Cancelling existing reservation

[Hotglass]

Have been trying to cancel an existing (new) reservation/order. Got a call from the Tesla store and they said they had mishandled the referral code for free super charging allowance. They ordered the car and then entered the referral number. Turns out it should have been the other way around. They should have entered the referral code first and then placed the oder. Anyway they said to go into my account and cancel the existing order and reorder via the referral code. Cant find anyway in the account to cancel the existing order.

Is this the right way to handle this or can someone at Tesla put the proper referral code on the existing order? Also If I cancel the order is the $2,500 going to be refunded?

 

[Tam]

...Tesla put the proper referral code on the existing order

The correct way was described by Tesla store:

1) enter the referral code / web link first
2) from that link, enter your order

It's possible for a Tesla worker to override the system but that person has to have the administrator rights to do it.

Since Tesla wants to reduce cost and increase efficiency, I doubt Tesla gives your Tesla worker the administrator rights to override its standardized program.

...Also If I cancel the order is the $2,500 going to be refunded?

Yes.

 

[Hotglass]

This was a Tesla store mistake. Was at the store for a test drive and decided to order. Told the salesman that I would do it when I got home as I had a referral code to use to get the free charging. He said he could do that in the store and I showed him the referral code I wanted to use. As you know from my original post the salesman processed it incorrectly. This was not my mistake but the salesman. Whom do I need to talk to at Tesla to get the referral code entered so I do not have to go through cancelling the order, wait who knows how long for the refund? If I had made the mistake I would take the blame but this was a salesman error.

 

[OCR1]

They gave you bad advice. If you cancel the existing order you will have to process another $2,500 charge on your credit card and then wait for a refund of the first charge. That could take an unspecified amount of time depending on whether they issue you a refund via credit card or process a refund via check. It depends on how the refund request is processed. The delivery center has the authority to enter the referral code. I believe store managers may also have the authority to do so. So I would try either of those routes to get the code entered before you cancel your order.

Unfortunately your salesperson sounds inexperienced, and perhaps a bit lazy. He is making his mistake your problem. Unfortunately this seems to happen a lot at Tesla.

 

[Leafdriver333]

When I was buying my car, a Similar thing happened to me and the sales person had to cancel and start a new order. He cancelled it for me and started a new order and took my credit card info over the phone/text.
The credit for $2500 showed up within a couple of days in my case.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

A lot of us in the UK have had this problem. The referral system wasn't working properly for UK orders so several of us have had to place another order and ask Tesla to cancel the original one. We've had to pay the deposit again and wait for a refund of the original deposit.

 

[67King]

This seems to happen a lot. The company really needs to figure out how to get this crap together. Happened to me. I was in contact with the assigned sales associate (who was not hte person I primarily worked with before the order) the next day and said I didn't mind cancelling. She is supposed to get it sorted, but it may take a couple of extra weeks. The guy I got the referral code from just gave me the code. Maybe he assumed I knew I needed to use a link, but I didn't. Maybe he didn't realize (he's an older gent, but has owned a few Teslas going back to 2012). Regardless, it certainly is not obvious that one needs to use a link, rather than expect to enter a code. Besides, in almost all other cases where orders are placed online, one enters some sort of discount code into the process, rather than before the process starts.

 

[Hotglass]

After doing a lot of soul searching have decided I am going into the store tomorrow and have them cancel the order and arrange the refund. I dont need a Tesla for $60,000 that badly. There is just too much competition coming along and they need to figure out that the customer comes first and their problems should not be shuffled out to us. I like the car but not enough to take some abuse when they dont know how to fix things on an original sale. If I am having this problem and I havent even gotten the car what is the after sales service like? No....will wait and purchase a competitor. They may want a $5000 interest free loan but I for one am not going to give it to them.

 

[ammulder]

I advise you search some more. I get that you’re disappointed, but the one you’ll hurt by canceling the order is you!

When you go to the store tomorrow, explain that there’s this one holdup before you can buy the car, and they need to fix it for you. Tell them that you’re not willing to cancel and reorder with a second deposit, and they just need to find whoever knows how to fix the referral.

The sales people were able to fix it for me when I got so excited I forgot to use my friend’s referral code. They said it was done pretty much immediately. In a few days the referral showed up on his account. Someone there can do it.

