Reported failure points in delivery process

[neroden]

This is what I've gleaned from following everyone's stories.

These are the points where deliveries have failed.
(1) Before assignment of delivery center / assignment of delivery advisor.

Some people who ordered early have heard NOTHING. This seems to be because of bugs in Tesla's computer system. The only way to get the process going is to call and escalate until someone makes sure that a delivery location and a delivery advisor are assigned in the system.

There may be other key data missing too. You have to make them kick the system until it actually starts processing your order; escalate to bosses as needed.

If you're in this situation, don't stop calling. Your order is effectively lost until you get the missing computer data fixed. Yes, you already told them where you wanted to deliver the car, and their computer system lost it. Yes, they were supposed to assign you a delivery advisor, and they didn't.

This is the worst situation to be in and requires constant pressure until you solve the problem. Alternatively, some people have cancelled their orders, gotten a refund, and put in a new order, hoping that the new order will not have the same computer glitch.

I believe this is the main cause of early orderers / early reservation holders getting totally shafted.

(2) On trade-ins.
The trade-in department runs on its own schedule, and doesn't seem to know whether it's delaying deliveries.

If you can afford to, don't do a trade-in; Tesla doesn't want to deal with it anyway. If you need to do a trade-in, and it's the last thing delaying... get the trade-in department directly, and let them know that they're the holdup on your delivery, which is probably the only way to get them to prioritize things.

(3) MIA or dishonest delivery advisor
This seems to be the most common problem. The person who is supposed to handle the process is just MIA, or worse, lying.

In this case, give them some time, document your sequence of calls and the sequence of *not* getting calls back (or getting lied to) and then try to get them replaced or fired. Tesla needs to get rid of people who can't do their jobs. In many cases, just getting the delivery advisor replaced solved people's problems.

(4) Transportation scheduling problems
There is little to be done about this. Just check with your local delivery center (you did make sure it was assigned in the system, right?) to see whether the car's actually arriving.

(5) Damage in transit or cars arriving with factory damage
Again, there is little to be done about this. Use the two-day return policy if you need to. Be patient about getting a new car assigned.

(6) Inability to get VIN which is needed for insurance or financing.
Emphasize that you can't pay them until you get the VIN.

Most people don't need the VIN; if you don't need it don't ask for it. If you do need it, keep calling until you get it.

(7) Fake delivery dates assigned by system.
Tesla's current procedure, which is garbage, requires that a "placeholder" delivery date gets assigned in order to actually get a VIN assigned. So don't trust that date at all; it's nothing. If you have a responsive delivery advisor, or a responsive delivery center, and *those* are in the system, you can call to figure out when delivery will really be.

(8) Locations overwhelmed
Nothing to be done about this. Once you have a delivery center assigned, you can check with them to see whether people who ordered way after you are already getting their cars.

(9) Tesla's current practice of shooting cars around the country at random and trying to match your order with one which is randomly going to your delivery center is causing some pretty dumb delays.

 

[sperkin]

Just wait. I'm not in a rush. It's Tesla in a rush. I have a Sept 30 pickup but no contact and no loan app. I will just call on Sept 30th and put some pressure on them. Makes no difference if I pick up on Q3 or Q4.

As we seen in Q2, last week of pickup had poor quality cars. Now if this is Q4, I would be worried. It's a $3,000 difference.

 

[deadward]

I'm stuck at (1) currently. Phone rep on Monday said no VIN, no delivery advisor, be patient. Customer Experience Specialist at local store on Wednesday said "I see your VIN, the car is 5 miles away, I don't see your $2500 order payment. I'm escalating this, take my card." Followed up with her yesterday, she emailed to ask what options I selected because "we are having trouble seeing them at the moment." Then told me it's been escalated and is being looked into, then radio silence when I asked when I can expect to hear from someone.

Guess I'm gonna sit on hold all day again. This has been madness and chaos ever since I configured.

 

[neroden]

I'm stuck at (1) currently. Phone rep on Monday said no VIN, no delivery advisor, be patient. Customer Experience Specialist at local store on Wednesday said "I see your VIN, the car is 5 miles away, I don't see your $2500 order payment. I'm escalating this, take my card." Followed up with her yesterday, she emailed to ask what options I selected because "we are having trouble seeing them at the moment." Then told me it's been escalated and is being looked into, then radio silence when I asked when I can expect to hear from someone.

