehicle price and the $1200 destination/doc fee?

 

[OCR1]

I have not gone through the return process but I rejected a delivery of an MR model due to poorly aligned body panels. They did not have any other inventory cars so I had to place a new order online. After considering how much extra range you get on the LR for an extra $3K I decided to order the LR RWD instead of MR. I think it’s a bargain for the extra 61 miles. If you are second guessing your MR decision I would return the car while the window is still open. Just make sure you get your new order in before the price increase.

 

[32x20]

I’m going to return my problematic MR. It’s getting towed tomorrow. I was told 4-6 weeks for a refund. It’ll probably be longer than that, knowing Tesla. My understanding is it is for the full value of the car.

 

[rdoubleug]

I’m going to return my problematic MR. It’s getting towed tomorrow. I was told 4-6 weeks for a refund. It’ll probably be longer than that, knowing Tesla. My understanding is it is for the full value of the car.

What's wrong with the car? Are you going to buy another one?

 

[32x20]

What's wrong with the car? Are you going to buy another one?

Details here: Return Debate

The car is fantastic when it works and I really wanted this to work out. I think my experience is not typical, but I lean towards not getting another one. I just can't afford to deal with having a car fixed when the SC is 3hrs away and I've got work + a family that take time, too. I need a reliable car and I don't think I'll roll the dice again. If I lived near a SC it'd be a different story.

 

[chimerasaurus]

I have one day left and am on the fence. Bought a MR black/black/19"/AP and love it. However after driving it for the week, I can see how the LR is appealing with my commute and for longer road trips. I also saw the Midnight Silver Metallic at the showroom and pretty sure I would take it over the black now. Additionally, AP is something I've decided I can live without - especially the basic version that post 2/28 orders receive now. So, yeah...I would be returning the MR with AP in exchange for the LR in a different color and no AP. Under the current prices it's just a $1500 increase due to the paint color.

Wondering if anyone has made a return within the 7 day/1000 mile period and how that process was for you? I assume you haven't seen the refund check in this short amount of time, but did Tesla give you any idea for how long that could take? Is it a full refund of $2500 deposit, vehicle price and the $1200 destination/doc fee?

I took delivery of my M3 LR AWD the day before the 6% price cut. Annoyingly the only way to get credit for the cut was to return the car and order a new one. While that made (and still makes) little financial sense for Tesla, that's the route I took.

I returned on 3/1 and had to ask them for confirmation I even returned the car - they were happy to let me go with a "thanks, have a good one!" and no actual proof I had given the car back to them. I left with a letter having one sentence saying I returned the car w/ the VIN. I've reached out a few times and have heard nothing back about the return - status, how much they intend to give me, timeline. I've even had salespeople contact me about my new order; when they offer to "help" look at my return they just ghost me.

So, while you can return, the process is 100% a crappy black box. I have no idea when or how I will get my refund. I originally paid in full via check, so I was hoping the process would be easy and straightforward.

My personal opinion is this process will really hurt them as they move to close stores and go online only. It will only take a few publicized cases of return refunds taking 6+ weeks for it to get the attention of some buyers. The return policy is nice, but much less useful if you are stuck waiting for over a month and a half for your money back. While people have compared the online only model to Amazon, they are nothing alike. Amazon made people comfortable with online shopping by having (and still having) fast and awesome customer service. It's going to be hard for Tesla to make the average customer comfortable with purchasing a car online if the CS/CX is terrible.

I purchased a new M3, but that order is now stuck on my return it appears. Sigh.

 

[Arcadian]

I returned my X in December 2018 in Canada. The return process was not that bad, though I was a bit anxious about it at the time.

The short story is that the return was super easy and I got all my money back within 1 month of the return. I received the deposit refunded back to my credit card within a couple weeks of the return and the remainder was sent by cheque in under 1 month--around 3 weeks I think. The cheque amount was exactly the total I paid, minus the deposit amount. So I got every last penny back--every fee, every tax, etc.

If any of you have any questions, I'm happy to share anything about my experience. I stressed over it at the time as I didn't totally trust Tesla or the local delivery centre, but it all went really smoothly for me and looking back, it wasn't worth the stress.

 

[buste2]

I took delivery of my M3 LR AWD the day before the 6% price cut. Annoyingly the only way to get credit for the cut was to return the car and order a new one. While that made (and still makes) little financial sense for Tesla, that's the route I took.

