I too have been hit with a big (34%) price increase for a system that was already under a signed contract, permitted, installation scheduled. I paid my deposit in mid 2019, took time off to let three different semi-competent onsite surveyors document my roof, went through three design iterations with semi-competent sales and engineering reps, and signed a Solar Roof Purchase Agreement (contract) in December 2019, countersigned by the President of Tesla Energy Operations.
For the next 13 months, the COVID pandemic happened and Tesla was unable to get a permit from the City of Santa Cruz. That was all sorted by February, 20 21. Tesla got the installation permit for my project and scheduled installation to start on April 19th.
Then, on April 13th, I got the Review and Accept email that others have reported. It provided a new pricing schedule that both increased the size of my roof treatment (mistake) and dramatically raised the price. (I now receive this same email every morning at 6:14a, like clockwork). Later that week, Tesla's scheduler cancelled my install date because I had not accepted their increased pricing. After talking with two Solar Roof Advisors, who promised to get me more information on what and why things had changed, neither followed up with the promised information, nor could they be reached at the phone numbers they gave me. On April 21st, a third Advisor contacted me and promised to provide more explanation on the pricing. This guy actually got back to me by email that afternoon, but the information he provided was useless. It still showed a total price increase of 34%, and the line-by-line price comparisons with my contract made no sense. The price of the solar roof component had doubled, the price of the Powerwall component was a few hundred dollars cheaper but not clear why, and the Preconstruction section included a new charge of $8,100 for Roof Deck Replacement (which had been a N/A item in my contract because the roof deck is only five years old). Furthermore, Tesla had removed a $1000 credit found in my contract for Those Affected by California Wildfires. Also, the second Advisor had offered a free Powerwall as a gesture of generosity, but that was missing from the latest pricing proposal. Basically, every pricing proposal that Tesla has sent me has been inconsistent with the other pricing proposals, so they can't get their story straight.
My bottom line is that I had a signed contract that Tesla is not honoring. Nothing about my project has changed since we signed, and Tesla had ample opportunity to identify and price any difficulties before we finalized the design and contract. The only thing that has changed is Tesla's decision to bait and switch on a signed contract. I'm an architect, and I know what incompetent contractors and shady construction contracting look like. I'm also a an otherwise-happy Tesla customer (Model 3 owner), and I know what bad customer service looks like. Sadly, the Solar Roof division at Tesla is losing credibility and their most loyal customers due to these practices. I will likely be one of them unless they clean up this mess and get my project back on track.
