Ok, full disclosure – if you aren’t interested in reading a negative rant about Tesla, please skip the following. I don’t want to bring anyone’s day down! But if you want validation that your growing frustration with the company is justified, read on.
I ordered my blue RWD back on Feb 10th with a 14-20 week delivery time (so end of June EDD). There was a 3-week lockdown so somehow this got pushed back 5 months to Aug-Nov. This then got pushed back another month to Dec 5-19th, for no reason. This then got pushed back another couple of weeks to Dec 12-30th, again for no given reason. I called and complained (politely) and said I needed the car by the 20th if possible. They managed to offer me a delivery date of today, Dec 18th at 11am. Then l got a call last night to say this was to be pushed back to Dec 18th at 1:30pm. Alarm bells start ringing at this point. Then they just called this morning and told me they now can’t deliver until Tuesday (despite last night confirming I would have it at 1:30). That will mean I will have been waiting 311 days, if it even comes then. 6 months late, with no reasons being given other than a 3-week lockdown and recent shipping availability issues. Remember, this isn’t a situation like Toyota, who don’t have the parts to make the cars. This is just a poorly run company.
So I just gave them a fairly large spray. I explained that they choose not to advertise, instead creating hype and emotion around this product to sell it – and then fail again and again to deliver, so it’s little wonder this disappointment creates an equally strong emotional reaction. I told him the only reason I have been waiting so long is because either Tesla is logistically incompetent or driven by profit not customers. And we all know that the answer is both. My car wasn’t even built until Oct 9th, 8 months after ordering, yet they are making thousands a day and have a surplus of stock in other countries. There’s no excuse for this. And then it took over 2 months to get here, when Model Y after Model Y has arrived in the interim. Shipping restrictions therefore aren’t the issue – it’s just a bunch of crappy decisions on their part. I’m also aware from being on this forum that there are many people in Melbourne who ordered my spec after me and are already driving their cars. I’m genuinely happy for them, but surely this isn’t the fairest allocation system they could create. And I only got my first acknowledgement/apology for my situation yesterday, 6 months after I was supposed to get it. No make goods or compensation either.
I know people on this forum will say ‘first world problems’, and perhaps that’s true, but ask yourself – have you never once in your life complained about customer service? We all have, and that’s because these experiences can be infuriating – and this one I am currently having tops them all. Yes, this post may come across as ‘woe is me’ but I’m a car nut and this vehicle is the most expensive, important and exciting purchase I have ever made. I was so excited about this car originally, and this whole experience has completely soured it. I let the SA know that I have told every single person who has asked about my car in the last couple of months never to buy from Tesla, and I wholeheartedly mean that. What a deeply disappointing experience. So frustrating! I hope other people have better luck.