Hi guys and gals,
I'm new here so I don't want you to think i'm just rolling in to bash the brand or anything, I'm actually a BIG fan of Tesla vehicles, so much so that I decided to purchase the AWD Model 3 in December 2018. I'm 40 years old and this is my first new vehicle purchase, ever. I live in south east Michigan where Tesla are not allowed to sell their vehicles so I had to commute 250 miles to Cleveland/Lyndhurst location to pickup the vehicle on December 9th.
I want to admit I was ignorant to the way this company works. There's an obvious breach of communication between all of the branches of this company. as an example, and this is not hypothetical as I will outline the facts below, every department of Tesla has a hard or impossible time communicating with the other, I know i'm not the only one who's brought this up.
What your seeing from me is a complete and total breakdown of consumer confidence in this company. I went from so excited I might buy two new Tesla's to I'm never buying one unless its used, for sale by private owner, out of warranty. Now that I know what I'm dealing with.
Lets start with when I ordered the car on 11/28/18, I go to the website, all excited, I'm gonna do it. I configure the car, I put my down payment of $2500 down, we're good! I had a referral code and wondered why I was never prompted to enter it? I figured Tesla could just fix that for me when before I picked the car up so I could get my free 6 months supercharging. Wrong, my ignorance. I was lied to by everyone up until recently saying I could have that referral code applyed to my new car purchase.
I was assigned a delivery specialist: <redacted> has no voicemail, can't leave messages
We had a hard time confirming the finance amount with Jeffery. We had been given a purchase agreement online but he claimed the numbers were not right and needed to be changed. Once we confirmed MSRP of the car the purchase agreement was changed and reflected a different variation of the same numbers from the original purchase agreement, resulting in the same total. I thought it was weird, but it was the same total.
When questioned, <redacted> was aware the car had not been payed for and confirmed we could bring a cashiers check from our bank to delivery on Dec. 9th. He also confirmed we could pay the difference on site with a credit card as our bank was not financing the full purchase price of the car.
We arrived at Cleveland/Lyndhurst on December 9th under the impression from <redacted> that we could bring a cashiers check from our bank and pay for the car. When we arrived everyone acted as if though the car had been payed for already. We asked about our referral code and was told another department could handle that for us. After signing the documents we were given the keys to the car and was told the title would be in the mail.
We did bring the check to delivery, no one was there to take it, we never met <redacted> and the balance due on the car was $0.00
Confused about the payment,flustered about not getting the referral and excited about the car, thinking there must be a logical explanation we drove away with our new Model 3 taking it back to Michigan. After taking delivery of the car we couldn't reach <redacted>, so we started to reach out to Tesla directly.
12/10/18 We spoke with <redacted> she told us we have 2 owner advisors that are assigned to us and will be in contact. They never were.
<redacted>
<redacted>
12/12/10 Spoke with someone named <redacted>, he didn't know anything.
12/14/18 Spoke to <redacted> He said he would forward our info to <redacted>
12/14/18 Sent a message to investor relations and Tesla Board of Directors explaining our situation, no response. http://ir.tesla.com/CONTACT-US
At this point we decided to stop trying to resolve this as Christmas was approaching and this situation had just become a burden, it wasn't something we needed to be focused on. I continued to drive the car to work 5 days a week and figured it will be resolved at some point OR if not and Tesla is really this negligent, then I just got a $2500 Model 3!
1.7.19 Spoke with <redacted> at Cleveland/Lyndhurst service about some problems we have with the car.
1.7.19 Sent email to Tesla customer support about leaking lights and getting the refferal code added.
1.7.19 Spoke with <redacted> who works for a 3rd party collection service that tracks down people who drove away with their car for free, I guess this happens a lot. She sent one email saying she couldn't contact my bank and never responded again. <redacted>
At this point I just want to pay for the car, this is unbelievable, no one seems to be able to work with me to accept payment for this car and answer my questions about what happened with the purchase agreement numbers. Now I'm getting VERY irritated. The cashiers check is still sitting here and now I'm not confident in the numbers OR in the people that are suppose to process it.
We digress again, tired of dealing with it.
1.17.19 Sent email to <redacted>
1.18.19 <redacted> responds with no idea who we are, I don't respond back.