Guess I'm gonna sit on hold all day again. This has been madness and chaos ever since I configured.

You're doing the right thing. Do not under any circumstances be patient. Tesla needs to find out why some people's orders are "losing information". Fixing problems like yours is the company's top priority, and the squeakier a wheel you are, the better.
Check in with the person at the local store on a daily basis; she seems really nice and hard-working, so be nice to her and compliment her to everyone else you talk to.

If they try to put you off, point out that you are very concerned by Tesla "losing" your money and "losing" your options and are concerned that the company may have had some sort of hacker attack on their IT systems (I am actually concerned about this now). You might also try tweeting Musk or running executive escalation if the nice person at the local store is unable to get anyone back to you within a week.

Troy apparently tried to tweet Musk because his spreadsheet is showing that all orders made on a certain date have gotten "lost". I believe Musk didn't respond. There's something very wrong in the IT system. I don't think Tesla management is aware of it yet. I think the other problems are minor compared to people stuck in situation (1).

 

[jcasetnl]

Some people who ordered early have heard NOTHING. This seems to be because of bugs in Tesla's computer system. The only way to get the process going is to call and escalate until someone makes sure that a delivery location and a delivery advisor are assigned in the system.

I appreciate you taking the time to help prospective buyers, but at the same time, I disagree with your suggested explanation. Remember at one time Tesla was considered a tech company first and a car company a distant second? How is it that this cutting edge Silicon Valley 3.0 company that plays 3D chess can't even keep track of orders?

The excuses range from, "still in the startup phase", computer bugs, trucks taking too long, trucks breaking down, damage in transit, mean train people refusing to release cars so leaving them in extremely costly storage, refunds taking well over a month, selling cars to cash-in-hand buyers while people who ordered two years ago still wait, paid-in-full buyers routinely getting the dreaded "reschedule" notification.

It just doesn't add up. The BEST case scenario is gross incompetence. The worst is some sort of fraud.

And I say this because deposits and payments are not held in escrow. It's their money now! You are NOT guaranteed to get your money back. All you have is a promise of a car at that point.

Folks, you just don't take these kinds of risks with +$50,000!!!

 

[neroden]

I appreciate you taking the time to help prospective buyers, but at the same time, I disagree with your suggested explanation. Remember at one time Tesla was considered a tech company first and a car company a distant second? How is it that this cutting edge Silicon Valley 3.0 company that plays 3D chess can't even keep track of orders?

People think it's a cutting edge tech company? Hah. The hardware's actually cutting edge; the software, I could rewrite better in a week. Personally.

I consider this company to have a really bad Information Technology department. I've had my car for 5 years, and I have 5 years of evidence of bad IT. Ask the people who are simply trying to use the USB music player how good Tesla's programmers are (i.e. terrible).

Worse than that, they have god-awful internal communications. This is their absolute worst area and always has been. Five years ago, I shared my story about trying to get the necessary paperwork out of them so that I could get car insurance before my car arrived. It required escalating and calling an entirely different office. NOTHING has improved since then.

The third area they're awful at is the legal department (which explains why they seem unable to grasp the concept that some people need their VINs in order to get financing, why they mistakenly sent Connecticut cars to Massachusetts when it's not legal to deliver them from there, etc.)

The BEST case scenario is gross incompetence.

It's gross incompetence. Have no doubt about it.

I've been trying to figure out how to get these three major problems to the attention of the top executives, who have been ignoring the three major problems with the company for five years solid. Frankly, they wouldn't have had these problems if I'd been a Tesla exec, or on the Board. The problems arise from simply ignoring crucial aspects of management. I'm not even any *good* at those aspects of managment, but merely recognizing that these are major issues would have been the key, which is why having me on the Board would have largely prevented the problem.

There is some hope: this clusterfuck seems to finally have penetrated to the attention of Elon Musk. If he actually sets his mind to the problems (which he never has so far) and bothers to do some research on management communications issues (which he hasn't yet), things can be set on the right path.

