Hi Everyone,
I have been lurking around here since last September and I must admit this is my first post.
My wife and I began toying with the idea of replacing the roof on our home with Tesla solar tiles and Powerwall technology last summer. The existing traditional roof will need to be done in the next three to five years. Needless to say that with the delays rolling out the technology we have been anxiously waiting on the bugs to be worked out so we can move forward.
That in turn led to purchasing a Tesla Model S now that our kids are off to college. Depending on the initial purchase experience we were also contemplating moving away from her Honda minivan and purchasing a second Tesla most likely a new Model X for the wife
I briefly considered a new Model S but in the end primarily because of free supercharging and the Model S not changing significantly since October 2016 to go the CPO route.
My requirements were pretty straight forward. Late 2016 or early 2017 Model S P100DL in white, 2.0 AP, under 24,000 miles with as previously stated free super charging.
I used ev-cpo.com which I must say was invaluable to me. Great job on the website and the filter capability is awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone who goes the CPO route.
On the morning of March 5th the vehicle I was looking for since September 2018 finally appeared on the Tesla website.After a seven month wait I immediately pulled the trigger. I recognize that I could have held out a few days for a price drop but that particular vehicle seemed awfully difficult to find.
I dealt with Brigette who is out of Tesla sales in San Diego. The vehicle was apparently just coming off a two year lease and was located in Las Vegas. The Carfax showed only one entry for tires in the Los Angeles area so I assumed the vehicle was originally from there.
The photos I was sent showed a large black mark (scuff) on the lower right door panel.
On March 13th I sent an email to Brigette inquiring about whether I would be able to have the lowered FSD price ($2,000) added on to the cost of the vehicle. Her response stated that there were not any additional features to add that I do not already have. BTW the car has EAP. As many of you know the price went back up on March 18th to $5,000.
The vehicle was ready for pickup on March 25th, 2019. Or for those that are inquiring about Tesla shipping vehicles, it was a total of 20 days from the $2,500 deposit to pickup in Tampa, Florida.
I arrived at the Tampa delivery center on the 25th of March as scheduled. I was not allowed to see the vehicle until the paper work and final payment was received. Rachel was in charge of the aformentioned paper work and Derrick walked me out to see the vehicle.
I must say that I was surprised at the great condition of the vehicle. It was detailed just prior to my arriving and the black scuff mark on the side had been removed. I did notice an area on the hood where the paint had been chipped in three spots. By their close proximity I recognized that this was not consistent with road rocks and I assumed it was damaged in shipment somehow.
Derrick stated that he would note it in his report and see if he could get Tesla to repair it for me. The area where the vehicle was parked was a little dark and shaded. I was dressed up which prevented me from doing a more thorough inspection.
The following morning I woke up and noticed that my lower legs were itching. When I went out to the garage to get into the vehicle I noticed that there were about a half dozen ants racing around on the passenger seat. I must point out that I grew up in Orange County, California and immediately identified the ants as being from Southern California. They were extremely fast. For whatever reason (perhaps humidity or they are retired like most people who live here) Florida ants are much more laid back. I concluded that the ants had hitched a ride in the car and immediately started to search around to hopefully discover where they were coming from.This in turn led me to look under the car where I noticed that the front aero shield had been torn and had a slight hole in it. I reached my fingers through the hole and pulled out some dirt and grass. I also noticed that the right rocker panel had the same grass embedded between it and the under carriage shield. The rocker panel had several areas where there were scratches, gouges, black scuff marks, and missing paint.
I had enough forensic evidence to conclude that the vehicle most likely had been parked in a field somewhere in Southern California for temporary storage and struck an object which was most likely a rock which tore the aero shield and scratched the underneath of the car including the rocker panel. The black scuff mark on the right rear door was related to the recently discovered new damage. In other words they removed the black scuff mark on the door but missed the rocker panel. The ants boarded the vehicle during this time frame. Whether this occurred prior to or after the 70 point inspection is unknown.
On March 29th I made an appointment to have the vehicle serviced. I asked that the area noted at delivery by Derrick be repaired and the aero shield replaced. In response I was asked, and took several photos of the damage to the hood, aero shield, and rocker panel. The appointment date was April 5th.
Lack of parts led to the appointment finally being yesterday April 22nd nearly a month after I discovered the aero shield and rocker panel damage.
Last week leading up to the appointment it became obvious to me that there was absolutely no communication between the service center and the delivery center. I spoke with David who stated that he would close the loop. I spoke with Rachel who stated that she would take care of it. It then became apparent that there was a communication breakdown between Rachel and Brigette in San Diego. On and on and on and on......
