With this year rapidly coming to an end, as will this thread, I would like to end my part with my experiences yesterday of the delivery of my MX. It has been a long climb since I first ordered in September but it finally arrived. We had one picture taken at delivery by a Tesla employee but I will not share it here out of respect for those who are still locked in production purgatory. I will, however, recount my delivery and post-delivery experiences.
We scheduled the pick-up for 10AM yesterday. We could have picked it up last Thursday but delayed it so my wife could recoup from her latest chemo round. She felt good enough to go with me and soldiered through the entire experience like a champ.
We arrived at the Costa Mesa delivery center on time and were greeted by the entire Tesla staff who manned the lobby area. As we waited, we were given two bottles of cold water and soon after our DS arrived to formally introduce himself in person. Although he did not perform the actual delivery process, the gentleman who did was thorough and I did not feel cheated that the DS did not do the honors himself. Also accompanying the delivery tech was a gentleman who appeared to be shadowing the tech as part of his training process.
We were taken into the main part of the building where the actual customer cars are kept. After doing a quick walk around while waiting for the formal overview video session to take place, we signed all the necessary paperwork and had our phones paired with the car. I asked about the Slacker account set up and the tech told me that they had already taken care of that before we got there. We then watched a viewing covering some of the main points about the car. The gentleman putting it on was very good and I later found out he had previously worked at Disneyland doing similar demonstrations so he knew what he was doing. While we watched the presentation with other customers our car was moved outside to make room for the next car going to delivered to a customer. Overall, there were six cars going out the same time ours did. I asked how many cars go out on a normal day from the Costa Mesa location and was told 40 was a normal number. In fact, there are days when Costa Mesa delivers more cars than Fremont and they are very proud of that fact.
When the presentation was over we were escorted outside to do the formal walk-thru of the car. I took my checklist with me and did the exterior exam while my wife went over much of the interior. It gave her a chance to sit down and rest while at the same time be involved in the delivery. The tech was very helpful in working with us and answering any of our questions.
As for fit and finish, I must say I was a bit concerned going in based upon many other's experiences but I must say, there was nothing I could find that I had issues with. Everything lined up correctly, the door gaps were not a problem, and the paint appeared acceptable. Of course, I did ask my DS before hand to NOT wash the car, at my detailers request, and they didn't. They did clean the interior, though, and it looked very good.
Once we were done in Costa Mesa we immediately drove the car five miles to Moe Mistry at Glistening Perfection, where I handed him one of the fobs. We were greeted by Moe and his young son along with Mark from Orange County Tesla Club. Mark was in the process of leaving his early Signature MX with Moe to have the front fascia panel of Xpel replaced due to a scratch that was made by a Tesla Service Center technician. Moe said that the Xpel saved the paint and all the damage was in the film. Tesla had agreed to pay for the film replacement and Mark was taking pictures of it for his and Tesla's records. The replacement of the film was a much better solution than having to repaint the metal so everyone wins on this issue. Mark was such a nice guy and encouraged us to come check out some of the club's activities. He was extremely positive about his club experiences and pointed out that the club is made up of a whole bunch of very nice people. Our car was the first AP2 car he had seen and wanted us to come to one of their next meetings to show it off as no one else in the club had one and many had not seen one yet.
After speaking with Mark, we went into the detail shop where Moe was preparing his lunch. One of the people working in the shop is the son of a gentleman who has owned a deli in Northridge for 60 years. He had brought in some sliced pastrami for all to enjoy. Moe made both my wife and I a grilled pastrami panini that was unbelievable to eat. The best pastrami we had ever eaten. Nicely trimmed and overflowing with classic pastrami flavors. While eating, Moe pointed out another MX he had on a rack that was damaged at the Service Center by a technician who tried to replace a door motor and ended up leaving the imprint of the motor on the driver side door. If there is anything to take away from some of this, it is make sure you check over, in detail, your car once it is picked up from servicing.
When we finished up at Glistening Perfection, Moe arranged for Uber to pick us up and take us back to Tesla in Costa Mesa to pick up our truck for the drive home. He said that when the car is ready, he would arrange for Uber to pick us up and take us back to his location so we didn't have to bring a second vehicle. Of course, the down side to that is we will have to wait until the second week in January to see our car again (holidays and the different steps they will go through both in and out to get it ready) but it will be worth the wait.
Overall, a great job by Tesla and a great job by Glistening Perfection all of which made for a wonderful delivery day. I just hope that those who are still waiting so long get to enjoy their experiences as much as we did. I feel your pain so keep the faith.