Returning Tesla M3 after awful delivery experience

[Shock-On-T]

If this was an inventory car they will keep using them for test drives etc until the deal goes through.
Might have picked up the scratches during a drive.
Tesla is a bit disorganised so might have used the car for test drive when they shouldn’t have.
I think your main problem is that you were expecting and anticipating a great experience and due to Tesla’s poor planning you got a shoddy experience.
I doubt it was malicious though, they are just sloppy.

 

[dame3780]

@jbrady3324 Having plates on the car would be my main concern. Maybe try calling your DMV to see if what they're saying is even possible. I have never heard of or experienced that myself. Good luck

 

[banned-66611]

It's definitely a reject. Someone else has said no, they looked around for the next sap to try to palm it off on to. Now it's a double reject and I bet they will have a third go.

In cases like this posting the VIN is a good idea, to warn other owners.

 

[Olds442]

i've picked up 3 cars in IL, one in westmont, two in highland park. they don't come with metal plates, they come with the cardstock yellow temp plate. no car has had a front plate bracket installed, thank goodness, although they probably should have technically. i'd be suspicious of any metal plated "new" car.

i'd have refused that car, and i think you should return it. i refused my "reserved" LR AWD for reasons different from yours. after that, they (highland park) jumped and found what i wanted in an inventory car with 19 miles on it? iirc. they also discounted

i don't care about free supercharging, i charge at home and only take a road trip once or twice a year. non-issue, it's cheap anyway and there's plenty of free destination charges as well.

a wall charger is like someone giving you $400. If you don't want it, it's a quick flip for cash, someone wants it right now. you also had a color upgrade, that's pretty sweet too but not thaaat big a concession on their part.

at some point you have to be happy, figure out what that is and ask for it. be nice, be reasonable.

i've been dealing with tesla employees at the SC for a couple years, and the best approach is to not be angry. something about an upset customer destroys these millennials to the point of sensory overload. at that point, they tend to retreat and leave you crying in the parking lot. when i refused my car, the delivery gal grabbed a sales person and they joined me at the car. i explained to them, "nobody is upset here, you guys can find what I want, you have it. it's just not this one. take a look and give me a call" that seemed to empower them somehow, and 2 hours later (I left, ran some errands, they called me, i came back) i took delivery of my car. i couldn't be happier now.

the thing that really stabs people, is that your spending a lot of money and feel like your dealing with someone at an AT&T or Verizon store. well, welcome to the future. be glad "Idocracy" wasn't spot on. it could be so much worse. is it right? or acceptable? that's up to each and every buyer to decide on their own, and let the masses of reaction land where they may.

good luck, i know i just ranted a bit. i hope it doesn't come off as negative, highland park really came through for me in the end. i hope the SC you're working with does as well.

 

[Beaver]

We picked up our car from Highland Park and it was a smooth transaction. The car was exceptionally clean and only had two small scratches in the clearcoat on the hood that I could only see when shining an LED light on the car (in my garage at home before applying ceramic).

We only had the yellow temp rear plate installed. The front is still naked.

OP's situation is terrible and hopefully you and Tesla can work it out.

In regards to the employees, we test drove in Westmont Illinois. The guy was very nice and "chill". Too "chill". A month after the test drive he emailed us asking if we needed any assistance with anything. We ordered a few days after the test drive. I have no idea if they still get any compensation for sales but if so he blew it. I would have emailed or called him before ordering but he didn't give us any way to get a hold of him and we didn't get his name.

 

[jbrady3324]

Maybe I put 950 miles on the car, return it and try to get rematched to it at a discount!

 

[Darren Donovan]

This sounds like a car that someone else already rejected. Did a few miles on it, probably to the service centre, bad paintwork and other unknown faults.

Dodgy companies often do this - if something gets returned just give it to another customer, and another, and another until one of them accepts the defects.

The new Tesla way.

 

[mattjs33]

I wouldn't worry too much about 69 miles, as long as the rings have been seated it should be okay, but maybe keep the rpm down until your first oil change.

In all seriousness, I do remember "back in the day" picking up a car for the company fleet (in Illinois) and the dealer having stacks of plates to put on new vehicles. I don't think that's been the case for a long time however. It's definitely suspect, especially since there are threads all over the place here about folks still not having their real plates after a month or more since delivery.

The big thing to me though is I think I read you say that you can't get your trade-in back?? What the hell! Is this how Tesla is going to handle the 7-day grace period? I had a feeling Tesla were sure no one would ever take them up on that.

