I was a 3/31/16 reservationist. I was not a line stander, I was an on-line, pre-reveal reservationist. I was waiting for the 3SR but really wanted a car with a range midway between SR and LR. When Elon announced the availability of the MR in October, I was all over it. I configured and ordered on 10/20/18.
The first issue is that Tesla was charging me $11K for the MR rather than the $10K was listed on 10/20. Mid November I was contacted by Tesla sales to give me an update, assure me the car would be delivered by 12/31/18, and if I had any questions. I asked about the discrepancy in price. He said that additional $1K price in my configuration was incorrect. It was a software glitch in their system. He said that he couldn't change it but when my DS contacted me, he would change it.
In early December I received emails telling me to expect delivery within a 10 day time period. Two different emails had two different time frames with different delivery locations. I noted the discrepancies but decided to wait for the DS to contact me to resolve the issues. I was given a VIN of 155XXX.
I was contacted by the DA on 12/10 setting up my delivery for 12/13, 5pm at my preferred delivery location, the Cathedral City store. The DA said he would take care of the price discrepancy and revise my cost $1K downwords. Great!
I was contacted by the DA on 12/12 saying the car was delayed and he was rescheduling my appointment 4pm on 12/14 at Cathedral City.
On 12/13, mid-morning I received an email on Sunday saying my car was still in transit and rescheduled my appointment for 12/17 5pm in Marina del Rey. This was completely unacceptable to me. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER be on the freeways of Greater Los Angeles at 5pm on a weekday. I called my DA on Monday morning. He apologized for the confusion. He said the Tesla system was in mass disarray trying to get tens of thousands of cars out by the end of the year. He said he said my delivery location would be in Cathedral City. He said he was going to assign me a DS in Cathedral City right now in order to give me better service.
Later that day I was contacted by the DS in Cathedral City, explaining that my car had been delayed because of "technical problems." He rescheduled my delivery for 12/21 at 4pm in Cathedral City. However, he said he had a 3MR in my configuration but with the 19" wheels. He said if I wanted to take that car, he would throw in the $1500 wheels for free and I could have the car the next day. I declined because I wanted the additional range provided by the 18" wheels. So my appointment for VIN 155XXX remained for 12/21 at 4pm.
On 12/20 the DA called me and said we needed to have a chat. He said I should know the whole story. Cathedral City has had my car since 12/13. It had arrived on the car carrier in Cathedral City DOA, inoperative. The car had been operative in Fremont when they loaded it on the carrier but something happened in transit. They had been trying to fix it for the last week with no success. They didn't know when it might be fixed, it could be weeks waiting for parts. He said he didn't have any more of the cars with the 19" wheels to trade me. BUT he said he had a cancellation yesterday by a customer in Palm Springs with my exact, preferred configuration. It had come off the assembly line just two days ago and was being delivered to their store by carrier in two hours and I could pick it up that afternoon. It is VIN 168XXX. I said I'll take it! but their were two problems. I had an insurance binder issued for the previous VIN (full boat coverage from Geico for $900/yr) and I would need time to change that. Second, my bank (Clearpath at 1.49% for 48 months) had already issued a check for the previous VIN and I would have to check with them. The DA said fine, he would put a "hold" on both cars for me and the delivery time TBD.
Changing the insurance was easy to do on-line with Geico. But the bank said they would have to generate new paperwork based on the new VIN and issue a new check. They said they wouldn't be able to do that until after the Christmas rush. They are a very small bank with only two branches and just one loan officer and they were processing 15 loans just that day alone!
I called the DA back and told him my tale of woe. DA said no problem, it was Tesla's fault and he would accept my personal check (50%) and accept the banks check (50%) next week if the bank would send him a loan guarantee since I had already been approved for the previous VIN. GREAT! I called the bank back and they moaned and groaned but said they would get the letter out later in the day. I called the DA back late in the day and he said he received the loan guarantee, it was acceptable to him, and I was good to go. He said, "the car has arrived, we have prepped it, it looks great, when would you like to pick it up?" Since I already had and appointment for the next day, 12/21 Friday at 4pm, and I had arranged business meetings earlier in the day, I decided to keep that appointment.
Wife and I along with Ricky Ricardo (our Havanese breed dog) arrived at the Cathedral City store at 4pm sharp on 12/21 with a bit of trepidation. I had attended another delivery with my SonIL at Costa Mesa for his 3LR a couple of months ago and was curious about the different experiences. This is where it really gets good!
Cathedral City store is a completely laid back experience. We were the only ones there picking up a car. Our car (WOW, WOW, WOW) was the only one in the showroom, center of attention, bright and shiny. My wife had been somewhat reluctant about the white interior, always driving cars with dark interiors. Her reaction....."OMG the white takes your breath away, I love it!"
We had two people attending us, Bill who did the paperwork and Alex who did the orientation. It was all very casual with no necessity to hurry. They are both dog people and spent several minutes playing with Ricky Ricardo who is very sociable and loves to perform tricks. We were there for about an hour. The wife had never driven a BEV before and is not a techie person. Alex was very patient and went over everything in detail. He said "I am just going to teach you the basics to get you going but when you are confident with the basics, come back in anytime and I will teach you the advanced stuff." At the end of an hour, Alex asked if she felt comfortable and if she wanted he would go over everything again. She said she was good to go and she was going straight home and open a bottle of Proseco to celebrate.
