SR+ Delivery with Scratch | Tesla would not fix | Poll Q

[Reeler]

I went to pickup my black Model 3 this morning and there were a few swirls, a rub mark from shipping, a dust spot on the trunk lid, and a couple of deeper scratches visible in the cleanly detailed car. Most paint damage was on the bumper. They said they could swap out the bumper with a painted one that was in stock if I would wait. After a while, they said they were trying to buff things out instead. They offered to Uber me to work and Uber me back before closing when everything would be fixed. Okay, but when I arrived back there was still at least one deep scratch and maybe more, but the snow was coming down hard in Denver to know for sure.

I asked that they note the scratch on a Due Bill and they said no worries as I could return the car within 7 days. I said all things being equal, I would like it in writing. They said it could be e-mailed tomorrow. I said I am happy to wait so I can get it tonight before I leave with the car for a long drive home.

After I signed everything, activated insurance coverage, ACHed final payment, and was killing time in the car pairing my cell phone, he came to say that I would get no Due Bill and they would not fix the scratch EVER. I could take the car AS IS or pound sand. I politely said I will not take the car under those circumstances and walked. There was no attempt to make good on fixing the scratch or even apologize. Basically, TOUGH SH*T, take it or leave it. At the Denver delivery center today, Tim was my delivery contact, Frank is in charge of sales, Cameron worked my delivery on the phone, and Habib did the upsell to the SR+ and all were very nice in person and professional.

AMAZING, Tesla is a hot mess of a dumpster fire. I have bought many cars and this would have been my 7th Tesla purchase. Never, have I had any car company refuse to fix damage on a new vehicle. I had to explain to my son that he would not be getting a Tesla and can wait for a hand-me-down one. Bye, bye Tesla as that was my last visit to your sales department.

Attached is a photo of the scratch in question. There may have been the other scratches too as some of the damage was pretty bad, but the snow was thick and I didn't think it would be an issue to get Tesla to agree to fix things. Still would take the car with a Due Bill noting the scratches. They will probably flip VIN 5YJ3E1EA3KF296951 to an expecting buyer on a snowy weekend in Denver so caveat emptor.

 

[jonotastic]

The people who work at the service centers are complete idiots. It seems to not matter what state you are in! You'd think a company with such amazing cars wouldn't be viewed as the Walmart of customer service and quality. Maybe the SEC should remove Musk from his post. He would be a good consultant for Tesla, but going through the order process was a living hell and when I finally got my car, I thought it was all worth it, well it is still worth it because the car is amazing, but now I have a whole new thing to deal with about being lied to about getting a free upgrade from EAP to FSD instead of canceling or refusing delivery.

 

[Reeler]

Get things in writing. My last Model 3 delivery at the end of Q3 had a dent in the hood. I was told that I would get a Due Bill e-mailed to me by a delivery person who took a photo in the mad rush to deliver cars. Guess what, no due bill the next day. When I scheduled the fix and got the car there, I was told that they had no record of the issue, but would do me the favor of fixing as a courtesy since I was such a great customer. Why are they allergic to Due Bills that are common place in car sales?

 

[Reeler]

Decided to get another Chevy Bolt. $32,500 with delivery, dealer, doc fees. Full $7500 Federal Tax Rebate and $5000 Colorado Rebate so a net of $20K. I like the Android Auto on these better than the Tesla nav and they drive fine. Not a debate on which is better, but happy with the Bolt for a net of about $15K in savings over the SR+ I tried unsuccessfully to buy yesterday.

 

[abasile]

Decided to get another Chevy Bolt. $32,500 with delivery, dealer, doc fees. Full $7500 Federal Tax Rebate and $5000 Colorado Rebate so a net of $20K. I like the Android Auto on these better than the Tesla nav and they drive fine. Not a debate on which is better, but happy with the Bolt for a net of about $15K in savings over the SR+ I tried unsuccessfully to buy yesterday.

