I am posting this on this forum in hopes that someone at Tesla who cares about customer service and doing right by their customers reads this, or someone on this forum and help me get in contact with someone. I have tried dealing with the local service center and they are unwilling to make the situation right, that lead me to hire an attouney and I told him that I honestly do not want to proceed with a lawsuit but I was hopeful that he could speak to the Tesla legal department and get it resolved without litigation but he has tried for two weeks now and they will not return phone calls or emails. Next week he is going to have to take it to the next step and I really want to avoid all this. All I want is to get the new car I paid for, nothing more.
I ordered a P100D in late June, I signed all paperwork, paid what I had to pay, they took my car in on trade, and even had me put insurance on it before July 1st and the car was being shipped to my house from California. Honestly doing all that paperwork and paying and even putting insurance on it before you even get the car seemed odd and a little wrong since I was now already making payments on a car that I don't even have yet but that was the process. The car arrives at my house the second week of July and while it is still up on the flatbed I see issues and I tell the driver to leave it up there while I call the Dania Service Center who handled the delivery. I spoke to someone there about the issues and asked if I should send it back or take it. She told me to take it and to send her pictures so I had the driver drop the car off in my driveway, took the pictures, and put it in the garage.
First let me preface my description of the issues by saying that I am in the collision repair industry and own five collision repair centers in South Florida, so I know what I am looking at and know what it takes and how to fix the issues with the car. The car was completely covered in sand scratches from a DA. Someone wetsanded and buffed the car who was not qualified to do so. They were on every panel of the car and even the tail lights were scratched and need to be replaced. The car honestly looked like it was 5 years old and neglected but it was a new car with 5.2 miles on it. The only way to fix these sand scratches are to wet sand it again which I did not want done because it is going to remove more of the clear coat than has already been removed from when they did it the first time or repaint the car which I also did not want done. The trunk also had a dent on it. I can get into more details about the sand scratches and the issues with repairing them more and send photos if someone at Tesla wants to get back to me directly but they are so bad that they really cannot be repaired without repainting some panels.
The Dania Beach Service Center agreed from the pictures that it was very bad and agreed to take it back and get me a new car. They had it picked up the following week with the same 5.2 miles on it it had when they dropped it off and they ordered me another car. A few days after they called me and informed me that they just realized that my car had already been registered and she told me they could no longer take it back. I told her that they registered it in late June when I ordered it (no idea how she nor any of the managers at the service center didn’t know that if that is their process for new car delivery) and that the right thing to do is for them to figure out how to get me a new car because that is what I paid for but if I have absolutely no choice but to keep this one they have to give me a discount on the car. I wanted a discount on the car and I would handle repainting what needs to be repainted, repairing the rest of the paint, fixing the dent on the trunk, and replacing the tail lights. They called me back a few days later and told me "We cannot agree to your terms, what we can do for you is get this car as good as we can." I told her that wouldn't work for me and that I didn't pay $167,000 for a new car to get a car that that is "as good as they can get" and that will never be right and never be like a new car. I told her that I paid full price and I deserve a car that is like new not with damage and that needs to be painted and that if they are forcing me to take that one then I deserve a discount. She again said they could not and I said that I would have to explore other means to get this resolved.
Then I contacted an attorney and told him that I just want to get this resolved without litigation. I was hopeful that he would get in contact with someone higher up the chain of command, explain what happened to me and that they would obviously see how wrong it is and just get me another car but he has had no luck with really getting in contact with anyone. He says next week we have to take the next step and send certified letters so that they can't keep ignoring this. I really want to avoid all this, I just want I deserve. I paid for a new car and that's all I want. If that absolutely cannot be done I am willing to work something out with this car, give me a discount on it which will include the cost for me to repair it, reimburse me my payments for the two months that I have not had my car, and Tesla can wash their hands of this issue. I feel like I am being more than fair and I am only asking to get what I paid for. It is just not right that someone pays full price for a car sight unseen and one could get lucky and get a new car that looks like a new car should look or one could get one like mine with damage on every single panel, needs body work, and needs panels repainted. How can those two people pay the same thing for those cars and Tesla just ignore and avoid this obvious issue in their buying process.
