Leading up to the purchase of my Model 3, I have been a huge supporter of Tesla. They promote innovation, technology, and produce cars that are better for our environment. My support and firm belief in the company lead me to purchase my Model 3 SR+ at 21 years old.
I purchased my vehicle online in early March after test driving at the Tesla location in Huntington, New York. All of the customer experience reps there were very kind and helpful, and were able to assist me in buying my SR+ Model 3. I eventually received a VIN# and a delivery date on a Wednesday. I work full time, and was planning on picking up the vehicle on that Saturday, so I rescheduled the delivery date for Saturday assuming that would give the delivery team plenty of time to receive the shipment and prepare my vehicle for delivery. I was also selling my previous car on that upcoming Saturday to someone that was coming to pick it up, so at the time it was going to work well.
Without getting into to much detail, the date my vehicle was going to be shipped was delayed a number of times, and I found this out through contacting Tesla myself, not by them informing me. I had requested a number of call backs from the delivery center, and heard back only once after the third time. My delivery date at this point had been delayed to later in the following week, which meant that I was going to be without a car to drive starting Saturday. They offered to provide me a temporary rental through enterprise which I was ok with (but disappointed that it wasn't going to be a Tesla).
On that Thursday (a day after my vehicle was originally supposed to be delivered), I received a phone call from a delivery specialist telling me that they have a car on the lot which had already been delivered, and that they could reassign my original VIN# to that car so I could pick it up Thursday evening. They also explained that since the delivery was short of notice, the car wouldn't be detailed on delivery, but at a later date as a goodwill. I was skeptical, since this wasn't an original solution they came up with, but at the time it worked best for me, so I left work early to head to the delivery center so I could pick up my car.
Upon arriving at the delivery center, I went over my car with my delivery specialist, who went over the car with me. It was pouring rain outside, and I did my best to try and look over the car for any marks, scratches, etc. After looking over the car, we agreed upon a few scrapes on the inside the driver side door as well as the interior being covered in this yellow dust. I expressed to the delivery specialist my concern of not being able to look over the car very well due to the rain and time of day, and she explained that once the weather had cleared up, I could send her pictures of any concerns within a reasonable amount of time after the delivery.
Once the weather had subsided, I did a full walk around of the car. After looking, I found a dent on the passenger side door, marks and scratches that looked like they came from shipping, as well as tape and glue residue around the car (mostly the hood and headlight) which also appeared to be from shipping. My main concern was the passenger side dent, since I knew it wasn't able to be fixed in a detail, so I reached out to the delivery specialist to express my concern, and as promised she assured me that they would take care of it once I dropped the car off.
A few days later while driving, at 128 miles on my odometer I noticed an alert on my screen which said "cabin heating unavailable, contact Tesla service". I called Tesla service, and they concluded that it was most likely the PTC heater, which was covered under warranty, but that the soonest they could get me in was in a week, leaving me without heat or any form of defrost while driving, which is a hazard. I arrived late to work one of the days because morning temperatures were below freezing, and while driving my windows had fogged up leaving me with no way to defrost them.
I finally dropped off my car to the service center in Syosset. I went over with my service advisor in detail each scratch, dent, mark, issue, etc. I then received my loaner car and returned home. My service advisor kept me updated in detail as the service process went on, which I appreciated. A little over a week went by, and on the Tuesday of the second week I received a message from the service advisor letting me know my car was back from the body shop and should be detailed and ready on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, I spoke to the service advisor over the phone, where she informed me that the car needed to go back to the body shop because during the detail process they noticed that there was a scratch through the paint on one of the pillars. I can only assume this scratch came from the body shop, as when I looked around the car numerous times before and while looking with the service advisor, the only thing that required work from the body shop was the passenger side dent. I thanked the service advisor for her transparency and for addressing it, instead of omitting telling me, and hoping I wouldn't notice.
Friday the service center reached out to me, letting me know my car would be ready to be picked up on Saturday. After arriving at the service center Saturday, I spoke with a different service advisor because the original service advisor wasn't there (she had informed me beforehand that she wasn't going to be there).