A net of $20K is a sweet deal for any EV with ~240 miles of range and at least some kind of fast charging capability. For a teenager or young adult, that's arguably a better choice than a significantly more expensive Model 3. No parent should feel obligated to buy Teslas for their kids.

That being said, I wouldn't be too quick to write off Tesla. As you know, they have many great employees who work hard to do the right thing. They also have some bad apples, not to mention decent employees who may occasionally have bad judgment. Some of the folks handling the crush of quarter-end deliveries probably aren't experienced in that role. Had you escalated your delivery issue, I expect Tesla would have come around. At the same time, the tax credit is about to drop in half on the Bolt on Monday, so it makes sense that you quickly jumped on a Bolt purchase.

 

[Reeler]

The message that they would not document damaged paint or fix it came from the sales manager (Frank or Nick was his name I think) I was told. Tim (delivery guy) groused that they had already spent 4 hours buffing the paint damage that day and had had enough of me.

Elevate to whom? Tweet EM himself? As far as I could tell, I was at the top of the management chain in Denver at least. I wasted probably 8 hours to purchase this car and the thought of navigating a customer service call center line to get higher in the food chain is not something I care to do as a customer.

Still own 3 Teslas, but I will never purchase another product from them.

 

[Vitold]

I just read that GM announced that they will not be selling Bolt for less after rebates expire. However, based on your price - they already started discounting.

 

[ACA Man]

IMHO, no car is is worth the agony & frustration.
As long as people keep buying their cars, Tesla got no reasons to change.

What a shame, the once premier American car company is now on their way to...

 

[seattlite2004]

I just read that GM announced that they will not be selling Bolt for less after rebates expire. However, based on your price - they already started discounting.

MSRP doesn't change. Dealer incentives, manufucature rebates, etc. will reduce pricing. Discount from MSRP last year when I bought my '18 Bolt Premier was about $8k.....this year it's $10k. So, GM doesn't have to lower MSRP...but no one ever pays MSRP. Heck, if you go into a Tesla storefront, one could easily find an inventory model that's discounted.

 

[Reeler]

If you go on Cars.com, there are quite a few going for $28K. Nothing near Denver though. I bet that is the new pricing with MSRP discounts after Sunday.

 

[abasile]

The message that they would not document damaged paint or fix it came from the sales manager (Frank or Nick was his name I think) I was told. Tim (delivery guy) groused that they had already spent 4 hours buffing the paint damage that day and had had enough of me.

Would they have been willing to sell you a different SR+ if you had been able to wait?

Either way, it shouldn't be your problem that they had to spend hours buffing the paint damage.

Perhaps a root issue is that not all employees can gracefully handle being pushed hard at the end of every quarter. In any case, Denver management shouldn't expect customers to tolerate that sort of paint damage on a car that's being sold as brand new. If they didn't want to fix it, they should have at least offered a discount.

In general, Tesla's approach has been to push hard and sometimes break stuff along the way. They've achieved great results overall, but your latest purchase was, in my opinion, a casualty of this approach. I'm sorry for the pain you've experienced in this.

 

[Reeler]

Would they have been willing to sell you a different SR+ if you had been able to wait?

They didn't offer and I didn't ask. He said he would shred all my paperwork and presumably, a refund is coming. After they abruptly took the position that I should pound sand about closing time for the day in heavy snow, I just hopped in a Uber home.

Like I said, I don't need a car. Just wanted one, but fate sometimes is sending you a message.

 

[SMAlset]

The message that they would not document damaged paint or fix it came from the sales manager (Frank or Nick was his name I think) I was told. Tim (delivery guy) groused that they had already spent 4 hours buffing the paint damage that day and had had enough of me.

Elevate to whom? Tweet EM himself? As far as I could tell, I was at the top of the management chain in Denver at least. I wasted probably 8 hours to purchase this car and the thought of navigating a customer service call center line to get higher in the food chain is not something I care to do as a customer.

