Are You Reconsidering Ordering A Model 3?

[MrG_NY]

i had my mind made up to get a M3 until I started reading new posts about QC issues and customer service again.

My lease is due for turn-in In November, so I am concerned with them delivering a car that is not up to par or can’t make on time due last quarter orders needing to be fulfilled. Reading about paint issues and motors not working makes me hesitant. One of the other issues is customer service. Customer service is a huge thing with me, if you fix it and treat me right I a m ok with things. No communication and the royal run a round not a good thing. If the car is under warranty just fix it.

I really want to see Tesla make it. But they really need to step up and fix their issues.

So who has been on the fence or was ready to order and decided it’s not the time?

 

[TheTonester]

i had my mind made up to get a M3 until I started reading new posts about QC issues and customer service again.

My lease is due for turn-in In November, so I am concerned with them delivering a car that is not up to par or can’t make on time due last quarter orders needing to be fulfilled. Reading about paint issues and motors not working makes me hesitant. One of the other issues is customer service. Customer service is a huge thing with me, if you fix it and treat me right I a m ok with things. No communication and the royal run a round not a good thing. If the car is under warranty just fix it.

I really want to see Tesla make it. But they really need to step up and fix their issues.

So who has been on the fence or was ready to order and decided it’s not the time?

I 100% understand where you're coming from. I've been "on the fence" since July. I have a delivery scheduled for this week. I'm stressed about it largely because of the things you've mentioned. We have no idea whether or not we're going to be dealt a bad hand (as with most cars), and we have no idea how this car is going to hold up. Which is particularly worrisome when the warranty runs out. It's not an easy decision at this price point!

 

[rtarro]

Hmm. This conversation seems like trolling for legacy car producers. How about a little more information about yourselves and order / delivery dates?

 

[TheTonester]

Hmm. This conversation seems like trolling for legacy car producers. How about a little more information about yourselves and order / delivery dates?

Ha! I can't speak for MrG, but I'm certainly not a "troll", and see no reason to think that he is either. I ordered mid last week, and delivery is scheduled for late this week. I have every intention of buying the car assuming my pricing adjustment goes through and my financing works out. If you think concerns about build quality/paint/service support/etc. are new issues that only "trolls" worry about then you haven't been paying very good attention!

 

[RoBoRaT]

I was on the fence to get a LR AWD Model 3 end of last qtr 2018 - when there was mad rush before $7.5K tax credit cut, but decided to anyway - best car I've own so far, and ok warranty work (mobile service replaced dead 12v battery, service center replaced DC charger contactor - had Model S loaner for 1 week).

Still reading lots of negative post here about Tesla - but I suspect it does not represent the majority.

I decided to order a Model X few weeks ago - I figure, I enjoy and like my Model 3 so much, it's ok to give Tesla another try.

Below is a tally of a recent on going poll I created for 2019 Model X delivery - so far majority seems to be satisfied with what they received. You can read some of the voter's experiences there.

I am sure you will find tons of negative post about Tesla service/customer care and will see some positive posts (which we don't usually take time to post about).

Anyway, I hope this help you decide.
I did not vote, no choice for repeat Tesla customer.

Goodluck!

 

[Az_Rael]

All Tesla service is local. If you have concerns about service, stop by a local Tesla meetup, or your local service center lounge and see what owners say about their local service center. Try to call your service center on the phone during business hours, see how easy it is to get a hold of someone.

In some parts of the country, service is overwhelmed, and consequently not a great experience for anyone. But, other areas are fine. I saw a post recently from someone visiting the Southern CA area. They had an issue with their 3 while here and called every single service center in the area and couldn’t get anyone to answer. When they showed up at a service center, they were amazed at how absolutely slammed it was compared to the one where they lived.

The stories you hear are real, but highly localized. My local service center is a huge PITA and I dread having to go there. But that is not relevant information unless you live near me and would be using the same one.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Reading these forums is kind of like having insider information.

Same thing as saying that people that work in the kitchen would not eat in that restaurant.

