Do you actually get the order fee back and how long does it take?

[muddie]

I figured that the $150 order fee would just be used towards the price of the car but at every stage it showed up as a negative amount in the paperwork. The screen shot below is from the final invoice where it plainly says "Less Deposit To Refund Customer". But it's been three weeks since I picked up the car and the deposit still hasn't been charged back to my card. I've tried to call and email my sales rep but he won't answer my calls or reply to my emails. I guess once the car is sold they don't want anything to do with you anymore.

So I'm just wondering if anyone else can shed any light on this. Did you get it back and if so, how long did it take?

 

[jmaddr]

It’s an ordering fee. The negative entry you see for “less deposit” is them applying your deposit towards that fee. You do not get it refunded after you pick up the car other than what you see there.

 

[cafz]

Normally the drive-away price is reduced by the $150. You've overpaid by $150 and should get the refund - other people have recieved refunds for various overpayments, if they have your credit card on file you'll probably just get it refunded there eventually.

 

[muddie]

OK thanks. So to clarify, When they say "To refund to customer" they actually mean "To not refund to customer". Got it.

 

[Miggy]

This is in New Zealand - Deposit taken off price.​

Driveaway Price​

$70,417.00​

Payments Received​

Order Deposit
- $200.00
Payment - 08/04/2021
- $70,217.00
All dates and times in UTC

 

[muddie]

Yeah that is what I figured they would do but the financed amount was the exact drive away price and the order fee always showed up as a negative amount.

 

[Flatbat]

Do you actually get the order fee back and how long does it take?​

I think some are confusing the order fee with a what used to be called the order payment which use to be credited back. The T&Cs have changed at some point in the past two years.

According to the current Tesla Order Agreement T&Cs you do not get the order fee back.

Excerpt from current T&Cs..

"If you are purchasing a new vehicle, after you submit your completed order and the options you selected become available in production, we will begin the process of matching your order to a vehicle and coordinating your Vehicle delivery. Your Order Fee covers the cost of these activities and other processing costs. Your Order Fee is not a deposit for the Vehicle and it will not be credited towards your final purchase price. Until your Vehicle is registered in your name, you may
cancel your order at any time. We incur significant costs in preparing and coordinating the delivery of your vehicle, including shipping logistics, so your
Order Fee payment is non-refundable if you cancel your order."

When I purchase my car back in 2019, it was called the order payment and the T&Cs were worded differently. Back then you received a credit towards drive away price, equivalent to the order payment and if you cancelled the order you would get the order payment refunded. OTOH my order payment was $3000 whereas the the current day order Fee is $150. As my car was financed & I made the order payment on my CC when I placed the order, I got a $3000 refund to my CC about a month after delivery.

Excerpt from 2019 T&Cs
"Your Order Payment covers the cost of these activities and other processing costs and is not a deposit for the Vehicle...... Until your Vehicle is registered in your name, you may cancel your order at any time, in which case you will receive a full refund of your Order Payment.... Your Final Tax Invoice will include a credit to the final Drive Away price of your Vehicle equivalent to the amount of the Order Payment you paid." Circa 2019

 

[muddie]

Thanks for that @Flatbat I am realising I’m not going to get it back and it’s not a big deal. I‘m not upset or anything. The only reason I was asking is because that line on my final invoice that I showed in my original post quite plainly says that it will be refunded to me so they need to reword that if it’s not the case. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought I was getting my order fee returned when it tells me in black and white that I am. And me being the sort of person who likes to cross his T’s and dot his i’s have been dutifully checking my credit card website every day looking for it.

 

[Flatbat]

Was your car financed or did you pay for it?
If it was financed, the finance company would pay the full amount which includes the deposit and the order fee. ie they finance the lot. You should be refunded the deposit that you paid as it effectively got paid twice. Once by you when you ordered the car on the website and a second time when the finance mob picked up your finance. You do not get refunded the order fee though. That's my interpretation, but I could be wrong.

 

[jmaddr]

quite plainly says that it will be refunded to me

I don't read it this way. Since the line item is a negative, they are technically/legally doing exactly what it is saying....reducing the price you owe by $150 since you already paid it. If they didn't, the out the door price would have been $78,821.

 

[muddie]

It was financed. The drive away price and balance payable are the same and that was the amount the finance company paid to Tesla. The order fee shows in a positive amount in a seperate column with the negative amount showing under it because that amount, as it says there, is to be refunded to me. Thus canceling out the positive amount. I don’t read it any other way than the fee I paid and the fee they are refunding me cancel each other out.

 

[muddie]

I don't read it this way. Since the line item is a negative, they are technically/legally doing exactly what it is saying....reducing the price you owe by $150 since you already paid it. If they didn't, the out the door price would have been $78,821.

What it exactly says though is “Less deposit to refund to customer” and they don’t seem to be doing that. Technically or Legally.

 

[ausevdriver]

If it helps, for Australia, my deposit is appearing on the final payment notice as a credit towards the vehicle price. But the order fee also appears along with the delivery fee as a cost added to the vehicle. So it cancels itself out.

 

[muddie]

My sales guy finally got back to me and told me that, yes, I will get the $150 back. In fact he told me that they had already done so. Which is not the case becasue I see transactions on that credit card every day when I reconcile my business accounts in Xero. So I would have seen it come in.
Anyway this is now somehow worse because I know it supposed to be coming and they claim they have done it but they haven't. Sheesh.

 

[paulp]

My sales guy finally got back to me and told me that, yes, I will get the $150 back. In fact he told me that they had already done so. Which is not the case becasue I see transactions on that credit card every day when I reconcile my business accounts in Xero. So I would have seen it come in.
Anyway this is now somehow worse because I know it supposed to be coming and they claim they have done it but they haven't. Sheesh.

Some of the non-bank merchants are very slow at processing refunds. Tesla likely have done their bit as stated.

 

[muddie]

Just a final post on this to close it out. I received the refund today. So if you purchase in Australia via finance you do indeed get your order fee back.