I am posting my story wondering if anyone will read it or frankly care. The statement bellow was originally intended for Tesla, at least whichever department handles complaints (if there even is one) but my post purchase survey gave me little room to deliver my account of my experience and my search for a customer inbox/ phoneline has been fruitless. I even swung by Tesla's Miami Gardens store yesterday to ask for where to route my concerns and was told I would get a call from the store manager before the end of day but never heard back. My only plan left is to post to every social media page I can hoping to get some ones attention (starting here). To summarize for those that don't have the patience to read, I love my Model 3, clear defects and all, but Tesla might be the shittiest company I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with.
Under traditional circumstances I rarely take the time to submit in-depth survey responses. Working in wealth management means time is a valuable commodity. I usually give positive numerical indicators, write a sentence or two and go about my day, but the team at the Tesla Aventura store (and my owner, so called advisor Israel) set such a new low bar that writing my account of the events will hopefully serve as therapy for the trauma I went through.
Prior to my new model 3 I was driving a 2019 Lexus ES350. I was relatively happy with the vehicle but wanted something new as my lease term was coming to an end. I swung by my local Tesla store at the start of the month which led to my one positive experience. Israel offered the overnight test drive right off the bat and made taking the car for the evening a quick and straightforward process. I was immediately hooked and he even let me take a model y for a night to have a basis for comparison. I was undecided as to which car to take (3 rwd, 3 awd, or Y awd) and explained that financials would play a part in my decision. In particular my lease had a significant amount of equity and I would have to weigh the benefits of trading it to Tesla vs selling it to a third party.
This lead to my first series of issues, to get a trade offer from Tesla I would told I would have to submit an order and choose which model I wanted (although I could change motor options), that I understood but found inconvenient and ultimately delayed the process as my trade would have factored into the 3 vs Y debate. The bigger issue was my owner “advisor” (and the rest of the store staff) having a fundamental misunderstanding of how different trade-ins work. Israel had told me on multiple circumstances that while Tesla trade offer would likely be lower than the competition (I already had an offer of 28k from carmax that I got in 15 mins from them) that the tax benefits would outweigh the additional capital received (a misrepresentation that would cause me much heartache as I will detail below). As a result I patiently waited for Tesla's trade offer (which took 4 days, which is 3 days and 23 hours longer than any local dealership).
While waiting, despite multiple conversations with my “advisor” I came to learn many things about my soon to be car that he should have done me the favor of explaining proactively. For instance the lack of floor mats, lack of a charger, the reinstatement of tesla’s referral program (I have two friends who could have provided me a code prior to ordering), the removal of the ultrasonic sensors on the 2023 model, and the switch from intel to amd on the entertainment system. The truth is he was functionally useless after the test drive. The best was yet to come. Once the trade came back, I needed to update the order (from awd to rwd), which took the store staff 5 hours and the next steps were financing and setting up delivery. I was hoping to take delivery on the weekend (between the 9th and 11th of December) to avoid taking time off work, but one issue remained on the loan application, the sales tax was being assessed on the full purchase price. I spoke to Israel and 3 other staff members at Aventura as well as the staff at the FT Lauderdale store and got different answers each time. In the process of trying to figure the issue out Tesla automatically canceled a delivery apt I had for the 11th. All this could have been easily avoided.
From the beginning I was transparent about my Lexus being a lease and had accurate payoff data. If the staff was well educated and listened they would have told me that lease trades don't get sales tax credit (which is what I thought till Israel told me otherwise). Unfortunately only the store manager figured it out (although he wasn’t confident in his answer) and I had to call a friend who works at Land Rover to get a straight answer (as a favor). Ultimately I had to sell my vehicle in a rush to a third party (in this case back to Lexus) to not lose $2k on the transaction. I was unable to recover my Sunday delivery appointment and was pushed to Tuesday (13th). I still had to dispose of my Lexus over the weekend which left me riding a bicycle to work (in a suit) for a day and half. In that time I begged Isreal to make things right by getting me a sooner delivery appointment (or at least throw in a charger and floormats cause my ****ing $50k car doesnt come with either). I basically got the we are sorry, tough *sugar* response. When my delivery day came I was rushed out the door after pairing my phone. I attempted to ask my delivery rep questions about the car but he was clearly overworked and not in the mood.
My vehicle itself is still the car I fell in love with. It’s fun to drive and has a cool factor that's off the charts. Unfortunately in less than a week I already got bit by Tesla’s notorious build quality issues and had an issue with the plastic cover breaking on the driver’s chair. The silver lining was meeting a mobile tech who restored faith in the idea that some of Telsa’s employees give a **** about the brand. Coming full circle I’ve come to learn that barely a week after my delivery Tesla is giving prospective Model 3 buyers 10,000 free super charger miles and an additional $3,750 (on top of the incentive I got) for taking delivery in the next two weeks. I thought the point of Tesla’s buying process was elimination of the typical dealer bullshit and having to wait to buy a car at the end of the month was part of an antiquated sales model, but clearly I bought too deeply into Tesla’s marketing hype. A week ago I couldn't get a single concession (that I only asked for as a result of issues caused by misinformation provided by Tesla employees), and now new buyers are getting 4 grand and 2 years of charging just because. I read Tesla’s brand loyalty scores are rapidly dropping and I learned all too quickly why firsthand. At the very least this experience has taught me never to get so excited about a brand/product that emotion creeps into the buying process.
