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I was a delivery specialist for many years- Ask Me Anything

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In the early days we could definitely be more accommodating. The problem with promises being broken is that sales will promise a lot of things that are completely out of their control. Delivery is the department that actually makes things happen once a car is ordered. Sales people basically explain the car, help you configure, and take a deposit. Outside of that, they can't do much more than asking delivery to make things happen.
I ordered both of mine over the web. One of the things I love about Tesla is never having to deal with a salesperson at all. The home delivery wasn't about being accommodating, though. It was on Tesla's web site just above the Order button. I didnt want to be treated "like royalty," but I expected that what I was told I would get when I ordered was what I would get, and it wasn't. I don't blame the DS at all for this, it was the comapny's decision to not honor what they promised when the car was ordered.

That said, I did *not* know I could have rescheduled the tour myself. My prior DS suggested they would take care of that for me, but never did.
Yeah, Tesla has been terrible at communicating with customers, and being consistent in the information it provides. Ask several people at Tesla about almost anything and you will get different answers, possibly none of them a correct prediction of what you will actually end up experiencing.
 
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In your experience how unusual is it for a car to fail and have to be towed in right after delivery. Is the 12 volt battery usually the culprit?
I've seen that happen a few times. Every now and then, the 12V's would take a dump once the client took delivery. 12V failures were always those unfortunate situations that couldn't be caught prior to delivery since they would function properly through the PDI and detail. Sorry if that happened with your vehicle.
 
I was just depressed going to work every day. Getting berated by clients over things not in my control, low pay, stressful work environment (alcohol became my best friend at night), never ending work hours, etc.

I'd say 20% are pains. I had so many customers demand cars being driven to their home to take delivery (There's almost never enough man power for that), a guy bring a flashlight and spend 4 hours combing all of the paint to see any minor clear coat mark (rejected delivery due to a 1mm defect), people being entitled pricks in general... i could go on and on. No offense intended- but the PITA's were usually the base model customers who were just in the tax bracket to afford the vehicle, or celebrities that are used to getting anything and everything they want.

I had a Christian fellow not take delivery once because the red color was too red and the street name we were on reminded him of an Arabic word.

Production timelines were an issue- sales saying one thing blindly to get a sale vs. the reality of production. Tiny imperfections post-delivery. Trade estimates too low. Pretty much anything and everything you could think of. I'd say 20% of customers were just miserable people that held themselves above everybody else.

You literally just described 40% of the users on TMC, specifically the ones who complain in the "ordering/delivery" subthreads. I'm sorry you had to experience things like that which contributed towards your decision to stop working for a revolutionary company. Personally I feel grateful to have my car and dont sweat the small things.
 
I've seen that happen a few times. Every now and then, the 12V's would take a dump once the client took delivery. 12V failures were always those unfortunate situations that couldn't be caught prior to delivery since they would function properly through the PDI and detail. Sorry if that happened with your vehicle.

Thanks for the information. With a little under 100 miles on the car I went to the grocery store. When I parked I noticed the mirrors did not fold. When i can back out I could not shift into reverse or drive and the Traction control light was stuck on. I tried several reboots which had no effect. So I called Tesla service and they tried some things remotely. In the end nothing worked so they towed it to the SC. It is still there 4 days later. I have not heard what the problem is or when the car will be repaired. Some people suggested the 12 V battery so I though I would ask.
 
I know a lot of Apple Genii did the same thing when they left the company, and they sound just like you. "Enjoyed working for the company. Job wasn't worth the rewards, but the company is doing right by people even though a small percentage can never be satisfied". I did hear a lot of genius types made it to Tesla in the early days, but they have so many employees now the concentration has probably gone way down.

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions in the open format

-Randy
 
It's pretty obvious that the showroom adjustment is calculated based upon more than just mileage; likely the age of the vehicle, mileage and any features that are missing that would be considered standard on a new model. The exact calculation probably varies by trim level, but for the Model X P100D I purchased and the others that I considered at the time, you could get within a few $100 of the showroom adjustment if you deducted 1% of the base price per month since manufacture, $1 per mile and the price of any options missing at the time of manufacture that would be considered standard equipment at time of purchase. That may not be the actual calculation, but it matched the dozen or so P100Ds I was considering when I purchased.