I returned on 3/1 and had to ask them for confirmation I even returned the car - they were happy to let me go with a "thanks, have a good one!" and no actual proof I had given the car back to them. I left with a letter having one sentence saying I returned the car w/ the VIN. I've reached out a few times and have heard nothing back about the return - status, how much they intend to give me, timeline. I've even had salespeople contact me about my new order; when they offer to "help" look at my return they just ghost me.

So, while you can return, the process is 100% a crappy black box. I have no idea when or how I will get my refund. I originally paid in full via check, so I was hoping the process would be easy and straightforward.

My personal opinion is this process will really hurt them as they move to close stores and go online only. It will only take a few publicized cases of return refunds taking 6+ weeks for it to get the attention of some buyers. The return policy is nice, but much less useful if you are stuck waiting for over a month and a half for your money back. While people have compared the online only model to Amazon, they are nothing alike. Amazon made people comfortable with online shopping by having (and still having) fast and awesome customer service. It's going to be hard for Tesla to make the average customer comfortable with purchasing a car online if the CS/CX is terrible.

I purchased a new M3, but that order is now stuck on my return it appears. Sigh.

Since your return is pending, how does this work for your new order? Are they really expecting you to pay it in full? If so, this means you're waiting for your refund first to pay the new order? Obviously the refund will take a bit so will your new order stay idle without any issues?

 

[chimerasaurus]

Since your return is pending, how does this work for your new order? Are they really expecting you to pay it in full? If so, this means you're waiting for your refund first to pay the new order? Obviously the refund will take a bit so will your new order stay idle without any issues?

I asked them to apply the previous order credit to my new order, no dice. I asked them to hold delivery until they refund me, also no dice.

So yes, they expect payment in full before they’ve refunded me. Thankfully I can do it, but I think it’s a very terrible UX.

 

[buste2]

I asked them to apply the previous order credit to my new order, no dice. I asked them to hold delivery until they refund me, also no dice.

So yes, they expect payment in full before they’ve refunded me. Thankfully I can do it, but I think it’s a very terrible UX.

Man that's crazy

Sorry that you're going through all that. Hopefully your next delivery goes much smoother. I'm taking delivery next week and praying it goes well. I'm in Texas so I had to pay my car in full first too. Not sure if I could deal with waiting for a refund, paying for the 2nd order in full blind, and risk rejecting that one too.

 

[chimerasaurus]

Man that's crazy

Sorry that you're going through all that. Hopefully your next delivery goes much smoother. I'm taking delivery next week and praying it goes well. I'm in Texas so I had to pay my car in full first too. Not sure if I could deal with waiting for a refund, paying for the 2nd order in full blind, and risk rejecting that one too.

Yeah, my wife is pretty pissed off about it. I figure I will get my money one way or another.

FWIW my first delivery took like 30 seconds and the second one is shaping up to be a rush job too, so if you want to take time to inspect the car do make that known and expect them to rush you.

 

[OCR1]

It strikes me as a bit odd that they can hold on to your money for 30+ days after you turn the car over to them. When you buy the car from them they want payment immediately, not within 30 days. I checked the return policy and it is silent on how long they have to issue a check. There may be some merchant laws regarding timing of refunds but they probably vary by state, and they may exclude automobile purchases. So this may be a gray area where there is no defined law on how long Tesla is allowed to take to issue a check.

 

[hallucinate]

Chiming in for hopefully some encouragement as I have a similar story. I bought, returned, and rebought all early last month. I also financed about half of the car. I'm at four weeks since the return (also with zero confirmation of doing so) with no words from Tesla whatsoever.

I need a check for what I paid in cash and a cancelled loan (that was assured to be zero fees to do so) of which the first payment is in a week. No one at Tesla has been able to provide any updates or timelines. If I don't hear anything this week, @elon on twitter might be the next best escalation.

Has anyone actually received refunds for returns? Did they finance as well?

 

[Arcadian]

Chiming in for hopefully some encouragement as I have a similar story. I bought, returned, and rebought all early last month. I also financed about half of the car. I'm at four weeks since the return (also with zero confirmation of doing so) with no words from Tesla whatsoever.