Cathedral City store/SvC is top notch!!!!!! They get very high (and deserved) ratings. Thank you to the Cathedral City staff - Chad, Efraim, Aloin, Bill and Alex - Ricky Ricardo's new best friends (ours too). All's well that ends well!
Saturday we took a 3 hour shake down cruise up into the mountains above Palm Springs with wife at the wheel and me riding shotgun. She said, "this car is too fast" (remember this is a 3MR, the slowest car Tesla makes at this time). I put it into chill mode. She said that is better but it is still too fast. I reminded her she controls how fast it goes with the "go pedal." She said she knew that but it is addictive to just punch the pedal. Then she she had range anxiety. As we were going up the grade she was watching the power consumption. "We're never going to make it back!" I said I was watching it and not to worry. On the way down she observed that the car generated battery range. And then the light bulb went off in her head. "I get it, I get it, this is fantastic!" And then there was the regenerative breaking which I had set to standard. We went up the mountain in jerky cartoon fashion. 30 minutes later she was getting the hang of it. "I love this feature! Why don't all cars have this? I don't think I will ever need to use the brakes again." We went down the mountain with her doing a masterful job of feathering the go pedal.
This morning she needed to go to Trader Joe's for some things. I decided to push her off the deep end and send her by herself. Trader Joe's is a 30 mile round trip on the I -10. Sunday morning is not busy on the I -10 but it is still a 6 lane freeway. I told he I would stand by my phone if she had a problem and would come and rescue her if necessary. Silence on the phone.
She returned home with a big grin of accomplishment on her face. "This car is so easy to drive and so much fun, why didn't we get one sooner?" "Just one problem, how do I open the charge port door?" My bad. I had cautioned her to always plug the car in when she returns home, just to get in the habit. I have charging scheduled for night TOU rates. Worked great last night, charged to 80% just like I programmed. I didn't think to go over that with her.
The car is flawless (but we are not that anil about micrometers, laser lights, and 100 point checklists). The phone key has been 100% reliable so far (Samsung S8 with latest OS) The 3MR is perfect for us in every way. And I found a little surprise in the console when I arrived home that first night - a model of the red Tesla Model 3! I'm giving it to my SonIL as one of his Christmas presents. The FUTURE has arrived for us and we couldn't be happier.
configuration:
3MR with PUP - $45,000
EAP - $5000
Pearl White - $2000
White interior - $1000
Delivery and prep - $1200
MVPA = $54,200
The first issue is that Tesla was charging me $11K for the MR rather than the $10K was listed on 10/20. Mid November I was contacted by Tesla sales to give me an update, assure me the car would be delivered by 12/31/18, and if I had any questions. I asked about the discrepancy in price. He said that additional $1K price in my configuration was incorrect. It was a software glitch in their system. He said that he couldn't change it but when my DS contacted me, he would change it.
In early December I received emails telling me to expect delivery within a 10 day time period. Two different emails had two different time frames with different delivery locations. I noted the discrepancies but decided to wait for the DS to contact me to resolve the issues. I was given a VIN of 155XXX.
I was contacted by the DA on 12/10 setting up my delivery for 12/13, 5pm at my preferred delivery location, the Cathedral City store. The DA said he would take care of the price discrepancy and revise my cost $1K downwords. Great!
I was contacted by the DA on 12/12 saying the car was delayed and he was rescheduling my appointment 4pm on 12/14 at Cathedral City.
On 12/13, mid-morning I received an email on Sunday saying my car was still in transit and rescheduled my appointment for 12/17 5pm in Marina del Rey. This was completely unacceptable to me. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER be on the freeways of Greater Los Angeles at 5pm on a weekday. I called my DA on Monday morning. He apologized for the confusion. He said the Tesla system was in mass disarray trying to get tens of thousands of cars out by the end of the year. He said he said my delivery location would be in Cathedral City. He said he was going to assign me a DS in Cathedral City right now in order to give me better service.
Later that day I was contacted by the DS in Cathedral City, explaining that my car had been delayed because of "technical problems." He rescheduled my delivery for 12/21 at 4pm in Cathedral City. However, he said he had a 3MR in my configuration but with the 19" wheels. He said if I wanted to take that car, he would throw in the $1500 wheels for free and I could have the car the next day. I declined because I wanted the additional range provided by the 18" wheels. So my appointment for VIN 155XXX remained for 12/21 at 4pm.
