Thanks for this community. I am on the verge of giving up on getting my dream car - the Model X - because of all the little things that have gone wrong in my buying experience. Here's the story of how my Model X buying experience has panned out so far:
- My first port of call was to set up a test drive. I set up a test drive in early September.
- Fault 1: After driving an hour to get to the store, I was running late and called Tesla to ask if it was OK that I was running late. They said "No problem! Just show up and we'll take you out!". I got there 15 minutes late, and was told there was no one to give me a test drive. I needed to reschedule. I was disappointed, but they told me my OA could bring the car to my house. "Cool! They are really trying to take care of me!"
- Fault 2: The OA came to my house and gave me a 15 minute test drive and couldn't get auto-parking to work. (Later, I had a second test drive, and realize I didn't see even 1/10th of the features of the car on the first one.)
- After weighing my options (Dream Car vs. Practical Car), I was leaning towards my dream car - the Model X. I called up to talk pricing and realized I didn't see any features of Enhanced Autopilot. I set up another test drive.
- The second test drive was with a new OA (the first one quit) and it was much more thorough. Enhanced Autopilot sold me even more on the car, and on buying that feature.
- Annoyance 1: I told the OA to get me pricing on some inventory vehicles. We had to go back and forth dozens of times because I can't peruse the inventory myself and was hoping to find a great deal.
- Fault 3: Through this process, my OA was giving me only half of the information about included features at each turn, and he felt generally ignorant of the features until I pushed with more directed questions.
- Fault 4: I asked for more information on the CO tax credit, and when/how I would receive my $5000. I had to call 3 different Tesla shops and the main line to ultimately find out that I could call CO Dept of Revenue. I would have figured they had this information handy for their sales reps if they want to sell cars.
- Fault 5: I told my rep I was 100% ready to order but he needed to call me on Oct 24th early in the day, before I got on a plane and was disconnected for a week. He called me late in the day on Oct 24, as I was on the Jetway - not in a position to place an order.
- Fault 6: On the jetway, he told me he was wrong about the taxes, and costs. I originally was told it was a $5000 down payment + 4% taxes. When connecting with my rep on the jetway, I found out the taxes were 8%, not 4% – a difference of $5000 in taxes owed. Needed to re-run my numbers, and thought that might be a deal-breaker for me.
- Fault 7: Since I was disconnected, I had to re-run my numbers when I got back home on Oct 28th. At that time, I told my OA I was still interested, but needed to clear up some questions before I could put down my deposit. He waited 2 full days to get back to me. I received a call late in the day on Oct 31st (a few hours before the $1000 off deadline). He cleared up my tax question, and turns out it wasn't a deal breaker. I re-ran my numbers, and was ready to buy.
- Fault 8: Since I went to put in my deposit on Nov 1 (hours after the $1000 off deadline, which I missed because of this horrific back and forth, including a 2-day turnaround time on basic questions), they refused to honor the $1000 off referral reward for me.
- Annoyance 2: In following up about the reward with Tesla's main office, I had an experience with their inside rep who, like a mother hen, said, "Well, if we give you $1000 off, we need to give everyone $1000 off!" She promised to talk to her superiors and follow up with me the following day about a possible exception to the $1000 referral reward.
- Fault 9: I never heard back from her.
- Fault 10: I told my OA to continue to send me quotes, and I would move forward without the reward, but was hopeful they could figure something out. He sent me a quote for an inventory car. I called to place the order, and he had gotten the price wrong by $1000 in the quote. (Now my perception is I'm paying $1000 more b/c I'm missing the referral reward, and this idiot just misquoted me). I told him to forget that car, and I'd wait for another deal.
- Fault 11: After calling to follow up on the referral reward, we found out the case was never assigned to anyone.
- Fault 12: Once the case was assigned, I had one of the most uncomfortable and confusing calls with my OA and his manager - who both had no idea what was going on, and just repeatedly told me that I would never get the $1000 referral reward.
- Fault 13: By now, with 10 faults lined up, we are hoping this is mostly a problem with my OA and the Long Tree branch. We called the store in Cherry Creek to switch reps. The OA there was very understanding and wanted to help us find a car. He said he would call us back later in the day with inventory. We never heard back from him.
- Fault 14: We called to follow up to see why we hadn't heard back. That rep + the manager left for the day without fulfilling their promise.
To be honest, all of this has me seriously questioning whether I should get a Tesla at all. I hear great stories about their customer service, but this purchasing experience is one of the worst I have ever experienced. Every interaction seems to have some sort of fault.
I'm really concerned that I'll get a Tesla, be spending a huge amount of money on a car, and then will be really dissatisfied with the service, upkeep, etc. The OAs make huge promises about caring for their drivers – but how can they, when this is how the purchasing experience is handled???
Right now, I am moving away from ever owning a Tesla. I'm wondering what other people on this forum think.
