Terrible Customer Service

[Miggy]

I placed my order for a Model 3 SR+ in late June, last week Tesla asked and received full payment for the car on Wednesday 4th August.
Thinking the delivery of the car must only be a day or two away, one week later still no car and an email today saying the car maybe another week or two away.
Why ask for payment if the car was not even ready for delivery? Communication from Tesla has been very poor and have the tone of not caring about the customer.
I was so looking forward to my new Tesla but they have managed to suck any joy out of receiving my new Model 3.

 

[jmaddr]

Wonder why Tesla even asks for full payment before delivery day now? Is this a COVID thing and touchless delivery? When I picked up mine I paid only *after* I inspected the car. .

 

[RobDickinson]

Yeah their communication is often poor, I think they are dealing with too many cars for the number of staff (they are looking for more people).

Also the problem is they are never sure when they will have access to particular cars to deliver etc.

its actually better now than when they first landed, I ended up renting a car for weeks because I'd sold mine too early.

 

[marcus1]

I placed my order for a Model 3 SR+ in late June, last week Tesla asked and received full payment for the car on Wednesday 4th August.
Thinking the delivery of the car must only be a day or two away, one week later still no car and an email today saying the car maybe another week or two away.
Why ask for payment if the car was not even ready for delivery? Communication from Tesla has been very poor and have the tone of not caring about the customer.
I was so looking forward to my new Tesla but they have managed to suck any joy out of receiving my new Model 3.

I received an email yesterday and for payment it stated:

"Payment for your Vehicle
To ensure there are no delays, we recommend payment once you have been given a scheduled delivery date in September to ensure to a smooth delivery process. Once payment has be cleared through our system, we will send an SMS for confirmation."

Your email from Tesla did not mention paying after receiving a scheduled delivery date as mine has?

Wonder why Tesla even asks for full payment before delivery day now? Is this a COVID thing and touchless delivery? When I picked up mine I paid only *after* I inspected the car. .

This must have changed - my email stated:

"Once your vehicle has passed all inspections and all payments have been received, your vehicle will be booked for pickup from our carrier. We will notify you via email once this booking has been completed along with a Delivery Declaration."

 

[FenC]

We ordered ours from available inventory the (Sun)day the subsidy was announced. Given how many available cars came through across a number of specifications since then I had casually wondered out loud to my wife if they were marrying build to order cars up with available inventory if the specifications matched, but I guess not, which seems odd / poor customer service. Did you not keep an eye on available inventory and ask to move your deposit to a car of the same (or alternative suitable) spec as you ordered?

There aren't a lot of combos available, and I wasn't ticking them off, I've seen SR+ models in available inventory in all the paint colours and with a good mix of wheel and interior options since we committed.

I have to say that our customer experience was actually pretty good. While they started before the subsidy was announced (we were cross shopping a new M3 against a lightly used MS, and also hadn't 100% decided on an SR+ versus a LR if we went M3), communications were responded to quickly. They were not great at facilitating a decent test drive outside Auckland, but not offering something and being up front about that isn't poor customer service. They even proactively offered us credit for the $3,000 price drop that was announced the day after we collected our car (though they haven't actually paid it over as yet...)

We also had chase to use Tesla service in Wellington (failed SIM card), and that was a pretty good experience as well, aside the part failing in the first place.

 

[vegaman]

We ordered ours from available inventory the (Sun)day the subsidy was announced. Given how many available cars came through across a number of specifications since then I had casually wondered out loud to my wife if they were marrying build to order cars up with available inventory if the specifications matched, but I guess not, which seems odd / poor customer service. Did you not keep an eye on available inventory and ask to move your deposit to a car of the same (or alternative suitable) spec as you ordered?

Hmm, I wonder if you're right about this.
A bunch of new ones showed up in existing inventory today, including one matching my order spec.
Asking my sales advisor if I can switch my order over.

 

[RobDickinson]

The 'in stock' cars are not usually physically in stock but on the way, its possible you've been allocated a car in the same batch already

 

[FenC]

The 'in stock' cars are not usually physically in stock but on the way, its possible you've been allocated a car in the same batch already

There are two status options for Current Inventory cars. “In Auckland”, which I haven’t seen since mid June, presumably means in the showroom. My experience with the other “in transit” status is that the car was physically in NZ, just awaiting preparation for sale; Tesla was pretty open about it’s whereabouts. That doesn’t mean all “in transit” cara are here, of course, but given we saw a photo posted here of what was approximately 145 cars on the dock in early June I think they are here. Also, when we originally spoke to Tesla they were open that two more shipments were due, one late June and one in September.

In fact if the OP’s experience where ordered vehicles are not married up with available cars is the norm, every car not pre-ordered from that photo plus two subsequent shipments from before the subsidy was announced has to come through the website. I strongly suspect they are pulled in a few at a time for preparation and marked as “in transit” at that time, if that is the case. In the event they are not sold before they are ready to go to the showroom they change to “in Auckland” status.