When the service advisor brought my car around, within seconds of walking up to the car, I noticed a blatant paint bubble on the passenger side pillar. All of the scratches inside the door panels were still present, including the indented scratch on the inside of the drivers side door. The panels also had scrapes which looks like they may be surface scratches from a vacuum. The passenger side door panel also had a paint chip where you can see the black paint is clearly damaged. The exterior of the car didn't look detailed, rather it seemed as if they hosed the car down and splashed Armor All on the tires. Each door handle was covered in dirt or residue along with both of the side view mirrors. The interior was a mess, and was still covered in the yellow dust from delivery. It looked like maybe the rear was vacuumed but front was not.
The result of this, is my car now going back to the body shop for a third time, and waiting another week or more for my car to be completed. This entire process has been both stressful and inconvenient for me. I work full time and attend school full time, I would've hoped that buying my new Tesla would have been an enjoyable experience, and not a stressful and inconvenient one. I will say that every rep and advisor I've spoken to, have all been helpful and accommodating, but the experience I've received overall with the condition of this car is unacceptable. From my heater failing at 128 miles to the scrapes, scratches, dents, tape and glue residue, etc. on the exterior, to spending hours commuting to and from the service center only to see a blatant paint bubble on the car in a matter of seconds.
A member of my immediate family was very interested in purchasing the Model Y after I shared the reveal event with her, but after seeing what I've gone through with my car, their opinion of the service and quality of Tesla and their cars is seen as questionable at best.
Does anyone have any experience with Tesla compensating buyers for similar experiences? I tried reaching out to customer support via email, but I've only heard back from the service center who said they couldn't do anything to compensate me. I asked for 19" premium rims to replace my current stock 18" rims as a courtesy, and the service center said that they would check, but that it's highly unlikely.
I also wanted to add that my service center is over an hour away from me. I haven't driven my car in almost a month. How is it possible that a company isn't able to do anything to compensate for what I've gone through?... Does anyone have any feedback for how I should handle this situation? I really don't want to return the car, because of how much I've invested in setting up a charging port in my house, and because the car itself in working quality condition is exactly what I'm looking for.
TLDR - Bought my Model 3 SR+, arrived with exterior damage. PTC heater broke at 128 miles, and the car has been back and forth to the body shop three times now due to additional damage from the body shop. Tesla is refusing to do anything to compensate me for my experience. How should I handle this situation?
I purchased my vehicle online in early March after test driving at the Tesla location in Huntington, New York. All of the customer experience reps there were very kind and helpful, and were able to assist me in buying my SR+ Model 3. I eventually received a VIN# and a delivery date on a Wednesday. I work full time, and was planning on picking up the vehicle on that Saturday, so I rescheduled the delivery date for Saturday assuming that would give the delivery team plenty of time to receive the shipment and prepare my vehicle for delivery. I was also selling my previous car on that upcoming Saturday to someone that was coming to pick it up, so at the time it was going to work well.
Without getting into to much detail, the date my vehicle was going to be shipped was delayed a number of times, and I found this out through contacting Tesla myself, not by them informing me. I had requested a number of call backs from the delivery center, and heard back only once after the third time. My delivery date at this point had been delayed to later in the following week, which meant that I was going to be without a car to drive starting Saturday. They offered to provide me a temporary rental through enterprise which I was ok with (but disappointed that it wasn't going to be a Tesla).
On that Thursday (a day after my vehicle was originally supposed to be delivered), I received a phone call from a delivery specialist telling me that they have a car on the lot which had already been delivered, and that they could reassign my original VIN# to that car so I could pick it up Thursday evening. They also explained that since the delivery was short of notice, the car wouldn't be detailed on delivery, but at a later date as a goodwill. I was skeptical, since this wasn't an original solution they came up with, but at the time it worked best for me, so I left work early to head to the delivery center so I could pick up my car.
Upon arriving at the delivery center, I went over my car with my delivery specialist, who went over the car with me. It was pouring rain outside, and I did my best to try and look over the car for any marks, scratches, etc. After looking over the car, we agreed upon a few scrapes on the inside the driver side door as well as the interior being covered in this yellow dust. I expressed to the delivery specialist my concern of not being able to look over the car very well due to the rain and time of day, and she explained that once the weather had cleared up, I could send her pictures of any concerns within a reasonable amount of time after the delivery.