Still own 3 Teslas, but I will never purchase another product from them.

Wow that is surprising. I’d be upset enough to type a “real” letter addressed to Elon and to the each of the Board and mail it. Tesla should not have lost your sale over this. I can see the delivery team being stressed with deliveries but that would be uncalled for. While I doubt the paint condition they needed to buff out was their fault, if there was a deep scratch it should have been added to a Due Bill to be addressed later.

 

[Reeler]

It was really weird. Like they were trying to avoid putting anything in writing. Like I was asking them to hold hot lava.

Has anyone ever received a Due Bill from Tesla? My Model S had a dent at delivery and they noted it in handwriting. That would have been fine too last night.

Maybe they are avoiding it because it counts against Tesla's reliability numbers in initial car quality? Really bizarre.

 

[SMAlset]

I just read that GM announced that they will not be selling Bolt for less after rebates expire. However, based on your price - they already started discounting.

Why would they if they know people will pay more for a Model 3 SR. Sort of like how Samsung and others raised their prices to more closely match Apples on their premium phone line. Also for GM if people thought they would do something like Tesla did briefly to combat loss of rebate $s, people wouldn’t buy now and just wait longer and maybe they’d lose sales if people changed their minds.

And to your question on receiving Due Bill items. Yes. Q3 rush, had a few paint spots with maybe dust underneath (nothing major) and a fender/bumper/headlight misalignment on one side. The delivery specialist(?) typed up on his phone the issues we pointed out, he took photos of the areas and sent the email to our local SvC with a copy to my email address. I scheduled an appointment a week or two later and they went over it with us then. The car was subsequently given an appointment at the popup body shop they had just established (later replaced by a permanent Tesla body shop in our area—something Elon said would happen) and the issues were taken care of. Delayed gratification but happy customer. Any issues not handled by the body shop would be left to the SvC. You do have to be the one to make the appointment (maybe thru SvC first?) to schedule Due Bill issues. They are busy and likely waiting for a time you feel is good. But thinking this has anything to do with reliabilty scores is plain off base to me.

Oh and should mention we were told if we found anything else for the Due Bill to send it in an email along with a photo to our service center for inclusion. Think we were given 3 days to report.

 

[gobble]

Today is the last day to get a Bolt or Volt with the full tax credit. I just did a little poking around and don't see anything advertised at $10k off MSRP here. I see up to $7k. $44+ as a starting MSRP seems high for a Bolt premier.

 

[Reeler]

Why would they if they know people will pay more for a Model 3 SR. Sort of like how Samsung and others raised their prices to more closely match Apples on their premium phone line. Also for GM if people thought they would do something like Tesla did briefly to combat loss of rebate $s, people wouldn’t buy now and just wait longer and maybe they’d lose sales if people changed their minds.

GM sells quite a few Bolts overseas. They can still sell plenty in markets where the SR is not available. No expiring tax rebates either to muddy the market forces.

 

[SMAlset]

I would have been hard pressed to take a Bolt over a Model 3 SR in any event. Everytime I would drive it I would have pictured being in an Model 3 instead. In fact don’t think I could do it even if less expensive. I just really love everything about my car from looks, storage, screen, to how it handles and drives. And look forward to the updates. TeslaCam and Sentry Mode were nice additions.

 

[phlevcar]

I would've done the same thing. Good for you.

 

[abasile]

Has anyone ever received a Due Bill from Tesla? My Model S had a dent at delivery and they noted it in handwriting. That would have been fine too last night.

Our Model 3 had a cosmetic defect in the windshield, which the delivery/service folks offered to fix if we were willing to wait a week or two longer to take delivery. We opted to take delivery right away, and they promised to replace the windshield at a later date, at our convenience. I never did get a due bill, and months later we still haven’t bothered to have the windshield replaced. I’m not worried, though, as it is obviously not something we could have caused ourselves.