It is called FIA...Forum Induced Anxiety. With 400,000 cars delivered, some will have defects and those people tend to complain LOUDLY in these forums.

Of course readers will begin to worry that their car too will have all these issues. Reality is that most of the cars are delivered in great condition, and few will be motivated to make LOUD posts that their car was delivered as expected. But a little scratch, a bubble, a mis aligned bumper a glitch in the software or even a chattering windshield will get people rushing to their keyboard.

While it is real that some of the cars will have issues, these forums tend to focus people to fear the worst.

Reality is that while some of the cars will have something that needs addressing, for the most part they are great cars, that offer a great driving experience that is rare in automobiles today. Concentrate more on that and put on your big boy pants and place your order.

Service will have your back in case something needs to be addressed after delivery.

These are not perfect cars...they are great cars.

 

[TheTonester]

Good post Uncle Paul. FIA is definitely a real thing!

 

[holmgang]

Below is a tally of a recent on going poll I created for 2019 Model X delivery - so far majority seems to be satisfied with what they received. You can read some of the voter's experiences there.


View attachment 457798

I'm not sure how this can be interpreted as anything other than frightening.

There are 35 cars costing $100k surveyed. Almost half (16) of them come with defects. That is a frankly alarming statistic.

6 include numerous defects. This number wouldn't be appropriate for a $200 kitchen appliances, let alone a luxury car.

 

[JBT66]

I know you aren’t asking me as I’m already an owner, but it’s easily the best car I’ve ever owned.
I had the weird seat belt area clicking noise. Mobile tech came out to my work one afternoon. I checked in about an hour later, test drove it with him and it’s good to go.
With my last BMW when ever I had problems I would have had to take off work early or go in late to go to the dealership.
Now those are reserved for happy hours with friends or my wife.

 

[MrG_NY]

Hmm. This conversation seems like trolling for legacy car producers. How about a little more information about yourselves and order / delivery dates?

Not trolling for legacy car products. I have posted on hear advocating for Tesla and stating that I was going to be getting a M3. But after researching the hell out of this and seeing the issues keep coming up and not getting better but getting worse.

 

[TheTonester]

I'm not sure how this can be interpreted as anything other than frightening.

There are 35 cars costing $100k surveyed. Almost half (16) of them come with defects. That is a frankly alarming statistic.

6 include numerous defects. This number wouldn't be appropriate for a $200 kitchen appliances, let alone a luxury car.

Yeah, I was kinda thinking the same thing...

 

[MrG_NY]

I know you aren’t asking me as I’m already an owner, but it’s easily the best car I’ve ever owned.
I had the weird seat belt area clicking noise. Mobile tech came out to my work one afternoon. I checked in about an hour later, test drove it with him and it’s good to go.
With my last BMW when ever I had problems I would have had to take off work early or go in late to go to the dealership.
Now those are reserved for happy hours with friends or my wife.

I like the idea of the mobile service coming to you. My vehicle now has valet service they pick it up and drop it back to me along with a loaner. I also have free maintenance. My concern is if there’re issues under warrant are they going to try to get out of it.

 

[holmgang]

No other car strikes the same range, performance, and price acceptability threshold.

I like the Hyundai/Kia brand, but they're priced too high relative to the other 2 factors. And frankly they don't incite any excitement in me (as much as their N-spec and Genesis products do)

Leaf doesn't look half bad, but it's anchored to Nissan which might as well be the Japanese Fiat-Chrysler. They lost their way over a decade ago and haven't recovered. Sad.

Corporate ethics aside I rather like the Golf platform, but those electric cars are desperately half-baked.

Then finally there are all the Renault Zoe and other city-class cars which aren't really appropriate to me as a primary family car or for long-distance touring.

So personally Tesla is still the best choice by process of elimination. There's a large enough local network that *should* be able to take care of issues, and I know to be judicious enough on delivery in the coming weeks

 

[woodisgood]

Good post Uncle Paul. FIA is definitely a real thing!

It’s a real thing and the manipulation of it is also a very real thing.