 

[Skmetallica]

I wouldn't worry too much about 69 miles, as long as the rings have been seated it should be okay, but maybe keep the rpm down until your first oil change.

In all seriousness, I do remember "back in the day" picking up a car for the company fleet (in Illinois) and the dealer having stacks of plates to put on new vehicles. I don't think that's been the case for a long time however. It's definitely suspect, especially since there are threads all over the place here about folks still not having their real plates after a month or more since delivery.

The big thing to me though is I think I read you say that you can't get your trade-in back?? What the hell! Is this how Tesla is going to handle the 7-day grace period? I had a feeling Tesla were sure no one would ever take them up on that.

I think Tesla was sure no one would return the car because it was so great but they didn’t count on their crappy delivery or customer service process instigating all these returns.

 

[rambunkshuss]

Unfortunately I had an extremely underwhelming delivery experience and will be returning the car. On Friday I was offered an incentive of free paint upgrade if I could take delivery by Monday. This required a lot of jumping through hoops on my end to make work (2 week old newborn, prep trade in, take off from work for afternoon delivery, etc). At the time of order I gave the sales rep a referral code and was told the vehicle had 8 miles on it. From a Tesla perspective, this should have been a cake walk. Apply referral and transport car from 15 miles away to another Tesla location so i could pick it up.

You stuck to your guns and have principles. I am surprised by some of the snarky responses. If there were more people like you in the country, maybe we would end the Wars of Terror in the Middle East.

 

[jbrady3324]

Well the saga is coming to an end. I have been asking for days to bring my car in to address the scratches and rattles. No response, whatsoever. At delivery, I was promised that I could bring it back this week before the return period ends. Unfortunately, time runs out on Monday and the car will be returned that morning. I gave Tesla chance to make this all right and they failed at every single level.

To make matters worse, I got in touch with another Tesla location (who does not have availability) and their response was "In a few weeks, you won't care about the rattling because the car is so awesome."

 

[RIP->OPEC]

I feel extremely let down by Tesla. Returning the Tesla will not get me my trade in back and they denied my request to swap for another car pre and post delivery. This is by far the worst car buying expert I have ever had.

NEVER EVER accept & pay for anything you're not happy with.... from a meal that's not appetizing, to a damaged car!
What were you thinking?... !

 

[boyracernj]

Just received my new Tesla using a referral code. The referral code seemed to kick in after a day. Can verify it on the iOS app.

 

[GTV6]

Interesting to read about the negative perception of Tesla CS. My model 3 delivery was perfect. The specialist even found a paint scratch that did not see though I am reasonably fussy. Given my 50 years experience purchasing new cars, Tesla CS over-all is at least average, but expectations and hopes are high.

 

[JoshM]

Clearly retuning the car is the only move here.

That's not clear at all. As far as I know from your OP, you got a paint-upgraded car (e.g. an inventory car they were trying to move) for no extra charge. It had a couple scratches which Tesla surely should fix and you didn't get the Supercharging credits, which Tesla also should fix. Those don't seem like worthy reasons to return the car!

 

[JoshM]

My rep is telling me all Tesla's come with plates. Is it safe to assume that is bs?

Yes, that is BS. I still think you should have kept the car, but does sound like whomever you were dealing with was not being honest or clear with you. You should run it up the flag pole. Contact the manager of the store where you took delivery, then get the regional manager's contact info, etc. until someone is helpful.

But you should still keep the car!!

 

[Pwcsrter]

I agree with the OP. We have had two MS deliveries in the past year. The first one was awful. After the very different buying experience (great), you expect that Tesla is a different kind of car company. While we were taking inventory models, we still expected a worry free experience. The first delivery was a complete mess of no one knowing anything about what we were getting, what we had been promised, etc. In the end, we were comped a bunch of stuff to make us OK, but it was stressful, and left a taste in our mouth that took a while to go away.

We complained about stone chips on the hood, and the detail manager stood up for us and said it had a pile, based on where the car came from, so they repainted the front end and hood.

The second delivery was much better and the only problem was scheduling, which was a mess. But, I know how OP feels. We are supporting a new company and expect the delivery to be like the "family" buying atmosphere. We're part of the Tesla family and it is disconcerting to feel like they don't care anymore. Sounds silly, but that's what it feels like for some of us.