 

[OCR1]

You can always dispute the first charge with your credit card company and they will issue you an immediate credit while the issue gets resolved.

 

[Tam]

...what is the after sales service like?

Some people would be willing to stand in line for days under all kinds of bad weather conditions just to get an iPhone.

That's very bad customer service but those people are willing to put up the inconvenience because they appreciate the engineering.

Sometimes, if you want something bad enough in life, you might have to deal with some obstacles.

 

[67King]

After doing a lot of soul searching have decided I am going into the store tomorrow and have them cancel the order and arrange the refund. I dont need a Tesla for $60,000 that badly. There is just too much competition coming along and they need to figure out that the customer comes first and their problems should not be shuffled out to us. I like the car but not enough to take some abuse when they dont know how to fix things on an original sale. If I am having this problem and I havent even gotten the car what is the after sales service like? No....will wait and purchase a competitor. They may want a $5000 interest free loan but I for one am not going to give it to them.

There isn't any real competition to Tesla. No one is even close when it comes to making the whole thing work. Jag? 240 mile range on a 90kW battery. Audi? 204 miles on a 95kW one. Tesla? 310 on a 75kW one, or 370 on a 100kW one. Wish I could find the article. And guess what? Audi is having the same issue in Europe. ONly 3 times the deposit, and they are fining people for cancelling.

We have not even begun to talk about the performance. You can't get a car that comes close to the performance of a 3P for $60K. Not even close.

Does Tesla have some thigns to figure out? Yes. Absolutely. This whole referral thing is balderdash, and as I had said, I'm affected by it, too. But seriously.......there really isn't anything anywhere near these cars.

 

[Tholland]

To be honest, I’m heading to Tesla today and or tomorrow for a long sit down and perhaps a return of our M3P as well. I’m sorry guys, but customer service come first. Tesla isn’t a baby company anymore. Their still young but not in infancy anymore. So some of this stuff is inexcusable. I.e, my situation. My order was cxl to get a gray car and the guy in the sales store said everything was taken care of, referral code was switch to have the 5K supercharger miles and autopilot. Delivery day comes, and now autopilot isn’t active on my account the referral only gave 1k vs 5k and no one at Tesla is doing anything to fix it. I agree with the OP, and others. Yeah you have to deal with some stuff totally get it that. Stuff a scratch here or there, spoiler and badging not available at launch or running out of adapters etc, but when it comes to the money parts and software, and most of service you can not slide or slip and say ops, or blow people off. If the sale person made the mistake than it’s their fault and they have to fix it. Not the other way around. Biggest thing is just about everyone would not take this crap from any other dealer. I swear I have never had to work this hard to get what I owed when buying a car. Hell when I bought my civic type r Honda actually was calling me to much. Making sure everything was in line, money was correct and taking care of people like you should be. Tesla has a lot to learn. And coming from customer service field people don’t forget. Think about it, it’s why ford and gm cars still have some of the shittiest resale value in the mark. Because what they did back in the day. I totally love the car but I’m a person of principle, if they had just said we are sorry let’s get this fix right away, communicate that info in writing and keep the person update half their problems with customer service would go away. I watch them blow off 5 people in service with the same answer, sorry we don’t know, have to “REACH OUT” to someone else and or engineering to see what they say and how to it fix it. We will call you and or email you when we have something. It just seems like everyone at Tesla is totally clueless all the time. Their are some that are great tho. Like owning mill MD, they put my spoiler on and held it for me when I called for it on Saturday. But again they have to fix a lot because when competitors to arise people will move on just for the sake of better service

 

[67King]

Customer service from Mercedes was great. The car was crap, and I'd expect the company that invented the automobile in the first place to have it figured out after 150 years. But a transmission starting to go at 90,000 miles, on a diesel no less, and then completely gone before 110,000 - when the service interval is 150,000 miles - is pretty pathetic, ESPECIALLY when you pay a premium for a diesel because diesels are generally more robust. And because the transmission is integrated into the anti-theft, Mercedes does not have to support the aftermarket. As such, the cost to repair exceeded the value of the car. Nevermind that to change the battery, you have to take out the seat, which wouldn't be a big deal except that that triggers teh airbag fault warning, which can ONLY be fixed by a Mercedes scan tool.

