Purchase & Delivery support is lacking.

[SteveBaker]

We finally have our Model 3 (SR+, FSD, White)...the car is fantastic - everything we hoped for - but I have to say that the process of buying is kinda lacking. We bought online because there is no Tesla presence in our area (West Texas).

1. The web site didn't offer many details on things like what the various options actually ARE. What the heck is "Partial Premium Interior"? It's not clear.
2. The site said we'd get our car in 2 weeks. It's taken 4. If we'd ordered something weird, that would be OK - but we didn't...we bought the base car in the default color with FSD (which is probably just a software option at this point).
3. The process of obtaining finance via Alliant could be smoother. You're happily stepping through the process - and suddenly it asks for a VIN number...I don't have one...now what?
4. Ah! Phone Alliant - they say Phone Tesla - I phone Tesla - and they say "You'll get your VIN in 2 to 3 days." we wait a week, we phone again "You'll get your VIN in 2 to 3 days." we wait another week "Aha! Here is your VIN." - OK - so back to Alliant - add the VIN. Nothing happens. Call Tesla - "We can't ship your car until we have money from Alliant" - call Alliant "We need the MVPA". Call Tesla - "Oh - you don't have your MVPA?" - then MVPA arrives via email. NOW Alliant send money to Tesla. This stuff should be AUTOMATED. If Alliant are special partners with Tesla - then exchanging VIN numbers and MVPA docs should be seamless.
5. The distribution center emails to say that they'll arrange shipping of the car - and will let me know when the car is on it's way. Also, there is some other mysterious piece of paper that we'll need to fill in before shipping and/or before we take delivery. I reply to ask about what this paper is and how we get it...and as I hit "SEND" a big assed truck with a Tesla on board pulls up outside the house. Driver needs me to sign his phone - and I have the car in my driveway. No temporary plates though - so I can't drive it. So I send another email to the distribution center...now what?
6. An hour later, FedEx drop off a document - sign here, here and here - Fedex it back.

So - here we are. Have car, have no legal way to drive it. Still no response from the distribution center.

The process simply doesn't take you step by step through the hoops you have to jump through - and not enough of the process is automated.

From reading people's experiences here - the initial "2 week" estimate is probably a correct "average" - because some people get lucky and get the car in just a couple of days - other people (like us) take 4 weeks. So 2 weeks is indeed the "average" - but it's just not very useful. I think they should tell us something like "10% of cars delivered in a week, 80% delivered within 4 weeks"...just to set expectations.

I think most people prefer to be told realistic timescales. I've purchased MINI Cooper's with a 4 month wait - but they delivered when they said - so I could work around that. But a very vague delivery time is hard to deal with.

 

[bigroo42]

your experience is typical from what i've seen and very congruent with my experience buying a M3 in texas, financing through alliant. in a nutshell - everything was awful. just be glad you didn't have to pick up your car from the dallas delivery center. added insult to injury. Its really hard to believe Tesla will every become 'mainstream' with this level of 'service'.
but....the car is awesome!!!! ha!

 

[SteveBaker]

The thing is, it wouldn't take a lot to fix it. A simple one page description of the process and the steps that have to happen in what order...that alone would have saved a mountain of grief.

I'm thinking something like:

BUYING A TESLA IN TEXAS:

1. Go to website - follow instructions - order the car, pay the deposit via credit card.
2. When you get stuck on the Alliant page and it needs the VIN number and the MVPA document...you're done for now.
3. Call the distribution center every few days until they give you the VIN number - and keep checking the Tesla.com site to see if the MVPA appears in the list of documents on your account.
4. When you have both - go back to the Alliant site and you can complete the application process.
5. Call both Tesla and Alliant to be sure they both have everything they need.
6. At this point, your car should be at the distribution center.
7. Alliant will email you to tell you that your payment went to Tesla.
8. Call the distribution center to make sure they see that payment.
9. Sometime later (a week maybe) one of two things will happen:
a) The car will arrive, check that it looks OK, sign for it.
b) They'll FedEx a document for you to sign and return.
10. Only when both of those things happen will you get temporary plates.
11. And your permanent plates should arrive in the mail.

