Reservation Fee Refund Request

[RjbT3]

I have just written to Tesla and requested a refund for my Reservation fee. With no delivery window estimate, no car allocated and no explanation It has been a waste of £1000 for over three years. I really have no idea when I will receive my car. Plenty of customers ordering with £2000 deposits instead of £3000 and getting cars allocated no problem. The additional deposit/fee has become punitive let alone beneficial.

I don't see why any reservation fee payer should be out of pocket anymore. Things have clearly changed, the reservation fee stands for nothing (or just as a tiebreaker for someone with the exact same spec and delivery location), but Tesla just holds on to it anyway.

It should be refunded or Reservation holders offered something in recognition/recompense.

 

[RjbT3]

I added a poll because perhaps some people still feel it was worthwhile.

 

[RamsfanJim]

I have just written to Tesla and requested a refund for my Reservation fee. With no delivery window estimate, no car allocated and no explanation It has been a waste of £1000 for over three years. I really have no idea when I will receive my car. Plenty of customers ordering with £2000 deposits instead of £3000 and getting cars allocated no problem. The additional deposit/fee has become punitive let alone beneficial.

I don't see why any reservation fee payer should be out of pocket anymore. Things have clearly changed, the reservation fee stands for nothing (or just as a tiebreaker for someone with the exact same spec and delivery location), but Tesla just holds onto it anyway.

Sorry, I'm confused.. I also paid £1000 on day 1, and another £2000 on order. All of this is a deposit towards the final payment, so you don't lose anything, just not get the benefit we should have had? Are you cancelling your order? If not, even if you are successful and get your £1000 back, you just have to pay it again on delivery...

 

[RjbT3]

you don't lose anything, just not get the benefit we should have had?

Correct.

I'm not cancelling my order, just asking for the £1000 back so I have only paid £2000 deposit like anyone else without a reservation. Better in my pocket for the next two months than Tesla's. With $5 billion in cash on hand, they don't exactly need it!

 

[Tony Hoyle]

1000 for two months, not worth the time and effort for the amount of interest you're making.. but it's your money..

 

[RjbT3]

1000 for two months, not worth the time and effort for the amount of interest you're making.. but it's your money..

Yeah, that's one way of looking at it and in some circumstances, I would agree. But they have had it for over 3 years and as turns out it has been no benefit to me whatsoever.

 

[ACarneiro]

Well, you will have to forgive me if I think you're making an emotional decision with little prospect of a benefit to you (in what way are you going to invest £1000 over 2 months or so that will give you a meaningful return?) and with the possibility of triggering further delays in your order process (i doubt they'll just refund your reservation fee and you risk them cancelling the order altogether, thus putting you back at the bottom of the elusive "list").
Just my two cents...

 

[StephenEdinb]

Agree with the sentiment but also the follow up comments.

I do think it’s a lesson learned for everyone going forward possibly considering a Model Y reservation.

 

[RamsfanJim]

I agree with the other comments, and wouldn't take this step myself but I absolutely sympathise and admire you for taking a stand - I don't believe day 1 reservation holders have been looked after as they should.
I still can't believe some of the first deliveries in June weren't day 1 reservations...

 

[Nell]

I was a Day 1 reservation but the “£1,000” reservation fee I thought was taken by Tesla apparently ended up being $1,000 due to the usual Tesla chaos - so actually about £680 according to my order invoice. Anyone else in same boat??

 

[RjbT3]

Well, you will have to forgive me if I think you're making an emotional decision with little prospect of a benefit to you (in what way are you going to invest £1000 over 2 months or so that will give you a meaningful return?) and with the possibility of triggering further delays in your order process (i doubt they'll just refund your reservation fee and you risk them cancelling the order altogether, thus putting you back at the bottom of the elusive "list").
Just my two cents...

Emotional perhaps, but I wouldn't really call it a decision, more like a request. I also think there may be some benefit to me, certainly more than it is benefitting me right now or thus far. I really don't think it will delay my order and I may even get some sort of recognition that it has been a wasted exercise. There are plenty of examples of orders being changed once or more/cancelled and re-ordered with VINs allocated. Besides, I ordered in May it looks like I'll be lucky to get a September delivery and if it's October/November it could well be that anyway.

In terms of investing it over the next two months, I'll buy 5 TSLA shares at the current price which looks good to me. Let's see what TSLA is in October and decide if it was worth it (not that I'd sell that soon). But to be honest, that's not really the point.

