Fremont Delivery Experience - THEY COULDN'T LOCATE MY CAR!

[FlyErik]

Yep, you read that correctly! I left the Fremont Delivery Center tonight - after 3 hours and 15 minutes - WITHOUT A MODEL 3.

I had a 4:30pm appointment today, and showed up cheerfully at 4:15pm to check in. After a few minutes in the check-in line, I was helped by a nice guy who informed me that they were a bit backed up and it might take an hour before I could see anyone. I wasn't thrilled, but I knew it wasn't his fault, so I confirmed my phone number and was told I'd be texted when my turn was up.

My niece, who I paid to drive me the 50 minutes from home, couldn't stay for an hour, so she hung out for about 30 minutes before she had to leave. There went my GoPro cameraman....

As it started getting darker, I realized that I might be taking delivery in the dark so I went outside to look for blue 3s with a white interior so I could take pictures to send to friends - so they'd see what the combination looked like once I got mine. I carefully checked the VINs on each one I saw and none were mine. Must be inside, as I noticed quite a few vehicles backed up in their garage area from the side door as I walked past.

Two hours pass with NO INFO AT ALL. I asked a guy walking past me if there was a way to purchase any accessories while I waited. He was nice, went in back to look for the woman who was in charge of that, but returned to let me know she'd gone home for the day. He said my rep would be able to handle those things for me and asked what my VIN was. He left to go check. The same guy came back with a laptop in hand and asked again for the VIN. He seemed unable to get much info, so he said that he figured the car must be in the garage being detailed.

About 15 minutes later, at 6:45pm, a rep approached me and confirmed my info, then told me that she had bad news - the vehicle couldn't be located! I was perplexed, and she seemed to be as well. My initial reaction was that this was unacceptable and I asked why no one had been updating me AT ALL about the vehicle being "missing", while I sat around for over 2 hours. I also told her that I had no way to get home - 45-50 minutes away - had a puppy waiting in a kennel at home, and was really hungry for dinner. She apologized and I didn't take anything out on her, but when told that they had other 3s around in other colors, I firmly said that I wanted the exact VIN that I paid for, insured, and got a check from my lender for. She understood and said she was going to the back to see what she could find out.

A few minutes later she emerged to tell me that she was going to offer me free service for a year, and a free home wall charger, as well as a Lyft ride home and reimbursement for wherever I had dinner. Nice gesture, but the car is what I came for.

We exchanged numbers so she could keep me updated, and I told her not to stay too late at work hung up on this problem, but that I really wanted to have the car tomorrow - BEFORE noon. She said that she would do her best.

My Lyft picked me up at 7:28pm - THREE HOURS after I'd arrived and checked in.During the ride, my sales rep called to check in, as I'd texted him earlier that I was waiting at the Delivery Center for the car, but hadn't updated him after that. He said he would be getting online at home to ping the car and try everything he could to also locate it so that I could get it ASAP. I appreciated his tenacity and dedication - especially on a Saturday night.

There was traffic so it took almost an hour to get to In-N-Out, which is where I requested to be dropped off, near my home. I ate my feelings and was picked up by family.

Just wanted to share this info with all of you as a warning. When you go to a Delivery Center, you should probably ask to speak with someone immediately to confirm that your vehicle is in the building or on the property. Tell them you'd like to have them physically go to the car and verify the VIN and return to you to confirm. THEN spend time waiting for them to get to you. Wasting an entire evening left me with a really negative impression of this "start up" being a TRUE start up. I worked for one back in 2000 which went belly up, and this delivery experience has GOT to be addressed by Tesla management before it gets an even worse reputation. I spoke with a couple of people who were also waiting and who told me they'd come expecting the worst. Not a real testimonial for Tesla's delivery process....

Thanks for reading and feel free to share any similar experiences, or even MUCH more positive ones!

 

[DOCAL]

That's shocking, I hope they find it for you tomorrow.

 

[NickFie]

How dedicated are you to receiving the VIN shown on your account?

One conceivable scenario is they have already delivered that car to another customer.

During the September sales scramble many people saw their VIN vanish shortly before scheduled delivery. A few may have been lost to transport damage. Most seemed due to diversion to other customers.

 

[deonb]

All I read was, you went to In-N-Out. I would be happy to repeat your experience for an In-N-Out!

I may have drifted slightly off topic...

 

[1.21GW]

I had a similar experience. Not fun, sorry to hear of the struggles.