Once the weather had subsided, I did a full walk around of the car. After looking, I found a dent on the passenger side door, marks and scratches that looked like they came from shipping, as well as tape and glue residue around the car (mostly the hood and headlight) which also appeared to be from shipping. My main concern was the passenger side dent, since I knew it wasn't able to be fixed in a detail, so I reached out to the delivery specialist to express my concern, and as promised she assured me that they would take care of it once I dropped the car off.
A few days later while driving, at 128 miles on my odometer I noticed an alert on my screen which said "cabin heating unavailable, contact Tesla service". I called Tesla service, and they concluded that it was most likely the PTC heater, which was covered under warranty, but that the soonest they could get me in was in a week, leaving me without heat or any form of defrost while driving, which is a hazard. I arrived late to work one of the days because morning temperatures were below freezing, and while driving my windows had fogged up leaving me with no way to defrost them.
I finally dropped off my car to the service center in Syosset. I went over with my service advisor in detail each scratch, dent, mark, issue, etc. I then received my loaner car and returned home. My service advisor kept me updated in detail as the service process went on, which I appreciated. A little over a week went by, and on the Tuesday of the second week I received a message from the service advisor letting me know my car was back from the body shop and should be detailed and ready on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, I spoke to the service advisor over the phone, where she informed me that the car needed to go back to the body shop because during the detail process they noticed that there was a scratch through the paint on one of the pillars. I can only assume this scratch came from the body shop, as when I looked around the car numerous times before and while looking with the service advisor, the only thing that required work from the body shop was the passenger side dent. I thanked the service advisor for her transparency and for addressing it, instead of omitting telling me, and hoping I wouldn't notice.
Friday the service center reached out to me, letting me know my car would be ready to be picked up on Saturday. After arriving at the service center Saturday, I spoke with a different service advisor because the original service advisor wasn't there (she had informed me beforehand that she wasn't going to be there).
When the service advisor brought my car around, within seconds of walking up to the car, I noticed a blatant paint bubble on the passenger side pillar. All of the scratches inside the door panels were still present, including the indented scratch on the inside of the drivers side door. The panels also had scrapes which looks like they may be surface scratches from a vacuum. The passenger side door panel also had a paint chip where you can see the black paint is clearly damaged. The exterior of the car didn't look detailed, rather it seemed as if they hosed the car down and splashed Armor All on the tires. Each door handle was covered in dirt or residue along with both of the side view mirrors. The interior was a mess, and was still covered in the yellow dust from delivery. It looked like maybe the rear was vacuumed but front was not.
The result of this, is my car now going back to the body shop for a third time, and waiting another week or more for my car to be completed. This entire process has been both stressful and inconvenient for me. I work full time and attend school full time, I would've hoped that buying my new Tesla would have been an enjoyable experience, and not a stressful and inconvenient one. I will say that every rep and advisor I've spoken to, have all been helpful and accommodating, but the experience I've received overall with the condition of this car is unacceptable. From my heater failing at 128 miles to the scrapes, scratches, dents, tape and glue residue, etc. on the exterior, to spending hours commuting to and from the service center only to see a blatant paint bubble on the car in a matter of seconds.
A member of my immediate family was very interested in purchasing the Model Y after I shared the reveal event with her, but after seeing what I've gone through with my car, their opinion of the service and quality of Tesla and their cars is seen as questionable at best.
Does anyone have any experience with Tesla compensating buyers for similar experiences? I tried reaching out to customer support via email, but I've only heard back from the service center who said they couldn't do anything to compensate me. I asked for 19" premium rims to replace my current stock 18" rims as a courtesy, and the service center said that they would check, but that it's highly unlikely.
I also wanted to add that my service center is over an hour away from me. I haven't driven my car in almost a month. How is it possible that a company isn't able to do anything to compensate for what I've gone through?... Does anyone have any feedback for how I should handle this situation? I really don't want to return the car, because of how much I've invested in setting up a charging port in my house, and because the car itself in working quality condition is exactly what I'm looking for.
TLDR - Bought my Model 3 SR+, arrived with exterior damage. PTC heater broke at 128 miles, and the car has been back and forth to the body shop three times now due to additional damage from the body shop. Tesla is refusing to do anything to compensate me for my experience. How should I handle this situation?