1.20.19 The paper plate is expiring on Jan 23, We call Tesla Cleveland to ask for another one while we get this figured out. We inquire if the title will be issued and are then told our bank needs to send a letter to the Ohio DMV requesting the title for the car. This is the first we have heard of this, at delivery we were told we would receive our title and paperwork in the mail, nothing about having to prompt the Ohio DMV to issue the title. Unbelievable.
1.20.19 Temps dip into the single digits at night, Im driving and my headlights start cutting out, intermittent. No rhyme or reason to it. Bumps don't seem to affect it and i was close to where I was staying so I was safe and parked it for the night.
1.21.19 I drive the car back to my house and park it in the day, that night was brutal cold, I got in my Model 3 and sure enough the headlights are still cutting in and out.
1.22.19 I wake up today and I don't want the car anymore. I leave it in the garage and head off to work in my v8 mountaineer. I decide I'm going to try and get corporate attention and return this car. I have not spoke with anyone of any authority over the past 6 weeks, obviously no one can or is willing to do anything for me.
1.22.19 I get a call from <redacted> requesting me to pay the remaining balance of $1542 on my car. Not gonna lie, I flipped out on <redacted>, I didn't swear at her but I did proceed to tell her she had no idea what I owe on the car, that the car had never been paid for, she has bad data and to put me in contact with her manager. Congrats, I make 6 figures a year and have a 820 credit score and now I'm in collections.
1.22.19 I get a call from <redacted> I unload on <redacted>, I put it all on him, I tell him I don't want this car anymore, I can't do business like this, I can't drive the car at night while its freezing without the headlights cutting out. I want to return it! He tells me I can return it and contacts <redacted> at Cleveland/Lyndhurst bringing me right back to where this all started.
1.23.19 I call and get <redacted>, amazing! and instantly escalate to <redacted> Cleveland/Lyndhurst has no voicemail, can't leave messages.
I tried to escalate from <redacted> to his boss but he deflected it, so I put it all on him, yeah he seemed a little shocked at the extent of it all and the fact I drove away from his lot without paying for my car but overall he just wanted to get me off the phone just like all the rest (except <redacted>). He said I could return the car and he would set that up, believe me <redacted>, I'm not counting on it.
1.23.19 <redacted> actually called me back (<redacted> boss), but I missed the call by 14 minutes at work. I tried to call him back but no answer, no voicemail.
1.24.19 The car remains in my garage, Tesla Cleveland sent a new paper plate but I'm not driving it anymore. It's not mine. I haven't payed for it AND its defective. I saw the engineer's had supposedly acknowledged that the lights cutting out in the cold was a firmware issue. Most of my driving happens at night, I park my car outside at work so it will be in freezing temps, this flaw is unacceptable AND dangerous!
Other notes include, Michigan rangers not being able to reach my car until March 1st (they can't fix firmware issues), I drove 500 miles just to pick the car up and return home, I got screwed out of my 6 months free supercharging, I ordered aero wheels and snow tires for the car and then cancelled 4 weeks later because the shop can barely deliver anything for sale on there, a never ending auto pilot error on screen even though its not enabled, countless hours spent dealing with people who have no idea whats going on or how to help, being harassed by local police and much more!
I will keep this thread updated as it unfolds, everything will be public from here on out. I can be reached at: <redacted> Thats also the email attached to my Tesla account. Tesla Model 3 VIN# 5YJ3E1EB3JF178471
1.25.19 Thread was removed twice on Reddit, I'm surprised its still here. Thanks to the admin that edited it.
No one called me back today that said they would, surprise. No (censored) from collections and no manager of Cleveland/Lyndhurst.
Manager of Cleveland/Lyndhurst was tracked down by my wife, through sales department. You can not reach him on his phone as he is never at his desk and doesn't have voicemail, so the phone just rings and rings, same with my "delivery specialist"
My wife was deflected by the manager as well but she said they sounded like they knew who I was and that they knew I wanted to return the car.I looked at the 3 Tesla locations in Chicago (4+ hour drive) as potential alternate return points also.
Someone at Tesla saw this and just added the supercharging to my account, If you see this I want to say thank you, but i'm already past my breaking point, I have set the gears of return in motion and I intend to see it through. Its so painful and disappointing.
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