 

[Miggy]

Update, I can get delivery of the car on Friday 20th August, this is some 16 days after payment.
I did not mind waiting for for my Model 3 order to arrive, it was the fact that Tesla should have said your car will be ready on the 20th and can you please pay us on the 19th not the 4th as was the case.
At no time did Tesla contact me about pushing my order forward with an inventory car.

 

[RobDickinson]

given we saw a photo posted here of what was approximately 145 cars on the dock in early June I think they are here

They are long gone between June and July deliveries

 

[Ynewbie]

I placed my order for a Model 3 SR+ in late June, last week Tesla asked and received full payment for the car on Wednesday 4th August.
Thinking the delivery of the car must only be a day or two away, one week later still no car and an email today saying the car maybe another week or two away.
Why ask for payment if the car was not even ready for delivery? Communication from Tesla has been very poor and have the tone of not caring about the customer.
I was so looking forward to my new Tesla but they have managed to suck any joy out of receiving my new Model 3.

Sorry to hear that. I ordered for my Mom who is dying of terminal cancer and celebrating her hopefully final round of chemo, ordered last Friday and was notified on Sunday that a car was available. They wanted me to pay upfront but with all the stories in the news about double charging bank debit accounts I was reluctant. I told them I would get a bank check for delivery Thursday. Thursday delivery time came and went with no show. Despite three phone calls on Wed. No explanation given. So scheduled delivery Saturday (today), and they came! They accepted bank check but needed to wait 24hrs before registering car with cell phone. So could only use the backup key card. Don't let them jerk you around. You should be able to get VIN number of new car and Tesla chat will tell you where it is located. They gave me a range 4 - 5 days of delivery dates. Use the Tesla chat, they have real people on it. I found them helpful. The sales rep is also helpful if you got his personal cell number. He was able to help me on his day off. Overall all Tesla reps albeit young and inexperienced really try to be helpful. Be polite but firm.

 

[Miggy]

They are long gone between June and July deliveries

The Tesla person did say that they had a very busy August and were delivering about 30 to 40 cars on some days, can they break the 1,000 mark in a month.

 

[RobDickinson]

September will be that month if they can get the cars, they are renting warehouse space to deliver cars in batches of 50-100..

 

[Perksy]

I recognize some of the issues touched on here. I definitely think that the main issue is they haven't scaled up their operation to meet the demand yet. I only took delivery in early Jul and had to deal with Service twice already. Luckily both issues with the Universal Mobile Charger, not the car itself and it took a while to resolve fully because of the app/Service limitations. However, when I did actually talk to someone it was quickly resolved it was just frustrating up until that point. I did recently get $3000 Tesla rebate paid though, on top of the Govt one, which was a nice bonus and I would advocate was Good Great Customer Service!

 

[FenC]

I recognize some of the issues touched on here. I definitely think that the main issue is they haven't scaled up their operation to meet the demand yet. I only took delivery in early Jul and had to deal with Service twice already. Luckily both issues with the Universal Mobile Charger, not the car itself and it took a while to resolve fully because of the app/Service limitations. However, when I did actually talk to someone it was quickly resolved it was just frustrating up until that point. I did recently get $3000 Tesla rebate paid though, on top of the Govt one, which was a nice bonus and I would advocate was Good Great Customer Service!

Nice to hear you got that refund, ours has not arrived yet, but shouldn't be far away. Our car is stuck in Auckland having hand controls fitted so who knows when we'll see it again now...

 

[Perksy]

Nice to hear you got that refund, ours has not arrived yet, but shouldn't be far away. Our car is stuck in Auckland having hand controls fitted so who knows when we'll see it again now...

I got payment credited on 9 Aug for reference if you have to follow-up with Tesla. Not missing much driving right now but I guess your car will be in AL4 longer than you based on today's presser

 

[CAM3RON]

It would be nice if we had Tesla China levels of Customer Service

 

[meloccom]

I live in a small apartment, so the last thing I need is a giant stuffed animal with my Tesla delivery.

 

[FenC]

I got payment credited on 9 Aug for reference if you have to follow-up with Tesla. Not missing much driving right now but I guess your car will be in AL4 longer than you based on today's presser

We got ours on Tuesday past. I'm certainly not suggesting that is bad in any way - they didn't have to honour a price reduction that took effect after (even if only by one day) we took delivery of the car, so getting it at all is actually great customer service.

 

[Ecoli]

It would be nice if we had Tesla China levels of Customer Service

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Ugh I'd prefer free merch over giant teddy bears, flowers and balloons
Wonder what the owners at the end have done to miss out on the bear bonanza

Still way more than I got when I picked up my car.....nothin other than the privilege
of sitting in the owners lounge.
No bows ribbons or bears, my delivery was almost out on the street lol happy days