I am not posting the pictures on here because I really don't want to bash Tesla or give them bad publicity I am just trying to get this resolved. I don't think that upper management at Tesla would agree with how this has been handled, I just think that my case hasn't made it to the right people. I know that upper management can't be responsible for the actions of all their employees at all their service centers so I am giving them the benefit of the doubt and hope someone in the company cares enough to reach out to me and resolve this.
I ordered a P100D in late June, I signed all paperwork, paid what I had to pay, they took my car in on trade, and even had me put insurance on it before July 1st and the car was being shipped to my house from California. Honestly doing all that paperwork and paying and even putting insurance on it before you even get the car seemed odd and a little wrong since I was now already making payments on a car that I don't even have yet but that was the process. The car arrives at my house the second week of July and while it is still up on the flatbed I see issues and I tell the driver to leave it up there while I call the Dania Service Center who handled the delivery. I spoke to someone there about the issues and asked if I should send it back or take it. She told me to take it and to send her pictures so I had the driver drop the car off in my driveway, took the pictures, and put it in the garage.
First let me preface my description of the issues by saying that I am in the collision repair industry and own five collision repair centers in South Florida, so I know what I am looking at and know what it takes and how to fix the issues with the car. The car was completely covered in sand scratches from a DA. Someone wetsanded and buffed the car who was not qualified to do so. They were on every panel of the car and even the tail lights were scratched and need to be replaced. The car honestly looked like it was 5 years old and neglected but it was a new car with 5.2 miles on it. The only way to fix these sand scratches are to wet sand it again which I did not want done because it is going to remove more of the clear coat than has already been removed from when they did it the first time or repaint the car which I also did not want done. The trunk also had a dent on it. I can get into more details about the sand scratches and the issues with repairing them more and send photos if someone at Tesla wants to get back to me directly but they are so bad that they really cannot be repaired without repainting some panels.
The Dania Beach Service Center agreed from the pictures that it was very bad and agreed to take it back and get me a new car. They had it picked up the following week with the same 5.2 miles on it it had when they dropped it off and they ordered me another car. A few days after they called me and informed me that they just realized that my car had already been registered and she told me they could no longer take it back. I told her that they registered it in late June when I ordered it (no idea how she nor any of the managers at the service center didn’t know that if that is their process for new car delivery) and that the right thing to do is for them to figure out how to get me a new car because that is what I paid for but if I have absolutely no choice but to keep this one they have to give me a discount on the car. I wanted a discount on the car and I would handle repainting what needs to be repainted, repairing the rest of the paint, fixing the dent on the trunk, and replacing the tail lights. They called me back a few days later and told me "We cannot agree to your terms, what we can do for you is get this car as good as we can." I told her that wouldn't work for me and that I didn't pay $167,000 for a new car to get a car that that is "as good as they can get" and that will never be right and never be like a new car. I told her that I paid full price and I deserve a car that is like new not with damage and that needs to be painted and that if they are forcing me to take that one then I deserve a discount. She again said they could not and I said that I would have to explore other means to get this resolved.
Then I contacted an attorney and told him that I just want to get this resolved without litigation. I was hopeful that he would get in contact with someone higher up the chain of command, explain what happened to me and that they would obviously see how wrong it is and just get me another car but he has had no luck with really getting in contact with anyone. He says next week we have to take the next step and send certified letters so that they can't keep ignoring this. I really want to avoid all this, I just want I deserve. I paid for a new car and that's all I want. If that absolutely cannot be done I am willing to work something out with this car, give me a discount on it which will include the cost for me to repair it, reimburse me my payments for the two months that I have not had my car, and Tesla can wash their hands of this issue. I feel like I am being more than fair and I am only asking to get what I paid for. It is just not right that someone pays full price for a car sight unseen and one could get lucky and get a new car that looks like a new car should look or one could get one like mine with damage on every single panel, needs body work, and needs panels repainted. How can those two people pay the same thing for those cars and Tesla just ignore and avoid this obvious issue in their buying process.
I am not posting the pictures on here because I really don't want to bash Tesla or give them bad publicity I am just trying to get this resolved. I don't think that upper management at Tesla would agree with how this has been handled, I just think that my case hasn't made it to the right people. I know that upper management can't be responsible for the actions of all their employees at all their service centers so I am giving them the benefit of the doubt and hope someone in the company cares enough to reach out to me and resolve this.