In the end Tesla decided to cover the hood scratches only. I was charged more than $300 to have the aero shield replaced/installed on the vehicle. Tesla Tampa does not do body work and referred the hood scratches to Service King located in Oldsmar, Florida. I drove to Service King and received an estimate for another $1,072 to have the rocker panel repaired.
So I admit that this is getting a little long winded so
netting it out here is the lesson(s) to be learned.
1.) If you are going to purchase a pre-owned Tesla do so at your peril.
2.) You will receive the vehicle as-is which may or may not accurately reflect the photos that were taken. Had I not dogged it the hood scratches would not have been repaired even though they were identified at the time of delivery.
3.) Transportation from Las Vegas to Florida is running about twenty days.
4.) Parts on hand appears to be an issue. I would think that they would have extra aero shields on hand since the odds of damaging them from road debris is fairly high.
5.) Tesla (at least in Tampa) does not do paint and body work.
6.) The pre-sales team does not know the value of FSD or why anyone would want to save $3,000 while the fire sale was on. It is possible that Brigette intentionally pushed it off so that I would end up having to pay the $5,000 cost. I am speculating here...
7.) Tesla is in dire need of project managers. No one seems to want (or able) to own an issue and follow it through to completion.
9.) It appears as though Tesla will be in serious trouble once a competitor comes along. This callous attitude with the customer will eventually catch up to them like it has to so many corporations over time. Think about Henry Ford when he believed that customers did not need any other car but the model T. That was until Walter Chrysler and Alfred Sloan (GM) came along. For those historians in the group Ford never recovered. The same thing happened to IBM. They took their eye off of the customer and are a shell of what they once were.
While at the Tampa service center yesterday three of the five employees I had contact with offered an apology for the way that I had been treated by Tesla. One of them stated that they were experiencing "growing pains" and eventually they would be better. The other stated that he had worked at other luxury dealerships before and cannot believe how they treat customers. He went on to state that eventually "They would figure it out." The reason I mention this is that it signals to me that the employees want to do the right thing but are inhibited by an inflexible management layer above them.
Last evening my wife and I had dinner. I went through my experience from cover to cover. Her response was that the solar project is on hold for the time being and she is not interested in driving a Tesla Model X anymore.
After dinner I sat down and watched the "Autonomous Day" broadcast on Youtube, I was reminded that the FSD option will be going up on May 1st. As stated above I missed out on the discounted price in March from Brigette, and am now toying with the idea of ponying up $5,000 to have it installed before May 1st when it will go up again.
If I do it my wife will kill me.
I have been lurking around here since last September and I must admit this is my first post.
My wife and I began toying with the idea of replacing the roof on our home with Tesla solar tiles and Powerwall technology last summer. The existing traditional roof will need to be done in the next three to five years. Needless to say that with the delays rolling out the technology we have been anxiously waiting on the bugs to be worked out so we can move forward.
That in turn led to purchasing a Tesla Model S now that our kids are off to college. Depending on the initial purchase experience we were also contemplating moving away from her Honda minivan and purchasing a second Tesla most likely a new Model X for the wife
I briefly considered a new Model S but in the end primarily because of free supercharging and the Model S not changing significantly since October 2016 to go the CPO route.
My requirements were pretty straight forward. Late 2016 or early 2017 Model S P100DL in white, 2.0 AP, under 24,000 miles with as previously stated free super charging.
I used ev-cpo.com which I must say was invaluable to me. Great job on the website and the filter capability is awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone who goes the CPO route.
On the morning of March 5th the vehicle I was looking for since September 2018 finally appeared on the Tesla website.After a seven month wait I immediately pulled the trigger. I recognize that I could have held out a few days for a price drop but that particular vehicle seemed awfully difficult to find.
I dealt with Brigette who is out of Tesla sales in San Diego. The vehicle was apparently just coming off a two year lease and was located in Las Vegas. The Carfax showed only one entry for tires in the Los Angeles area so I assumed the vehicle was originally from there.
The photos I was sent showed a large black mark (scuff) on the lower right door panel.
On March 13th I sent an email to Brigette inquiring about whether I would be able to have the lowered FSD price ($2,000) added on to the cost of the vehicle. Her response stated that there were not any additional features to add that I do not already have. BTW the car has EAP. As many of you know the price went back up on March 18th to $5,000.
The vehicle was ready for pickup on March 25th, 2019. Or for those that are inquiring about Tesla shipping vehicles, it was a total of 20 days from the $2,500 deposit to pickup in Tampa, Florida.
I arrived at the Tampa delivery center on the 25th of March as scheduled. I was not allowed to see the vehicle until the paper work and final payment was received. Rachel was in charge of the aformentioned paper work and Derrick walked me out to see the vehicle.
I must say that I was surprised at the great condition of the vehicle. It was detailed just prior to my arriving and the black scuff mark on the side had been removed. I did notice an area on the hood where the paint had been chipped in three spots. By their close proximity I recognized that this was not consistent with road rocks and I assumed it was damaged in shipment somehow.