But yeah, customer service was great. Best thing about the Tesla is I can trade in the Mercedes, now. FWIW, I put in a used transmission. Wouldn't run. Talked to an indy shop who told me I was stupid for trying to do that, because the PCM wouldn't let teh car run if it didn't identify the transmission coded to the car (well, can't you recode it so it then looks for the new one? "No! I can't believe you bought a used trasnsmssion. I can't believe a place even sold you one. You just wasted your money"). So I took the computer out of the old (bad) transmission, put it in the new/used transmission............the PCM has no idea it isn't the original transmission, and the car runs fine, now. Granted, I would have be better off selling it as scrap when the transmission went bad than spending what I spent back then.

Anyway, counter-antidote aside, it has sounded for the past few weeks in the other thread that you have been very impatient with the dealer - I was surprised you even took delivery in the first place. Which I get, new car anticipation, etc. and all that. But be patient. And listen to them. For example, I was told from the get-go that the referral thing would take a while to get sorted. And my rep said it may be a pain, but she thought she could. So when I asked her if I should cancel the order and re-order through the link she advised me to wait, if I could hold off and let the credit come in up to a couple of weeks after delivery. Checked with her a few days ago.....still teh same thing.

Like I had said before, they have to get the referral thing sorted out. And a few other things. But this whole high volume thing is a whole new world. Think about it, they have increased their volume nearly an order of magnitude. "Production Hell" as Musk called it......and now it is "Logistics Hell." Tesla's customer service before the 3 came out, from my experience, was FANTASTIC. You can't have the volume increase that they've had without some growing pains. I, for one, am pretty darn impressed that the whole thing didn't implode. Tesla may be a decade old, but that is as a boutique manufacturer. They've only been a high volume manuufacturer for a couple of quarters.

 

[Uncle Paul]

If only the World were perfect...

 

[OCR1]

I do wish Tesla’s customer service was better. Sometimes it’s quite good, other times it’s just plain awful. Any time I need to call Tesla I’m prepared to end up in a generic voicemail box because they are too busy to pick up the phone.

But the way I look at it, I’m going to drive the car every day. I’m probably going to interact with Tesla employees maybe four times a year. So I’d much rather go with the car that is most enjoyable to drive and live with the lousy service experience the four days I need to speak with someone over there.

 

[ToddM]

We had a similar problem with a Model 3 order last week- put down the $2500 deposit, then realized we should have used referral code for 5K miles supercharging but agent can't do it after order is in. We even tried switching to a different car (red vs blue) but still referral can't be used unless you cancel the whole order. The math turns out to not be that impressive- the 5K miles supercharging looks to be worth about $300. For us, not worth cancelling the order and starting over.

 

[Hotglass]

Are you ready for the rest of the story? Went into the Tesla store around noon and asked for the salesperson I had dealt with. He wasnt in and they said no one else could process a cancellation. I started to get a little hot under the collar and suddenly it turned out the manager could process the cancellation and refund request. They asked if I wanted to have the credit back to the original credit card or a check. Told them the original credit card please. Well......about 3 1/2 hours later I got a call from the salesperson and was told that they required my address to process the cancellation and refund. Told them they did not need my personal address to do a cancellation and issue a credit back to the original credit card. Now they had my goat. Told him that I would file a dispute with Discover card and the response was its company policy....no personal address.....no cancellation no refund. He had my drivers license and credit card in hand when he processed the original order. Contacted Discover Card and they had never heard a case where a refund required a personal address so a dispute has been filed. While online with Discover I also tried to call Tesla HQ and got a recording that they were unable to answer phone calls at that time. Say WHAT? I feel lucky that it so far has only cost me $2,500. Dont think I will ever try and do business with Tesla ever again.

Oh and before all this they had good news for me. They had been able to get the 5000 miles super charger miles on my account but they had used someone else's referral code and were sure I wouldnt mind. This is taking place in Las Vegas....was also trying to purchase the Tesla in a company name in Montana because I have a company in Montana and there are no Tesla stores in Montana. They also told me that their "DMV" team would not allow the titling of the car in a Montana company name unless I also had a Montana drivers license. So I guess the Tesla company policy is that you can only title your car in a state which you have a drivers license? They seem to be continually making up "legal" problems where there are none. Why is this reminding me of the recent Wells Fargo employee scandal?

So the end result is that I do not have a cancellation nor a refund in process. DONT TRUST TESLA.