 

[SteveBaker]

I need to add another step! They can't get your temp tags to you unless you have insurance WITH THE VIN OF THE TESLA ON IT. Before this point, they needed to see proof of insurance - but didn't care whether the Tesla was explicitly on it...now they do. <sigh>

 

[bigroo42]

I need to add another step! They can't get your temp tags to you unless you have insurance WITH THE VIN OF THE TESLA ON IT. Before this point, they needed to see proof of insurance - but didn't care whether the Tesla was explicitly on it...now they do. <sigh>

Correct.... Another pain point. Additionally, your insurance card muat be valid for at least a month. My insurance expired on 8/20 and so my insurance card listed 8/16 - 8/20 (8/16 was my delivery day). And that caused a major hassle as well. Just an FYI that Noone tells you about.

 

[DopeGhoti]

The web site didn't offer many details on things like what the various options actually ARE. What the heck is "Partial Premium Interior"? It's not clear.

The web site when you are placing your order is quite clear, actually:

Partial Premium Interior Includes:

• 12-way power adjustable heated front seats
• Premium seat material and trim
• Upgraded audio – immersive sound
• Center console with storage, 4 USB ports and docking for 2 smartphones

Premium Interior Includes:

• 12-way power adjustable front and rear heated seats
• Premium audio – 14 speakers, 1 subwoofer, 2 amps, and immersive sound
• Premium Connectivity (1 year included):
  • Satellite maps with live traffic visualization
  • In-car internet streaming music and media
  • More frequent over-the-air updates via cellular
  • Internet browser
• LED fog lamps
• Center console with storage, 4 USB ports and docking for 2 smartphones

All Interiors Include:

• Tinted glass roof with ultraviolet and infrared protection
• Auto dimming, power folding, heated side mirrors
• Music and media over Bluetooth ®
• Custom driver profiles

The rest of your points and complaints, though, are completely valid.

 

[OCR1]

Buying a Tesla in California is already a challenging experience. When you add in the complications that the state of Texas throws into the mix by refusing to allow Tesla to sell cars directly to consumers, it makes things even more dysfunctional. I give people a lot of credit for buying a Tesla in a state that does not allow direct sales. You have to really want one to make it work.

In California they issue temporary tags before you leave the delivery center so that makes the registration part of the process much easier. Hope it all works out for you.

 

[GOOCHY]

I will say this for my experience so far: I've never worked so hard and followed up so much (with very little response) to give someone 60K.

I have faith that after all of this that the car will be worth it all.

Anybody else in my family would have walked already.

 

[bigroo42]

I will say this for my experience so far: I've never worked so hard and followed up so much (with very little response) to give someone 60K.

I have faith that after all of this that the car will be worth it all.

Anybody else in my family would have walked already.

Exactly. I've said it before and I'll say it again... Buying a tesla is like dating the hot chick in high school. You'll put up with all of her diva ways because, at the end of the day, she's smokin hot. At the end of it all, the car is that awesome.

 

[KenC]

Sadly, sounds pretty much unchanged from when I got my car last August/December. Of course back then, it took 4 months from order to delivery. Torture! Especially since I never got a call from anyone, just something like 13 emails.

Then again, whenever ordering a car, the timeline is always optimistic. My Volt was supposed to take 8 weeks, and it took 14 weeks. My BMW was shipped from Paris, after Eurodelivery drop-off, and was supposed to be in NJ in 10 days, which it was, but then it got stuck there for 4 weeks, when they kept telling me the sold Eurodelivery cars were the first off the ship and thru the VSC to be delivered in less than 2 weeks. Never trust a car delivery timeline!

We finally have our Model 3 (SR+, FSD, White)...the car is fantastic - everything we hoped for - but I have to say that the process of buying is kinda lacking. We bought online because there is no Tesla presence in our area (West Texas).