My new inventory model was a demo car with 7700 miles, but I've seen them offered with 15,000 miles or more. A car that has been previously titled is pre-owned, one that has not is new. With traditional dealerships, it's possible for a car to be placed into service (as far as the manufacturer is concerned) by the dealership and then still sold as new. In those cases, the manufacturer's warranty is usually calculated from the "in-service" date and mileage. Tesla calculates the warranty (both age and mileage) from delivery, so even demo cars have full warranty. I suspect that's a result of not having independent dealerships. There are some EV rebates that consider the vehicle mileage and a demo car may not qualify even if technically new. For the federal tax credit though, all that matters is that it hasn't been previously titled.


Thanks Krazaak - for your very thorough response. I’m going to try that calculation on the demos I’ve seen.
 
It's pretty obvious that the showroom adjustment is calculated based upon more than just mileage; likely the age of the vehicle, mileage and any features that are missing that would be considered standard on a new model. The exact calculation probably varies by trim level, but for the Model X P100D I purchased and the others that I considered at the time, you could get within a few $100 of the showroom adjustment if you deducted 1% of the base price per month since manufacture, $1 per mile and the price of any options missing at the time of manufacture that would be considered standard equipment at time of purchase. That may not be the actual calculation, but it matched the dozen or so P100Ds I was considering when I purchased.

I'm about to buy a CPO P85D+ that had an original sticker price of $136,720. It was built in December, '14, has 44,878 miles, and is listed at $67,600. Given your calculation, am I overpaying?
 
I'm about to buy a CPO P85D+ that had an original sticker price of $136,720. It was built in December, '14, has 44,878 miles, and is listed at $67,600. Given your calculation, am I overpaying?
I doubt the same calculation could be applied to pre-owned vehicles. Depreciation starts to taper off fairly quickly and while the calculation seemed to work for relatively new, low mileage vehicles sold as new I wouldn't try to apply it to a 3-4 year old vehicle.
 
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I doubt the same calculation could be applied to pre-owned vehicles. Depreciation starts to taper off fairly quickly and while the calculation seemed to work for relatively new, low mileage vehicles sold as new I wouldn't try to apply it to a 3-4 year old vehicle.


I agree. The depreciation hit on a 3-4 year old one would likely be much heavier for a bunch of reasons including that the original warranty will be gone or almost gone
 
You literally just described 40% of the users on TMC, specifically the ones who complain in the "ordering/delivery" subthreads. I'm sorry you had to experience things like that which contributed towards your decision to stop working for a revolutionary company. Personally I feel grateful to have my car and dont sweat the small things.
Yeah. Not to offend, but almost every client that mentioned that they were TMC users were usually the most difficult.
 
Yeah. Not to offend, but almost every client that mentioned that they were TMC users were usually the most difficult.

Indeed. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,

I hear those Tesla.com forum folks are much more mellow, yeah.

FWIW, I’ve known a number of SpaceX engineers, half of whom have moved on, and their themes are very similar to what you’ve taken the time to share. Long hours and low pay in exchange for being part of a noble, not to mention lifesaving mission. At some point, people get kept with various incentives or they move on when the costs exceed the benefits.

Same as it ever was - during the first boom and I imagine all the way back to the Manhattan Project. Well, except back then even the ultimate mission was secret.
 
You literally just described 40% of the users on TMC, specifically the ones who complain in the "ordering/delivery" subthreads. I'm sorry you had to experience things like that which contributed towards your decision to stop working for a revolutionary company. Personally I feel grateful to have my car and dont sweat the small things.
Just like with any group, some percentage of customers are difficult (over the years I've overheard some demanding entitled ones when at the Service Center - poor service employees, they have more patience than I would), as is some percentage of DS. Over 4 deliveries I dealt with 3 DS, one was great, one was ok, and one was horrible - the latter DS would never respond to emails or phone calls, gave me incorrect trade-in info, never showed for trade-in appraisal, couldnt get the online paperwork right, and in the end never even showed up for the delivery. If it wasn't for the fact that I eventually cc'ed a local deliver alias and I actually spoke with him once, I would have suspected it was Elons latest idea - a virtual AI based DS in Alpha stage of development.