Need advice on delivery. Kinda a horror show.

[EarlyAdopter]

Alrighty then. Thanks.

I can only reciprocate in kind. To your original question, our delivery experience on our Model X was very different than yours. It was done indoors in an immaculately clean delivery center with good lighting. The car was spotless. There was only one light scratch in the paint that unfortunately also spanned a piece of chrome trim. Unfortunate because light scratches can be easily buffed out of clear coat on paint, but can't be removed from chrome trim. I mentioned it to the delivery folks and they promptly put in an order for a new chrome piece and scheduled a time for me a couple weeks out to replace it.

No other defects in the paint. I went over it with a fine tooth comb again later at home when I applied Optimum Opticoat paint sealant. Interestingly enough, in the light of my garage and even out in the sun in the driveway I could hardly see the scratch in the chrome trim piece. So I told Tesla they could skip the replacement.

I agree you should have gotten a car in much better condition. Hopefully that delivery center gets their act together. I've found that most people who work for Tesla really care about the mission and their customers and will go out of their way to make things right. If you're not getting the attention you deserve, escalate. But I hope they'll take care of you as a matter of course. Be persistent, but also patient and understanding. They work under immense delivery pressures. Good news is, in the hands of a skilled detailer, scratches and swirls can be taken care of. Press for that if it's not already being provided.

 

[Golden Ears]

Why in heaven's name did you take delivery??? I'm sorry, but you are way out of luck...

The Tesla sales staff assured me that they had caught up with orders and could have my car in 30 days- that's why I plunked down yet again for Model X . It still took about 5 months to get the dented car.

I was under the impression I had a 30 day satisfaction return policy. They offered no loaners. I had been without a car for so long I could not do it any longer. Teslas lack of credibility was impacting my credibility as I kept moving travel dates.

I had obligations I had put off for 4 months . I had already cancelled 80% of them because of the late delivery.

I've talked to several lawyer friends since then who explained that the car was not properly delivered and I have recourse to get a remedy. I also am best friends with the largest auto family in Texas and they can tell me EXACTLY how to go about it.

If I thought I could have had Tesla make me a replacement with grandfathered supercharging in a week to 10 days I would have done it. But after having put deposits on 3 Model S and one Model X and pulling them after waiting for months or years after their "predicted deliver date" - I felt they have NEVER kept to their delivery schedules with me and I would be a fool to expect them to keep their delivery dates in the future. So if they told me I could have a replacement car within the month I would bet $10,000 that it would take closer to 70-100 days.

And I would be further inconvenienced.



In my humble opinion Tesla is big enough now NOT TO HAVE TO INCONVENIENCE their customers about delivery dates . It's not like a kickstarter fund anymore. It's time for them live up to the standards of an Luxury brand. Or they shouldn't be selling $100,000 cars.

The main PAIN/objection an electric car company has to overcome to become widespread is inconvenience.

Not cost, not performance, not even safety is the main reason potential electric car buyers see electric cars as not viable... in my opinion the main draw back is waiting . Waiting to charge once connected, waiting in line to charge , reliability of the all chargers at a location ( for instance the San Juan Capistrano super charger always has issues with all of the above). My neighbor has a P85 and he warned me that he can't drive to another city and do 3 appointments without having to charge before returning and this adds up to 2 hours more time waiting to his trip and can get him stuck in rush hour. He strongly advised me not to buy a Tesla as my only car.

Why add unexpected long delivery wait times to the list of things you will have to wait for BEFORE YOU EVEN OWN THE CAR?

I sold my car in late October expecting my car First week in January. Didn't get my Tesla until April. I was already inconvenienced even before I owned the car, and had no ability to get a loaner on a car that isn't made yet.

So that's your detailed answer . I just couldn't trust Tesla to make a replacement and hold to a delivery date without further inconveniencing me and my business .

The only way to not be further inconvenienced was to have a Tesla to drive. Try being carless in Snow country or Southern California .... for 5 months good luck with that .

 

[Golden Ears]

Update:

A few weeks back I got a contact from Tesla corporate. I spoke with an extremely professional lady on the phone who is the type of effective organized American many assign to difficult circumstances to insure things are done correctly and on time.

She took control of the situation and agreed that I should not had to take a damaged car, nor should I be further inconvenienced and went out of her way to re-establish the car company as a luxury brand given my unfortunate experience.