TSLA currently $228 per share (close to the price they were in April 2016 so an interesting one to watch!).

 

[james_power]

I was a Day 1 reservation but the “£1,000” reservation fee I thought was taken by Tesla apparently ended up being $1,000 due to the usual Tesla chaos - so actually about £680 according to my order invoice. Anyone else in same boat??

You paid by AMEX like me I guess, on the day in the chaos AMEX cards were charged in dollars not pounds (despite the confirmation email saying the contrary), so $1000 which converted and less commission was just under £700

 

[Durzel]

Unless you have no intention of buying the car it sounds like you're cutting your nose off to spite your face?

It's always been arguable what the reservation deposit would actually do for you in the grand scheme of things, especially as it was fully refundable at any point in the last 3 years. That's not much of a commitment.

I would imagine all things being equal if two people wanted the bog standard SR+ spec car with no options then the person with the reservation would get preference. If you ordered a full fat P+ - basically giving Tesla as much money as possible - I would fully expect you to jump the queue. It makes total financial sense from their point of view, and it's not at all uncommon for people buying exclusive cars to get priority over others if they load it with options.

It's a shame that you thought putting down £1k 3 years ago would mean that you get priority over *everyone*, or that you were buying a position in a queue no matter how cheap your car spec was, but that's not Tesla's fault, I don't think.

 

[RjbT3]

Unless you have no intention of buying the car it sounds like you're cutting your nose off to spite your face?

Why?

I've nothing to lose, and you've explained very eloquently that the reservation hasn't given me much, if any priority.

It's a shame that you thought putting down £1k 3 years ago would mean that you get priority over *everyone*, or that you were buying a position in a queue no matter how cheap your car spec was, but that's not Tesla's fault, I don't think.

I didn't think either of these things but I still disagree with what you say here.

 

[Durzel]

I've nothing to lose, and you've explained very eloquently that the reservation hasn't given me much, if any priority.

Well, your reservation might count for something, you can't know for certain that it won't count for anything. It could be the tie-breaker with someone ordering the same car as you but without the reservation.

Since the £1k goes against the balance anyway getting a refund on it when you're going to buy the car anyway means you lose whatever the reservation may have given you (which could be nothing, or something, depending on other factors), and it's not like that £1k can really do much for you at this late stage. Three years ago if you'd put it in an ISA or something, but not now.

For what it's worth I don't think it's fair that people who put down money ended up being treated as basically free money for Tesla for 3 years, but the same thing happened in the States too.

 

[dan223]

I can’t see you getting a refund, you will probably have to cancel the order and then order again, and then you will be another 2k out of pocket while you wait for a refund and then pushed to the back to the queue. They have had your 1k for years now another couple of months isn’t really going to make a difference...

 

[RjbT3]

but the same thing happened in the States too.

I did not know that. I thought in the states it kind of worked out better, being a domestic market. But I suppose that was an assumption.

I can’t see you getting a refund, you will probably have to cancel the order and then order again, and then you will be another 2k out of pocket while you wait for a refund and then pushed to the back to the queue. They have had your 1k for years now another couple of months isn’t really going to make a difference...

Yes.I am unsure I'll get it refunded too. Judging by the experience so far I don't expect it to be quick and easy. I wonder if anyone else has experience of reservation refunds? I appreciate this may be different as I have an active order in place.

I definitely won't be cancelling my order, especially if I have to pay another£2k while I wait for a refund. That would be foolish.

 

[Rooster6655]

To note they can take up to 3 weeks to refund payments so probably not worth bothering.

Yes the reservation fee was a waste of time but it’s 3 years too late now

 

[DELECO]

I think the key to all this is not the Fault of any Person. Anyone with a reservation has been stitched up especially in the UK.

I would say the Fault lies squarely at the door of Tesla - and a complete lack of transparency in the process.

I am also very frustrated but have waited to long already to give up now, plus i have no current car having sold it back to dealer.

I can not find the exact promise, but it was very much an expectation of giving Tesla £1000 3 years ago would have given you a preference, in fact, any reservation holder, should have had their car built and shipped first.

So i can totally understand the sentiment, as i have seriously considered cancelling myself.. not good at all from Tesla

 

[Keeper]

Just think of the suspense, the thrills, the agony, the comradery, the intrigue, the passion and the fun that you've had over the last 3 years and all that its cost you is the ROI on £1000. Its much better value than the Netflix, Primes and Skys of this world and So much more entertaining!!