New Tesla Pick Up Experience

[cmalinowski]

Intended on picking up my new vehicle this morning at the Tampa delivery center. After reading this forum for months I prayed I would not join the masses who have had brutal experiences with undermanned and undertrained crews. But as I was driving to accept my inventory vehicle (less than 50 Miles). I got an email saying there was bumper damage from the transport truck and would need to be rescheduled for “sometime in Mid Oct”. Very disappointing and completely unprofessional. I may be out on Tesla before I was technically in.

We are in similar situation. We were a day away from picking up and got a call about damage to the glass roof. Person said they ordered the part. I asked how long and they said "We'll try to keep you updated." Try? I was not at my most pleasant after that. I feel a little bad at how I treated the person, but I was frustrated. Granted, we had really good experience with the folks there up until that point.

My wife is expecting a sit-in-the-car-and-go-over-everything experience when we pick up the car. This is certainly a premium purchase for us and we expect a premium experience. I'm not indifferent, but I don't need quite as much "show me" time as she wants. I have this feeling she is going to be both disappointed and grumpy come pick-up time from the sounds of it.

Good luck.

Chris

 

[hqubic]

Picking up my car at Fremont this morning, fingers crossed..

 

[Xenoilphobe]

I just got my brand new Tesla Model S Friday at the Fremont Tesla pickup location. My appointment was for 12 PM. When I got there, I had to park like quarter of mile away. I had to walk back in the sun to the showroom. It took like 30 mins before I even found out who was the guy who is taking care of my car. After I signed over the check and did the basic paper work, I waited. Two hours later, I still don't have my car. At this point, I am a little agitated. The place is like a zoo. There were many people all over the place. I am assuming they are all there picking up their new Tesla. By the cars parked in the front, it appears many are getting Model 3s. Anyway, my assigned Tesla person ended up ordering Lyft for me to take me to lunch. They offered to pay for lunch, and give me a ride back.

After 3.5 hours, I finally got my Tesla at 3:30 PM. He did not even do a walk through on the new features. I think he assumed that I am a previous Tesla owner, it was not necessary. Also, we got nothing with our new Tesla. I didn't get a Tesla mug and a hat like the first time. It didn't even come with Tesla key fob cover. I told him I wanted my old ones back from the old Tesla. He declined first. Ultimately, he went back and got it for me. My new Tesla drove a little off on the highway on the way home. When I checked tire pressure at home, they were all at 40 PSI. Shouldn't they at least set the right tire pressure at 45 PSI before they give new cars to new owners?

When I got my first Tesla, it was a much better experience 3 years ago. My Tesla was under a big red gift bow tie. I didn't have to wait, and the delivery person walked me through all the features. For the 3.5 hours, I at least got a free sushi lunch out of it.

As someone who has owned multiple other cars including BMWs and Lexuses, I got to say Lexus easily got the best customer experience ever. For a car that costed about $100K, Tesla really needs to improve this experience. I really hope service experience will be better if my car ever need some servicing.

In a week you won't care, you just bought the nicest car on the planet. Once the Model 3 delivery rush gets the bugs worked out, things will return to normal. With the margins and sunk cost infrastructure that the legacy car companies have, they should be giving you a free masseuse.
Keep in mind Tesla is in the middle of a war right now with the legacy car monopolies, think of the industrial mobilization that took place in the build up for war with Japan after the Pearl Harbor bombing. Thats where Tesla is in its lifecycle, Telsa is the "arsenal of democracy" against the environmental war on our planet.

 

[hqubic]

Pick up ended up taking about 2.5 hours due to remote not working, took them 1.5 hours re-pair with the car. Noticed panel misalignment on front hood that will need to be addressed later at service center. Host was definitely rushing, understandably, and at one point asked if I was serious about pointing out issues (yes, I was). I would estimate 100+ people there. Looking forward to getting the panel addressed, also the week after when I don't care about the unpleasant start.

 

[BriansBucketList]

I was contacted two weeks ahead of delivery, and asked to pick a date between 9/23 and 9/30. I picked Tuesday the 25th. Later, the tracking spreadsheet was showing Tuesday as the slowest day. Appointment at 12:15. I did have to walk through a long parking lot into the sun, and “checked in.” I found my car in a few minutes and did all the inspection I needed. I had the “slightly sunken hood” on one side, and after lowering the rubber bumper on the depressed side, it looked fine. Overall, communication was poor, and people were hard to reach. People were buying two cars at a time that day. I love the P3D, and I agree, this is a bad time to be taking delivery. It wasn’t as bad as I thought.

