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Red - Bumper color does not match body, service refused

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Hi guys,

Thanks for keeping the post running. I have managed to OK from tesla on repaint. There will not do the repaint themselves but are sending me to their partner shop. Not too impressed with customer service - they just cut the contact with me, no phone number, no email to write to. But I'm happy that they admitted the issue.

See pictures below of my car beside another one in Tesla service center. It was not easy for them to say no after this, but still, we spent 2h in the service center while they discussed this.
 

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Thanks for keeping the post running. I have managed to OK from tesla on repaint. There will not do the repaint themselves but are sending me to their partner shop. Not too impressed with customer service - they just cut the contact with me, no phone number, no email to write to. But I'm happy that they admitted the issue.

Glad to hear they will fix it for you. Please post pics after the repaint when you have the chance...
 
Hi guys,

Thanks for keeping the post running. I have managed to OK from tesla on repaint. There will not do the repaint themselves but are sending me to their partner shop. Not too impressed with customer service - they just cut the contact with me, no phone number, no email to write to. But I'm happy that they admitted the issue.

See pictures below of my car beside another one in Tesla service center. It was not easy for them to say no after this, but still, we spent 2h in the service center while they discussed this.

Interesting that they are repainting your bumper. In my case, they replaced my bumper with a new factory-painted bumper. Maybe outside the US they don't stock the bumpers.

It's probably better that they are repainting since the factory replacement still isn't a perfect match, but it's good enough not to stick out like a sore thumb. A good paint shop can match the paint perfectly, but will you get a good paint shop is the question.

2020-02-10 10.08.47.jpg
 
Update, so 2 months car was finally fixed. I'm happy with the results. The picture was taken in dim light, but in reality, it looks very nice.
Would i accept another car with a defect from Tesla - NOP. I wasted a lot of time on this.
Before:
Before.jpg

After:
After.jpg
 
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Update, so 2 months car was finally fixed. I'm happy with the results. The picture was taken in dim light, but in reality, it looks very nice.
Would i accept another car with a defect from Tesla - NOP. I wasted a lot of time on this.

Nice - glad to hear it's finally fixed and you are happy with the result ! I would not accept a Tesla with paint defects either, I learned my lesson also...
 
It wasn't just the red painted bumpers that are a problem for Tesla. It's all sorts of colors. The problem is that the paint process is slightly different for the plastic bumpers vs. the aluminum panels, and I suspect there are some shortcuts being taken in the factory to get these painted fast enough -- namely, that bumpers are painted by different people at a different location in the factory. A lot of people would just accept it as is, and I know they are banking on that.

We took delivery of my wife's White Model 3 SR+ on Dec 28th. One hell of a car. I liked it so much I stole the car from her that day, gave her my Audi, and promptly ordered a P3D+ (which arrives in the next 2 weeks, and she'll get her Model 3 back ;)).

However, the white color and texturing were different on the bumpers than the main panels. It was pretty obvious to me. But you had to look in different lighting. There was also a dent/ding on the side/edge of a door panel (from the factory! you could tell because it was fully painted and clear coated over).

During delivery it was such a rush through, and the guy handing over the car wasn't even someone who worked in that department. So we didn't get it documented.

After a month, I made a service appointment through the app, went into the appointment, an advisor and a technician looked at the car and deemed it a Tesla problem and scheduled the repair at a nearby partner autobody shop. I got a Model S loaner via Enterprise for over 2 weeks, and the auto body shop knocked it out of the park.

$3500 for the repair, $1500 for the Tesla Model S loaner. Tesla's dime.

Sad to think they could have saved $5000 and a whole lot of hassle if they had just made it correctly to begin with.

But at the end of the day, I'm happy! And I'm still getting the second car.