 

[SMAlset]

I appreciate you taking the time to help prospective buyers, but at the same time, I disagree with your suggested explanation. Remember at one time Tesla was considered a tech company first and a car company a distant second? How is it that this cutting edge Silicon Valley 3.0 company that plays 3D chess can't even keep track of orders?

The excuses range from, "still in the startup phase", computer bugs, trucks taking too long, trucks breaking down, damage in transit, mean train people refusing to release cars so leaving them in extremely costly storage, refunds taking well over a month, selling cars to cash-in-hand buyers while people who ordered two years ago still wait, paid-in-full buyers routinely getting the dreaded "reschedule" notification.

It just doesn't add up. The BEST case scenario is gross incompetence. The worst is some sort of fraud.

And I say this because deposits and payments are not held in escrow. It's their money now! You are NOT guaranteed to get your money back. All you have is a promise of a car at that point.

Folks, you just don't take these kinds of risks with +$50,000!!!

Sorry but disagreeing with the premise this is gross incompetence or fraud. Followed the system for 3 months and a bit after when we were buying our Model S at the end of 2016. It ran pretty smoothly back then. You could pretty much tell where along the path you were and depending on what part of the country you were in when you’d likely get your car. VIN numbers were more or less consecutive as I recall. I think Model 3 started out in a similar fashion. The focus on mass producing and ramping up and having to resolve and improve the process along the way for the Model 3 has no doubt taken a lot of focus and time away from the end game of getting the cars into the hands of consumers. I also suspect the delay in battery production and line production has postponed the revenue they anticipated coming in sooner. I’d like to believe they thought the system they had in place could be scaled, but then realized too late the cars were coming out faster than they could advance thru delivery.

I’m sure some of the departures at Tesla may have had an impact on the current situation in one way or another. The delivery end is very people dependant and either being short staffed or being unable to keep up with all the orders down through the chain of people needing to be involved will cause issues and slowdowns. Get too far behind and well lots of unhappy people waiting for their car. Also possible that the computer system couldn’t handle all the records.

I’m on my third delivery scheduling for my car and do believe it will be there tomorrow. It’s a great car. I’m excited to be getting it. I think what Tesla has done to this point and what is in the works is amazing. Love knowing all the new Superchargers are out there to improve long distance and sometimes local charging for owners. I’m even excited about the Semi although I’ll never drive one. I’m one who is willing to give them a pass on my delivery experience at this point in time. Would have loved to have seen it go as smoothly as our Model S did, but know this is a big learning experience for them what with the ramp up. And all of the delivery issues you mentioned above, like issues in the transport of the cars to delivery centers or stores are what they are. Not always in the control of Tesla. One thing I’ve seen with Tesla from owner comments is they will try to work you to make it right and if not have bought back cars and refunded money. Looking at the number of purchasers willing to buy a Model 3 and not cancelling, I’d say people are willing to wade through the ups and downs to get the best EV car out there and one that we know has the highest rating for safety now. Don’t feel like I’m risking $50,000+ at all and will end up with the car I ordered.

Will add that with our Model S and with our Model 3 both cars were/will be delivered within the timeframe given.

 

[Jedi2155]

On top of gross incompetence, there could still be saboteurs within the ranks.

 

[umair239]

P3D Reservation holder: 10/16
Configured: 08/02
Pearl White w/Black Interior
Delivery initially scheduled for 09/26. Had VIN assigned, in 69k, but VIN disappeared from account yesterday. Called advisor confirm what is going on. Assigned a new VIN in 89k but told that delivery is delayed today and will have to be scheduled on 09/30 and that previous VIN was matched with someone else. It was probably one of the f*ckers who ordered their P3D in early September and got it delivered within 2-3 weeks which is such bs. My advisor says car will be at the delivery center on 09/27 but it is showing to be in transit still. How am I to trust the company when they're treating me like I owe them money and they have no reason to be transparent with me? If my delivery is delayed again I am considering cancelling my order. F all this!