1. The web site didn't offer many details on things like what the various options actually ARE. What the heck is "Partial Premium Interior"? It's not clear.
2. The site said we'd get our car in 2 weeks. It's taken 4. If we'd ordered something weird, that would be OK - but we didn't...we bought the base car in the default color with FSD (which is probably just a software option at this point).
3. The process of obtaining finance via Alliant could be smoother. You're happily stepping through the process - and suddenly it asks for a VIN number...I don't have one...now what?
4. Ah! Phone Alliant - they say Phone Tesla - I phone Tesla - and they say "You'll get your VIN in 2 to 3 days." we wait a week, we phone again "You'll get your VIN in 2 to 3 days." we wait another week "Aha! Here is your VIN." - OK - so back to Alliant - add the VIN. Nothing happens. Call Tesla - "We can't ship your car until we have money from Alliant" - call Alliant "We need the MVPA". Call Tesla - "Oh - you don't have your MVPA?" - then MVPA arrives via email. NOW Alliant send money to Tesla. This stuff should be AUTOMATED. If Alliant are special partners with Tesla - then exchanging VIN numbers and MVPA docs should be seamless.
5. The distribution center emails to say that they'll arrange shipping of the car - and will let me know when the car is on it's way. Also, there is some other mysterious piece of paper that we'll need to fill in before shipping and/or before we take delivery. I reply to ask about what this paper is and how we get it...and as I hit "SEND" a big assed truck with a Tesla on board pulls up outside the house. Driver needs me to sign his phone - and I have the car in my driveway. No temporary plates though - so I can't drive it. So I send another email to the distribution center...now what?
6. An hour later, FedEx drop off a document - sign here, here and here - Fedex it back.

So - here we are. Have car, have no legal way to drive it. Still no response from the distribution center.

The process simply doesn't take you step by step through the hoops you have to jump through - and not enough of the process is automated.

From reading people's experiences here - the initial "2 week" estimate is probably a correct "average" - because some people get lucky and get the car in just a couple of days - other people (like us) take 4 weeks. So 2 weeks is indeed the "average" - but it's just not very useful. I think they should tell us something like "10% of cars delivered in a week, 80% delivered within 4 weeks"...just to set expectations.

I think most people prefer to be told realistic timescales. I've purchased MINI Cooper's with a 4 month wait - but they delivered when they said - so I could work around that. But a very vague delivery time is hard to deal with.

 

[ShaolinEV]

Same here.

Bought M3P- on August 27th, set delivery at 9/10 and I am surprised to be that quick. My rep Ashley from Nevada not really get into detail much how the whole process work. Start pushing me to have the whole car paid for 5 days before delivery and she ended up moving the delivery to 9/13. I jumped through hoop with the auto loan and down payment, all funded last Friday. Kindly asked them to move it back to Tuesday, 2 emails and no reply. Called delivery center myself and find out car is in "transit" and they don't even know when the car will be here. Of course they give me the BS of will call you ahead of time if there's any change.

No email, no text, no call and my online Tesla account shows that the delivery been moved to next Friday. I have to find all that out myself, no help from useless Ashley or delivery center. Will I receive the car next Friday, I don't know but $50,000 plus were out of my pocket and I have to pay interest on the loan already without the car.

I think it is going to be worth it but still, it is not that hard to improve on it. I will be Ok if they just tell me ahead of time, it will be 2-3 months, instead of giving me false hope.

 

[SteveBaker]

I have to add yet more steps!

When they ask you for a copy of your insurance WITH THE TESLA VIN ON IT - they don't mean a cellphone photo or a scanned copy or a paper copy - they mean the actual PDF of the original document (three more emails to get that one straight!).

I never did get the email congratulating me on my delivery - which you have to reply "YES" to in order to get the car to understand who owns it now - and then wait 48 hours before the app recognizes the fact. So it took a query as to why the app wasn't "turning on" to notice that this email was never sent to me.

(These multi-day waits strongly suggest a highly manual task that could be automated - and more clarity about precisely what they need at each step.)

Anyway - my car has now been sitting in my garage for three days without temporary plates - and apparently, it'll take three more working days before I get them and I can actually drive the thing! <sigh>

Some of that is clearly due to the bizarrely obstructive Texas laws. It's pretty clear that Tesla's direct sales model has terrified a lot of car dealership owners - who are spending money lobbying the Texas legislator to make things increasingly difficult for Tesla.

Texas may well switch from being a "Red State" to a "Blue State" at the next election cycle - and we can only hope that this ugly situation resolves itself.

 

[guyvii7]

LOL. I received a letter from my delivery support specialist with the funding team's address at the Dumbarton Circle address. I guess this was the old address. While I live in Oregon, I use to live in Silicon Valley so my credit union is in Cupertino, CA. Lucky for me my loan officer said that she knew of the Fremont Blvd address. She ask me to confirm the address. Lucky for me, she was right and the Fremont address was the right one. Sure would have been awkward to have my bank check lost at the wrong address. The Support Specialist did confirm the address was wrong on the paper sent out and he would have to change it.
Check your funding team address on your letter as well and confirm.
Love the dating the hot chick in High School reference. So true. LOL