 

[Petrocelli]

In some parts of the country, service is overwhelmed, and consequently not a great experience for anyone. But, other areas are fine. I saw a post recently from someone visiting the Southern CA area. They had an issue with their 3 while here and called every single service center in the area and couldn’t get anyone to answer. When they showed up at a service center, they were amazed at how absolutely slammed it was compared to the one where they lived.

The stories you hear are real, but highly localized.

This is one of the main reasons I didn't get a Tesla. The service centers in Los Angeles area simply too busy because the Model 3 is so popular.

If you live in other parts of the country, service appears to be ok.

 

[RoBoRaT]

I'm not sure how this can be interpreted as anything other than frightening.

There are 35 cars costing $100k surveyed. Almost half (16) of them come with defects. That is a frankly alarming statistic.

6 include numerous defects. This number wouldn't be appropriate for a $200 kitchen appliances, let alone a luxury car.

It's frightening, yes - anybody can say that about these numbers. Or, one can be comfortable with the 51% without defect.

Tesla must improve their QC - that, ideally, there should be zero, or at least lower number of new cars with defect at delivery.

If you are not comfortable with the current state of Tesla cars and their service - Right now is not a good time to buy.

 

[jjrandorin]

Hmm. This conversation seems like trolling for legacy car producers. How about a little more information about yourselves and order / delivery dates?

I dont see the OPs post as trolling at all.. just normal concern that some have. While I think that the forum tends to skew towards people complaining about this or that (like most forums), there are real issues that hopefully can get addressed.

For the OP, when you actually get into a service center, for the most partl the experience is fine... that is, as long as one is "reasonable". Some people have poor experiences, and are reasonable people. Some people have poor experiences, and are demanding people. This is no different than the customer service experience with any company.

The difference with tesla is volume, and too much volume for the number of service centers in some places.

I will say, as I have said before here and many others also say, that this car has been the most enjoyable one I have ever owned, from a driving perspective. My car has been fairly trouble free, with things that I consider to be fairly small annoyances (like the auto wipers).

I have had the car 9 months and 13.5k miles, and after that time, am not only happy I bought it, I personally cant see going back to a ICE car for a daily driver again in my lifetime. I might still keep an ICE car around (my wifes current vehicle is an ICE) but the experience has been that great. Will I stay loyal to Tesla? Depends on what others do, but they havent done anything really to turn me off the brand.

I really hope they make it (tesla). Its been interesting to see tesla push the entire industry toward EVs, kicking and screaming in some cases.

Many times, one telling question would be, "Knowing what you know now, would you still XXXXX?" in this case "buy your tesla?". In my case, after 9 months and 13k+ miles, the answer is a resounding "yes". Not everyone here would say that, but I believe a large portion of posters here would say the same.

Good luck with your choice OP.

 

[OCR1]

I spent a lot of time reading all of the complaints on this forum too before deciding. But I’ve been a Consumer Reports reader for almost 40 years and I have always trusted what they say. Their surveys show that year after year Tesla is the #1 brand for consumer satisfaction with their vehicle. That convinced me to give them a shot.

We now own two Model 3’s and neither one has ever needed to go to the service center for anything. There’s no doubt that some people have had problems, but my guess is for every troubled vehicle we read about there are 20 owners who have never had an issue with their vehicle. They just don’t post things on this forum because they are not that interested in discussing cars and have no reason to post anything here since everything is going fine.

So rather than focusing on the negative posts in this forum, I would focus on the number of posters here who have purchased a Model 3 and then stated that they regretted their purchase and wish they had not bought one. There are a few, but very few. Virtually everyone who has posted something negative here has also stated that it’s the best car they have ever driven.

 

[MrG_NY]

Being the person that posted this I wiould like to say that my doubts were unfounded. I did end up ordering a M3 on 9/27 and picking up on 9/28 and the car is flawless. As we were waiting to take delivery we took a look at the other vehicles being delivered and none of them had any outward defects. With the amount of people and the size of the center, if there was an issue everybody would know about it.