I need a check for what I paid in cash and a cancelled loan (that was assured to be zero fees to do so) of which the first payment is in a week. No one at Tesla has been able to provide any updates or timelines. If I don't hear anything this week, @elon on twitter might be the next best escalation.

Has anyone actually received refunds for returns? Did they finance as well?

I didn't get financing so I don't think I can really help you but I'll add to what I said in my earlier post. When I returned my car, I didn't get any confirmation about the return either. As I posted above, I received my refund in 3-4 weeks after the date I returned my X. I had put some pressure on the delivery manager (within the first week I think of returning the vehicle) about needing the money asap (I'm sure everyone does...) and I let him know that I was dissatisfied that he was then telling me it could take a month to get a cheque. I said I wanted it wired/electronically transferred to my bank then (hoping it would speed things up), but he said that because I paid with a certified cheque, they wouldn't do that... the refund would have to be by cheque. I asked if there was someone else I could talk to to help speed things up. He said he was the right person to talk to and was doing all he could do to expedite the refund. I didn't contact anyone else at Tesla and just waited after that.

I honestly have no idea if he did anything besides getting the return/refund process started. I don't know that there's much a delivery manager can do to make Tesla issue a cheque faster really. Maybe he made sure to fill out some forms internally on his end faster than he normally would have... I have no idea. He said he would keep me posted and then I never heard from him (or anyone else from Tesla) again... my cheque just arrived one day. It arrived quickly according to the tracking (in maybe 1.5 days if I recall correctly) as they used FedEx--from Freemont, CA to Toronto area, Canada. The delivery manager had initially told me they would mail the cheque to me, so maybe that's where he was able to pull strings and speed it up?

Hopefully someone here has returned a financed vehicle and can provide some insight/advice. I hope it works out for you and doesn't turn into a bigger headache.

 

[chimerasaurus]

Chiming in for hopefully some encouragement as I have a similar story. I bought, returned, and rebought all early last month. I also financed about half of the car. I'm at four weeks since the return (also with zero confirmation of doing so) with no words from Tesla whatsoever.

I need a check for what I paid in cash and a cancelled loan (that was assured to be zero fees to do so) of which the first payment is in a week. No one at Tesla has been able to provide any updates or timelines. If I don't hear anything this week, @elon on twitter might be the next best escalation.

Has anyone actually received refunds for returns? Did they finance as well?

So, I got a refund ~4 weeks after I returned, but I also had to get really aggressive.

• I refused to accept my new order until I got them to commit to a timeline of within 2 weeks, no questions
• I got the managers for both SCs in Seattle involved and personally nagged them on email every 3 days
• I had AMEX ping Tesla about the charge and a refund as well

I saw the AMEX charge refunded exactly 4 weeks after my return. That was a Friday. On Monday I got an email from FedEx (I've claimed my address) saying someone made a shipping label to my address. I got the checks on the following Monday, so a week later. It took them a few days to mail the checks after creating the labels.

So, basically 5 weeks. My refund was:

• Refund for the deposit to my AMEX
• Check for the trade-in I made
• Check for the difference in the trade-in and the balance

It was really annoying. Sadly, I recently had to purchase a new rim and also realized that the parts department here locally is just as tuned out. I had to physically go in, place an order for my VIN, and then come back to pick it up. They randomly canceled the appointment I had and if I wanted them to mount it I'd be waiting until mid July.

 

[hallucinate]

Thanks for the replies @Arcadian, @chimerasaurus. It seems the only way to create waves is to pressure the local delivery team. I have called a few times the past week leaving messages, and finally got a hold of someone yesterday. I got confirmation that the return is in progress - for weeks - which I guess is better than nothing. He pinged his manager and will, hopefully, follow up this week.

 

[32x20]

It’s been awhile since my last update. I didn’t have to pressure at all and got refunded in around 2 weeks. I was pretty surprised considering how delayed things typically are with Tesla.

 

[hallucinate]

Good news- I did get my down payment back (via direct deposit!) about six weeks after returning the car. And, the Tesla loan for the rest was cancelled two days before the first payment due. Alls well that ends well, I suppose,

 

[GuyHall]

My daughter took delivery of a standard plus on a Friday. Over the weekend she reappraised her financial situation and concluded that while she could stretch and afford the car, she would have no financial flexibility in her life. So she returned it 4 days later. The return was a good experience - an opportunity, but no pressure to change her mind. She remains more pro-tesla than before.