I sold the car back to Tesla, they are working to get me a replacement. I have a loaner in the meantime. She also arranged for me to use a loaner in another city which was very helpful and got me enthused enough about the brand to show the car off at a school reunion and the alums loved the car. I must say Model X was a big hit. Despite being told the was no place to plug in a car I was able to find an outlet on the side of a building on my old campus.

The replacement process-

I thought they were making an exact replacement, but it turned out I was told last minute in the build that the ventilated seats were no longer available , and what really sold me on the blue was how striking it was IN COMBINATION with the perforated white seats as opposed to solid white- It looked so bright athletic and sporty. The key to making the ventilated seats work properly is to put the air conditioning on "lo" for the first 3 to 4 minutes, and sit with your back away from the seat to allow them to fully inhale the cold air to cool down rapidly and then they keep you cool from then on..

So I changed the car color to go better with the solid white seats by picking an inventory car in Midnight silver (boring but a bit more understated elegant ) , I had to pick an inventory car so I could still get the same finance rate, as rates were going to go up a full point on a "built car" would now be delivered too late. I keep trying to tell myself that the Midnight silver is easier to keep clean and won't be overly flashy to call attention to it to getting broken into .

Sadly the replacement inventory car has some scratches on the hood.

And I thought, "oh no", not again.

But they are hoping they can fix that to be unnoticeable and offered me some compensation towards that....better than a repainted bumper which would make a buyer years from now think the car had been in an accident if he had it inspected professionally. At least with the bumpers intact a buyer would not presume that car had been hit when it hadn't been hit.

I'm taking them at their word that this is the only damage . I have seen properly delivered cars in California that looked great, met another Blue on white MX owner at a supercharger and his paint was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING perfect- he just picked it up earlier that day , so I know California delivery is working well. But my bet is Colorado scratched the replacement car hood.

The Costa Mesa team lady who at first was not helpful in getting a replacement car was switched out to a new pair of people who are eager to get me into a undamaged car. They were able to get the replacement inventory car financed before rates went up and are taking car of all the registration paperwork and other inconvenient details like a good car brand. I'll take delivery at my place in bright sunlight.


So I'm hoping the new car only has these minor fixable scratches (hopefully minor as they had said , and easily buffed out.... without removing tons of clear coat and certainly not needing to be repainted) in the hood and no other damage has been done to the car.

If the car is delivered properly wihtout additional damage, I'm going to ask to have this thread taken down as I do still want to help the world convert faster to a sustainable future. I understand delivering cars has some unforeseen issues, but so long as the customer is not taken advantage of during the resolution I see no reason to not consider a problem resolved properly as a problem that can be forgotten. I'm glad I did not post up the videos , as it's hard to get that off the web once a Tesla troll gets a copy.

Very impressed with the professionalism of the regional manger, feels like you are in as solid hands as with Mercedes. Which is very high praise since some of the Mercedes dealerships were incredibly organized and cared about their customers.

I should have the car in a week.

 

[Golden Ears]

It took several months, but Tesla did replace the car.

I lost the ventilated seats and had to take a different color. The replacement car, was delivered to the wrong dealer some 940 miles off delaying things a few more weeks and arrived with some hood damage. They tried to buff it out, but now the hood doesn't match the paint on the rest of the car.

I did have a pleasant delivery other than the damage and the delivery was very professional.

Sadly the car has never not had issues (They never seem to fix all the issues in any service visit) and some things have not been fixed like my drivers window has a gap and constantly whistles if I try to roll it up while driving and has been to 6 different service centers. Also Tesla keeps returning the car back with NEW damage caused while in service . Last week They backed my car into a bush (the pick up area parking spots in Costa Mesa) that had branch thicker than a hockey stick which dented my bumper and scratched the paint. I video my car at every service drop off and service pick up now. I am sure my car isn't the only one that has gotten damage from the same parking spot.

Service mishaps aside , I must say, these are incredible cars.

So Tesla is constantly trying to do the right thing even if they still are rough around the edges. Still , I would never buy a different brand of car. I do believe that we should save every drop of Kerosene for space transport off the rock in the future. Go electric!

AND please don't let any of my frustrations dissuade anyone from buying a Tesla, to not buy a Tesla would be your biggest mistake. Every time I press the accelerator , I know I made the right choice. My turtles are happy campers.