Tesla event experience

[cmorts1]

Tesla are holding one of the monthly test drive events in Northumberland, I registered in advance on the Tesla website and received a reply from Tesla giving timings and directions.

Arrived today only to be told they are full and that it was a error on the website, I should never have been given a slot. The Tesla representives said I could look at car but not test drive one.

Forgetting the fact that I drove 30 miles to attend, the Tesla staff attitude was shocking. It has taken a little bit of persuasion to get my wife interested in a Tesla for her next car, but when they make comments like "we don't have to give customers test drives, if you are not interested someone else will be".He was more interested in boasting that he is the only one who drives the Tesla X from the Leeds showroom to the events.
Other comments were " you will pick your car up in the time slot we give or it gets reassigned" and "we don't have time to charge your new car, find a charger on the way back home". Also "no one else has a car like us so we can do things diferently" and "I am sick of customers asking about the boat their car is on, we don't build cars to order".

I don't know if I have been spoilt by car dealers fighting for my business, but why would anyone in a sales role act like this. At the moment they have a premium product, but what are they going to do when other manufacturers catch up. Both VW and Jaguar are getting close, both with an independent dealer network that will fight for business.

 

[Yev000]

Well if someone made those actual comments that's pretty arrogant. No person should act like that in any role really.

 

[MrBadger]

Unfortunately, and I say this as a shareholder, Tesla are in for a wakeup call soon, if they are not already seeing the evidence with the current share price slump. It will not be long before the playing field will be levelled by circumstances that they have no control over - some of the raw materials (in particular high purity nickel) in the batteries. And that wakeup call may well favour manufacturers with cars with smaller batteries and that may well allow car manufacturers to catch up and overtake. Of course, still room for everyone, and also more consumer choice to pick what they want.

imho

https://electrek.co/2019/05/02/tesla-shortage-battery-minerals-nickle-copper-lithium/ et. al.

 

[Fullerene]

Had similar attitude from a Motorbike Main Dealership many years ago. "The first time you can ride a bike is when you buy it." The sales people aren't really being sales people as the demand is high for the car. I wonder if the staff you encountered will be around for long once the initial rush dies down and there's more competition, they'll need to change or move on. Regardless, it's a p*** poor attitude to others.

Reading comments on Model 3 deliveries at least the on-the-day Service Centre pickup is mainly positive, I suspect before the Model 3 turned up the sales people would have been acting a lot better for prospective S & X customers.

This will be my first new car, don't want any VIP treatment, I'm just after the car. I'm getting most of my confidence in the product from YouTube and TMC, the sales process kind of sucks. Tesla should do what they can to get rid of it entirely.

Not long after submitting my order, I got an email from Tesla asking for feedback on my test-drive, which I haven't ever asked for or taken. So I duly filled it in explaining that I hope my order hasn't been mangled as I really shouldn't have got the email. Maybe you'll get a feedback form in the next couple of days and you can give some constructive feedback. Good luck

 

[ewoodrick]

Regrettably, sales was correct. They don't have to worry about selling the cars right now. Their problem is getting all of the cars that are in the shipyard delivered to the people that have bought them. And there's still a lot more behind that.
There's a lot of folks that ordered their Model 3s without a test drive, and indeed, a lot of folks still ordering without a test drive.

So if you as a sales person can sale to a ZERO touch customer, why worry about high touch customers? This may change in time, but it is reality today.

Assuming that the rules in the UK are similar to the ones in the US, order the car, if you don't like it in 7 days, return it. Sounds a lot like Amazon doesn't. Why shouldn't it be?

Remember, when you buy cars from dealers, THEY make money off of it. More specifically, they charge you for their stellar (but often crappy) customer service. You don't pay for that with a Tesla. Or would you rather have a 10% markup and get the stellar service???

 

[Roy W.]

I’ve had both good and bad experiences of Tesla staff. The majority are brilliant - helpful, (fairly) knowledgable and friendly.

I’ve also encountered staff who are stand-offish and arrogant, and make me as a customer feel like the problem.

Ironically one of the causes could be the lack of a commission-driven sales system. I know we all applaud the lack of sales pressure etc, but it means that staff who want to be rude or unfriendly don’t necessarily see the end result of their behaviour in terms of reduced sales and therefore reduced income.

Maybe Tesla need to be a bit more focussed on recruiting the right people for the job.

 

[Fullerene]

if you don't like it in 7 days

Already posted by others but you have 14 days believe it's stated in the UK contracts, distance selling regulations

 

[Elja Trum]

Sorry about your bad experience. This guy sounds like a d*ck and should be fired.

Luckily there are many fine people working for Tesla too and their cars are great.