Of interest, I turned in a Lease 5 months early, and the Weathertech Floormats from my Model S seem to fit fine in the front of the Model 3. They aren’t too wide. The backseat mat needs trimming.

 

[Naekuh]

As someone who has owned multiple other cars including BMWs and Lexuses, I got to say Lexus easily got the best customer experience ever. For a car that costed about $100K, Tesla really needs to improve this experience. I really hope service experience will be better if my car ever need some servicing.

i am gonna say it totally depends on the location.

For example, for my delivery i was given the full vip service.
But then again, i did not have to fight against many M3 owners.
The Delivery Center i got my car from had very strict queues, so they would not over book, like the nightmare u experienced.

My car was near the back of the show room, because they did not want people brushing up against it when moving to there cars.
Infact all the P100D's were located in the rear, because they assumed we wanted an absolute flawless car and also did not want anything to happen to them.

When my cousin went to pick up his Model X, he says he felt slightly rushed, but it was not as bad as you would described.
He had a problem with his Falcon Wing Door, and the Advisor was sort of trying to brushing it off.
I told him do not accept delivery no matter what until you are perfectly happy with the car.

After saying he would refuse the delivery of his car, they got a manager from service to come in and inspect it and correct the issue.
But that was the extent.


Also for service, in my area, Lexus is the worst out of the luxury cars you mention.
Infact for my last lexus i went 3rd party to get a new one, and skipped all the dealorships because the sales advisors are all shoddy.
If your not in there to get a LS500 or a LC500, your a normie, and hence not worth extra time.

Again in my area, the best is most likely down to either Audi or BMW, as they truely want your sales regardless of what you buy, followed the Benz, and finally Lexus which i will never go dealer direct ever again.

 

[bahusky]

i am gonna say it totally depends on the location.

For example, for my delivery i was given the full vip service.
But then again, i did not have to fight against many M3 owners.
The Delivery Center i got my car from had very strict queues, so they would not over book, like the nightmare u experienced.

My car was near the back of the show room, because they did not want people brushing up against it when moving to there cars.
Infact all the P100D's were located in the rear, because they assumed we wanted an absolute flawless car and also did not want anything to happen to them.

When my cousin went to pick up his Model X, he says he felt slightly rushed, but it was not as bad as you would described.
He had a problem with his Falcon Wing Door, and the Advisor was sort of trying to brushing it off.
I told him do not accept delivery no matter what until you are perfectly happy with the car.

After saying he would refuse the delivery of his car, they got a manager from service to come in and inspect it and correct the issue.
But that was the extent.


Also for service, in my area, Lexus is the worst out of the luxury cars you mention.
Infact for my last lexus i went 3rd party to get a new one, and skipped all the dealorships because the sales advisors are all shoddy.
If your not in there to get a LS500 or a LC500, your a normie, and hence not worth extra time.

Again in my area, the best is most likely down to either Audi or BMW, as they truely want your sales regardless of what you buy, followed the Benz, and finally Lexus which i will never go dealer direct ever again.

Agreed on the location thing. Where I am at, Lexus gave me by far the best experience. This is after 5 different Lexus purchases over the years. BWM was fine too, just slightly below Lexus. This is also my second Tesla Model S. First one was great. I didn't have to wait etc.

The second time around, I would be ok if my car is ready and be in/out within 5 mins. I am not sure I would trust some 22 years old giving me an orientation when I am far more knowledgeable about the car. There is no excuse for making someone wait 4 hours when we had an appointment.

 

[EnzoXYZ]

I guess we all have different ideas on how we want to experience certain events in our lives.

This is up to the bride unfortunately. City hall would of been sufficient for me.

 

[OilAndGas]

Got my 2018 MS a month ago. Honestly a worse experience than getting my Chevy SUV back in 2009. It’s an embarrassment how bad it is. Standing around for 3 hours makes you just think about how you should have bought a Porsche. BMW, Audi, Mercedes make the experience fun and memorable, Tesla was a disaster and everyone waiting for their car seemed angry as well. Once you get the car on the road you’ll forget all about it but it SUCKS.

 

[aaron0k]

Got my 2018 MS a month ago. Honestly a worse experience than getting my Chevy SUV back in 2009. It’s an embarrassment how bad it is. Standing around for 3 hours makes you just think about how you should have bought a Porsche. BMW, Audi, Mercedes make the experience fun and memorable, Tesla was a disaster and everyone waiting for their car seemed angry as well. Once you get the car on the road you’ll forget all about it but it SUCKS.

