My pick-up went smoothly. I am a perfectionist, and an engineer by profession, so gave the car a thorough looking over before accepting. The paint, glass and interior (apart from a dirty mark on the driver-side 'b'-pillar) were perfect. I did notice three panel fit issues, the gap between the 'c' pillar and boot was a bit strange (not flat when looking from the read end-on) and this gave rise to a similar displacement on the rear-light cluster comparing that mounted on the body of the car and that on the boot. I haven't explained those very well. A similar alignment issue with the front bumper around the headlight. So four issues in total. The car was spotlessly clean on the outside and inside - the windscreen could have done with a polish on the inside and still had the witness marks of the suckers used to lift the windscreen in the factory. The car had done 7 miles and was 50% charged. And looked gorgeous. We were blown away. Just park all that for a second.
The Tesla rep at the NEC in Birmingham, young by the name of Shamir, was outstanding. I think the collection arrangements are often considered by non-Tesla bods to be poor, when compared with the likes of Mercedes and Audi in particular. I have to say, this was my best experience ever. Shamir helped me document the issues and to send them off to Tesla for a service request. He was professional, so helpful, very knowledgeable, so polite and patient, and went through a personalised set-up and pairing of phones with the car ... we could have done this ourselves but it would have taken about three times as long. I simply cannot fault the handover - just brilliant and a very memorable experience (no coffee of course, or ribbon round the car).
Driving out of Hall 16 at the NEC was an experience I will never forget ... our own Tesla! The car calibrated quickly and we followed the map onto the M6 heading West. I got the obligatory stone chip from a van on the inside lane. That seems to happen with every single new car I have ever had! Its tiny, and not in line of view. Went to a Tesla charger near Telford to try them out ... this is our first EV and it was very straightforward. And then it was plugged into the home charger overnight for a 100% charge on Octopus Intelligent (though the Tesla handled the charging rather than the 'Intelligent' functionality of the Tariff). We also topped it up with solar this morning, that was a joy to behold as our excess is usually dumped to the grid for nowt.
Back to where we parked, so to speak. The next day, I looked at the panel issues again (with a service scheduled for the 11th October). The boot issue around the 'c' pillar and rear light assembly has completely resolved ... the Tesla fairies must have been round or something. It is now perfect. The front bumper issue around the light is still just about there, I can feel it (with my finger tip) more than see it, and my wife can't tell at all. I can only think that the misalignments were something to do with how the car had been stored on a transporter perhaps ... who knows. The dirty mark will just wipe off with Autoglym, no problem - I will be giving the car its first clean tomorrow even though it isn't dirty. I am now wondering though about PPF on leading edges ... something I said I wouldn't do.
So I will be cancelling the service, not least because I just know that I will be getting another stone chip or worse if I travel over to Tamworth, and they will say the bumper is in spec anyway ... and I am sure it is. So, in conclusion ... me and the Mrs just love it! As do the neighbours (but I can tell they are jealous).
I am pleased too with all of the accessories purchased, detailed earlier. The Tesla mats are robust and fit well, and the Tessories bits and pieces are also excellent. We have two phones connected to the car besides the key cards, I won't be connecting my Apple Watch (which is getting temperamental) using the 3rd party app, but I am pleased that I splashed out on a key fob given that I always carry a key when I leave the house. It is handy for quickly locking and unlocking the car and opening the charge port.
I know this is a bit wordy, but hope it helps somebody ... anybody! Ooh, the other thing Shamir said was that this quarter had been busy with deliveries, but that it was nothing compared to what was happening next quarter! So from mid-November onwards do expect EDDs to be kept this time. The days of backlogs are over for the time being at least. Well worth waiting for, so glad I didn't cancel the order and switch to something else. TTFN.