Owning a Tesla (for a short week) has been akin to a toxic relationship, at the best of times the daily experience with the vehicle has been boatloads of fun but long term the anguish and abuse lead me to believe that it's not going to be worth it. I’m stuck in a sense for likely the next 2-3 years but if you ask me now if I would purchase another Tesla or recommend it to a friend I would give a resounding no.
Under traditional circumstances I rarely take the time to submit in-depth survey responses. Working in wealth management means time is a valuable commodity. I usually give positive numerical indicators, write a sentence or two and go about my day, but the team at the Tesla Aventura store (and my owner, so called advisor Israel) set such a new low bar that writing my account of the events will hopefully serve as therapy for the trauma I went through.
Prior to my new model 3 I was driving a 2019 Lexus ES350. I was relatively happy with the vehicle but wanted something new as my lease term was coming to an end. I swung by my local Tesla store at the start of the month which led to my one positive experience. Israel offered the overnight test drive right off the bat and made taking the car for the evening a quick and straightforward process. I was immediately hooked and he even let me take a model y for a night to have a basis for comparison. I was undecided as to which car to take (3 rwd, 3 awd, or Y awd) and explained that financials would play a part in my decision. In particular my lease had a significant amount of equity and I would have to weigh the benefits of trading it to Tesla vs selling it to a third party.
This lead to my first series of issues, to get a trade offer from Tesla I would told I would have to submit an order and choose which model I wanted (although I could change motor options), that I understood but found inconvenient and ultimately delayed the process as my trade would have factored into the 3 vs Y debate. The bigger issue was my owner “advisor” (and the rest of the store staff) having a fundamental misunderstanding of how different trade-ins work. Israel had told me on multiple circumstances that while Tesla trade offer would likely be lower than the competition (I already had an offer of 28k from carmax that I got in 15 mins from them) that the tax benefits would outweigh the additional capital received (a misrepresentation that would cause me much heartache as I will detail below). As a result I patiently waited for Tesla's trade offer (which took 4 days, which is 3 days and 23 hours longer than any local dealership).
While waiting, despite multiple conversations with my “advisor” I came to learn many things about my soon to be car that he should have done me the favor of explaining proactively. For instance the lack of floor mats, lack of a charger, the reinstatement of tesla’s referral program (I have two friends who could have provided me a code prior to ordering), the removal of the ultrasonic sensors on the 2023 model, and the switch from intel to amd on the entertainment system. The truth is he was functionally useless after the test drive. The best was yet to come. Once the trade came back, I needed to update the order (from awd to rwd), which took the store staff 5 hours and the next steps were financing and setting up delivery. I was hoping to take delivery on the weekend (between the 9th and 11th of December) to avoid taking time off work, but one issue remained on the loan application, the sales tax was being assessed on the full purchase price. I spoke to Israel and 3 other staff members at Aventura as well as the staff at the FT Lauderdale store and got different answers each time. In the process of trying to figure the issue out Tesla automatically canceled a delivery apt I had for the 11th. All this could have been easily avoided.
From the beginning I was transparent about my Lexus being a lease and had accurate payoff data. If the staff was well educated and listened they would have told me that lease trades don't get sales tax credit (which is what I thought till Israel told me otherwise). Unfortunately only the store manager figured it out (although he wasn’t confident in his answer) and I had to call a friend who works at Land Rover to get a straight answer (as a favor). Ultimately I had to sell my vehicle in a rush to a third party (in this case back to Lexus) to not lose $2k on the transaction. I was unable to recover my Sunday delivery appointment and was pushed to Tuesday (13th). I still had to dispose of my Lexus over the weekend which left me riding a bicycle to work (in a suit) for a day and half. In that time I begged Isreal to make things right by getting me a sooner delivery appointment (or at least throw in a charger and floormats cause my ****ing $50k car doesnt come with either). I basically got the we are sorry, tough *sugar* response. When my delivery day came I was rushed out the door after pairing my phone. I attempted to ask my delivery rep questions about the car but he was clearly overworked and not in the mood.
My vehicle itself is still the car I fell in love with. It’s fun to drive and has a cool factor that's off the charts. Unfortunately in less than a week I already got bit by Tesla’s notorious build quality issues and had an issue with the plastic cover breaking on the driver’s chair. The silver lining was meeting a mobile tech who restored faith in the idea that some of Telsa’s employees give a **** about the brand. Coming full circle I’ve come to learn that barely a week after my delivery Tesla is giving prospective Model 3 buyers 10,000 free super charger miles and an additional $3,750 (on top of the incentive I got) for taking delivery in the next two weeks. I thought the point of Tesla’s buying process was elimination of the typical dealer bullshit and having to wait to buy a car at the end of the month was part of an antiquated sales model, but clearly I bought too deeply into Tesla’s marketing hype. A week ago I couldn't get a single concession (that I only asked for as a result of issues caused by misinformation provided by Tesla employees), and now new buyers are getting 4 grand and 2 years of charging just because. I read Tesla’s brand loyalty scores are rapidly dropping and I learned all too quickly why firsthand. At the very least this experience has taught me never to get so excited about a brand/product that emotion creeps into the buying process.
Owning a Tesla (for a short week) has been akin to a toxic relationship, at the best of times the daily experience with the vehicle has been boatloads of fun but long term the anguish and abuse lead me to believe that it's not going to be worth it. I’m stuck in a sense for likely the next 2-3 years but if you ask me now if I would purchase another Tesla or recommend it to a friend I would give a resounding no.