Derrick stated that he would note it in his report and see if he could get Tesla to repair it for me. The area where the vehicle was parked was a little dark and shaded. I was dressed up which prevented me from doing a more thorough inspection.
The following morning I woke up and noticed that my lower legs were itching. When I went out to the garage to get into the vehicle I noticed that there were about a half dozen ants racing around on the passenger seat. I must point out that I grew up in Orange County, California and immediately identified the ants as being from Southern California. They were extremely fast. For whatever reason (perhaps humidity or they are retired like most people who live here) Florida ants are much more laid back. I concluded that the ants had hitched a ride in the car and immediately started to search around to hopefully discover where they were coming from.This in turn led me to look under the car where I noticed that the front aero shield had been torn and had a slight hole in it. I reached my fingers through the hole and pulled out some dirt and grass. I also noticed that the right rocker panel had the same grass embedded between it and the under carriage shield. The rocker panel had several areas where there were scratches, gouges, black scuff marks, and missing paint.
I had enough forensic evidence to conclude that the vehicle most likely had been parked in a field somewhere in Southern California for temporary storage and struck an object which was most likely a rock which tore the aero shield and scratched the underneath of the car including the rocker panel. The black scuff mark on the right rear door was related to the recently discovered new damage. In other words they removed the black scuff mark on the door but missed the rocker panel. The ants boarded the vehicle during this time frame. Whether this occurred prior to or after the 70 point inspection is unknown.
On March 29th I made an appointment to have the vehicle serviced. I asked that the area noted at delivery by Derrick be repaired and the aero shield replaced. In response I was asked, and took several photos of the damage to the hood, aero shield, and rocker panel. The appointment date was April 5th.
Lack of parts led to the appointment finally being yesterday April 22nd nearly a month after I discovered the aero shield and rocker panel damage.
Last week leading up to the appointment it became obvious to me that there was absolutely no communication between the service center and the delivery center. I spoke with David who stated that he would close the loop. I spoke with Rachel who stated that she would take care of it. It then became apparent that there was a communication breakdown between Rachel and Brigette in San Diego. On and on and on and on......
In the end Tesla decided to cover the hood scratches only. I was charged more than $300 to have the aero shield replaced/installed on the vehicle. Tesla Tampa does not do body work and referred the hood scratches to Service King located in Oldsmar, Florida. I drove to Service King and received an estimate for another $1,072 to have the rocker panel repaired.
So I admit that this is getting a little long winded so
netting it out here is the lesson(s) to be learned.
1.) If you are going to purchase a pre-owned Tesla do so at your peril.
2.) You will receive the vehicle as-is which may or may not accurately reflect the photos that were taken. Had I not dogged it the hood scratches would not have been repaired even though they were identified at the time of delivery.
3.) Transportation from Las Vegas to Florida is running about twenty days.
4.) Parts on hand appears to be an issue. I would think that they would have extra aero shields on hand since the odds of damaging them from road debris is fairly high.
5.) Tesla (at least in Tampa) does not do paint and body work.
6.) The pre-sales team does not know the value of FSD or why anyone would want to save $3,000 while the fire sale was on. It is possible that Brigette intentionally pushed it off so that I would end up having to pay the $5,000 cost. I am speculating here...
7.) Tesla is in dire need of project managers. No one seems to want (or able) to own an issue and follow it through to completion.
9.) It appears as though Tesla will be in serious trouble once a competitor comes along. This callous attitude with the customer will eventually catch up to them like it has to so many corporations over time. Think about Henry Ford when he believed that customers did not need any other car but the model T. That was until Walter Chrysler and Alfred Sloan (GM) came along. For those historians in the group Ford never recovered. The same thing happened to IBM. They took their eye off of the customer and are a shell of what they once were.
While at the Tampa service center yesterday three of the five employees I had contact with offered an apology for the way that I had been treated by Tesla. One of them stated that they were experiencing "growing pains" and eventually they would be better. The other stated that he had worked at other luxury dealerships before and cannot believe how they treat customers. He went on to state that eventually "They would figure it out." The reason I mention this is that it signals to me that the employees want to do the right thing but are inhibited by an inflexible management layer above them.
Last evening my wife and I had dinner. I went through my experience from cover to cover. Her response was that the solar project is on hold for the time being and she is not interested in driving a Tesla Model X anymore.
After dinner I sat down and watched the "Autonomous Day" broadcast on Youtube, I was reminded that the FSD option will be going up on May 1st. As stated above I missed out on the discounted price in March from Brigette, and am now toying with the idea of ponying up $5,000 to have it installed before May 1st when it will go up again.
If I do it my wife will kill me.