If they're going to go this route of impersonal, starbucks like delivery... they should go full tilt and have "mobile orders", with zero human interaction. Buy car, wire/process paper work all online. Register App. Notification when ready. Find car on GPS and unlock. Tesla branded fidget spinner and keys in frunk.

 

[TMSfanatic]

If they're going to go this route of impersonal, starbucks like delivery... they should go full tilt and have "mobile orders", with zero human interaction. Buy car, wire/process paper work all online. Register App. Notification when ready. Find car on GPS and unlock. Tesla branded fidget spinner and keys in frunk.

no kidding, i invested at least 40 hours to pick up my car. In the first attempt, they didn't even have my car at the SC! Almost gave me a white MS 75D (I ordered blue). Then spent another few days (full days) at the SC since the cars were in such poor condition. They really need to fix this. I already threw out the idea of getting a model 3 for my wife. On the bright side seems like Audi is coming out with E-tron suv that's very promising (Jag and others too)

 

[OilAndGas]

If they're going to go this route of impersonal, starbucks like delivery... they should go full tilt and have "mobile orders", with zero human interaction. Buy car, wire/process paper work all online. Register App. Notification when ready. Find car on GPS and unlock. Tesla branded fidget spinner and keys in frunk.

They absolutely should. Just dump the thing off after QC I just wanted my car, took 3 hours as they fixed the seat warmer heating coil. QC is performed minutes before pick-up, I get it from a supply chain standpoint but boy does it suck for the consumer. They run way too lean to make the pick-up experience anything except a nuisance. It’s like the inverse of the traditional dealership model where the shopping is a nightmare but pickup is enjoyable.

 

[Formula1]

I had the same bad experience during my Model 3 delivery at the service center in Baltimore. Signed papers and then waited and waited. Had to ask 4 people for help with hand off. Finally someone from the service center shows up to 'help' since they were so busy but he knows very little about how the car works. So for almost all the questions I asked him about the software he did not know the answer.

Then as we were driving away we saw a piece of paper on the dash that the transport company had put there that said there was a scratch/crack on the bumper. So we got out and looked and sure enough there was a scratch. The paper was dated 10/30/18. I picked up the car on 11/10/18. So no one at Tesla bothered to look at the paper or fix the issue before delivery. The service center looked at it while we were there after we went back in and told them about the issue and said it was a crack so the entire bumper would need to be replaced which of course we would have to schedule to come back in to get fixed. I was more upset that they did not fix the issue prior to delivery since it was identified 11 days before. I asked to speak to a supervisor and she could have cared less. She did not want to be there and it showed. She could not give us an answer as to why this was not fixed before delivery and why no one there knew about the problem until I identified it.

The same supervisor was the delivery manager and she did not even give us a copy of the papers that we signed for the car until we asked for the copies. The entire delivery process seemed like it was run by college kids.

Tesla needs to hire someone at the top level with alot of retail experience to overhaul the delivery process at their service centers.

 

[Peanuticus]

I had a lackluster experience picking up my tesla too. Because I’ve had one before, it worked out because I know how to use the car. But because I’ve had one before, I know this is not okay.

The people working there seemed to hate their jobs and not care about the cars or the customers. They didn’t seem to mind giving incorrect information instead of finding out. It wasn’t just me. I overheard other deliveries.

My car was delivered without autopilot, and the sales associate said I must not have ordered it. But....lady, you can see my order. I took delivery without it because I know it’s an easy fix, but it took a week of nagging and being on hold to finally get it.

My car also had the incorrect wheels on it. They are the most expensive ones, so kind of a dumb mistake. They said I should be hearing from them about swapping them out, but I’m not holding my breath.

 

[sharpgator]

no kidding, i invested at least 40 hours to pick up my car. In the first attempt, they didn't even have my car at the SC! Almost gave me a white MS 75D (I ordered blue). Then spent another few days (full days) at the SC since the cars were in such poor condition. They really need to fix this. I already threw out the idea of getting a model 3 for my wife. On the bright side seems like Audi is coming out with E-tron suv that's very promising (Jag and others too)

I just don’t understand why new cars are being delivered in such poor condition. My friend had numerous delays in his delivery. Looking back, we both think it was cover for them repainting parts of his car. His rear doors are slightly different colors than the rest of the car and the trim is out of whack on those doors.