The initial anger of their seemingly blatant incompetence will fade. You will get another car. And from what I read, once we get to drive our cars, this will become a distant memory.

 

[Esquire]

I'd take three hours for those comp items you received. The home charger is awesome.

 

[SayWhat]

Yes, IF you get your car in a reasonable amount of time, the free service and wall charger will make it worth it in the long run. Best of luck.

 

[MyJoule]

Can't locate the car ? The GPS it has will locate it to within a few feet. All they have to do is query the car. I used to call my wife and scold her for parking in the "wrong" parking spot at work I'm thinking they don' have that particular VIN available anymore. Hopefully it will work out for you quickly

 

[FlyErik]

How dedicated are you to receiving the VIN shown on your account?

One conceivable scenario is they have already delivered that car to another customer.

During the September sales scramble many people saw their VIN vanish shortly before scheduled delivery. A few may have been lost to transport damage. Most seemed due to diversion to other customers.

As long as I get the configuration I wanted, I'd just Ike to get the car and move forward with my life. I work tomorrow morning (out of town for three nights) so I won't even be able to enjoy the car til next weekend - and that's provided they can figure out how to get me a car sometime today. This is just sad.

 

[Elmexiken]

I'd take three hours for those comp items you received. The home charger is awesome.

Exactly. So would I.

 

[FlyErik]

So now they said the car is in San Francisco at a lot which can't be accessed on a Sunday.... I leave town for work tomorrow morning and don't land til late Thursday morning , so they will pay for me to Lyft to the train tomorrow morning to get to the airport, and on Thursday will pay for a Lyft to bring me to Fremont where that beautiful Model 3 better be sparkling and ready to go.
This has been a discouraging journey, and whoever is responsible for the logistics needs to be retrained or replaced. It's unacceptable that the front line people have to be apologizing on behalf of others who are failing in their responsibilities.

 

[rdunniii]

When I got to the Rocklin delivery center at the appointed time the first thing they did when I checked in was tell me the car was at the other lot as they did not have my VIN there. Luckily the manager searched for the VIN at the other lot. Nadda. So he checked deeper and found the VIN was in premanufacturing and would not be completed for more than a week. I asked what others they had available. We went around a bit and he finally said the closest thing was a P3+ in San Francisco he could get tomorrow (the only mandatory thing was the white interior AWD). I had only ordered an AWD. I thought about it a while and took the P3. Yup $10K more than I was prepared for, but moved some money around that night and picked it up and paid for it the next day. I had waffled between a P and a nonP and as far as I'm concerned this was a bit of kharma.

 

[Newhavenhouse]

This is insane. You are holding it together way better than I could.

 

[SMAlset]

So now they said the car is in San Francisco at a lot which can't be accessed on a Sunday.... I leave town for work tomorrow morning and don't land til late Thursday morning , so they will pay for me to Lyft to the train tomorrow morning to get to the airport, and on Thursday will pay for a Lyft to bring me to Fremont where that beautiful Model 3 better be sparkling and ready to go.
This has been a discouraging journey, and whoever is responsible for the logistics needs to be retrained or replaced. It's unacceptable that the front line people have to be apologizing on behalf of others who are failing in their responsibilities.

I was wondering how you made out today. Sorry it looks like it's going to be longer. At best sounds like the Delivery Center is doing what they can. Since Tesla is a young company who is only now being tested with production levels like this and obviously all sort of issues popping up they've never had to deal with in this manner (things were sane and way more orderly during our Model S delivery a year and half ago), it's great if we can be more forgiving at this point in time. The real test will be how they move forward as they cope with reality and get everything up to speed. I will echo that once you are driving your car, past delays etc have a way of fading into the background at least. It's a pretty remarkable car to drive. I think the next few years are going to be challenging what with parts, service visits, new models and different production ramps. I don't doubt they'll get more people in place to vastly improve the process though.

 

[AZ-3]

I know this is a terrible customer experience but it seems like they really tried to do the right thing with all the COMPs. I know you just want your car. The free service, wall charger and other accommodations are definitely a good faith effort to make it right. Many of us have OAs, and Customer Experience Managers who won't even return calls or emails. Lots of growing pains everywhere.

 

[M3in559]

Whoa... Thank you for sharing and apologies for the issues. I am fearing my delivery.

 

[FlyErik]

This is insane. You are holding it together way better than I could.