And we Love the car. If you can find a way to get satisfaction (probably paint), keep it. Go talk to the delivery manager (quickly) and tell him what you need to feel good. See what they can do for you.

 

[jbrady3324]

NEVER EVER accept & pay for anything you're not happy with.... from a meal that's not appetizing, to a damaged car!
What were you thinking?... !

Again, it wasn't that simple. They said they would pull the 1k paint incentive if I delayed or walked away. They assured me everything would be addressed within the week. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and they failed.

Yes, that is BS. I still think you should have kept the car, but does sound like whomever you were dealing with was not being honest or clear with you. You should run it up the flag pole. Contact the manager of the store where you took delivery, then get the regional manager's contact info, etc. until someone is helpful.

But you should still keep the car!!

I am trying to keep it. I really am. But every day, the experience gets even worse. I am going to stop into the store today and ask to speak to a manager and start to raise hell. Nothing else is working and I have to make a decision

 

[42 Riverwalk]

Unfortunately I had an extremely underwhelming delivery experience and will be returning the car. On Friday I was offered an incentive of free paint upgrade if I could take delivery by Monday. This required a lot of jumping through hoops on my end to make work (2 week old newborn, prep trade in, take off from work for afternoon delivery, etc). At the time of order I gave the sales rep a referral code and was told the vehicle had 8 miles on it. From a Tesla perspective, this should have been a cake walk. Apply referral and transport car from 15 miles away to another Tesla location so i could pick it up.

At delivery, I discovered that the car had 69 miles on it, the referral code was not applied and the car was dirty and had scratches on the front fender. I raised all of these as red flags and asked for an explanation on how the car went from 8 miles to 69 miles. The delivery team and sales rep had no explanation. Additionally they could not add the referral code and said they will try to get Tesla to approve it after I sign the paperwork. I asked to delay delivery by a day so I could get this done correctly prior and so I could also receive an proper explanation about the miles or get matched to a different car. The rep told me that I would lose out on incentive and should accept the car as is.

I explained how other car companies would make this right on the spot but that was dismissed by the Tesla team. I regretfully signed and took the car home, unhappy. They did not care. To make matters worse I traded in a car.

After this awful experience, I reached out to the sales rep and delivery team to let them know I would be returning the car but wanted to give Tesla a chance to make the situation right .I was quickly told my a sales manager that Tesla would rather me return the car instead of providing me some type of compensation.

I feel extremely let down by Tesla. Returning the Tesla will not get me my trade in back and they denied my request to swap for another car pre and post delivery. This is by far the worst car buying expert I have ever had.

Is there a way to contact Tesla Corporate?

I can't believe this story!

 

[Monkey]

The delivery specialist <cough> should have handled the OP’s concerns much better. First and foremost, it’s very common for mileage discrepancies like this as the mileage is entered as is when the cars are inventoried. From there, mileage can change as the car is moved, taken for test drives, etc.. Most of the time, the delivery team will fill out the odometer statement saying the car has 50 or 75 miles on it as they don’t know how many miles it will have when it gets delivered. This number can be over, but not under, the actual miles on the car. Most states consider a car “new” if it has 500 or fewer miles on it when purchased, some states allow for more miles. The car probably was received and inventoried with 8 miles on it, then it had been on a few test drives, got moved about a few times and then driven to the OP’s delivery location, that’s all.

The referral code could have been added when the OP was taking delivery and should have been. Yes, it would have required some documentation change... Might have taken 5 to 10 minutes. This was the delivery specialist being lazy and/or they applied a different referral code to the order and didn’t want to back it out. Which seems to be an occasional problem with using delivery codes.

Car should have been washed and ready for the OP to take delivery. If there were scratches on the fender, those should have been noted by the delivery team prior to the delivery appointment and they should have already had options or scheduling in the works to have it fixed. If not noticed until delivery, the delivery specialist should have said they would take care of it and move to start scheduling it as part of the delivery appointment.

All car companies have regular issues with new car deliveries. Little scuffs and rock chips, missing accessories, dirty cars, etc... It seems most dealerships do a good job handling these issues without customers noticing. Tesla struggles... They don’t hire experienced staff and provide very little training.

I’m betting there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the car, or at least nothing that can’t be fixed with a quick service visit... It’s just another case of a really crappy delivery specialist or delivery team.

Tesla does run incentives on inventory cars from time to time like not charging the extra for paint colors other than black or the upgraded wheels. They usually go out as internal memos and only last a week or so.