 

[neroden]

So, reported computer bugs include:
- Buyer had license and insurance uploaded to tesla.com, but when the delivery people looked at their computer system, it didn't have them in it, so the order didn't progress. (Reported at least twice.)
- Buyer had entered a delivery location, but the delivery people didn't have one entered in their system, so the order didn't progress. (Reported at least once. Same thing.)
- $2500 deposit was not showing up in the delivery people's computer system, even though it had been paid. (Reported once.)
- No delivery advisor was assigned, for no obvious reason, so the order didn't progress.

There's a severe data integrity problem going on which is messing up a lot of people's orders. Specifically it seems to be messing up the orders for some of the people who made the earliest reservations and orders.

 

[deadward]

So, reported computer bugs include:
- Buyer had license and insurance uploaded to tesla.com, but when the delivery people looked at their computer system, it didn't have them in it, so the order didn't progress. (Reported at least twice.)
- Buyer had entered a delivery location, but the delivery people didn't have one entered in their system, so the order didn't progress. (Reported at least once. Same thing.)
- $2500 deposit was not showing up in the delivery people's computer system, even though it had been paid. (Reported once.)
- No delivery advisor was assigned, for no obvious reason, so the order didn't progress.

There's a severe data integrity problem going on which is messing up a lot of people's orders. Specifically it seems to be messing up the orders for some of the people who made the earliest reservations and orders.

Both of those last two have been reported to have been happening with my order by a store employee. I wouldn't be surprised to know that one or both of your first points was affecting me too.

Still waiting for anyone at all to get in touch, be it that same store employee or the delivery personnel she escalated the issue to on Wednesday night.

 

[TeeEmCee]

Stressing the OP’s point: call/ask around yourselves!

Case in point: I have a delivery scheduled in one week. My IDA has been incommunicado and, after I pestered the main Tesla call center, they had him get back to me with a generic email stating that the vehicle is in transit.

Today I fellt like screwing around for a bit and I drove to the local delivery center. I spoke to someone there about my delivery (this was well after hours) and he was kind enough to check on the car for me. It turns out the car responds to location requests just fine and it’s actually there, at the delivery center.

You’d think they’d want to get rid of them as soon as they come in or at the very least keep the customers in the loop as to their cars’ whereabouts.

This is truly bad as one could simply run a script that pinged all contracted vehicles and lets customers, IDAs and delivery centers know where they are, what their status is and calculate a (perhaps expedited) delivery date from there. I find it a bit disapoointing that techie Tesla is not doing something as seemingly trivial as this.

 

[neroden]

Wow. I'd call the Tesla call center saying that you want to talk to your IDA's boss and get him fired for being MIA, and before that, ask your local delivery center if you can pick up early!

My firm conclusion is that Tesla is not a techie firm.

 

[Goatdan]

Just check with your local delivery center (you did make sure it was assigned in the system, right?) to see whether the car's actually arriving.

Wait, how do you do that? Or do you just keep calling the delivery center?

It just doesn't add up. The BEST case scenario is gross incompetence. The worst is some sort of fraud.

...

Folks, you just don't take these kinds of risks with +$50,000!!!

First, if you're in this situation, you don't have $50,000+ on the line, just your deposit.

As for your scenarios, that's pretty unfair.

Software, even written by amazing coders, can have bugs in it. It seems that the system has a number of bugs in it that have been found recently.

In normal circumstances, these could be found and addressed quickly, as often doing so requires someone hand sorting the data and the having someone follow up with the person directly to proactively confirm details. Due to the giant rush to deliver so many cars, the people who could normally follow up are frantically answering questions as quickly as possible.

I think it was a mistake to do the mass delivery emails they did, and I think until they solve that problem, they really can't fix anything else. Once it's over, I expect the rest to be fixed pretty quickly.

Its hard to know where your system is broken until you have really stress tested it.

 

[neroden]

It's very odd that data is getting lost between the tesla.com system and the backend system which schedules production and deliveries.

 

[TM34M]

Had delivery scheduled for 9/21 and was there for over 4hrs before I was shown my car (matching VIN). While there, it seem like a comedy of errors, three different people talked to me and later that evening, I realized they didn’t know of each other. Long story short after almost 4 hours of waiting around I was asked to basically start over and fill out/sign all the same paper work again, which I had signed during the first 30 minutes I was there.