On 12/20 the DA called me and said we needed to have a chat. He said I should know the whole story. Cathedral City has had my car since 12/13. It had arrived on the car carrier in Cathedral City DOA, inoperative. The car had been operative in Fremont when they loaded it on the carrier but something happened in transit. They had been trying to fix it for the last week with no success. They didn't know when it might be fixed, it could be weeks waiting for parts. He said he didn't have any more of the cars with the 19" wheels to trade me. BUT he said he had a cancellation yesterday by a customer in Palm Springs with my exact, preferred configuration. It had come off the assembly line just two days ago and was being delivered to their store by carrier in two hours and I could pick it up that afternoon. It is VIN 168XXX. I said I'll take it! but their were two problems. I had an insurance binder issued for the previous VIN (full boat coverage from Geico for $900/yr) and I would need time to change that. Second, my bank (Clearpath at 1.49% for 48 months) had already issued a check for the previous VIN and I would have to check with them. The DA said fine, he would put a "hold" on both cars for me and the delivery time TBD.
Changing the insurance was easy to do on-line with Geico. But the bank said they would have to generate new paperwork based on the new VIN and issue a new check. They said they wouldn't be able to do that until after the Christmas rush. They are a very small bank with only two branches and just one loan officer and they were processing 15 loans just that day alone!
I called the DA back and told him my tale of woe. DA said no problem, it was Tesla's fault and he would accept my personal check (50%) and accept the banks check (50%) next week if the bank would send him a loan guarantee since I had already been approved for the previous VIN. GREAT! I called the bank back and they moaned and groaned but said they would get the letter out later in the day. I called the DA back late in the day and he said he received the loan guarantee, it was acceptable to him, and I was good to go. He said, "the car has arrived, we have prepped it, it looks great, when would you like to pick it up?" Since I already had and appointment for the next day, 12/21 Friday at 4pm, and I had arranged business meetings earlier in the day, I decided to keep that appointment.
Wife and I along with Ricky Ricardo (our Havanese breed dog) arrived at the Cathedral City store at 4pm sharp on 12/21 with a bit of trepidation. I had attended another delivery with my SonIL at Costa Mesa for his 3LR a couple of months ago and was curious about the different experiences. This is where it really gets good!
Cathedral City store is a completely laid back experience. We were the only ones there picking up a car. Our car (WOW, WOW, WOW) was the only one in the showroom, center of attention, bright and shiny. My wife had been somewhat reluctant about the white interior, always driving cars with dark interiors. Her reaction....."OMG the white takes your breath away, I love it!"
We had two people attending us, Bill who did the paperwork and Alex who did the orientation. It was all very casual with no necessity to hurry. They are both dog people and spent several minutes playing with Ricky Ricardo who is very sociable and loves to perform tricks. We were there for about an hour. The wife had never driven a BEV before and is not a techie person. Alex was very patient and went over everything in detail. He said "I am just going to teach you the basics to get you going but when you are confident with the basics, come back in anytime and I will teach you the advanced stuff." At the end of an hour, Alex asked if she felt comfortable and if she wanted he would go over everything again. She said she was good to go and she was going straight home and open a bottle of Proseco to celebrate.
Cathedral City store/SvC is top notch!!!!!! They get very high (and deserved) ratings. Thank you to the Cathedral City staff - Chad, Efraim, Aloin, Bill and Alex - Ricky Ricardo's new best friends (ours too). All's well that ends well!
Saturday we took a 3 hour shake down cruise up into the mountains above Palm Springs with wife at the wheel and me riding shotgun. She said, "this car is too fast" (remember this is a 3MR, the slowest car Tesla makes at this time). I put it into chill mode. She said that is better but it is still too fast. I reminded her she controls how fast it goes with the "go pedal." She said she knew that but it is addictive to just punch the pedal. Then she she had range anxiety. As we were going up the grade she was watching the power consumption. "We're never going to make it back!" I said I was watching it and not to worry. On the way down she observed that the car generated battery range. And then the light bulb went off in her head. "I get it, I get it, this is fantastic!" And then there was the regenerative breaking which I had set to standard. We went up the mountain in jerky cartoon fashion. 30 minutes later she was getting the hang of it. "I love this feature! Why don't all cars have this? I don't think I will ever need to use the brakes again." We went down the mountain with her doing a masterful job of feathering the go pedal.
This morning she needed to go to Trader Joe's for some things. I decided to push her off the deep end and send her by herself. Trader Joe's is a 30 mile round trip on the I -10. Sunday morning is not busy on the I -10 but it is still a 6 lane freeway. I told he I would stand by my phone if she had a problem and would come and rescue her if necessary. Silence on the phone.
She returned home with a big grin of accomplishment on her face. "This car is so easy to drive and so much fun, why didn't we get one sooner?" "Just one problem, how do I open the charge port door?" My bad. I had cautioned her to always plug the car in when she returns home, just to get in the habit. I have charging scheduled for night TOU rates. Worked great last night, charged to 80% just like I programmed. I didn't think to go over that with her.
The car is flawless (but we are not that anil about micrometers, laser lights, and 100 point checklists). The phone key has been 100% reliable so far (Samsung S8 with latest OS) The 3MR is perfect for us in every way. And I found a little surprise in the console when I arrived home that first night - a model of the red Tesla Model 3! I'm giving it to my SonIL as one of his Christmas presents. The FUTURE has arrived for us and we couldn't be happier.
configuration:
3MR with PUP - $45,000
EAP - $5000
Pearl White - $2000
White interior - $1000
Delivery and prep - $1200
MVPA = $54,200
