I am trying to fix a very bad delivery experience I've had with my Model 3 AWD, which I picked up from the Littleton, CO delivery center on October 13th. My car was delivered with several defects, the most important one being that autopilot does not work. They also failed to charge it for my drive home, in spite of my requesting this in advance and being assured that it would be "noted and taken care of ahead of time." I also have turn indicator that "locks on" when signalling a lane change to the left, instead of just blinking 3 times. It works fine when going to the right, so I'm sure I know how to use it. Finally, there was some wind noise from the passenger window, but mobile service took care of that.
How could have this gone better?
When I complained about all this to both the service person and the delivery advisor (and several other support people) they all said that getting me any kind of loaner or compensation was someone else's problem. No one expressed any ability to make this right, or even advocate on my behalf with a "higher power". I've just gotten a bunch of excuses from people who don't feel empowered to help, and this has left me with the impression that Tesla as an organization just doesn't care.
This was all on top of ordering my Model 3 on August 2nd, the same day as a price increase. I had decided on a Saturday to buy the car, but my insurance company, AAA of New Mexico, said it would cost $770/mo(!!!) to add it to our policy. So it took several days before we found both Travelers and Root to give us reasonable quotes. That was just enough time for the AWD, Pearl White paint, and documentation fee to go up by $1,700. If it hadn't been for the insurance sticker shock, I would have beat the increases.
So does anyone have any advice on how I can get in touch with someone who would think this is a problem and do something about it? I'm thinking that lifetime supercharging and free cellular connectivity would make this right. Does that seem fair?
How could have this gone better?
- When my Model 3 was built, they could have installed a working radar (or whatever the problem turns out to be). See "Autopilot features unavailable" screen pop-up? for the best guess).
- They could have also used a fully functioning turn indicator.
- Before my car shipped, they could have tested the equipment and found the fault
- I've also heard from service people that there is a known issue with my turn signal system, so there could have been additional checks before shipping the car.
- When the car was inspected as it came off the truck, they could have noticed the "Autopilot features unavailable" message. Unfortunately, the fact that autopilot is shipped with steering (or is it cameras?) that require calibration makes it easy to ignore this message.
- When I called ahead to ask the delivery people to *please be sure* that my car was inspected before my son and I got on an airplane, they could have actually checked it out and noticed this problem, instead of blowing me off.
- When I picked up my car, it could have been charged 100%, for my drive from Denver to Albuquerque. It was only at 50%, so I had to wait an hour to charge it up.
- I could have searched for the "Autopilot features unavailable" message, but I too thought this meant that calibration wasn't complete.
- When the calibration completed, I was driving home, so I couldn't search for the message, but my son did try, but since he didn't look for the exact phrase in quotes, he just found a bunch of messages that said it could take as much as 200 miles before autopilot worked. So I was already 200 miles away from the service center by the time I started to get really worried.
- Could have had the part to fix the autopilot (but this would mean that the remote diagnostics would have had to pinpoint the problem).
- Could have had the part to fix the turn indicator. (I think the remote diagnostics had identified this issue, but apparently the part isn't in stock. I heard that several other people are also waiting for this.)
- Could have gotten me a long-range loaner to replace my disabled car.
When I complained about all this to both the service person and the delivery advisor (and several other support people) they all said that getting me any kind of loaner or compensation was someone else's problem. No one expressed any ability to make this right, or even advocate on my behalf with a "higher power". I've just gotten a bunch of excuses from people who don't feel empowered to help, and this has left me with the impression that Tesla as an organization just doesn't care.
This was all on top of ordering my Model 3 on August 2nd, the same day as a price increase. I had decided on a Saturday to buy the car, but my insurance company, AAA of New Mexico, said it would cost $770/mo(!!!) to add it to our policy. So it took several days before we found both Travelers and Root to give us reasonable quotes. That was just enough time for the AWD, Pearl White paint, and documentation fee to go up by $1,700. If it hadn't been for the insurance sticker shock, I would have beat the increases.
So does anyone have any advice on how I can get in touch with someone who would think this is a problem and do something about it? I'm thinking that lifetime supercharging and free cellular connectivity would make this right. Does that seem fair?