Well, thank you. After a little reflection today, I realized that I may have been a little unrealistic in my expectations of a company which is dealing with a lot of growing pains. Yes, my schedule is kinda screwy and inflexible in some ways, but it's just another 5 days and I have to remember that others have waited a week or two or a month or several months..... So, I'm overall satisfied with how they are handling the comps.

I know this is a terrible customer experience but it seems like they really tried to do the right thing with all the COMPs. I know you just want your car. The free service, wall charger and other accommodations are definitely a good faith effort to make it right. Many of us have OAs, and Customer Experience Managers who won't even return calls or emails. Lots of growing pains everywhere.

DEFINITELY know what it's like to work for a startup myself - I worked for one which went bankrupt before they were around a full year!
That being said, the middle management (Delivery Hub Manager, their boss, etc) and those in charge of logistics are NOT fulfilling their duties. Whether that's due to lack of support from even higher management or just their own failings is not important. What's important is that the people working WITH the customer at the Delivery Hub are the public punching bags for the company when it comes to disconnects, miscommunications and mishaps. I feel bad for those front line people! Their leadership needs to step out from behind the desk and see what's actually happening out there. I do appreciate the comps - those are going to really be sweet. It's the utter lack of communication which makes me worry about Tesla's future.

Whoa... Thank you for sharing and apologies for the issues. I am fearing my delivery.

Well, if you show up expecting to spend half a day there, like you're going to the California DMV, maybe you'll just be pleasantly surprised! Just be sure to bring your own food and espresso. They just have granola bars, water and a Keurig in Fremont... :-/

I was wondering how you made out today. Sorry it looks like it's going to be longer. At best sounds like the Delivery Center is doing what they can. Since Tesla is a young company who is only now being tested with production levels like this and obviously all sort of issues popping up they've never had to deal with in this manner (things were sane and way more orderly during our Model S delivery a year and half ago), it's great if we can be more forgiving at this point in time. The real test will be how they move forward as they cope with reality and get everything up to speed. I will echo that once you are driving your car, past delays etc have a way of fading into the background at least. It's a pretty remarkable car to drive. I think the next few years are going to be challenging what with parts, service visits, new models and different production ramps. I don't doubt they'll get more people in place to vastly improve the process though.

I could sense the feeling of frustration among the people at the Delivery Center. Not a lot of smiling, impatient customers, screaming kids (WHO BRINGS THEIR BRATTY KIDS TO PICK UP A NEW CAR?!!!!), Mac computers with dead keyboards/mice/locked screens, and a long wait.... That's not an environment anyone wants to work in, so I have to hand it to them for maintaining their calm.
Yes, Tesla is definitely dealing with a major ramp-up in production and delivery, but that doesn't excuse the management disconnect. These Delivery Hub employees obviously are NOT being supported properly by their leaders. I think Elon would cringe if he witnessed a day at that facility...
Just looking forward to Thursday now, when I will (HOPEFULLY) drive off in my beautiful new Model 3, and this week of stress, bad sleep, and logistical hecticness will fade away into the quiet cabin of an all-electric go-cart!

THANK YOU to all of you who have commented and empathized. I'll keep the string updated as I find out any new info - and if nothing else on Thursday to update whether I actually got the car!

 

[alloverx]

Thats crazy and folks should not make apologies for Tesla but sure its nice that they tried to give you some goodies for their incompetence.
But really cant they hire an intern with Excel to check the deliveries for the day and confirm the VIN is onsite?
Heck you could probably write a little VBA to do this inside an hour or two.
Heck pay someone to do it from home at 6am before work starts.
I think we need to see photos of you using the freebies too!

 

[ZoomDoggie]

It hurts to be on the receiving end of the 'growing pains'! Having a weird, inflexible, schedule plus a 175 mile drive to get the car, I totally feared your experience (thankfully my delivery was flawless, but it's a lower volume place and had excellent staff and communication and called me the day before to assure me it was ready...).

I used to call my wife and scold her for parking in the "wrong" parking spot at work

I see you used the past tense...I'm assuming your wife set you straight for stalking her.

 

[MyJoule]

It hurts to be on the receiving end of the 'growing pains'! Having a weird, inflexible, schedule plus a 175 mile drive to get the car, I totally feared your experience (thankfully my delivery was flawless, but it's a lower volume place and had excellent staff and communication and called me the day before to assure me it was ready...).


I see you used the past tense...I'm assuming your wife set you straight for stalking her.

Actually, we are both retired now