Here is where things go bad. After completing the paper work, I was finally going to be shown my car (yet by another person, who seemed clueless and barely said a word), but it’s 9:30pm at this point and very dark out. I told them I needed to inspect the car, they drove the car close to the store where there was some light (not good enough). After looking at the car for a bit, I noticed a couple of things, so asked them to please move the car inside, which he didn’t do until hi boss (?) told him it was ok.

I noticed quite a few paint imperfections, center console looked awful and B pillar not flushed. There is basically no one at the store at this point, and the clueless guy (clearly just wanted to go home) just said to call the store within 24hrs to schedule a service appointment and they’ll take care of it. As I started to pull away, I spotted they guy that took my paper work so called his attention and showed him all the issues. He was very nice, but really tried to minimize them all and said car has been inspected to their standards. What!

In any case, he said I could leave it and they’ll take care of it, or I can take it and schedule an appointment. I told him I rather leave it. He went inside and a few mins later came back out and said is better if I take the car and in the contract he jotted down what was wrong and that someone would contact me to schedule a service appointment to fix the problems (also asked me to email him the pictures). Thought it sounded reasonable, but a minute later thought it didn’t make sense to take the car to have it sit in my driveway just to bring it back when they called. Also, Instill have my 3 series, so no rush there. Again told him I prefer to leave it, and that’s when he gave me this story that it could be months before I get my car back and may need to assign a new VIN and couldn’t promise when it will be ready. It’s 10pm now, don’t have a ride home and having to wait months didn’t sound like a good option. So I took the car and would just wait for the car - terrible decision.

Could barely sleep that night and first thing in the morning I emailed him back and told him, how bad an experience this was, don’t feel comfortable and will be bringing car back. He called me soon after and again repeated the “they are so backed up story” and added there is so much store traffic that car was safer in my driveway until they can take care of it. Also asked me to scheduled a service appointment via my account. However, I decided I can’t keep this car and drove it back to the store (this is a little over 12 hours since I picked it up).

The worse, once I got there long story short, he tells me I accepted delivery and this is now is a service matter not a delivery issue - What! I never wanted to take the car in the first place, and told him he knew I should have never taken it. They promised they’ll take care of it, the service guy came out to see the car and agreed to all the imperfections and suddenly, they could take the car in for repair first thing Monday morning (thought they were so backed up)?

I’m growing concern and wonder if I should have just taken a new VIN. This feels like #1 dishonesty, and wonder if I should do #5 return policy. I still want a Model 3, same configuration and as repeated multiple times to them, as long as it doesn’t go past December, I can wait. I can be somewhat forgiving but just not feeling good about this delivery experience. Please advise.

 

[neroden]

One of those (the 8c6 photo) is a serious problem. You are correct in demanding the 2-day return. If it means it'll take a long time to get a replacement car, tell them that's OK, you're not in a hurry.

 

[notAnExpert]

@TM34M
I’d return it. I’d rather risk losing $3,750 (if they can’t deliver an acceptable car by Dec 31) instead of agonizing and losing sleep over this.

That’s just me, not saying you should.

 

[cmyke]

Just wait. I'm not in a rush. It's Tesla in a rush. I have a Sept 30 pickup but no contact and no loan app. I will just call on Sept 30th and put some pressure on them. Makes no difference if I pick up on Q3 or Q4.

As we seen in Q2, last week of pickup had poor quality cars. Now if this is Q4, I would be worried. It's a $3,000 difference.

If you have no VIN, I hate to tell you, but delaying your call until the 30th is just adding a week to the inevitable.

 

[TM34M]

One of those (the 8c6 photo) is a serious problem. You are correct in demanding the 2-day return. If it means it'll take a long time to get a replacement car, tell them that's OK, you're not in a hurry.

Th is Neroden, honestly a new VIN is beginning to feel right.

For my education, can I ask why is pic 8c6 a serious problem? Didn’t upload all pics, but there is a similar issue to a lesser extend is in a different place too, where the paint fades to the point the metal/aluminium(?) is exposed.